Even if you are a minority of one......the truth is the truth.
..........Mahatma Gandhi..........
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Truth
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Take (all) the capital
Lose the capitalism!
Those untrustworthy with money,
deserve no access to resources!
Those untrustworthy with money,
deserve no access to resources!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Merry Christmas 2008!
So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over and a new one just begun. And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun; the near and the dear one, the old and the young.
A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one without any fear.
(click)
A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one without any fear.
(click)
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The Art of Peace
As soon as you concern yourself
with the good and bad of your
fellows you create an opening in
your heart for maliciousness to
enter. Testing, competing with and
criticizing others weaken and defeat you.
The Art of Peace that I practice
has room for each of the world's
eight million gods, and I cooperate
with them all. The God of Peace
is very great and enjoins all that
is divine and enlightened in every land.
The Path is exceedingly vast.
From ancient times to the present day
even the greatest sages were unable
to perceive and comprehend the entire truth.
The explanations and teachings of
masters and saints express only part
of the whole. It is not possible for
anyone to speak of such things
in their entirety. Just head for the
light and heat, learn from the Holy Books
and through the virtue of devoted
practice of the Art of Peace
become one with the Divine.
..........Morihei Ueshiba..........
Romans 12
Remember Romans 12:19-21........where we are admonished not to seek vengeance........retribution is beyond the purview of Man.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
God made Man in His image.......but then.......Man made God in his image.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
God made Man in His image.......but then.......Man made God in his image.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Day My God Died
According to the United Nations, thousands of women and children throughout the world disappear each day to be sold into sexual slavery.
In Bombay alone, 90 new cases of HIV infection are reported every hour, and the victims are getting younger: two decades ago, most women in India’s brothels were in their twenties or thirties. Today, the average age is 14.
The child sex trade is a highly organized syndicate that rivals the drug trade in profitability. Recruiters capture them, smugglers transport them, brothel owners enslave them, corrupt police betray them and men rape and infect them. Every person in the chain profits except for the girls, who pay the price with their lives: 80 percent become infected with HIV.
Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, THE DAY MY GOD DIED puts a human face on these abstract numbers as it recounts the stories of several Nepalese girls who were forced into the international child sex trade.
This heart-wrenching documentary provides a glimpse into the corruption and evil behind the curtain of the global sex industry, a world seldom seen by outsiders. But it is also a reminder that of the over one million women and girls who are sold, transported and forced into sexual slavery each year, 50,000 are in the United States. THE DAY MY GOD DIED exposes crimes that not only occur far away, but also far closer to home than we may have imagined.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Why?????????????????
Why are a million young girls being sold into sexual slavery every year?
Why do immigrants want to come here?
Why aren't their own countries as well off?
Why are 18,000 innocent children dying each and every day from starvation?
Why is our water full of poisons and phamaceuticals?
Why is plastic the bane of our age?
Why do they cut fins off of sharks and throw them back?
Why are young girls subjected to genital mutilation?
Why do they fly airplanes into buildings?
Why are all the ice caps and glaciers melting?
Why do they stone girls who've been raped by their brothers?
Why are all the rainforests being destroyed?
Why is one religion the "real" one and another is not?
Why are Jews and Arabs fighting when they are brothers?
Why are priests molesting children?
Why are corporations being allowed to buy our government?
Why is my penis a pornographic thing?
Forgiving the Unforgiveable
Could you forgive someone who killed your family and contributed to making your life and the lives of thousands a living hell? I don't know if I could but this lady did. She's one of my new heroes. (The list gets longer every day.) Get to know Immaculée Ilibagiza and discover that forgiveness has the power to change not only the person who forgives, it has the power to change the world.
Be a better person
What's the difference
between an asshole and a real asshole?
The asshole knows he's an asshole,
the real asshole has no idea.
Monday, December 22, 2008
You wanna change the world?
Sacrifice your life for your Gold Promise.
Create a Tradition of Solution for the world's sake.
Revolutionize your Mind, think openly.
Let Good become Entropic, away with Evil.
click the title for more
Sunday, December 21, 2008
declaration of human rights
play on brother. play on sister. let's make this world the best we can imagine it to be.
Rock Me
She asked me maybe I could share her sorrow
For all the men that tried to treat her wrong
Though just a baby, awaiting her tomorrow
It's rock me baby, rock me baby, all night long
She needs an answer to her confusion
Someone to guide her with tenderness
But when she's askin' for a solution
All that she gets, you know, is something like this
I don't know where we come from
Don't know where we're goin' to
But if all this should have a reason
We would be the last to know
So let's just hope there is a promised land
Hang on 'til then
As best as you can
Ev'rybody's ills, you know it fills her with compassion
That's why she tries to save the world alone
She helps the needy in her own fashion
And tries to give them all her own
She needs an answer to her confusion
Someone to guide her with tenderness
But when she's askin' for a solution
All that she gets, you know, is
Something like this
I don't know where we come from
Don't know where we're goin' to
But if all this should have a reason
We would be the last to know
So let's just hope there is a promised land
Hang on 'til then
As best as you can
It's rock me baby, rock me baby, all night long
rock me baby, rock me baby, all night long
......Words and music by John Kay-Steppenwolf......
Friday, December 19, 2008
Food for one week
Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
United States : The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98
Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
United States : The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98
Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
The Ambiguity of Fact
Michael Scherer breaks down the Obamanomics of Gay Marriage:
He suggests that laws preventing gay marriage are as unjust as laws preventing interracial marriage, the very union that led to his own birth. But he further argues that the best way to fight this injustice is to indefinitely cede the central moral argument--that in America all men (and women) must be treated equal--and rather score incremental victories that push the nation in the right direction. In Obama's formulation, it would have been indefinitely acceptable for interracial couples to be denied the rights of civil marriage, if other progress was being made to advance racial equality. In the same way, it is indefinitely acceptable for gay couples to be denied the right to civil marriage, if other progress is being made to give gay couples similar rights. There is an unstated assumption here: If Obama is successful he will clear the way for a subsequent politician to support gay marriage, just as the broader civil rights movement cleared the way for an end to anti-miscegenation laws in 1967 by the (activist?) U.S. Supreme Court.
It's the constant, trapped cycle we're held hostage by thanks to religion: the ceding of real-world, fact-based truths in response to the moral absolutist outrage of the faithful. Time and time again, we're asked to add nuance and ambiguity to an issue because of the belief of someone with no empirical evidence to support their claim.
Some things in this world are proven (beyond a reasonable doubt) and some are not. There is no ambiguity about the theory of evolution thanks to years and years of research and testing; there is no ambiguity about the reality of global climate change and there is no reasonable justification for the abridging of civil rights for a large percentage of the population. While Obama's position is politically savvy, it's still a compromise based on a false premise.
This is the crux of the dubious "bi-partisan coming together" mantra. You ultimately cannot find genuine "middle ground" with those whose beliefs paint the world in a stark black and white of good and evil. At some level, either the believer is remiss in her/his duty by not championing the cause of "righteousness" or we, the reality-based thinkers, are asked to sacrifice dignity for the sake of magic.
Excuse me if I have trouble with that idea.
The problem is that the believers can't be asked to sacrifice anything because they're unwilling; the moral absolutes of their systems of thought prevent such compromises; so it's always the victims of their bullshit that have to suffer through "compromise" for the sake of perpetuating their absurdity.
For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts
Some things in this world are proven (beyond a reasonable doubt) and some are not. There is no ambiguity about the theory of evolution thanks to years and years of research and testing; there is no ambiguity about the reality of global climate change and there is no reasonable justification for the abridging of civil rights for a large percentage of the population. While Obama's position is politically savvy, it's still a compromise based on a false premise.
This is the crux of the dubious "bi-partisan coming together" mantra. You ultimately cannot find genuine "middle ground" with those whose beliefs paint the world in a stark black and white of good and evil. At some level, either the believer is remiss in her/his duty by not championing the cause of "righteousness" or we, the reality-based thinkers, are asked to sacrifice dignity for the sake of magic.
Excuse me if I have trouble with that idea.
The problem is that the believers can't be asked to sacrifice anything because they're unwilling; the moral absolutes of their systems of thought prevent such compromises; so it's always the victims of their bullshit that have to suffer through "compromise" for the sake of perpetuating their absurdity.
For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Truth
There are only two ways of telling the complete truth: anonymously and posthumously.
- Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Practicality in Education
"No issue is more pressing than education. ... It is the civil rights issue of our generation" - Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education Designate at today's press conference in Chicago, Ill.
I spend a lot of time in schools talking with students and what I'm forced to conclude is that anyone who finds themselves in the incongruous maze of today's public education system for as many years as our children would be hard pressed to emerge a healthy, contributing member of society who looks back fondly on their time spent there.
There are a plethora of problems: deteriorating infrastructure, an outdated bureaucracy, over-worked and under-qualified teachers, and a pervasive sense that no one's paying attention or listening.
While I value the post-ideological pragmatism exhibited by the Obama Cabinet appointments, I think the place where a pragmatic re-evaluation is needed most is the American education system. I frequently ask groups of students the question: "How many of you feel that what you learn in school is not at all related to your everyday life". Every hand has gone up every time I ask it. What it tells us is that content is dated, unimportant and a big fat waste of time. Students are given materials they care little about as the prism through which to learn the skills necessary to survive in the world. The discerning student brain discards both out of sheer boredom.
And can we blame them for that? Humans naturally look for what's essential. If we can't see it, we ignore it.
Education needs to be relevant again. Every student needs to learn to read, think critically, know logic, basic computation and the ability to intelligently and thoughtfully express her/his thoughts in a variety of forums. Content is ultimately irrelevant, and so it ought to be selected based on the interests of students, rather than academics in ivory towers.
That's real pragmatism.
We'll see who has the stomach for it.
For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts
There are a plethora of problems: deteriorating infrastructure, an outdated bureaucracy, over-worked and under-qualified teachers, and a pervasive sense that no one's paying attention or listening.
While I value the post-ideological pragmatism exhibited by the Obama Cabinet appointments, I think the place where a pragmatic re-evaluation is needed most is the American education system. I frequently ask groups of students the question: "How many of you feel that what you learn in school is not at all related to your everyday life". Every hand has gone up every time I ask it. What it tells us is that content is dated, unimportant and a big fat waste of time. Students are given materials they care little about as the prism through which to learn the skills necessary to survive in the world. The discerning student brain discards both out of sheer boredom.
And can we blame them for that? Humans naturally look for what's essential. If we can't see it, we ignore it.
Education needs to be relevant again. Every student needs to learn to read, think critically, know logic, basic computation and the ability to intelligently and thoughtfully express her/his thoughts in a variety of forums. Content is ultimately irrelevant, and so it ought to be selected based on the interests of students, rather than academics in ivory towers.
That's real pragmatism.
We'll see who has the stomach for it.
For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts
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