May, 2012 - Bettina Network's Blog

Archive for May, 2012

Stay Cool on a Hot Day!

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

Summer is coming and so are the hot days of Summer.

I have found a way to stay cool most of the day and add to my general health and beauty at the same time.

I take a shower and follow it with a massage of organic Aloe Vera Gel.  It is fantastic.

I read in your blog where you talked about this massage, but I couldn’t handle it then because it was cold weather when I read it and when I tried to massage with the Aloe Vera I almost froze it was so cold when I tried to put it on my body.

It dawned on me that this might be a great treat for myself when there is hot weather so I waited and just tried it on a fairly hot day.  I was very cool after the shower – which is generally not the case for me in hot weather – I will start to perspire almost immediately out of the shower.  I was left with a really coolness around me all morning.

I also got many comments from people who told me how great I looked.  Since I had on jeans and an old shirt I wasn’t sure where the compliments were coming from – the only thing I did different was the organic Aloe Vera Gel massage.  You also talked about Lakewood – so that is what I bought and used.  I liked that it was not made from a concentrate, but from the actual juice of the plant and not preserved with a chemical whose name I couldn’t pronounce.  So, for what its worth —- and thanks for the blog.  I liked being able to send this to you to share.  I have my own blog, but no one reads it – except for a few family members and I wanted to share this with a lot of people.  It is impressive the number of people who read your blog.

Hope all of you readers try this – it is a great experience.  One I will use all summer.

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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.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

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

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

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1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Marriage Talk at a Bettina Network Home

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

Must tell you about this breakfast.  We had a priest and a lawyer at the table and thought this would be kind of boring.  However, it turned out to be unbelievable.

I will give you, dear reader, highlights – you dear editor, write too many words when you blog:)

I don’t know how we got onto the subject of marriage because I was in the kitchen – got to cook breakfast, you know.  No lounging around talking at the table.  I have to catch snippets of conversations.

What was most striking was, it turned around my traditional view of marriage.  I thought marriage was a ceremony performed by the Church, Synagogue, Temple, etc. and I don’t know where I put the marriage license which I know is issued by a governmental entity, but I just didn’t think about all of the details until this conversation.

Turns out, marriage is a civil contract dictated by the State.  To officiate at someone’s wedding you must be licensed by the State.  If a priest is ordained that doesn’t mean he can marry anyone.  He/she can only do that if the priest got a license from the State in addition to his/her ordination.  Anyone can get a license to marry anyone. You can get a license to perform one marriage ceremony or you can get a continuing license to perform the marriage ceremony for lots of people as an ongoing thing and you don’t have to be ordained to apply for and obtain such a license.  Oh – all of my sacred cows are being toppled!!!!!!!!!!!!  Maybe I should just stay in the kitchen and cook and stay out of the dining room.

Actually, according to the priest, the two people marry themselves.  The person officiating is only there as a witness and doesn’t really do the marrying – it is all between the two people and their community of friends.

The lawyer pointed out that if we had problems believing that then we should recognize that once married, to get divorced that is a State process.  If you get ‘divorced’ by your religious institution and re-marry you will be called a bigamist and be subject to the penalties which can generally mean jail time.  So, if it were a religious institutions thing to marry you, it would be the religious institutions thing to grant or deny you a divorce.

The priest said his job was to ‘bless’ the marriage.  When you go to a wedding and the couple goes off to the sacristy or the small room next to the altar where they are supposedly being ‘married’, that is the point at which they are really married.  They sign all the documents and it becomes official.  The signing doesn’t have to be done in a side room, but it generally is to take the congregations mind off the fact that this is a State ceremony not a religious ceremony.

Isn’t that something!!!  And all the time I thought the religious people were the ones doing the marrying of people.  Then why are the religious institutions so upset about this new thing of men marrying men and women marrying women?  And – more than that, I now undertand why it was so important for the future of marriage and the shape it will take when Obama came out to give same sex marrying his ‘blessing.’  He can’t marry anyone unless he is licensed by the State in which they are being married, but its nice to have the President of all the States ‘blessing’ marriage.  Now I get it!

So what does all this mean?  Now that my eyes are open they are taking in all kind of questions.  If ‘marriage’ is a state institution, why was marriage as a civil contract so upsetting to the homosexual and lesbian communities?  They could have entered into a civil contract just like any businesses or individuals enter into.

When the Church says “what God has joined together let no one put asunder” – does that mean we are equating God to the State?  What does a religious institutions ‘divorce’ or ‘annulment’ mean?  Since they bless the marriage does that mean their ‘divorce’ means they are taking back that blessing – especially since that is all they do?   They can’t break a civil contract so where do we go from here?

How does a civil contract become a sacrement of the Church?  Doesn’t this violate the separation of Church and State?   Oh my! I could go on and on and on.  Would the Homosexual/Lesbian community been better off fighting to redefine the benefits of this State Institution so the rest of us could also benefit? – like – should the benefits of today’s marriage be automatically given to one’s ‘spouse’ – as defined under our current mess of a marriage structure or should the person be able to decide who gets these benfits? – like Who can visit them in the hospital when it is closed to all except close family?, – who gets their Social Security benefits, etc. etc.

The marriage laws in the U. S. were based on the slavery laws which existed before Emancipation of the African slaves – what does that mean for the institution of marriage.  All of this fighting for same sex marriage hasn’t addressed any of that.  Are the homosexual and lesbian communities fighting for one of their marriage partners to be the ‘slave’ and the other to be the ‘free and superior person’?  What for!  Or – Is this fight for same sex marriage really a tool being used to change the conversation – from reform of the institution to granting a new group the right to marry and to participate in the same old institution which saw an unbelievably huge number of divorces take place with children, property, etc. all destroyed – and the State Marriage Laws being used as a tool for the redistribution of property to others outside the marriage – like lawyers and their associated helpers in this divorce process?  (The lawyer didn’t bring up that one – that’s my question and observation.)

All of these years and I thought the priest was marrying all those people whose weddings I attended and all along that was just not true.  He/she was there as a representative of the State – not even there as a representative of their particular religious institution – and the couple were the real ‘ministers’ at their wedding.

What one learns in bed & breakfast is astounding! Wouldn’t give it up for the world.

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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.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

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

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Senator Brown and his American Indian Dilemma

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network 2012 – by Marceline Donaldson

There has been a lot of reporting because Senator Brown accused Elizabeth Warren of taking ‘advantage’ of her American Indian (Cherokee) background.

What the reporters have missed is the fact that being American Indian – even a small part American Indian has never been an advantage in this country.  Most folks would spend time and resources covering their minority heritage!  Elizabeth Warren has not done that – so she won’t have to be ‘surprised’ when a genealogist turns up her minority heritage.

The time-frame about which Senator Brown speaks was a time during which it was especially hard to claim to be any percent of any minority if you wanted a decent job, or a place to live at a reasonable price, or to be treated fairly.  If you were a minority and female  you could just forget it.

How long did Derek Bell fight and how much did he sacrifice just to get Harvard to look at the possibility of hiring an African American woman to the faculty of the Harvard Law School?  Is that the time during which Senator Brown is claiming that to be part or full American Indian would give one an advantage at Harvard Law?  It was called Beirut on the Charles because of the fighting going on in that time frame to try to open the faculty to qualified minority women.  It didn’t happen.  One was let in – an African American woman – and then the door slammed shut.

We live in a racist, sexist society where women and minorities are discriminated against and have to fight just to maintain second and third class citizenship.  Equal opportunities don’t even come into the picture.

This country had Affirmative Action laws because there was no equal opportunity.  To claim that someone who is American Indian, African American, Hispanic American, Female has an advantage over Whites Males in this society is simply untrue. It  is a racist  and sexist statement and I am appalled that the media has not labeled it as such, but covers it as though it is a legitimate statement to which Elizabeth Warren should respond.

To extend Senator Brown’s statement to its logical conclusion, he is claiming that minorities and females make less than their White Male counterparts because they aren’t as qualified, as intelligent, as aggressive, as etc. to be equal – they must be given these unearned ‘advantages’ which Ms. Warren was trying to take from them and claim as her own.  Its further extension says that minorities and women are in lesser positions because they deserve them and are – what – genetically unable to be equal to White Males, thus the need to be vigilant about who uses these “advantages”?

To make the further claim that a Minority Female would experience such a large ‘advantage’ over White females that a White Female would have to claim to be a Minority Female to gain these ‘advantages’ she couldn’t achieve on her own as a White Female because clearly White Females don’t have these ‘advantages’ which accrue to Indian American females in this society is a statement so profoundly irresponsible and racist and sexist that I am appalled not only at the statement, but at the way it has been handled by the press.  Is it because this is one of your own that you will not go after him with the truth, but must cushion what he says and does because his wife is one of you?

This is a United States Senator making such a claim, not simply John Q. Public who might not know better and Senator Brown clearly knows better.

What is apparent to me is the fact that he is changing the dialogue to make sure minorities and women are kept where they ‘belong’ and are kept disadvantaged because he is going on the attack with claims that to be a minority/minority female/female is to have what Senator Brown calls an ‘advantage’ over White Males such that one must be exposed for making what he calls ‘false claims’ to gain these superior ‘advantages’.

Does the following sound familiar?

1) These were the claims made by the KKK when Affirmative Action was passed.

2) The White Citizens Councils in the South made this argument.  It is the argument against Affirmative Action. Their claim was – we don’t need Affirmative Action because it brings in Reverse Discrimination.

This is now slipped into the Senatorial race as an argument against doing the work of bringing about Equaity because we already have Reverse Discrimination.  Senator Brown is claiming that when a Minority Female or someone who is just part Minority Female has more ‘advantages’ in this society than White Males and White Females – so many, according to Senator Brown, that a White Female with a small percentage of American Indian ancestry would loudly claim that ancestry at a time when it would definitely go against her in education, jobs, housing and more.  What were those ‘advantages’ Senator Brown?

How unbelievably racist and sexist is this?  Where are the other voices against this?  Are you so accepting that you would allow such an important conversation be changed by a man who has been a centerfold, put his daughter on the block with his acceptance speech and now is turning the tables and trampling on  all of the Civil Rights heroes who had to sacrifice – in some cases their lives – for the rest of us to gain just one more rung up the ladder – the bottom third of the ladder?  He is telling all of us that to be a minority – even part minority – is to have an ‘advantage’ in this society which we exploit and allow others to exploit against White Males. How insulting is that when racism and sexism is a part of your daily life and you encounter it every time you walk out your front door.

During the years, about which Senator Brown is speaking, we tried to buy a house in Massachusetts.  A White Couple went out to present themselves as the buyers – we were told that without that happening we would not be able to buy the house.  When I decided that wasn’t necessary because after all we were living in different times and we appeared – the African American couple really the potential buyers of the house – the house was taken off the market.  Is that the ‘advantage’ about which Senator Brown speaks?  We now have the ‘advantage’ of not living on the North Shore – it would probably have been too much for an African American couple so we were ‘advantaged’ by being denied?  Or was it my American Indian background which accrued that ‘advantage’ to us?  If they knew about my English great-great-grandfather we probably would have been denied the ‘advantage’ of not living on the North Shore and we would have been ‘disadvantaged’ by being allowed to buy the house!  This is what Senator Brown is telling us that Elizabeth Warren was trying to do – become that kind of ‘advantaged’ person to further her career and her life in this ‘advantaged’ direction!

Senator Brown’s accusations against Ms. Warren says more about Senator Brown’s racism and sexism than it says about anything Elizabeth Warren has done or been accused of doing.  Add that to the blatant sexism he has shown and the “good old boy” attitude he exudes from every pore and this is my Senator?  Senator Strom Thurmond would probably pat him on the back for what he has done for the cause (of the continued superiority of the White Male).

Back in the day – and not that far back – if you had ‘one drop’ of minority ‘blood’ in these United States you were that minority.  If you claimed anything else you were accused of ‘passing’. I’ve never heard of a White person “passing” for a minority because of the ‘advantages’ that would accrue to them.  The ‘advantages’ are so enticing, – of being turned down for housing; turned down for a job; and watching someone less qualified get that same job that you were denied in spite of Affirmative Action laws!  For women it is the ‘advantage’  to be ridiculed; to be demeaned; to see the attempt to destroy their reputation using sex as a weapon; to be characterized as not serious and very frivolous; to be told you were born to be good secretaries but have no genes to allow you to be scientists, etc. – sounds like the ‘advantages’ Senator Brown claims Ms. Warren was seeking by owning up to her minority female ancestors.

To come up front and admit to your American Indian heritage or even to claim publicly whatever percentage of that American Indian heritage you have is a huge step forward for all of us.  As someone who is part Choctaw and Black Foot American Indian to someone who is  part Cherokee American Indian – welcome to the tribes Ms. Warren and thank you for not being ashamed of and of not hiding your minority heritage – no matter how small and no matter the negative repercussions on your life and your future.

Thank you Senator Brown for bringing that forward so we can thank Ms. Warren for her courage at a time when being one part any kind of minority female was something you hid and kept from others not something you admitted to publicly, especially if you didn’t look the part and it was easy to deny.

Even with Affirmative Action – which no longer exists and didn’t work very well anyway – you didn’t gain any ‘advantage’.  Companies, Universities, other institutions or groups simply used the Affirmative Action laws to limit the number of minorities they had to hire instead of increasing that number by hiring the most qualified person for the job regardless of their race, sex, etc.  I know about those so called ‘advantages, Senator Brown.  I worked in Affirmative Action when it was active.  I applied for a job in international marketing.  I was hired for the job and then immediately moved to Affirmative Action because I was uniquely qualified.  I didn’t even know what Affirmative Action was – so what were my qualifications?  I was a minority female, who was ignorant about Affirmative Action.  That was one way I was “advantaged”.  Who was hired for the job in International Marketing? An Englishman with a high school education who had been in the English Army and played the clarinet in its band.  I was so “advantaged” because I had only been to Harvard Graduate School of Business.

What are some of the other ‘advantages’ that minorities experienced?  10% Jews in some Universities – and any more were turned down as being not qualified.  2% African Americans  – and even that was considered too much for most places.  Let’s not even let in one American Indian – and that was acceptable to all.  During the time of which Senator Brown speaks there was no advantage to being or admitting to being American Indian.

Who claimed there were ‘advantages”? – racists and sexists who were fighting Affirmative Action because the tomatoes were taken off their plate leaving only steak, vegies, potatoes and dessert for them to eat – and who were angry that those tomatoes were put on the plates of minority Americans whose plates were totally empty.  They were angry that they were being ‘deprived so others might live in a less oppressive and freer environment.  Those ‘advantages’ were especially strong against an American Indian – especially a female American Indian.

We aren’t that far from the Trail of Tears Senator Brown and who was that about – let’s see now – wasn’t that the Cherokee Nation herded west from the eastern South? If even a small percentage of your genes come from that Cherokee Nation you hold within yourself the pain of that event.  To hold the pain of that event along with the anger in your genes from those who caused that pain – and to still be able to come forward to hold out that you are a part of that pain and a part of those who caused the pain accepting all of your ancestors is a substantial act.

Now, is this conversation that Senator Brown started really about some claimed ‘advantage’ or is he holding up a light for all to see that Ms. Warren is part American Indian in the hopes that the racists amongst us will not vote for her, but will vote for him instead?

Talk about a red herring with a racist agenda – that is what this looks like to many, many, many minorities who have had to struggle and still struggle and in spite of that are turned down for jobs, housing, other opportunities.  To hear someone, especially a United States Senator claim that to be an American Indian or even part American Indian gains one some kind of advantage in this system is not only nonsense; it is not only extremely painful for minorities to hear because it once again raises the denial which has and continues to prolong the practice of  racism and sexism in this society,  but it changes the dialogue and gives the racists and sexists a place to hang their hats as they march forward to make sure Affirmative Action – Equal Opportunity –  never again gains a foothold in this society and that minorities continue to be discriminated against .

Congratulations Senator Brown!  You have earned a higher place within your political group.  All of the ‘hail fellow well met’ folks are crowing about your ‘guts’ and jumping on your band wagon in their delight that one of their own is pushing back the unwashed minorities and women trying to be free and equal.  The rest of us are wearing sack cloth and ashes because you are our Senator.

To claim that to be a Minority is to have more advantage than Whites have in this society and to claim that to be part minority opens one up to take advantage of non-existent advantages is to be irresponsible to the point of evil. To have set yourself up as the one who “outs” such claims is evil to the core.

Senator Brown has shown clearly in these past few days that he is not only racist and sexist, but believes he has a right to be and is very loud and wrong in his claims, but he doesn’t seem to realize how arrogant and ugly he now looks because his inner beliefs are on parade for all to see.

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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.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

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

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Breakfast Table Talk about Debit Cards

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

copyright 2012 Bettina Network, inc.

We’ve had a two day breakfast session.  The first morning we casually talked about banks, credit cards, debit cards and the rip-off happening to all of us.  One guest at the table was a banker.  I should say a disillusioned banker who was dealing with how to maintain the ethical base with which he was raised and continue to work for a bank – or should he change jobs!!  It was fascinating stuff to take home and think about.

In todays market that is a difficult option, especially since he has worked in banks most of his adult life and it was his chosen field.  He is still pretty young, but after several years in the banking world it takes a better economy than the one in which we are functioning to allow him to make such a change.

The disillusioned banker and the woman who was confused about her debit card provided us with two days of great conversation and amazing information.  She wanted to know what we thought about debit cards and that sent the conversation off to the races.

The banker gave her an analysis, which is why the conversation carried on into the next day.  She went back to her room, pulled up her bank statement from her computer, printed it and brought it to breakfast the next morning.  She was still confused as to what the debit card cost her and she wanted to take advantage of being able to talk to a banker, who was not her own banker and who was in a mood to provide accurate information, which she didn’t expect her banker to do.

He looked at her bank statement – which kind of freaked out the rest of us with all of our privacy issues – but we were just as interested in seeing her bank statement as was the banker and it got passed around the table.  I have never experienced that before – ever.

When he finished calculating what it cost her to use a debit card we were all ready to cut up all of our cards – credit as well as debit cards.  Thought the rest of you might be interested in this analysis so it follows in as good a recollection and synopsis as I can come up with.  I wish I could give you the figures, but I didn’t want to be too obvious and she had already braved her privacy needs to bring her bank statement to breakfast so I don’t want to make her particular figures public.  You probably wouldn’t know her anyway, but I still can’t overcome my huge privacy needs to even give you the particulars on Ms. Anonymous:

1) She liked the fact that money was immediately moved from her checking account whenever she made a purchase with her debit card – kept her honest, she said.  The banker said she shouldn’t be so happy about that because even though the amount of money she received on her balance was really small, it was her money and when she had this immediate withdrawal upon using the card, she was receiving less money that month on her balances than if she used a check to pay for her purchases.  Since she used her debit card several times during the month, that could add up as that meant there were many days during which her balances were reduced prematurely when money was withdrawn immediately upon the use of the card.

By using a check instead of a debit card for her purchases, the money would stay in her account two or three days longer and for someone who had a minimum balance to maintain for the kind of account she had, that could be important and could begin to add up to nice amounts of money. Although from her bank statement she wasn’t hurting for money – still as the banker said, it was her money and she should not be prey to the banks, thinking up new ways to relieve her of her funds.

Well, that was an eye opener which none of us thought about before, but not a biggy since we realized something like that was going on – the bank benefiting from one of its products and we losing money from the same.  It is what we have been conditioned to look at as ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ banking practices. It was just a few dollars to us, but major income for the bank when they could keep our money in their account instead of in ours and get a free ride with a huge accumulation of such monies for a couple days.

“Our banker” as we began to call him,  then calculated what the bank was making – in addition to the money moving from her account to theirs’ where it ‘cured’ for a few days with their pennies making pennies for them instead of our pennies making pennies for us, before it was collected by whatever entity it was going to for her purchases.

2)  Every time you make a purchase with your debit card, the merchant you are paying has to pay the bank somewhere around 1 or 2 percent or some where inbetween to pay for the cost of making that transaction possible. We didn’t understand that.  We knew that happened with credit cards, but didn’t understand why that cost wasn’t paid by the monies the bank made by keeping our money for the two or three days float they managed to secure by the way they set up the use of the debit card. We wanted to know why this extra charge was being put on our purchases – especially since we all knew the merchant would have to pass that cost along to us as an addition to the cost of whatever purchase we were making.  No answer from anyone at the table until someone said the magic word “GREED”.

3) The third way  banks make money on debit cards is via the ATM machines.  Some banks charge to use their ATM machine  and some don’t, so we didn’t consider that banks making money on our debit card use, but they do.   So now I will always go to my bank to cash a check because my bank charges for use of their ATM machine – I never seem to be in the category of no charge for use of those machines.  She wasn’t either since her bank statement showed several ATM charges.  OR when I make a deposit I will take cash out with which to survive so I don’t have to go to the ATM machines.

Wow! After that I am paying for my purchases by check and having cash on hand to pay for the little things so I don’t have to use either credit or debit card or ATM machine.  The next thing you know I will be withdrawing my cash from under my mattress – talk about back to the past.  Why did we need banks in the first place?

Not one of the above was a lot of money for any one of us, but when you add  them all together and multiply by tens of thousands of such amounts, the bank is doing very well and we are not doing so well.  This is hard-earned money the bank takes away from most of us.  The bank gets very fat; messes over people like us who provide them with an incredibly luxurious lifestyle and we get to scrimp our pennies to live just reasonably well.  No wonder the Occupy people are out on the streets.  I am beginning to better understand some of their issues.

My debit card is no longer usable because I cancelled it right after that breakfast.  The bank said I didn’t need to cancel the card I should just stop using it and keep it for emergencies.  Somehow, I didn’t think that was said in my best interest so I insisted that the card be cancelled.

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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.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

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

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

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1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.


Bettina's Lifestyle Commnity!

Join us!

Bettina’s Lifestyle Community

Making a difference in this very difficult and changeable world.

Bettina's Lifestyle Commnity!

Join us!