PAUSE FOR A PRAYER FOR RAIN

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We're going to take a short break from

the politics and the craziness here,

and say a prayer or two, and
listen to the rain and thunder (below),

and think about things.
Note: you can just leave the rain audio
on as you read the post, and play any
 of the songs below as well -
the rain will automatically drop in
volume, but to where it's still audible.
It's a good mix - nice effect. 

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Below is an 8.5" x 11" mini-poster that
prints out pretty nice - another one is further
down the post.  Find a bulletin board!  Thanks!
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From THE WASHINGTON POST

Praying for rain: Atheist critics show how petty and small-minded they’ve become.

By Lisa Miller, July 26,  2012

Rain clouds form to the east of parched Vigo county cornfields Thursday… (Jim Avelis/AP )

 

 With the death of writer Christopher Hitchens and the withdrawal of Sam Harris, author of “The End of Faith,” from the front lines into a study of morality and neuroscience, the American atheist movement has a void at the top.

 

A decade ago, atheists were brave,

fierce warriors bent on battling

 conventional wisdom and easy piety. These days, it seems, atheists

are petty and small-minded ideologues who regard every

expression of public religiosity as a personal affront – not to mention a possible violation of the First Amendment and a sign of rampant idiocy among their fellow citizens.

Last week, such atheist hysteria reached a peak when Tom Flynn, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism, publicly overreacted to remarks made at a news conference by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. In speaking about the devastating drought facing farmers in the Midwest, the worst in 25 years, Vilsack, who was raised a Roman Catholic, struck a tone both emphatic and personal.

“I get on my knees every day,” he said, “and I’m saying an extra prayer right now. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance, I would do it.”

Flynn came out swinging churlishly. About Vilsack’s statement, he said, “That’s not just government entangling itself with religion, that’s government publicly practicing it, and wallowing in superstition.” Besides, he added (rather meanly), prayer doesn’t work.

The jury may be out on the efficacy of prayer, but on the question of whether the USDA chief has violated the First Amendment, Flynn is entirely wrong. Vilsack did not say he had ceased doing his day job and was collecting his government salary while devoting himself to prayer. He did not suggest using taxpayer dollars to set up an altar to the rain gods outside USDA headquarters on Independence Avenue SW, nor did he – as Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) did last year – use his authority to declare a national day of prayer for rain. Vilsack merely said that, in light of the vast consequences of the drought on human life, he was moved to prayer. And that he wished he had more, or better, prayers to alleviate the suffering of so many.

 

“If a leader wants to say he’s praying for help, there’s nothing in the Constitution that makes it inappropriate,” said David Beckmann, a Lutheran pastor and president of the hunger advocacy organization Bread for the World.
Beckmann added that he’s praying as well — not just for American farmers but also, and especially, for poor people around the world who need the fruits of those farms to live and who might not be able to afford the price increases that will inevitably result from food shortages. For his part, Vilsack declined to comment further.
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Vilsack and Beckmann (and Perry, for that matter) are hardly the first humans on the planet to pray to God for that life-giving substance, rain. The God of the Hebrew Bible is a cousin, historically, of the Canaanite deity Baal, a sky god who controlled the weather, especially rain. When in the First Book of Kings, Elijah proposes a competition between Baal and the God of Abraham, God wins when he shoots fire down to earth, causing the assembled party to fall on their faces. In celebration of his victory, God makes the sky “black with clouds and winds, and there was a great rain.
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Rain prayers are especially potent among desert dwellers; in the arid Southwest, Native Americans have for thousands of years made prayers, songs and dances for rain, and they continue to do so today.
“Thence throw you misty water,” goes the “Rain Magic Song” of the Pueblo Indians, “all round about us here.”
Before they make such supplications, said Tony Chavarria, curator of ethnology at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, N.M., Pueblo Indians are taught to “look within yourself, your community to see what needs to be repaired, what you can do to make yourself and your community a more balanced place so the deities will be more willing to convey that blessing.”

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From "The Rancher's Prayer for Rain"

Author Unknown

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“It’s as dry as I’ve seen it”…
I heard an old man say.
“We’ve got nothing left to do,
But kneel down and pray.”
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Dear Lord, we’re desperate.
We’ve got little time to spare.
We’ve been down before,
And you’ve always been there.

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I know that this time,
Will be just the same.
We ask for relief,
Lord, please send the rain.

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“I get on my knees every day and I’m saying

an extra prayer right now.

 If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance

 I could do, I would do it.”

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Tom Vilsack

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

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Our inter-faith

 "PRAYER VIGIL FOR RAIN &

BLESSING OF THE WATERS"

will be held Saturday, June 15, 2 pm - at

The Chapel of the Living Waters

Montosa Campground

(approx 13.5 miles west of Magdalena

off U.S. Highway 60).

All are welcome, please come!

Song, prayer, and ceremony 

 from a number of faiths.

Refreshments afterwards.

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November 3 - Here's a follow-up to this post:

http://stopthewatergrab.blogspot.com/2013/11/say-how-did-prayin-for-rain-work-out.html

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UPDATE ON OUR LLC "PROJECT DIRECTOR"

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 Michel Jichlinski,

the Project Director for the scheme by these foreign investors,

was the subject of a posting here a short time back.

At the time all I could find, in my slow-witted fashion, was

information regarding an investigation for fraud committed

by the Louis Berger Group, a big-time federal contractor,

while he was the President and CEO, looking into serious

allegations that Uncle Sam was getting taken to the cleaners,

to the tune of millions.

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Now I have new information - I was simply slow to

find it - a lot came out in 2010-2011 - and it's stunning.
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 Now remember, as you read this,

that this new Project Director for the
Augustin Plains Ranch LLC,
Michel Jichlinski,
 was the "BOSS" at Louis Berger during
 the period when ALL of this fraud occured. 
It turns out they were guilty as sin.
Thieves.
Millions and millions stolen.
 Taxpayer's money, gone with the wind.
So they were caught red-handed,
via a "whistleblower" that had the data,
 and the feds ordered the boys to pay up.
Enough?  Doubtful, probably not.
They had been stealing for a long time.
But they admitted guilt, and the fines
include BOTH CIVIL and
CRIMINAL penalties.
$69.3 MILLION DOLLARS IN FINES!!!
Did Jichlinski have to pay his part of the tab?
Quien sabe?  Who knows?
If I get updated info, I'll post it. 
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But God Bless all "whistleblowers,"
wherever they are, and especially the
man who came forward here!
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The "whistleblower" in the case detailed
 how the company was "a culture of fraud." 

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Below is a link to a whole batch of articles about the issue

from the McClatchy Washington Bureau - a

well-respected investigative newspaper/web outfit.

 

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/search_results?q=louis+berger+group&x=0&y=0

 

And here's just a brief quote:
 

WASHINGTON — A nearly $70 million fine announced

 Friday against one of the U.S. government's largest

 Afghanistan contractors is an apparent record war-zone

 settlement, and it grew from a classic David vs. Goliath

 confrontation.

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New Jersey-based Louis Berger Group, which has overseen the

 construction of roads, power plants and schools across

 Afghanistan, acknowledged that It had knowingly and

 systematically overcharged the U.S. government and agreed to

 pay $69.3 million in criminal and civil penalties.

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Here's maybe the most amazing of the articles,
the "whistleblower's" story:
 
Whistleblower details bribes fraud in Afghanistan

Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

Warren P. Strobel

KABUL, Afghanistan — A corporate whistleblower, whose evidence of fraud led to one of the largest fines ever against a war-zone contractor, said that he was ordered to facilitate bribes, keep information from government auditors and inflate overhead rates.
          
Former Louis Berger Group employee Harold Salomon, in his first interview since the case was settled earlier this month, said he came to believe the New Jersey firm hired him because executives calculated the Haitian immigrant would not uncover their defrauding of U.S. taxpayers.
"Me being an immigrant would be easy prey," he said. They thought, "I would not understand anything."
           
Louis Berger agreed Nov. 5 to pay $69.3 million in civil and criminal penalties and accept a "deferred prosecution," which means federal charges would be dropped only if the firm complies with its court agreement with the government. The deal, however, allows the firm to continue competing for U.S. government contracts.

Louis Berger is among the U.S. Agency for International Development's largest contractors in Afghanistan.
Salomon, who worked as a financial analyst for Louis Berger from 2002 to 2006, described a culture of fraud that permeated much of the company.

He said his first clue that something was amiss came just three months into the job, when he was told to send an inexplicable $35,000 wire transfer to an individual overseas. He questioned his superior, who told him to send the money anyway, and then asked for a confirmation email from the overseas recipient. The response he got: "I was told it was 'grease money'," in other words, a bribe.

Salomon, who declined to identify his superiors by name, spoke to McClatchy in a telephone interview from the United States.
Louis Berger spokeswoman Holly Fisher declined to comment on the specifics of Salomon's experiences at the company.
"This matter was settled with the parties involved — the U.S. government, Mr. Salomon and The Louis Berger Group — on November 5, 2010. The Louis Berger Group has undertaken comprehensive improvements to its internal controls, policies and structures, which form the foundation of the company's systems going forward. We see no reason to comment further on these matters," she said in an e-mailed statement.
The firm acknowledged over-billing the U.S. government, in what federal court documents and sources said was a complicated mathematical scheme to manipulate contract overhead rates.

Salomon said that he once came across a document, misplaced in a stack of papers, that was a "menu of fraud." Meant as an analysis for a senior company official, it contained columns showing various options for increasing Louis Berger's profit by including different overhead costs.

Salomon said he was asked to lie and misrepresent financial data to the Pentagon's Defense Contract Audit Agency. He once found a financial journal entry that was accompanied by a card that stated, "Do not show to auditors." He took it to his boss, who, he said, exclaimed, "Holy Cow, we cannot show (them) this." The note was taken from him and, he believes, destroyed.
He eventually decided he had to leave the company in order to report what was going on. He took large chunks of data with him that he later turned over to federal investigators. "It was just an accident" that I had the information, he said, "I worked long hours at home."
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On the advice of a colleague, Salomon contacted agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. He soon became worried that Louis Berger would try to blame him for the fraud and hired a law firm, Phillips & Cohen LLC.
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Under federal whistleblower statutes, Salomon can receive 15 percent to 25 percent of the court award. He said he would give half that amount, which is still to be determined, to a charity for Haiti he founded.
Salomon said he first became familiar with corruption in his native Haiti, where he worked from 1986 to 1993. Now, he said, "I have seen corruption in a way that I didn't anticipate or I didn't know could happen in the United States."

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

$69.3 million Afghan-contracting fraud may be a record
Flawed contracts prove costly for Afghanistan, U.S.

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New Mexicans need to be very wary -

this guy obviously knows a lot about bribery.
Michel, how much 'grease money' have you
spread around Santa Fe, and
wherever else it's needed?
How far have you spread your venom?
Has anyone from the Bureau of Reclamation
or the Corps of Engineers taken the bait yet?

KNOW YOUR ENEMY FOLKS,
HE LOOKS LIKE THIS....
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The funny part of this deal, is that in
Michel's letter to the editor of the
Socorro paper 1/30, he said this:
"The area of disagreement is mostly with the offensive terms of the first letter that imply that we are immoral, unethical criminals acting against the citizens of New Mexico. We are respectable, law abiding entrepreneurs...."
Yeah, right.  Michel, let me ask you -
DID YOU TRY THAT LINE ON
THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS?
Did they laugh as loud as we're laughing now?
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STOP THE WATER GRAB!
“Anything is better than lies and deceit!”
    Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Russian Author and Social Reformer
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You have to wonder what the hell possibly

possessed Verhines, that he would even think

of hanging out with this guy, publicly,

 in the state capitol.  Is he stupid, or did he

  figure no one would know just who

 his sidekick really was, or is it that

 he doesn't give a rat's ass,

one way or the other? 

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 It had been less than 90 days since the feds

 had levied their record-setting fine.

Jichlinski was then technically out of

The Louis Berger Group,

but was the major player when all these

 crimes happend,

and now he had come to New Mexico -

to ply his trade.  He knows a lot about

fraudulent accounting practices, and bribery.

Oh, perfect!  It's a buyer's market in this place!

True, but it's not just that they're cheap,

they're also a public embarrassment.

What, do they think people can't figure it out?

They're as bad as the Whore of Babylon.

 There's no shame here. Has there ever been?

Verhines could just as easily have been

 hanging out with the devil himself.

  Well, maybe he was,

come to think of it.

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 Ah, New Mexico.

La Tierra de Encantada -

 The Land of Enchantment.

La Tierra de Los Ladrones -

The Land of The Thieves.

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Here's the minutes of the meeting -

Jichlinski is introduced on Page 5.

ftp://users.plateautel.net/sverhines/storefiles/Draft%20Minutes%20ENMWUA%201.27.11%20SF.pdf

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A LETTER TO THE LEGISLATURE

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(This letter is being sent, personalized, via email,
 to each member of the New Mexico Legislature, with a link.
The last batch of these went out Saturday 2/23.
I'm a slow typist.)
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An Open Letter to the Members of
THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE - 2013
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 Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legislature,
 I ask for just a moment here.
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The small deluge of water-related bills before you now,
such as SB 440, HB 19, HB 181, and apparently more,
need to be looked at carefully.  All of them pose grave
risks for New Mexico's water future - all of them are
shortsighted - all of them have implications that no one
seems aware of.  Some of this seems like an effort to
win some political points on a hot-button issue during
a draught, some of it seems far more devious.
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This water legislation poses serious problems for an issue
 that calls for wisdom and insight - not quick decisions
made in the middle of a draught. 
 PLEASE don't let water be comidified -
 turned into money - at this point.
  (Well, it already is to some degree,
 but don't let it get any worse.)
Let there be a close look at what's possible,
with some realistic objectives. 
Let there be some common sense, as well as a
 recognition that water belongs, by law, to New Mexicans. 
Foreign-owned corporations cannot be allowed to get their
 hands on the water,
and SELL IT BACK TO US!
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  Here in  west-central New Mexico, we are facing the nightmare
 of having foreign investors propose to take 54,000
acre feet of water per year from beneath the
San Augustin Plains, for up to 300 years they say,
and sell it back to New Mexicans, for God only knows
what kind of prices.  They refuse to show a business plan;
they refuse, actually, to be seen.
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  The most recent Project Director
 for the Augustin Plains Ranch LLC,
the current mouthpiece for these foreigners,
 is Michel Jichlinsky, the target of a federal investigation
 for what went on when he was President and CEO
 at the Louis Berger Group, a big-time federal contractor,
when they allegedly stole millions and millions of
 taxpayers' dollars, by overbilling and fraud
of every type imaginable, for years and years.
(See the post on my site listed on the right column
up above titled "WHO'S MICHEL JICHLINSKY?
  A THIEF?")
He's not American.  His loyalties aren't here.
He writes letters to the editors of papers in the area,
but hasn't shown his face at any meeting.
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Someone needs to come forward, and become a
hero, a saint.  Someone needs to introduce legislation
that would make it totally impossible for foreign-owned
corporations to get their hands on our water.
This has to be done - if not, this craziness will
be popping up from under every aquifer in the state.
It's UN-AMERICAN.  Period.
It's also unethical, immoral, and just plain wrong.
It's OUR water, not theirs!  By LAW!
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If someone would come forth on this issue, I can assure
you they will get overwhelming support from across
the state - and one heck of a lot of media attention.
It's a possibility, an opening, for someone to
get the spotlight, legitimately, on something
that really, really matters.
It's a chance to stand up for New Mexican and
genuine AMERICAN interests, if someone
 is up for it.
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And it actually IS
 a real chance to be a hero, a saint (don't laugh -
that's pretty much the way some people would see it).
I think....no, I KNOW, the vast majority of
 New Mexicans could agree on this one point:
 we simply can't let foreign interests get our WATER!
And I'm not overplaying the issue - in the slightest -
 water is life!
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Thank you for your time.
God Bless you all.
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Matt Middleton
Magdalena, New Mexico
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