Billie Garde and misconduct
14 years since Billie P Garde was first licensed to practice law in DC.
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State License status Year acquired Last updated by Avvo
Dist. of Columbia Active 1997 09/13/2009
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This lawyer has been cited for professional misconduct by a state disciplinary authority.
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State Citation type Year cited Last updated by Avvo
Dist. of Columbia Informal Admonition 2003 09/13/2009
BPs ombudsmans office neglected their concerns
EXCERPT:
Additionally, employees who raised issues about safety and retaliation have singled out BP's Deputy Ombudsman, Billie Garde, accusing her of breaching their confidentiality by sharing sensitive documents and disclosing other closely-guarded information with executives at BP and its contractor, Acuren, that identified the employees who leveled the charges. Acuren is a firm that specializes in monitoring gas lines and pipelines for corrosion.
Call or fax Clifford and Garde re: BP
Glifford & Garde (gliffordgarde.com
In addition to serving as litigators, consultants and mediators, we also train employers to avoid the cost and distraction of whistleblower and other retaliation claims by properly investigating employee concerns as they arise. Our employment lawyers counsel individuals, entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses in how to comply with federal and state regulations, and to protect their interests in the most challenging and complex disputes.
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Was Billie Garde bought off in this instance?
EXCERPT:A Coordinated Plan
Recent reports from Alaska show little improvement in the condition of TAPS or the culture of its operators. In June, an ASIS electrical inspector at the Valdez Terminal was subjected to verbal and physical harassment. Also in June, a short in some insulation tape on equipment at the terminal caused a fire that was later contained. These are just a few of the incidents detailed by Billie Garde, a Houston attorney representing many of the inspectors, in a 28-page letter to Congress in June. According to Garde, Alyeska is dismantling the last effective remnants of its inspection program. Alyeska is seeking to cut costs through new "quality generalist"positions that will give inspectors responsibility for a wider range of equipment, much of it potentially beyond their expertise.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Clifford & Garde, LLP is a national, highly rated employment law firm based in Washington, D.C. Our firm aggressively and competently represents and counsels both employees and employers in all aspects of employment law.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
v.
Billie Pirner GARDE.
EXCERPT:
848 F.2d 1307 (citation)
270 U.S.App.D.C. 275, 3 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 1109
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
v.
Billie Pirner GARDE.
No. 88-5022.
United States Court of Appeals,
District of Columbia Circuit.
June 17, 1988.
Jay B. Stephens, U.S. Atty., John D. Bates, R. Craig Lawrence, and Mark E. Nagle, Asst. U.S. Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., were on appellant's motion to dismiss.
Marya C. Young, Washington, D.C., for appellee.
Patti A. Goldman, Alan B. Morrison, David C. Viadeck, Washington, D.C., for Government Accountability Project.
Before SILBERMAN, D.H. GINSBURG and SENTELLE, Circuit Judges.
ON MOTION TO DISMISS
PER CURIAM.
1
In the course of representing its clients, Government Accountability Project ("GAP")1 received information about safety problems at the South Texas Nuclear Plant ("South Texas"). GAP offered to provide this information to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC" or "agency") on the condition that informant identities and information that could lead to the informants' identification, be kept confidential. GAP also requested that the information be provided to a special team of the NRC office other than the NRC Region IV, which had a reputation for disclosing confidential identities to the utility accused of having safety problems. Rejecting this offer, the NRC issued to GAP attorney, Billie Garde, a subpoena seeking all information about the safety problems at South Texas, including the identities of the whistleblowers. Ms. Garde, invoking the attorney-client privilege, refused to honor the subpoena.
2
The NRC, through the United States, brought an action against Garde in the district court, contending that it needed to obtain the identities of the whistleblowers.2 GAP intervened, opposing the enforcement of the subpoena on different grounds. GAP argued that disclosure of the identities of the whistleblowers would chill GAP's and the whistleblowers' "First Amendment associational rights" in their promotion of nuclear safety. Both GAP and Garde argued that enforcement of the subpoena would force GAP's attorneys to breach the attorney-client privilege, attorney work product privilege, and press privilege.
The following pdf file couldn't be copied but looks like it has lots of good information.
Alaska forum pdf
EXCERPT:
Crude Behavior
Big Oil to Alaska Pipeline Inspectors: Don't Squak or Else.
What safety inspector Richard Acord witnessed by in September 1991 at Milepost 113.6 would have been a comedy of errors if the consequences were not so grave. Milepost 113.6 is one of 25 animal corssings where the Trans-Alaska pipeline drops below ground to allow migrating caribou and other animals to cross the line. A crew operating a drill rig-a 60,000 pound truck with a giant drill on the chassis planned to drive it across the pipeline but had failed to follow proper guidelines.
Drag reducing agent wikipedia
EXCERPT:
A drag reducing agent, also called a flow improver, is a long chain polymer chemical that is used in crude oil, refined products or non-potable water pipelines. It is injected in small amounts (parts per million) and is used to reduce the frictional pressure drop along the pipeline's length.
Iraq embassy scandal expands
EXCERPT:
EPCO did not adequately discharge its contract administration responsibilities. EPCO was managed by an individual who did not enforce contract provisions, most notably design and construction requirements, which resulted in many of the construction deficiencies listed. Of prime significance, construction deficiencies prevented the contracts from being completed on time, and Embassy personnel could not move as planned to the more secure facilities at the [embassy]. Even though First Kuwaiti did not meet the required contract completion dates for three contracts, covering housing, infrastructure, and support facilities, EPCO did not require First Kuwaiti to pay $10.9 million in liquidated damages. EPCO also approved $69.1 million in advance mobilization payments that were not authorized by the contracts and did not require First Kuwaiti to pay $3.3 million in interest for the use of those funds. EPCO approved contractor invoices without adequate documentation and did not require First Kuwaiti to comply with the reporting requirements of the Cargo Preference Act.
What makes this story all the more outrageous is that the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to build a $736 million massive US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan that is modeled after the Baghdad embassy.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Booz Allen (William Stasior)
EXCERPT:
Booz Allen Senior Chair William Stasior Elected Chairman of Board of Directors of UNCF
Procter & Gamble and ExxonMobil Senior Executives Added to UNCF Board.
Press Release Issued by UNCF
FAIRFAX, Va. (March 8, 2010)—William Stasior, Senior Chair of the Booz Allen Hamilton global consulting firm, was elected chairman of the board of UNCF (the United Negro College Fund), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, at the annual meeting of the UNCF board in New York City on March 5. Stasior succeeds Jack L. Stahl, former chief operating officer of Coca-Cola and chief executive officer of Revlon, who chaired the UNCF board for three years and remains a board member. In addition to electing Stasior its chairman at its March 5 meeting, the UNCF board added senior executives of two of the nation’s largest companies, Procter & Gamble and ExxonMobil to its membership.
EXCERPT:
Booz Allen Senior Chair William Stasior Elected Chairman of Board of Directors of UNCF
Procter & Gamble and ExxonMobil Senior Executives Added to UNCF Board.
Press Release Issued by UNCF
FAIRFAX, Va. (March 8, 2010)—William Stasior, Senior Chair of the Booz Allen Hamilton global consulting firm, was elected chairman of the board of UNCF (the United Negro College Fund), the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, at the annual meeting of the UNCF board in New York City on March 5. Stasior succeeds Jack L. Stahl, former chief operating officer of Coca-Cola and chief executive officer of Revlon, who chaired the UNCF board for three years and remains a board member. In addition to electing Stasior its chairman at its March 5 meeting, the UNCF board added senior executives of two of the nation’s largest companies, Procter & Gamble and ExxonMobil to its membership.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I think it would be a good idea to have Ray Stevens be invited to Lopez Tonight, or 'The View' or Colbert Nation, or The Daily Show? ...... and maybe he might be asked to address the SPP (Security and Prosperity Program???) See his youtubes, k?
I think it's time that the SPP is addressed, don't you, and I think since Ray Stevens is supporting the Arizona thingy thru his videos he could be questioned???
Deeper look at the Security and Prosperity Program (Canada)
18 May 2007 - 11:59am
1.Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
2.Learn More about the SPP
3.SPP Countersummit to the SPP Montebello Summit
4.Countersummit Program Highlights - New Information
5.SPP Countersummit Reports
6.Post Montebello Summit Analysis (Coming Soon)
7.Recent Press Releases
Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
Most Canadians would be shocked to learn that the federal government has entered a partnership with the US and Mexico that further integrates the military, security, trade, economic, regulatory and foreign polices of the three countries.
This agreement will make it even easier for the US to access Canadas natural resources, weaken Canadian food safety regulations to fall into line with those of the US and force Canada to adopt US homeland security policies and other measures that erode Canadian sovereignty.
Flying under the radar of public and parliamentary scrutiny, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America is moving Canada, the US and Mexico swiftly towards North American Union.
Since coming to power in January 2006, the Harper government has been advancing the SPP through budgetary commitments and participation in cross–border working groups limited to business leaders in strategic sectors.
With no public announcements and little media coverage, governments are making administrative changes beyond public purview. This incremental approach operates in the shadows because the government knows that Canadians would reject an agreement to further integrate our economy with those of the US and Mexico.
The Green Party believes that trade deals must be open and democratic, reflecting a commitment to "fair trade" above "free trade." Fair trade means that economic, social and ecological justice must not succumb to investor rights. The government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and the environment must trump short-term economic interests.
Ray Stevens God Save Arizona
Ray Stevens - Come to the USA
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North American
EXCERPT:
Criticism
In 2006, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs argued that the SPP was part of a plan to merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a North American Union similar to the European Union,[12] which has been referred to in other news reports as "mythical" and a "conspiracy theory".[1] Dobbs claimed at the time that US President Bush, who left office on January 20, 2009, was to have bypassed Congress and ultimately create a Union based on a Texas highway corridor.[13] One variation of this theory was that President Bush would declare a state of emergency to avoid leaving office, which, in fact, never came about; on January 20, 2009, his successor, Barack Obama, who had openly voiced misgivings about NAFTA, the predecessor to SPP, let alone SPP itself, took office as US President, but his anti-NAFTA views soon disappeared from his public persona.
The Council of Canadians claimed that the SPP extended the controversial "no fly list" of the USA, made Canadian water a communal resource, and forced Canada and Mexico to adopt the USA's security policies - one of which would allow foreign military forces to neglect sovereignty in the case of a "civil emergency". In addition, it also touched on the issue of Albertan tar sands expansion to five times its current size.[14]
On May 10, 2007, Conservative MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade, prevented University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer from testifying that SPP would leave Canadians "to freeze in the dark" because "Canada itself – unlike most industrialized nations – has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies" by saying Laxer's testimony was not relevant, defying a majority vote to overrule his motion, shutting down the Committee meeting, and leaving with the other three out of four Conservative members; the meeting later continued presided by the Liberal vice-chair.[15] After these disruptions, the National Post reported on a Conservative party manual to, among other things, usurp Parliamentary committees and cause chaos in unfavourable committees.[16][17] The New Democratic Party also criticized SPP for being undemocratic, not open to Parliament, and opaque.[18] New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton described the process as not simply unconstitutional, but "non-constitutional", held completely outside the usual mechanisms of oversight.[19]
Some thirty US-based organizations also sent an open letter to Congress on April 21, 2008 criticizing the secrecy and lack of any sort of democratic oversight:
"What differentiates the SPP from other security and trade agreements is that it is not subject to Congressional oversight or approval. The SPP establishes a corporate/government bureaucracy for implementation that excludes civil society participation. ... Facing a worrisome pact pushed forward in secrecy, it is time for Congress to halt this undemocratic approach and establish a process based on openness, accountability, and the participation of civil society.[20]
[edit] Cancellation
In August 2009, the SPP website was updated to say: "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is no longer an active initiative. There will not be any updates to this site."[21] Subsequent to this the website link does not connect and the cache website links do not work.
Currently, the website calls itself an archive for SPP documents and announces: "Going forward, we want to build on the accomplishments achieved by the SPP and further improve our cooperation."[22]
The NDP has called this a "victory" which is "the result of the active and sustained efforts across the country, and across North America, of Canadian, Mexican and American activists from the labour movement, civil society, progressive legislators and all those concerned and committed to build a better quality of life in our Canada and throughout North America."[23]
I think it's time that the SPP is addressed, don't you, and I think since Ray Stevens is supporting the Arizona thingy thru his videos he could be questioned???
Deeper look at the Security and Prosperity Program (Canada)
18 May 2007 - 11:59am
1.Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
2.Learn More about the SPP
3.SPP Countersummit to the SPP Montebello Summit
4.Countersummit Program Highlights - New Information
5.SPP Countersummit Reports
6.Post Montebello Summit Analysis (Coming Soon)
7.Recent Press Releases
Why We Need to Take a Closer Look at Continental Integration
Most Canadians would be shocked to learn that the federal government has entered a partnership with the US and Mexico that further integrates the military, security, trade, economic, regulatory and foreign polices of the three countries.
This agreement will make it even easier for the US to access Canadas natural resources, weaken Canadian food safety regulations to fall into line with those of the US and force Canada to adopt US homeland security policies and other measures that erode Canadian sovereignty.
Flying under the radar of public and parliamentary scrutiny, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America is moving Canada, the US and Mexico swiftly towards North American Union.
Since coming to power in January 2006, the Harper government has been advancing the SPP through budgetary commitments and participation in cross–border working groups limited to business leaders in strategic sectors.
With no public announcements and little media coverage, governments are making administrative changes beyond public purview. This incremental approach operates in the shadows because the government knows that Canadians would reject an agreement to further integrate our economy with those of the US and Mexico.
The Green Party believes that trade deals must be open and democratic, reflecting a commitment to "fair trade" above "free trade." Fair trade means that economic, social and ecological justice must not succumb to investor rights. The government’s responsibility to protect its citizens and the environment must trump short-term economic interests.
Ray Stevens God Save Arizona
Ray Stevens - Come to the USA
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North American
EXCERPT:
Criticism
In 2006, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs argued that the SPP was part of a plan to merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a North American Union similar to the European Union,[12] which has been referred to in other news reports as "mythical" and a "conspiracy theory".[1] Dobbs claimed at the time that US President Bush, who left office on January 20, 2009, was to have bypassed Congress and ultimately create a Union based on a Texas highway corridor.[13] One variation of this theory was that President Bush would declare a state of emergency to avoid leaving office, which, in fact, never came about; on January 20, 2009, his successor, Barack Obama, who had openly voiced misgivings about NAFTA, the predecessor to SPP, let alone SPP itself, took office as US President, but his anti-NAFTA views soon disappeared from his public persona.
The Council of Canadians claimed that the SPP extended the controversial "no fly list" of the USA, made Canadian water a communal resource, and forced Canada and Mexico to adopt the USA's security policies - one of which would allow foreign military forces to neglect sovereignty in the case of a "civil emergency". In addition, it also touched on the issue of Albertan tar sands expansion to five times its current size.[14]
On May 10, 2007, Conservative MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade, prevented University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer from testifying that SPP would leave Canadians "to freeze in the dark" because "Canada itself – unlike most industrialized nations – has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies" by saying Laxer's testimony was not relevant, defying a majority vote to overrule his motion, shutting down the Committee meeting, and leaving with the other three out of four Conservative members; the meeting later continued presided by the Liberal vice-chair.[15] After these disruptions, the National Post reported on a Conservative party manual to, among other things, usurp Parliamentary committees and cause chaos in unfavourable committees.[16][17] The New Democratic Party also criticized SPP for being undemocratic, not open to Parliament, and opaque.[18] New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton described the process as not simply unconstitutional, but "non-constitutional", held completely outside the usual mechanisms of oversight.[19]
Some thirty US-based organizations also sent an open letter to Congress on April 21, 2008 criticizing the secrecy and lack of any sort of democratic oversight:
"What differentiates the SPP from other security and trade agreements is that it is not subject to Congressional oversight or approval. The SPP establishes a corporate/government bureaucracy for implementation that excludes civil society participation. ... Facing a worrisome pact pushed forward in secrecy, it is time for Congress to halt this undemocratic approach and establish a process based on openness, accountability, and the participation of civil society.[20]
[edit] Cancellation
In August 2009, the SPP website was updated to say: "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is no longer an active initiative. There will not be any updates to this site."[21] Subsequent to this the website link does not connect and the cache website links do not work.
Currently, the website calls itself an archive for SPP documents and announces: "Going forward, we want to build on the accomplishments achieved by the SPP and further improve our cooperation."[22]
The NDP has called this a "victory" which is "the result of the active and sustained efforts across the country, and across North America, of Canadian, Mexican and American activists from the labour movement, civil society, progressive legislators and all those concerned and committed to build a better quality of life in our Canada and throughout North America."[23]
Arizona execution Are the drugs to be used legally obtained OMG!
EXCERPT:
Motion may force Arizona to reveal source of execution drugs
by Michael Kiefer - Oct. 19, 2010 06:14 PM
The Arizona Republic
A state prosecutor and defense attorneys for a murderer scheduled for execution next week will argue before the Arizona Supreme Court Wed as to whether the state has to reveal its source of the drugs needed for execution.
The Arizona Republic has learned that one or more of the drugs may have been imported, raising questions as to their legality under federal drug laws.
One of them, sodium thiopental, a barbiturate used mostly as an anesthetic, is in short supply nationwide. Other states have had to postpone executions because of its unavailability.
Defense attorneys fear the state's newly found supply is imported. Thiopental is a controlled substance, and therefore subject to regulation by federal authorities. The federal Food and Drug Administration does not "have a mechanism for importing that drug." And a spokeswoman for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which tracks drug shortages, told The Republic "any import to alleviate a shortage would have to come from an FDA-approved source."
The attorneys want the execution postponed until those questions are cleared up.
Assistant Arizona Attorney General Kent Cattani told The Republic last month that the state was possibly looking for the drug in other countries.
Without giving details, the Arizona Department of Corrections announced Sept. 30 that it had lawfully obtained all of the necessary drugs.
Last week, The Republic reported that a supply obtained by California on that same day could not have been produced by the drug's sole U.S. manufacturer because of its expiration date.
After that story was published, the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, which represents condemned killer Jeffrey Landrigan, who is scheduled for execution Oct. 26, received information that the drug had been obtained by an Valley import company.
"It's possible the drugs may have been obtained from a foreign source," said Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender's Office. "A message was left with our office stating that a person heard an employee of a local customs broker disclose that the company imported the drugs that will be used for Landrigan's execution."
The owner of that company told The Republic he knew nothing about it and that all of his business dealings were confidential.
"We don't do much with the FDA," he said, "It's a nightmare."
Public records requests about that company made to the Department of Corrections and the Arizona Department of Administration, which would pay for the drug, were met with refusals to release information, citing confidentiality under an Arizona law concerning the identity of executioners.
The topic of execution was never mentioned in either of the newspaper's requests.
Arizona Revised Statute 13-757 says, "The identity of executioners and other persons who participate or perform ancillary functions in an execution and any information contained in records that would identify those persons is confidential and is not subject to disclosure."
The Corrections Department also referred to an Oct. 8 affidavit by its director, Charles Ryan, saying the agency "has lawfully obtained the necessary chemicals."
Cattani said that his position will not change in Wednesday's hearing before the high court.
"We are going to argue that under the statute, the information remains confidential," he said. "We think the department has lawfully obtained the drug."
EXCERPT:
Motion may force Arizona to reveal source of execution drugs
by Michael Kiefer - Oct. 19, 2010 06:14 PM
The Arizona Republic
A state prosecutor and defense attorneys for a murderer scheduled for execution next week will argue before the Arizona Supreme Court Wed as to whether the state has to reveal its source of the drugs needed for execution.
The Arizona Republic has learned that one or more of the drugs may have been imported, raising questions as to their legality under federal drug laws.
One of them, sodium thiopental, a barbiturate used mostly as an anesthetic, is in short supply nationwide. Other states have had to postpone executions because of its unavailability.
Defense attorneys fear the state's newly found supply is imported. Thiopental is a controlled substance, and therefore subject to regulation by federal authorities. The federal Food and Drug Administration does not "have a mechanism for importing that drug." And a spokeswoman for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which tracks drug shortages, told The Republic "any import to alleviate a shortage would have to come from an FDA-approved source."
The attorneys want the execution postponed until those questions are cleared up.
Assistant Arizona Attorney General Kent Cattani told The Republic last month that the state was possibly looking for the drug in other countries.
Without giving details, the Arizona Department of Corrections announced Sept. 30 that it had lawfully obtained all of the necessary drugs.
Last week, The Republic reported that a supply obtained by California on that same day could not have been produced by the drug's sole U.S. manufacturer because of its expiration date.
After that story was published, the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, which represents condemned killer Jeffrey Landrigan, who is scheduled for execution Oct. 26, received information that the drug had been obtained by an Valley import company.
"It's possible the drugs may have been obtained from a foreign source," said Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender's Office. "A message was left with our office stating that a person heard an employee of a local customs broker disclose that the company imported the drugs that will be used for Landrigan's execution."
The owner of that company told The Republic he knew nothing about it and that all of his business dealings were confidential.
"We don't do much with the FDA," he said, "It's a nightmare."
Public records requests about that company made to the Department of Corrections and the Arizona Department of Administration, which would pay for the drug, were met with refusals to release information, citing confidentiality under an Arizona law concerning the identity of executioners.
The topic of execution was never mentioned in either of the newspaper's requests.
Arizona Revised Statute 13-757 says, "The identity of executioners and other persons who participate or perform ancillary functions in an execution and any information contained in records that would identify those persons is confidential and is not subject to disclosure."
The Corrections Department also referred to an Oct. 8 affidavit by its director, Charles Ryan, saying the agency "has lawfully obtained the necessary chemicals."
Cattani said that his position will not change in Wednesday's hearing before the high court.
"We are going to argue that under the statute, the information remains confidential," he said. "We think the department has lawfully obtained the drug."
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Off the grid wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Popularity
On 13 April 2006, USA Today reported that there were "some 180,000 families living off-grid, a figure that has jumped 33% a year for a decade," and cited Richard Perez, publisher of Home Power Magazine,[4] as the source.[5] Assuming the same rate of growth, there would be a quarter million off-grid households in the United States by late 2007. Because many third-world citizens have never had the chance to go on the grid, current estimates are that 1.7 billion people live off-grid worldwide.[6]
[edit] Environmental impact
The State of California is encouraging solar and wind power generation that is connected to the electrical grid to avoid the use of toxic lead acid batteries for night time storage [7]. Grid-tie systems are more expensive due to the extra hardware costs (such as a grid-tie inverter) especially when old car batteries that can no longer supply enough current to start a car are re-used [8]
Going off-grid can be done for altruistic reasons or to lower the environmental impact of living, as the typically limited amount of on-site renewable energy available is an incentive to reduce its use. But if energy usage is not reduced, going off grid actually has a larger environmental impact vs using the grid, due to the lower efficiencies of the components. It is often done to residential buildings only occasionally occupied, such as vacation cabins, to avoid high initial costs of traditional utility connections. Other persons choose to live in houses where the cost of outside utilities is prohibitive, or such a distance away as to be impractical. In his book "How to live off-grid" Nick Rosen lists seven reasons for going off-grid. The top two are saving money, and reducing the carbon footprint. Others include survivalism, preparing for the collapse of the oil economy and bringing life back to the countryside.
USA Today
EXCERPT:
In May 2006, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had been working with AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth to compile “the largest database in the world,” according to the anonymous sources inside the agency that went public.[6] This allowed the paper to uncover a new facet of the agency and further upset the White House after the New York Times revealed the Bush administration authorized the NSA to wiretap international phone calls and e-mails traveling within the U.S.[7]
Anarchy
EXCERPT:
Karl Hess (1923-1994) was an American writer and libertarian activist. He joined the Libertarian Party and was the editor of its newspaper from 1986 to 1990. This short text first appeared in the magazine “The Dandelion” in 1980. It stresses the position already highlighted by the historian and theoretician of the anarchist movement, Max Nettlau that anarchy means freedom and voluntary self-organization and no one in the anarchist movement is interested in prescribing which of the various “isms” (capitalism, communism, mutualism, Catholicism, etc.) any anarchist should follow. This message is very relevant now that the interest for anarchy is growing and that some people, who profess to be anarchists, are battling in order to promote very vigorously (and in some cases trying to impose) their own brand of anarchism, either anarcho-communism or anarcho-capitalism. To all of them the message from Karl Hess is: neither anarchist-communist nor anarchist-capitalist, because “there is no hyphen after the anarchist”
Freemasonry
EXCERPT:
Theodor Reuss
Irregular Freemasonry in Germany, 1900-23
By Bro. Ellic Howe
(16 February 1978)
1. PREFACE
IN ORDER TO introduce Theodor Reuss we can do no better than to quote what his erstwhile but now disillusioned friend August Weinholtz wrote about him in the French masonic periodical L'Acacia in 1907:
This man’s cleverness and extraordinary activities, his sophistries, his knowledge of languages, his ability to play no matter what role, make him a real international menace. In some respects he reminds one of Cagliostro, the most brilliant of all masonic charlatans, who successfully contrived to dupe his contemporaries ... Reuss uses more up to date methods to make people believe in his connections with powerful masonic bodies and, in accordance with the spirit of our age, places sexuality in the foreground ... From a journalistic point of view Reuss is rather an interesting figure. In him we encounter the kind of adventurer portrayed by 17th- and 18th-century writers. But he is a child of our time and social conditions. What is lamentable is that at the threshold of the 20th century it is necessary for the masonic world to be warned anew against a Cagliostro, also that there are men who publicly dare to defend such a person.1 .
Teodor Reuss
EXCERPTs:
1) Founds Ordo Templi Orientis
In 1880, in Munich, he participated in an attempt to revive Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Order of Illuminati. While in England, he became friends with William Wynn Westcott, the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Westcott provided Reuss with a charter dated July 26, 1901 for the Swedenborgian Rite of Masonry and a letter of authorization dated February 24, 1902 to found a High Council in Germania of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Gérard Encausse provided him with a charter dated June 24, 1901 designating him Special Inspector for the Martinist Order in Germany. In 1888, in Berlin, he joined with Leopold Engel of Dresden, Max Rahn and August Weinholz in another effort to revive the Illuminati Order. In 1895, he began to discuss the formation of Ordo Templi Orientis with Carl Kellner.
2) Meets Aleister Crowley
While living in London, Reuss became acquainted with Aleister Crowley. In 1910, he made Crowley a VII° of O.T.O. (based on Crowley's previously held 33° in the Scottish Rite), and in 1912, he conferred upon him the IX° and appointed him National Grand Master General X° for the O.T.O. in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by charter dated June 1, 1912. Crowley's appointment included authority over an English language rite of the lower (Masonic) degrees of O.T.O. which was given the name Mysteria Mystica Maxima, or M∴M∴M∴. In 1913, Crowley issued a Constitution for the M∴M∴M∴ and the Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴, which he subsequently redrafted and issued as Liber LII (52), the Manifesto of the O.T.O. In 1913, Crowley wrote Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass for Reuss's Gnostic Catholic Church. Crowley also dedicated his Mystery Play The Ship (1913) and a collection of poetry, The Giant's Thumb (1915) to Reuss. In 1913 he became Grand Master of the Rite of Memphis-Misraïm, a masonic group which previously included the revolutionaries Louis Blanc and Giuseppe Garibaldi amongst its ranks.
Alessandro Cagliostro wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (also called Joseph Balsamo), an Italian adventurer.
McCalman (2003: p. 4) frames the intrigue enveloping Cagliostro and his contemporaries thus:
"His enemies would have been delighted at the neglect of his house. There'd been plenty of them: Casanova, the greatest lover of the age, was bitterly jealous of him; Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, wanted to strangle him; Johann von Goethe, the most revered of Germany's writers, was driven almost mad by hatred of him; King Louis XVI of France persecuted him as a dangerous revolutionary; Queen Marie-Antoinette wanted him locked permanently in the Bastille for involving her in a diamond necklace swindle; and Pope Pius VI accused him of threatening the survival of the Catholic church."[1]
EXCERPT:
Popularity
On 13 April 2006, USA Today reported that there were "some 180,000 families living off-grid, a figure that has jumped 33% a year for a decade," and cited Richard Perez, publisher of Home Power Magazine,[4] as the source.[5] Assuming the same rate of growth, there would be a quarter million off-grid households in the United States by late 2007. Because many third-world citizens have never had the chance to go on the grid, current estimates are that 1.7 billion people live off-grid worldwide.[6]
[edit] Environmental impact
The State of California is encouraging solar and wind power generation that is connected to the electrical grid to avoid the use of toxic lead acid batteries for night time storage [7]. Grid-tie systems are more expensive due to the extra hardware costs (such as a grid-tie inverter) especially when old car batteries that can no longer supply enough current to start a car are re-used [8]
Going off-grid can be done for altruistic reasons or to lower the environmental impact of living, as the typically limited amount of on-site renewable energy available is an incentive to reduce its use. But if energy usage is not reduced, going off grid actually has a larger environmental impact vs using the grid, due to the lower efficiencies of the components. It is often done to residential buildings only occasionally occupied, such as vacation cabins, to avoid high initial costs of traditional utility connections. Other persons choose to live in houses where the cost of outside utilities is prohibitive, or such a distance away as to be impractical. In his book "How to live off-grid" Nick Rosen lists seven reasons for going off-grid. The top two are saving money, and reducing the carbon footprint. Others include survivalism, preparing for the collapse of the oil economy and bringing life back to the countryside.
USA Today
EXCERPT:
In May 2006, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had been working with AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth to compile “the largest database in the world,” according to the anonymous sources inside the agency that went public.[6] This allowed the paper to uncover a new facet of the agency and further upset the White House after the New York Times revealed the Bush administration authorized the NSA to wiretap international phone calls and e-mails traveling within the U.S.[7]
Anarchy
EXCERPT:
Karl Hess (1923-1994) was an American writer and libertarian activist. He joined the Libertarian Party and was the editor of its newspaper from 1986 to 1990. This short text first appeared in the magazine “The Dandelion” in 1980. It stresses the position already highlighted by the historian and theoretician of the anarchist movement, Max Nettlau that anarchy means freedom and voluntary self-organization and no one in the anarchist movement is interested in prescribing which of the various “isms” (capitalism, communism, mutualism, Catholicism, etc.) any anarchist should follow. This message is very relevant now that the interest for anarchy is growing and that some people, who profess to be anarchists, are battling in order to promote very vigorously (and in some cases trying to impose) their own brand of anarchism, either anarcho-communism or anarcho-capitalism. To all of them the message from Karl Hess is: neither anarchist-communist nor anarchist-capitalist, because “there is no hyphen after the anarchist”
Freemasonry
EXCERPT:
Theodor Reuss
Irregular Freemasonry in Germany, 1900-23
By Bro. Ellic Howe
(16 February 1978)
1. PREFACE
IN ORDER TO introduce Theodor Reuss we can do no better than to quote what his erstwhile but now disillusioned friend August Weinholtz wrote about him in the French masonic periodical L'Acacia in 1907:
This man’s cleverness and extraordinary activities, his sophistries, his knowledge of languages, his ability to play no matter what role, make him a real international menace. In some respects he reminds one of Cagliostro, the most brilliant of all masonic charlatans, who successfully contrived to dupe his contemporaries ... Reuss uses more up to date methods to make people believe in his connections with powerful masonic bodies and, in accordance with the spirit of our age, places sexuality in the foreground ... From a journalistic point of view Reuss is rather an interesting figure. In him we encounter the kind of adventurer portrayed by 17th- and 18th-century writers. But he is a child of our time and social conditions. What is lamentable is that at the threshold of the 20th century it is necessary for the masonic world to be warned anew against a Cagliostro, also that there are men who publicly dare to defend such a person.1 .
Teodor Reuss
EXCERPTs:
1) Founds Ordo Templi Orientis
In 1880, in Munich, he participated in an attempt to revive Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Order of Illuminati. While in England, he became friends with William Wynn Westcott, the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Westcott provided Reuss with a charter dated July 26, 1901 for the Swedenborgian Rite of Masonry and a letter of authorization dated February 24, 1902 to found a High Council in Germania of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Gérard Encausse provided him with a charter dated June 24, 1901 designating him Special Inspector for the Martinist Order in Germany. In 1888, in Berlin, he joined with Leopold Engel of Dresden, Max Rahn and August Weinholz in another effort to revive the Illuminati Order. In 1895, he began to discuss the formation of Ordo Templi Orientis with Carl Kellner.
2) Meets Aleister Crowley
While living in London, Reuss became acquainted with Aleister Crowley. In 1910, he made Crowley a VII° of O.T.O. (based on Crowley's previously held 33° in the Scottish Rite), and in 1912, he conferred upon him the IX° and appointed him National Grand Master General X° for the O.T.O. in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by charter dated June 1, 1912. Crowley's appointment included authority over an English language rite of the lower (Masonic) degrees of O.T.O. which was given the name Mysteria Mystica Maxima, or M∴M∴M∴. In 1913, Crowley issued a Constitution for the M∴M∴M∴ and the Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴, which he subsequently redrafted and issued as Liber LII (52), the Manifesto of the O.T.O. In 1913, Crowley wrote Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass for Reuss's Gnostic Catholic Church. Crowley also dedicated his Mystery Play The Ship (1913) and a collection of poetry, The Giant's Thumb (1915) to Reuss. In 1913 he became Grand Master of the Rite of Memphis-Misraïm, a masonic group which previously included the revolutionaries Louis Blanc and Giuseppe Garibaldi amongst its ranks.
Alessandro Cagliostro wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (also called Joseph Balsamo), an Italian adventurer.
McCalman (2003: p. 4) frames the intrigue enveloping Cagliostro and his contemporaries thus:
"His enemies would have been delighted at the neglect of his house. There'd been plenty of them: Casanova, the greatest lover of the age, was bitterly jealous of him; Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, wanted to strangle him; Johann von Goethe, the most revered of Germany's writers, was driven almost mad by hatred of him; King Louis XVI of France persecuted him as a dangerous revolutionary; Queen Marie-Antoinette wanted him locked permanently in the Bastille for involving her in a diamond necklace swindle; and Pope Pius VI accused him of threatening the survival of the Catholic church."[1]
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