SERIOUS WARNING TO DRIVERS EVERYWHERE

 

 

Beware of idiots crossing

With their heads plugged in.

 

No matter what you say,

If you hit one of these fools,

You, the driver, will be blamed -

Especially if you are a woman

Or a senior citizen.

 

Also keep your eyes open

For fools coming out of nowhere

And flying across your path

On skateboards.

 

Defensive driving

Has never been more challenging.

 

RUBBING ELBOWS WITH KATE SMITH - " GOD BLESS AMERICA"

 

 

From Gordon Stevens:

 

Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.

Here are the facts... The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA". But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song.

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.

Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings". Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.

Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her.

He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.

To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry.....
and for many generations of Americans to follow.

Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God Bless America ....." So here's the entire song as originally sung.....

Let us pray he still does, and it's still not too late.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0

 

 

Thanks for this Gordon,

 

I had occasion to "rub elbows" with Kate Smith one afternoon in the mid 1950's. I was in Lake Placid and went into a pretty little gift shop near the end of the main street. I didn't know that Kate Smith's niece owned the shop. There was Kate Smith in a plain cotton house dress, seated near the counter. I didn't speak to her, but I got a kick out of seeing her close-up there in person. If I didn't know she was Kate Smith, I would have taken her for any other overweight homebody.

 

Phyllis Carter

 

 

BIGOTRY COMES FROM ALL SIDES - I INVITE RESPONSES TO THIS

 

 

I receive forwarded messages from Christian friends. This was sent to me today. I do not know the original source. Those who disseminate such material often do so without ill intention, not understanding the harm they may do. Such messages usually carry half-truths, using them to cover the hatred they are sending at the same time, just as some well-known organizations use real charity to cover their secret activities.

 

Christian friends have pulled me through one crisis after another for decades - through grief, homelessness, poverty, abuse, illness and more. I could not have survived without them.

 

Muslim friends helped me at some of the worst times of my life.

 

I refuse to judge people by their race, their religion, their language or any other "superficial" aspect of their lives. I judge people by their actions.

 

I invite anyone - Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist, Tree Hugger - any intelligent, decent human being - to respond to this forwarded message that is being circulated.

 

Phyllis Carter

 

Charity Hospital run by the Sisters of Charity in New Orleans, along with the Upjohn company developed the plasma system in the 1930's that saved so many lives in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and in the middle east now.

 

During the Civil War most of the nurses were nuns.

 

Even if you are not Catholic, this is eye opening:

 

When the Catholic Church was founded, there were no hospitals. Today, one out of five people in this country receive their medical care at a Catholic hospital.

 

When the Catholic Church was founded, there were no schools.

Today, the Catholic Church teaches 3 million students a day, in its more than 250 Catholic Colleges and Universities, in its more than 1200 Catholic High Schools and its more than 5000 Catholic grade schools.

 

Every day, the Catholic Church feeds, clothes, shelters and educates more people than any other organization in the world.

 

The new Obama Health Mandate could end all this and the tax payers would have to make up the loss.

 

Also, all Catholic adoption services will come to an end... a human disaster.

 

There are more than 77 million Catholics in this country. It takes an estimated 50 million Catholic votes to elect a president.

 

I am asking all of you to go to the polls in 2014 and be united in replacing all Senators and Reps with someone who will respect the Catholic Church, all Christians, and all Religions with perhaps the exception of Islam.

 

Mr. President, you said, "The USA is not a Christian Nation". You are wrong - we are a Christian Nation founded on Judeo-Christian values allowing all religions in America to worship and practice freely.... something that Islam will never do.

 

Oh, by the way, on "Muslim Heritage in America" (?) -  Have you ever been to a Muslim hospital, heard a Muslim orchestra, seen a Muslim band march in a parade, know of a Muslim charity, ever seen Muslims shaking hands with a Muslim Girl Scout, or ever seen a Muslim Candy Striper volunteering in a hospital?

 

Have you ever seen a Muslim do much of anything that contributes positively to the American way of life? the elections coming up in 2014 and 2016!

 

End of message.

 

NOTE - for the purpose of perspective - When I was a child, Jewish girls and boys who wanted to enter the medical profession in Montreal, Quebec, were subject to quotas at McGill University and few of them were accepted in Montreal hospitals. Jewish patients who wanted to follow their religious dietary practices could be treated at Montreal hospitals, but their relatives or friends or Jewish community members had to bring their meals to them.

 

The Jewish community decided that we needed a hospital that would welcome Jewish doctors and nurses and respect the dietary practices of our faith.

 

The community pooled its resources and built the Jewish General Hospital. There you will find Jewish doctors and nurses, and doctors and nurses and technicians of every kind, and patients, who are Jews, Christians, Muslims in head scarves and burqas, Orthodox Jewish men in black hats and beards, young Orthodox Jewish women who wear wigs, drab clothing and flat shoes pushing baby buggies, Indian and Pakistani women in colourful saris, French speaking, English speaking, Italian, Greek, Urdu, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, all shades of brown. A friend I met there is a Canadian Anishinabe Ojibwe Indian, a twice-wounded American navy seal, who wears feathers,

 

All are treated as human beings. TOGETHER they participate in healing. Racism is not tolerated in the Jewish General Hospital.

 

Nor do I tolerate bigotry from anyone or pass on bigoted material no matter where it comes from - except to expose the truth

 

They drew a circle and closed us out:

We drew a circle and invited them in.

 

VITAMIN D DRAMATICALLY REDUCES CANCER RISK

 

A simple vitamin to prevent cancer has finally been accepted by the mainstream.

Long after natural "cures" such as shark cartilage and laetrile from peach pits flopped comes the first study of its kind to show that vitamin D is a potent cancer stopper.

The Canadian Cancer Society has used that finding and others in deciding to recommend for the first time that adult Canadians lower their cancer risk by taking 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily — five times the current recommended daily amount for people under age 50.

The lead author of the new study called the Canadian move "outstanding," but said she would go even higher and recommend healthy adults pop between 1,500 and 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily.

"It's inexpensive, it's safe, and it's easy to take. It's something that should be considered by a lot of people," says Joan Lappe, professor of nursing and medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb. "It's low-risk with maybe a high pay-off."

Lappe's team studied nearly 1,200 post-menopausal women from rural eastern Nebraska and found that those taking a combination of vitamin D and calcium had about a 60% lower risk of cancer, including breast, lung and colon cancer, over four years of follow-up.

"In other words, it cut more than half the cancers over a four-year period," Lappe says.

Moreover, the higher the level of vitamin D in the blood, the lower people's cancer risks, according to the study, published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

An expert in cancer biology called the idea of using vitamin D to cut cancer risk one of the most important advances in cancer prevention. Dr. Michael Pollak, professor of medicine and oncology at Montreal's McGill University, said it may be time for public health authorities to consider mandating higher levels of vitamin D in milk and adding it to other foods, such as bread and flour.

When it comes to breast cancer prevention, drugs such as tamoxifen can help, Pollak says, "but here we're seeing important risk reductions with a vitamin. That's much more acceptable for many women. In a sense it's a more 'natural' way to minimize cancer risk."

Pollak did, however, caution that the women were followed for just four years and that larger studies are needed to confirm the findings.

People take in vitamin D from foods, including egg yolks and oily fish such as salmon and sardines, as well as fortified milk and margarine. Because ultraviolet rays also trigger the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin, sunlight is an important source of the vitamin. In their study, the researchers tested vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol, the kind humans make when they are exposed to sunlight.

Many of the cells in the body have vitamin D receptors, meaning they need adequate amounts of the vitamin to do their work. Those cells work mostly through the immune system and help prevent cells from becoming malignant.

Lappe says people living at latitudes north of the 37th parallel — meaning all of Canada — can't get their vitamin D naturally during the winter months because of the sun's angle. As well, people would get fat if they tried to get optimum vitamin D by drinking milk, which contains about 100 units per glass.

Health Canada currently recommends 200 IU of vitamin D daily for 19- to 50-year-olds, 400 IU for 51- to 70-year-olds, and 600 IU for older people — amounts many experts say are far too low for maximum health benefits.

The Canadian Cancer Society says the daily upper safety limit is 2,000 units, and that their recommendation of 1,000 IU takes into account vitamin D from diet and other sources.

"If you consider that most people get between 250 and 400 units [of vitamin D] in food and water, you're already at 400. As well, a lot of people take a multivitamin and most of those contain 400," says Heather Logan, director of cancer control policy.

"If you add 1,000 more units, you're getting close to the upper tolerable limit."

The cancer society recommends adults take 1,000 IU daily during fall and winter, or year round for those at risk of vitamin D deficiencies. That includes the elderly, people with dark skin and people who don't go outdoors often or wear clothes that cover most of their skin.

But sun "is a good cop, bad copy story," Pollak says. "Obviously, you'll have increased rates of skin cancer if you spend days frying in the sun in a bikini with no protection." Almost 70,000 Canadians are diagnosed with skin cancer each year, making it the leading cancer among women and men.

It's not clear how much sun exposure is necessary for health, "but that optimum amount is not zero," Pollak says.

Lappe said evidence suggests 10-15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure during the middle of the day, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., "would give you somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 IU of vitamin D."

"For anyone concerned about sun exposure, supplements are the best way."

Scientists first reported more than 60 years ago that there is a connection between vitamin D and a lowered cancer risk. But until now the human evidence has been mostly observational, meaning researchers looked at how much of the vitamin people consumed and then counted up the cancers.

In the new study, 1,179 healthy, post-menopausal women aged 55 and older who were free of known cancers for at least 10 years before entering the study were randomly assigned to take daily dosages of 1,400 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium supplement alone, the supplemental calcium plus 1,100 IU of vitamin D, or placebos.

Over four years of follow-up, 50 women were diagnosed with non-skin cancers, 13 in the first year and 37 later.

Compared with the placebo group, the relative risk of developing cancer during the study was 60% lower in the calcium-plus-vitamin D group, and about 47% lower in the calcium-only group.

But when they did a second analysis and took out the women diagnosed with cancer in the first year of the study, thinking those cancers probably already existed at the beginning of the study, the results were even stronger, with the calcium-and-vitamin D group showing a 77% relative cancer-risk reduction.

However, calcium alone didn't have a significant effect.

The calcium was included in the study because researchers initially set out to investigate the link between calcium, vitamin D and bone health. The cancer findings were a fortunate by-product.

The cancer society isn't making a recommendation for vitamin D supplements for children, because research so far has focused on adults.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=0ebe88ec-4996-47e4-8616-2667fde632b0

 

TRUDEAU, FEDERAL LIBERALS TO FORCE MANADATORY VOTING - HERE IS WHAT I WILL DO

 

My family has worked for and supported the Liberal Party of Canada for decades. But I stopped voting years ago, because I have been unable to find ANY politician worthy of my support, and I refuse to vote for the lesser evil.

But if the Liberal Party tries to pass any legislation even remotely resembling such "conscription" - forcing people to vote - I will vote for anyone but the Liberals.

I will drive my wheelchair to the polls and destroy my ballot or write in the name of the village idiot. But I will never support any politician who tries to take away my freedom. And you can quote me.

I am

Phyllis Carter

OTTAWA — With voter turnout plunging to new lows, Liberal MPs are pondering the idea of legally requiring Canadians to cast ballots in federal elections.

They're road testing the idea of mandatory voting in a survey emailed to party members, which seeks grassroots input into some of the "new ideas" explored by MPs during their summer caucus retreat last week.

Whether mandatory voting is adopted as part of the eventual Liberal election platform remains to be seen.

But deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale says it's an idea that deserves serious consideration, given the ailing health of Canada's democracy.

"It's an interesting notion that I think bears some very careful reflection," Goodale said in an interview.

He stressed that Liberal caucus is, for now, only testing grassroots reaction to the idea. But he also noted that Justin Trudeau has made democratic reform a central pillar of his leadership and that his agenda has been enthusiastically endorsed by party rank and file thus far.

"Justin has indicated he's open to new ideas, open to new directions if that makes the country stronger," Goodale said.

Turnout in federal elections has plunged from a high of almost 80 per cent of eligible voters in 1958 to a record low of 58.8 per cent in 2008, according to Elections Canada. It rebounded slightly in 2011 to 61.1 per cent.

A byelection in June in the Alberta riding of Fort McMurray-Athabasca plumbed new depths: just over 15 per cent bothered to vote.

By contrast, turnout in Australia, where voting has been mandatory since 1924, averages about 95 per cent.

The Liberal caucus survey follows an analysis published last spring by one of Trudeau's senior policy advisers, University of Ottawa academic Robert Asselin, who advocated mandatory voting and the introduction of preferential ballots as ways to re-engage Canadians in the political process.

The survey echoes Asselin's proposed details for mandatory voting, noting that disenchanted or disinterested voters would still be able to choose "none of the above" and those who failed to cast ballots would receive only a "small fine."

"I think they're taking it seriously but it's something that would be a big shift in our political culture," Asselin said in an interview of the caucus' sudden interest in the idea.

He acknowledged that mandatory voting is bound to be controversial and might even prompt a court challenge by electors who believe they have a fundamental right to refuse to cast ballots.

Allowing voters to choose none of the above or to spoil or decline their ballots would preserve electors' right to refuse to vote, Asselin argued. A $20 fine — Australia imposes such a penalty on those who fail to cast ballots without good reasons — would be largely symbolic and rarely applied, he said.

"I think most people would accept and think it's a good thing, as a civic duty, to be obliged to vote."

Should Liberals officially adopt the idea, they would no doubt be denounced by the governing Conservatives, who abolished the mandatory long-form census on the grounds that Canadians should not be forced, under threat of jail time, to divulge private information to a government agency.

However, Goodale said opposition to mandatory voting would fuel suspicions that the Tories are more interested in suppressing votes than they are in improving the health of Canada's democracy.

He noted that two judges have concluded there was an orchestrated campaign to direct non-Conservative voters to the wrong polling stations during the last election, although only one junior Tory staffer has been found guilty of taking part in such a scheme in Guelph, Ont.

During last year's Liberal leadership race, Trudeau promoted Asselin's other proposal for preferential ballots, whereby a voter's second, third and subsequent choices are counted until one candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote.

He was opposed to a more elaborate system of proportional representation (PR), aimed at ensuring a party's share of the popular vote is more accurately reflected in its share of seats in the House of Commons.

Since then, however, Trudeau has indicated a newfound willingness to at least consider proportional representation. Rank and file Liberals overwhelmingly endorsed a priority caucus resolution at their convention last February, which committed a Liberal government to creating an all-party process to consult on electoral reforms, including preferential ballots and/or PR.

http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/federal-liberals-ponder-mandatory-voting/

THE BILL CUNNINGHAM TRASH TV SHOW

 

 

Is there no limit to how stupid people can be?

 

At the Bill Cunningham TV show - NBC - the almost-all Caucasian audience members sit and laugh at the mostly Negro participants who air their filthy laundry for millions of TV viewers and the live audiences that relish the disgusting displays.

 

And it goes on night after might, month after month.

 

And Bill Cunningham laughs all the way to the bank.

 

It isn't so hard to see why some people turn away from the "American way of life" and hide under burqas.

 

The fools who appear on such trashy TV shows should be the ones who hide their faces in shame,

 

 

IT ACHES MY HEART

 

 

 

If I am not for myself,

Then who will be for me?

And if I am only for myself,

Then what am I ?

And if not now, when ?

 

Rabbi Hillel Danziger (הלל)

 c.110 BCE - Babylon -

10 CE - Jerusalem

 

HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT ?

 

 

 

The beds in each of the 54 villas at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve are double the size of a typical  luxury hotel:  two California king mattresses sewn together, totaling two meters wide by three  meters long. Not only are the bed oversized, the soaking tubs in each room are also double the norm. Many villas feature stunning views of the majestic Andaman Sea.

 

Phulay Bay is the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve property to open, with the second launching this winter in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

 

http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c25d-page3.html

 

CANADA - OPEN TO PEOPLE IN BURQAS - BLIND TO FEMALE CANADIAN CRIME VICTIMS

 

 

With the door slammed shut on a national public inquiry, Canada's premiers and aboriginal leaders are calling on the federal government to compromise and have key ministers meet with them to discuss the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz said preliminary discussions have begun for a national roundtable with federal ministers following a meeting of the premiers and aboriginal leaders in Charlottetown Wednesday.

Ghiz said the premiers reiterated their call for the federal government to launch a national public inquiry but short of that said they were open to compromise.

"We are also extremely supportive of the idea that if there is a national roundtable with federal ministers — that could be a good idea...," Ghiz said.

"We believe dialogue and compromise are good first steps. If we know we're not going to get somewhere there's no point us putting our head in the sand and saying we're done with it."

Ghiz said there has been some discussions around Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt taking part in the roundtable but that nothing was confirmed yet.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's comments after the killing of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine touched off a firestorm and renewed calls for a national public inquiry.

Harper said the issue of 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women is "a crime" — not a "sociological phenomenon." 

MacKay issued a statement on Wednesday condemning Fontaine's killing as "a horrible and violent crime."

"What is clear, is that continued action and sustained effort and investment is required. What we don't need, is yet another study on top of the some 40 studies and reports that have already been done...

"We need police to catch the killer and ensure the perpetrator or perpetrators are punished and face the full force of the law."

The premiers also committed to working on "a socio-economic action plan" at the next national aboriginal women's summit.

 

Clément Chartier, head of the Métis National Council, addresses a news conference along with Michèle Audette, left, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz, right, after a meeting of premiers and aboriginal leaders in Charlottetown on Aug. 27, 2014. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Michèle Audette, the president of the Native Women's Association of Canada, welcomed today's outcome describing the roundtable and national action plan as the first steps in "a new chapter."

Audette, who has made public her intention to run for the federal Liberals in 2015, said waiting until the next federal election to take action isn't an option when aboriginal women are found killed or continue to go missing.

"We propose a roundtable where they will sit down with us to re-establish that dialogue."

Ghislain Picard, the national chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said the government's refusal to launch a national public inquiry would not stop aboriginal leaders from trying to move forward with the premiers.

Picard deplored the federal government's position, calling their overall absence in these discussions "disrespectful."

"Where is the federal government, where is the other partner? Every issue on the table calls for an input from the government of Canada."

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger echoed Picard's remarks, telling CBC News that the federal government has a role in preventing the disappearance and killings.

"We need the federal government to be part of the solution," Selinger told Evan Solomon. "They are responsible for the RCMP. They are responsible for the Indian Act. They are responsible for aboriginal issues under the Constitution."

In Ottawa, Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair agreed, saying taking action without Ottawa would lead to a "patchwork" of solutions.

Mulcair promised Wednesday to call a national inquiry within 100 days if the NDP were to form the government following next year's election.​

Shelly Glover, the minister of heritage and Conservative MP for Manitoba, wouldn't say if a national roundtable with ministers would see the light of day but backed the chiefs of police in their call for immediate action.

"It's about time we allow the police to continue the work that they're doing without interruption and they've been very vocal about not wanting any delays as well."

Glover, who has nearly 20 years of service as a cop under her belt, said police have solved a high number of murder cases involving aboriginal women.

"They've got a good track record. We're going to continue to give them the tools to make sure that that track record continues," Glover said in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday.

The head of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said on Tuesday it hasn't endorsed a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women because such an exercise would only delay action.

Chief Clive Weighill said the problem is not solely a policing issue and called on all levels of government to take action.

"The CACP suggests that these troubling occurrences are certainly broader than a police issue. It includes health, social services, education, aboriginal people and all levels of government.

"We are not so concerned about the process; that's for others to decide. However, we take this issue very, very seriously and we don't want to see unnecessary delays to concrete action," Weighill said.

The federal government insists it is not ignoring the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women, pointing to dozens of initiatives it has taken including "tougher sentences for murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping, and mandatory prison sentences for the most serious crimes."

The RCMP made public a report in May showing there were 1,181 reported cases of murdered and missing aboriginal women over the past 30 years. Of the total reported cases, 1,017 are homicide victims and 164 are considered missing. A total of 225 remain unresolved.

The report also found that close to 90 per cent of all female homicides are resolved and that "there is little difference" in solve rates between aboriginal and non-aboriginal victims.

A report tabled in March by MPs on the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women made 16 recommendations, including the creation of a public awareness and prevention campaign, and the implementation of a national DNA missing persons' index.

The government vowed in the report to implement all recommendations in "a co-ordinated action plan."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/premiers-aboriginal-leaders-propose-missing-women-roundtable-as-1st-step-1.2747874

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2014/07/mrs-carters-rights-were-violated_5459.html 

 

THE TRUTH ABOUT "HOLY PLACES"

 

 

What is really holy

About

Holy Places?

 

The spirit, the longing, the hope,

The fears and the tears,

Of all the people

Who have come seeking help

From God.

 

Their faith

Is the closest thing to

Reality.

 

All the rest is speculation,

Myths, politics, greed and dreams.

 

THE UNHOLY LAND - DRENCHED IN BLOOD - FANTASIES OF "GOD"

 

 

DRENCHED IN BLOOD

 

 

 

What would the world have been like for millions of people

Were it not for greed, politics, profit and myths?

 

 

HERE IS A GLIMPSE OF GOD'S HOUSE

 

 

Just a tiny glimpse of the truth.

 

There are no kings here,

No presidents or sheiks, or generals,

Or CEO's.

There is no money here,

No virgins or booze.

 

No,

Just a glimpse of the truth

That those who hold power,

Those who crave power,

Those who fear change,

Will try to ignore, suppress and deny.

 

Because to acknowledge the obvious

Would deprive tyrants of their power,

And leave the simple confused and lost.

 

And the earth is flat.

 

 

 

I AM SO BAD AT BEING BAD - I COULDN'T EVEN GET INTO JAIL

 

 

One evening when I was 57 years old,

Newly widowed,

Unemployed, homeless and very sick,

There was no room for me in a shelter:

 

So,

I went into a police station,

And asked if I could sleep in an empty cell.

 

I was refused.

 

I asked if I could sleep in a cell

If I went out and smashed a window.

 

I was refused,

With amused smiles by the officers.

 

The cells were "reserved for criminals".

 

So I spent another night in my old Pontiac.

 

I just can't be bad enough to matter.

 

 

WHY IT PAYS TO BE BAD

 

 

It pays to be bad.

 

It pays to get drunk, use illegal drugs;

It pays to vandalize and to steal;

Get tattooed and pierce all your parts -

They're so ugly.

 

It pays to be promiscuous:

What fun !

 

It pays

To beat up on your spouse, your friends,

Your dog.

 

It pays

To live like a pig.

 

(Sorry. This gives pigs an undeserved rap).

 

It pays to be a criminal,

Rude, vulgar, filthy.

Spit in the sidewalk;

Pull your skirt up just a little higher.

 

It pays to lie and to cheat.

Why not?

Everybody does it -

And no one cares.

 

How do I know all this ?

 

It is before everyone's eyes

All day, every day,

But who pays any attention?

 

And speaking of attention -

 

Who gets all the attention?

 

Not crime victims;

Not people who live clean, honest lives;

Not people who work hard every day,

And bring their earnings home

To provide for their families.

 

Do you ever see any of them on TV ?

 

No !

All the western world's attention

Goes to the criminals -

Especially if they "reform"

And become "do-gooders"

And start to go to church.

And repent of their sins -

 

And weep.

 

It pays to be bad:

Your Mom will be overjoyed

When you come home,

Reformed and contrite.

You were always

"Such a good child" -

 

Or

You were misguided - but now -

You are saved:

Praise the Lord !

 

So be a criminal for a while,

And get everything you want,

Any way you want.

Then find the right moment to "reform" -

To have a St. Paul moment

Eclat on the Road to Damascus !

And the media will bless you

With all the attention you ever dreamed of.

 

Lights, camera, action !

Smile -

With just a little tear

In the corner of your eye.

 

And the public will reward you

With love and money,

And praise.

 

Publishers will rush to do your book;

TV producers will burn up your phone,

Eager for interviews.

 

Of course it pays to be bad.

And you can grin,

And count all your blessings

When no one is watching.

 

Praise the Lord !

All is forgiven.

 

Oh, Yes. It pays to be bad.

 

My life might have been so much easier,

If I had known all this back then.

 

Darn !

 

There I was, through all the years,

Suffering through the night,

Regretting my every imperfection,

 

Not imperfect enough to be granted

Attention -

 

Or

Justice.

 

Too damn nice !

 

It pays to be bad.

 

WHEN YOUI TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO KILL

 

 

IF YOU THINK THIS IS DISGUSTING

 

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203291/Children-raised-hate-America-Shocking-picture-boy-holding-gun-anti-US-riot-Lebanon.html

 

 

WHAT ABOUT THIS ?

 

 

 

Bullets and burgers, a shooting range located on the Last Stop property bulletsandburgers.com

A firearms instructor has died after he was shot by a nine-year-old girl when she fired an Uzi at a shooting range in the Arizona desert.

Mohave County sheriff said instructor was standing next to the girl when she pulled the trigger on an Uzi.

Mohave County sheriff's officials said 39-year-old Charles Vacca, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, died at the hospital on Monday after he was shot at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range.

Mohave County Sheriff Jim McCabe told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Vacca was standing next to the girl when she pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled and it went over her head.

The paper reported that the girl had successfully fired the 9mm weapon several times in "single-shot" mode before Vacca changed the setting to "fully automatic" mode.

"The guy just dropped," McCabe said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The sheriff said the instructor was shot at least once in the head.

Sheriff's officials said Vacca was airlifted to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he died hours later.

Arizona law prohibits minors from possessing a firearm unless they are accompanied by a parent, guardian or an instructor, among other exceptions. Deputies said the 9-year-old girl was at the shooting range with her parents.

McCabe told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that no citations will be issued nor charges filed against the shooting range.

Arizona Last Stop is a roughly 30-acre property in the Mohave desert, which creates a "Desert Storm" atmosphere for shooters, their websites says.

At the range, guests can take guided tours that include a private range and a certified ex-military firearms instructor. The tours require children to be at least 8 years old and stipulate that minors under 18 must be accompanied by parent or legal guardian at all times.

At the range, shooters can choose their firearm among a range of fully automatic machine guns and specialty weapons. Their website boasts: "At our range, you can shoot FULL auto on our machine guns. Let 'em Rip!" The range did not return requests for comment from the Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/arizona-girl-shoots-kills-firearms-instructor

 

HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM NINE-ELEVEN ?

 

 

It only takes a handful of

Lunatics

With an airplane -

 

Or even one

Lunatic,

With a car, a truck,

Or

A vest.

 

But if authorities in the west

Choose not to take the danger seriously.

No one is safe.

 

 

JIHADISTS SELL LITTLE GIRLS IN FORCED MARRIAGE TO OLD MEN - EVEN IN AMERICA

Many of the 234 Borno schoolgirls in Boko Haram captivity have been ferried abroad to Chad and Cameroon after they were married off to sect members on N2,000 bride price each, an elder told Daily Trust yesterday.

The female students were taken from their hostels at the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok on the night of April 14.

About 40 had escaped in the days after the incident, but parents and school authorities said at least 234 of them were yet to be found.

Dr. Pogu Chibok, who is the leader of the Chibok Elders Forum, told Daily Trust yesterday that latest information available to them indicates that most of the girls have been taken to the neighboring Cameroon and Chad by their captors.

He said before they were ferried in canoes across the Lake Chad, a wedding ceremony was conducted at a town on the border with Cameroon where they were married off to Boko Haram militants.

He said N2,000 was paid as bride price on each of the girls to the specific Boko Haram members who took them from their school and who had assumed "ownership" of the students.

Read the rest: Abducted Nigerian Girls Married Off to Boko Haram Militants.  (h/t to Jihad Watch)   Update on this story here.

This entry was posted in Boko Haram, Forced Marriage, Nigeria on May 4, 2014 by Asma Marwan.

Pieces of paper tucked between the layers of folded piles of jewel-coloured saris flowed with poems describing her forced marriage and life behind locked doors. It was only when her mother smuggled the poems out in the laundry basket and sent them off to a publisher in Chennai that Salma's voice was heard.

Salma was trapped by her family and then, after agreeing to an arranged marriage, by her husband, locked away behind barred windows, unable to continue her education and forced to write her heartfelt words in secret.

This sounds like a brutal and ancient tradition but the practice continues to this day and the poet, 46, who is known all over India by just her first name, now devotes her time to campaigning for women's rights and education for young girls.

Her story is an incredible turn of events that saw her released from her home and elected village leader, going on to become the voice for other women imprisoned by the same fate.

Read the rest: Pakistani Poetess Locked Away by Family

More about the film Salma.

This entry was posted in Activists, Arts, Forced Marriage, Pakistan on April 20, 2014 by Asma Marwan.

Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan (MSP) is issuing an appeal for action by releasing an investigative report detailing forced marriages and conversions of Christian girls and women in Pakistan.

The prevalence of forced conversion and marriage are difficult to accurately estimate due to reporting deficiencies and the complex nature of the crime. Estimates therefore range from 100 to 700 victim Christian girls every year (conservative estimates for Hindu girls are on the order of 300 per year).

MSP's investigations find that cases of forced marriages/conversions follow a distinctive pattern: Christian girls — usually between the ages of 12 and 25 — are abducted, converted to Islam, and married to the abductor or third party.

Read the rest: Report on Forced Conversions to Islam and Forced Marriages   Read the full report  on forced marriages and forced conversions to Islam in Pakistan.

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, Pakistan on April 15, 2014 by Asma Marwan.

Picture an American girl, a typical California teenager in jeans who lives on Facebook and likes sports. She loves her family, but feels pressure from them to resist peer influence. A typical family dynamic? So far.

Out of respect for father and family, this girl agrees to visit her parents' home country, the old world where her grandmother is aging and would love to see her granddaughter one more time.

This story is true, and I assure you it is not an aberration. Robbing a girl of her freedom and identity is becoming more and more common in the United States. Such crimes are committed not for money or personal obsession, but in the name of traditional religion and culture.

Forced marriage is linked to other acts committed in the name of religion and culture, so-called honor killings (perversely named!), and linked to the barbaric act of female genital mutilation—all three crimes commonly committed in the name of protecting honor and sanctioned by religion.

What worries me is that, within the American value system, there are two clashing strains—individual rights clashing with tolerance of others. I fear that, in the new battleground I've identified, individual rights of women are losing out to tolerance of oppressive customs.

Read the rest of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's article: Forced Marriages in the U.S.

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, United States on December 17, 2013 by Asma Marwan.

Sahar  wished she could slap that Saudi sheikh, just like she had slapped taxi drivers asking her to provide them with young Syrian girls. But instead she just said "no" and told him that if he shows up at that mosque again she will cut his beard. Then she says she left, slamming the door. It wasn't just an accident, neither was it just one sheikh who asked her to serve as a matchmaker.

A few months later, another Saudi sheikh approached her at the mosque: He wanted a young Syrian girl to marry and he was wondering whether she could find him a bride, for a fee, of course. Sometimes she gets such proposals from taxi drivers. "Once, I was in a taxi and the driver approached me. There was this Lebanese sheikh who wanted to marry a Syrian girl. 'He will give you money, and he will also give that woman money,' he told me. I slapped him, as usual," she recalled.
[ . . . ]
But not many think like Sahar does. Young women get sold off for a week to men willing to pay. Taxi drivers ask around about young girls aged 16-17; deals are made in the streets of Tripoli. "I have refused to do this, but many people don't."

Some people make a business out of trafficking women for rich foreigners, says Ayman Hariri, a Syrian activist who settled in Akkar in 2011 when he had to flee Daraa fearing arrest. He used to run an NGO that provided aid for Syrian refugees, but he decided to close it down. Trying to provide aid is difficult, with some aid organizations using their small NGOs to sell 16-year-old girls to their Gulf sponsors in exchange for money.

"I can tell you about someone I know, I met him in person and he offered to bribe me. He posed as a sheikh with a Saudi benefactor. People soon found out his organization was actually what you call a whorehouse: He was getting girls for the Saudi sheikh. If he liked the girl, he would offer $10,000, he would marry her for a week, and then she would go back home with $1,000. The rest was given to the so-called Lebanese sheikh, who now owns a building and has several cars," Hariri explains.
[ . . . ]
Most NGOs that deal with women's rights in Lebanon are concerned by the increasing number of early marriages among Syrian refugees. According to UNHCR's refugee response plan, 10% of Syrian refugee women and Lebanese women in host communities have been exposed to gender-based violence, including early marriage, rape, and domestic violence. To cope with poverty, Syrian girls are married off very early, sometimes for money, sometimes for protection.

Read the rest: Syrian Girls Sold to Rich Muslims

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, Syria on December 5, 2013 by Asma Marwan.

A 14-year-old girl from a Muslim family became pregnant after being taken to Pakistan by her father and forced to marry a man ten years older than her in "harrowing" circumstances, a High Court judge has said.

Mr Justice Holman ruled the girl would have to initiate proceedings herself to have the marriage nullified, despite a request from local authority officials who wanted a "declaration of non-recognition" of the marriage. 

Her parents had emigrated from Pakistan to England and the girl's father became a UK citizen more than 30 years ago, he said.

The teenager, who was born in Britain, was subjected to violence and a gun was produced.

The marriage was consummated following further "threats" two weeks after the ceremony and the girl became pregnant, he added.

Read the rest: 14-year-old-girl in Britain pregnant from forced marriage in Pakistan.

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, Great Britain, Pakistan on November 10, 2013 by Asma Marwan.

A 10-year old Yemeni child identified as Nejood Ali claims her family forced her to marry a 30-year old man.

The girl who appeared in the Lebanese TV channel LBC confirmed that she got married ten months ago when she was nine.

She said: "My father forced her to marry a person." She said she did not see her husband until the wedding day and that she was scared.

She said she tried to escape from her husband on the wedding night, but her husband's family beat her and they forced her to do house work.

Nejood says that one of her aunts helped her to go to a court to ask for a divorce.

She confirmed that a taxi driver helped her and took her to court. When she arrived at court she was scared and waited till the court closed, when the judge, on his way home, found her waiting in front of his door.

She said she told the judge her story and he sympathised with her case. The judge took her home and looked after her with his wife. She stayed in his house for three days where he later took her to court and issued the divorce judgment.

Read the rest: 10-year-old Yemeni Girl Plead with Judge to End Forced Marriage

According to Islamic doctrine, Nejood's marriage at nine is following the sunnah, Mohammed's words and deeds.

This entry was posted in Child Abuse, Child Marriage, Forced Marriage, Yemen on November 19, 2012 by Asma Marwan.

A forced marriage occurs when an individual is forced, coerced, threatened, or tricked to marry without her informed consent.

In many cultures, it is customary for families to arrange meetings between their children in the hopes of fostering a voluntary relationship that will lead to a marriage. In such situations, while the initial meetings are arranged by the families and a marriage is encouraged, the ultimate decision regarding whether to marry remains with the couple and the choice to marry is strictly voluntary. In contrast, in a forced marriage, an individual is threatened and/or coerced by her family to enter into the marriage against her will and may suffer honor violence if she resists or refuses the marriage.

Does this happen in the United States?

Yes. Although this is generally treated as a private family matter that remains hidden from public view, there are numerous reports of girls being taken out of school in the United States in their early teenage years and returned to their parents' home countries to be forcibly married. For example, in 2007, the New York Daily News reported that a number of girls were being forced to return to Pakistan to marry men chosen by their families. One woman recalled being tricked and drugged before being put on a plane to Pakistan and, once there, being forced at gunpoint to acquiesce to a marriage to a man chosen by her father.

The Tahirih Justice Center  released survey results in September of 2011 that found as many as 3,000 known or suspected cases of forced marriage within immigrant communities in the United States in the two years preceding the survey.  We believe the actual number of forced marriage cases in the United States to be much higher, as the survey was directed towards service providers and other professionals.  Many more existing cases are likely hidden from the view of officials.

The United Kingdom has set up a hotline specifically to handle cases of forced marriage.  In 2010, there were 1,735 cases of forced marriage reported to the hotline.  Of those victims, 131 were British citizens who were rescued after having been taken to Pakistan for marriage against their will.

Read the rest: Forced Marriage

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, Great Britain, Pakistan on November 8, 2012 by Asma Marwan.

It began with rumors of the Muslim Brotherhood's influence in Jordan and has spread across the Arab world. Syrian refugees, particularly those of the young and female variety, are becoming a commodity for Arab men, with many offering to marry those in need. 

But don't be fooled: this is not a purely altruistic gesture. Syrian women are known as the beauties of the region and having run away from the massacres of their own country they are left vulnerable and needy. Men who would otherwise have no chance with these highly sought after ladies have been opportunistically taking their chances.

Now the backlash has begun and Syrian activists have launched a campaign on social media networks calling for the marriage proposals to come to a halt. The campaign, established by Syrian activist Miznah Duraid, under the name 'Refugee Captives', aims to educate Syrian parents to stop them marrying off their daughters for the sake of a stable home.

Left in terrible financial circumstances, these refugees are also more likely to agree to a disagreeable marriage in exchange for a 'bride price' paid by the groom to the family. Duraid says he is not only blaming the Syrians for the situation and is also trying to educate Arab men about "the pitfalls of marrying a Syrian woman".
[ . . . ]
"It is also not guaranteed that the husband won't repeat his "helpfulness" by seeking marriage from another female refugee."

Others have pointed out that no other refugee crisis in the Arab world has had this effect on the Middle East's men. Moayad Eskeef is another Syrian campaigner keen to highlight the issue. Tongue-in-cheek he pointed out – if these men are so keen to marry a refugee why aren't there a deluge of Sudanese-Arab marriages.

Read the rest: Women in Syria Who Are Refugees Sought by Arab Men.  (h/t to the The Religion of Peace blog)

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage, Syria on September 6, 2012 by Asma Marwan.

A judge has said the forced marriage of a Muslim woman with learning difficulties should be annulled and condemned the "insulated" families who arrange them.

Mrs Justice Parker also criticised doctors and social workers for failing to raise the alarm when the woman was sent to Bangladesh to be married to a cousin, which allowed him to settle in England.

She said video of the wedding ceremony showed the bride was "almost comatose" and needed help to repeat vows she did not understand, while her relatives had made "false and misleading" statements about her condition.

And the judge brushed aside claims by the woman's parents that having her marriage annulled would bring shame upon their family, in a case that was even considered at by the Government's most senior lawyer, the Attorney General.

Mrs Justice Parker said that forcing marriage on someone who lacks mental capacity is a "gross interference" with their dignity and autonomy, particularly as it means having sex and possibly becoming pregnant without being able to consent.

Read the rest here.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9480374/Judge-attacks-forced-marriage-that-put-disabled-woman-at-risk.html

This entry was posted in Forced Marriage on August 23, 2012 by Asma Marwan.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9480374/Judge-attacks-forced-marriage-that-put-disabled-woman-at-risk.html

ECONOMIC CRISIS IS THE CREATION OF THE "ONE PERCENT" - CORPORATE TAX DODGERS

 

 

 

A Los Angeles protester holds a sign as he walks down the steps during a rally, Nov. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

 

In the September issue of Harper's Magazine, Noble Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz argues that Thomas Piketty's much-lauded Capital in the Twenty-First Century lands at an incorrect conclusion. Capital, Stiglitz writes, holds that growing inequality is an inevitable outcome of capitalism. But this, Stiglitz says, is not in fact the case. Our system produces such yawning gaps because it isn't truly competitive the way a capitalist system should be — it has, in fact, been engineered by the wealthy to prevent competition and to protect their economic and political power.

Joseph Stigltiz on the Moyers & Company set in May. (Photo: Dale Robbins)

But much of the damage done, Stiglitz writes, can be remedied by rethinking the tax code.

A well-designed tax system can do more than just raise money—it can be used to improve economic efficiency and reduce inequality. Our current system does just the opposite. Piketty's proposal for addressing inequality through taxation—a global wealth tax—is a political nonstarter, whatever one thinks of its merits. But there are steps the United States—home to the worst inequality among the advanced countries—can take on its own. With a sensible reform of our domestic tax code, we can simultaneously raise money, improve the performance of the economy, and address some of our biggest social problems—not just inequality, but joblessness and looming environmental catastrophe.

Stiglitz goes on to outline his plan; you can read the essay in full at Harper's (you will need a subscription to log in).

This week's Moyers & Company features an encore broadcast of a conversation Bill Moyers had with Stiglitz soon after his latest research for the Roosevelt Institute — on which the Harper's essay is based — was released. He told Bill:

We have this vicious cycle where economic inequality gets translated into political inequality. It gets translated into rules of the game that lead to more economic inequality, and which allow that economic inequality to get translated into evermore political inequality.

The only way we're going to break this viscous cycle is if people come to understand that there is an alternative system out here. That there is an alternative way of raising taxes, that we are not really faced with a budget crisis. It's a manmade crisis. You know, when we had the government shutdown, we realized that that was a political crisis. That wasn't an economic crisis. And the same thing about our budget crisis, you know. It's not that we couldn't raise the revenues in a way which actually could make our economy stronger. We can.

If we just had a fair tax system, to tax capital at the same rate that we tax ordinary individuals, if we just made those people in that upper one percent pay their fair share of the taxes.

http://billmoyers.com/2014/08/22/joseph-stiglitz-in-defense-of-capitalism/