Friday, August 31, 2012

WHO IS PHYLLIS MASS CARTER ?

PHYLLIS MASS CARTER

Canadian Journalist,

Investigator,

English Speech Consultant,

Singer

FOCUS :

JUSTICE - Call me "SCRAPPER"

CAREER:

SPEECH WRITER, REPORTER, EDITORIALIST;

JOURNALIST: NORTHSHORE NEWS, ROXBORO, QUE.

THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX, QUEBEC - 1689-1969. (copyright)

JOURNALIST: LAKESHORE NEWS AND CHRONICLE
News reporter, photographer, articles, including second publication of -

THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX, QUEBEC - 1689-1969. (copyright)

COLUMNIST : WITH SIX SENSES (copyright)

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY:

A PORTRAIT OF ASGAR AND THE PLIGHT OF KASHMIR.

(copyright)

LETTERS OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH
SAYED ASGAR ALI RAZWY, A HUMBLE SCHOLAR OF KASHMIR.

LETTERS OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH
MICHAEL STEELER, GENTLEMAN

HUNDREDS OF LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Published over the decades

ENGLISH SPEECH CONSULTANT:
SPEECH WRITER, TEACHER, COACH

PUBLIC SPEAKING

NUMEROUS APPEARANCES RADIO AND TELEVISION

CJAD RADIO MONTREAL,

CBC - MONTREAL

CFCF RADIO MONTREAL

CTV - SCREEN GEMS - MONTREAL, TORONTO

LYRICIST: A DATE AT THE OLYMPICS IN CALGARY,
RCA Records: MR. NOSTALGIA, CLIFF CARTER
MUSIC by CLIFF CARTER

(copyright)

THRILL OF A LIFETIME - CTV - SURPRISED US

WITH CLIFF'S FIRST RECORD ALBUM.

SINGER, with "MR. NOSTALGIA, CLIFF CARTER",
My sweetheart and husband - at

PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA, for -
HARAMBI'S BLACK ORPHEUS BALL;

THE CASABLANCA, ST. DENIS ST. MONTREAL;
LE BIJOU, OLDE MONTREAL;
THE ASTOR, ST. CATHERINE ST. WEST, MTL.;
THE ABACUS, MONTREAL AND WEST ISLAND;
THE JOHN OAKLEY SHOW - CJAD RADIO, MTL.;
BIDDLES, MONTREAL with CLIFF CARTER, OLIVER JONES,
CHARLIE BIDDLE AND BERNIE PRIMEAU;
LE MANOIR LEMOYNE with CLIFF AND WALLY ASPELL.

INVESTIGATOR: WEST END INVESTIGATION, MONTREAL
J.A. BUCK FORTIN, OWNER AND CHIEF DETECTIVE.

INVESTIGATOR PINKERTON, QUEBEC - MONTREAL
PAUL ST. AMOUR, PRESIDENT

EDUCATION:

MONTREAL REPERTORY THEATRE:

ELEANOR STUART, Dramatic Arts
DOROTHY DANFORD, Voice and Diction
GRIFFITH BREWER, Stage Makeup
JEANNE DE SAVOIE, Theatre Arts
MS. STEHLE, History of the Theatre

Certificate

OPERA - TEACHER: MME. PAULINE DONALDA
Mme. Donalda's sister, May Lightstone, assisted at the baby grand piano which was draped with a fringed black shawl adorned with pink roses.

SCHOOL OF MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY, MONTREAL
HARRY SIDEL - OWNER, TEACHER

Portrait Photography, Nature, Commercial, Journalism, Human Interest, Architecture, Street Photography; Darkroom.

Certificate

Cliff Carter

Mr. Nostalgia

Phyllis Carter

The Sheba

AMERICA'S RICHEST INDUSTRY - SLAVERY - NEVER AGAIN !

EconomicImpact.htm

Slavery in the United States

Slavery is fundamentally an economic phenomenon. Throughout history, slavery has existed where it has been economically worthwhile to those in power. The principal example in modern times is the U.S. South. Nearly 4 million slaves with a market value of close to $4 billion lived in the U.S. just before the Civil War. Masters enjoyed rates of return on slaves comparable to those on other assets; cotton consumers, insurance companies, and industrial enterprises benefited from slavery as well. Such valuable property required rules to protect it, and the institutional practices surrounding slavery display a sophistication that rivals modern-day law and business.

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/wahl.slavery.us

What is the comparable "value" of a slave in today's prices?

None of these prices has much meaning to us today, but they would if we revalue them in today's dollars to the amount of money slave owners spent 150 years ago. The techniques developed in MeasuringWorth have created ten "measures" to use to compare a monetary value in one period to one in another as explained in the essay "Measures of Worth."⁹ Of those ten, three are useful for discussing the value of a slave. They are: labor or income value, economic status and real price¹⁰. Using these measures, the value in 2009 of $500 in 1850 (the average price of a slave that year) ranges from $11,000 to $162,000 thousand.

As discussed above, the $500 price in 1850 represents the expected net value of the future labor services a slave would provide. This is why the labor or income value is the correct measure of the value of a slave's services in today's prices. That $500 would be $78,000 in today's prices.

While some slaves were rented out for farm and other types of work, most slaves worked on the farms and plantations of their owners. In both cases, the work they did was mostly unskilled, so a comparable measure of these services would be the unskilled wage ¹¹. In other words, we can assume that to hire someone to do the work of a slave would cost the unskilled wage of that day. Thus, a measure of the average value of a slave would be the present value of the net rental cost over the life expectancy of the average slave.

Thus the value in today's dollars of a slave during the antebellum period ranges from $45,000 (in 1809) to $134,000 of a slave's expected revenue less maintenance costs. If we assume, for example, that the average slave will live 20 more years, then today's price for a slave valued at $500 in 1850 could be interpreted as the $78,000 in wages plus the 20 years of room, board, and clothing that it would take to hire unskilled workers today to perform the lifetime services expected of a slave ¹². Unlike hired hands, slaves were responsible in large part for producing their own room, board, and clothing. Given the work week today is significantly shorter than in 1850 and that slaves were made to work harder during the same amount of time as free workers, it would take more than one hired hand today to replace the labor supplied by a slave then.

Even at these prices, some slaves, particularly those with artisan skills, might ultimately earn enough to buy themselves out of slavery. It was not uncommon, especially in the Old South, for masters to allow others to hire the services of his or her slaves. This was particularly true of slaves who lived in urban areas, independent of the master. They were expected to make their own arrangements. "The master fixed the wage that the slave must bring in. All above this amount the slave might keep himself. … employers frequently hired the slave's time from the owner at a certain amount and paid the slave an additional wage contingent on amount of work accomplished."¹³

Real Price

Economists commonly use the real price measure when they are trying to account for the impact of inflation. The real price today is computed by multiplying the value in the past by the increase in the consumer price index (CPI). The result compares that past value to a ratio of the cost of a fixed bundle of goods and services the average consumer buys in each of the two years. In the construction of the CPI bundle, an effort is made to compensate for quality changes in the mix of the bundle over time.¹⁵ Still, the longer the time span, the less consistent the comparison. In the 19th century, there were no national surveys to figure out what the average consumer bought. The earliest budget study used by economic historians was of 397 workmen's families in Massachusetts and was constructed in 1875. These families spent over half their income on food and rented their housing.¹⁶

The MeasuringWorth calculator shows that the "real price" of $500 in 1850 would be approximately $12,000 in 2009 prices. We all can identify with what that amount of money would buy today, but hardly anything we would spend $12,000 on today was available 160 years ago. $500 in 1850 would have purchased 6,000 pounds of bacon, 3,800 pounds of coffee, 2,000 pounds of butter, or 1,200 gallons of gin. It is unlikely, however, that this was the budget of the typical slave owner. Most of the food would be produced on the plantation, and housing would have been buildings constructed by the owner (and his slaves). The "opportunity cost" of the $500 for the slave owner would have been supplies for the plantation or perhaps luxuries and travel.

Using the real price is not the correct index to use for measuring the value of a slave's labor services in today's prices. It does, however, give an idea of what the cost of purchasing a slave was in 2009 dollars. Thus, just before the start of the Civil War, the average price of a slave in the United States was $20,000 in current dollars. There is ample evidence that there are several million of people enslaved today even though slavery is not legal anywhere in the world. There are several organizations such as Anti-Slavery International that will point out that in many places today, slaves sell for as little as (or even less than) $100!

http://www.measuringworth.com/slavery.php

William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator

Library of Congress

Anti-abolitionist handbills sometimes led to violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

Every movement needs a voice.

For the entire generation of people that grew up in the years that led to the Civil War, William Lloyd Garrison was the voice of Abolitionism. Originally a supporter of colonization, Garrison changed his position and became the leader of the emerging anti-slavery movement. His publication, The Liberator, reached thousands of individuals worldwide. His ceaseless, uncompromising position on the moral outrage that was slavery made him loved and hated by many Americans.

Although The Liberator was Garrison's most prominent abolitionist activity, he had been involved in the fight to end slavery for years prior to its publication.

In 1831, Garrison published the first edition of The Liberator. His words, "I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD," clarified the position of the new Abolitionists. Garrison was not interested in compromise. He founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society the following year. In 1833, he met with delegates from around the nation to form the American Anti-Slavery Society. Garrison saw his cause as worldwide. With the aid of his supporters, he traveled overseas to garner support from Europeans. He was, indeed, a global crusader. But Garrison needed a lot of help. The Liberator would not have been successful had it not been for the free blacks who subscribed. Approximately seventy-five percent of the readers were free African-Americans.

The Liberator wasn't the only abolitionist manifesto during the 1800s. Pamphlets like this one were disseminated widely throughout the North, although many were banned in the South.

Garrison saw moral persuasion as the only means to end slavery. To him the task was simple: show people how immoral slavery was and they would join in the campaign to end it. He disdained politics, for he saw the political world as an arena of compromise. A group split from Garrison in the 1840s to run candidates for president on the Liberty Party ticket. Garrison was not dismayed. Once in Boston, he was dragged through the streets and nearly killed. A bounty of $4000 was placed on his head. In 1854, he publicly burned a copy of the Constitution because it permitted slavery. He called for the north to secede from the Union to sever the ties with the slaveholding south.

William Lloyd Garrison lived long enough to see the Union come apart under the weight of slavery. He survived to see Abraham Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. Thirty-four years after first publishing The Liberator, Garrison saw the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution go into effect, banning slavery forever. It took a lifetime of work. But in the end, the morality of his position held sway.

http://www.ushistory.org/us/28a.asp

Thursday, August 30, 2012

WE ARE NOT THE GOOD GUYS - THE TRUTH ABOUT DEMOCRACIES

I grew up during World War II. As a small child, I was not greatly affected by what was happening across the ocean. I didn't understand. My parents may have gone hungry, but I wasn't aware of missing anything.

The only memories I have of the war are my grandmother weeping as she read the sepia coloured newspapers, my daddy in khakis, the rubbery stench inside his gas mask, his haversack hanging on the kitchen door, missing him when he was not at home, peering out into the twilight rain, watching for him at the parlour window, the soldiers marching down our street from the armory, and me in my father's arms at the window in a room darkened for curfew.

What I do remember so clearly of the 1940's is the movies. My Pop took me to the movies. And I grew up believing in heroes and beautiful music and lovely movie stars in pretty dresses and gorgeous leading men, and Roy Rogers riding Trigger up to the crest of a hill into the sunset singing "Happy Trails To You".

I grew up, soaking up those beautiful images , and through my life, I have refused to give them up. I am a determined romantic and if the whole world chooses to go to hell with lies and crime and corruption, I will still insist on justice and truth and courage and beautiful music. If not one other person on the face of the earth will stand by me, I will stand alone, demanding justice and remembering beautiful music and beautiful people.

We are not the "good guys." I grew up believing our side were the good guys - the men in the white hats with their shiny badges. The bad guys in black shirts and slim moustaches You could always tell back then - in the movies - who the good guys and the bad guys were. Only as an adult did I learn that the nice gentleman Fred Rose who was well known and well liked in our community - was a Communist spy. What a shock when his sweet and beautiful young daughter was taken out of our school to be sent to Poland with her family, a land I am sure she did not know. Her friends were shocked and devastated. Everyone was amazed. We did not know who the "bad guys" were.

We are not the good guys. I will not go into detail here, but the news makes it clear to anyone who is awake and of normal intelligence. My blog, PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL reports many examples.

We are not the good guys, but we are better than many others for at least these reasons.

1. We express ourselves without violence almost all the time.

2. We can vote.

3. We have freedom of speech -

Except in Quebec, where folks - even long time citizens - who are not Pure Laine French fear the Language Police - "Office de la Langue Francaise".

Even though the people of Quebec have refused the extremists' never-end-um-referendums again and again, they persist to this day, picking at small shopkeepers for using the word "OPEN" on the front of their grocery - and sometimes forgetting to make the word "OUVERT' large enough on what we must now call "depanneurs" and not groceries.

The extremists continue to harass and try to intimidate minorities in Montreal in particular. Heaven forbid an English word be found too large or out of place according to Bill 101 or its interpretation by extremists.

So, in Quebec, we have limited freedom of speech and we live under endless harassment and threats of separation and the dismemberment of Canada. Evil minded haters reminiscent of Europe's demented fascists and jealous extremist groups are intent on never allowing us to have peace.They will never have enough until they get everything and eliminate all minorities from Quebec - one way or another.

Do not be quick to brush off these images. The Jews of Europe were not slaughtered overnight. While the western world looked away, the Nazis crept up on Jewish men, women and children bit by bit before coming down on them with railway cars and guns and daggers and gas chambers.

The Jewish people were the cream of European society - not just shopkeepers and tailors and rabbis, but also doctors, scientists, musicians, professors, bankers. They always thought they were Germans. We think we are Quebeckers and Canadians. Do not close your eyes.

French is a beautiful, expressive, intellectual language when spoken and written well. But the extremists - who often brutalize the French language crudely themselves - feel they have to force even their own people to use French, exclusively. This is not about language or culture - it is about the hunger for power - xenophobia, greed, revenge, and tyranny.

We are not the good guys, but I promise you, there are many, many good people everywhere on earth. They just want to live and work and raise their families in peace. They usually get along with people of different backgrounds.

The problem is that they are silent in the face of injustice that they think does not affect them - while extremists everywhere make themselves heard, and the commercial media that thrives on controversy indulges their tactics and their lust for power.

SILENCE IMPLIES CONSENT

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/mon-non-est-quebecois-some-of-my_722.html

MON NON EST QUEBECOIS - SOME OF MY ARTICLES ON QUEBEC

A SEPARATE QUEBEC ?
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2011/02/separate-quebec_2425.html

THE TRUTH ABOUT QUEBEC
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2011/04/truth-about-quebec.html

THE OCTOBER CRISIS - I WAS THERE
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-crisis-i-was-there.html

OH, CANADA - WE STAND ON GUARD FOR - WHAT ?

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/oh-canada-we-stand-on-guard-for-what.html

CHARLES DE GAULLE ET MOI - LET MY PEOPLE SIT !

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/charles-de-gaulle-et-moi-let-my-people_10.html

FREE MAN CHOKES ON FORCE-FED LANGUAGE

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/free-man-chokes-on-force-fed-language_4444.html

LANGUAGE IS NOT THE PROBLEM IN QUEBEC - BIGOTRY IS

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/06/language-is-not-problem-in-quebec_24.html

WHAT IS A " DISTINCT SOCIETY " ?

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-is-distinct-society_2376.html

JOHNNY JELLYBEAN AND THE SEPARATISTS

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2011/01/johnny-jellybean-and-separatists_07.html

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

LETTER TO THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY

How many more Canadian citizens will be heading east, west, north and south to escape Quebec bigots ? Here is one of thousands who have left already.

But who cares?

Phyllis Carter
***********

For many decades you have heralded yourselves as the "champions" of the proverbial "little guy". There is no debate you have taken on, in your own way, causes and issues long ignored by the federal Liberals and Conservatives. In many cases, popular or not, you have indeed been the voice of the ignored, unwanted, and disregarded.

I remember the days of post-election signs and bumper stickers that read: "Don't blame me I voted NDP". Now, you are the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. It has been a long and arduous journey for the party. Supporters or not… we all know that it has.

With the above facts noted, I ask you then: Why have you ignored the pleas for equality from Anglophone Quebecers for the 'safety' of appeasing Quebec nationalists? Have you become yet another party of "politics first, principles be damned"?

It would appear that you now see us in the same light as do the federal Liberals and Conservatives consider us: that Quebec Anglophones are a 'reasonable sacrifice' in order to win seats in Quebec. Pandering to Quebec nationalism and linguistic supremacy in the province is 'the way'?

I contend that you have abandoned your principles. That you have abandoned what your party once stood for. That you have abandoned, like every other provincial and federal party has, a minority in return for votes. I contend that you are no longer any different from the status quo and that you have become a part of it. There exists no greater example of this than your turned backs and covered ears when faced with questions about Quebec's Anglophone community.

You have abandoned a community that has for the past 40 years been treated as "les autres", called "maudit anglais" and told "loi 101 ou 401". 500,000 feeling Quebec was no longer "home" and leaving… Not a word. Instead you have become the champions and official supporters of the continued eradication of our language, our culture, our place in Canadian history… You have abandoned us, for votes. Long live principle… may it rest in peace.

The NDP, through its silence and now pandering to those bent on the destruction of Canada has become an 'equal'… So please, enjoy your new found position as an equal in the status quo. The status quo that you for so long claimed to be fighting.

The fact that the majority of Canadians speak English is not a justification for being, by law, a second class citizen in the province of our birth. We are not Ontarians. We are not Albertans. We are Quebecers!

At every turn, every job interview, every fact of life Anglophones in Quebec are reminded that we are merely tolerated.

With every stop sign at every corner, in our own communities, with every "Arrêt" we are reminded: "You are not welcome here". Anglophone Quebec is a small island in a greater sea of tepid tolerance to boiling and seething hate. A community held accountable for wars and actions of centuries past.

It is time the NDP take stock of what you stand for. Take account of who you stand for and those you have abandoned to gain power and status.

Ask yourselves, do you stand for all Canadians… or now, just those that will get you into office?

I am fortunate. I now live in the United States. A place where I am recognized by my American friends and family for what my government, my country will not… I am recognized for who I am, an Anglophone-Quebecer.

Steve Mace

Anglo-Quebecer

Detroit, Michigan

By 49th Press Staff | August 28, 2012 - 6:48 PM | Editorial

http://49thparallelpress.com/?p=745

LITTLE GIRL MURDERED BY TEENS - HOW CAN THERE BE JUSTICE ?

I have just learned of this tragedy. I invite the world to watch and see how the lawyers help these killers escape punishment. Witness for this poor child.

Phyllis Carter

Missing girl's body found in trash, teens charged

Rick Pfeiffer, Special to QMI Agency

Rouge et Or — Two teenagers in Niagara Falls, N.Y., were charged after five-year-old Isabella Sarah Tennant was found murdered Monday morning. (Niagara Gazette/Special to QMI Agency)

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN ? THE UNHOLY LAND

I wake up, troubled. Images from the past, little snippets of things I have seen and heard and lived through stay with me and run around in my head. There are thoughts I wish I could forget. Others that I know I must remember - so I can try to do something about them.

I loved that old radio show - The Shadow. Today, the memory of the show's opening words - "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men ?" - reminded me of something that was said to me in the hospital a few months ago. Something I cannot forget; something my conscience does not allow me to forget.

A volunteer who has been friendly to me over the years said something to me a few months ago that I cannot bury under a mound of desert sand.

Here is a kind woman who has been helpful to me when I was very sick, but something she said will not go away.

She was going on vacation to Israel. We talked about the dangers. And this kind lady told me that -

If she could, she would kill every last Arab child.

Because those children would grow up to kill our children.

Her words burn in my mind.

How can we ever stop the hate, the fear,

The thirst for vengeance?

How can we erase the suffering of the innocent?

How can we blame those who have suffered -

If they hunger for revenge?

How can we punish the guilty if everyone is guilty?

But how can we let the murderers live free?

Bible myth assures us that the dead will rise again,

But it also says that God's time is not our time.

So don't sit by the window,

Waiting for the dead children to come home -

Not the Arab children.

Not the Jewish children.

I have no answers. Only sadness,

And memories that haunt me.

Monday, August 27, 2012

THE MAURY POVITCH SHOW - WHO PROFITS ?

He is the father !

He is NOT the father !

She's a slut !

He's a pig !

They are promiscuous !

But who cares ?

The fools in the studio audience have a great laugh

and

Maury Povitch grins and gets richer.

And the poor and the ignorant participants get what ?

They shame their families and their communities.

And the babies born of these lusty indulgences

Will have these memories

On video tape to grow up with.

But, as I said,

Who cares ?

QUEBEC LIES ABOUT ASBESTOS WHILE IT KILLS ITS VICTIMS AROUND THE WORLD

Asbestos exposure is the primary cause of mesothelioma cancer. Inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers may cause an inflammation of internal tissue and disrupt organ function which leads to the development of mesothelioma.

Asbestos causes deadly diseases that may be robbing families like yours every day. Exposure to asbestos in mills, factories, ship building, or while working as a plumber, mechanic, pipe fitter or electrician may have put you and your family at risk.

Asbestos products were used extensively throughout the 20th century in a wide variety of applications. Asbestos companies continued to produce these products even after they were known to be hazardous and harmful to workers and their families. Many of these products were responsible for asbestos exposure sustained by both the individuals who manufactured the products as well as those who used them at commercial, industrial and military jobsites. Renovation and construction both at home and in schools and other public facilities also posed high risk areas for asbestos exposure.

Asbestos related cancer is common among military veterans who we exposed on naval ships, in shipyards and at military bases. Naval ships where exposure occurred include aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, submarines, warships and others. Some prominent shipyards where asbestos was prevalent include Brooklyn Navy Yard, Norfolk Navy Shipyard, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Long Beach Naval Shipyard and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. At commercial and industrial locations including refineries, power plants, steel mills, auto production facilities and large construction sites, many workers were put at risk. Some of the occupations of workers at risk include electricians, plumbers, boilermakers, carpenters, mechanics , machinists and more. Additionally, if you lived with someone who was regularly exposed to asbestos and washed their clothes, you could be at risk for second hand asbestos exposure.

An individual may be at risk to develop mesothelioma if he or she was exposed to asbestos in the workplace or at home. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos and the inhalation of asbestos particles. In most cases, mesothelioma symptoms will not appear in an individual exposed to asbestos until many years after the exposure has occurred. Those with a past asbestos exposure history experiencing symptoms should consult a physician with experience in accurately diagnosing mesothelioma. The earlier mesothelioma is diagnosed, the more likely it is to be caught at an early stage. At earlier stages of mesothelioma progression, more treatment options are available and oftentimes a better prognosis is given.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

MAN CREATED GOD - IT IS TIME TO THINK

People have created gods in their own image - from fanged satyrs to a bearded grandfather sitting on a cloud with quill in hand, determining our fate. "Did you eat pork - on Saturday yet ! Damned to the fires of eternal hell !"

Poor pig. He is the one with a legitimate grievance.

We create God to suit our needs. Today, science is getting a smidgen closer to truth as it explores String Theory and infinite outer space with the development of computers. Have you seen a sparticle ? Have you seen God ?

Those who are not afraid to consider using their brains might readjust their concept of "God". But those who hunger for power will continue to press the weak to accept the ancient myths and obey the rules they impose on their followers. If you don't accept what they want you to believe and do what they want you to do - they lose their power over you. But some have ways of ensuring that you bow to their wishes.

Tyrants function best if they can make you afraid. In the Middle East, stoning you to death is one effective way of ensuring you obey. Cutting off your head is sure to silence your doubts.

Then they blame God for the atrocities they commit.

In western society, shunning can make you feel unworthy of the priest's blessings and the comfort of the community. The priest who baptized me ordered me to "conform !" He was a good man, but very weak. His wife crushed his spirit and took his ministry for herself. I never did "conform." Whoever created me provided a good working brain.

I believe there is God, but "He" - for want of a better word - is beyond our comprehension. The best we can do is dare to think.

I believe there is a Creator. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28.

If you pay attention, you might pick out the wisdom in those ancient writings that science is now finding in reality.

The Creator doesn't sit on a cloud watching to see what boo-boo's we commit. "He" is everywhere in everything all the time - Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent - or he is nowhere, ever, and of no consequence.

If you don't listen to those who want to control your mind, your money and your life, you might start to see truth and light.

Why did God give us brains if he didn't want us to use them ? Just to crawl around on our calloused knees singing "His" praise? Is the God of all creation so needy that he requires us little folks to keep telling "Him" how wonderful "He" is ? Is God so insecure, so petty - or so vain, so human - that he needs constant flattery and mindless obedience?

Or is ritualistic worship a form of mind control that benefits mostly those who wield power over great masses of people?

Grown ups dare to use the brains God gave them. "Who has seen the wind?" But if we seek truth using our innate intelligence, we may see the fruit of the works of the Creator everywhere.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect intended us to forego their use. Galileo (1564 - 1642 )

The real question is not - "Is there a God?" - but - "Does God care about us?"

Cogito, ergo sum. Descartes (1637)

Friday, August 24, 2012

RELIGIOUS FANATICS THREATEN THE LIFE OF ANOTHER CHILD IN PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN - Christian Child Jailed for Defiling Quran

Blasphemy Laws Continue to Persecute Christians

By Aidan Clay

Washington, D.C. August 23 (International Christian Concern) – A Christian girl allegedly found carrying burned pages of the Quran was arrested Friday and could be punished by death for blasphemy. Accusations that the girl defiled the Quran stoked a furor of public anger in a poor outlying district of Islamabad. Several Christian homes were burned by a Muslim mob that had called for the girl's execution. Hundreds of Christians have since fled the area.

Rimsha Misrak was arrested for blaspheming Islam on August 16 after she was allegedly spotted by neighbors with a plastic bag containing burned pages of the Quran in the Meira Abadi district of Islamabad. The accusations started when Muhammad Hammad, a 23-year-old Muslim, claimed he had caught Rimsha "red-handed" with the burnt pages from the Quran and Islamic prayers in Arabic. According to a police official, however, there was little evidence suggesting the girl had burned, or even possessed, any Islamic texts in the bag she was carrying.

Rimsha, who relatives say is 12 years old, reportedly has Down syndrome, though ICC sources in Islamabad have not been able to verify the child's mental state. Rimsha is being held in police custody in Rawalpindi on charges of blasphemy and is expected to appear in court before the end of the month.

"I met the girl at the police station when she was arrested and she is suffering from trauma," Xavier P William, the Country Director of Masihi Foundation Pakistan, told BBC. "The crowd wanted to burn her alive… She is an innocent child - she doesn't even know what she did. She is in a state of shock. Her bail is being filed this week and she will hopefully be released."

The day following Rimsha's arrest, a Muslim mob, ranging from 600 – 1,000 people, set several Christian homes ablaze, assaulted Rimsha's mother and sister, and called for the child to be burned to death as a blasphemer. Hundreds of Christians have since fled their homes in fear for their lives.

"More than 250 Christian families moved to safer places after the allegation," Shalom Basharat, a human rights activist in Islamabad, told ICC. "The mob encompassed the Christians' houses and demanded the 'blasphemer' to be hanged. The angry mob tortured Rimsha's parents and other Christians. They blocked the main Kashmir Highway for hours and chanted slogans against Rimsha."

After the flight of Christians from the area, Basharat said that Christian homes were broken into and looted. "The mob attacked the Christians' houses and damaged the main gates, doors, and windows," he explained. "Some of the Christians spent that night on the footpaths and the day (August 17) in the parks without food and water. However, church leadership and political representatives… played a vital role by providing shelter and food to the displaced Christian families."

Pakistan's blasphemy codes have frequently been used to harass Christians or settle tribal disputes under the protection of law. Some believe that Rishma's case was stirred for no other reason than jealousy and religious rivalry within the community.

"A few Christian families in Meira Abadi are financially sound and live better than some local Muslims. As a result of hatred against the non-Muslim community, a poor Christian family was targeted to teach other Christians a lesson," said an ICC source in Islamabad who asked that his name not be disclosed for security reasons.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari took "serious note" of Rimsha's arrest, saying, "Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned, but no one will be allowed to misuse the blasphemy law for settling personal scores," according to a spokesman. The Interior Ministry was ordered to investigate the incident.

Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Muhammad or defiling the Quran can face life in prison or execution. Though it is rare for an offender to be executed by a Pakistani court verdict, 46 of the 1,060 people charged for blasphemy between 1986 and 2011 have been killed by mob justice while awaiting trial or after having been acquitted, according to a report by the advocacy group Human Rights First. In a recent case, for example, thousands of Muslims dragged a man accused of blasphemy from a police station in Bahawalpur, beat him to death and set his body on fire in July.

In the case of Rimsha, however, Paul Bhatti, the head of the Ministry of National Harmony in Pakistan, is hopeful the blasphemy accusations will soon be forgotten once charges are dropped. "If [Rimsha] is not guilty, some can understand and they can forgive," Mr. Bhatti, whose brother Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated last year by the Pakistani Taliban for advocating reform of the blasphemy laws, told The Washington Post. "But there are people who just want to have death."

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 12:32 am and is filed under Asia, Countries, ICC News, News, Pakistan, Priority News.

http://www.persecution.org/2012/08/23/pakistani-christian-child-jailed-for-defiling-quran/

LANGUAGE IS NOT THE PROBEM IN QUEBEC - BIGOTRY IS - SPEAK UP !

FACEBOOK

August 24, 2012

Maria-Josee Bernardino likes a post.

Alexis Pereira > Pauline Marois

Dear Pauline Marois, I am 25 years old and I have my Bachelors degree in Education from Concordia. I speak and write PERFECT French because I learned it at a very young age. College and University are already difficult for Quebecois people to get into. Our society depends on trades because most students don't graduate high school. To dictate what language ADULTS should study in is by far the most extreme political antic I have witnessed other than the referendum. I have traveled everywhere around the world and used my French proudly as well as my Canadian Citizenship! Quebec is my home and will be my future children's home. What you are doing is creating hate and discrimination... I walked into the gas station the other day and the teller asked me which car was mine at the pump (in French) I answered Hyundai (but with an English accent, thinking who cares what model car I have) the cashier said to me "on est a Quebec icite! C'est des Anglais comme toie que j'ai ben hate qu'on vous crisse dehors de notre province!" Not only did I tell him off in French I told him to learn to speak French properly because "icite" is not a word! Most pure Quebecois French speaking people are ignorant, rude, and un-educated. I know this because I grew up and worked in a small French speaking town and have witnessed a lot of dumb people doing and saying stupid things!

I would like to add on a final note that I am aware that you have done tremendous things for our Province. Setting up 7$ a day daycare and creating one of the leading childcare systems in the world! I thank you for that because I owe my career to you! I work in daycares and I just wanted to let you know I teach in French and repeat everything in English. 4-5 year olds are happy to learn both languages and it's to their benefit. It improves their cognitive development and much more.

You have made me really sad and angry to be born here! I wish you would just improve our education system and focus on making a pride filled and smart society rather than a divided ignorant hate filled society! Many innocent people will be affected by your choice of words and decisions. I am so happy I am not a black or arab person because I can only imagine what they will be going through during these elections.
I'm sure they will be hearing a lot of "ortourne donc dans ton ostite paye!) Quebecors don't even speak proper French, they speak slang and it actually make's them look like hillbilly idiots)

Just letting you know, you do NOT HAVE my vote and I will ONLY be speaking English from now on just to anger the French separatists as they have angered me!

· 1,099209 · 22 hours ago near Montréal-Ouest, Quebec ·

Maria-Josee Bernardino and 1,098 others like this.

Phyllis Carter - Bravo Alexis ! We need more young people to speak up for justice. We "minority " citizens are so timid, so afraid of being put down - even punished by the Quebec Language Police - that we often make the mistake of keeping our mouths shut rather than speaking up for what is rightfully ours. This is CANADA, We are citizens of what is known as a "free country", a democracy. Yet we fear the anger of some of our Francophone neighbours in Quebec. My family members came to Canada at the beginning of the twentieth century - the early 1900's. We have every right to claim our citizenship - our FULL citizenship - without bowing to the petty bullies who try to make us feel we are not PURE enough to have full rights and respect. Bravo for telling the truth openly. If we do not, the bullies and criminals will crush us and make us join the many who have already abandoned Quebec. I'm not going anywhere. And if I decide to speak Greek or Korean or Russian along with my English and French, I defy any bully to do anything about it. I am a Canadian.

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/mon-non-est-quebecois-some-of-my_722.html

MON NON EST QUEBECOIS - SOME OF MY ARTICLES ON QUEBEC

WE DO NOT MAKE OURSELVES VICTIMS - BUT WE CAN MAKE THE CRIMINALS SQUIRM

FACEBOOK

August 24, 2012

Cheryl L Bullock shared Stop Workplace Bullies's photo.

Phyllis Carter - Some of us do not "make ourselves a victim." When a child is kidnapped, raped, murdered, the child and the family have not made themselves victims. These little blurbs are glib and it is unfortunate that so many people just accept them as truth because they are colourful and cute. They can be very misleading and anyone who uses his or her brains will be wary of buying into the hype.

Cheryl L Bullock - I would assume that some people dont know where to start

Phyllis Carter -

Cheryl, You make an excellent point there. We generalize about "people" all the time. There, That's another generalization. Maybe we could initiate something relatively new and very important by trying to offer specific ideas and suggestions about how "people" - specifically "victims" - might begin to change things.

There are individuals who are just not able to act effectively. They are either uneducated, under-educated, poor, handicapped, overwhelmed or have other deficits - and they just don't know what to do. There really are dumb, ignorant and stupid people too.

There are people who just give up. They feel helpless against Big Bucks, heartless cops, greedy, selfish politicians and a commercial media that cares only about profit. So it might really make a difference if we - scrapping fighters for justice - published some specific suggestions for weaker victims that they might act on. My way is -

TELL THE TRUTH.

TELL YOUR STORY.

TELL EVERYONE WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU AND BY WHOM.

TELL IT EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, WITHOUT CEASING.

VILLAINS LIKE TO OPERATE IN THE DARK.

PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON THEM. MAKE THE COCKROACHES SQUIRM.