This morning the migraine I have been battling for the past 48 hours woke me up as if it was wielding a baseball bat and hitting me over the head. My eyes were swollen sore when I woke up, and trying to move was incredibly hard.
Yet it was a day with so much scheduled, and there was no way to reschedule anything. Feeling so bad I wanted to crawl back into bed I crawled into the truck instead. As I drove away I wondered if I could ever safely get the truck where I needed to go, knowing that I would be driving back and forth until after noon.
Perhaps God truly does look after fools and children ... for I somehow managed despite the migraine pounding away and feeling so sick to my stomach, but I returned to the shed exactly as I departed this morning. Very ill.
I have been watching the socio-economic state of affairs in Great Britain very closely in the past few days not knowing how far or how dangerous the riots would get. These are strange days, hard and uncertain days.
Economic Uncertainty Leading To Global UnrestHere in Ruidoso I'm unsure what the tourist numbers are in 2011 but to myself the numbers appear to be down. I drove through mid-town again this morning and there just didn't seem to be the numbers we normally seen. Of course I could be wrong.
London is reeling from three nights of rioting that's poured hundreds of people into the streets, leaving several local neighborhoods in shambles. One man is dead, dozens injured and arrested.
The protests have now spread to other cities, with violence reported in parts of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.Great Britain and other parts of the world are experiencing unrest at a time of global economic uncertainty and stock market volatility.
Here's a look at what's happening around the world and how economic downturns are bringing protestors into the streets.
Great Britain
Police in London say the violence began during a vigil for a man, Mark Duggan, who’d been killed by police. However, those on the streets say what's happening goes beyond one man's death.
In late June, half the public schools in Britain where closed by a massive protest over public pensions cuts, including three major teachers' unions, customs and immigration officers, and air traffic controllers. Some 750,000 people took part in the protest.
London's press has reported that discontent has been simmering among Britain's urban poor for years, in neighborhoods like Tottenham, where the riots started.
But as one man told NBC News about an economic protest two months ago, "There was not a word in the press about our protests. Last night (Saturday) a bit of rioting and looting and now look around you."
In response to the violence, Prime Minister David Cameron has said law and order will prevail in Great Britain and he's doubled the amount of police officers in the streets and instituted curfews for young adults.
Cameron's conservative government is under fire for spending cuts to social programs in order to help reduce the country's debt. Among those hit the hardest are large numbers of minority youths who have been at the forefront of the unrest.
Some 250,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday over the rising cost of living. Demonstrations actually began last month when a few people set up tents in an expensive part of Tel Aviv to protest rising property prices.The protests have moved to other cities in Israel, where some 50,000 people rallied.
The demonstrations have turned into a major challenge for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Polls released last week show his approval ratings have dropped while support for the protesters is high.
Netanyahu has announced a series of reforms including freeing up land for construction and offering tax breaks. But the reforms have only increased anger in the streets, according to reports.
Here are some of the demands from protestors, according to Reuters:
Spain, Greece, Portugal
- Increase personal tax brackets for top earners
- Enshrine the right to housing in the law; introduce rent controls; boost mortgage relief
- Stop further privatization of things such as health facilities
- Provide free education for all from the age of three months
- Raise the minimum wage to 50 percent of the average wage
All three of these European Union nations have experienced protests and rioting in reaction to government austerity programs and bad economic conditions.
In late June, riots broke out in Athens and other parts of Greece as the country's parliament voted to approve severe cutbacks in government spending.Dozens were hurt and businesses destroyed as police battled rioters with tear gas and night sticks.
Greek lawmakers made the cuts in order to receive more bailout money from the International Monetary Fund and European Union—or run the risk of defaulting on their debts.
In Spain,thousands of people turned out in late May to protest the country's 21 percent unemployment rate.They also demonstrated against government corruption and austerity measures to reign in the country's debt. Hundreds of people set up tents in a Madrid square and spent a week there in protest.
Portugal saw massive strikes and protests last March in response to government spending cuts. At least 200,000 people gathered in Lisbon.
The Philippines
Thousands of workers took to the streets throughout the country in May of this year to march for higher pay. They demanded better wages in light of rising inflation, including higher oil prices.
They called on the government of President Benigno Aquino III to do more to help protect jobs.
In reaction, the government held job fairs as hundreds of workers have been laid off as the economy slumps. Workers say that effort has fallen far short of what they want.
China
Nearly 1,000 cab drivers in eastern China blocked traffic and protested on Aug. 1 over rising fuel costs. It was the latest sign of discontent about the country's surging inflation.
Inflation is hitting China hard, with food prices recently increasing 12 percent. Many Chinese officials are reporting concern that inflation, along with rising property prices, could lead to even more unrest.
This past June, thousands of workers battled for three days with police in the capital city of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. They were protesting declining living standards.
The recent protests can be traced back to February of this year, in what was an attempt to copy the Arab Spring uprising. That's when calls through Chinese social networks were sent out for an uprising in several local cities.
However, reports say the turnout was small in comparison to the enormous police presence and there were more clashes between journalists and officials than demonstrators.
Syria
In another legacy from the Arab Spring, protests and riots in Syria against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad have been going on for five months.
Reports say at least 1,600 people have been killed by government forces.
The demonstrations are a combination of calls for economic as well as political changes. Assad's government has promised a package of reforms including higher wages, letting political parties exist, easing restrictions on the media, and a new anti-corruption drive. But so far, none of the measures has been set in place.
Last week Assad sent troops and tanks to quell the mostly Sunni Muslim city of Hama in central Syria, and the army launched a similar assault on Sunday against Deir al-Zor.
Syria has cracked down with deadly force on protests in the past. In 1982 then-president Hafez al Assad—the father of Bashar al-Assad—sent troops into the Syrian town of Hama, killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people.
Syria's Arab neighbors as well as the United States have called for Assad to step down. He's ruled Syria for the past 11 years after succeeding his father. Assad says he has no intention of giving up his post as president.
This region is financed by the oil industry, mostly out of Texas, so if oil prices remain high we simply see a pattern of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" during a bad recession/depression.
The economic instability would have seriously effected me even if I was in the home we bought and paid for. But having had all of the building fund stolen opened the door to see a totally different world.
To a vast majority of the population the homeless become a sub-human creature not even human beings. Human dignity, respect, justice becomes so fragile that it shatters right in front of your eyes. It's the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed, and the most horrifying. And I know that I am not imagining it. Everyone who uses the words "compassion," "caring," "Christ" in their vocabulary, but go to a comfortable home each day, need to give up their home to experience 6 months of homelessness where they have to admit, "I am homeless."
It would change their world forever.
There has to be someone related to Robert & Sylve Huckins must have some means to reach them, if it be Michael Huckins, Dr.Kenneth Ogilvie ( Diana Huckins? Dominic Huckins? Malcolm Huckins? ) or Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins and get them to return ALL of the money they stole from us so that I can buy a home and get our lives back.
I don't believe I have EVER witnessed any none violent crime that can be as devastating as stealing someone's home. I am walking in Dorothy McKeevers footsteps, day by day, month by month, year by year.
Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins you were present the day I signed contract with your son. You walked out of the kitchen with Sylvi Huckins and your son introduced me to you. He told you that I was the British horse trainer he had told you about, the one he was going to build the home and barn for. Why didn't you say something? There may be a rational and reasonable explanation but I have spent over 3 years, homeless, not understanding it. I understand it even less knowing that though I was a total stranger, both Dorothy McKeever and Sally Canning you KNEW.
Dr. Kenneth Ogilvie, I contacted you and simply asked for a reference, not knowing that Robert Huckins was your cousin. Robert Huckins had just stolen over $30,000 from the domestic violence shelter, HEAL, yet everyone was trying to hide it. There was a history of stealing large amounts of money. $65,000 PLUS from Nancy Canning. $89,000 PLUS from Dorothy McKeever. The list just goes on and on and on.
Women are not banks or loan institutions. Women should not be the source of a retirement fund for people who don't want to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Holding women hostage while playing with the judicial system, a horrendous game of cat and mouse extending YEARS, with the victims whose very homes, families and stability are in jeopardy is cruelty, as cruel as a physical beating. It is financial and emotional RAPE. Homelessness is not justice. It is a slow, painful death.
Today Robert Huckins has his own home...
He also has OUR home.....
He also has a lot of people's money...
And his freedom.
Please, I beg with everything I have within me, please convince Robert Huckins to stop this torture and return the building fund he stole from us so we too, can have a home.
The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few to ride them. ~ Thomas Jefferson
