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Stop Smart Meters! Bulletin
Vol. 17 December 2013
https://stopsmartmeters.org
PO Box 682 Portola, CA 96122
**Please Note New Postal Address**
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“If you’re not catching flak, you’re not over the target.”
-U.S. Air Force
****SPECIAL FUNDRAISING REQUEST FROM SSM! DIRECTOR JOSH HART****
I never look forward to doing this. I’d rather be on the ground, stopping smart meters and standing up for our privacy, safety, and health. But the reality is that campaigning has costs. Our opponents are funded to the tune of billions of dollars, much of which is skimmed from your taxes and utility bills, and they have poured this money into groups like the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative[1], which is spreading lies about the ‘smart grid’ and suppressing dissent. They’re even going into schools now to teach (indoctrinate) children to think the smart grid is actually green. (it’s not)
We started our campaign three and a half years ago in June 2010. It would be another year before the World Health Organization classified wireless emissions as a Class 2B toxic cancer causing agent. It is a different landscape in 2013. The problem has gone global, and so has awareness and resistance. We are at the forefront of grassroots “smart” grid journalism, while advocating for solutions and demanding justice. We remain the ‘go to’ site for the grassroots anti-smart meter movement. Please help us expand our educational and advocacy programs in 2014. To donate right now, please go to https://stopsmartmeters.org/donate
Buy Holiday Gifts at Our Online Store You can also support SSM! through your holiday shopping and raise awareness at the same time. We have DVD copies of the documentary Take Back Your Power, as well as new smart meter warning stickers available through our online store. Free shipping within the United States. Order by this Thursday Dec. 19th to ensure priority delivery before Christmas Day.
(To read our full fundraising request, please click on: https://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/12/15/stop-smart-meters-annual-holiday-appeal/)
CONTENTS
1. Precedent-Setting Smart Grid Verdict: Jury Awards Vermont Couple $1 mil for Microwave Taking of Their Mountaintop Home
2. ‘Old Ironsides’ and Other Structures Provide a Secure Analog Meter Defense
3. Reports of Armed Intimidation and Trespassing in Nevada
4. Dirty Electricity from ‘Smart’ Meters: Answers from the Experts
5. Support Stop Smart Meters! Make an End of Year Donation Today
1. PRECEDENT-SETTING SMART GRID VERDICT: JURY AWARDS VERMONT COUPLE $1 MILLION FOR MICROWAVE TAKING OF THEIR MOUNTAINTOP HOME Some really nice, artistic people- Felix Kniazev and Olga Julinska lived peacefully on top of a green mountain in Vermont with their two children until their utility VELCO decided to build a massive communications tower on the mountain as part of the “smart grid.” The family was forced to leave their home because of the radiation from the tower. A jury in Rutland, VT on Friday awarded them $1 million in compensation for this ‘taking.’ This precedent-setting victory for the family is also a victory for the rest of us. For more information, links to this case, and photos of the family’s home, see: https://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/12/15/precedent-setting-smart-grid-verdict-jury-awards-vermont-couple-1-mil-for-microwave-taking-of-their-mountaintop-home/
2. OLD IRONSIDES AND OTHER STRUCTURES PROVIDE A SECURE ANALOG METER DEFENSE
Forcible installations have led to an incredible array of defensive structures being built around analog meters to protect homes from the “smart” scourge. We received a photo of analog protection dubbed “Old Ironsides” from Eric Windheim, Director of Sacramento Smart Meter Awareness. Definitely wins the prize for sturdiest defense we’ve seen. These photos in this post document the absurd lengths people are required to go to protect their own homes from the “deployment.” They also capture the creativity and adaptability of ordinary people, and the strength of our communities to come up with solutions. For photos and full article: https://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/12/09/old-ironsides-provides-a-secure-analog-meter-defense/
3. REPORTS OF ARMED INTIMIDATION AND TRESPASSING IN NEVADA “Yesterday, we received a visit from Edward Brooks and 4-5 armed thugs who refused to identify themselves. They were armed with handguns, tasers, and were sporting fake badges to make themselves appear as if they were sworn peace officers, which they are not! They stormed our property with NO phone call, NO notice of any kind, beating on my door, and demanding that we “Come outside to talk to NVE.” I went outside informed them that they were trespassing and that NVE’s “implied easement” is NOT a blanket policy for armed activity and attempts at intimidation on OUR property. I instructed them that they had conducted their business and to vacate my property immediately with their firearms which they refused to do. I repeated this demand no less than 6 times. They were on my property armed and refusing to comply with my demands to leave for no less than 30 minutes! Several had their hands resting on their pistols as if they intended to do something to me and one of these individuals even thought it professional to call me a “pussy” as he walked away.” More: https://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/12/07/reports-of-armed-intimidation-and-trespassing-in-nevada/
4. DIRTY ELECTRICITY FROM ‘SMART’ METERS: ANSWERS FROM THE EXPERTS Last week, after we solicited opinions from readers on the following question: “How can the switch mode power supplies (SMPS- that convert AC to DC within the meters) cause so much more dirty electricity than those contained in other electronics?”
We received the following, intriguing answer from Hugh Hinskens, a Canadian Electronics Engineering Technologist with a B.Sc. in physics and a background in microwave circuit engineering. According to experts, the switch mode power supply (SMPS) contained in millions of ‘smart’ meters (but not their analog predecessors) has essentially ‘polluted’ the electricity coming into our homes with high frequency transients. Which means at the end of the day, there is no “opt out” when the “smart grid” is being deployed in your area. Even with no RF microwave wireless antennas, a “smart” grid of SMPS-equipped meters can still threaten your health. “Why more so than other electronic devices?”, we asked…
For the full answer, provided by Hugh Hinskens of Stop Smart Meters! Canada see https://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/12/03/dirty-electricity-from-smart-meters-answers-from-the-experts/
5. SUPPORT SSM! GIVE AN END-OF-YEAR GIFT TO STOP SMART METERS! We have achieved a tremendous amount this year- publishing an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in April, speaking at events in Ireland and the UK in June, raising $11,000 to distribute the Take Back Your Power film to communities across the US, and responding to hundreds of media inquiries. We also have provided technical assistance and strategic planning to dozens of anti-smart meter groups around the world. We have been able to work full time on this issue since mid- 2010, thanks to your generous donations. If you support what we do, please make a holiday gift to Stop Smart Meters! today. See: https://stopsmartmeters.org/donate or make checks payable to: Stop Smart Meters! and send to: PO Box 682 Portola, CA 96122
STOP SMART METERS! ON TWITTER! NOT FACEBOOK For the latest campaign updates and links to breaking news stories, follow us on Twitter! We are “stopsmeters” Please retweet and encourage your friends to follow us!! Our latest tweets also appear on the upper right hand side of our website. We are not on Facebook. See: https://twitter.com/stopsmeters
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
