2nd Annual Provincetown Regatta
April 27th, 2017Creating a Totalitarian State
April 7th, 2017What does it take to turn a democracy/republic into a fascist totalitarian state?
We saw some of that happen during Germany’s change to the Third Reich. We are looking at another example with the United States.
What struck me was the Executive Order of Donald Trump’s making all of the information on the internet – personal and otherwise – available to whoever will pay for it – or can code programs to collect, inspect and categorize it. Every keystroke you take will be shipped off someplace into the ether. Maybe to a marketing organization with a contract paying millions for that information, but it actually could be to any other organization wanting or needing that information. Another step in eliminating privacy of United States citizens, and at the same time, privacy of many around the world. So it isn’t just happening in the United States.
One requirement of a totalitarian state is lack of privacy and the ability of government or other institutions privately owned or otherwise, to access anything about any individual. In this day of instantaneous response, it is especially great to have that information in an instance and that is what is happening with the help of Mr. Trump and his Executive Orders. Each Executive Order and each related change has a little bit of the history of what the United States was and what Donald Trump and his co-workers are attempting to turn it into.
One thing that I don’t think even Mr. Trump has considered. – He is very expendable.
Do you think for a moment that whoever is in back of this change – and it is clearly not Mr. Trump – is going to let a loose cannon like Donald Trump continue in charge of the United States once that change has been made? I don’t think so. The first time most citizens of the United States will realize they are now completely a manipulable totalitarian state under a rulers control – assisted by a rulers’ family and friends, who are not named nor related to Trump – will be with the demise of Donald Trump. He is the ‘pathological liar’ who will have made such a change, but he will not enjoy the fruits of his labor. One can’t afford to allow such an unstable and unpredictable person to remain in charge or those fighting him will eventually gain the upper hand and begin to turn the United States back into the democratic nation and into the republic that it once was – with modern-day improvements. Trump, however, is too unpredictable and – let’s be truthful – a little bit flaky – and oh my, even too narcissistic and ‘child in revolt and not controllable’.
Wonder how many of you have thought of this? I may be a bit paranoid, although no one has ever called me such. Instead, they call me a ‘seer’. Et tu!
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Proud to be an American
March 25th, 2017This is one of those mornings when it is time to reflect on your governmental loyalties.
We do a lot of complaining about this United States and we tend to point out all of the faults and pot holes wherever we find them. But every once in a while something happens that renews our faith and has us puff out our chests and this is one of those times.
To see the White Nationalists, the neo-Nazi’s, the KKK and other such assorted groups who are about nothing but hate – White Privilege – and all of that, reach the level of President of these United States is the most degrading, heart rending, destructive of democracy/republic thing that one could even imagine, let alone see happen. It makes you wonder if this is what we all have been fighting and sacrificing for?
And then to watch the drama unfold where this is clearly not America. To begin to understand that we have a president of these United States who could be an agent of a foreign government and have risen to the level of president through the interference of a foreign government into United States voting to become president is crushing, but not as bad as thinking that this happened through United States citizens wrecking such havoc.
When we see the energy and spontaneous activity of Americans raising their voices in protest to say – this is not my country and you get out – begins to bring the color back into my cheeks and the faith and love back into my heart.
You go America! And you keep on keeping on because this too shall pass. I can see the clouds lifting and the gloriousness of tomorrow because of the activity of our citizens becoming united to rid this country of those who want to change it into something that reflects those countries both current and historical who were about greed, jealousy, deprivation, theft from the poor to give even more to the wealthy, power and control over, giving to self and taking away from those who traditionally give away everything leaving themselves with nothing …….
There are those of you who voted for Trump and his gang of thieves because you wanted the United States to return to “normal.” And what was that “normal”. Well, you have seen it with all the cover taken off. That is what many of us have been fighting for generations. Only we didn’t see it in such stark terms. We saw the sophisticated version of what we are seeing exposed today. So now, maybe we can move ahead together understanding what and who we are and have been fighting and why.
Why has it been so hard to get human beings – who live on this planet to respect it and work to make sure it would be here and in good shape for generations to come – you are seeing why as you look at what is happening right in front of you.
Why has it been so hard to get human beings to care about those who temporarily can’t care about themselves or who have another way of being which got them into trouble or who are sick and infirm who can’t take care of themselves. Why has it been so hard to turn to understand they are our responsibility and to get all of us to work together so that we all can be whole and comfortable and loved. Take a look at this administration and you will see the personality types who have prevented and could care less about such – who characterize people needing help in ugly evil ways.
Why has it taken so many generations to get rid of the stain of slavery – Jim Crow – bigotry of all kind? Why has all of that hung on for so long? Now – do you understand? And now do you see what needs to happen to bring about that necessary change of heart?
We have had a theatre – a morality play – right in front of us all day every day for months now. Take heed and remember the lessons you are learning today – they will determine if we walk into the sunshine or continue to live in the shadows under all kind of storms and foul weather only able to look into the distance to see that beautiful warm bright light beckoning to us. Don’t reject it – just walk into it and we will all be better off.
So proud to be an American, today because I have been seeing those working for the same things I have spent myself working to bring about. Hope that feeling will last several lifetimes. And those people will multiply.
And as for you who want that “normality” back? Screw You!
Ooops! Sorry! Guess that other side slipped out! I am only human, after all. We all have it don’t we! Guess I have much more work to do on myself!
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
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Savor the Moment
March 20th, 2017Donald J. Trump appointed a man – properly White + Male + Military to head the NSA.
He did this right before he applied for his Muslim ban.
And then – this man – Flynn by name – turned out to be a foreign agent for a Muslim country.
Inhale deeply! Exhale slowly! and enjoy the moment.
Of course he was fired – but that does not wipe out the fact that this was a moment to be savored.
“What goes around, comes around.”
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Aileen Clark Hernandez – (1926-2017)
March 13th, 2017by: Marceline DonaldsonI won’t say rest in peace. I will say I hope you are living your life after life in a heaven in which everyone is equal – where love abounds – where justice has no meaning because the evils of this life have all fallen away.
At the end of life, one begins to think of what has my life meant! Did I spend my time wisely? Did I work to make this world better for those I am leaving behind? Did I do justice, love mercy, walk humbly as I tread this earth? Can I expect to be welcomed in heaven because my life on earth was lived without making others feed my ego by feeling and acting better than?
I think Aileen can say yes to all of those questions. She worked hard and produced much. Not the material things in life, but those things which really count over the long term.
I first met Aileen in the 1970’s when I was elected to the National Board of NOW. Got to know her even better when I went to a national board meeting in San Francisco with my youngest daughter who was about 4 years old at the time – and we stayed with Aileen. The week we spent with Aileen was one I shall never forget. I could have decorated Aileen’s house, it was that comfortable and familiar. NOW members took turns during the meeting taking care of Jacqueline. NOW’s commitment was to making sure board members felt free enough to bring their children. We stayed in touch for a brief time after that, but then……
What most amazed me was her commitment to history. She had incredible files, unbelievably organized, of everything she had done which would be of interest to historians down the road. Her commitment to equality and justice was deep and dictated how she spent her time. I am very grateful to have met Aileen and to have had the chance to see and be involved – for a brief time – in her life. It was one of those times which changed mine.
When I met Aileen, we realized we had a lot in common. Both went to New York University. Both raised with parents who designed and sewed theatrical garments. Both loved fashion – probably as a result of that upbringing. Both had a passion for doing what we could to change this world for the better – and so much more. She was a mentor for me and I am sure for many other women. I count myself as being blessed to have had mentors, throughout this life who have been strong, committed, beautiful people with an understanding of how we are all related and all working to bring about equality, justice, love for one another.

Aileen Hernandez
Writing these memorials is becoming a much too often occurrence. I guess I have reached that time of life when people you know leave – frequently – for a different place and then it is time to fill those gaps in your memory because other things took precedence and you are left regretting not having called. That is happening to me far too often.
That speaks to the way we have ordered our lives. the activity, the action, the cause, the work of the moment becomes all consuming and involvement with friends from a lifetime ago gets pushed back for another day. And the surprise and regret comes when you realize that day is not coming until your eyes close for the last time.
Aileen’s work and accomplishments were many and huge. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Twenty years from now, that newly coming to adulthood generation will look back to ask why she did not receive the acolades to measure her life’s work. And the answer will be clear. She was a woman who worked hard for women’s rights, equal rights and justice for minorities and for the union movement. That combination is lethal in this society. We don’t want to hold up such icons because they might just become the trail blazers to attract our children to become like them.
Aileen Hernandez, Pauli Murray and others have clearly shown the sexist lie to the now re-surfacing comments about the feminist movement being a white women’s movement. The gains of that movement have had to push through racism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia and more to be achieved and even then those gains have been tenuous as the next generation tries to negate and destroy that move forward which freed us all for a brief moment.
Thank you, Aileen, for having been so consistent in your life and your work. Thank you for being one of those bright lights and beacon to all of us showing us how to walk through some difficult times. Thank you for having the courage to be one of those founding NOW at a time when the fight for the equality for women sorely needed such an organization. Thank you for being there at a time in my life when I needed mentors, showing me there is a path you can follow because others have been there and walked through the stuff that gets thrown at you as a strong feminist and that gets thrown from all sides.
I know those greeting you on the other side are rejoicing and celebrating your life on this earth.
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Mountain Rose Herbs – Recycles 100%
March 5th, 2017To read more about this story try https://blog.mountainroseherbs.com/zero-waste-certified-blog
It is always exciting to find a company we can recommend without hesitation and this is one. I don’t know any other company which has reached the ability to recycle 100% of their trash – unused items – excess – you name it what you will – this is an awesome achievement.
We try, but have not reached that yet. We also encourage all of our homes to do the same. Hopefully, one day, sharing information, we will also be a company that has no trash, garbage, etc. to put out for pickup. We will either use or give away what we cannot use – 100%.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
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Upkeep of Wood Floors
March 4th, 2017We have talked to several people who use the Walnut Oil on their floors and in response to your question – here is what they do:
Once a week – if you are the absolute-on-top-of-it type – use a soft cotton rag, which has a bit of Walnut Oil on the rag. You can either pour oil on the rag for this, or you can keep Walnut Oil in a spray bottle and spray a bit on the rag. This is only a little bit of oil for this job.
A couple people we talked to keep such a rag saturated in Walnut Oil, which they use for upkeep in a number of ways and have a special metal container with a top – in which they keep the rag – like last years’ fruit cake tin. They use that rag and wipe up the floor so it has all the dust removed and a thin coating of oil on it. The oil should dry in short order. They keep such a saturated rag for a month and then toss it. If they need to wipe fingerprints off furniture within that month, that rag does the job. Or, if they need to wipe their dining room or other table with a bit of oil, in-between their yearly going over with the 0000 steel wool, they use that rag.
A couple people we talked to will do this once a month because they want to keep up their floors, keep them looking great, but do not worry themselves if a little dust shows. Our observation – unless you have lots of traffic in and out of the house you only need to do this once a month and then it is a light wipe of the floor.
One person – ostracized after she told this story – uses a cotton mop onto which she sprays a bit of walnut oil in a spray bottle she keeps and then wipes the floor with the mop. Since most of the people we talked to about this upkeep are – on your knees to do your floors kind of people – there were gasps when she said – others do this with a cotton mop with a bit of oil sprayed on the mop. Our question was, is there a difference in results? Of course, everyone thought their way was the best and absolutely the only way to get good results.
In defense of the “on your knees people”, they use that time for exercise while wiping the floor. There are several exercises that can be done in the process – which most exercise books, or a search online will show you.
Those who do this upkeep once a month are the ones who hang drapes on all of their windows – who close their windows on top of air stops so outside air/dust doesn’t get in and they look constantly for other ways to keep dust from coming into the house including having people visiting leave their shoes at the door.
Hope this answers your question.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
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Walnut Oil on Wood Floors
February 22nd, 2017I have just finished following your instructions and redoing my wood floors.
I am exhausted. It was an incredible job, but worth every minute because the floors are beautiful.
Having used the OOOO Steel Wool and Spectrum Walnut Oil – tried for the best, no cheap oil on my floors – and even taking the most expensive oil route it cost less than what I spent on these floors the last time I cleaned and waxed them.
I went over the floor with a damp rag to get off the top dust. Then, I used the OOOO steel wool, pouring walnut oil on the floor and rubbing it in with the steel wool until all of the dirt and everything else was up. I then wiped that up with old towels (which I threw away when finished, although my neighbor is trying the same thing and she washed her old towels after using them). I then poured more Walnut Oil on the floor and wiped it up with a clean towel – and let the floor dry.
My neighbor tried to cut corners and didn’t do this last pouring on of oil and wiping it up with a clean towel so she had a bit of a mess on her hands, because her floor dried sticky and kind of gooey so she had to start over again. I think that probably had to do with the steel particles from the steel wool still on the floor.
I did not put the furniture and rugs back, but let the floor sit overnight. The next day, my floor was sort of dry, but still with parts looking wet from the oil so I had to re-wipe the floor with a clean towel. I did not use more oil, the floor just looked a bit wet and in need of something, so another wiping with a dry, clean towel to help the oil either come up or soak into the floor – and 2 days later the floor is fabulous. The down side was having to wait two days for the floor to dry – meaning, I could only do one room at a time. That was fine because the smell from the oil and essential oil of gardenias will be in the house forever as I go from room to room cleaning my floors. I am exhausted so I won’t try another room for a month or two anyway.
I should note here that my neighbor did it your way by doing a small area of the room at a time. Which means, when she messed up with the oil and it was sticky she didn’t have her entire room to redo. She moved the furniture and rugs from only a part of the room and moved the rest of the furniture over while the floor dried. She was also not exhausted when she finished. It was just part of her general cleaning – which she does without fail from 10-12 daily five days a week. I wait for the woman who cleans for me to do all of that work – but she drew the line at kneeling on the floor to do this oiling.
My neighbor is continuing a small part of a room at a time using the same walnut oil to clean and oil her furniture in that part of the room. I don’t have the methodology and discipline to do that. I want it all done at once. But then her house is a lot cleaner than mine. Don’t know how she does it, but her house is immaculate anytime of the day or night you go over there. Mine – not so much. I have to clean before visitors come. Maybe one day. And with this new way of cleaning and oiling the floors – I suspect that kind of discipline will come because my biggie was not wanting to touch or be around the normal kind of cleaning stuff that has to be bad for your health. I was sure they made my family sick with respiratory ailments. Could be wrong, but the mind works in strange ways. Even being exhausted after I finished the floor in one room, I was not ‘I’ll never so this again kind of exhausted.’ The smell and feel of the entire house changed with just this one room having its floor oiled and it was exhilarating.
My question – how to I keep these floor looking good? They look great now, but things do get dusty and dirty over time. I can’t go through this effort many times a year. What do you suggest?
Your original suggestion was that this happen once a year. What do I do in the meantime?
Thanks,
By the way – I love the smell of gardenia’s so I bought essential oil of gardenia and poured a bit into the Walnut Oil bottle when I opened it and my house smells unbelievable. You were right about the benefit of adding essential oil to the Walnut Oil. What I especially liked was that even though it took a lot of effort crawling around on hands and knees to do this cleaning because I couldn’t think of any other way to use the OOOO steel wool and even though it took all of the wiping up and around with old towels, the smell and off gases of what I normally used on my floors is not present. That alone was worth the effort. I can breathe!
I didn’t look into what was in the cleaners and waxes I used on my floors and couldn’t believe I have been using something with a kerosene base. Looking around at the stores, most of the products sold – in the cleaning and waxing line are all mostly kerosene based. This is what I have been exposing my family to all these years. I knew the smell was foul – I just got used to it and waited for the smells to dissipate. Now, I don’t want these smells to dissipate, I want to enjoy the gardenia and walnut smell as long as possible.
What I really love is the way my hands looked and felt after I finished. I didn’t have to wear rubber gloves because Walnut Oil is good for the skin. I hadn’t thought of that as a side benefit, but I love it.
Another BTW – the woman who cleans for me has been converted. Her mother spent her adult life cleaning for others and is now in a wheel chair. They blame the products her mother used and she, unbeknownst to me, was looking around for something else. After watching me and standing in the room with its new feel and smell, she decided it was better to clean the floor on hands and knees than to use what we had been using – so she has taken over the floor cleaning and oiling job – and thank goodness. Not having to wear rubber gloves and seeing my wrinkled hands smooth out after this bit of hard work instead of drying out and feeling awful even with the rubber gloves, convinced her.
Anxiously awaiting your response!
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful
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Makeup? – Never
February 11th, 2017I love best those ‘girlie’ breakfast conversations where everything is laid bare. Free of all the things one does in the mornings to become the person you want to be – a reflection of all those make-up ads which show you women who are unreachable because their pictures have been blown, photo-shopped, with bumps and lumps removed and skin retouched.
Amazingly, this conversation included a stray male. What he was doing in the middle of this conversation is unfathomable, but there he was, quite excited to be included in what he thought was going to be women revealing their innermost secrets – and to him. Normally, he would be expected to smile politely and leave as soon as he could get away without being rude. This guy loved every minute.
Color took center stage.
I thought I understood what part color played in this makeup business, but this breakfast ‘seminar’ changed that understanding completely.
Even though they were staying at a Bettina Network Hedge School, which is notorious for organic everything – no chemicals in the mix – no artificiality in anything – every woman at the table had on makeup. All store bought and kept in a makeup case carried wherever they travelled.
What they wanted was re-enforcement that their makeup – as they applied it – looked natural and they did not look “made-up. For me, that was astounding. Raised in a family where the last thing in the world you wanted to do was apply make-up to your face and wind up looking like Godzilla’s wife full of pasty stuff on top of even more pasty looking stuff and a face where one could not smile without that makeup breaking into lines and cracking, we were very far apart. I don’t think I have worn lipstick more than two or three times in life and I am now quite old. So, there we were with stereotypes, but at two ends of the spectrum, very far apart. As it turns out I was into as much make-up as everyone else at the table, only a different kind and applied at different times.
If you notice these things – as you age, your skin changes. If you have light brown skin your face becomes a rather dull looking white with eyebrows that turn white, no matter their natural color when you were young, and that whitish dull skin does you no good. I was very proud of my light brown skin. I felt I looked healthier than most because of it. I certainly didn’t have that so-called “white” skin which dried out and became very wrinkly as one aged, nor did I have that darker brown skin which sagged from maintaining its natural oils even as one grew older. And here I was, about to reveal that my beautiful light brown skin, with its touch of a pinkish/red/orange color was not entirely natural, no matter how it looked.
When you are young, your face is blotchy with break-outs all over and what you long for is that beautiful even-toned unachievable skin that is advertised in almost every cosmetic ad from the beginning of creation.
The women brought their make-up to the table and we examined it all very closely. Amazingly, even the expensive stuff looked pretty similar to the stuff that came from CVS, Walgreens, and other such places. Even more amazing was the ingredients – we could not pronounce any of them when ingredients were on the labels. We could only conjecture what was in those bottles and jars which did not reveal their ingredients. We didn’t find any ingredients we knew and when we did they were in minuscule amounts.
When these different ingredients were put on your face, we couldn’t detect differences between the stuff that cost a fortune and the stuff that came from the pharmacy stores. Thy all seemed to give the same look. The difference in the make-up on the table was the amount of disposable income different women at the table had to be able to spend on cosmetics. One spent a couple hundred dollars a month and we gasped, in awe.
My ‘cosmetics’ that morning were Grapeseed Oil, AloeVera Gel and Beta Carotene tablets in oil in a capsule – all organic. I had a lot more, but I wasn’t going to reveal all in one morning and I certainly was not going to reveal anything bringing me close to a couple hundred dollars spent in one month. If I spent that kind of money on my face I would be super-thin, because I wouldn’t have money left to spend on food.
The first thing that left the table was the stuff used to take make-up off at night. With all it was supposed to do, my grape seed oil did better. The next thing out were the ‘astringents’. My Aloe Vera Gel was better suited, did not have chemicals or preservatives of any kind, although it did need to be kept in the refrigerator and used quickly. Not only was it a good astringent, but it also tightened into a mask.
The Bettina Beauty treatment for the face is a Bettina Blog written some time long past, but it is still among the Bettina Network Blogs so I won’t go over it here, but it is necessary to do on a two to three times a week basis to keep your face from sagging, crinkling, becoming pasty white and wrinkly and more. This mornings beauty regimen helps, but does need to be supplemented with other organic treatments.
That Bettina Network Beauty regimen makes all the rest possible.
After we put on the Aloe Vera Gel, we had a few minutes conversation about what it does, allowing it to tighten into a mask. We then rinsed it off with the requisite ten splashes of water and moved on to the Beta Carotene tablets.
I clipped one to put on my face after it was rinsed of its Aloe Vera Gel and there were gasps all around. I looked like something out of a cowboy and Indian movie and I was clearly the Indian – very red of skin and oily of face with the Beta Carotene oil going into my hairline – deliberately.
I should say here that my hairline was showing the grey line around my face where the rest of my hair was beautifully colored, but the hairline was growing in and it was a mixed grey and black, but mostly grey. My eyebrows were also a mixed grey and black, giving me a rather older look, so they took received an extra rubbing into them of the Beta Carotene capsule.
The women couldn’t wait to get to their bathrooms to put on their department store makeup to go out for the day. I cleared the dining room and was left with my red face, dirty dishes and the one male person at the table. He helped me with the dishes, but not before he used the beta carotene on his face. Looking at him, I saw just how ridiculous I looked, but he was confident this was going to solve his problem. He wanted instructions for the day on how to handle this, but I had none. I just go about my day. Rinse my face with ten splashed each rinse whenever I use the bathroom for other purposes. So he left declaring he would do the same.
The next morning we all appeared at breakfast. The women without makeup and their makeup on the table, as we agreed to the morning before. Me and the one male with no makeup bottles or jars in front of us because we didn’t have any to put there. And who do you think looked stunning? The two of us did. By then, the red had been absorbed into the skin and the constant rinses after having gone to the bathroom several times helped remove the excess Beta Carotene color. Our skin glowed.
No grey around the face from hair growing out and our eye brows were a beautiful mixed color of dark, medium and lighter brownish red. And you know, the most delicate and dangerous thing you can do when having your hair dyed or dying it yourself, is trying to match your eyebrow color. That dye will put your eyes out if it goes to the wrong place and will probably also fool with your ability to see even if it is only absorbed a bit through the skin – which has to be absorbed through a bit of your eyelid to make the eyebrows look great.
I looked 20 years younger – with a face that looked slightly flushed, like younger skin looks when you are excited and the rest a beautiful even color. The whitish grey look was gone and in its place a bronze look which almost approximated a day in the sun. I looked very sun-tanned and almost as if I was blushing. He looked the same.
Our one male person had been concerned about his eyebrows and mustache turning grey, but didn’t know what to do about it – and this was a middle to upper level business executive who felt he needed to keep a fairly young appearance to keep his job.
The women were flabbergasted because the only thing we did that morning was to rinse our faces with the ten splashes of warm water. I followed my splashes of warm water with ten splashes of cold water just to look a bit more flushed – only that didn’t last. The Beta Carotene created color lasts about two to three days. On some people it will last a week through many splashed of water. No soap, however. We never use soap, ever, at all.
The women left their make-up on the table and used the beta-carotene capsules on their faces. I don’t know how they faced the day because it takes, generally, putting it on overnight and letting it absorb with a morning rinse before starting out for the day – or – putting it on in the morning and leaving it on all day with several splashes of water rinses throughout the day for the color to become ideal. It will then last two or three days before you need to reapply the beta carotene, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone. They thought the results were good enough to make due and get together a new lifestyle routine to accommodate this new make-up regimen. I would like to have followed their red faces around with a camera as they went about their day, but the dirty dishes were calling.
Whatever they did, the next morning they were all beautiful and ecstatic. One mentioned the difference in cost between what she used and one capsule of beta-carotene, but I had to remind her that the cost added up to more than that because she did need to do constant upkeep with products like organic Aloe Vera gel, all of the oils we talked about and the Bettina Beauty regimen with Vitamin C, D, etc. That didn’t matter to her. Those oils last a couple months and so does the rest of what is needed so she was off to the organic store to supply her make-up case with everything new.
We all wondered how she would get through airport security. They are accustomed to women’s make-up cases, but not those with oils and organic ingredients which are normally thought of as food. We imagined her being put into detention for days while airport security checked and re-checked her ‘new’ makeup for some new kind of terrorist plot.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to:
bettina-network@comcast.net
Weight Control and Good Health for a Lifetime!
February 1st, 2017Look around – take a walk – go shopping – to the theatre – symphony – sports event and you will see many, many overweight people.
How on earth did this happen! My mother’s generation didn’t share this overweightness. Many in my generation have gaining weight and battling that weight gain as a constant. In my children’s generation they are taller and heavier except those who border on bulimia or some other eating disorder. What has happened to all of us? Something radical on this earth and in our environment has changed.
Have you noticed that diet food – diet drinks – exercise and body control programs – an entire industry has grown up and is thriving on your willingness to work hard and sweat even harder while that industry earns substantial amounts of money for either the foods they want to sell you to control your weight or their weight control ideas or body manipulations to feed your dream of looking as though you are 15 years old again!
It is all a smoke screen! A way to keep you from realizing the pit you have fallen into and can’t get out. The truth that you need to set you free is obscured and in your very distant past generations, mostly obscured from you by the need to maintain and increase the profit of this new “Health and Fitness Industry”. That may be what it is called by many, but its goals are anything but.
Most of what you need is not in that Health and Fitness Industry, but in the secrets your past generations took to the grave. The marketing, with which you were raised, blinded you so thoroughly you didn’t want to hear what your ancestors had to say nor did you want to carry forward their lifestyles. You particularly looked down on the knowledge and experience they gained from their lifestyles because you found more relevant the marketing and advertising dreamed up by those probably even younger than you are who were/are busy pumping out pipe dreams to maintain their jobs.
They were trained by experts at creating a new culture and a new lifestyle based on your giving them your money and potential possessions and they giving you the way to a miserable life – whether it be long or short – but profitable to their companies. Is this what you bought and live by today?
Now, however, everyone around you seems to be calling you back to this glorious past where you will find redemption, salvation, a better life than we have today and at the same time those same people, industries and their marketing/advertising is creating a trap for you so you don’t even know what past you are being called to learn from and buy into. A mythical, glorious past which actually never existed except in the movies and a scattering of novels. What used to be sold on the ‘silver screen’ is now being sold as a distorted, pumped up on drugs, reality show which you are being told was the great, glorious past to reach back to, recreate and nirvana will arrive.
They hold out the promise of satisfaction, satiety, for this something inside that is roiling your gut and telling you something is off and very damaged. They hold out what looks like the cure to this wrong road you’ve taken. Their message is full of pretty pictures or accompanying videos so words alone no longer satisfy and those pretty pictures are characterized as the road to Oz. But the curtain is seldom let down so you can’t see the wizard behind the screen doing all of this manipulating.
Let me lift the curtain for you – just a little. To strip the curtain away entirely is something you are going to have to do for yourselves. Unfortunately, it has been turned into a lifelong search and you are very devoid of the mentors who could shorten the search and reward your efforts when you hit a success spot.
Over the past couple generations we have put in place a modern lifestyle which started with our need to work constantly to be able to afford more, even though we were using so many new inventions that cut our work load in half. We haven’t been able to get off that rodent’s wheel long enough to see if it really was generating the ‘more/better’ it promised. Most of us are afraid to stop because the bleak future pictured by doing that is something we can’t stand to allow ourselves to imagine.
So let’s take this one thing at a time:
starting with – Our food supply and food habits. That alone has taken books, videos and endless self-help sessions to describe and to either mislead us or to help us understand what is and what has happened. The story that starts with once upon a time ends with corporate farms using chemicals and other substances which destroy our bodies a tiny little bit at a time so we can’t identify or point to that as one of the reasons for our current dilemma. The marketing and advertising has us in a constant ongoing argument with each other which both sides lose, because in this great information sharing age, the crucial information is kept locked up and very seldom shared.
Just a couple for instances:
Flour – that which was the staff of life for our forbears and was in many breads and other dishes is something we are warned against today and which has developed around it and trying to take its place – a new industry – gluten free – because so many are now allergic to what sustained life in their past generations. And gluten-free is a much more lucrative end result of processing than is flour, which is now depicted as the enemy of health in so many characterizations and advertisements. One little dirty secret = it is substantially more profitable.
How could that be? Who did this thing? The one substance which you could practically live off of alone is now claimed as our bodies enemy. If you are not allergic to it, then certainly you know it makes you fat!
Flour as a profit center is what happened and the machinery went into high gear to figure out how to make ever more money giving even less to the general populations: Farmers were encouraged to put all kind of chemicals on their wheat and to experiment with new kinds of wheat developed because, thereby, much more could be grown on a small plot of land and even beyond that – large corporate farms popped up, quietly destroying the farmer. The substantially increased profit to be made on land growing this ever new kind of wheat was too much for some to pass over and certainly was not to be shared with the non-corporate types. And so ‘crush them’ was the mantra of the day and it was successful.
Greed called those susceptible, into the flour business, to press as much money out of it as possible giving to the populace whatever smokescreen and story board was necessary to hide the real reasons for that substantial profit increase from something as basic as wheat. And along came the hiding and holding back and creating myths for the populace (us). The wizard was very busy with all of this going on behind the screen.
The best place to start to tell this part of the story is at the end of the processing line – the point at which flour has been robbed of everything that gave us life and all of that replaced with that which takes life and good health away from us. The large silos in which the “finished” flour was put to be held until it could be packaged harbor many ugly secrets. Predictably, those silos were infested with bugs and our new kind of logic said bugs needed to be killed with pesticides and that happened. None of the silos escaped.
There was no way to get the dead bugs out of the silos so let the flour stay until the bugs deteriorated. No one would ever ask what those black specks were in the bags of flour, if the bags and the marketing were such as to make the flour more convenient to buy and prettier to look at with the mythical story about how much ‘cheaper’ it was. And the bonus – something light brown or a dark ivory was made very white! The background color of this ‘revolution’.
There was no way to get the pesticides out of the flour because it just became one with the ground grain. So the department, in the United States, which kept the public’s food supply safe just issued a proclamation which said there was not enough pesticide in the flour so it wasn’t worth demanding that the pesticides be removed – that would be too costly – nor was there enough to warrant a note on the packaged flour letting the consumer know the product they were buying was tainted.
And so, the flour moved off the shelves into our homes where it wrecked havoc with our health without most of us knowing why we were developing these low levels of something that made us feel not quite up to par; some of us becoming quite ill with allergies; some of us succumbing to viruses and various bacteria much easier and more frequently than in the past.
….And so another industry sprung up to address that and to take us further down the rabbit hole and those addressing that issue further up the profit margin generator.
Milk – Another one of those ‘basic for life’ foods that we all eat or drink that has added to this horrendous lifestyle we are living. We have become so accustomed to the problems with milk and other foods, we have simply adjusted and move on. It is becoming unpatriotic to question.
Many of us are horrified if we have to drink “Whole Milk” – as though this would poison our system. We have come to believe most assuredly that would put more weight on us and probably fool with our fat/cholesterol count and from that would come hardening of the arteries or high blood pressure or something equally awful. Some science I remember from a small child doesn’t exist in the public mind anymore – “drink your milk, you need milk fat and milk protein in your system at the same time. ” And that is Whole Milk. The other kinds of milk simply lowers your health and increases the corporate profit.
But, what if ‘whole’ milk was not the culprit, but the growth hormones fed to the cows producing the milk was at fault. The growth hormones which apparently move from cow to human and cause our bodies to react by being tricked into believing the one ounce of food we just ate was really four ounces so where we want our cows to become fatter on less so our profits would be more, what really doesn’t matter to those so trapped in that profit center is the fact that they are passing that little tricked-out and chemicalized out food to the rest of us as we get just as fat as the cows and for the same reason. Doesn’t matter if it is ‘whole’ milk or the other kind with the fat taken out.
What if problems occur because, while the cow needs to be heavier with more pounds per cow on less food per cow to increase profits, humans need to be lighter with fewer pounds per human to be healthier. So – what to do —
Develop, to address this problem – a very large health industry to compensate for the health and wellness problems caused humans by this and other such food developments. And so it should be and so it is.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg!
You should get the message by now so do your research and you will be appalled at what you find. Some have already discovered much of this and adjusted their lifestyle and diets accordingly, but not even close to a majority of us.
Food has been turned into a political topic to maintain its outlandish growth into the nether regions, those where you can legitimately ask if this is really food when it is mostly chemicals and instead of working together for the health of all we are arguing pro and con totally ignoring reality and facts in our arguments – especially the most popular ones. Listening to the arguments one would think some of us are not human, but our bodies have some other kind of existence.
The real culprit comes into play in our everyday lives and how we have incorporated meals into this growingly outlandish lifestyle. Out of the food industry has come the processed food industry and the fast food industry – all detrimental to our health.
Once upon a time, meals were a family community event. Well, that’s gone by the board. Meals are now a catch when you can thing and mostly made up of the fast foods and/or the processed foods found everywhere.
And in-between those very unsatisfying fast food meals are the fast food and sugar or salt loaded snacks. Today, however, it is increasingly salt and sugar in the same food product because it was recently found that combining the two makes for a quicker and more substantial addiction. Hungry between meals? There are thousands of snacks you can pick up to get from one “meal” to the next – competing for the title of “I can damage this body quicker than you can”.
I could go into other food groups in addition to milk and flour, but you have to do something! So I will leave that to those interested.
Alternatives? What did our ancestors do!
Soup: Was a ‘go to’ dish. Not the soup one makes with individual ingredients like pumpkin soup or butternut squash soup or, etc. But the soup, kept on the back of the stove, constantly hot so if anyone was hungry between meals you went for a bowl of soup. You simply found a soup bowl, ladled out as much as you felt you wanted to eat and enjoyed a very filling, satisfying and nutrient rich ‘snack’ that kept you satiated between meals and did not add extra pounds or lower your immune system making you susceptible to whatever came along. A side benefit from this ‘family soup pot’ was the fact that if company dropped by unexpectedly you had something very lovely and elegant to serve them and in an instant. Set the table, ladle out the soup and enjoy your visitors.
Everything was put into that soup. Vegetables left over – instead of letting them spoil they were cut up and put into the soup. Meat-turkey-chicken-venison, whatever, left over from some dish or other or was not being used as quickly in another dish as expected because time to use it had run out – that was added to the soup. It was constantly adjusted with different spices to make it something really special, very filling and incredibly nutritious to keep you in good health.
Custards and puddings were constantly being made. Left over rice went to make rice pudding as did bread that was beginning to go stale. As was ——etc.
Breads were used even when stale. All one had to do was to pass the bread under the faucet to wet it a bit and then put it in the oven to heat. The result was bread that tasted as though it was freshly baked and just out of the oven. Today, we throw away stale bread and rice and other grains instead of reusing them and keeping them in the refrigerator for their next use – that is, those of us who still eat such things. Or we keep them in the refrigerator, expecting to use them, but once we finally remember them when going through the refrigerator, we find them full of mold.
Cakes were baked from scratch. They can be baked today and just as quickly as those from the box – tasting far better and with more nutrition. The boxed cakes give you nothing. The freshly baked cakes are a dream. For a recipe – try the 1-2-3-4 cake. Easy recipe to remember. With a mixer it takes less than 15 minutes to put together ready for baking. Make enough for more than one cake – use the stale left overs to make custards more interesting.
So many recipes are available for quick and nutritious foods – made from scratch. But even our cookbooks have been compromised. When I see one which says take a can of…… out it goes in the trash.
Looking for the old cookbooks is difficult because they have been so cast aside. I find mostly the file boxes in which someone has filed recipes they had from grandparents, aunts, uncles, old friends who brought food stuff for the sick and shut in, including the recipe they used to create the dish they brought. That doesn’t happen so much anymore – can’t when you’ve stopped at a quick food store to pick up something on the fly.
We could go into the cosmetics industry, the environment, and more – but the clouds start to form and those with vested interests become interested in us and we like to travel under the radar.
Life can be really simple because that even goes to how you clean your house and the substances you use with which you clean. Our mantra is simple – don’t use anything to clean with that you would not eat. Well, not as a snack, but you get the message. And don’t put anything on your skin you would not put in your stomach. It winds up in your bloodstream in seconds.
All of that marketing and advertising on which we have been raised is hard to undo and get out of our minds. We have given top priority and attention to what which is put out for the purposes of selling a product – the mythical world – rather than anything factual about that product. And far too often, that which our family and older friends have tried to teach us gets thrown out with the dirty wash water.
Our conditioning is almost complete – except for the cracks in the wall that a few have been trying to widen to let back in the flood of information that has to be kept out if our current – modern – lifestyle is to be kept and built upon. That lifestyle is a building built on sand. What you need for yourselves and your family is a building with a strong foundation. The story of the three pigs comes to mind. Each built a house on something different and the storms came or was it the fox who huffed and puffed and blew all of the pigs houses down except the one who built on that solid foundation.
The same goes for all of us as we build our lives and try to pass along the lessons we’ve learned to our children. Hopefully, something happens which gets them to listen. I’ve given up on that and have written many notes for them to read after I die. That isn’t a sure thing either – because most of your belongings are given away or thrown away after death so some other way has to be found. Libraries were one way, but the internet has sounded their death knell – so the search goes on.
In the meantime, I realize this topic needs a book not an article so let me stop here and leave the rest of this up to you. Hopefully, you will walk the path that puts you in good health and those around you in a wonderfully supportive environment.
The one great discovery I’ve had is that walking that path gets rid of simple things like a cold. We haven’t had colds in over five years. They are not normal, as we have come to accept, but an indication that something in your life and in the lives of your family members who come down with colds and other such temporary illnesses has a cause that can be eradicated if you change your lifestyle.
All of these such illnesses were unheard of two generations ago. The movement to build a huge and lucrative health industry, which depends upon regular outbreaks of bad health, has grown very quickly. Such outbreaks are necessary for that industry to grow, expand, and constantly see increased profits. New viruses and other infectious agents have to multiply and get stronger for the health industry to continue on its upward path and we have not disappointed.
It is not an industry that is working to put itself out of business by helping the populace in its move towards better health. When we notice that hospitals have become profit centers with stock holders and all the other trappings which require regular profits and substantial increases in profit each quarter and year over year, we realize our health is being preyed on directly as is our food supply indirectly.
Your feedback and/or new information is always appreciated.
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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
On the Issue of Immigrants and Refugees
January 27th, 2017by: Marceline Donaldson
WHERE DO WE STAND AS AMERICANS ON THE ISSUE OF IMMIGRANTS?
The United States of America has a rich and long history, which started long before Donald Trump and will continue long after he is gone.
Where do we stand on immigrants? This has been documented historically for generations and we have a beautiful statue on its own island as a symbol to make sure our next generations and those looking to us for leadership around the world understand where we have come from traditionally, historically and out of the very soul of this nation, which is made up of immigrants and where we will be solidly for a very long time.
A poem, written by Emma Lazarus and cut into the stone of the gift from France – meant to be a beacon to Exiles from all over the world – says exactly where Americans have been for a few hundred years. This is not the first time I have quoted this poem on this blog. Hope it becomes meaningful to you – as it has been to generations of Americans and Immigrants coming to this country. Many I have met can quote this poem from memory.
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Not Donald Trump, nor anyone else can erase the history of the United States with its continuing stance on immigrants no matter how hard they try. We need to come to our senses and look at our history and respect where we have been – who we are – and where we are going.
Neither Donald Trump, nor his wife, nor any members of his family would be in this country if we did not have the above stance on immigration and immigrants. This was not written for the immigration to the United States of Northern Europeans – it was written to and about the world and to and about who we all are.
Me and mine have been in this country over 5 generations and we are not going anywhere. Some of my ancestors were here before the Pilgrims and the Puritans. Some of my ancestors were brought here against their will. Some came as immigrants either because of the possibility of wealth and they wanted to increase wealth they already had; or because they wanted to escape oppression. Some didn’t come at all, but became United States citizens when the borders were redrawn and their plantation was deemed no longer in Mexico, but in America and they were thrown off their own land and put in the street. So, no – I am not going anyplace and I know that my family is very much a part of the fabric of America – the good, the bad and the indifferent.
I did think briefly of updating my passport and leaving before all hell breaks loose. However, this is my country and the Donald J. Trump’s are the newcomers and the nouveau riche. Their history is short and littered with commercial moments trying to take money and material goods from the rest of us without paying, without earning what they have taken, without any regard for the humanity or the human rights or the Constitution of these United States. It is time for them and theirs to leave and be blocked from arriving – not for them to be able to go against those who have always been Americans – always respected the Constitution – always have given and shared and helped those trying to make a better life in these United States – legal or otherwise – trying to respond, as best they could as they were caught in the horribleness of where they called home.
May God forgive him and all the rest who are following him for the way they have lived and contributed to the pain and suffering of those whose lives they have touched, changed and made excruciatingly difficult just because they could.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
Donald Trump – President – the Day After
January 21st, 2017It has been a harrowing few days. Mostly because we had to get through something which caused the very air we breathe to grieve.
The Bettina Network, inc. – A Lifestyle Community – Defining a Creatively Elegant Lifestyle. And in the subtitles created by our business model, we are a company with diversity at its core. We see the transformational power of diversity on a daily basis. We deal with all religions, races, nationalities and are open enough – some would say arrogant enough – to feel we are beyond bigotry and its inhibitors and destroyers of beauty, life, love, creation.
We wanted to give you an overview of our reaction to the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump as 45th President of these United States, remembering that many of our members live around the world. We are not solely within the United States.
To do this, we kept in touch with many during the day to get their feedback and thoughts as to this new administration; the inauguration; what people took away from it about the future of the United States – to sum up, what is it this whole thing meant to us and what do we see in the future.
We have known for some time, that some members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle community are strong Donald Trump supporters; some think Obama and God are related; some are too busy to bother; and some are just political junkies. Most THINK – a rare quality these days – and practically all are avid readers (which is one reason Bettina’s Blog comes out with words, lots of words, and not many images, videos, etc.).
As we talked to Trump supporters, many of them have changed their commitments and are no longer Trump supporters. Of those still supporting him they are doing so because they are holding tight to his promise of bringing into being Term Limits for all Congresspeople. That struck us as strange, especially given all that is swirling around Trump today, but basically, their discouragement and dropping of Trump in all other areas has come about since the election and comes from watching him as “President in Waiting”.
Most of the Trump supporters we previously talked to said they turned against him when they heard his Inauguration speech. For the first time, some of them questioned his sanity. Others said it was amazing to see and hear someone give such a speech at such a momentous occasion. They’d heard him before with his claims of this being the best inauguration of all times and the most people in attendance – and even when they saw and were sure he saw the small numbers of people in front of him – he still talked about he and his being the best ever. Donald Trump held to his claim that more people turned out for his inauguration than any other in history. Some 1.8 million turned out for Obama’s inauguration and less than half of that number were now there for Trump. That denial of reality is a Trump hallmark. Even before his term as President of the United States began, he had a very substantial reputation as a liar.
If Trump does not come through with the term limits on Congress he will lose the last group, in Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community, still hanging in and trying to support him – at least the sampling of those we contacted to get their feedback.
For those not supporting Trump – most were beyond simply not supporting him, they had moved to be very afraid of him and what he represented. Their big issue was his bigotry and how that is going to change the country and the world. They were super concerned that Trump thanked “the world” for some of his support. To many, that immediately said his arrogance was way over the top and considered that an admission of his connection to Valdimir Putin, Russia and others like him acknowledging their interference in the American Presidential election. Others were concerned about the clenched fist salute he gave at very particular and seemingly coordinated times in his speech.
The surprise of what came out of this for us was the acknowledgment by everyone of Trump’s lies – with the postscript that even though he lies about everything, the truth seems to always come out, and from him, like highway markers along the way. This comment of his thanking, among others, the world – was taken as one of those highway markers.
Those most frightened by Trump were those who saw this Trump administration as a takeover of the United States by the 1%. Not the “establishment”, but those newly wealthy – as is Trump – and “feeling their oats” and exercising ‘power over’ without any consideration for anything or anyone except themselves. The “fright” comes from the fact that extreme wealth seems to make those having it extremely self-absorbed and not able to see anything outside of their wants. What we heard often was – “wealth blinds” and that old hack saw “power corrupts”.
The theologians amongst us saw this as an example, being worked out in front of us, of how being self-absorbed with nothing around which one allows to mitigate that, being the road to hell. Well – they expressed it better and in greater detail, but we have compressed that long theological argument. The wealthy and self-absorbed being surrounded by Sycophants leads to sin and eternal damnation – or something like that.
Others were concerned about the “Militaristic” forces moving the United States in the direction of a dictatorship with the support that requires. This coming, apparently from the requirement in the U. S. that the Secretary of Defense be a civilian and Donald Trump ignoring that and appointing a military man to that position with others in government and who could and should have stopped that, allowing him to move in that direction. That said to them – it is not just Trump, but he has supporters in all the right places to create an ugly fascistic dictatorship.
Those who were looking towards the next election to begin to make things “right” saw this dictatorship forming itself very quickly and consolidating its gains by its attacks on the Voter laws. Only a handful saw that as a racial move – most saw it as a consolidation of a fascist government in waiting making sure it could continue to shape up its structure and put down roots while uprooting the Republic. Some things that brought this up were the brakes being put on a voting rights case and the voter ID laws being put down and more. Those who didn’t see this as a racist move saw it as using racism to blind us to the fact that this is the next step – after destroying the media – to the establishment of a dictatorship.
The Europeans we talked with were mind blown by Trump’s inauguration speech, which they saw as a parallel to the speeches given by the incoming Nazi’s right after the second world war with its descriptions of America which in Trump’s speech, sounded like a war-torn country immediately after a war that was lost and the country stripped of everything.
Given the wealth of America and the strength of its Armed Forces and everything else, it was seen by most Europeans, especially Germans, as the kind of speeches which were used to allow the structure of Nazism to form within the German government with the help of its citizens. But that was not limited to Germans. Surprisingly, Italians were also upset over the landscape of that speech.
Many heard Trumps’ call to totally eradicate radical Islamic terrorists from the face of the earth as really code for eliminating Islam.
Ridiculous parts of the speech were “the middle class ripped from their homes”. No one missed the fact that with that comment and Mnuchin Secretary of the Treasury that was clearly a comment meant to keep the middle class quiet and supporting Trump while he and his minions raped the country.
Rape came up as a constant theme. Most thought Trump was going to rape the country of every kind of wealth possible and not being able to do it alone, his cabinet members were perfectly chosen to create that perfect storm. Practically everyone in his cabinet seems to have been chosen because they are against what the department they have been appointed to lead stands for – and Congress is going to do nothing about that, except pass along Trump’s appointees. Governor Perry from Texas who many times talked about his burning desire to eliminate and shut down the Department of Energy is now appointed to head it. in spite of all those comments, he now says he has had a change of heart. That was a joke to most. A change of heart to be able to be appointed and it all seemed like a wink, wink, nod, nod to most of those with whom we talked.
What was most amazing to most of our ‘informants’ was Trump’s ability to lie and spread that lie seeming to be so honest in his speech. He talked about jobs going overseas and we need to bring them back – and he said that as though China, Mexico and others were the ones responsible for sending those jobs overseas. The fact that United States Multi-National Corporations are the ones who emptied the factories and eliminated U. S. jobs – not the countries to whom those jobs were exported was nowhere to be heard – neither in the speech, nor in any of Trump’s previous campaign speeches, nor by anyone he has appointed to his cabinet, nor anyplace else in this “Trump Movement.”
Nowhere does Donald Trump make any pledges to bring back the jobs his companies have sourced overseas to other countries – nor has he nor his daughter pledged to bring back such jobs to the United States. Always the finger is pointed at others. His daughter has moved her jobs from China to Bangladesh, but not back to the United States. Clearly, China was coming in for negativity from the “Trump Movement” when we saw that movement happen.
What amazed most is, they haven’t seen any mainline media coverage of this fact. Nothing which analyzes and talks about the Trump family contribution to jobs having been moved overseas.
Also not in evidence is how the people hired in those sweat shops and other factories and places are being used as indentured servants to increase the wealth of Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and their friends and relatives. They are not jobs uplifting the masses in the countries to which they have been exported. It is just another form of near-slavery because the wages are so low to non-existent.
A few people wanted it known that the fact that “America First” was coined by the Nazi Regime and is being used by Trump and others as though it is a good thing. Germany “Uber Alles” is something else they wanted highlighted. It is certainly not Christian and that was the theme of Trump’s inauguration. The prayers by the three people were all definitely and exclusively “in your face’ Jesus and company. Nothing wrong with that, per se, except that this was about the state and not the church and it was about being president of all the people and many in this country pray to other than Jesus. It was a very strong statement made by this inauguration. It became very clear what “Make America Great Again” really means. If you didn’t get it before, you got it at this inauguration. “Make America White and Mainline Christian Again”. All of you ‘fringe’ Christian denominations need to take note.
People are being rounded up as you read this – and this is neither a joke, nor a fantasy, nor a story. Who we have elected with his supporters is a bully and so are many of those he is appointing to key Government positions. To see the outlines of his bully nature – read again his description of grabbing women without their consent. I think we are going to see that acted out as Trump and his wealthy friends grab and reset government. They are the ones now in control with the money and power. They had the money – now as a group, they have the power to basically change these United States.
We think you will see a corporate crime wave like none other. Trump has already shown he is taking the constraints off of police violence and its consequent abuse of U. S. Citizens and others. Given the FBI report of decades ago about the goal of infiltrating the police with those seeking to maintain White Privilege by any means necessary – they have had a couple decades to do just that and we have seen its beginnings.
It is tragic that all police have been tarred with the same brush. Without an investigation to determine what is going on within the police forces around the country, there is no hope for anything other than a clear path for those who want to maintain control through this kind of police violence. With Donald Trump and his administration, they now have the go ahead to escalate and instill fear into the populace.
Trump, in his inaugural speech, described the fictional America which was needed to put in place the structure to allow for Trump’s Nationalist and Populist government to rape and squander what has taken this country from 1789 to build. It can all be lost in just a few short years. One goal seems to be to limit which voters are going to be allowed to go to the polls and vote in the next two years so the “Trump Movement’s” playground won’t be lost.
What could have come out of this is a three party system, which is much needed in this country, if Trump had different moral values. The Republicans, Democrats and the Trump Party. With their leaders lack of character and inability to tell the truth. With Trump’s lies saying whatever he feels will get him over the moment along with the bigotry he used to get where he is today, that clearly will not happen.
From our leader to Trump – you reap what you sow and there is no getting out of or going around that universal truth. So, we need to buckle up, but so does Mr. Trump.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
Alan Powers – A Book Review
January 18th, 2017A member of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community, Alan Powers is Author, Astrophysicist, Professor and World Traveller.
His book that most intrigued me was “Giordano Bruno” – the Man Galileo Plagiarized. Just the sub-title was enough to get me to read the book.
Alan’s wife Susan, usually is the illustrator of his covers and inside art. Together they produce very sensitive books which usually have a bit of a bite.
If you put his name in the search box you will find a video presentation of Alan giving a lecture on Giordano Bruno. Bruno’sname is not as well known as Galileo, but being the one Galileo plagiarized, we think it is worth reading about and listening to.
Alan Power’s Biography “The only thing Alan W Powers shares with Dr. Seuss is their place of birth, Springfield MA. Powers has worked as a harmless drudge, a college teacher of composition and Shakespeare, in Minnesota and Massachusetts. He has written a guest Safire “Head over Googles,” and appeared in two poetry films, Keats and his Nightingale and A Loaded Gun. He has been interviewed on Italian TV and radio, and American radio. As a jazz trombonist on the bench, he wrote jazz tunes based on British and American birdsong, the subject of his first popular book. With the ears of a spy, he has written verse monologs based on scandalous overheard conversations. Despite several articles on Shakespeare (and law), his lifework turns out to be translations and a biography of Giordano Bruno, who was sent to the Inquisition by one bad student evaluation. A sceptic on education reform, he says, “Good teachers get fired; great teachers, killed–Socrates, Christ, Giordano Bruno.” “
Alan’s latest book is “Parodies Lost”.
In an email, Alan sent us a bit of information about this new book which we share with you:
“Susan Mohl Powers (google her art on wikipedia) has provided arresting covers and interior art for my new book, Parodies Lost, filled with parodies of famous poets like Ashbery, Angelou, Dickinson, R Wilbur, Dylan Thomas (and the other Dylan-Zimmerman), Robert Herrick and more. The story follows my brilliant Amherst College friend Tom Weiskel, Harold Bloom’s favorite student at Yale, and a Yale Asst Prof at 25, d. at 29. Back-cover blurbs from Ron Wallace (Poetry Editor at U WI), Margie Ferguson (UC-Davis, former head of MLA), and William Pritchard (Amherst College). Brief excerpts:
“He knew–from a picture of Rod McKuen–
of all his race, the poet makes
the saddest face. And next to a hound,
the saddest sound.”
Wordsworth, a reflective poet pup:
“Of many words I have no need
Like all those human lies—
Say, where they’ve been. With one stiff sniff
I know, the noser knows.”
After Dylan Thomas:
“Love burst firth, froth on the sea
Foams on the rolling, beating surf.
Life burst first from the edge of the sea,
Leapt spume over land,
Arched sparkling, fell seed into soil…”
Country Western:
“I’m only a Laborer
In the Factory of Love;
I been workin’ ev’ry night
And now the job is done.
My wife she made a baby,
But I have been the one
Workin’ in the Factoree of Luv.”
“Better a beetle in a pile of dung
Than anything in a Rapper’s song.”
https://www.amazon.com/Parodies-Lost-Alan-Powers/dp/1786975122/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
After presenting at Harvard Astrophysics in October, 2013, I spoke at U Notre Dame, London, and my second book on Giordano Bruno, his hilarious play Candelaio, was performed at the Bridewell Theatre, London (4 April 14). That book is now in a dozen world libraries, including the Royal Danish Library. My Worlds of Giordano Bruno is in three dozen, in eight countries.
My Ph.D. thesis, This Critical Age (on 17C English criticism in verse form), written under Bellow’s friend Leonard Unger, is now in two German libraries, recently added at Freien Universitadt Berlin, 35 years after its publication. Also, I currently edit the Shakespeare Series for Peter Lang Press.
To buy this book what follows is the information you will need –
Paperback: 106 pages
Publisher: FeedARead.com (November 12, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1786975122
ISBN-13: 978-1786975126
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
Care for Wood Floors
January 10th, 2017I read a Bettina Blog quite some time ago which talked about caring for wood floors without using the petroleum derivative products and others, which are harmful to humans. I don’t remember its title, but it made a lot of sense to me and I used its suggestions and have added a few of my own.
The one I found sensational is caring for wood floors with coconut oil – organic, expeller pressed, coconut oil and nothing else – except a soft rag and 0000 steel wood if the floor is really dirty with stuff crusted into the wood.
The first time I cleaned my floor with coconut oil I had to use the 0000 steel wool and it took a long time because I could only do a section at a time. My energy didn’t last for the entire floor, but that worked in my favor because I could move furniture over in a small section of the room – go over the floor, pouring a bit of coconut oil onto the floor and wiping back and forth with the 0000 steel wool. I then went over it again with a soft rag pouring the coconut oil sparingly onto the rag to wipe up the remains of the steel wool, dirt and whatever else this process got off the floor.
I let the floor dry for a day or two and then wiped it with a soft dry rag. There was a soft film over the floor and the dry, soft rag wiped it off quickly leaving the floor unbelievably beautiful. It looked like the real mahogany wood I loved so much when it was first installed. It did not have that look of a plastic covering, only being able to see the real wood through that thick coating – it had the look of well taken care of mahogany wood.
That was a couple years ago. I first tried olive oil on the floors, but after a couple cleanings, that left a sticky surface. And I tried a few other oils, but the one I am sticking with is coconut oil. I put the glass jar of coconut oil on top of the stove before cleaning so it will be liquid. I now clean my floors once a year with the coconut oil and after only about three years, the floors are now easy to clean – I rarely need the 0000 steel wool anymore and each time I clean the floors with the coconut oil, the floors look better than they did the time before.
What a fantastic and simple way to keep your house clean.
A bonus comes from the really nice odor the coconut oil leaves. No one can put their hands on exactly what is the smell, but people now notice and comment when they come in the house.
I now put a bit of essential oil of lavender in the coconut oil before using it and that has enhanced the really great feeling of the house – and its odor.
A friend of mine has taken up the habit after she saw my floors. She puts essential oil of roses – which she calls rose otto – in her coconut oil and her house smells great. That is her preference – wouldn’t be mine, but I still enjoy the odor when I go to visit.
Thanks for that!
Keep those suggestions for this organic kind of house keeping coming. I feel as though I have added a few years onto my life and the lives of my family. No off-gases from those other kind of cleaning ingredients, which I think are dangerous to your health.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
Truth Telling Time!
January 9th, 2017Copied from Face Book – an Article from the New York Times along with comment by Marceline Donaldson.
This isn't the only business stolen from African Americans – slave or not. Airbnb was the work of a Black Woman – me -…
Posted by Marceline Donaldson on Monday, January 9, 2017
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We Are Being Played! Trumped!
April 27th, 2017The “roll out” of Donald J. Trump’s tax program was amazing. It is the (1%) one percenters dream. If it goes through it create a country without responsibility to anyone except its top ten percent – the bottom nine percent of this top ten percent will be the recipients of this country’s “welfare”. It is the way to acquire unlimited wealth and pass it on to your children.
Every country has suffered from having no ‘death tax’ because the wealth of their top group grows to extremes and the poverty of its bottom group becomes beyond desperate.
My dream has been to be able to pass on what I have worked so hard for all of my life to my children and grandchildren. It isn’t a huge estate, but enough for me to rest in peace knowing they would have some backup as life delivers one body blow after another. But, every time I think those thoughts I think of all of those others – children and grandchildren of people who have not been able to accumulate an estate of any kind and generally leave their children in debt.
It is a conflict for most of us, but the ‘death tax’ usually wins, if we have a shred of caring for those who can’t care for themselves and if we care about trying to lift up those who were born so downtrodden they won’t make it otherwise.
However, that is not the case with many who have accumulated a substantial estate. It seems those who have created the largest estates are the greediest and want to see everything move down the generations of their own families. They generally wind up passing negative moral judgments on those who have not been able to create the same. They become those who are ‘better than’ on so many levels and those in front of whom the rest of us become subservient because we want a little of their wealth to rub off into our families.
Trump’s reduction in the tax rate – elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax and all of his other proposals will bankrupt the United States Treasury and the deficit will zoom. He knows that – he is not new to this game – his own estate has shown him the ins and outs of taxes and those he chose to work with him and on this tax problem, among others, are very much in tune with Trump’s way of life and way of thinking. The poor, the sick, those who have many problems which have kept them from amassing large amounts of money are parasitic interlopers into their “hard work” and “success.”
The longer I live the clearer it becomes that those who have succeeded awesomely have done so at the expense of the poor, the sick, the indigent, the minority, the women in this society. They have used the life, the work, the dreams of others to make it in big ways. They have stripped those others of everything and have no conscience about their deeds.
Right before this tax cut was rolled out, the ‘Trumpster’ started playing us all. As many buttons as he could push to distract from this tax business he pushed. Talking heads in the media took the bait; civil rights activists took the bait; those working for economic justice took the bait and Trump cleared a wide path for his people to walk down the road, make their announcement of things to come and the response was muted because we were all looking at where Trump’s finger was pointing instead of at the moon.
We are being played. We have been played since Trump started his run for office. The very large choice Trump made in how he would make his money was via casinos, after all. (It always amazes me how “evangelicals’ ran so hard after and for a hard core gambler).
His research is to find the ‘hot buttons’ in this society and choose which ones to push before he does something he wants to slip through as unnoticed as possible and he is very good at that. It is called manipulation and Trump is the Great Manipulator. He has done a magnificent job. He got votes from the middle class because he convinced them that his racism, sexism, general all around bigotry, anti-immigrant stance was just what they needed to recover whatever they lost. The fact that under Trump they would lose even more was totally hidden and many still haven’t seen the game. The money support he has received has been awesome and none of that middle class has asked -‘where did we get that kind of money to support you – we sent small dollars because it was all we had – so now what are you going to do for those who tossed so many dollars into your ‘honey pots’ because what they want is anathema to us.’
And – by the way – is Amazon.com still a large Trump supporter? The story of their bottom to middle employees needs to be told truthfully to understand why amazon.com’s support of Trump follows its path!
Let the games continue! Let those who have Trump Dust in their eyes get clear and see so they can begin to win some of these games. No one is going to do it for you! And to the rest of us – Reagan was the opening parenthesis; Trump is the closing – what does that mean!! What preceded Reagan and what was between the opening and closing parentheses? It is the pattern of our world, repeated over and over and over again.
This country has had too many times of the majority fighting for equality and justice and those few at the top planning and bringing about the defeat of that equality and justice which peeps through each spring before it gets mowed down, covered with all those chemicals, comes back looking bedraggled, tired and straggly while that top group, regroups and finds a new-different-and better way to rip off the rest of us. Certainly the technology group has found ways to become extraordinarily wealthier than any that preceded them. Their progeny lives to fight another day, wealthy beyond imaginings and walking in their ancestors paths – until this next group comes along to knock them off. They grow smaller in numbers but greater in strength and their look is characterized as how the rest of the culture should look. There are very few women in that group, but have you noticed their shoes? The highest heels – the thickest platforms – the latest style – and never under four figures. That is how you know them from the wives of the tech people.
And the progeny of those fighters for love, peace, equality, justice and all that’s related start once again thinking that this time they will succeed where their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents failed and this world will be beautiful and good for all of its inhabitants because of their work – they will get it right. The extremes of that group have been called a cults. The extreme of the other group have been called the real heroes of the world and it is their history that goes down the generations. The others are characterized like John the Baptist and pictured as we think he looked in his day. Their adaptation of ‘their historical culture’ always makes up the look of what we label the ‘counter culture.’
Think on these things so you can begin to take over your life. It is difficult. It is stressful. You don’t always win. But, you become stronger as you fight each battle whether you win or lose and at some point if you continue standing on your own two feet you begin to win more than you lose. But the real reward is the inner peace that comes and the love that glows from your very body.
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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.
Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to bettina-network@comcast.net
Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, breakfast table talk, Donald Trump, Guest Comments, politics, Racism, Sexism, Spiritual Reflection
Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Breakfast Table Talk, Donald Trump, Finance, Guest comments, Kitchen Table Talk, politics, Spiritual Reflection, Ubuntu | Comments Off on We Are Being Played! Trumped!