April, 2013 - Bettina Network's Blog

Archive for April, 2013

The Morning After

Monday, April 29th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

Estate Sales should be staffed by psychiatrists and psychologists who are looking for material to use in writing a book about all of us.

At some time or other we all pass through – either an estate sale or a bed & breakfast.  We pass through as a guest or as proprietor of a bed & breakfast (defined in the old fashioned sense of a private home which welcomes guests) or the owner or executor of items sold via some kind of estate sale.

Our goal, the Bettina Network’s goal, in this business as in our lives is to be truly responsible to the environment; to quality in all our offerings and the way we offer them; to diversity, acceptance, equality and especially respect of others.

That said – we would like to pass on to you some of the lessons we have learned – and we will certainly take them to heart and do our best to incorporate them in our lives going forward.

One incontrovertible fact – the estate sale, scattering sale, antique sale, moving sale, art sale are social events.  Many people come to meet and greet; to see what is offered; to talk about themselves and their lives; to travel-in-place exploring the neighborhoods around the sales finding new places to eat – to visit – to enjoy.  What has been obvious to us for decades is the fact that antique people, estate sale people, artists, bed & breakfast people have some very similar personality and character traits in common.  So much so you can spot a ‘newbie’ in a few seconds.  Interestingly, that ‘newbie’ gains experience and moves up in the ranks very quickly.

Estate sales have three kinds of merchandise – the ‘real’ antique and old masters art, the collectible items, the new stuff being sold so it can be replaced with more new stuff.  Mostly, or should I say historically, those items are segregated into “classes” and sold separately in different sales.  Our way of doing business is to offer them all at once so you have the experience of seeing what one person has deemed important and collected over a lifetime or over the time they have spent in a particular house or profession.  One of our goals is to break those barriers and offer a Rembrandt and stainless steel spoon in the same sale.  We now have enough appraisers, art historians, consultants who are expert in just about every item out there working with us to be able to do that with confidence.  We hope as we move forward, you will gain enough confidence in us and in our ability to bring to you the best way of selling your art, furniture, collection, musical instruments, jewelry, cars, houses, stocks, bonds, other financial instruments and more, that we are the first and last people you call to engage to sell any and all of your earthly possessions.

Currently, the  ‘real’ antiques and old masters art works are the joy of every collectors heart.  They don’t even have to be able to afford the prices, they just like to look – to touch – to feel – to smell the items they have read about, would love to own but can be satisfied just being there to hear about the owners – where the items came from – how they were acquired – how they were taken care of, etc.  These folks love a bargain, but will pay a fair price because they know what they are buying will only increase in value over the years and they hope it will become a family heirloom and their inheritors will cherish those items left to them and will pass the stories surrounding the items down through the generations.  These are the dream clients.

The collectible items in sales appeal to a whole other group of people.  These are the people who are looking for that big score.  Finding that item for $1.00 which will sell for $100,000, but they will be content adding the 999th item to their collection of Disney, or old spoons, or interesting picture frames, or Victorian furniture which used to be in their grandmother’s house or…..  These are good clients, but their conversation is very different and their approach to an estate sale is very different from those looking for that exquisite work of art.   You don’t have a community forming with this group.   That strong bond forms with those looking for the antiques and old masters art works.  But you also don’t have the intense competition and extreme jealousies which can form around those looking for those antiques and art works even as their sense of community forms.  You do, however, have a lot of bragging going on about 195 items collected with only  804 to go to have an entire “collection”.  Out of this group can come those in whom a switch is flicked and the hoarder appears.

The third group is problematical – both those who own what is being sold and those who buy.  These are the people looking to furnish and add some luxury touches to their homes and generally they want to do it as cheaply as possible.  No problem with that, nor is that a negative.  Some of the people selling have bought items for their own comfort and enjoyment and want to recoup some of what they spent as they move on.  Others have done the same but want those buying this used merchandise to pay close to full price because they have their faces turned around and are so focused on ‘taking’ that ‘sharing’ is an unknown and unknowing concept to them.  There is not often a two way street here and there is very little recognition of anything except their need to squeeze everything and everyone around them dry, leaving nothing behind and even taking from those who don’t have much to give.  These tend to have bought and are selling poorly manufactured merchandise, have lived with it very hard so it can be quite damaged and want others to pay a lot of money for their – no longer new and well worn goods.

Once you walk out of that nicely decorated store with its offer of interior decorators to help you place the items, choose colors, materials, window treatments which they make and more, the value of what you have bought and are probably having delivered drops immediately in value by at least 50% and each year thereafter that you keep that new merchandise, the worth of it drops ever more sharply.  The penalty for purchasing merchandise which is not beautifully crafted; not able to withstand the test of time over its design attributes; is poor material camouflaged to look like something it isn’t is the low price you get on the resale market.

To not recognize that fact and want others to pay for your enjoyment of goods you purchased which are not worth what you paid for them in the first place and which you have worn hard is a very unrealistic place to be and is either a naive or ignorant expectation.  This group is usually made up of those who are up-from and who turn a hard cold face to the world – responsibility and respect are not attributes which can be used to define their character.

And then there are the customers.  These are the ones who make psychiatric history.  Some of the antics we have observed should only be in books – fantasy books, unreal books, novels when one needs to create drama, or really – Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

The customers who are most intriguing are those who come in to a home, find what they want, take out cash – usually about 10% of the price of the item – and wave it around in front of your face saying something like  ‘look, I have cash money for you right here, right now”.  I am never sure of their expectations.  Is the response to that supposed to be one where you put your tongue out as you hyperventilate because you are so eager to grab the cash you will do anything?  Are you supposed to follow their waving the cash around with longing looks in your eyes?  Do you faint on the spot because you are so close to cash and its affect is so overwhelming you just lose all control and all consciousness so they can rip you off before you can recover?  Or maybe you are expected to dance around them excitedly because they are so willing to pay so little to get so much?  Whatever the expected response, what they are showing are the really negative character traits we all recoil from and what is so, so sad – they don’t even realize – the emperor has no clothes and his/her real ugliness, rudeness, arrogance, disrespect of self is showing and neon signs are flashing out all kinds of messages for the world to see.

It gets even better!  An estate sale is the place to go to understand what large retail corporations have done to American Society and to other societies around the world in the name of competition, branding, marketing, advertising, selling strongly to people who don’t need what you are selling -can’t afford what you are selling – have lost the ability of discernment in things they think they need and struggle to buy and don’t know about the secrets some retailers are hiding behind those fancy packagings.  The need to bring non-profits into the picture, which is so commonly done today, blows smoke into your eyes. You need to gain back that lost discernment, but not yet – this feeling of your giving to those in need while buying what you think you want continues to cover the emptiness in you with the money you are spending for so very little in return.  The non-profts, in return, are losing their soul and their mission in that same process.  Their real, direct contributions drop.  The number of people knowing about their mission, committed to it, working to help bring about their goals drops dramatically in this process, but the mirage has been created and we all fall for it like 16 year olds whose hormones are raging.

It is at the estate sale where the customer goes to project upon those selling their feelings of anger, anxiety, being ripped off which they acquire when they are buying retail.   Some go to the estate sales to gain back the power they have lost in the greater society by parading around like the great and powerful of yesteryear, treating others as though they are the servants and have the job of mopping up what they leave behind.  It is to the estate sale we go to crap on the people selling because we can’t do the same to the large multi-national retailer ripping all of us off in the name of making a profit, because we don’t have the strength of character to be able to put blame where its due.

At the same time, the loveliness of shopping happens at estate sales because they are very personal and at the sales are the customers who have beautiful spirits and share some of their lives.  They share who they are, what they are looking for and why and who want to stay within their budgets and pay as little as possible but also want you to thrive and make sure, as best they can, that what they are buying and what they pay for what they are buying seems fair to all.  Sometimes, they share some of their dreams and visions of the future, what the world could be like, their problems, their great families, their ungreat families who have sent them out to strangers to share what’s in their hearts and I could go on for quite a few paragraphs.

Accordingly, having learned these lessons and a whole lot more, we are responding in a way which lessens the pressure on those selling with us (our staff) and which makes our days in this business much less stressful:

1)  We have established a “watch list”.  No we aren’t watching for thieves, they are the least of our worries.  We put on our watch list those who are ugly in spirit and want everything for themselves and enjoy ripping off others to get it.  They can’t do this in a larger context because it would be defined as a criminal act and they would have penalties to pay through loss of their freedom.  So we will use our “watch list” to exclude them from all future sales;  spend no time with them and discourage them from coming to Bettina Network Sales.

 

2)  The only people we will put on our ’email’ list, a list of those to whom we send notices of our sales – invitations to special events – invitations to previews of sales before they are open to the general public – will be people who are fully human; who understand and promote equality and diversity; who have reasons for buying other than to hit the jackpot by ripping off others.  How will we know these people?  Experience.  Work an estate sale for a few hours and you will also know!!!

 

3) The last day of our sales will be split in two.  The first half, items left will be half-price to those who have previously purchased items from our sales and the second half will be entertainment, refreshments and what is left given free to those who have receipts for having purchased previously or who have checked with us about people they know who are in need and who could use some of what is left.

 

4)  As time goes on, this list will get longer.  But for now it is a beginning.  We hope it is a beginning of the Reformation of retail in this world.  I can’t say in this American Society because it is not limited to the U. S. A., it goes across the world and is getting stronger.  An ethical, responsible, strong and good character is what is needed to overcome the greed, avarice, jealousy, obscene profits, now driving this and other industries.  If that is what you have – join us!  We would love to manage your sale; house your travelling guests; be a lifestyle reference.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions to Dracut, MA.

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Try Mapquest.com and  put in the address from which you are coming.

Basically, the address follows:

Take I-93-N toward Lawrence.Concord. N. H.

Take the Rt.-110/RT-113 exit 46 toward Lawrence/Dracut

Enter next roundabout and take the 3rd exit onto RT-113 W/RT-110 W/Lowell Street

RT-113 W/RT-110 W/Lowell St becomes RT-110W

Turn right onto Wheeler Street

Take the 1st left onto Lowell St

Lowell Street becomes Methuen Street

Turn right onto Presidential Circle

to 8 Presidential Circle.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

A Bettina Network Moving Sale and Celebration

Friday, April 26th, 2013

 

Elegant home - beautiful drapes

Elegant home – beautiful drapes

On Saturday, April 27 from 10am-4pm and Sunday, April 28, 2013 from 2pm – 6pm  you are invited to a wonderful Moving Sale with a Celebration at its end.

Come and see and buy from a carefully edited selection of items accumulated by one family over some        7-8 years, so most things are fairly new and very well cared for.

The address for this sale is 8 Presidential Circle, Dracut, MA. 01826.

You will find bark paintings from Kenya which tell of the traditional life of the people of Kenya.

You will see an elegant and very large chandelier for sale – iron and crystal – delicate and perfect for that entrance foyer.   And you will see a nice selection of new oriental rugs in a home beautifully cared for so that the rugs look as if they were new.

IMG_0646

beautiful iron and crystal chandelier

Some crystal – some gold rimmed china dishes – many lamps – and a room for just sitting and enjoying which could be purchased intact to be removed to your home to create a similar environment.  All worked out for you with the right drapes – chairs – lamps – tables – pictures and more.  Who could ask for better!

Drapes which will keep you from ordering those custom drapes into five figures – one pair long enough for windows two stories high and still in beautiful condition – in a very neutral color to fit any decor. – Window shades very soft with off white color and horizontal pleats which are not quite pleats, but beautifully rushed shades – wooden windows to fit a contemporary home in condition good enough to be transferred for their windows to your windows.  Bring your window measurements.  Beautiful custom cornices, well made and also in a condition good enough to just transfer to your windows.

IMG_0575

A brown leather sofa, plus other sofas which just might be what you need for that empty space.

And tables to match everything – glass and brass – glass and wood – inlaid wood – marquetry round tables with lamps to upscale any space.

 

IMG_0698

A round mirror for that hard to deal with space, tall vases with some over 3 feet

– and much more for those decorator touches that don’t cost a decorators budget.

IMG_0682

 

And in the basement – start your own business with desks, tables, chairs, filing cabinets, safes, a gurney of all things – conference tables, and much of what is needed in a Nursing School, but which can be transferred to your office or   school.

Need furniture for that new space in your office you have looked at but haven’t done anything about?  There is a little of everything in that basement.  Well kept, clean and ready for use, including chafing dishes and other serving pieces one would use in an office for entertaining.

 

IMG_0665

 

IMG_0671IMG_0611

Endless desks for a school

Endless desks for a school

IMG_0696

No Comment!

And at the sales end – on Sunday from 2-6pm broken into two parts- from 2-4pm eveyrthing will be half price and from 4-6pm whatever is left will be given away to those who purchased during the sale.  That is a gift of thanks from the home owners.  The gift of thanks from the Bettina Network is a concert/recital by Albino Mbie.  To learn more about Mr. Mbie check him out at this web site which gives a little preview of his music  www.albinombie.com

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

More Comments on Marathon Bombing

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

“Thanks for this blog.  And thanks to the reader who responded.  I am sick and tired of the media.  There is nothing on television except the bomber story all day everyday and that has been the way of the media since this happened.

It isn’t as if they have something to say – they basically show they are like sheep – they repeat the same thing all the time on every channel – they have engaged outrageously in reporting rumor.  They are reporting on things which are ridiculous and the most aggrecious is the way they are trying this case in the press without any regard to anybody’s rights.  Are we following them into this ugly new world where no one thinks – no one reads – everyone simply repeats what they hear on the tellie?”

Do we need to send our press people through remedial school to learn about reporting, etc.? Things come to mind like – rush to judgment; laziness; even possibly ignorance; inability to understand the profession they have chosen; no standards.  The shallowness of our media is on display more so than is the Boston Marathon Bombing incident.  This happens everytime anything happens which lets them showboat and in a second there they are.  Or is this how the media management and ownership cuts cost?  They can put their anchors and supporting reporters in front of the camera for days and not pay for programming for days.  This is also attempted mind control and if there is a trial about all of this they have created a foul jury pool.

Ed Note:  This is one of many responses we received along the same lines.  We took out one and put it on the blog as representative of what many said over breakfast or wrote to us.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

A Reader Comments on Marathon Blog

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

“Thank you so much for the blog on the Boston Marathon.  A lot of us have the same sentiments, but in light of this incredible and overwhelming  public sentiment and outpouring we just didn’t have the guts to come out and talk about our concerns.

 

It is clear to me that one major affect all of this will have will be directly on the gun control issue.  The law enforcements response and the way it was handled has totally buried gun control for at least a decade – Newtown, CT not withstanding.  It has swamped the sentiment that came up during all of the carnage that happened in Connecticut and other places.

That was my first concern and thought.  It is incredible that so few people realize that all of the theatre they were seeing would directly impact gun control.

Keep talking – we are listening!

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

 

 

 

 

The Boston Marathon Bombing and its Aftermath

Saturday, April 20th, 2013

by: Marceline Donaldson

The hunt for the “terrorists” is over and we are all the poorer for it.  Democracy and the United Sates Constitution went out the window and we justified it by claiming all in the name of “safety”.  I guess that makes the real question, would you rather be free or safe?

.

Lets put what happened in Boston in a more historical context.  John King blew the horn at the starting gate – it was dark skinned males.  And does that have a historical context?  Does anyone remember the Carol Stuart case when the clarion call was to “get” those n…..rs.  This time, enough people backed him down that there had to be other “suspects” and those turned out to be two young boys – white.  Legal aliens, maybe next time they will call white and illegal aliens.  And things like innocent until proven guilty went out the window and today the miranda rights are out the window and so will a proper and thorough criminal investigation be completely compromised.  Try to get a just trial out of this fiasco and farce.

.

Rumors fanned the flames and contradictory reporting went unnoticed as we were whipped up into a fear frenzy by a careless and irresponsible media who were apparently taking orders from the law enforcement people.  The idea of an independent media was certainly one of the first things lacking when they started fanning the flames by many repeats of the picture and many assurances of the guilt of the men in the picture..
.
.

The FBI and assorted other enforcement agencies pushed the fear by releasing the pictures of two young men who were immediately declared guilty.  We need an independent investigation of what happened in Boston and soon.  This was the Carol Stuart case on steroids – especially when a Congressman declared that suspect #2 – let’s not use names – we can dehumanize them by calling them titles – had come to this country to kill people.  Put in the context of reality – suspect #2 was 8 years old when he came to this country.  Not likely his motives were to kill people especially since it was probably not his decision to come, but his parents.

.

If you have not been targeted you might feel pretty smug and safe – I was targeted.  It was not pleasant to see police cars come along and block off the streets in your neighborhood leaving you with the uncontrovertible view that you are the target.  As it turned out – they were looking for a grey honda odyssey and one was parked in my driveway.  They had a license plate number which didn’t even come close to mine, but there they were blocking off every ‘escape’ route and what if I had gone outside for any reason while they were doing this?  My neighbor across the street did go out looking for her son.  One policeman yelled at her to get back into her house – she tried to explain her son had gone out for coffee and hadn’t come back and she was going to look for him.  The policeman didn’t care he just continued to yell at her to go back into her house.  What was the great threat?  My car, parked in my driveway.  When I saw that and realized I had been targeted I remember Martin Luther King’s comments – if good people do nothing, they may come for me in the morning, but they will be back for you in the afternoon.

.

I was really jolted when I saw the last press conference with the police head of this travesty announcing everything was going back to ‘normal’ and in the process with his zeal and high on testosterone treated Governor DeVal Patrick in a really disrespectful way.  As Patrick tried to say something he was cut off and that policeman ignored him and kept the microphone.  Whatever Patrick had to say was shoved aside.

.

There were many conflicting rumors and rumors of rumors going around the entire day – not going around from informal conversation with your friends and relatives, but going around on international television being reported as fact.  You really knew it was a problemmatical statement being made when you heard – as John King said – I have to be very careful about what I say here.  King’s racism has been on display at other times, but he has neither been called on it nor has he accepted responsibility for his racist attitudes and taken steps to change them.
.
So many other points come into play – the thermal image of the suspect by the helicopter which was apparently not acted upon; the black mercedes which was taken by the suspect #2 from the body shop where he brought it – a friends’ car to be fixed – and then there was a charaterization of the car they were driving around in as having been ‘car jacked.’  The ‘confession’ came from that supposed car jacking third hand, but reported as fact and the reason to justify the continuation of this abuse of the U. S. Constitution.
.
The FBI releasing photos of suspects which were not definitive, but conjectured as suspects knowing that releasing such to the public in an already inflamed situation would only make things worse and prevent the justice department from doing a proper investigation, etc.  They had face recognition and other means to continue their investigation, present their facts to a judge to get an arrest warrant, etc.  Takes too long?  We can go vigilante and claim it was really good police work?  This was not justice, this was vengeance and it didn’t matter who paid as long as the public felt ‘safe’ and trusting of its law enforcement people and raised them up as heroes after this day long travesty of justice.
.
The Carol Stuart case – for those of you who don’t remember it – was the law enforcement people in Boston releasing what they called a ‘fact’, that Carol Stuart was killed by a young black man and the Boston police went on quite a rampage stopping, searching, mal-treating young black men until Carol Stuart’s brother-in-law confessed that it was really her white husband who killed her with his help after the fact. One committed suicide, the other went to jail.
.
Was this day long horror story any different?  Are we safer and its okay that we are far less free?  Does it matter that we have been subjected to the kind of police state which has happened in many societies around the globe – those that we condemn?  Have we now taken our place beside them in what was a bright light shining on the difference between what we profess verbally and what we practice, in fact?
.
Will something even bigger – in terms of the rejection of our U. S. Constitution – come along again in Boston where it will be even worse than Carol Stuart and the Marathon Bombing?
.
We have no idea if they were the bombers – if they were did they act alone – if not who are other possible suspects – etc.  All the kind of questions which could have been answered from a properly conducted criminal investigation.  What were we so afraid of that we can not follow our own supposed values and beliefs or are those beliefs and ethics only there to be paraded out when it is convenient for everyone and makes us look good and better than other countries?
.
This re-creation of a police state in the United States certainly needs to be thoroughly investigated by an independent body.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.

Looking for Staff at our very unusual company

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

Bettina Network, inc. is looking for people who are passionate about estate sales and want to join our team a part time person working estate sales.

There is much space for progress up the ladder of a fun, demanding, exciting, innovative company.

We are also looking for people who code/program/web design/e-commerce.  Same thing – start as a part time person and work your way up the ladder of success.

call us at 617 497 9166 or 800 347 9166

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

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.


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!