"I love living life. I am HAPPY"

Crap. Another viral email. Oh well, better open it since emails from my friend are usually interesting. YouTube link. Copy. Paste. Stunned.


No other way to put it.

You probably have seen Nick Vujicic, but I never did.

Catch my breath. Get that kind of gasping feeling. Tears of wonder.

If you have never seen this guy, you must. And by God (something for me, eh?) when you feel like complaining about something, think again. Think WWND?


Here is a YouTube link. Do it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY&feature=related

Quote: Nick Vujicic from YouTube
Image: http://www.girlsheartpoint.ca/events/BreakThru2010/NickGreenbkgd.jpg

Is there a future worth living for?

Another kid kills himself. This time a college student “outed” by his roommate on YouTube. Check the link below to get a quick update from Ellen DeGeneres and you will get the names of a few more, driven to suicide by bullying.
I was bullied as a child. From about 7 to 14 I got pushed around, used as a punching bag, suffered verbal abuse because I was overweight and always chosen last for everything. Not fun. But I didn’t even consider killing myself. Not then anyway. I don’t know why I could take it and others could not. I didn’t like it and was unable to fight back. No help from my brother or parents or friends for that matter. But, at about age 14, I topped six feet tall and got an attitude. Not a bully, just not quite such an easy target.
I suspect that weak and different children and adults have always been marginalized and bullied, and I suspect that is a part of human behavior that won’t change much. So why the uptick in suicide? Maybe the rate hasn’t changed, but the media has. Maybe not. We had a suicide in my school, 9th or 10 grade. The guy was quiet, a good student, maybe gay, maybe just a loner. He was a good looking boy, shy, no friends, boy or girl. Maybe somebody bullied him, but if so I never saw it. Maybe his home life was abusive. I just don’t know. One day he went home from school and hung himself in his room. Gone in a flash. No press. No nothing.
If there are more suicides from bullying, could it be that the world as a whole is getting so contentious, so many negative campaigns, so much carping about everything, that the bullying is just the last straw, or the future looks so bleak that there isn’t anything to look forward to anyway? When I was being “done”, we were getting under our desks to try to survive the A-bomb attack we were sure would happen any day. Other than that, though, the future seemed bright (except for getting the crap kicked out of me from time to time).
Don’t get me wrong: bullying anybody for any reason is a foul and stupid thing to do. I don’t support it and I do support efforts to find and “correct” the bullies. But I do think there is a sub-set of people that ARE foul and stupid, and these will always be with us. What we need to do is get out of this miasma of negativity and give our youngsters (there, I’ve said it. God, it doesn’t feel good to say “youngsters” knowing full well I ain’t one any more) some hope for a future.
Question: Is there a future worth living for? I think so, but boy sometimes it is hard to see it.
Image: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/galleries/2007/1969240/full/hanging_man.jpg
Ellen on bullying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85QQTXAtnY

"Real Men Don't Buy Girls"

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher team up to start a campaign against the trafficking in young girls for sex. WHAT? you say? Young (11-14 years old) girls sold into slavery in America? The Land of the Free?
Yes, that is correct. According to the Thursday September 30th USA Today (1) more than 100,000 young girls a year are victims of criminal gangs that sell them for sex use. Do the math. More than 100k per year adds up to a tremendous number of young girls seized and abused over many years.
I was going to write an essay on the capture and sale of women for the sex trade. Women from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Women promised a better life with a job, home and the possibility of freedom only to find them selves locked in small rooms, or chained to beds or pallets and used as receptacles by men. When these women are too sick or broken to be of interest to even the crudest customer, they are tossed out on the street or killed, or just die. Those that live are ravaged with starvation, disease and physical abuse, and broken psychologically. No job, no home and no freedom. Just a short life on the street and a paupers grave.

I was going to write about adult (is a 15 year old girl an adult?) women until I read the article in today's USA Today about Demi Moore. I thought "My God, this is even worse (is that possible?) than adult slavery." What must these girls go through? The fact is I can't imagine what they go through. I know it must be beyond pain and suffering. Beyond abuse.

Then the real anger begins to get me. Who are the sick bastards that use these girls? They are the ones that need to be targeted. Sure, get the gangs that capture and "run" and sell the children, but go after the users. These perverts need eliminating. Oh, but wait. Some of these are undoubtedly rich and powerful men. Men who can protect networks of slave sellers. Men who live beside you. Men who manage your money and preach to you. Men who make laws and judge you. Men who protect you. Men who none-the-less need eliminating. No compromise.

Am I angry? You bet. Support the goals Demi and others have articulated. Don't let these bastards get off.

Image: Demi Moore from "G.I. Jane".

1. www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-9-30-sexads30_ST_N.htm

Who would drink “Skunky” beer?

I would, that’s who.
Back in the old days when I first started drinking Ballantine XXX ale, it had a noticeably short lived skunky aroma. The source of this is from the action of light on the ingredients of the beer. My Ballantine XXX was never in the sun, yet every bottle had a delightful whiff of “Flower”. The ale itself was, and still is, flavorful with a satisfying and lingering aftertaste of bitter hops. Not as much as a good IPA, but enough to differentiate it from ordinary lager-type beers. The reason for the whiffiness was the green bottles, and it didn’t take much sunlight to change the hops iso-alpha-acids into skunkiness. It goes away quickly, though, so get ready for it.
Ballantine XXX Ale and other Ballantine brews had a long and twisted history, summarized nicely on the Falstaff fan site linked below. The beer industry went through a major shake-out after Prohibition, and many wonderful brews went away. The Ballantine lable and some of the brews were repeatedly sold and still managed to survive. So look for it and try it if you can.
Sometime, somewhere when you least expect it, you will open a bottle of good ale, hopefully Ballantine XXX, and get a whiff. Don’t be put off! Enjoy the moment. It may never come around again.
Image: http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/_borders/ballantine.jpg
http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/ballantine_ale.htm
Skunky beer: http://www.evansale.com/skunked_beer.html

FGM - Not for the Squeamish

A 7 year old girl takes her mother’s hand as they board the plane in DC. They are headed for Nigeria, to visit the mother’s family and introduce the girl to her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. The streets of Abuja seem strange to a child born in Washington. Her uncle drives them out of the city to a small village where the family lives, and a wonderful dinner celebration welcomes the new comers. The next morning the women tell the girl that she is being taken to the “woman’s place” for a special ceremony, and she is excited. She will become a woman!!!
They arrive at a small hut away from the village and all go inside. The child is frightened but consoled by her mother. Next, she is undressed and told to lie down on the ceremonial blanket, made especially for her. She willing does so, though she is still frightened. She doesn’t understand what the women are saying in their foreign tongue. The next few minutes are a blur of fear and pain as the women pin her to the blanket and her grandmother shows her a rusty knife and chants something. Next, her grandmother saws off her genitalia, both pair of labia and her tiny sensitive clitoris. She screams and screams, and passes out from fear and pain. Her mother tells her that now she is a woman.
This true story describes a process called by many names but commonly known as Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. This disgusting, degrading, and utterly unnecessary mutilation is practiced in many countries around the world, mostly by Muslims of certain sects, but also by some African tribes. This little girl was one of the lucky ones. She went home to medical care and didn’t die of shock or infection. Thousands of children are not so lucky. Mutilations done with rusty can tops or broken glass shards often result in death. But hey, these are only girls, right? More where they came from, right?
WRONG!!!! These are children being abused in a most savage way. What have you done lately to oppose these practices? Read the article from UNICEF linked below for more information, and for the sake of a little girl somewhere, DO SOMETHING!!!
(Oh, and on the wedding night? The most badly scarred brides are “opened” with a sharp dagger, providing the husband proof of virginity, and lubrication. That make you feel any better?)
Image: diasporadical.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/fgm.jpg
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_genitalmutilation.html

Empowering Women.

Recently, experts on the role of women in society met at a United Nations sponsored forum. Interviews with several of these women have been aired and published in print, and there is a common thread in all of them. It is simply this:
"The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely fundamental to women’s empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. When she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive rights—including the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of her children, and to make decisions regarding reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence—are promoted and protected, she has freedom to participate more fully and equally in society." (1)
The lack of these rights leads to early death of women from health issues related to childbirth, large and poor families, a disregard for girl children and a growing number of young men with no chance for education or success.
You think this is a 3rd world problem, don’t you? Well it is, and, it is also a problem here in the good old US of A. Any culture that denies a woman the right to control her reproductive decisions fosters the same problems as seen in the 3rd world. And worse, in a free society where anyone is (within limits) free to express their opinion, groups that oppose the freedom of women attempt to make EVERYBODY in the society subject to their limited view of women.
The history of reproductive freedom is filled with examples of legislative attempts to limit access to birth control, sex education, reproductive services, pro-birth control counseling and other issues. So far they have all failed in favor of individual rights. The push for “Abstinence Only” sex education attempts to limit the rights of woman to control their fertility in a way THEY choose. Abstinence is a very good way to limit live births, but it is not the only oneby a long shot.
The last time I looked, this wasn’t Russia or Iran or China. This was America. I really hope the “was” in the last sentence doesn’t mean that this isn’t America any longer. Where freedom of choice is limited, the America I know and love is diminished. Remember the bumper sticker “America - Love it or Leave it”. Many folks claim to love it but want to change it to their restricted idea of what it should be. Maybe THEY should leave it, and try to get their ideas implemented in, say, Saudi Arabia. And, they could get cheap gas.

Bye Bye.

1. http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment.htm
Image: http://www.cherieblair.org/women/I%20am%20powerful.jpg

People of Good Will

The nice thing about this country is that people of good will can view the exact same issue through different lenses and come to totally different conclusions. I guess that happens everywhere, but the good thing about THIS country is that we can agree to disagree with out becoming disagreeable (: . Take my postings on various issues of current politics,religion or ecology. My views are drawn from my own experiences and by weighing and considering the facts as I find them. My conclusions are thus (as far as I can tell) supported by some factual base of information. Readers that have opposing views believe that their positions are equally supported by facts. We disagree on the facts.
Take climate issues for example. I support the view that man is the major contributor to the global climate changes now underway. My views are drawn from years of experience observing the earth as a single ecosystem, and by reviewing much of the science associated with it. My view is supported by the international scientific community and most of the governments of the world. The opposing view posits that man is not the prime cause of the observed changes and that these are merely natural cycles. That view is supported by a tiny minority of scientists with alternate schemes, the energy industries of the world, the manufacturing giants of the world, North Korea and Rush Limbaugh. See anything amiss here?
No one disagrees that there are changes afoot. Only what is causing them and what can reduce them. Naturally I think I am correct, and the others think they are correct. They are not. They say I am not. That is the essence of disagreement.
I believe that the changes underway have moved past a tipping point and will go to some end point in the future with disastrous consequences. The other side of this issue says not. They are wrong.
But as has been said before by someone “Time will Tell”. The pity is that I probably won’t be around to say “I Told You So”.
Image: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mechanics/imgmech/topp.gif

I Like Health Reform.

A call went out a few days ago, again, to repeal the misnamed “Obamacare” health reform legislation. Here is what is already in place:

No cap on lifetime expenses
No cancellation for using the policy
No “rescinding” coverage for accidental omission of medical history (only for fraudulent statements on applications”.
Keeping children on parents policies until they are 26
Coverage cannot be refused for pre-existing conditions in adults or children.

More benefits will phase in over the next 5 years, and the congressional budget office, a non-partisan analysis group, concludes that the savings in health care costs will pay for the increased benefits. So in the long run the plan will not break the bank.
Now I don’t know about you, but I am happy with the above new protections. Why in the world would I want them cancelled? Why would anyone want them cancelled?
Oh yeah, I get it. The Health Industry wants them cancelled. The same people that screwed you every day until yesterday. Right. Good. Glad I understand.
(For my conservative readers, please note that I specifically did not say who is pushing for this repeal. I know you are sensitive about identifying the source of this nonsense)
Source of some of this: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1914020220100319
Image: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=407760155&colorNo=0&pr=F

Don't Blame the Solution, Blame the Problem

Scenario: A huge back hoe digs a hole and piles the dirt on a road, making the road impassable. A man is hired to fill in the hole, and given a shovel to do the job. After working steadily for a week, the hole is partially filled, and people are getting angry with the man for not getting the job done. After 2 weeks anger boils over, the man is blamed for the continuing traffic problems and fired. . The question is this: Who is to blame for the mess on the road? Is it fair to blame the solution to the problem, even if it takes a while to work? Should the agent that dug the hole in the first place be forgotten? Or should the blame be put where it belongs?
It’s obvious, isn’t it? The guy with the shovel was the good guy, and the hole digger was the culprit. Give a little more time the hole would be filled and traffic would resume.
Now think the economy. It took 8 years to dig the hole, and the guys that are filling the hole are working as hard as they can to fill it. No rational mind would blame the filler for the hole. In fact, only a liar would claim that the hole wasn’t there until the filler was hired to fill it.
Ahhh. Now I see the problem. I said “rational mind”. Of course. We must forget how we got the hole and focus on the failure to quickly fill it. We must not see the progress made in 2 years in filling the hole. We must not be rational. Now I get it. Sorry.
A corollary to this is the growing number of possible voters that blame the current administration for the bank bailout and the auto industry bailout. These bailouts are correctly called the TARP program, conceived and implemented by the previous administration. Seven hundred fifty billion dollars authorized by the previous administration (the Bush II administration). These voters are being lied to about the TARP money, and they are too stupid to realize it. I wonder who is telling these lies? Ever hear of “Death Panels”? Truth or lie? Connection? Hmmmmm. I know thinking about this will enrage my conservative friends, but get real folks. A lie is a lie.
Imagehttp://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/celebrity-pictures-joker-bailout.jpg?w=500&h=317

Tea Party: The Only Patriots?

I guess I shouldn’t be so sensitive to insults, but I am. So when I was passed recently by a “red neck” truck (you know: 4W drive, big tires, mud everywhere, gun rack, bumper sticker for “W 04”, cigarette dangling from lips of driver.) with a bumper sticker on the rear window: “Tea Party Patriot: Don’t Tread on Me” I got a little uppity. The clear implication to me says that unless I am a TPP stooge I am not a patriot. What crap is that? And the “grass roots movement” claim?
Ever wonder when some news report says “Tea Party candidate X received financial support from Tea Party supporters” who they are? Wealthy American right wing supporters like the Koch brothers (1). Influential political think tanks and individuals all bent on whipping up the masses to further their agenda. Which is? Take over the House and Senate, then the Executive Branch and install a right facing government that would be a disaster for us all. (Even the RNC is worried that the Tea Party is too extreme.) Like any extreme philosophy, there are elements in the Tea Party (TP) credo that are reasonable and even attractive, like getting back to a balanced budget (Where have you gone Bill Clinton?). But taken together, the package would drive a stake in the heart of our democracy. Compare the movement to historical mass takeovers of governments and you see the point. Hitler appealed to the masses with solutions and blames. What resulted was horrible.
Under the “grass roots” of the TP is a well organized plan by wealthy right wing people to get THEIR way as THE way. Use your brain for one second, huh? How do you think all the “spontaneous” things the TP claims and all the money the TP spends can be without leadership? They may have more than one head, but so did the Medusa.
I am not a Tea Partyer or anything vaguely like them, but still a Patriot. So here is a warning to the Tea Partyers from the majority of American Patriots: Don’t Tread On Us!!!

Image: http://www.teapartymovie.com/images/TPP-BUMPER-STICKER.jpg
Image: http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000661637/polls_medusa_4631_429276_poll_xlarge.jpeg
1.http://www.alternet.org/economy/146504/the_roots_of_stalin_in_the_tea_party_movement
Background information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement