Hairless dog for the White House

A four-month old puppy that goes by the name 'Ears' is seen in Lima November 10, 2008. Peruvians crazy about their national dog the Peruvian Hairless Dog, a bald and often toothless breed popular among Incan kings, offered on Monday to send a hypoallergenic puppy to the Obama family.

Plastic is forever

Disposable plastic............................is garbage that lasts forever.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch...............is bigger than the U. S.

Of course they're eating plastic................that's all there is to eat.

Once upon a time, near Verdun

Today, ninety years ago, the guns fell silent and children of Europe viewed in horror the madness that had been unleashed by their leaders on their behalf.


Words are too few and too unsatisfactory to express what the hills and the valleys of Northern France and Belgium had been witness to during the previous four years. To this day, live ammunition and human remains are still to be found in the meadows and forests that nature has reclaimed for herself from what was once a cratered moon landscape of an endless battlefield.


The ghosts remain, in villages long gone and yet remembered, calling out to us after all these years, to remind us of what befell them by a cruel chance of fate.


The village of Ornes, one of the villages détruits close to Verdun which was almost literally wiped off the face of the earth. See the church on the first postcard, and what was left of it in the second, in 1918.


The village was abandoned, the emptiness that could not be filled by human hands or voices was absorbed into the landscape, pitted with reminders of a horrifying legacy we dare forget only at our own peril.


The church still stands, with a simple cross on the altar in the haunting silence, in a place where grenades, mortars and gas had silenced an army many years ago.


The fallen came to rest, at the Ossuaire de Douaumont, a cathedral for the fallen and a place of reflection for the living.


Inside, the vaults contain a monument presented by each of the French départments, the walls covered with plaques honouring the named and the nameless buried outside.


The young and the old lie together, brothers in arms united in a death not willingly sought.


The entrance, a message of hope passed on by a generation of survivors, entreating us not to forget the good in all of mankind despite all the demonstrated evidence to the contrary.


I originally started out looking for a YouTube clip based on Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, on the title page of the score of which was quoted:

"My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity…
All a poet can do today is warn."

I settled however for a theme taken from the BBC series "Dr. Who" which, to all intents and purposes, conveys the hurt and the sadness of a generation which had so appallingly taken leave of its senses but was destined to do so yet again within another twenty one years.


Lest we forget...

---------------

The Electric Car

The electric car was killed because of................$$$$$$$$$$$$!

An electric car by its simpler nature has a smaller number of part$......that's fewer parts to fail.......that's fewer parts to $ell.

And of course.......an electric car would put a huge dent in the petroleum indu$try......oil would be pretty cheap if we didn't all need it for our car$.

The average miles driven per day is.......29.......the EV1 had a range of 160 miles.

The Greatest Story Ever Denied

Look here to see the secret of.........the greatest story ever denied.
moon rising

The Modern Slave

There were many people, especially in America, who imagined that "Business" might ultimately unify the world and governments sink into subordination to its network.......H.G.Wells.

Prophet Ozzy Osbourne

Crazy, but thats how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe its not to late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate

Mental wounds not healing
Lifes a bitter shame
Im going off the rails on a crazy train

Ive listened to preachers
Ive listened to fools
Ive watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you have the role

Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
Im going off the rails on a crazy train

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
Yeh-h

Heirs of a cold war
Thats what weve become
Inheriting troubles Im mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
Im living with something that just isnt fair

Mental wounds not healing
Who and whats to blame
Im going off the rails on a crazy train

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me, " he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.

Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."

~ a Zen koan

It's your money

Effective Communications

In order to have effective communications, we must listen... with an open Heart... instead of with our ego.

Meeting of The Minds

In order to have a meeting of the minds, there must be effective communication.

Peace

In order to have Peace, there must be a meeting of the minds.

Unity

In order to have Unity, there must be Peace.

EQUALS

Eddie Grant way before
Electric Avenue

Forgiveness

What is forgiveness?

What does it mean, to you?

I struggled with forgiveness for years. I defined it in the only way that I knew, from what I had been taught or what I had learned... and, I learned, in time, that forgiveness... just as ALL things do... has about as many definitions are there are people who practice... or not practice... forgiveness.

Does someone need to be forgiven?

Do we have to forgive?

Does the person/entity, whom we are contemplating forgiving, have to ask forgiveness, in order to be forgiven?

Is forgiveness conditional?

Does forgiving mean forgetting?

I read a book called The Locket, years back... that explained forgiveness in a way that I had never thought of. For myself, I had been taught that I must forgive, because it was part of my youthful Christian upbringing... yet, it was hard forgiving. Part of that was wrapped up in the idea that... because I had not forgotten... then, surely I must not have forgiven.

In time, I learned that we never forget... and I can parallel that thought with the death of a loved one... we never forget... we just find ways to go on living, re-arrange the thought processes, in order to deal with what is lain before us, in more positive and constructive ways.

I'm not going to hunt the book down, to get the quote exactly right... but, the essence of it goes like this... you don't forgive, for the other person's sake... not for their benefit... you forgive for your own sake... forgiving is letting loose the anchor that would keep your ship from sailing to new shores... or else we remain stuck in the same place. I thought it was an excellant way to learn how to forgive.

And it isn't, in my mind, about them asking for forgiveness... because, some never will.

Do all deserve forgiveness?

It doesn't matter... what matters is the forward motion of our ship... our soul... which can't happen, if we're anchored in anger and bitterness.

Sometimes ones do not know how to ask forgiveness... their reality is different from our own.

What we sometimes see as something that needs forgiveness, may be our own selfish mind, in no way connected to the reality of the situation.

Perhaps no forgiveness is necessary, after all... just forward movement.

Saying Nothing At All

Watching Face The Nation, this morning, Bob Schieffer interviews Rahm Emanuel, the USA's upcoming Chief of Staff. Bob made a very interesting statement at the close of this morning's program. I wish I could quote him, verbatim, but... being exact is for the sake of argument, yes? Often, it is the essence that is important to remember... and the thought that Bob imparted, this morning, was this: ... 'sometimes saying nothing at all is the best way to communicate'... I couldn't agree more. We have to know when to speak and when to be silent to keep the proper energy moving. It's, sometimes, a hard pill to swallow, but it works. I've been practicing for years, but have failed to perfect it... but... I'm getting much better.

Obama's Flickr

click photostream,

Cookie?

OREO

Your new perspective

It will all be over...................soon enough.

Are you Pro-life?

Pro-life?

Stop War!

End Executions!

Distribute condoms!

Fight Global Arms Trade!

What flavor is

Imagine a cat.............................what flavor did you imagine?

From a mix of many spices.....comes flavor.

What flavor are you?

Tasty?

if allowing . .

If being exact is for the sake of argument . .
allowing conceptual development is for agreement . . ?

THE KISS

ONE AND ONLY ONE

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

ONE BLOOD

ONE COLOR

The human race is one species; one species with a beautiful variety of colours.
One species; one race.
Let us live it like we mean it.
One.
No nations apart from the human nation.
No patriotism, no borders.

What would happen?

What would happen.........if you found a sand castle on the moon?

American Prayer-Dave Stewart

I hope this will not offend anyone, but you know... this is what many of us... who still have Hope... are feeling, today.

This is about rising back up from the ashes... because if we are lame and crippled, then we are of no use to anyone. Not to ourselves, or to the rest of the world.

I hope you can feel the spirit of this song.

great site

World Changing

Letter to America

Dear Bastard Offspring,

I know, I know, I haven't written to you in an age and the age of man moves so damn swiftly doesn't it? They say that time flies like a New York minute when you are having fun.

I just wanted to say, to let you know, that I love you. I love all of my offspring. Your sibling brothers and sister and mixed blood cousins. But I also love you.

Canuck, dare I say it, is even bigger than you but has never attained or made his mark in our global society quite the way you have, but then again who has?

Oz? Ha! What can you say about dear old Oz? Nothing bruises that boys ego and besides he does what he does and doesn't give a damn what any of us think, just stick another steak on the barbie!

Kiwi? Ah, so beautiful and, to be honest my dear, more like me in looks than any of my rugged boys.

Yes, I am very proud of all my offspring.

But you my son, with your muscle and your might, with your industrious mind and the enormous wealth that you have accrued, it is you that worries me. Just a tad.

I watch you with such pride as you swagger about the globe like a comic book hero in your gaudy red, white and blue, fixing this and righting that. Sometimes your heart is too big and, as much as you try, even you cannot fix all of the global families woes.

There is another side of you though that frightens me and like any good parent or friend, I feel it is my honour bound duty to let you know.

Sometimes you behave like a school yard bully.

You come across someone who doesn't do things the way you do and, without consulting any of us or going through the proper channels you go ahead and let that passionate heart of yours rule your head. You raise your big ham of a fist and smack it firmly on Johnny Foreigners face. You kick his arse from here to hell and back.

Son, violence is sometimes necessary when defending yourself or those you love but breaking into someone’s house, smashing and burning their furniture, breaking the arms and legs of their children is not an act of defense but that of a vandal.

Of a hoodlum.

I really do think enough is enough don't you?

You have left your footprint on the surface of the moon. A testament to your everlasting and greatest achievement. Do not leave your boot print on the face of Iraq.

Being the biggest and the best means that your mistakes can be proportionately as large. We all make mistakes and we all have to own up to them. I have. Remember the poor old Boers?
As I said, we all are guilty of making mistakes but we all have to know when to stop and when to put things right before they get worse.

Only you can decide.

Your loving parent,

Albion

It's the Truth

The truth has nothing to do......................with what you believe.