Everyday Erinyes

The Erinyes in Greek mythology are usually called "The Furies" in English. But the only day that begins with an "F" is Friday, and I certainly don't want to ruin our fun by putting this post there. So, "Everyday" it is. I don't anticipate any shortage of material, more's the pity.

Anyway, traditionally there were three of them.  In fact there may have been more than three – their number was never actually specified – but in the Aeneid Virgil hands us three names: Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone.  These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."  Their function was to keep humans in line, and I must say we could use their assistance today.

Alecto ~ Few things in modern governance have been more unceasing than the FBI's persistence in seeing citizens' legitimate concern about government overreach as dangerous dissent likely to lead to the overthrow of the country.  From Emma Goldman to Martin Luther King Jr to Occupy and beyond, the FBI has worked diligently to surveil and if possible undermine any efforts to humanize our country.

The "School of the Americas" is an "academy" which trains mostly right wing Latin Americans to become successful dictators or dictators' key staff.  You can check out www.soaw.org to get a feel for the SOA's "accomplishments."  SOA Watch was established to shut it down.  So, naturally, the FBI has been surveilling – what else? – SOA Watch.

Records are now available documenting the FBI's tracking of SOA Watch for the last TEN YEARS.  Full report and documents at http://www.justiceonline.org/soaw.  We need Alecto to turn her attention to the FBI.  Now.

Megaera ~ Grudging an education to any child who doesn't fit some arbitrary guidelines of being "perfect" might be a project for Megaera to put a stop to.  To quote the New York Times, "Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded and admit children by lottery. Similar to a traditional public school, a charter school must provide a seat to a child who has enrolled unless the student withdraws, is expelled, turns 21 or moves out of the state. Charter schools must follow strict guidelines before formally expelling any student, and Success (Academy Charter Schools) has done so only once since its first school opened in 2006. But Success’s critics accuse it of pushing children out by making their parents’ lives so difficult that they withdraw."

What makes this convincing is the recent discovery that at least one of these charter schools owned by Success Academy had created a "Got To Go" list.  Nine of sixteen children on the list subsequently withdrew from the school.  Which does not guarantee that the other seven will stay.

If charter schools are able to use techniques such as this (and there are many other techniques) to push out certain students, whereas public schools must accept and keep every child, higher scores on standardized tests by charter schools looks very much like phony statistics.  Megaera – please look into this

Tisiphone ~ This really does appear to be an instance of "vengeful destruction."  In fact, until Megan Dixon (no relation) came forward, there appeared to be no reason why the automobile in question would even be stopped.

Megan is engaged to Chris Few, the father of little (6 years old) Jeremy Mardis, who was shot to death while buckled into the back seat of the vehicle.  Six years old.  Incidentally, autistic.  Shot by Officer Norris Greenhouse, Jr, and Officer Derrick Stafford.
Seems Officer Greenhouse was a former high school classmate of Megan Dixon, who (apparently out of the blue) had started messaging her on Facebook.  Greenhouse went so far as to come by the home where Megan and Chris were living.  Megan told Chris the circumstances, and Chris advised Greenhouse to leave his fiancée alone.

Then the traffic stop.

Chris Few also was shot multiple times, and as of Monday was still hospitalized in "fair" condition and had not been told of his son's death.  Not that he would have been medically able to attend the funeral.

For a wonder, the two officers mentioned (two of the four who took part in the stop) are in jail on one million dollars bail under charges of murder.  That, however, is a far cry from being convicted.  Tisiphone – help.  Please.

SOAW photo from a previous year's event held in Austin, TX.  Successs Academy photo from the New York Times.  Jeremy's funeral photo from Louisiana newspaper The Advocate.