Ting! A Pro-Peace Phone?

I have written here many times about the way things were, and resuming those practice is a path to escaping the terrors upon us.  I was thinking small business, but here comes Ting using precisely what I am arguing to take on "too big to fail" phone companies.

Why I came across Ting, I am not kidding, is because AT&T just made it too hard to pay.  Their websites are tedious junkyards of whiz-bang coding ostensibly designed to get me to upgrade.  Trying to figure out the path to pay a bill was so onerous I took to simply paying in their stores at a payment kiosk (so it seems I am not alone) while I was running errands.  Then they required a password and login to pay, even with a debit card, at the kiosk!  I complained, and a clerk advised me to contact "customer support."  I advised the clerk I had come to make a payment, not chat with customer support.  I was miffed.

So I began to search for the phone company with the easiest payment method.  It was never about the fees, which I assume you get what you pay for, VOIP being cheap but sounding like a car radio at 3am in the High Sierras.  Ting jumped out as the easiest pay method.  Their billing system is old school benecredit, they bill you at end of month for usage, what you used...

Nope. No plans here. Rather than asking you to pre-pay for a portion of your usage, we decided to keep things simple. Just use what you need and we'll settle up at the end of your billing cycle.

Well, I don't use much at all. My bill:

Hi John Spiers,
Thanks for continuing to be a part of Ting!Here are a few details for your Ting bill, which was for Apr 20 through May 19, 2016...
-------------------------------------------------------------------Activation Fee                 2069150337                     $0.00 Plan Data Usage XS->XS plus... 1 MB                           $0.00 Plan SMS Usage S               24 messages                    $3.00 Plan Minutes Usage M           426 minutes                    $9.00 Line Fee                       2069150337                     $6.00 Apr 20 - May 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------
And here were the taxes we collected for Uncle Sam...-------------------------------------------------------------------Utility Users Tax - Wireless                                  $1.54Sales Tax                                                     $1.97E911 (Wireless)                                               $0.95Fed USF Cellular                                              $1.00FCC Regulatory Fee (Wireless)                                 $0.01-------------------------------------------------------------------Total comes to:                                              $23.47

You should see a charge for 23.47 on your card ending in 4XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX  from Tingin the next day or so (if you don't already). That's us..

I like their humor: Uncle Sam.  Note that the taxes are more then 30% of the bill.  That is wealth transfer from me to the bankers.  There were no telephone taxes before the Vietnam War.  Then Johnson laid them on to help pay for the war, and the war ended, but the taxes never went away, they just went up.

We had a pro-peace/anti-war movement back then, and most of us just refused to pay that part of the bill.  The phone company never cut anyone off, you were just not paying Uncle Sam.  The amount, a few dimes back them, a couple of bucks in today's world, was too small for Uncle Sam to come after you.   With larger amounts, and computerization, now Uncle Sam can strike an individual quite easily.

Sadly, with the poverty draft and deep-state perpetual wars, the American people have come to accept war as a given, even if the people of Vietnam, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc, themselves have never abandoned their anti-war/pro-peace aspirations.

With all of this in mind, here is what I will do. If you have any of the biggy phone company services, dump them now and move to Ting. 

Sign up with Ting, I get $50 or $25 (at some point, depending on how much you spend). (Apparently, at this time, you get $25 off, too!) What I will do is bundle up any and all remittances to me and donate them to one of the land mine removal charities, with a request they get it to SE Asia.  (Not sure which charity yet, I'll have to check the various ones for legitimacy).  There is a symmetry that telephone revenue would be directed to remove UXO in SEAsia delivered in part with funds from telephone taxes.  I like it!

(If remittances are in the form of deduction from my phone bills, then the money I would have put on the phone will be what is bundled and remitted to the charity.  Whatever, we'll make it work.)

It will be delightful to report say quarterly how much we have directed to war reparations.  To sign up with Ting in which kickbacks are directed to me, click here: https://z32i345idje.ting.com/

And by the way, I've experienced zero difference in call quality.

So right now, click on the Ting link above, sign up to save money (and ease of payment!) secure your credit and mine, and let's do good while doing well.

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The Afflecks Owned Slaves

Ben Affleck, from an old American family, has ancestors who owned slaves.

Oh.

And he asked for and received censroship of this fact.  W T F ?!!??

It is never the facts, it is always the cover-up.

Ben Affleck persuaded the producers of Finding Your Roots to edit out details of how his ancestors were slave owners even though it was a breach of PBS editorial rules.The new Batman star, who supports a number of liberal causes, objected to the ancestry TV show airing how his distant relations were racist, leaked Sony emails reveal.

So what?! If you are long term American, your family probably owned slaves, if you were the right people.  Here is a bill of sale for some slaves my ancestors auctioned off.  On Christmas Eve.



Hell, the Spiers were so tied up in slaves court cases got involved:

1808
Spiers v. Willison, 4 Cranch 398, 8 U.S. 398, 2 L.Ed. 659(U.S.Ky.,1808)(Rebecca Willison, claimed title to the slaves under her grandmother, and at the trial offered parol proof that the grandmother, while Kentucky was a part of Virginia, had given them to her by a deed, which  was lost. By the Virginia act of assembly, no gift of a slave was valid unless in writing and recorded. Court Held:  parol evidence may be given of the existence of a deed of gift to show the nature of possession which accompanied the deed.)
Ramsay v. Lee, 4Cranch 401 (Mem), 8 U.S.  401, 2 L.Ed. 660 (U.S.Dist.Col.,1808) In Virginia, in 1784, no gift of a slave was valid unless in writing and recorded, although possession accompanied the gift.

Back to that bill of sale...  the Spiers were rich and connected.  A man's sins unto the third and fourth generation...."  We were wiped out four generations after that.

I teach my kids two lessons:

1. Don't worry what crimes your ancestors committed that were "OK" at the time, what crimes are YOU committing now that are "OK" at the time?

2.   Don't fool yourself, all you gain will be lost if it is crime-based.

Update:

Affleck has not learned his lesson:

Affleck said he hopes that, if anything, the PBS controversy would keep the issue of slavery in the national spotlight.
“We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors,” he wrote, “and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery.”

Nice diversion, Ben.  The question is not slavery in your case, it is integrity.   The controversy is that you were given the censorship you requested. And now the brand is shot, knowing that the raison d'etre of the show is contrived.

Again, Ben, what crimes do you engage in today that are "OK" today, but will be appalling in the light of cold history?  Think ben, think!

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War Reparations

I may be a conscientious objector, and I can claim USA wars are "not in my name" but in fact USA borrows 46 cents out of every dollar it spends, and the only reason it can borrow so much is the lenders have faith USA can pay the loan back.

That faith is based on the military might that assures USA can steal enough from other countries to pay back the lending countries.

It is curious to me that the USA now has a "Africa Command," a military command over Africa, and four of five USA presidents will be at Mandela's funeral, a hero who fought to free Africa from foreign domination.  Odd that.

That 46 cents borrowed goes to pay for such things as "social security."  We steal from foreign countries to maintain our social security.  This is not right.  Well, I do not have to sign up for social security, even though I am guaranteed some $1000 a month or something, even if I expect to keep working, as I do.

On the other hand, there is nothing to keep me from signing up for the "free money" and then donating my social security checks toward war reparations.

So I went looking for charities devoted to war reparations.  no such thing.  So then I went looking for anyone who might be setting things rights after USA wars...  I found this:

phoenixclearanceltd.com

It is a business, but who cares if they get the job done.  So I wrote...

On 4/12/2013, at 2:34 pm, John Spiers <john@johnspiers.com> wrote:

Greetings!

Why is there no charity devoted to what you are doing, or specifically directed at making war reparations?

Anyway, there is your business sorting out the mess of war.

I am a Vietnam era conscientious objector, so I had no part in delivering the ordnance you seek to search and destroy, to recycle a phrase.  But I am an American, and the beneficiary of a system that can borrow 55% of its budget against fraud and violence-backed credit. So maybe not in my name, but in a few years I'll get my cut of the booty in the form of social security payments.

Of course, I can just not sign up for the dole, but it has occurred to me I could do so and direct the funds into war reparations charities to the surviving victims of those wars.  No such thing.  But nothing to keep me from sending it to you to clear whatever $1000/month might clear, in other words, pick up the tab for some clearances, as an act of war reparations.  Really has nothing to do with you, any more than the innkeeper who put up the injured traveller on the Samaritan's tab.  Just glad you're there, somebody doing something.

May I have your views on this?

peace!

John Spiers


The reply:

In reality today in Laos and Camdodia both victims of the 8 year secret bombing campaigns  it costs about $1000 min/ha (2.5ac) to clear UXO from the land every village school along the Ho Ch Minh trail has about 1ha every village family would like about 1ha for subsistence farming. PCL works very closely with every village our projects come in contact with we train and employ locals everywhere we go that way they get benefit from employment and cleared land. "Good for everyone"

If you are interested in doing something that truly makes an impact you would need to find others like yourself to raise about $8-10k/month.

If you cannot clear the problem and but wish to support victims in Laos contact COPE.

I suffer from PTSD from years of trauma and am currently back in New Zealand resting with family, but will be on my feet again in the new year.

 I ask you all to remember the sacrifices made by ex-service personnel demining and clearing other remnants of war. All of us in this calling have friends who have lost limbs and some their lives, some their sanity and most their marriages pursuing the humanitarian cause, it takes a big toll on those putting their military skills to good.

Thank you for your kind humanitarian thoughts a merry festive season to you and your family.

Yours in Peace

Michael Hayes

So, the idea is to direct the money yielded from imperialism to this company to clear the UXO left behind by our aggressive wars.  It is the least in the way of war reparations we can do, while eschewing the fruits of war we get here in USA even if we are conscientious objectors.

So when the time comes, I hope, by the grace of God, I can simply direct deposit my social security check to this company to clear mines.  If enough of us do that, whole lotta mines gonna get cleared.

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Peace Rocks

World power is re-aligning, and not without bloodshed and terror.  The bankers and their oil minions realize they have gone to the well too often, and the sheer lawlessness of the last several USA regimes is no longer working out.  The tide turned in 2006 when Dick Cheney, lifelong oil man, was sent home empty handed from an oil expedition:

Mr. Cheney was recently sent to Central Asia and other regions to coax allies to significantly increase supplies to stabilize U.S. gasoline prices for the summer. Administration sources said Mr. Cheney has run into significant difficulties as he has found that many of the potential suppliers have become committed to China.
...
The sources said Mr. Cheney found his hosts in Central Asia to be distrustful of U.S. intentions, with some Muslim countries fearful of a regime change as that which took place in 2005 in Kyrgyzstan, regarded as the most pro-American country in the region.

After this, you will recall, Muammar Khaddafi was making nice to USA and eliminating his WMD and trading with us again but made the mistake of selling oil to the Chinese and no longer lending his money to the French.  So he got Kyrgyztanned too, and to this day Libya is a mess.

The war in Syria has a Dick Cheney connection too.

The Chinese fought with the Vietnamese against USA in the American War on Vietnam.  The Chinese fought alongside USA in Afghanistan when the Soviets occupied that country in the 1980s.  They know well how to beat our imperialism, that is wait it out.  We have been defeated in the Middle East, and now we are negotiating our way back out, such as the six month deal in Iran and the Syria de-escalation.  For all of its military power, as long as it is in pursuit of empire, we cannot take on Russia and China, who will have their hegemony in the Middle East.

So it seems things are improving.  So what is out next step?  We fly B 52s over the Daioyudao /Senkaku Islands.  Nice.

Wheeeeeeeeee!

The Daioyudao /Senkaku Islands are controversial as far as China recognizes the Islands as a part of the province of Taiwan, and thus claims the Islands as it claims Taiwan, while Taiwan claims independence of China and both are at odds of Japan's claim to the Islands.

The Islands themselves are just rocks that could not host even a fish processing station.  But, there might be oil.  So, of course, this stand-off looks lethal.  And as we extricate ourselves from the Middle East mess, what do we do?  We fly B52s over those Islands to piss off the Chinese.   Unbelievable!  No wonder Obama keeps firing generals.  Whose bright idea was that?

As we sell out all of our allies in the Middle East (and imagine being the "rebel forces" in Syria right now, where all have agreed you are to be liquidated) we need to assure Japan of our support.  Taiwan knows better than to trust the USA politics, and they are on the other side from Japan in this dispute anyway.  So follow that?  Our two allies in the Pacific are against each other, and we are taking sides.

In the Middle East adult supervision in the form of Russian and Chinese diplomats has stepped in to extricate the USA from its suicidal mission.  Maybe we can return the favor in the Pacific, and come up with plan that allows us to fuss over something more substantial than rocks in the Pacific, over which people are fighting in regards to even their names.

How about everyone with claims on those Islands agrees that the rocks become some sort of World Heritage Sight or whatever, to be jointly developed by the disputants (or maybe disinterestedly developed by say the Norwegians) with the proceeds going to some sort of Third World Development program, or a slush fund for disaster relief such as was needed for the Phillipines recently.  Surely Japan, China Taiwan etc fork over more cash in foreign aid around the world than those Islands will produce.

Let's set up some sort or org that arranges such an agreement and the administers the rocks, newly renamed Peace Rocks.

I myself don't have time to work on this, but I put it out there for anyone looking for a new good deed.

Update: Those "rebel forces" have taken to eating Zoo animals to survive.  It won't be long now.

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The Archbishop Wants Help, Not War

It's a fine line, asking for needed help without getting more of the violence that precipitated the need for help.

We are victims, and we suffer at the hands of fundamentalists coming from distant countries to fight against those whom they consider to be the infidels (us Christians), using as an excuse that their brothers are being persecuted in various countries. Their reaction is to kill others. Our reaction to persecution must be that of becoming more loving, more united, ever stronger in showing the world the true image of life, as taught us by Jesus Christ.

Obviously the fighters are coming in after the USA invasion, and picking on soft targets.  So the archbishop in essence is asking for reparations, but no more violence.  Give the article a read.

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