Bob Ballard's Blog (12)

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . .Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."



President, Abraham… Continue

In connection with our first ever benefit concert, I got to meet and know more about the people of Venice Beach, CA. Specifically, I met some of the people without homes and their supporters.



This article from the Free Venice Beachhead clearly illustrates the persecution and oppression of people without

homes.… Continue

I found this article very interesting. To me, it represents a collective approach to understanding the current state of our society and how we got here. It also points to some answers to the questions I have had about why people in this country are so blase and seemingly unaware of the world around them.

Would love to know what you think about it.

Check out the story here.

As many of us are doing, I have been searching and thinking about where we are in the evolution of humanity. And more importantly, where we are going.



In this quest, I often get upset and concerned about what is going and all the negativity that those events represent for me. It is refreshing to read about the truth and how, no matter what it is, we are on course to a new world.



Check out what Fred Burke has to… Continue

Sometimes, when I appear at a public event, like the press conference we are holding tomorrow, people ask me what is wrong, why are people homeless.



These questions imply that there is something wrong with the people who are homeless. I tell them, yes, it is not ok with me that people are without homes. But what is really not ok with me is the rest of us,… Continue

This article appear in the Inforum blog. Would love to know what you think about it.



Can Life Be Lived in Dignity by Every San Diegan?

BY Rocky Neptun

November 12, 2009.

East Village, San Diego……………



Bill Foster rolls his tattered sleeping bag up carefully, not to disturb the layers of newspaper underneath,… Continue

The TARP program's Inspector General finally revealed the secret of what has been happening, and it really is quite simple. The Treasury gives money to banks to compensate them for loans (read home mortgages) that have "gone bad" (i.e., are not being repaid). This is the nice, sanitized wording they use - a "troubled asset." What these really are is our god damn homes!



What is REALLY happening here is the Treasury pays off the bad mortgages with our tax dollars (and our great… Continue

I just returned from Homeless Connect Day in San Francisco, a huge event attended by more than 2,400 homeless people searching for help. I had the opportunity to talk with some of them and hear what they had to say, what they felt and how it is to be without a home.



When I read about the economic criminals on Wall Street and their servants in our governments, I think of the homeless people, the people I meet on the street. They are the… Continue

We live in a world where "new" is a good thing. If something is new it is automatically better, an improvement of some type. In our consumer culture, new things are needed to encourage consumption. The tag line "new and improved" has been used in thousands of ad campaigns for almost every service and product that exists.



Why do we think that "new" is better? I guess we believe that something new must be an improvement over the old and that people wouldn't work to improve something… Continue

Sometimes I think that intention and creation are at odds with one another. Can I intentionally create, or is creation something that just happens out of nothing? Actually, I think it is a little of both.



Take this morning for example. On Sunday mornings, I generally set up my info table and related paraphenalia on the side walk in Ojai, across the street from the Farmer's Market. That is what I did today. My general intention in being there is to inform and inspire people about what… Continue

Like many people, I was shocked by the Zeitgeist movie and have been immersed in researching the state of the world, especially its economy, ever since. I was happy to discover that the Venus Project is the solution recommended by the Zeigeist Movement. Although I found Jacque Fresco's futuristic designs… Continue

I have been reading and researching the state of the world. Mostly, I focus on the economic system. I have always been fascinated with how money works, like what is it really and why does it have such a hold on us. Since I was a child, I have been trying to understand it, but until very recently, I never really got it.



I have always had an innate belief that something about the world doesn't work for people. Usually, that unhappiness seemed to center around a lack of money, or a lack… Continue