Archive for the ‘Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community’ Category

The Fourth of July, 2017

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

What a day we celebrate in a year during which our Republic is once again in jeopardy and we are in fear of all of the gains made by those who went before being trashed. And – we have only ourselves to blame.

To celebrate the Fourth of July with Donald Trump as president of these United States seems a sacrilege. He has worked very hard to trash everything this country’s founders put in place. And he has been way too successful!

Why? Because the United States of America elected and re-elected an African American as president – twice!!!! And that jeopardized his identity as better than and the identities of those who he has gathered around him as above all others.

All of the racist and sexist structures that Barack Obama took down during his presidency, or which influenced others to work to take down the racist/sexist infrastructure of these United States are being reconstructed by Donald Trump and his followers. In the name of white supremacy – white privilege – Trump and those who are working with and for him are doing everything they can to tear down and then reconstitute this country into a stronger model of the racist and sexist institution from which it has struggled to be free.

Adolph Hitler played god in Germany and the people suffered. Donald Trump is playing god in the United States of America and the people are suffering. Only God is God! To attempt to become a god and force others to acknowledge and honor and pay obeisance to you is one of the greatest sins and we have Donald Trump and his followers doing just that. Forgive them, O God. Show them the error of their ways before it is too late for their redemption. Many are in Church this Sunday praying to their god to give them the strength to continue the work started by Donald Trump. How bright is the light they are trying to subdue. How manifest to others are their sins. How blind to their own sins have they become that they can kneel at your altar and call on you to support their chosen god.

Last year, we published Frederick Douglas’ speech given on July 4th. We commend it to you https://www.bettina-network.com/blog/archives/2560

There are several paragraphs which can make you weep and take you into that place where no one should have to go –

“Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival….
400 years of slavery – 25 to 35 million Africans robbed of their freedom; taken from their country and put into slavery for 400 plus years – first by the Arabs and then by Europeans and Americans….

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too-great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory….

They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests….

They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. With them, nothing was “settIed” that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “final”; not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times….

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.”……

May we always remember – may we always celebrate this holiday in truth and not in hypocrisy, trying to hide our history and our sins – may we be able to accept our humanity while attempting to right our wrongs – may we never accept the tyranny of those like Donald Trump, who refuses to accept his own humanity trying to force others to accept him as perfect in every aspect – god walking this earth – infallible – the only one who can achieve and accomplish what this country needs. Forgive him, O God, and walk with us as we travel through this very dark valley. There is light at the end of this journey, but we can’t see it, only you know its outcome and why. The forces of evil have gathered and are strong. They have taken over our new businesses and infused them with bigotry. We have worked hard to remove and replace the kind of bigotry they refuse to live without. Help us to identify each and everyone of them and help us work to bring good where they have and are sowing evil. Amen!

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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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Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Blog, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Breakfast Table Talk, politics | Comments Off on The Fourth of July, 2017

In December 53,244 readers in June 84,437

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

The blog is growing steadily.

It is now time to begin to accept advertisers as the blog becomes a contributor to the world-wide story of our history of human beings and what we are doing – our priorities – and anything else we find relevant.

We are looking for your suggestions as to how to advertise! We don’t want to interrupt or interfere with the story. We want our advertisers to have exposure. We have not found anything we consider a good model for both – so your contributions are required.

Email us at: bettina-network@comcast.net with your suggestions. And, those who are members of Bettina Network Lifestyle Community – your membership allows you to submit articles for the blog – bits of random information – anything you want to contribute to this incredible group of people.

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Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Blog, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network Information, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community
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Corporate vs Democratic Structures

Monday, May 29th, 2017

“It is great to have a business man as president”. “Maybe now things will get done in a corporate way.” etc. etc.

Do you really want the United States of America to be a Corporate entity – like USA Corp.? Or the General Motors of America? Or even Google – scratch that – Alphabet, inc.?

What does it mean to have a business person as president? Wasn’t that the real issue in this last campaign? Hillary Clinton – who has been in public life her entire life as opposed to Donald Trump who has been in business his entire life?

So what’s the difference?

I should say in the beginning that I am biased. Having worked for major corporations, I would not want these United States to be run like a corporation by a businessman or woman. What is the difference? All of our talk about changing the United States governmental structure into a fascist dictatorship is roughly equivalent to saying change the United States into a government which makes shoes led by a business person within the structure of Corporate America.

Corporations are not democratic institutions. They are dictatorships. The person at the top dictates just about everything. When a new person takes over at the top even the personality and character of the people under him or her changes. The corporate hiring and promotion begins to be of people like the corporate leader.

Corporations don’t take decisions from the bottom up and only on matters that don’t count would a vote be taken in anything. And when corporations do vote at their annual meetings where voting occurs – the results are fixed. Not by someone who goes about ‘manipulating’ the results for a certain outcome, but because shares in most corporations are held by a few large people or corporations with the results known before the papers about voting even go out. The few times someone has tried to change that they were pushed out unceremoniously and life went on at though they had never existed.

Democracies are far less efficient, but far more humane and concerned about making sure those who are among the ‘have nots’ are taken care of – not totally, but some basics are fought over to make sure the ‘have nots’ have a chance. The defense of those who are a part of the democracy is important and monies spent to make sure we are all ‘safe’.

In the United States, we are currently fighting over universal health care. Other countries already have such, but we have some kind of horror that we might be giving away health care to those who don’t deserve it. That is a very corporate mentality – since in most corporations – those that have get and those that don’t have stay at the bottom until they are fired for others who don’t have and who can be paid to do the same job for less money.

Corporations define the elements that go into reporting a ‘profit’. Very seldom does the profit of corporations actually equal out to what is used to add, subtract, divide to get to the bottom line. For example – corporations use much in this world for which they don’t pay. The democracy or other governmental entity in which they live pays for a lot that corporations use which does not get subtracted from their gross to get to their bottom line profit.

They contribute to pollution, but don’t pay to clean up their mess. They contribute to climate change, but don’t pay to reverse the negatives they create. No one disputes that and no one – well very few people – would fight to get that changed. Occasionally corporate profits are disputed and something is added which was not there before and that then makes up the corporate bottom line. What happened to cause that change? Normally government stepped in to demand the corporation make amends; change its policies; be more responsive; and that government entity will demand the corporate product or service be surveyed and kept ‘honest’.

In democracies, the people who make up that democracy determine what is done, how, when, by who and much concern and money is put into defense, social services, education, and more. There is a responsibility which each person in a democracy has in its continuance, growth and upkeep. There is a limit to the responsibility each person has in a corporate setting and your level of responsibility depends upon your job description, salary, etc.

Where a corporation can cause a problem which affects everybody – it is the governmental entity which generally has to address, change and make better whatever happened. The corporation can and some do, walk away from that kind of responsibility and the world will not stop spinning. The governmental entity cannot – especially the democratic governmental entity. It must step up to the plate and make a change.

In corporations, the CEO, CFO, Executive Committee are generally the people who set policy, and run the corporation. The underlings carry out the dictates of the upperlings. That is not true in a democracy.

I think you get my drift.

It is time for us to clearly outline and understand the difference between a corporation structure and what life is like under such an entity and a democracy knowing what life is like under that entity also.

The United States is a democracy/republic and those of us who are citizens of that democracy are also responsible for its good or ill. Voting is a heavy responsibility – we pay taxes to provide the services we have determined should go to others – we pay taxes to provide for the defense of all of us from negative outside forces – we pay taxes for…………..oh god, do we pay taxes!

In a corporation we do not have that responsibility and we do not pay taxes. We earn an income for doing what our job description says we were hired to do and we can be fired by the corporation, sometimes for no reason. We do not have the level of responsibility in a corporation that we have in a democracy.

A war between the corporate structure and the democratic/republic structure has been predicted for quite a long time – and it has now, with Clinton/Trump, arrived on our door step demanding attention.

The Trump/Clinton presidential campaigns reflected that difference more than most in the past few years. Their mind sets – what they are about are all very different and instead of outlining that difference and calling it what it is, we see evil and good – me included – because clearly a corporate structure for these United States would defeat everything we have worked for over a few hundred years. Our constitution is not a corporate document, but one that brought a democratic/republic into being. We have a Supreme Court and all the other trappings to try to keep us on that democratic path. What is going on in this country today is a strong move to drop the democracy and take on the corporate structure.

Most of the people pushing for such have no idea what they are asking. They are simply repeating what they’ve heard and someplace inside they seem to think this would be great – we all have those moments of running home to Mama to be taken care of, but adulthood is much more fulfilling, productive and humane. They talk about how more efficient that corporate structure would be, etc. etc. when efficiency is not the issue in a government. That would be a disaster and would result in our aligning ourselves with Russia and all the other dictatorships of the world where the individual counts for nothing and survives out of the largesse of the oligarchs and dictator – giving up everything in return including equality, freedom, justice, etc..

Maybe if we bring up in our minds these two opposing structures, which were developed for very different reasons we might be able to come to some accommodation. The United States of America was not founded to make shoes, after all. It was founded to bring about things like equality, justice etc. etc. etc. for all of us.

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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.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to bettina-network@comcast.net

Tags: Apple cider vinegar, bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, politics
Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Kitchen Table Talk, politics | Comments Off on Corporate vs Democratic Structures

How to Look 50 at 80 years old!

Sunday, May 28th, 2017

We took advantage of Bettina Network Hedge Schools and stayed at a house where we wanted to know the wife’s beauty secrets. We’ve seen her for years and thought she was at most 60 years old. When we discovered she was actually 79 we almost flipped out so we immediately made reservations and said in the process that we wanted to spend time talking with her about her lifestyle.

We didn’t say we were going to share it and didn’t intend to, but it was so ‘out there’ that we just couldn’t resist. And, sharing on Bettina’s Blog information about a Bettina family should not be forbidden.

The first thing we discovered is that she uses no soap and thinks soap is what makes wrinkles. Well, we asked how do you stay clean? By showering or soaking in a tub of hot water. What else do you need? God created water to wash you clean. Man created soap to take away your money. Why would you follow that? There are side affects to what man makes – and the side affect of soap is wrinkles. Well, with that I knew this was going to be an incredible three days. What does she use when dirt won’t be washed away by plain water? Well, organic powdered milk, of course, and to my amazement it works beautifully. – And listen people, I discovered she does have “correct” language and when she says “man” she means “man”. That is not a sexist ‘men’ being a term which is inclusive of everyone on the planet. If she didn’t mean “man” she would have said “human” or some other word in that politically correct lexicon of hers.

2. OK! Recovering from that we wanted to know more so we rose early – something difficult for us – and discovered she’d been up for hours. Well, whatever affect that has we just left it alone because no beauty or youthful look is worth getting up at 3:30-4am. She doesn’t say “youthful looking” by the way. It is “looking healthy”. Ageism, you know.

3. The first thing she does is have a cup of one organic lemon with the juice squeezed into a cup of very warm water and drinks it down like medicine. I thought that was great and I could modify it a bit with the addition of sugar, but that was forbidden so I tried straight lemon juice. Not bad, but it takes a lot of getting used to.

4. Then things got a bit rough. No smoking – we don’t smoke so that’s alright. No alcohol of any kind. Well, what is wrong with alcohol, I protested. It causes wrinkles, she said. Well – this is not going to be the walk in the park I anticipated.

5. I searched the refrigerator and the food cabinets and found only organic foods. No nothing else – even the spices and coffees and teas were organic – everything was organic. Water was in a pitcher with a filter and she apologized because she didn’t know how to get purer water.

This is going to take time – especially since that means also – no prepared foods even if they say organic and no gluten free prepared foods – they are just as bad as everything else. So as I re-searched the refrigerator – looking at things on a different level, everything was food – real, unprocessed, food “the way it comes from its creator”.

Now that to me was impossible, there must be cheating someplace here, so I watched closely and they ate only those real foods. Milk, eggs, butter, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers (which were actually there for beauty reasons rather than food for eating) chicken, beef, lamb – all organic products. Oh, this is going to be hard. Her response was – this has to be a lifestyle that you feel is good, right and easy. Oh, and the bread – organic whole wheat flour and home baked – if they haven’t had time to bake bread, you get fresh out of the oven biscuits. One day we even had croissants. Those were several days in the making because she doesn’t have that much time to bake croissants straight through.

I was amazed – this was better eating than I’d done in years and watching a cake being made while breakfast was being prepared was amazing. The cake took maybe ten minutes total to be prepared to put in the oven. More time processing – for example – she put sugar (organic turbinado) in the mixer with organic butter and let it beat for what seemed like forever. She ignored it until she had time to add the rest of the ingredients with a little more beating and then into the prepared pans for baking. I am going to try this because it is 1-2-3-4 and even I can remember those ingredients. Even when I can’t remember what is one cup and what is three cups – common sense gets into the mix and I know one cup must be butter because we want butter to be the least of the ingredients and two cups must be sugar because we want medium sweet and three cups must be flour and four must be eggs.

6. Exercise is a part of her day. But – and this is a big but – I exercise daily, jog, etc. but that is not a part of this exercise regime. She exercises parts of the body I don’t even think need exercising – your eyes for example (and she wears no glasses at 79 years old), and your toes, and your fingers. No jogging, she’s never liked that and the incredible exercises I do she thinks is a waste of time and energy. She suggested I wash the walls, or shampoo the rug or do some gardening outside in the sun without sunscreen.

7. Make-up doesn’t exist. Vitamins are the skin care products – vitamin A, E, liquid C and for those aches and pains a good soaking in organic apple cider vinegar switched off with epsom salts.

I could go on because that is the tip of the ice berg. However, I should say, since I left I understand this is not hard at all. It takes re-doing your lifestyle and ignoring what the cosmetic and other marketeers have trained us to think is absolute, essential and all the money spent on such is going to result in results.’ I knew that last part wasn’t true – I spend about $200/ month on cosmetics and at 57 I look older than my host family looks spending money only on foods.

Her biggest health purifier comes from the fact that she hasn’t been to a doctor in over 50 years and doesn’t expect to see one any time soon. Right thinking – giving to others – being aware of the messages your body gives out – those are the things important in that Bettina Hedge School.

Totally the reverse of everything I was ever taught.

Thanks for the experience. It is one I will never forget.

Bettina Hedge Schools rock. I am not sure where I am going next, but I think living with a classical pianist for a few days while I go to meetings, etc. to give her time to do her thing without me hanging around, sounds like a good deal for both of us.

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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.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to bettina-network@comcast.net

Tags: Apple cider vinegar, bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, growing old, Guest Comments, health, health and beauty
Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Growing Old, Guest comments, Health, Health and Beauty | Comments Off on How to Look 50 at 80 years old!

Our Oracle speaks about Trump, Pence et al…

Friday, May 19th, 2017

We just couldn’t resist. With everyone chiming in about all of this we thought it was time for our oracle to speak:

“What a grand mess! Developed from human greed and the need for power to bring about a world in which one can wallow instead of being industrious about and responsible for the welfare of others. This is all coming from a need to feel better than other humans instead of working hard to follow the laws of love. In other words, laziness of the soul is what has produced this mess.

Where to begin! Amazingly there is no static surrounding this so it is coming in clear! It is a rare time to see the future with such clarity and beauty.

I shall begin with – of course – Donald Trump, the great man, currently being used by so many forces of evil. How did he become so powerful!

Remember when Donald Trump was so viciously pursuing Barack Obama with his campaign of lies about Obama not being a citizen of the United States and so he was not a legitimate president? Too bad Trump could not use his genius in the service of good, but put it at the disposal of the forces of evil. He pursued Barack Obama relentlessly all throughout Obama’s campaign for the presidency and throughout his years as president. That was a ‘dog whistle’. Trump was calling together those who were weak in their identity; who had problems with their inner being and needed something to be able to feel good about themselves. He called together those who chose to slide by in this world not doing their work, but putting bigotry at the center of their being. The very hard work of building their identity on the solid rock foundation of love for all humans is what makes one pursue love instead of tyranny and evil. Trump unveiled for those so insecure the beginnings of how they could get rid of this threat building – an African American man as president threatening to take down what generations of evil had built – this threat to all like him who were insecure in their personhood. And when a woman threatened to follow this African American man, the last bits and pieces of this evil were being threatened with being reduced to nothing. It was too much – the last straw – this was not something evil in the world would or could tolerate and so these negative, ugly, fascist forces were called into action as Donald Trump’s “army”..

Donald J. Trump put together those who responded to his ‘dog whistle’ with those who chose the path of ‘power over others’ to create a campaign to make himself President of the United States. He wanted to be the most powerful person in the world and was willing to sacrifice the small bits of goodness he still had inside of himself for the position.

One can gain that position by going the route of working to build a better world for all or one can gain that position by taking the route of calling together all of the evil in the world to create you as this human who is above all other humans and that is what appealed to Trump. Trump saw the path of evil as a much clearer path – one far more suited to his souls laziness and he saw the same laziness in others – so he joined with those establishing and who had already established fascist dictatorships around the world and promised his fealty as one of them and to be their chief supporter- and what they have not yet realized – their leader.

So, Donald J. Trump had the building blocks for his presidency – the combination of the bigots with the fascists. A fairly traditional partnership known to and comfortable in this world. Mostly these were one and the same, but sometimes he had to meld the two to get the support he needed. Chief among his supporters was VP.

At the same time Trump knew he could constantly refresh his position and he put aside many ‘dog whistles’ which he could use when one began to get old and the dogs stopped responding. The latest one was his statement about Barack Obama having him surveyed with listening devices in his beloved Trump Tower. It was plausible to many because of many of the people living in Trump Tower. One could make a case for any one of them being “surveilled.”

With this as his base, Trump has accomplished much for his side. Human weakness has played into his plans and given him the kind of support he never expected to have. Those who wanted the same things, but were not clear enough in their pursuit of evil to make the kind of sacrifices Trump was willing to make and, in fact, has made. These were chief among his supporters – those who wanted power in their own small piece of the world; those who wanted to be close to power serving its needs were in the mix; those who wanted money to be able to do things they hadn’t been able to do before they promised fealty to evil – and so many more.

We can see the result. Especially this past week with the violence in the streets of Washington, D. C., apparently caused by the evil emanating from Turkey to let the world know that such thuggery, such destruction of the human spirit by physical means, was clearly now acceptable in the United States and would be rewarded. Those objecting and trying to stop such displays and horribleness would be put down and pushed aside in Trump’s world.

This was a week of Trump parading his fascist-style dictator friends in and through the White House – that beacon of democracy – and across the pages of the media to show the world what he expected to be his grand entrance into world domination, giving out the images to the world that America has left its democracy behind and is entering into Trump and his friend’s fascist state. No more democratic-republic. Let those following the law of love shutter – Trump appears to have won! His hand shakes and smiles and friendly bantering with the fascist-dictators of the world and those who hope to be fascist-dictators as opposed to his coldness and ugly attitude toward those who came to visit during previous times who are working to build a more democratic world. All very telling.

Well, not so fast. Apparently, there are still vestiges in the United States of some form of goodness. The rule of law, which we shouldn’t really espouse, but which shows up in times of need when we seem to be failing in other ways, has shown its head and is beginning the take down of Trump. Well, maybe the rule of law will suffice until the rule of love can become totally entrenched.

Now those who were choosing evil have to stop and breathe. What now! It seemed clear that their path to importance – to moving up another step on the ladder of financial worldly success has been changed. Maybe it is time to wait to see what will happen. Will evil continue to succeed via Trump? Or has something else entered the picture.

Certainly Pence – Trump’s major ally in this drama – is not the answer. He has shown himself able to lie as easily as Trump. His way to the top, however, is a little different. He is moving ahead with his inner soul trappings as one of the pharisees (a person distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. a self-righteous person; a hypocrite) only beginning to show, but being exposed ever so slightly is as good as being totally stripped and laid bare.

In all of this. good eventually triumphs’ How fast or how slowly this happens depends upon where you are in your life and in how much or how little of yourself you are contributing to either promoting Trump or working for and promoting the goodness in life. But even so there is a ways to go. Follow Trump’s trip abroad very closely – it holds the answers to the questions you have and will expose many for who they actually are in this drama – both those at home and those abroad.

We don’t need this drama to see that all of you, in everything you do, clearly give out hints and behaviors that expose your inner soul.

And now to more practical matters: How do you become a seer and an oracle? you only have to pray constantly for wisdom and knowledge and you will also become a seer and an oracle. To obtain, get to know and follow the rule of love? That is a totally different story. That is the hardest path to follow and the one which puts on your shoulder the largest and heaviest of crosses.

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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: Barack Obama, bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Bettina oracle, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, politics, Racism, Sexism, Spiritual Reflection
Posted in Barack Obama, Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Bettina oracle, Donald Trump, Hedge Schools, Hillary Clinton, politics, racism, sexism, Spiritual Reflection | Comments Off on Our Oracle speaks about Trump, Pence et al…

Origami: Art or Algorithms

Thursday, May 11th, 2017

by: Elise Miller

Member of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community

Our son, Ravi, first became interested in origami at age three and a half-years-old, when we followed the instructions in Curious George for making a paper boat. In the book, George had made boats out of the newspapers that he was supposed to be delivering to people’s houses. I then found some old origami paper at home, and over the next two or three years, Ravi went from making cranes to complicated tessellations.

During that time, a friend suggested we watch the documentary “Between the Folds” (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/). My husband and I were utterly astonished to find that origami was not only a fine art, but a critical tool for physicists, mathematicians and engineers to develop crease patterns for everything from telescope lenses to heart stents. In fact, one of the people featured on “Between the Folds” is Robert Lang, PhD, a physicist and “paper-folder”, who used origami to create the design for the Hubble telescope (http://www.langorigami.com/article/eyeglass-telescope). Also featured was Erik Demaine, PhD, who became the youngest professor ever at MIT and has an office full of origami models (http://erikdemaine.org).

We were so inspired by this film that we all decided to attend the International Origami Convention held in New York City annually (https://origamiusa.org/conventions) to meet Dr. Lang and other leaders in the burgeoning field of origami engineering. The few hundred people who attended, many of whom were kids like Ravi, were remarkable for their creativity, intensity, intelligence and ability to make just about anything imaginable out of one piece of paper. We also learned that geometric algorithms (based on origami techniques) were starting to be used to develop self-folding robots (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVYz7g-qLjs). In fact, just in the last couple years or so, new academic programs and departments have sprung up at major universities for origami engineering ( http://www.livescience.com/49121-origami-inspired-engineering-is-expanding.html). Little did we know that reading Curious George would ultimately lead us to the cutting edge of science and engineering!

– 30 –

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Thank You for Your Support!

Monday, May 8th, 2017

A very big thank you

for all the support we received

as we went about managing

the Bettina Moving Sale

in Watertown, Massachusetts.

So many of you came out and looked and bought and ate cookies – horrible store-bought cookies made without the benefit of organic flour, organic cocoa, etc. I warned them not to do that, but, next time we will do better!!

We had a few ‘newcomers’ to Bettina Network, inc’s sales, who felt being ugly was the way to go and to get the price and item they wanted, but they ran into our buzz saw called ‘Marceline’ and that was that. To balance them off we made many new friends who we will look for at future sales.

You all met Frances, who was working her first Bettina Sale and who was a bit nervous at the beginning, but relaxed and by the end of the sale had joined in and did very well. If you or someone you know would like to work the Bettina Sales, please call and let’s have a conversation. Toll free at 1-800-347-9166 or 617 497 9166 or email us at bettina-network@comcast.net.

The children who came were the gems – the very young person who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, and who was with her grandparents, very ably translating for them because they did not speak English. She did not hesitate to correct Frances when she made a $2 mistake in our favor, making sure her grandparents’ money was correctly handled. And then there was the pregnant mother with her baby in a sling over her shoulder – with such a presence that you knew the future was secure if there are many more young people building families like theirs. There were many realtors coming and going with their clients looking at the house. We loved the fact that a couple of the realtors just couldn’t resist and put their business aside to participate in ours. The outstanding buyer was the family who purchased a piece of furniture and found a one ounce gold bar stuck in the back of one of the drawers and brought it to us. Where else do you find that kind of honesty except at a Bettina Network Sale?

We are so grateful for your friendship, your business, your suggestions, your warmth and love and look forward to seeing you next time at a Bettina Sale.

We added several new members to Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community and hope you use your password and join in as we move to grow this organization.

Thank you seems so inadequate, but it is truly and seriously and deeply meant and felt.

From,

All of us at Bettina’s

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Tags: Bettina Homes, Bettina Moving Sale, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, estate sale, Estate Sale Analysis and Info
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A Bettina Network Moving Sale

Friday, May 5th, 2017

A BETTINA MOVING

SALE

IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

104 Coolidge Hill Road – Unit 6 (A Town House)

May 6th – 10am through 4pm

to

May 7th – 2pm through 6pm

You are invited for tea from 4-6pm on May 7th when all prices for the remaining items will be reduced by 50%

For pictures check out the following:

https://www.estatesales.net/MA/Watertown/02472/1515447

Bettina Network, inc. invites you to shop at a Bettina Moving Sale instead of going to the mall or retail stores. Spend $20 and you might wind up with $100 worth of merchandise and with some items you cannot currently find in stores – items which become treasures for your family to inherit years from now.

At a Bettina Moving Sale you can add great pieces to your wardrobe, discover that incredible piece of jewelry you can’t live without; find birthday presents – holiday items – the perfect items for yourself at a fraction of what you would spend otherwise. Necessary and ordinary items which one needs to keep a house running smoothly; elegant decorations to make your dining table go from nice to spectacular without breaking your pocket book; and amass a collection of the world’s most outstanding books, CDs, etc. At the prices you find at a Bettina Moving Sale you can afford hundreds of books in your library – and tools to keep your house repaired along with items you don’t need, would never buy if they weren’t at rock bottom prices and which you take home to put in your basement waiting for your moving sale to happen.

The Town House is also for sale!

Hope to see you there!

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2nd Annual Provincetown Regatta

Thursday, April 27th, 2017

Tags: Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community
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Comey/Head of FBI/QuidProQuo?

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017

Listening to the hearings on Monday was quite emotional. Getting feedback from many – it was amazing to hear that most of us agreed on the same thing. That is highly unusual. We tend to be a disagreeable lot!

Most striking about those hearings was to know and remember that James Comey came out with this announcement claiming that Hillary was under FBI investigation just before the Presidential election in November, 2016 telling the world they had discovered many more emails. At that time, Comey said nothing about either Trump or the Trump Campaign or Trump Campaign operatives being under a counterintelligence investigation – and they were – and that is far worse.

Since that time, we have seen several Trump Campaign operatives being fired and/or being seriously investigated for these kind of violations. Some fired or not appointed because they could not get the requisite security clearance.

So far, that cannot be said of anyone in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She was under investigation for using an email server that was not considered secure enough, even though other Secretaries of State had done the same thing and many of the emails being talked about were not classified until after the fact.

Trump was under investigation for what amounts to treason – for colluding with the Russians to have the results of this past Presidential election be the result wanted by Putin and his boys. Comey had the evidence of Trump having asked for the negative plank in the Republican National Convention about Ukraine be removed plus a few other such things that Putin wanted – much more serious violations than those for which Hillary was being scalded.

As time passed Comey backed down and said the emails, which caused the investigation against Hillary to be reopened did not come from Hillary Clinton’s computer and those emails were duplicates of ones already in the FBI’s possession and they had been determined to be harmless and of very little relevance.

The media and others were more interested in dealing with the content of Hillary’s emails than in the circumstances around all of this which screamed to be dealt with. Who said what to who from Podesta’s emails was petty bickering compared to this environment of the Trump Presidential campaign going back and forth with the operatives of a country which was very adversarial to the United States. This was not England, Canada or France – this was Russia and Putin. And what that means is clearly born out by the number of Russian oriented people now working in the U. S. Government at a very high level having been appointed to their jobs by Donald J. Trump.

And then on Monday came the revelation, during the hearings, with Comey and others under heavy pressure to reveal possible ongoing investigations into folks. The FBI and Comey, its head, did not and would not reveal if anyone was under investigation – he/they said that kind of disclosure violated FBI policy. That was verified time after time after time as questions came up and Comey repeated constantly that he could not reveal if anyone was under FBI investigation.

Apparently, during the presidential election, Comey made an exception and broke that rule so he could announce that Hillary was under investigation to make sure Donald Trump would be elected and he – Comey – would have his job by being reappointed as head of the FBI under Donald Trump. Quid Pro Quo? And was there anything else involved in this that would benefit Comey besides what looks like a definite quid pro quo about which we will never know all of the details?

After Comeys announcement, right before the election, destroying Hillary’s chances of winning the presidency – this announcement made by Comey followed weeks of the Trump campaign promising that there would be a big announcement, close to the end of the campaign, that would turn the election in Trump’s favor. In spite of this one sided announcement with Comey mentioning only Hillary Clinton – we heard during Mondays hearings that Donald Trump and his campaign were under criminal investigation from at least July, 2016 and probably from as early as March, 2016, throughout the rest of the campaign year and throughout the election. Comey, at the time of his announcement about Hillary Clinton, said nothing about that investigation into Donald Trump and his campaign operatives. That clearly was a move to strengthen Trump’s chances of winning and to destroy Hillary Clinton’s. No one in Comey’s position is naive about politics and what would result from such an act

The way Trump and his campaign operatives dumped all over Hillary and hit very hard on how awful that was and the criminality involved and the country put in serious jeopardy because of Hillary being under FBI investigation, it was clear they knew they would not have to eat crow before the election – which means they knew the announcement that Trump was under a much more serious investigation would not be made before the November votes were cast.

That needs to be clearly stated. When Comey was reappointed as head of the FBI shortly after Trump won the presidential election our question is – Quid Pro Quo? YES! An FBI director knows he must avoid even the appearance of evil – so Comey knew clearly that he was not doing that. He announced a Hillary Clinton investigation and was quiet about the Donald Trump investigation which would have produced a very different result. Donald Trump would not now be President of these United States – wrecking havoc in world affairs, totally out of control.

Mr. Comey needs to be questioned under oath as to his role in all of this and what, if anything, did he receive for the part he played in getting Donald Trump elected. It cannot be denied that he played a very crucial role. Hillary Clinton’s numbers showed a landslide victory until that announcement came from Mr. Comey. I am sure that landslide victory possibility was a serious concern for Mr. Putin and we think he would have been willing to pull out all the stops to prevent that from happening.

Comey was showing the world whose camp he was in and it wasn’t even close to Hillary Clinton’s, nor was it a neutral camp. That was also reflected during the hearing in little places here and there that apparently went unnoticed. When Congressman Turner asked a question during the Monday hearing in which he claimed unequivocally with no if ands maybes, etc. that the Washington Post and the New York Times reported lies – Comey not only let that pass, but quietly agreed with him. I won’t go through all of those kind of moments, but there are clearly several in the record.

Trump and his campaign hit Hillary hard about the Constitutional Crisis that would happen if Hillary were elected President and how immediately thereafter she would be swamped with this criminal FBI investigation and on and on they went and there was no announcement from Comey about Trump and his campaign being under a very serious investigation which involved Putin, Russia and the possibility that Trump and his campaign people were colluding with the Russians to interfere with this election and to make sure that Trump won and Hillary lost.

We can’t emphasize enough that Hillary was the subject of an investigation because of her emails, and using an email server that wasn’t considered private enough. That is like kindergarten kids playing in a play ground compared to what Trump, Putin and their boys were doing and does not begin to reach the heights of an investigation which is looking at Trump and his campaign for what would amount to treason – opening the door to the American voting process being manipulated and controlled by a foreign government.

James Comey needs to be investigated. He clearly had something to gain – keeping his job, for starters, and he showed he was willing to take serious risks for Trump in the way he talked about Hillary being under investigation and keeping quiet about the fact that Trump was also under investigation for much more serious transgressions than was Hillary.

So where are we today? Trump is making threats to Republican politicoes that if they don’t listen to him and do his bidding he will take his rallies to their districts and turn voters their against them. That is a very potent threat. How much more of this ugly and vicious control by a man who is a pathological liar are we going to take as we watch Trump and his close supporters working very hard to turn these United States into a fascist Nazi-style dictatorship which will finally be put under Putin, if Trump has his way. Just about everyone at the top of this current government is involved in Russia, bigotry personified and/or mafia. Trump, Tillerson, and on and on and on.

We have always thought that the closeness between Trump and his daughter was because she is one of the few people who know about him and his purported business dealings with the Eastern European mafia. She was with him at some crucial moments during their time together doing business. It is time for this to be investigated and exposed – especially now that she is in the West Wing of the White House.

Trump’s rallies are dwindling and he will probably have to go back to the way his rallies got started – with people being hired to act as though they are simply attendees and Trump supporters when in reality they are hired actors and others to swell the ranks and get people to respond the way Trump would like them to respond.

And finally, Trump claimed all during his campaign that he had a secret very potent way to defeat ISIS and we would all see that happen when he was elected. Well people, he has been elected and his secret, potent way to defeat ISIS is to continue the program and the way Obama set down for this to happen.

This Trump presidency is a house of cards and it is time to collapse that house.

For us – Trump, Pence and all of their appointees need to resign enmass and get out of the way so we can get on with the business of living under a democratic republic without lies, thievery, treason, viciousness, stealing from the poor to give to the wealthy, destruction of arts and other programs which took generations to build, moving away from health care for all – even though that was one of Trump’s promises and more.

Enough is enough! It is time for a recall – or at the very least an Independent Prosecutor so Trump can be investigated outside of a Republican controlled Congress.

That Republican controlled Congress was totally uninterested in an independent and unbiased investigation. Their questions during the hearing were questions which tried to make Trump and his boys look good and to get him clear of all the ugly he has done instead of questions pointed to what needs to be answered honestly, forthrightly and clear. Trump is appealing to that side of those White Northern European Republican men that is a little like him – give them a piece of cake with the promise of the entire sweet and their ethics begin to crumble. That is what is beginning to happen and to stop that needs to be done TODAY!

It took Hitler less than a year to turn Germany into something they paid spent decades repenting and paying for. Trump is moving much faster and we are watching United States ethical base falling pretty rapidly.

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And God laughed………..

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

Well, once again the United States Court system has come through – keeping to its Constitutional mandates.

This time, however, there is a side issue and in that issue one can see God’s hand.

The decision to block Donald Trump’s bigotry as it constantly spews out of the White House and out of his every pore – was made by a judge from Hawaii.

If we have to explain that to you, you have not been paying attention.

You may have other kinds of religious “Amens” to this and please feel free to use them. My grandmother would say – “Thank you, Jesus.”

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Aileen Clark Hernandez – (1926-2017)

Monday, March 13th, 2017

by: 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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Donald Trump – President – the Day After

Saturday, January 21st, 2017

It 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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Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, politics, Racism, Sexism
Posted in An editorial just because, Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, Historical Homes, sexism, U. S. Presidential Campaign | Comments Off on Donald Trump – President – the Day After

Alan Powers – A Book Review

Wednesday, January 18th, 2017

A 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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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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Tags: Alan Powers, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, book review, breakfast table talk, Hedge Schools, Susan Powers
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Care for Wood Floors

Tuesday, January 10th, 2017

I 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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We Heard Your Call to Investigate and Write!

Sunday, January 8th, 2017

To the editor:

Thank you for that blog. We – me and a small group of friends – heard your call to investigate and put together the pieces we have and write about what is happening. We are going to do exactly that and hope others will follow suit.

We have a little information, but need to expand on it so we are going to contact who we need to contact and you will soon hear from us. I am writing this because I hope others do the same.

Some of us can put our names out there. Others, who are still dependent upon their jobs, can’t. Can we still send you a blog and you will publish it anonymously?

Answer:

Yes! We will publish it anonymously, as long as we know who you are and we know you are a real person. You have to identify yourself to us, but we will keep your identity close. It does not have to be sent with your blog, but you will have to then call, write, or somehow contact us to let us know who you are and your identity has to check out.

Thank you for caring. If we all come together on this, maybe we can save a little bit of the country we know and love from what is about to happen here.

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December and 53,244 People Visited the Blog

Sunday, January 1st, 2017

It was a good year for Bettina Network’s Blog. Each month saw an increase in visitors. With the 53,244 people who visited the Bettina Network Blog in December – that brought our total number of readers to 1,513,131. Now that looks like a number that might produce something from the lottery.

In 2017 you will be able to sign up and have the blog delivered to your email box every time a new blog comes out.

If you are a member of Bettina Network Lifestyle Community you can send us articles, information, news that you would like to see published in the Blog. Or, you can send comments on Blogs you have read that you would like to share with others. Send that via email to bettina-network@comcast.net. You may either take credit for your work or we will publish it without a name attached.

It has been an exciting year as we gathered information, ideas and more to share with you. As time goes on and hopefully, before the end of 2017 the Blog will have become a Newsletter – and then a Newspaper and then a Media Center. We don’t think small around here, but try to project into the future. We make out own rules so don’t think of us as a traditional publication – although w have some signs of being that also.

When we started this blog we had seven readers and we knew each one – we had implored them to read the Blog and give us feedback. From that, we have had an active participation from members of Bettina Network Lifestyle Community and we have grown.

Sometimes we get articles – sometimes ideas that we embroider and write about because the person sending us the idea didn’t want to follow through, but the idea was too good to let lie fallow and sometimes we just take a leap into the ether and hope we give out good information to incredibly talented people which helps them in their lives and work.

You don’t want to miss the Bettina Blog which introduces the company or person in Bettina’s Hall of Shame. Or the one which tells who won the Bettina Network Hall of Fame Mention. We have a small list of categories of those who have earned their mention in one of our categories – which will be out before the end of January, 2017.

If you have suggestions or want to get involved with Bettina Network, inc. in 2017 let us know. We have lots of different activities and need many different talents and skills.

Enjoy your time on this earth. It is very short! Our request of you for 2017 – make a contribution in 2017 that improves all of our lives. You won’t regret it.

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TRUMP – A NEW POST

Thursday, December 15th, 2016

One could say God’s justice to America for setting up the Electoral College and ruining what could have been a beautiful democratic country has arrived in the form of a caricature of the person they wanted to insure that “White” Males – most like America’s founding fathers – would always be in control of the government.

I was astounded to see the photo-opportunity of the tech group around the table with Trump and his children. What a ridiculous scene. If ever I lost respect for a group of people, that photograph did it.

They are the embodiment of the Trump campaign, even though they claimed to support Hillary Clinton – and some of them did with their money and time.

Billionaires all! White Americans all! A very small percentage women – something like one percent! And organized by Trump’s resident Gay – Thiel. Now Trump has a Black – Omarosa; a Jew – Jared Kushner; a Gay – Paul Thiel. He will have one of every minority group showing up in the media shortly – to prove his unbiased self!

Problem is – this is how many outside of America view your country! Do you wonder why so many have been so easily “turned” to become terrorists against you? Worry no longer. Take a look at what is unveiling on a daily basis.

I had hopes your Electoral College would turn this around. Make up for the mistake created when it was created, but that is not going to happen. Trump threatened to sue to force the Electoral College to make him president. That is not necessary. He and Paul Thiel came up with something better.

That event was clearly for the purpose of “crowning” Trump – and it did the job. No issues were raised. No conversation about anything of substance. No reason for such a gathering except to show the group their future. Toe the line or you will be on the outside looking in – i.e. the head of Twitter. In spite of the fact that Trump uses Twitter amazingly often and in spite of the fact that he probably restored and plucked Twitter from the down trend it was on – its head was not invited to this gathering. So folks, either get in step or step outside where you will be throughout a Trump presidency.

It was a time to gather a very strong group together to show they respect Trump’s election and will abide by it – so the inauguration can proceed and the Electoral College’s vote will be just a formality.

Since when does an incoming president put on such a show before his inauguration? This show certainly eliminated any chance that the Electoral College would vote – either for Hillary or to abstain – to avoid the oncoming catastrophe for America. It showed that Trump would ignore any conflict of interest and move ahead strongly with building the Trump Businesses – and this group will acquiesce. How did he do that? With his children at the table – no objections – no issues raised about any conflict – nothing except an acceptance of what happened.

This is your 1% America. Take a good look. One thing they all clearly lack is – moral courage. Another – they will do nothing to jeopardize what they see as their business future. Another – they will participate, even if that means just being there and saying nothing – their presence indicates their acquiescence and acceptance.

Whatever happens in the future America it is clear that the 99% of you are alone – unorganized – easily led – and can’t see your own good. You will follow whoever promises to keep you White – Male – and true to the definition of “White American”. Your hypocrisy is overwhelming to any thinking person.

Next step? Trump – the new Messiah. After that? Re-read the history of Nazi Germany, you are going to make that look minuscule by comparison to what you can do. It won’t be the ovens nor the concentration camps, it will be your own brand of extreme oppression. No or very little regulation – a Department of Justice which supports the White Nationalists Groups against the real oppressed minorities in your country – a raped Public Education sector – an eliminated Department of Energy – a Secretary of State, the strongest person in the Trump Cabinet, who delivers you to the wishes and desires of Putin – a press that elected your president and is now gearing up to anoint him the new Jack Kennedy – need I go on?

God help you!

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A Promoter of Conspiracy Theories – President?

Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

America – really? You elected a man who was the spokesperson and promoter of conspiracy theories as your president? Really? Come on – that can’t be real. Are you really that racist, America?

The last president spent eight years in office – an African American. He was elected – and re-elected. He was respected around the world. He wasn’t perfect, but he did a pretty good job. He had no scandals during his time in office. He had no affairs. He spent his time with his family. He raised two daughters and now into their teen years – some say, the most difficult time for parents. And still, after seeing all of that you elected who? A man who was the spokesperson in Chief for the Birther Movement? Who was on television and in countless videos speaking far and wide about Barack Obama not being an American. Who called your duly elected president a liar. A man who claimed that your American president was living a lie to his fellow Americans by claiming to be an American when he was actually born in Africa.

America, you laughed at this Donald Trump, the Conspiracy theorist in Chief – and then you elected him your next president? You made him the butt of many jokes and the late night comics had a field day.

America, is your need to identify as White that strong. You are, after all, the ones who set up “White” as a race. So I guess we should not be that surprised when you feel the need to protect this “White American” race. You didn’t realize when you set up this White race identity that it would not only be about slavery and identifying the other as “Colored”, “Black” and now “African American”, but would become your ingrained identity and keep you forever needing to be seen as “better than”. You went so far as setting up White Privilege to go along with that White American identity. Jealous of the English Colonialism with which they tried to rule the world?

Problem with that is colors always seemed to me to be more interesting, have more depth, be about something. “White” seemed so lacking in ….. something. And now I see what “White” lacks – Character? Ethics? Truth? And has a little “Evil” ingrained. We thought, at some point, that you would just become “American”.

Who is this man? Who is this conspiracy theorist who so portrayed your president for eight years – and longer – as an African who was fooling the American public by claiming to be an American when in fact he was not. And you – citizens of the United States – elected this man, this conspiracy theorist, your president. Donald Trump – president elect of the United States. Chief Conspiracy Theorist.

Your founding fathers must be proud because they slipped into the Constitution this Electoral College, which they hoped would insure that White Males (hopefully) Northern Europeans would always be president of these United States of America. You kept that Electoral College in your Constitution for hundreds of years as a bulwark against any serious kind of desegregation. Wow! What foresight you all had. But what a price you have paid. Isn’t that what stopped Al Gore? But then maybe you were right to do that because wasn’t that – no, couldn’t have been, must have been someone else – a look alike. His character wouldn’t let him. But then he claimed to have invented the internet, which dropped his character a rung or two, so maybe that was him running into that Tower.

And so the founders have reached into the 21st century with that desire to maintain slavery and have caused you Americans to elect a man who is:

A conspiracy theorist. His biggest conspiracy and most successful one was spreading the lie that Barack Obama was born in Africa and he and his family were lying about who he really is. Will he have the support of and appoint other Conspiracy Theorists to his cabinet and other places in his government so his way of being “in charge” will continue on?
A Casino Operator – a man who built and operated several casino’s. Even one in Las Vegas. Now, I was always told that Casino Operators could only exist if they were a part of the mafia or could only exist with the blessing and support of the mafia. Las Vegas – New Jersey – big mafia strongholds in the United States (so I have been told). So what does that make your new president and who will really be in control of your government. And you looked down on Cuba when it was overrun with mafioso from the United States. Now that Cuba has cleaned itself up, will the United States of America be the place where that happens?
The owner of a Construction Company – which built hotels, apartment houses, etc. AND would not allow Blacks to rent or live in any of his buildings. I have seen the newspaper clippings and the cases against Mr. Donald Trump. Not only against him, but he comes by this legitimately because he inherited this racism from his father, who also built buildings in which he did not allow Blacks to live. Isn’t that a violation of your laws America? And yet you elected this man, who with his family, violated your laws blatantly and is still violating your laws and you now call him your president-elect?
A man, who reportedly only values a woman for her body – isn’t that sexism? Doesn’t that also violate your laws, America. And still you elected him your president?
A man, who it rumored, has violated all of the 10 Commandments. Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but he has violated enough of them that those loud outspoken Evangelicals praising who we thought was God were really only singing their praises to god. So we really can’t dump on them since they are worshipping their idols and we do believe in freedom of religion. We were only fooled a little while by the names they called him. We were fighting them because we knew our God wasn’t HIM. We knew our Jesus was born male, not to glorify maleness, but to glorify God. It was offending God for us to be taking on such a fight to try to keep their god primary in front of everyone. This election has cleared our eyes. Idol worship is not for us and never has been. We wouldn’t be surprised if one day soon they don’t start calling their god, Donald Trump. They have already started to talk about their god sending Donald Trump to them. And how this is all their gods plan. But they don’t seem to understand retribution – payment for past sins – God’s wrath – evil. They seem to think that is a good thing sent by their god for their betterment. Well, actually, it probably is being sent by their god in the hopes it will produce their betterment, but the way their leaders are running into the Tower offering their congratulations, their services, their excitement about the “Don’s” coming success it is seriously doubtful that God’s message is getting through.

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!

Abraham Lincoln didn’t bring you down! – he raised you up.

Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t bring you down! – he raised you even higher.

but Donald Trump is bringing you wayyyyyyyy down.

And look at how your BIG MEN are falling all over themselves running in to kiss the ring. Their character – their ethics – their very souls are on display for all to see.

Wasn’t that Mitt Romney we saw running into Trump Tower and having dinner with the Almighty One?

And we though Mitt Romney was one of the good guys. When he saw what was happening with the election in his beloved country, he stood up and was counted as someone who said he was not going along with this travesty. He didn’t say “evil” but he might as well have because what he did say came down to the same thing. But what was he really doing? Did he read the tea leaves and saw that Hillary Clinton was going to win so he was not downing Donald Trump and taking an ethical stand, but positioning himself to be in line for some kind of substantial position in Hillary’s government?

Oh, Oh, Nooooooooo! Not him too! Oh my goodness – there goes Al Gore – into the Tower! Well, we always had our suspicions about him. He tried, but he just couldn’t pull off being such a good guy. And now, we see him totally uncovered.

Oh, help me to my seat and cover my eyes and ear, I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.

Oh – and when your new president goes traveling around the world with his ‘wife” – which one? The one who allowed all those pictures to be taken of herself in the various kinds of poses that a prostitute takes to advertise her wares. Now, be careful here, I am not calling her a prostitute, but I said clearly, the kind of pictures a prostitute takes – naked on a bear rug with high heels up in the air and handcuffed to the bed and etc. Some are calling her a soft porn model. We will just look at the pictures circling the world and shake our heads. Trump better get the Muslims and soon because when those pictures of his wife start circulating in religious Muslim circles – oh my!

And how does your president-elect handle his anti-semitism. Well, his daughter has put him in a trap because she went off and married an Orthodox Jew. Well, not only did she do that, but she became one herself. Now you know in Judaism, the children take on the identity of the mother, so if she hadn’t converted, her children would not be in danger of being Jews. But she went off and did the thing so now her husband and her children are Jews. So how did your President-elect handle that? Is that his anger at this marriage, all of you Americans, that turned him so viciously against Muslims? So badly so that he wants to eliminate all of them! Is this going to be another purge by the Norther Europeans. The last time they tried to get rid of the Jews. This time there is a Jew sitting in the halls of power so they are going to try to get rid of all the Muslims. Well, just as well. Eventually, somehow, they will rid the world of all those they various and sundry people they consider “minorities”.

Oh, America, my heart aches for you. Don’t you know you have to pay for your sins? Haven’t you seen enough of God’s retribution to know that your day is coming? Maybe this is it! Maybe this is the beginning of your having to pay for the slavery you brought on Africans. Or maybe this is the beginning of your retribution for what you have done to those who lived in the land before the Northern Europeans arrived. What are they called today? Indians? No, that is politically incorrect – Native Americans. What a name. Call them Native Americans and then invade and destroy the little bits and pieces of land they have left and make sure it will soon be covered with the results of the many oil spills that will happen,as those Northern Europeans make loads of money in the companies that are going to dig up their privately owned land drilling for what? Covering up what? Taking back what? Is this a new form of genocide – against those you have given the honorific title of Native American and made them think that this title was their idea?

Oh, America, I pray for you every day. There are so many good people in your country. What is going to happen to them. They seem to be allowing these few others to take over and destroy every dream they have ever had. Or maybe that is the problem – have they been so treated they don’t have anymore dreams?

My goodness, some of those good people are Northern Europeans. Then who are these who have so wrecked the land and continue to wreck the land? Who are those who let them? I understand Donald Trump owns stock in the company about to destroy the land of the native Americans to cause oil to pollute the water so they will have nothing to drink. And what about the rest of us – we won’t either.

You have allowed whoever these people are to destroy your country. To invade and change the dreams of your people. You started out in such a beautiful way. We really hoped you would succeed. But you have now been derailed and who knows if your country will ever be the same again.

Germany certainly didn’t expect to descend into a Nazi state. And today, it seems as though it is only the Germans who really recognize the danger you are in America. Have they learned from their mistakes?

So what now? As your country began to become diverse – that beautiful diverse place where all were supposed to be welcome – what is the quote “bring me your tired,….” That poem written by Emma Lazarus and cut into the stone with that gift from France to be a beacon to Exiles from all over the world

“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!”

Oh, No! Is the writer of this poem – Emma – a woman? Is that why they turned against immigrants? Will that open the door to taking her poem off the Statue of Liberty? And a better, more American under Donald Trump type poem in its place?

Well, that is certainly no longer America. Will it ever be again? With Donald Trump and his friends – not likely. The United States of America used to travel the world telling others how they should change to be more like America. Walk hand in hand into the sunset with the Casino Operator and his Soft Porn Model wife – naahh, that doesn’t sound quite right.

And here you are America – flirting with becoming another Russia; another fascistic state with its super wealthy governing people and underlings in line for bread – you can ignore this if you dare, but stay on this road and that day is coming and sooner than you think.

I used to think America was the greatest nation on earth. Today, I realize you are the most foolish.

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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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Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Al Gore, bed & breakfast, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, breakfast table talk, Donald Trump, Emma Lazarus, Guest Comments, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Racism, Sexism, Spiritual Reflection
Posted in Al Gore, Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, Emma Lazarus, Guest comments, Hillary Clinton, Martin Luther King, Melania Trump, Mitt Romney, Pope Francis, racism, sexism | Comments Off on A Promoter of Conspiracy Theories – President?

37,456 PEOPLE

Thursday, December 1st, 2016

The Number of People

who read Bettina Network’s Blog

in November, 2016

was 37,456.

Starting this month you are able to sign up to have Bettina Network’s Blog delivered to your email box whenever a new Blog is posted.

Up until now. you had to go to the Blog to read the newest one and you didn’t always know when a new blog was posted.

Just sign up using the green form which comes up on the page about 9 seconds after you start reading. When the page becomes green, that is your sign to join a truly great group of people who are reading what Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community has to say.

If you are a member of that community you are able to have your blogs posted. Just send what you want to say to bettinanetwork@comcast.net and we will post your blog – maybe editing a bit, if that is necessary – and maybe having a bit of conversation with you before posting. if that is necessary. You can send pictures, drawings, whatever, to include with your blog.

The topic is up to you. ACADEMIC PAPERS – because we have a very large academic readership; FUN QUOTES; with the advent of Donald Trump the interest in politics has zoomed up so feel free to send us POLITICAL ARTICLES, COMMENTS< and you can even tell us how to vote – not that we will take your advice, but its worth a try.

While we are using the blog structure, this is really becoming a newsletter and on its way to becoming a newspaper – written by people in the community who want what they have to say circulated to others. If you have a response to anything, please feel free to send that via email. We do not have the comments section of the blog open to anyone who want to comment so you will have to email your response as an article. This is a CURATED BLOG.

COMMENTARY on whatever; RECIPE’s for your favorite foods; “MEMU’s you have experienced which sent you to heaven; CONSPIRACY THEORIES; ART – CRAFTS – MUSIC Videos that you have created; In other words – no end to the possibilities.

And we hope the end result is of interest to all of our readers.

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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.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

Tags: bed & breakfast, Bettina Cookbook, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network Information, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, breakfast table talk
Posted in Bed & Breakfast, Bettina Homes, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network NEWS, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Blog Response, Breakfast Table Talk, Guest comments, Guest comments and talents, Hair Health, Health, Health and Beauty, Hedge Schools, Historical Homes, Historical Support, Kitchen Table Talk, Preserving Family History and Stories | Comments Off on 37,456 PEOPLE

Archive for the ‘Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community’ Category

by: Elise Miller

Member of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community

– 30 –

A very big thank you

for all the support we received

as we went about managing

the Bettina Moving Sale

in Watertown, Massachusetts.

A BETTINA MOVING

SALE

IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

104 Coolidge Hill Road – Unit 6 (A Town House)

May 6th – 10am through 4pm

to

May 7th – 2pm through 6pm

You are invited for tea from 4-6pm on May 7th when all prices for the remaining items will be reduced by 50%

For pictures check out the following:

The Town House is also for sale!

The Number of People

who read Bettina Network’s Blog

in November, 2016

was 37,456.

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