What are the critical elements that make us human? Do these elements transpond time and space, cultures and continents, communities, families? We breath the same air, occupy the same planet, live and die, but beyond these how similar are we? Genetics play a grand role in determining our human characteristics such as hair and eye color, stature, other physical traits along with many capabilities such as brainpower and physical dexterity. Our environment also plays a special role. Where we were born, the time frame, our parents and extended family begin us on our journey and then comes all of the other potential encounters and experiences. It is nature versus nurture and so much more.
Our humanity is influenced by the civilization in which we live, the morality and mortality factors that affect our lives and living, the human condition that surrounds us, and the variables of life. Humanity is also the characteristic that presents itself through our kindness, compassion, and sympathy for others. Having been brought up in a loving, two-parent home, with terrific sisters as role models, I was taught to love the out-of-doors and nature, physical fitness, and education, my family and friends, and to live with generosity and goodness toward others. Because my family likes each other, we can also love each other, forgiving the errors we make and embracing the wonders of family. I think this solid foundation of mutual respect set up much of the personal life I live now.
Because of my upbringing and experiences, I model my behavior in certain ways but I also know that others live differently and I work hard to accept that that is their right. While I feel relief that I never was put in a situation where I needed to consider an abortion, I respect that that is a decision that others might make. I live in a loving heterosexual relationship but I understand that others might desire to live in a different style. As a woman I have freedom to go and do and choose, but I realize that this is not true everywhere in the world and while this is hard to accept, I appreciate that other women live a different life. I embrace the freedoms that are provided to me in this country and see them as quite wonderful, but I realize that others live differently and that these freedoms appear altogether wrong. In my recognition of the variation of humans and their lifestyles, I believe I exemplify compassion and consideration to all humankind.
I found it interesting to read that some communities that have been overtaken by ISIS forces are quite content to have these soldiers present. One man stated that at least with ISIS there is no corruption and no greed and as long as he stays within their good graces, he lives a safe and secure life. The murders that surrounded him just seemed to be the way things are and he is neither alarmed nor particularly interested. He feels his life is in better shape under what I view as a reign of terror than his previous life, which I would also view as a life of terror. The article mentions the fact that ISIS and similar forces may win out in the end simply because citizens are satisfied with this less terroristic lifestyle and acceptance of current conditions.
This type of life and ideology are alien to me but if I am human and a true member of humanity, I must accept that for some, freedom is valued differently and is not necessarily the government and life choice they want. Who am I to judge? I do not live in these nations, I have not been brought up in these cultures, I have little understanding other than brief visits abroad, reading, and listening to the news. And so as a human, while I am willing to help and education, it is not my job to interfere with criticism or moral degradation. I am fortunate to live where and how I do, but it is not mine to subject upon others.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9111287
Saturday, 27 February 2016
Plausible Deniability
The political arena appears to be filling with multiple cases of plausible deniability. Having never heard this term until this pre-election year, I have noticed its use again and again. For example, when Trump stated that McCain was not a war hero, he utilized plausible deniability. Because McCain was captured, because he survived, because he returned to the United States to live a good life, Trump is free to deny him his hero status with the plausible reasoning stated that he was captured, survived, and returned alive. I suppose in Trump's mind, had McCain escaped or had he come back mentally and physically destroyed or had he died, then he could have been recognized as a champion and an idol.
Another example of plausible deniability is the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. This right can be denied by those who find it unacceptable for multiple reasons such as poor court judges, the bible says it is wrong, and homosexuality is moral corruption. To some these are completely plausible reasons. For others, those who find the decision plausible and the deniability implausible, the court stayed true to its responsibilities in that the judges studied and discussed to make a wise decision, that the bible is a book among many and that there is a separation of church and state in this country, and that the court is not in charge of morality but rather dedicated to reading and translating the Constitution into modern situations while allowing for freedom of choice.
You can name just about any hot topic and one side or the other will come up with plausible deniability. While it is good to apply reasoning to support an opinion, there is also the breakpoint when it is time to move forward. Issues like abortion, Benghazi, and misuse of email cannot be resolved if a compromise agreement cannot be obtained. Instead fighting to fight takes precedence over intellectual rationality. Because of this repetitive cycle of accusations using the "old" facts to try to generate a new decision, a quagmire of contempt arises. Nothing can be solved or resolved.
Children love to use plausible deniability as an escape from punishment. Even though Sweetie has been told numerous times to not leave her cup on the edge of the table or it will spill, she continues her pattern. When it does come crashing to the floor shattering glass and shooting juice, she can rely on the safety of plausible deniability including reasons for the disaster such as "Brother wiggled the table" or "I forgot" or feigned tears of repentance and sorrow to shift the blame from her and the mess to outside forces.
Adolescents wallow in plausible deniability when a school report arrives at home decorated with failing grades. "The teacher never explains"; "Mrs. Smith lost my papers"; "Mr. Jones doesn't like me" and so on and so forth are handy justifications and explanations. Many parents fall into this trap making excuses for the child and laying culpability upon another. Sometimes this system works well, frustrating the education efforts of the teacher as he is forced to lower standards and accept administrative decrees to raise a grade. Baby is happy, the grade becomes acceptable, and the child recognizes the value and significance of his wailing trump. When you question school organization and the academic delivery it provides, stop to think about the plausible deniability instituted by some parents and students and you may have a different view of the problem. No, teachers are not faultless as many utilize their own plausible deniability too, "I taught it but students did not learn" being a prime example, but most teachers want their students to learn and succeed.
Plausible deniability is a sort of no-fault, fail-safe situation. When it is acknowledged as the best route, the safest choice, the wisest decision, intellectual reflection, analysis, and thinking are tossed right out of the door. This unending rational of innocence or undeserved attack demoralizes our morality as it obliterates our ability to seek the truth and live with compromise and decisions made for the greater good.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9114959
Another example of plausible deniability is the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. This right can be denied by those who find it unacceptable for multiple reasons such as poor court judges, the bible says it is wrong, and homosexuality is moral corruption. To some these are completely plausible reasons. For others, those who find the decision plausible and the deniability implausible, the court stayed true to its responsibilities in that the judges studied and discussed to make a wise decision, that the bible is a book among many and that there is a separation of church and state in this country, and that the court is not in charge of morality but rather dedicated to reading and translating the Constitution into modern situations while allowing for freedom of choice.
You can name just about any hot topic and one side or the other will come up with plausible deniability. While it is good to apply reasoning to support an opinion, there is also the breakpoint when it is time to move forward. Issues like abortion, Benghazi, and misuse of email cannot be resolved if a compromise agreement cannot be obtained. Instead fighting to fight takes precedence over intellectual rationality. Because of this repetitive cycle of accusations using the "old" facts to try to generate a new decision, a quagmire of contempt arises. Nothing can be solved or resolved.
Children love to use plausible deniability as an escape from punishment. Even though Sweetie has been told numerous times to not leave her cup on the edge of the table or it will spill, she continues her pattern. When it does come crashing to the floor shattering glass and shooting juice, she can rely on the safety of plausible deniability including reasons for the disaster such as "Brother wiggled the table" or "I forgot" or feigned tears of repentance and sorrow to shift the blame from her and the mess to outside forces.
Adolescents wallow in plausible deniability when a school report arrives at home decorated with failing grades. "The teacher never explains"; "Mrs. Smith lost my papers"; "Mr. Jones doesn't like me" and so on and so forth are handy justifications and explanations. Many parents fall into this trap making excuses for the child and laying culpability upon another. Sometimes this system works well, frustrating the education efforts of the teacher as he is forced to lower standards and accept administrative decrees to raise a grade. Baby is happy, the grade becomes acceptable, and the child recognizes the value and significance of his wailing trump. When you question school organization and the academic delivery it provides, stop to think about the plausible deniability instituted by some parents and students and you may have a different view of the problem. No, teachers are not faultless as many utilize their own plausible deniability too, "I taught it but students did not learn" being a prime example, but most teachers want their students to learn and succeed.
Plausible deniability is a sort of no-fault, fail-safe situation. When it is acknowledged as the best route, the safest choice, the wisest decision, intellectual reflection, analysis, and thinking are tossed right out of the door. This unending rational of innocence or undeserved attack demoralizes our morality as it obliterates our ability to seek the truth and live with compromise and decisions made for the greater good.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9114959
Requiring Maturity For Big Rig Operators
A couple of summers ago, I had a dangerous run-in with a truck driver who should not have been behind the wheel of a big rig.
It happened when I was driving back to New York on Interstate 91, not far south of White River Junction, Vermont. I was in the passing lane, going past several cars that were traveling near the 65 miles per hour speed limit. I was probably doing between 70 and 75 mph myself, when the grill of an 18-wheeler took up my entire review mirror. The truck was about a foot off my rear bumper, where it stayed for several minutes as I passed the other vehicles.
I pulled into the right lane to let him go by once I was able, at which point the driver sent me a clear message by coming back into my lane when there was still about 20 feet of trailer yet to pass me. My choices were to pull onto the shoulder or let him knock me off the road. Luckily, I saw what was happening in time and safely moved over. I then exchanged looks with my wife, who, like me, could conceivably have been killed if I hadn't been paying enough attention.
We decided not to let the matter drop. I followed the truck driver - closely, but not too close - while calling out identifying characteristics to my wife, who contacted the state highway authorities. Over the course of the next 50 miles or so, the driver did his or her best to lose me. First the truck sped up to close to 85 mph, during which time I dropped back but kept it in sight. Then it slowed to about 30 to try to induce me to go past. I didn't.
My reward came around the time we went through Brattleboro. There, as we emerged from a construction zone (at which point the driver was behaving virtuously), a Vermont patrol vehicle was waiting in the median. As soon as the obnoxious semitrailer driver went past, the patrol car pulled out, turned on its flashers and pulled the 18-wheeler over for a roadside inspection.
I don't know what happened after that. I assume the driver received no sort of citation for his treatment of me, since the officer would not have seen the incident firsthand. But if the driver's logbook and other credentials were not in perfect order, I expect he or she did not have a very good afternoon.
An underage driver? I have no reason to think so. But one acting without the maturity and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a 40-ton machine? Absolutely.
Maturity doesn't always come with time, but it always takes time. Proponents of a congressional proposal to allow teenage truck drivers to operate across state lines within certain limits put a lot of people in peril when they lose sight of this.
The proposal in question is part of general highway legislation currently before the Senate, introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. If adopted, the legislation would amend a federal law that currently prohibits drivers under 21 from operating large trucks between states, even if state laws permit the teens to drive them. According to Bloomberg, 48 states currently allow younger drivers (between 18 and 21) to hold commercial licenses for intrastate commerce. (1) And as older drivers retire, industry researchers warn of a worsening driver shortage, which allowing younger drivers to operate across state lines might help address.
The new system would introduce a graduated licensing program for commercial drivers. The American Trucking Associations has thrown its support behind this idea. "Graduated licensing is proven and effective for reducing the risk of young drivers of passenger vehicles -millions of drivers have gotten their licenses this way - and it has been a top policy priority for many organizations, including some that are attacking Senator Fischer's proposal now," ATA's executive vice president, Dave Osiecki, said in a statement. (2)
Those attacks mainly focus on safety concerns. Jackie Gillan, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, has argued that statistics indicate young truck drivers are four to six times more likely than drivers over 21 to be involved in fatal crashes. Gillan argued that, instead of introducing graduated licensing, the Senate should consider cracking down on laws permitting drivers between 18 and 21 to operate large trucks within a state. (1)
We need good truck drivers, and a lot of teens need good jobs. Of this, I have no doubt. Allowing teenagers to drive trucks, however, does put a lot of people at risk, starting with the teenagers themselves. Anybody who lives in the Rocky Mountain West can tell you how easy it is for a semitrailer to jackknife across an interstate during a blizzard. And anybody who has seen it can tell you just how frightening it is.
Whether this proposal is the right path will depend on exactly what the proposed graduated licenses look like. Many states allow for graduated licensing for teens getting their first standard driver's license, moving from a permit (where the driver must be supervised at all times) to a provisional license, where a driver can operate alone only in certain conditions, such as during daylight hours or when driving directly to and from a job. The exact provisions vary between states, but they provide a useful guide for considering how a graduated commercial licensing program might work.
Let 18-year-olds drive big trucks, but let them do so only under the immediate personal supervision of a second, experienced driver. Maybe require that older drivers have a certification, or an endorsement of their safety record, to demonstrate the maturity necessary to supervise a younger operator this way. At first, maybe only allow such driving at certain hours of the day, or forbid it in weather conditions that would require the truck's lights or wipers.
Can a properly trained 18-year-old safely operate an 18-wheeler in broad daylight on a wide-open freeway in South Dakota? Sure. There is a lot to be said for providing that experience and bolstering the national truck fleet in the bargain.
But we don't need more immature truck drivers on our highways. It only takes one fit of pique or one lapse in attention to put lives at risk.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9116063
It happened when I was driving back to New York on Interstate 91, not far south of White River Junction, Vermont. I was in the passing lane, going past several cars that were traveling near the 65 miles per hour speed limit. I was probably doing between 70 and 75 mph myself, when the grill of an 18-wheeler took up my entire review mirror. The truck was about a foot off my rear bumper, where it stayed for several minutes as I passed the other vehicles.
I pulled into the right lane to let him go by once I was able, at which point the driver sent me a clear message by coming back into my lane when there was still about 20 feet of trailer yet to pass me. My choices were to pull onto the shoulder or let him knock me off the road. Luckily, I saw what was happening in time and safely moved over. I then exchanged looks with my wife, who, like me, could conceivably have been killed if I hadn't been paying enough attention.
We decided not to let the matter drop. I followed the truck driver - closely, but not too close - while calling out identifying characteristics to my wife, who contacted the state highway authorities. Over the course of the next 50 miles or so, the driver did his or her best to lose me. First the truck sped up to close to 85 mph, during which time I dropped back but kept it in sight. Then it slowed to about 30 to try to induce me to go past. I didn't.
My reward came around the time we went through Brattleboro. There, as we emerged from a construction zone (at which point the driver was behaving virtuously), a Vermont patrol vehicle was waiting in the median. As soon as the obnoxious semitrailer driver went past, the patrol car pulled out, turned on its flashers and pulled the 18-wheeler over for a roadside inspection.
I don't know what happened after that. I assume the driver received no sort of citation for his treatment of me, since the officer would not have seen the incident firsthand. But if the driver's logbook and other credentials were not in perfect order, I expect he or she did not have a very good afternoon.
An underage driver? I have no reason to think so. But one acting without the maturity and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a 40-ton machine? Absolutely.
Maturity doesn't always come with time, but it always takes time. Proponents of a congressional proposal to allow teenage truck drivers to operate across state lines within certain limits put a lot of people in peril when they lose sight of this.
The proposal in question is part of general highway legislation currently before the Senate, introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. If adopted, the legislation would amend a federal law that currently prohibits drivers under 21 from operating large trucks between states, even if state laws permit the teens to drive them. According to Bloomberg, 48 states currently allow younger drivers (between 18 and 21) to hold commercial licenses for intrastate commerce. (1) And as older drivers retire, industry researchers warn of a worsening driver shortage, which allowing younger drivers to operate across state lines might help address.
The new system would introduce a graduated licensing program for commercial drivers. The American Trucking Associations has thrown its support behind this idea. "Graduated licensing is proven and effective for reducing the risk of young drivers of passenger vehicles -millions of drivers have gotten their licenses this way - and it has been a top policy priority for many organizations, including some that are attacking Senator Fischer's proposal now," ATA's executive vice president, Dave Osiecki, said in a statement. (2)
Those attacks mainly focus on safety concerns. Jackie Gillan, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, has argued that statistics indicate young truck drivers are four to six times more likely than drivers over 21 to be involved in fatal crashes. Gillan argued that, instead of introducing graduated licensing, the Senate should consider cracking down on laws permitting drivers between 18 and 21 to operate large trucks within a state. (1)
We need good truck drivers, and a lot of teens need good jobs. Of this, I have no doubt. Allowing teenagers to drive trucks, however, does put a lot of people at risk, starting with the teenagers themselves. Anybody who lives in the Rocky Mountain West can tell you how easy it is for a semitrailer to jackknife across an interstate during a blizzard. And anybody who has seen it can tell you just how frightening it is.
Whether this proposal is the right path will depend on exactly what the proposed graduated licenses look like. Many states allow for graduated licensing for teens getting their first standard driver's license, moving from a permit (where the driver must be supervised at all times) to a provisional license, where a driver can operate alone only in certain conditions, such as during daylight hours or when driving directly to and from a job. The exact provisions vary between states, but they provide a useful guide for considering how a graduated commercial licensing program might work.
Let 18-year-olds drive big trucks, but let them do so only under the immediate personal supervision of a second, experienced driver. Maybe require that older drivers have a certification, or an endorsement of their safety record, to demonstrate the maturity necessary to supervise a younger operator this way. At first, maybe only allow such driving at certain hours of the day, or forbid it in weather conditions that would require the truck's lights or wipers.
Can a properly trained 18-year-old safely operate an 18-wheeler in broad daylight on a wide-open freeway in South Dakota? Sure. There is a lot to be said for providing that experience and bolstering the national truck fleet in the bargain.
But we don't need more immature truck drivers on our highways. It only takes one fit of pique or one lapse in attention to put lives at risk.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9116063
The Hidden Truth on How Israel Became a Nation
How was Israel really created is a question many have asked for the past few decades. It's stated that Israel was created on May 14th 1948, but the process would begin much earlier than that. Um el Aleq was a small vast village which was originally founded and created by el-Khouri a christian Arabic family. The land would then be purchased by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild in 1912-1913. During 1912 and 1913 Rothschild would create The Jewish Colonization Association which would manage the land for Rothschild as well as colonize it. The area was bought to create a Jewish Settlement from the Zichron Yaakov area to the property bought for the colony in Binyamina.
Later in 1914 the Ottoman buildings would be settled by Jewish farmers whom were sons from Zichron Yaakov, who gave their selves the name Gidonites. The sons would rename the land Givat Binyamina to honor Baron de Rothschild. They would lead the underground movement (NILI) which stood for "The eternity (God) of Israel will not Lie." The group was an Jewish espionage group which helped the United Kingdom fight the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I.
In 1919 Rothschild would come back to the area and for the next three years Binyamina founders would be trained there. The settlers were fighters in the Hebrew Brigade whom would help drain swamps and help create farms throughout the area turning it into an agricultural master piece, despite the farm being abandoned in 1925.
In 1939 during the Stockade settlement operations, a band of Beitar members would create a new settlement by the name of Tel Tzur on the hill between Shuni and Ramat Hanadiv. (The Betar Movement was a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. Their Chapters started and grew across Europe, even during World War II.) The area they founded was quite isolated and would become an strategic site for military training as well as weapon practice. The military activities would come to a stop on August 16th, 1945 when the British army raided the Shuni and arrested members of the Irgun (A right-wing Conservative' Zionist organization founded in 1931. During the period when it was active (1937-48) they would carry out violent attacks on Arabs and Britons in its campaign to establish a Jewish state; it was disbanded after the creation of Israel in 1948.)
Shuni would be used as an operational base for many big military campaigns which included assaults on enemy ammunition stores and attacks on British Police stations. They would become most famous for the Acco Prison break on May 4th, 1947 where Israeli freedom fighters would be broken out of jail by their allies. The land is still under Israel control and is still a hotbed for enemy attacks by Arabic nations.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9117072
Later in 1914 the Ottoman buildings would be settled by Jewish farmers whom were sons from Zichron Yaakov, who gave their selves the name Gidonites. The sons would rename the land Givat Binyamina to honor Baron de Rothschild. They would lead the underground movement (NILI) which stood for "The eternity (God) of Israel will not Lie." The group was an Jewish espionage group which helped the United Kingdom fight the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I.
In 1919 Rothschild would come back to the area and for the next three years Binyamina founders would be trained there. The settlers were fighters in the Hebrew Brigade whom would help drain swamps and help create farms throughout the area turning it into an agricultural master piece, despite the farm being abandoned in 1925.
In 1939 during the Stockade settlement operations, a band of Beitar members would create a new settlement by the name of Tel Tzur on the hill between Shuni and Ramat Hanadiv. (The Betar Movement was a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. Their Chapters started and grew across Europe, even during World War II.) The area they founded was quite isolated and would become an strategic site for military training as well as weapon practice. The military activities would come to a stop on August 16th, 1945 when the British army raided the Shuni and arrested members of the Irgun (A right-wing Conservative' Zionist organization founded in 1931. During the period when it was active (1937-48) they would carry out violent attacks on Arabs and Britons in its campaign to establish a Jewish state; it was disbanded after the creation of Israel in 1948.)
Shuni would be used as an operational base for many big military campaigns which included assaults on enemy ammunition stores and attacks on British Police stations. They would become most famous for the Acco Prison break on May 4th, 1947 where Israeli freedom fighters would be broken out of jail by their allies. The land is still under Israel control and is still a hotbed for enemy attacks by Arabic nations.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9117072
Advertising Reality
Why are we so easily fooled by advertising? I'd say most consumers are bright and aware and wise to the ways of marketing media, but still they buy shoes to make them faster, exercise machines to make them stronger, protein shakes to help them lose weight, and shirts with stripes aligned for a sleek, trim silhouette. Are the shoes, the machine, the drink, or the clothes what make us the shape we are? No, absolutely not. Even though these items might be beneficial to the body physique such as good, light-weight shoes that fit well can make our feet feel better and ready for walking and jogging to enhance health, the shoes themselves are not automatic nor self-motivated. It is the wearer who counts and who must do the work to reach success.
If you watch television very often you know how advertising softens our senses and sets us into buying mode. Do you need a burger right now? Probably not but that tantalizing hunk of meat topped with fresh vegetables, melted cheese, and gooey sauce is quite inviting and may force you from the lounger to those special, aforementioned shoes and into the care for a zip through the drive-through window for a carry-out bag of delicious, dripping with grease delight. Forget the lack of hunger or diet promises and live for the moment.
Advertising coerces us to purchases every item under the sun, 99% of which we do not need. Say, for example, you have a fairly new car that runs great and gets excellent mileage and then the hunky movie star waltzes onto your screen, smiling as he jangles the twinkling keys and slides into the smooth leather of a new ride. The idea starts to itch your brain as you gaze out the window at "Old Reliable" in the driveway. Easy financing, friendly service, and soothing voices beckon and guess what? Tomorrow you are at the car dealer signing up for a deal. Even when money is tight, auto dealers have a method to entice buyers with a "lower than your old payment" appeal and soon you are happily driving a revolving money pit as you ride the new car cycle again and establishing an always a new car lifestyle.
Advertising can be educational as facts are provided, photos are shared, actors and actresses offer feedback on vacations, homes, ways to travel, gardening supplies, job possibilities, and on and on. Advertising gurus are excellent at their trade and they know how to bend our heart and mind strings to get what they want us to want. If 97% of all Americans buy Product X, why would I want to be an outsider, a loner, and purchase something different. If I came out in public with the wrong make-up, wrong clothes, and wrong hair color, my life could become a disaster. And for some, especially those chased by the paparazzi this might be true, but certainly this is not my case.
I did hear a story recently, however, where the shoes would have made all of the difference. A young man had recently moved to a university city from England. At 6'7, 350 pounds he had been an amazing rugby player, one to be reckoned with based on size alone. Recruiting football coaches spied him and invited him to "walk-on" to the team. Going home and chatting with his dad he pointed out that he would need cleats, the special $150 type. His dad, unimpressed with his deal or his plea stated that the bargain store shoes would work just fine for this walk-on affair. Being 18 and aware of status and also a bit stubborn, the son refused the cheap shoes and so no walk-on arrangement arrived. Instead he waited a year for the football call to come around again and instead went to college with his dad's financial support. The next year coaches called again with shoes made available and while he was not a scholarship player until the following year, he then had a full ride to play and complete his education. A lot of money in the long term could have been saved with the purchases of those fancy cleats.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9124206
If you watch television very often you know how advertising softens our senses and sets us into buying mode. Do you need a burger right now? Probably not but that tantalizing hunk of meat topped with fresh vegetables, melted cheese, and gooey sauce is quite inviting and may force you from the lounger to those special, aforementioned shoes and into the care for a zip through the drive-through window for a carry-out bag of delicious, dripping with grease delight. Forget the lack of hunger or diet promises and live for the moment.
Advertising coerces us to purchases every item under the sun, 99% of which we do not need. Say, for example, you have a fairly new car that runs great and gets excellent mileage and then the hunky movie star waltzes onto your screen, smiling as he jangles the twinkling keys and slides into the smooth leather of a new ride. The idea starts to itch your brain as you gaze out the window at "Old Reliable" in the driveway. Easy financing, friendly service, and soothing voices beckon and guess what? Tomorrow you are at the car dealer signing up for a deal. Even when money is tight, auto dealers have a method to entice buyers with a "lower than your old payment" appeal and soon you are happily driving a revolving money pit as you ride the new car cycle again and establishing an always a new car lifestyle.
Advertising can be educational as facts are provided, photos are shared, actors and actresses offer feedback on vacations, homes, ways to travel, gardening supplies, job possibilities, and on and on. Advertising gurus are excellent at their trade and they know how to bend our heart and mind strings to get what they want us to want. If 97% of all Americans buy Product X, why would I want to be an outsider, a loner, and purchase something different. If I came out in public with the wrong make-up, wrong clothes, and wrong hair color, my life could become a disaster. And for some, especially those chased by the paparazzi this might be true, but certainly this is not my case.
I did hear a story recently, however, where the shoes would have made all of the difference. A young man had recently moved to a university city from England. At 6'7, 350 pounds he had been an amazing rugby player, one to be reckoned with based on size alone. Recruiting football coaches spied him and invited him to "walk-on" to the team. Going home and chatting with his dad he pointed out that he would need cleats, the special $150 type. His dad, unimpressed with his deal or his plea stated that the bargain store shoes would work just fine for this walk-on affair. Being 18 and aware of status and also a bit stubborn, the son refused the cheap shoes and so no walk-on arrangement arrived. Instead he waited a year for the football call to come around again and instead went to college with his dad's financial support. The next year coaches called again with shoes made available and while he was not a scholarship player until the following year, he then had a full ride to play and complete his education. A lot of money in the long term could have been saved with the purchases of those fancy cleats.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9124206
Thursday, 25 February 2016
The Hidden Truth on How Israel Became a Nation
How was Israel really created is a question many have asked for the past few decades. It's stated that Israel was created on May 14th 1948, but the process would begin much earlier than that. Um el Aleq was a small vast village which was originally founded and created by el-Khouri a christian Arabic family. The land would then be purchased by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild in 1912-1913. During 1912 and 1913 Rothschild would create The Jewish Colonization Association which would manage the land for Rothschild as well as colonize it. The area was bought to create a Jewish Settlement from the Zichron Yaakov area to the property bought for the colony in Binyamina.
Later in 1914 the Ottoman buildings would be settled by Jewish farmers whom were sons from Zichron Yaakov, who gave their selves the name Gidonites. The sons would rename the land Givat Binyamina to honor Baron de Rothschild. They would lead the underground movement (NILI) which stood for "The eternity (God) of Israel will not Lie." The group was an Jewish espionage group which helped the United Kingdom fight the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I.
In 1919 Rothschild would come back to the area and for the next three years Binyamina founders would be trained there. The settlers were fighters in the Hebrew Brigade whom would help drain swamps and help create farms throughout the area turning it into an agricultural master piece, despite the farm being abandoned in 1925.
In 1939 during the Stockade settlement operations, a band of Beitar members would create a new settlement by the name of Tel Tzur on the hill between Shuni and Ramat Hanadiv. (The Betar Movement was a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. Their Chapters started and grew across Europe, even during World War II.) The area they founded was quite isolated and would become an strategic site for military training as well as weapon practice. The military activities would come to a stop on August 16th, 1945 when the British army raided the Shuni and arrested members of the Irgun (A right-wing Conservative' Zionist organization founded in 1931. During the period when it was active (1937-48) they would carry out violent attacks on Arabs and Britons in its campaign to establish a Jewish state; it was disbanded after the creation of Israel in 1948.)
Shuni would be used as an operational base for many big military campaigns which included assaults on enemy ammunition stores and attacks on British Police stations. They would become most famous for the Acco Prison break on May 4th, 1947 where Israeli freedom fighters would be broken out of jail by their allies. The land is still under Israel control and is still a hotbed for enemy attacks by Arabic nations.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9117072
Later in 1914 the Ottoman buildings would be settled by Jewish farmers whom were sons from Zichron Yaakov, who gave their selves the name Gidonites. The sons would rename the land Givat Binyamina to honor Baron de Rothschild. They would lead the underground movement (NILI) which stood for "The eternity (God) of Israel will not Lie." The group was an Jewish espionage group which helped the United Kingdom fight the Ottoman Empire in Palestine during World War I.
In 1919 Rothschild would come back to the area and for the next three years Binyamina founders would be trained there. The settlers were fighters in the Hebrew Brigade whom would help drain swamps and help create farms throughout the area turning it into an agricultural master piece, despite the farm being abandoned in 1925.
In 1939 during the Stockade settlement operations, a band of Beitar members would create a new settlement by the name of Tel Tzur on the hill between Shuni and Ramat Hanadiv. (The Betar Movement was a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. Their Chapters started and grew across Europe, even during World War II.) The area they founded was quite isolated and would become an strategic site for military training as well as weapon practice. The military activities would come to a stop on August 16th, 1945 when the British army raided the Shuni and arrested members of the Irgun (A right-wing Conservative' Zionist organization founded in 1931. During the period when it was active (1937-48) they would carry out violent attacks on Arabs and Britons in its campaign to establish a Jewish state; it was disbanded after the creation of Israel in 1948.)
Shuni would be used as an operational base for many big military campaigns which included assaults on enemy ammunition stores and attacks on British Police stations. They would become most famous for the Acco Prison break on May 4th, 1947 where Israeli freedom fighters would be broken out of jail by their allies. The land is still under Israel control and is still a hotbed for enemy attacks by Arabic nations.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9117072
Advertising Reality
Why are we so easily fooled by advertising? I'd say most consumers are bright and aware and wise to the ways of marketing media, but still they buy shoes to make them faster, exercise machines to make them stronger, protein shakes to help them lose weight, and shirts with stripes aligned for a sleek, trim silhouette. Are the shoes, the machine, the drink, or the clothes what make us the shape we are? No, absolutely not. Even though these items might be beneficial to the body physique such as good, light-weight shoes that fit well can make our feet feel better and ready for walking and jogging to enhance health, the shoes themselves are not automatic nor self-motivated. It is the wearer who counts and who must do the work to reach success.
If you watch television very often you know how advertising softens our senses and sets us into buying mode. Do you need a burger right now? Probably not but that tantalizing hunk of meat topped with fresh vegetables, melted cheese, and gooey sauce is quite inviting and may force you from the lounger to those special, aforementioned shoes and into the care for a zip through the drive-through window for a carry-out bag of delicious, dripping with grease delight. Forget the lack of hunger or diet promises and live for the moment.
Advertising coerces us to purchases every item under the sun, 99% of which we do not need. Say, for example, you have a fairly new car that runs great and gets excellent mileage and then the hunky movie star waltzes onto your screen, smiling as he jangles the twinkling keys and slides into the smooth leather of a new ride. The idea starts to itch your brain as you gaze out the window at "Old Reliable" in the driveway. Easy financing, friendly service, and soothing voices beckon and guess what? Tomorrow you are at the car dealer signing up for a deal. Even when money is tight, auto dealers have a method to entice buyers with a "lower than your old payment" appeal and soon you are happily driving a revolving money pit as you ride the new car cycle again and establishing an always a new car lifestyle.
Advertising can be educational as facts are provided, photos are shared, actors and actresses offer feedback on vacations, homes, ways to travel, gardening supplies, job possibilities, and on and on. Advertising gurus are excellent at their trade and they know how to bend our heart and mind strings to get what they want us to want. If 97% of all Americans buy Product X, why would I want to be an outsider, a loner, and purchase something different. If I came out in public with the wrong make-up, wrong clothes, and wrong hair color, my life could become a disaster. And for some, especially those chased by the paparazzi this might be true, but certainly this is not my case.
I did hear a story recently, however, where the shoes would have made all of the difference. A young man had recently moved to a university city from England. At 6'7, 350 pounds he had been an amazing rugby player, one to be reckoned with based on size alone. Recruiting football coaches spied him and invited him to "walk-on" to the team. Going home and chatting with his dad he pointed out that he would need cleats, the special $150 type. His dad, unimpressed with his deal or his plea stated that the bargain store shoes would work just fine for this walk-on affair. Being 18 and aware of status and also a bit stubborn, the son refused the cheap shoes and so no walk-on arrangement arrived. Instead he waited a year for the football call to come around again and instead went to college with his dad's financial support. The next year coaches called again with shoes made available and while he was not a scholarship player until the following year, he then had a full ride to play and complete his education. A lot of money in the long term could have been saved with the purchases of those fancy cleats.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9124206
If you watch television very often you know how advertising softens our senses and sets us into buying mode. Do you need a burger right now? Probably not but that tantalizing hunk of meat topped with fresh vegetables, melted cheese, and gooey sauce is quite inviting and may force you from the lounger to those special, aforementioned shoes and into the care for a zip through the drive-through window for a carry-out bag of delicious, dripping with grease delight. Forget the lack of hunger or diet promises and live for the moment.
Advertising coerces us to purchases every item under the sun, 99% of which we do not need. Say, for example, you have a fairly new car that runs great and gets excellent mileage and then the hunky movie star waltzes onto your screen, smiling as he jangles the twinkling keys and slides into the smooth leather of a new ride. The idea starts to itch your brain as you gaze out the window at "Old Reliable" in the driveway. Easy financing, friendly service, and soothing voices beckon and guess what? Tomorrow you are at the car dealer signing up for a deal. Even when money is tight, auto dealers have a method to entice buyers with a "lower than your old payment" appeal and soon you are happily driving a revolving money pit as you ride the new car cycle again and establishing an always a new car lifestyle.
Advertising can be educational as facts are provided, photos are shared, actors and actresses offer feedback on vacations, homes, ways to travel, gardening supplies, job possibilities, and on and on. Advertising gurus are excellent at their trade and they know how to bend our heart and mind strings to get what they want us to want. If 97% of all Americans buy Product X, why would I want to be an outsider, a loner, and purchase something different. If I came out in public with the wrong make-up, wrong clothes, and wrong hair color, my life could become a disaster. And for some, especially those chased by the paparazzi this might be true, but certainly this is not my case.
I did hear a story recently, however, where the shoes would have made all of the difference. A young man had recently moved to a university city from England. At 6'7, 350 pounds he had been an amazing rugby player, one to be reckoned with based on size alone. Recruiting football coaches spied him and invited him to "walk-on" to the team. Going home and chatting with his dad he pointed out that he would need cleats, the special $150 type. His dad, unimpressed with his deal or his plea stated that the bargain store shoes would work just fine for this walk-on affair. Being 18 and aware of status and also a bit stubborn, the son refused the cheap shoes and so no walk-on arrangement arrived. Instead he waited a year for the football call to come around again and instead went to college with his dad's financial support. The next year coaches called again with shoes made available and while he was not a scholarship player until the following year, he then had a full ride to play and complete his education. A lot of money in the long term could have been saved with the purchases of those fancy cleats.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9124206
Living a Small-Er Life
Perhaps you have noticed the same thing I have... a growing dichotomy of lifestyles. One is fast-paced and tech-filled, instant gratification, a very small urban footprint. The other is a modern twist on a more rural existence, replete with homegrown/raised, homemade everything. Each has its attractions and detractions.
Somewhere in between, there are many people just trying to manage day-to-day. There is a small percentage leading an extravagant lifestyle.
The truth is, it can take time, resources, and some level of self-awareness (plus trial and error) to create an ideal lifestyle.
The Path to a New Lifestyle
Personally, I spent about five years thinking about what my ideal lifestyle would look like. It was an unconscious endeavor at first, because I was shedding off a life located in the wrong place. I was in a difficult business enduring endless encounters with bitter, irresponsible people.
I knew I wanted to live a quieter life, in a house that was manageable for years to come. Beyond that, and given the abrasive conditions I was experiencing, I wasn't sure about anything else.
Finally, I figured it out. I'm not suited for life in a tiny house or urbane apartment. I don't want a large home that requires constant attention, with rooms I rarely use. Homesteading is for the intrepid, physically strong, and DIY skilled. Frankly, I know my limits. What I want is what I can manage, a small-er life.
First, I am in a new place. Where I landed is somewhat of a surprise, and happened by default. It is the result of timing that relied on other things falling into place. It turns out I'm exactly where I need and want to be. It is literally a breath of fresh air.
Because of where I live, I am gifted with the means to live my own blend of two lifestyles. I am close enough to two large cities, but far enough away to feel daily reprieve. I have neighbors. I have neighbors I actually talk with. It's a HOA-free hood. It's perfect.
What I Appreciate about Living a Smaller Life
Smaller home =
Fewer expenses, lower taxes
Lower maintenance, fewer fixes and renovations
Fewer possessions, better organization
Smaller footprint, but with individual privacy
Smaller life =
Reduced garbage, more recycling
Far less stress, inexpensive entertainment
More cooking, homegrown foods
Virtually no debt
Calmer life =
Improved health
Contentment
Opportunity for more quality, face-to-face interactions
The rules of the house are buy smart, save for larger purchases. Support local businesses. Be smart by buying used or new, whichever is best, taking time to consider each purchase.
Changed Priorities
Early on, I was driven to travel. There were places in the world I wanted to visit. My work made it possible, and I am so thankful for the privilege. At the time, I had no interest in owning a house. Fast forward, and because of the company I now keep, I relish having a place to call home. Every morning I walk around and feel such bliss being here. This is the perfect size life for me. I do not take it for granted.
Pick Your Lifestyle
There is a lot of pressure, especially via social media, to lead a particular lifestyle. On any given day you can feel the pull to be an uber stylish and globe-trotting hipster, bohemian wunderkind, hearty self-reliant homesteader, suburban DIYer, minimum footprint dweller. As long as you seek to lead a responsible life; as long as you are respectful of others and the planet you live on, you're OK by me. Just take the reins to create your own, perfect-for-you lifestyle.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9123798
Somewhere in between, there are many people just trying to manage day-to-day. There is a small percentage leading an extravagant lifestyle.
The truth is, it can take time, resources, and some level of self-awareness (plus trial and error) to create an ideal lifestyle.
The Path to a New Lifestyle
Personally, I spent about five years thinking about what my ideal lifestyle would look like. It was an unconscious endeavor at first, because I was shedding off a life located in the wrong place. I was in a difficult business enduring endless encounters with bitter, irresponsible people.
I knew I wanted to live a quieter life, in a house that was manageable for years to come. Beyond that, and given the abrasive conditions I was experiencing, I wasn't sure about anything else.
Finally, I figured it out. I'm not suited for life in a tiny house or urbane apartment. I don't want a large home that requires constant attention, with rooms I rarely use. Homesteading is for the intrepid, physically strong, and DIY skilled. Frankly, I know my limits. What I want is what I can manage, a small-er life.
First, I am in a new place. Where I landed is somewhat of a surprise, and happened by default. It is the result of timing that relied on other things falling into place. It turns out I'm exactly where I need and want to be. It is literally a breath of fresh air.
Because of where I live, I am gifted with the means to live my own blend of two lifestyles. I am close enough to two large cities, but far enough away to feel daily reprieve. I have neighbors. I have neighbors I actually talk with. It's a HOA-free hood. It's perfect.
What I Appreciate about Living a Smaller Life
Smaller home =
Fewer expenses, lower taxes
Lower maintenance, fewer fixes and renovations
Fewer possessions, better organization
Smaller footprint, but with individual privacy
Smaller life =
Reduced garbage, more recycling
Far less stress, inexpensive entertainment
More cooking, homegrown foods
Virtually no debt
Calmer life =
Improved health
Contentment
Opportunity for more quality, face-to-face interactions
The rules of the house are buy smart, save for larger purchases. Support local businesses. Be smart by buying used or new, whichever is best, taking time to consider each purchase.
Changed Priorities
Early on, I was driven to travel. There were places in the world I wanted to visit. My work made it possible, and I am so thankful for the privilege. At the time, I had no interest in owning a house. Fast forward, and because of the company I now keep, I relish having a place to call home. Every morning I walk around and feel such bliss being here. This is the perfect size life for me. I do not take it for granted.
Pick Your Lifestyle
There is a lot of pressure, especially via social media, to lead a particular lifestyle. On any given day you can feel the pull to be an uber stylish and globe-trotting hipster, bohemian wunderkind, hearty self-reliant homesteader, suburban DIYer, minimum footprint dweller. As long as you seek to lead a responsible life; as long as you are respectful of others and the planet you live on, you're OK by me. Just take the reins to create your own, perfect-for-you lifestyle.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9123798
Dinner With Strangers
Change is necessary, isn't it? I have moved to Mumbai. I got a job here as a 'Social Media Evangelist' for an MNC called 'Datum Digital'. I am so glad I took this job as I am really enjoying Mumbai. I have always liked the spirit of this city and the hard working and smart 'Mumbaikars'. Though I have visited it often, living here is an entire different experience.
I live as a Paying Guest and have a roommate, Payal. She is from Delhi and is studying her Masters here. She amazes me, as in spite of being from a Science background, she is very intellectual. Earlier this week, when we were about to sleep, she said, "PG (Paying Guest) life is strange, isn't it? You make a ruckus about sharing things with strangers, but you meet so many strangers if you are living away from home and share a room with a person you have just met." I just want to share her feeling instead of mine on this one as we are quite alike.
Ria lives in the next room and she is from Vapi. I went out for dinner with her to this place half a kilometre away from where I live called 'Dakshinayan', which is a South Indian restaurant. It was crowded and the receptionist told us we would have to share a table for four with two other people! We agreed as we were really hungry. Ria told me this happens in Mumbai all the time. I have never experienced this back home in Ahmedabad. We took our table and in a short while two middle aged women joined us. They were speaking Gujarati and asked for Jain South Indian food- which means they wanted jain dosa, jain sambhar and jain chutney as well. The waiter got very confused and took a long time to get their order whereas ours arrived really fast.
When they got their dosa's, one of them asked the waiter to take hers back as she felt it wasn't enough hot for her and asked him to heat it again. She asked me, "Taro garam che?" (Meaning: "Is yours hot enough?" in Gujarati) seeing that I had already finished half of my masala dosa by then. I asked her in surprise, "How do you know I am a Gujarati?" She replied, "That is because I can see that you understand what we are talking about; and you are smiling knowingly ever since we asked for Jain food." Haha! I need to control my knowing smiles. We spoke about all good places to eat in Mumbai, and also about Gujarati food, of course. I had warned Ria earlier (softly in her ear) that if I start a conversation with them, it would be like eating together rather than simply sharing a table. But she is a very talkative person herself.
My office is really swanky and smart. Benaifer is a very sweet Parsi girl who I just love talking to as we talk in Gujarati (she is the only one who talks to me in my mother tongue apart from Gujarati women I meet in restaurants and here and there) She asks me in her saccharine Parsi Gujarati to breakfast with her. Then there is Lumbini who works very hard and Kirti who loves to talk. There are some other team members as well, who have been very helpful and supportive.
I am totally on my own, and I am enjoying every bit of it. There have been heavy rains here last week. It got difficult at times but I just love this city and everything about it- the beach, the rains, the trains, the taxis, the people, the cosmopolitan environment and... fashion, food, culture, roads, glamour... Looking forward to more experiences that I can add to the list.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9090691
I live as a Paying Guest and have a roommate, Payal. She is from Delhi and is studying her Masters here. She amazes me, as in spite of being from a Science background, she is very intellectual. Earlier this week, when we were about to sleep, she said, "PG (Paying Guest) life is strange, isn't it? You make a ruckus about sharing things with strangers, but you meet so many strangers if you are living away from home and share a room with a person you have just met." I just want to share her feeling instead of mine on this one as we are quite alike.
Ria lives in the next room and she is from Vapi. I went out for dinner with her to this place half a kilometre away from where I live called 'Dakshinayan', which is a South Indian restaurant. It was crowded and the receptionist told us we would have to share a table for four with two other people! We agreed as we were really hungry. Ria told me this happens in Mumbai all the time. I have never experienced this back home in Ahmedabad. We took our table and in a short while two middle aged women joined us. They were speaking Gujarati and asked for Jain South Indian food- which means they wanted jain dosa, jain sambhar and jain chutney as well. The waiter got very confused and took a long time to get their order whereas ours arrived really fast.
When they got their dosa's, one of them asked the waiter to take hers back as she felt it wasn't enough hot for her and asked him to heat it again. She asked me, "Taro garam che?" (Meaning: "Is yours hot enough?" in Gujarati) seeing that I had already finished half of my masala dosa by then. I asked her in surprise, "How do you know I am a Gujarati?" She replied, "That is because I can see that you understand what we are talking about; and you are smiling knowingly ever since we asked for Jain food." Haha! I need to control my knowing smiles. We spoke about all good places to eat in Mumbai, and also about Gujarati food, of course. I had warned Ria earlier (softly in her ear) that if I start a conversation with them, it would be like eating together rather than simply sharing a table. But she is a very talkative person herself.
My office is really swanky and smart. Benaifer is a very sweet Parsi girl who I just love talking to as we talk in Gujarati (she is the only one who talks to me in my mother tongue apart from Gujarati women I meet in restaurants and here and there) She asks me in her saccharine Parsi Gujarati to breakfast with her. Then there is Lumbini who works very hard and Kirti who loves to talk. There are some other team members as well, who have been very helpful and supportive.
I am totally on my own, and I am enjoying every bit of it. There have been heavy rains here last week. It got difficult at times but I just love this city and everything about it- the beach, the rains, the trains, the taxis, the people, the cosmopolitan environment and... fashion, food, culture, roads, glamour... Looking forward to more experiences that I can add to the list.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9090691
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
What Were The Good Ole Days Good For?
Can you remember much about the good ole days? Maybe the first question should be: Do you think they really were "the good ole days"? I sure do remember those days and I believe there were many good things about them. Let me tell you why I feel the way I do about those days and see if you agree with me. Here are some valuable reasons to consider:
* Crime did not seem to be as rampant and violent.
Now maybe this was not always true where you grew up. But If you lived in small town America it probably was true. It did not dominate the daily news then and it was not as brutal either. There usually were not a large number of crimes in those days.
* You could go out at night without fear of being accosted.
I do not remember many incidents when especially women, had to be so fearful when going out in public then. When I think of the neighborhood where I went in those days to pick up my date, I shudder today when I think of it. Because that area now is so crime infested. Not having an automobile in those days, I had to walk several blocks to her house when I got off the bus. When I left her house after the date there was no fear to stand on the corner late at night to wait for a bus.
* Parents could discipline their children without fear of reprisal
Discipline in most cases then meant a simple word called " NO". And in most cases it was never challenged. If it was, the next action was usually a "swat on the fanny" with a hand, yardstick, or a fly swatter. I do not hear of many parents using this method today, do you?
Sometimes just being told to "sit in the corner" or having a privilege taken away from you was enough to remedy the problem. Now, do not misunderstand me, I sure do not condone any kind of violence to discipline a child. But swatting a kid on the backside with a fly swatter or a yardstick, is that a violent act? Some may think so today. I will not say there were some parents guilty of violent discipline back then but generally that was not the case.
* Mothers were more likely to stay home raising children than working
Most mothers then felt the responsibility to stay home, at least when children were at an early age. Generally there was not as much of a need for them to earn a second income for the family as it is now. If there was a reason they usually found a way to do that while still staying at home. (Taking in washing was common then) My mom worked in the family florist business in later years. This was generally during some of the major holidays. But by then my sister and I were old enough to be there, too.
* Divorce was not as widespread
The odds of staying married for a long time then were much greater than it is now. Couples seemed to work out their problems much better in those days. Today it is not as shameful to get a divorce. I do not remember hearing the phrase "single Mom" back then. If you did it was most likely because the husband was deceased then the mother being divorced.
* Most people seemed to be more polite and courteous
One thing that was drilled in my head back then was to say "thank you" whenever someone either gave you something or paid you a compliment. And I had better not forget to say it, either. Men were expected to open doors for the "opposite sex". Even to pull out the chair at the table and push it back after she was seated was also the normal thing to do. I hate to say it but I do not see much of that practice happening as much today as back then, do you ladies?
These are just a few things that I remember in those early years that made the "good ole days good" Now I admit those times were tough, and we did not have all the modern conveniences that we have today. No TV in those early days, no computers, videos, cell phones, dial up phones (you called the operator and she rang the number for you) And the phone number was usually a short one. The phone number at our florist shop is one that I will never forget as long as I live, it was "5" Yes, a simple number "5" Can you believe that?
My children today cannot believe that the "big thing" for our family to do then was to sit in the living room at night and listen to the radio. Yes, the R-A-D-I-O. (you seniors remember that, don't you) And we listened to our favorite programs. "Fibber McGee & Mollie" "The Lone Ranger" "The Shadow Knows" "The Great Gildersleeve", "Amos & Andy", "Abbott & Costello", and many others. Those are the ones I remember most.
The radio we had then was a beautiful floor model. It stood about 31/2 feet tall and about 20 inches wide with large speakers in front. When we got our first TV it was mind-boggling. We could not believe it. There were pictures that talked, WOW!
Now listen! I am not sure I want to return to those days even though there were many pleasurable moments to remember. Life did seem to be simpler and I wish we could restore some of those same conditions and moments today that we experienced then. Don't you?
Copyright © 2004 All Rights Reserved Sonny Julius
Sonny Julius is a retired sales supervisor. He encourages anyone who is not totally satisfied with their life to "take charge" and develop the ideal lifestyle they desire most. He did exactly that at the age of 44 years when he became dissatisfied with his life. He developed and used his 8-step formula to make a major career change. It is available for free to anyone wanting to improve their life.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33194
* Crime did not seem to be as rampant and violent.
Now maybe this was not always true where you grew up. But If you lived in small town America it probably was true. It did not dominate the daily news then and it was not as brutal either. There usually were not a large number of crimes in those days.
* You could go out at night without fear of being accosted.
I do not remember many incidents when especially women, had to be so fearful when going out in public then. When I think of the neighborhood where I went in those days to pick up my date, I shudder today when I think of it. Because that area now is so crime infested. Not having an automobile in those days, I had to walk several blocks to her house when I got off the bus. When I left her house after the date there was no fear to stand on the corner late at night to wait for a bus.
* Parents could discipline their children without fear of reprisal
Discipline in most cases then meant a simple word called " NO". And in most cases it was never challenged. If it was, the next action was usually a "swat on the fanny" with a hand, yardstick, or a fly swatter. I do not hear of many parents using this method today, do you?
Sometimes just being told to "sit in the corner" or having a privilege taken away from you was enough to remedy the problem. Now, do not misunderstand me, I sure do not condone any kind of violence to discipline a child. But swatting a kid on the backside with a fly swatter or a yardstick, is that a violent act? Some may think so today. I will not say there were some parents guilty of violent discipline back then but generally that was not the case.
* Mothers were more likely to stay home raising children than working
Most mothers then felt the responsibility to stay home, at least when children were at an early age. Generally there was not as much of a need for them to earn a second income for the family as it is now. If there was a reason they usually found a way to do that while still staying at home. (Taking in washing was common then) My mom worked in the family florist business in later years. This was generally during some of the major holidays. But by then my sister and I were old enough to be there, too.
* Divorce was not as widespread
The odds of staying married for a long time then were much greater than it is now. Couples seemed to work out their problems much better in those days. Today it is not as shameful to get a divorce. I do not remember hearing the phrase "single Mom" back then. If you did it was most likely because the husband was deceased then the mother being divorced.
* Most people seemed to be more polite and courteous
One thing that was drilled in my head back then was to say "thank you" whenever someone either gave you something or paid you a compliment. And I had better not forget to say it, either. Men were expected to open doors for the "opposite sex". Even to pull out the chair at the table and push it back after she was seated was also the normal thing to do. I hate to say it but I do not see much of that practice happening as much today as back then, do you ladies?
These are just a few things that I remember in those early years that made the "good ole days good" Now I admit those times were tough, and we did not have all the modern conveniences that we have today. No TV in those early days, no computers, videos, cell phones, dial up phones (you called the operator and she rang the number for you) And the phone number was usually a short one. The phone number at our florist shop is one that I will never forget as long as I live, it was "5" Yes, a simple number "5" Can you believe that?
My children today cannot believe that the "big thing" for our family to do then was to sit in the living room at night and listen to the radio. Yes, the R-A-D-I-O. (you seniors remember that, don't you) And we listened to our favorite programs. "Fibber McGee & Mollie" "The Lone Ranger" "The Shadow Knows" "The Great Gildersleeve", "Amos & Andy", "Abbott & Costello", and many others. Those are the ones I remember most.
The radio we had then was a beautiful floor model. It stood about 31/2 feet tall and about 20 inches wide with large speakers in front. When we got our first TV it was mind-boggling. We could not believe it. There were pictures that talked, WOW!
Now listen! I am not sure I want to return to those days even though there were many pleasurable moments to remember. Life did seem to be simpler and I wish we could restore some of those same conditions and moments today that we experienced then. Don't you?
Copyright © 2004 All Rights Reserved Sonny Julius
Sonny Julius is a retired sales supervisor. He encourages anyone who is not totally satisfied with their life to "take charge" and develop the ideal lifestyle they desire most. He did exactly that at the age of 44 years when he became dissatisfied with his life. He developed and used his 8-step formula to make a major career change. It is available for free to anyone wanting to improve their life.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33194
Raising the Teen Driving Age to 18
This article is designed to raise the concern about teen driving fatalities and what can be done to drastically reduce this alarming statistic. While this article may be sensitive to some readers in certain industries, we would like to raise the question as to what can be done to make our teens better drivers and how to alert others on the road that a new driver is behind the wheel.
Our previous article raised the question of whether the driving age in the country needs to be raised to age 18. With more teen fatalities on the road each year than the amount of deaths reported from 9/11, we must consider changes to our laws governing teen driving. From another perspective one could say that the number of teen deaths on the roads in the U.S. are greater than the number of deaths reported of U.S. soldiers before and after the war in Iraq! Are our roads a war zone?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 3,657 drivers aged 15 to 20 years killed in 2003. In 2002, the number killed in the same age range was 3,827. While one would never make light of 9/11, let us consider the amount of energy, government changes, money, war - to name just a few - put forth after 9/11. If only a fraction of this energy had been given to the teen driving problem, perhaps we could have reduced teen driving related deaths in 2002 and 2003 - a staggering total of 7,484.
Following is a combined statement from
- Gordon Booth, Chief Instructor of Drivetrain, Inc. in California, http://www.drivetrainusa.com, and
- Eddie Wren of Drive and Stay Alive in New York, http://www.driveandstayalive.com, regarding our teen driving problem:
"Research in several countries has shown not only that the younger people are when they start to drive the higher the chances of having a serious or fatal crash within the first year of driving, but also that a young person's brain is not fully developed until after the teenage years have passed, and that this, in turn, also reduces a young person's abilities as a safe driver.
Wisdom and any genuine desire to protect young people both undeniably dictate that it is better if teenagers do not start to drive until they are at least 17 or preferably 18 years old.
It is noticeable that if parents can hold back a female for 6 months, so they do not start driving until 17 or 18, then one sees them mature at least 12 months. With males a hold back of about a year equals a maturity increase of about 6 months."
Inexperience, risk taking behavior, and immaturity are cited as primary reasons for these accidents. Increasing the driving age to 18 would not necessarily change all three primary reasons. Therefore, we must consider other possible solutions as well, such as the driving education process itself.
Driver Education Comparison
Comparing our driver education process with other countries is an important step in exploring possible solutions. Using Germany as an example, we were able to obtain the following information directly from the German driving school online at http://www.fahrschule.de
First you must be at least 18 years of age.
After you have completed the driver education course and school you are on probation for 2 years. During these 2 years a lesser driving violation would require you to re-take the driver education course. A more serious driving violation would call for your driver's license to be revoked. In either case when your driver's license has been granted once again you will be on probation for 4 years.
The driver training course covers almost 28 hours of classroom education followed by 35 hours of driving school on the road to cover varying conditions of day, night and autobahn experience with an instructor.
The above only covers a small portion of the driving laws in Germany. It is evident, however, that the United States does not have these requirements.
How to drive a car?
Teen driver's aside, it is reasonable to suggest that many adults who have had their driver's license for years are not knowledgeable enough on how to drive a car. They may be traffic regulation experienced, but what about actually using the vehicle? During the driver education process we should include how to handle a car under different conditions -- road conditions for rain, snow, ice, what to do if you have to slam on the brakes at higher speeds, sudden unexpected responses requiring split second decisions, how to handle the automatic and manual transmissions - to name just a few.
This type of training can be performed in driver simulation courses that are currently available from RoadSafety.Com (http://www.roadsafety.com). Larry Selditz, President of RoadSafety.Com had this to tell us:
"For the past 18 months we have been involved in a research and development project to bring effective vehicle simulation to novice drivers and others. While simulators have been around for years, the operative word here is "effective", science-based simulation. We recently completed the Research and Development phase of this project and are now in the process of helping to develop a cost effective commercially viable simulation product. One of our Vice Presidents, Mr. Fred Craft, is forming a new company utilizing the technology we helped develop. Fred is an industry expert in advanced vehicle simulation and I believe he would be an ideal contact for input for your article. I have forwarded a copy of your email to Fred.
I have always been a strong advocate of training and believe it is a key component to developing safe driving SKILLS. That is exactly what a simulator can help achieve. Our vehicle and driver monitoring system, a "black box", is the key to developing safe driving HABITS. As my friend Ron Thackery, Vice President of Risk and Safety for American Medical Response, once told me "what you monitor you can control - what you don't, you won't". That applies to teenagers as well as paramedics. American Medical response operates the largest fleet of ambulances in the world and uses our black box to control and improve driver performance. The same principles that have reduced the number of ambulance crashes by more than 90% are used in the "black box" we developed for teenage drivers."
Economic Implications
The primary industries affected by increasing the driving age to 18 are the automotive manufacturers, auto insurance, gas and driving education companies. This basically covers the largest firms within the auto industry.
The automotive manufacturers would only see a delay in purchases by a factor of three years and only for the first three years that the driving age was raised to 18. Most 18 year olds would receive their driver's licenses during the summer after graduating from high school.
The auto insurance companies would hopefully gain revenues by not having to pay out insurance claims due to car accidents created by the 15 - 18 old teens. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates approximately 300,000 motor vehicle crashes resulting in injuries for this age group per year, which is above the figures for the fatalities mentioned earlier in this article. Therefore, auto insurance industry would have a gain from raising the age limit and not having to pay out 900,000 claims from car accidents over a three year period from age 15 to 18.
Gasoline companies would see a reduction in their revenues with the reduction of gasoline usage. Whether 15 - 18 year old drivers generate a significant impact upon the revenues of gasoline companies is unsubstantiated as of this writing. However, it would be safe to surmise some level of reduction would be apparent. The reduction of emissions would indeed benefit our planet.
Driving schools would see the most significant impact. Short term they would lose business for the first 3 years. Those three years could be used, however, to help provide them support by both State and Federal governments. The amount of financial effort that has been put forth after 9/11 against terrorist continues to question if only a fraction could be used in this effort to help save our teenagers. During these three years, assisting them to prepare courses should be considered. Long term the driving schools would actually fair better as they would have more hours per student to charge.
Affects upon the Family
For parents with new teen drivers with permit licenses going through a state Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program, there will be no affect in the initial implementation of changing the driving age to 18. Parents with teens that have their operators license and who have allowed their teens to drive on their own will most likely find themselves having to continue to "chauffeur" their 16 - 18 year old teens to their various activities. While precious time would be encumbered, you can get comfort from the fact that your teen is still alive, your car is not damaged from an auto accident and your insurance has not doubled because of a teen driver on the policy.
What if we do not change the driving age?
I have a philosophy that the difference between utopia and reality is a choice. A choice by an individual or a group to make a change or move in a different direction. The statistics about teen driving require a change. If changing the driving age to 18 is too big of a leap today, then we can take smaller steps to help teens have better education and understand how to drive a car instead of blindly using a deadly weapon.
We need to review what the driving schools are asked to teach the students. The requirements need to include not only traffic safety, but car driving training under differing conditions. The number of hours required behind the wheel should equal the number of hours required for the course, which is currently around 30 hours. Parents would spend more money to achieve this, but the additional cost is insignificant compared to the lives of their loved ones.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) should be a requirement nationwide and include a probationary period for all new drivers to last through age 18. Traffic violations during the probationary period should require re-taking the driver education course -not with adults that are in a defensive driving course, but with other teens. Asking the teen to re-take driver education through the same school they received their initial education would be a consideration. Tracking the teens that re-take driver education and the driving schools they attend would also help understand if there is a driving school that may not be properly educating the teens.
Driving school vehicles are always well marked while students are driving on the main roads. Unfortunately, that requirement does not extend to the family vehicle for new drivers in a GDL program. All family vehicles with a new teen driver should be required to have at least one label on the back of the car while the teen is driving and through age 18.
Bumper stickers are not always practical when a teen is occasionally driving the car and stick-on vinyl to the window does not address night-time driving issues. The technology exists today to use car magnets that are thick, reflective for the night and are durable. These types of car magnets can be found at Auto Safety Magnets. http://www.autosafetymagnets.com Identifying these almost 2 million vehicles on the road should be a requirement on a national level.
In Conclusion
We hope the above information was helpful to address the problems, the need, and identify options if the driving age remained status quo or if it were raised. We hope the information was comprehensive to show the economic implications and the hindrances to raising the driving age. With these alarming statistics why have state and federal governments, as well as, the automotive industry jumped to the rescue? Have financial issues during hard economic times been put ahead of our youth? We have to "cowboy-up" to a resolution about this national problem.
Resource of information on driving safety for parents of teen drivers. Our content relates to student drivers with permit learners driver license or teen drivers that have their operator drivers license. Learning to drive and undergoing drivers ed, driving school or traffic school for driving lessons for drivers in training.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/32608
Our previous article raised the question of whether the driving age in the country needs to be raised to age 18. With more teen fatalities on the road each year than the amount of deaths reported from 9/11, we must consider changes to our laws governing teen driving. From another perspective one could say that the number of teen deaths on the roads in the U.S. are greater than the number of deaths reported of U.S. soldiers before and after the war in Iraq! Are our roads a war zone?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 3,657 drivers aged 15 to 20 years killed in 2003. In 2002, the number killed in the same age range was 3,827. While one would never make light of 9/11, let us consider the amount of energy, government changes, money, war - to name just a few - put forth after 9/11. If only a fraction of this energy had been given to the teen driving problem, perhaps we could have reduced teen driving related deaths in 2002 and 2003 - a staggering total of 7,484.
Following is a combined statement from
- Gordon Booth, Chief Instructor of Drivetrain, Inc. in California, http://www.drivetrainusa.com, and
- Eddie Wren of Drive and Stay Alive in New York, http://www.driveandstayalive.com, regarding our teen driving problem:
"Research in several countries has shown not only that the younger people are when they start to drive the higher the chances of having a serious or fatal crash within the first year of driving, but also that a young person's brain is not fully developed until after the teenage years have passed, and that this, in turn, also reduces a young person's abilities as a safe driver.
Wisdom and any genuine desire to protect young people both undeniably dictate that it is better if teenagers do not start to drive until they are at least 17 or preferably 18 years old.
It is noticeable that if parents can hold back a female for 6 months, so they do not start driving until 17 or 18, then one sees them mature at least 12 months. With males a hold back of about a year equals a maturity increase of about 6 months."
Inexperience, risk taking behavior, and immaturity are cited as primary reasons for these accidents. Increasing the driving age to 18 would not necessarily change all three primary reasons. Therefore, we must consider other possible solutions as well, such as the driving education process itself.
Driver Education Comparison
Comparing our driver education process with other countries is an important step in exploring possible solutions. Using Germany as an example, we were able to obtain the following information directly from the German driving school online at http://www.fahrschule.de
First you must be at least 18 years of age.
After you have completed the driver education course and school you are on probation for 2 years. During these 2 years a lesser driving violation would require you to re-take the driver education course. A more serious driving violation would call for your driver's license to be revoked. In either case when your driver's license has been granted once again you will be on probation for 4 years.
The driver training course covers almost 28 hours of classroom education followed by 35 hours of driving school on the road to cover varying conditions of day, night and autobahn experience with an instructor.
The above only covers a small portion of the driving laws in Germany. It is evident, however, that the United States does not have these requirements.
How to drive a car?
Teen driver's aside, it is reasonable to suggest that many adults who have had their driver's license for years are not knowledgeable enough on how to drive a car. They may be traffic regulation experienced, but what about actually using the vehicle? During the driver education process we should include how to handle a car under different conditions -- road conditions for rain, snow, ice, what to do if you have to slam on the brakes at higher speeds, sudden unexpected responses requiring split second decisions, how to handle the automatic and manual transmissions - to name just a few.
This type of training can be performed in driver simulation courses that are currently available from RoadSafety.Com (http://www.roadsafety.com). Larry Selditz, President of RoadSafety.Com had this to tell us:
"For the past 18 months we have been involved in a research and development project to bring effective vehicle simulation to novice drivers and others. While simulators have been around for years, the operative word here is "effective", science-based simulation. We recently completed the Research and Development phase of this project and are now in the process of helping to develop a cost effective commercially viable simulation product. One of our Vice Presidents, Mr. Fred Craft, is forming a new company utilizing the technology we helped develop. Fred is an industry expert in advanced vehicle simulation and I believe he would be an ideal contact for input for your article. I have forwarded a copy of your email to Fred.
I have always been a strong advocate of training and believe it is a key component to developing safe driving SKILLS. That is exactly what a simulator can help achieve. Our vehicle and driver monitoring system, a "black box", is the key to developing safe driving HABITS. As my friend Ron Thackery, Vice President of Risk and Safety for American Medical Response, once told me "what you monitor you can control - what you don't, you won't". That applies to teenagers as well as paramedics. American Medical response operates the largest fleet of ambulances in the world and uses our black box to control and improve driver performance. The same principles that have reduced the number of ambulance crashes by more than 90% are used in the "black box" we developed for teenage drivers."
Economic Implications
The primary industries affected by increasing the driving age to 18 are the automotive manufacturers, auto insurance, gas and driving education companies. This basically covers the largest firms within the auto industry.
The automotive manufacturers would only see a delay in purchases by a factor of three years and only for the first three years that the driving age was raised to 18. Most 18 year olds would receive their driver's licenses during the summer after graduating from high school.
The auto insurance companies would hopefully gain revenues by not having to pay out insurance claims due to car accidents created by the 15 - 18 old teens. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates approximately 300,000 motor vehicle crashes resulting in injuries for this age group per year, which is above the figures for the fatalities mentioned earlier in this article. Therefore, auto insurance industry would have a gain from raising the age limit and not having to pay out 900,000 claims from car accidents over a three year period from age 15 to 18.
Gasoline companies would see a reduction in their revenues with the reduction of gasoline usage. Whether 15 - 18 year old drivers generate a significant impact upon the revenues of gasoline companies is unsubstantiated as of this writing. However, it would be safe to surmise some level of reduction would be apparent. The reduction of emissions would indeed benefit our planet.
Driving schools would see the most significant impact. Short term they would lose business for the first 3 years. Those three years could be used, however, to help provide them support by both State and Federal governments. The amount of financial effort that has been put forth after 9/11 against terrorist continues to question if only a fraction could be used in this effort to help save our teenagers. During these three years, assisting them to prepare courses should be considered. Long term the driving schools would actually fair better as they would have more hours per student to charge.
Affects upon the Family
For parents with new teen drivers with permit licenses going through a state Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) program, there will be no affect in the initial implementation of changing the driving age to 18. Parents with teens that have their operators license and who have allowed their teens to drive on their own will most likely find themselves having to continue to "chauffeur" their 16 - 18 year old teens to their various activities. While precious time would be encumbered, you can get comfort from the fact that your teen is still alive, your car is not damaged from an auto accident and your insurance has not doubled because of a teen driver on the policy.
What if we do not change the driving age?
I have a philosophy that the difference between utopia and reality is a choice. A choice by an individual or a group to make a change or move in a different direction. The statistics about teen driving require a change. If changing the driving age to 18 is too big of a leap today, then we can take smaller steps to help teens have better education and understand how to drive a car instead of blindly using a deadly weapon.
We need to review what the driving schools are asked to teach the students. The requirements need to include not only traffic safety, but car driving training under differing conditions. The number of hours required behind the wheel should equal the number of hours required for the course, which is currently around 30 hours. Parents would spend more money to achieve this, but the additional cost is insignificant compared to the lives of their loved ones.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) should be a requirement nationwide and include a probationary period for all new drivers to last through age 18. Traffic violations during the probationary period should require re-taking the driver education course -not with adults that are in a defensive driving course, but with other teens. Asking the teen to re-take driver education through the same school they received their initial education would be a consideration. Tracking the teens that re-take driver education and the driving schools they attend would also help understand if there is a driving school that may not be properly educating the teens.
Driving school vehicles are always well marked while students are driving on the main roads. Unfortunately, that requirement does not extend to the family vehicle for new drivers in a GDL program. All family vehicles with a new teen driver should be required to have at least one label on the back of the car while the teen is driving and through age 18.
Bumper stickers are not always practical when a teen is occasionally driving the car and stick-on vinyl to the window does not address night-time driving issues. The technology exists today to use car magnets that are thick, reflective for the night and are durable. These types of car magnets can be found at Auto Safety Magnets. http://www.autosafetymagnets.com Identifying these almost 2 million vehicles on the road should be a requirement on a national level.
In Conclusion
We hope the above information was helpful to address the problems, the need, and identify options if the driving age remained status quo or if it were raised. We hope the information was comprehensive to show the economic implications and the hindrances to raising the driving age. With these alarming statistics why have state and federal governments, as well as, the automotive industry jumped to the rescue? Have financial issues during hard economic times been put ahead of our youth? We have to "cowboy-up" to a resolution about this national problem.
Resource of information on driving safety for parents of teen drivers. Our content relates to student drivers with permit learners driver license or teen drivers that have their operator drivers license. Learning to drive and undergoing drivers ed, driving school or traffic school for driving lessons for drivers in training.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/32608
Blogs Are Increasing Our Sense Of Democracy AND Yield Interesting Insights For Media Researchers
Even though blogs as a new medium don´t appear to be very powerful or visible in the larger public debate, it is an encouraging sign for democracy that the top ten blogs are read by most newseditors of the mainstream press.
If blogs are taken serious by news editors, they´re very likely also read by the people behind the scenes in political organisations. Fact is, the top blogs all got their rankings in different ways and everyone´s got a fair chance to actually be heard. This inspires a lot of blog writing and feed back is mostly very gratifying even though circulation might be limited.
The masses involved in writing surely are having a pseudo sense of democracy. Perhaps the first experience of its kind in world history. Writing can make you experience an extra dimension to your normal existence and if politics is the subject a great sense of direct involvement with power is felt. Perhaps that´s why the euphoria about war reporting from the backrooms and cellars in almost impossible circumstances was seen as so tremendous on the outset. It felt very much like listening to illegal radio stations and the music sounded extra good for the few involved.
Research numbers have brought us back to reality though. The initial figures on blogging tell a much less inspiring story. Ordinary people, aside from writing enthusiastically in their pre-formated online gyros, themselves barely depend on what other people write for their news intake. Pew Research Center of the US reported that in 2003, 4 percent of ordinary Americans refer to blogs for information and opinion. Even the most popular blog on the web - garners only a fraction of the Web traffic that major media outlets attract.
But to say that blogs have no impact on the political debate would be as inaccurate as saying that sources the media quote have no impact on (the tone of) their wider stories. Even though blogging is in no way organised and everybody out there is just screaming their message in -at first- empty empty space, some voices are eventually heard and if what they are saying is noteworthy or revealing important information that otherwise would not be known, you can say a blog is impacting on the wider debate.
From a media research point of view, blogs provide priceless information about the collective response of ordinary people to breaking news and their grouping by subject matter and keywords provides great information about the structures that are beginning to emerge in cyberspace at large, something that had not been achieved and that the established media or the search engine community on its own would never be able to accomplish. Larger and more popular blogs are mainly rising in fame because they show they have an excellent sense of judgement when it comes to news gathering, analysis and insight.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33538
If blogs are taken serious by news editors, they´re very likely also read by the people behind the scenes in political organisations. Fact is, the top blogs all got their rankings in different ways and everyone´s got a fair chance to actually be heard. This inspires a lot of blog writing and feed back is mostly very gratifying even though circulation might be limited.
The masses involved in writing surely are having a pseudo sense of democracy. Perhaps the first experience of its kind in world history. Writing can make you experience an extra dimension to your normal existence and if politics is the subject a great sense of direct involvement with power is felt. Perhaps that´s why the euphoria about war reporting from the backrooms and cellars in almost impossible circumstances was seen as so tremendous on the outset. It felt very much like listening to illegal radio stations and the music sounded extra good for the few involved.
Research numbers have brought us back to reality though. The initial figures on blogging tell a much less inspiring story. Ordinary people, aside from writing enthusiastically in their pre-formated online gyros, themselves barely depend on what other people write for their news intake. Pew Research Center of the US reported that in 2003, 4 percent of ordinary Americans refer to blogs for information and opinion. Even the most popular blog on the web - garners only a fraction of the Web traffic that major media outlets attract.
But to say that blogs have no impact on the political debate would be as inaccurate as saying that sources the media quote have no impact on (the tone of) their wider stories. Even though blogging is in no way organised and everybody out there is just screaming their message in -at first- empty empty space, some voices are eventually heard and if what they are saying is noteworthy or revealing important information that otherwise would not be known, you can say a blog is impacting on the wider debate.
From a media research point of view, blogs provide priceless information about the collective response of ordinary people to breaking news and their grouping by subject matter and keywords provides great information about the structures that are beginning to emerge in cyberspace at large, something that had not been achieved and that the established media or the search engine community on its own would never be able to accomplish. Larger and more popular blogs are mainly rising in fame because they show they have an excellent sense of judgement when it comes to news gathering, analysis and insight.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33538
Another Doomsday, Another Dollar: Shifting Science Towards Peace & Ecology
In his book, "Our Final Hour," Cambridge professor and Britain's "Astronomer Royal" Martin Rees predicts humanity has no more than a 50/50 chance of survival into the next century and that by 2020 a million people will perish due to scientific error or terror. Some would call him prescient, while others would interpret his words as alarmist, resembling a layer cake with environmental fears on top of nuclear fears on top of chemical and biological threats, ad infinitum. With a sci-fi flare, he warns of runaway technology, human clones and an ability to insert memory chips into the brain.
Doomsday predictors get much the same respect as the "toxic fumes" sign at the local service station; they impart their wisdom, yet we yawn. Situations which seem grim and overwhelming, even potentially lethal, tend to be ignored. Attention on more immediate and "American" concerns, such as consumer goods and personal advancement, monopolize our daily thoughts. This is arguably foolhardy and indicative of the "another doomsday, another dollar" mentality.
Rees is not a lone voice on the scientific stage. The "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" reports we have seven minutes until our final bow at midnight. Other reputable experts surmise that a "gray goo" or nanotechnological catastrophe poses the greatest threat. This involves the invention of miniature, self-replicating machines that gnaw away at the environment until it is devoid of life. It need not be deliberate sabotage--as in technological warfare by one nation against another--but could result from a laboratory mishap.
Astronomers speak of fugitive asteroids that could destroy major sections of our planet within the next 30 years. Others point to atom-crashing tests and their potential for a lethal strangelet scenario. Strangelets are malformed subatomic matter, which could distort all normal matter and dissolve the earth in seconds.
There are streams of alerts from environmental experts who tell us natural disasters are on the rise. They warn of climatic change and tell us the world's species die at a rate 1000 times greater than they did prior to human existence due to habitat destruction and the introduction of non-indigenous species into the ecosystem. Their conclusion? If we do not reverse the damaging trend, Earth itself will be extinct.
Should we open our minds to doomsday predictions? And if we accept them, what is the next step to insure or increase our chance of planetary survival?
In his book, "Science, Money and Politics," Daniel Greenberg follows a trail of suspicion. He condemns what he believes to be the self-serving, greedy scientific community with its bungled research, conflicts of interest and findings that never see the light of day due to suppression by corporate sponsors. But this seems to be an overly cynical, embellished perspective; there are surely many scientists dedicated to discovery and social responsibility, apart from any personal gain. And we should not forget that offering controversial insights can be at a cost; proponents of "radical" theories often expose themselves to public and professional ridicule.
Regardless of skepticism, the "Pascal's Wager" game plan seems a good bet. This essentially means we should not gamble with eternity, but instead urge the scientific community to take precautions since Armageddon allows no second chance. Better to err on the side of life, even if it means some black holes will go unexplored and some research grants will be pulled.
Precaution means building contingency plans--such as shields and containment measures--into emerging technologies so that if an experiment goes awry, a safety net will kick into place. It means the scientific community should better police itself. It means committees or boards--both local and international--should be established for oversight and regulations, much like Albert Einstein proposed in 1947 to maintain worldwide peace. Many nation-states and multinational corporations are known for fighting even minimal efforts to regulate dangerous technology, and they must be countered.
There are pragmatic hurdles to be negotiated when trying to impose rules on private parties or on authorities in renegade lands, but the ozone hole "near disaster" demonstrates how the world can cooperate when it comes to life-and-death matters. As cultures dovetail, as communications rise, as borders become more porous, and as the world figuratively shrinks, it will be easier to impose structure and scientific parameters on nations that seem combative today
Science must shift its course and find new mountains to climb. It looks to us for cues. Due to our materialistic bent as a culture, our cursory endorsement of "progress" and our captivation with the Prometheus-like aura of technology, we subtly ask the scientific community to scale those mountains that are the highest (great accolades can be received), the easiest (the path of least resistance) or the most profit-oriented (grant money from special interests or an emphasis on reducing labor so companies can realize greater proceeds) rather than those that are the most ecological and peace-enhancing.
The research community has rivers of creativity and forests of energy that could instead be directed towards rivers and forests. It could move towards ecological preservation and restoration, peaceful alternatives to conflict and a furthering of life on this planet.
We will know a cultural transition is underway when news reports following fires, earthquakes and other disasters address the impact on natural systems and nonhuman species, rather than just the human and economical consequences, such as the number of homes lost. Our capitalistic culture thrives on the fact that nature is cost-free, which in turn, reinforces the notion that it is expendable and devoid of value. This reality must change. Our reality must change. And science must change. It must shift towards peace and ecology. It's as plain as doomsday.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/32925
Doomsday predictors get much the same respect as the "toxic fumes" sign at the local service station; they impart their wisdom, yet we yawn. Situations which seem grim and overwhelming, even potentially lethal, tend to be ignored. Attention on more immediate and "American" concerns, such as consumer goods and personal advancement, monopolize our daily thoughts. This is arguably foolhardy and indicative of the "another doomsday, another dollar" mentality.
Rees is not a lone voice on the scientific stage. The "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" reports we have seven minutes until our final bow at midnight. Other reputable experts surmise that a "gray goo" or nanotechnological catastrophe poses the greatest threat. This involves the invention of miniature, self-replicating machines that gnaw away at the environment until it is devoid of life. It need not be deliberate sabotage--as in technological warfare by one nation against another--but could result from a laboratory mishap.
Astronomers speak of fugitive asteroids that could destroy major sections of our planet within the next 30 years. Others point to atom-crashing tests and their potential for a lethal strangelet scenario. Strangelets are malformed subatomic matter, which could distort all normal matter and dissolve the earth in seconds.
There are streams of alerts from environmental experts who tell us natural disasters are on the rise. They warn of climatic change and tell us the world's species die at a rate 1000 times greater than they did prior to human existence due to habitat destruction and the introduction of non-indigenous species into the ecosystem. Their conclusion? If we do not reverse the damaging trend, Earth itself will be extinct.
Should we open our minds to doomsday predictions? And if we accept them, what is the next step to insure or increase our chance of planetary survival?
In his book, "Science, Money and Politics," Daniel Greenberg follows a trail of suspicion. He condemns what he believes to be the self-serving, greedy scientific community with its bungled research, conflicts of interest and findings that never see the light of day due to suppression by corporate sponsors. But this seems to be an overly cynical, embellished perspective; there are surely many scientists dedicated to discovery and social responsibility, apart from any personal gain. And we should not forget that offering controversial insights can be at a cost; proponents of "radical" theories often expose themselves to public and professional ridicule.
Regardless of skepticism, the "Pascal's Wager" game plan seems a good bet. This essentially means we should not gamble with eternity, but instead urge the scientific community to take precautions since Armageddon allows no second chance. Better to err on the side of life, even if it means some black holes will go unexplored and some research grants will be pulled.
Precaution means building contingency plans--such as shields and containment measures--into emerging technologies so that if an experiment goes awry, a safety net will kick into place. It means the scientific community should better police itself. It means committees or boards--both local and international--should be established for oversight and regulations, much like Albert Einstein proposed in 1947 to maintain worldwide peace. Many nation-states and multinational corporations are known for fighting even minimal efforts to regulate dangerous technology, and they must be countered.
There are pragmatic hurdles to be negotiated when trying to impose rules on private parties or on authorities in renegade lands, but the ozone hole "near disaster" demonstrates how the world can cooperate when it comes to life-and-death matters. As cultures dovetail, as communications rise, as borders become more porous, and as the world figuratively shrinks, it will be easier to impose structure and scientific parameters on nations that seem combative today
Science must shift its course and find new mountains to climb. It looks to us for cues. Due to our materialistic bent as a culture, our cursory endorsement of "progress" and our captivation with the Prometheus-like aura of technology, we subtly ask the scientific community to scale those mountains that are the highest (great accolades can be received), the easiest (the path of least resistance) or the most profit-oriented (grant money from special interests or an emphasis on reducing labor so companies can realize greater proceeds) rather than those that are the most ecological and peace-enhancing.
The research community has rivers of creativity and forests of energy that could instead be directed towards rivers and forests. It could move towards ecological preservation and restoration, peaceful alternatives to conflict and a furthering of life on this planet.
We will know a cultural transition is underway when news reports following fires, earthquakes and other disasters address the impact on natural systems and nonhuman species, rather than just the human and economical consequences, such as the number of homes lost. Our capitalistic culture thrives on the fact that nature is cost-free, which in turn, reinforces the notion that it is expendable and devoid of value. This reality must change. Our reality must change. And science must change. It must shift towards peace and ecology. It's as plain as doomsday.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/32925
Child Labor: Despite the Acts and Laws, This Problem Just Won't Go Away
Too many people think that child labor is a problem of the past. However, a quick glance at recent statistics paints a very different picture.
According to one website*, the global problem of illegal child labor and exploitation has hardly disappeared. Indeed, as the population grows, so, too, do the numbers.
246,000,000 children qualify as child laborers (generally aged 14 and under)
73,000,000 are under the age of 10.
Of these, 2.5 million are in developed countries
Another 2.5 million live in Eastern Europe
Every single year, an estimated 22,000 kids will die in a work-related accident.
The great majority - 127 million - of these working children under fourteen live in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Sub-Sahara Africa, nearly 33% of children under 14 hold down jobs. This number totals 48,000,000!
The top two industries that employ these many millions of children across the globe are the agricultural and the Domestic services. However, these jobs are hardly as cushy as they sound...
Conditions in these countries generally mean danger in the fields or in the "domestic arena". It's no jump of the imagination to figure out what kind of domestic activities were preformed by the large population of little girls (who account for up to 60%) Many of them are exploited and go through fast-track training as prostitutes, black market baby machines, and all sorts of other terrible "careers".
Right now, lack of enforcement is the key obstacle to combating child labor. In many of the same nations and regions where child labor is rampant, the funding and infrastructure of regulatory agencies simply doesn't exist. Someone else is going to have to step in, show some courage and initiative and help to develop safer, sounder and empowering ways to put the families to work.
One of the ways that this is done is the use of micro-loan funding. Loans (almost all of which are less than $1,000.00US) are provided to men and women to fund their trades and businesses. This trend has already swept across many third-world countries and left a slew of success stories in it's wake.
However, this is only the beginning. Advocacy groups and non-profit organizations always need support of every different kind.
Each of us is certainly gifted with some talent, service or even contact that can make a difference in the lives of our children, and through them, the fate of our future.
So, earnestly ask yourself, "What can I do to put a stop to this terrible tragedy?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33851
According to one website*, the global problem of illegal child labor and exploitation has hardly disappeared. Indeed, as the population grows, so, too, do the numbers.
246,000,000 children qualify as child laborers (generally aged 14 and under)
73,000,000 are under the age of 10.
Of these, 2.5 million are in developed countries
Another 2.5 million live in Eastern Europe
Every single year, an estimated 22,000 kids will die in a work-related accident.
The great majority - 127 million - of these working children under fourteen live in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Sub-Sahara Africa, nearly 33% of children under 14 hold down jobs. This number totals 48,000,000!
The top two industries that employ these many millions of children across the globe are the agricultural and the Domestic services. However, these jobs are hardly as cushy as they sound...
Conditions in these countries generally mean danger in the fields or in the "domestic arena". It's no jump of the imagination to figure out what kind of domestic activities were preformed by the large population of little girls (who account for up to 60%) Many of them are exploited and go through fast-track training as prostitutes, black market baby machines, and all sorts of other terrible "careers".
Right now, lack of enforcement is the key obstacle to combating child labor. In many of the same nations and regions where child labor is rampant, the funding and infrastructure of regulatory agencies simply doesn't exist. Someone else is going to have to step in, show some courage and initiative and help to develop safer, sounder and empowering ways to put the families to work.
One of the ways that this is done is the use of micro-loan funding. Loans (almost all of which are less than $1,000.00US) are provided to men and women to fund their trades and businesses. This trend has already swept across many third-world countries and left a slew of success stories in it's wake.
However, this is only the beginning. Advocacy groups and non-profit organizations always need support of every different kind.
Each of us is certainly gifted with some talent, service or even contact that can make a difference in the lives of our children, and through them, the fate of our future.
So, earnestly ask yourself, "What can I do to put a stop to this terrible tragedy?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33851
FEAR, Doom and Gloom, We are all going to die, Ah hah hah ha hah?
Should we really be in fear of International Terrorists? Should we worry about a nuclear war, Y2K, planet alignment, comet or asteroid killing us all, Tsunami, SuperVolcano, are you scared yet? You should be we have been bombarding your brain for centuries and now we have mass media. Wake up and be scared. FEAR. This is nothing new to humankind. God is coming back, Nostradamos, Armageddon, end of days, revelation, please fear me now? Not enough for you? Did I mention Hurricanes, Earthquakes, bioterrorism, bird flu, mad cow, aliens. What? You still are not buying into it? What is a matter have we not programmed you better than this? Did you turn off the TV? Stop reading newspapers? We are playing this on every channel, station, radio, TV, print medium? Ever heard of the Internet? Yah we are using it to; FEAR; Fear I tell you.
Mankind has been doing what mankind does innately for 160,000 years. We have 10,000 years of recorded history showing nothing less. Those in charge lead by fear, it seems to be a great motivator of the human species so remember that and be scared, FEAR. Why would those who wish to control change such an easy level, just hit the fear button and all of a sudden you are in control. Think about it.
We change the setting and then expect the whole of mankind to do any different than the current mess of civilization. Well that is purely silly. The innate characteristics of the species must be factored in to every decision made by leaders at any level, if they are to deny those innate qualities they always lose. Therefore fixing the problems of a city, country or even the entire World is relatively simple. You do things, which give incentives to individuals of the human race, which fulfill such needs and innate desires. Every decision for forward progress should be based on incentive to get what the people and individual want, desire and need for their happiness and genetic make-up of this social being or you change the genetic make-up, which I suppose will occur within the next 100-200 years. You cannot simply try to nurture those things which have been going on for 160,000 years within a couple of hundred.
Do you ever wonder what mankind's leadership will come up with next to make us fear? Silly humans, you'll believe just about anything. Now keep your mind closed and FEAR. We thank you all; AH hah, hah, ha, ha. Fear !
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34139
Mankind has been doing what mankind does innately for 160,000 years. We have 10,000 years of recorded history showing nothing less. Those in charge lead by fear, it seems to be a great motivator of the human species so remember that and be scared, FEAR. Why would those who wish to control change such an easy level, just hit the fear button and all of a sudden you are in control. Think about it.
We change the setting and then expect the whole of mankind to do any different than the current mess of civilization. Well that is purely silly. The innate characteristics of the species must be factored in to every decision made by leaders at any level, if they are to deny those innate qualities they always lose. Therefore fixing the problems of a city, country or even the entire World is relatively simple. You do things, which give incentives to individuals of the human race, which fulfill such needs and innate desires. Every decision for forward progress should be based on incentive to get what the people and individual want, desire and need for their happiness and genetic make-up of this social being or you change the genetic make-up, which I suppose will occur within the next 100-200 years. You cannot simply try to nurture those things which have been going on for 160,000 years within a couple of hundred.
Do you ever wonder what mankind's leadership will come up with next to make us fear? Silly humans, you'll believe just about anything. Now keep your mind closed and FEAR. We thank you all; AH hah, hah, ha, ha. Fear !
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34139
El Nino and Hurricane Season Connections
In the media we have heard discussion of weather, we have heard that Hurricane season can affect LA Nina, but can El Nino effect Hurricane season? Yes obviously it is all connected and last time we checked pollution and wind and rain and Hurricanes did not have to go through a check point at any man made border or lines drawn in the sand fought over with life and limb by a surface dwelling species killing its own kind. Meaning of course the Mother Nature or the weather could care less what you call the country or ocean it flows over or rains upon. It is impartial in every sense of the word. Or so say the modern one-God believer members of our race in this millennium. Previously the Greeks with their many Gods believed they were controlling it all and actually did care about the boundaries of mankind.
Still with all the data and trends and all the information collected by NASA and the NOAA, everyone claims that they do not know. No forward looking statements as the Chicago Mercantile manipulates trading based on even this friendly conversation about the weather predictions of 2005-2006 season in this article. Anything to move the market as the market makers become ingrained in predictions like the late Harry Fishbeck of LA TV or the Hippy Dippy Weatherman of the 60's and 70's dude?
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/enso/mlbnino.html .
The fact is we do not know if La Nina is coming in 2005-2006, we know that it will be a big Hurricane season, but we do not know how big or how late in the season it will go. We do not know what the Atlantic Hurricanes of 2005-2006 will do to change the weather patterns of the Pacific leading into the next Spring and Winter Seasons. But we do know that we must keep a watchful eye and prepare ourselves. All air flows and weather patterns affect each other, there are hundreds of variables all interacting and for the most part we won't know which ones will take presidence in our most extreme weather of the year, but we will know soon enough. Maybe we will see you on 'Storm Stories' so stay safe and think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34259
Still with all the data and trends and all the information collected by NASA and the NOAA, everyone claims that they do not know. No forward looking statements as the Chicago Mercantile manipulates trading based on even this friendly conversation about the weather predictions of 2005-2006 season in this article. Anything to move the market as the market makers become ingrained in predictions like the late Harry Fishbeck of LA TV or the Hippy Dippy Weatherman of the 60's and 70's dude?
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/enso/mlbnino.html .
The fact is we do not know if La Nina is coming in 2005-2006, we know that it will be a big Hurricane season, but we do not know how big or how late in the season it will go. We do not know what the Atlantic Hurricanes of 2005-2006 will do to change the weather patterns of the Pacific leading into the next Spring and Winter Seasons. But we do know that we must keep a watchful eye and prepare ourselves. All air flows and weather patterns affect each other, there are hundreds of variables all interacting and for the most part we won't know which ones will take presidence in our most extreme weather of the year, but we will know soon enough. Maybe we will see you on 'Storm Stories' so stay safe and think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34259
La Nina in 2005-2006?
For the proper LA Nina effect you will need cooling of the Pacific Ocean surface waters. Since La Nina follow El Nino do we believe this will happen in 2005-2006 season? Was the huge rainy season in Southern California really caused by El Nino? No one called it El Nino, but the five or six serious storms sure indicated an above average level of rainfall. The answer is we should know later this year. If we start to see that CA coastline is the coolest area in the country at least during the July - August Transition, then that will be a telling sign for us.
Even so it takes more than a few months to be sure that La Nina is really coming. Some do not feel that the hot Pacific Trend has not changed significantly yet. A lengthened and heavy Hurricane season which is expected in 2005 by climate experts will have activity which will spill over the central American nations into the Pacific Regions and head up onto Baja, we will probably see two such heavy tropical storms or even Hurricanes in that region in 2005. If you get significant activity and it pushes the Hurricanes into the Pacific late in the season keeping the jet stream and trade winds back then you will have a harder time telling if you can get a significant trend to cool waters fast enough to get a LA Nina effect.
You still could get one if the Hurricane season lasts late and issues such as Volcanic Eruptions, Fires, Gulf War type calamities taint the skies over the Pacific blocking ultra violate rays and solar activity from warming the water to the moderate rates needed for normalcy. A close passing comet could put dust into the atmosphere, fires in the Chinese Grass Lands could cause a dense atmosphere; just about anything, this is why it is so hard to predict. Meaning trying to figure out the weather is harder than hell, in layman's terms. It is just to early to say, but scientists are looking at this because it greatly effects our water supplies and drought issues. Think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34255
Even so it takes more than a few months to be sure that La Nina is really coming. Some do not feel that the hot Pacific Trend has not changed significantly yet. A lengthened and heavy Hurricane season which is expected in 2005 by climate experts will have activity which will spill over the central American nations into the Pacific Regions and head up onto Baja, we will probably see two such heavy tropical storms or even Hurricanes in that region in 2005. If you get significant activity and it pushes the Hurricanes into the Pacific late in the season keeping the jet stream and trade winds back then you will have a harder time telling if you can get a significant trend to cool waters fast enough to get a LA Nina effect.
You still could get one if the Hurricane season lasts late and issues such as Volcanic Eruptions, Fires, Gulf War type calamities taint the skies over the Pacific blocking ultra violate rays and solar activity from warming the water to the moderate rates needed for normalcy. A close passing comet could put dust into the atmosphere, fires in the Chinese Grass Lands could cause a dense atmosphere; just about anything, this is why it is so hard to predict. Meaning trying to figure out the weather is harder than hell, in layman's terms. It is just to early to say, but scientists are looking at this because it greatly effects our water supplies and drought issues. Think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34255
Arsonists & Eco-Terrorism
Many of us have feared that eco-terrorist arsonists would continue attacks such as the Hummer Dealership in LA and the construction fires in San Diego. These people have been often featured on the weekly newsletter at Firehouse.com as arsonists, which is what they are. Oh they claim to be pro-environment and then they go and pollute the air, vandalize and cause millions of dollars in property damage.
As many of you know The FBI is adamant about getting rid of Arsonists and eco-terrorists. The group originated out of Canada and have used the Internet to recruit US Citizens to help in their cause, thus making eco-terrorists: International Terrorists. But what as citizens can we do to prevent these fires and vandalism. One way is to start a Neighborhood Arson Watch Program in areas near forests or resorts to catch them. Here is a plan online:
http://www.lancewinslow.org/arsonwatch.pdf
For the record let us point out the problems in Canada with the Industry and the Indians. With the clear-cutting there, with the lack of Water Quality Control Boards is an issue, which must be addressed there. This was one of the original concerns of this eco-environmental groups before they decided to use arson as a weapon. Yet they come here and influence our citizens who live in the cleanest country in the world, with some of the best air flowing over it and the best and cleanest water? What the heck are they thinking and why would any US Citizen join such a rotten and criminal group?
With the latest fires in Canada in the resort towns last year, which these people may have been responsible for and the fires outside the Bitter Root in MT, we may determine that these groups are much worse than ever expected. Were they responsible for those too? And exactly how does burning a dealership in San Diego with cars, SUVs and Hummers which are made of plastics, paint, with fuel in them help the environment? The hypocrisy of their mission is all up in smoke and into the environment; help clean air? What a contradiction. And the vandalism is called eco-acts? It is domestic terrorism influenced and recruited from International Terrorism from Canadian misfits and everyone knows that these misfits are huge smokers of Marijuana and many other drugs and tonight we saw a College Professor who says he has been studying them for 15 years and they have a point. What? What is the point?
In Singapore they would have been caned for the graffiti and shot for the fires. We have beautiful state parks, beautiful rivers and a wonderful country. I have been to all corners and to nearly every state park, everything on the Planet you could want is right here in the United States and we have a college professor defending these people. We have Barnes and Noble, Borders and Hastings selling magazines of known eco-terrorist groups. They threaten personal property and say; "if you build we will burn it." Well one day these kids are going to be shot by a landowner defending his property. And like the Deflocked Catholic Priest John Geoghan, I will not lose sleep over it.
The Nature Conservancy has the plan right if you want it to remain open, then go make some money and buy it. Of course half high all day eco-terrorists do not have jobs do they? This is a serious issue and after 9-11 how could anyone even think of condoning these acts or even attempting to justify them? The College professor who has been studying them for 15 years may have collected a lot of data, but I also have been studying these thieves, criminals and arsonists for some time (2 years) and it is readily apparent that there are no redeeming qualities of these individuals. They are by far the worst the human race has to offer as an example of our species. Think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34256
As many of you know The FBI is adamant about getting rid of Arsonists and eco-terrorists. The group originated out of Canada and have used the Internet to recruit US Citizens to help in their cause, thus making eco-terrorists: International Terrorists. But what as citizens can we do to prevent these fires and vandalism. One way is to start a Neighborhood Arson Watch Program in areas near forests or resorts to catch them. Here is a plan online:
http://www.lancewinslow.org/arsonwatch.pdf
For the record let us point out the problems in Canada with the Industry and the Indians. With the clear-cutting there, with the lack of Water Quality Control Boards is an issue, which must be addressed there. This was one of the original concerns of this eco-environmental groups before they decided to use arson as a weapon. Yet they come here and influence our citizens who live in the cleanest country in the world, with some of the best air flowing over it and the best and cleanest water? What the heck are they thinking and why would any US Citizen join such a rotten and criminal group?
With the latest fires in Canada in the resort towns last year, which these people may have been responsible for and the fires outside the Bitter Root in MT, we may determine that these groups are much worse than ever expected. Were they responsible for those too? And exactly how does burning a dealership in San Diego with cars, SUVs and Hummers which are made of plastics, paint, with fuel in them help the environment? The hypocrisy of their mission is all up in smoke and into the environment; help clean air? What a contradiction. And the vandalism is called eco-acts? It is domestic terrorism influenced and recruited from International Terrorism from Canadian misfits and everyone knows that these misfits are huge smokers of Marijuana and many other drugs and tonight we saw a College Professor who says he has been studying them for 15 years and they have a point. What? What is the point?
In Singapore they would have been caned for the graffiti and shot for the fires. We have beautiful state parks, beautiful rivers and a wonderful country. I have been to all corners and to nearly every state park, everything on the Planet you could want is right here in the United States and we have a college professor defending these people. We have Barnes and Noble, Borders and Hastings selling magazines of known eco-terrorist groups. They threaten personal property and say; "if you build we will burn it." Well one day these kids are going to be shot by a landowner defending his property. And like the Deflocked Catholic Priest John Geoghan, I will not lose sleep over it.
The Nature Conservancy has the plan right if you want it to remain open, then go make some money and buy it. Of course half high all day eco-terrorists do not have jobs do they? This is a serious issue and after 9-11 how could anyone even think of condoning these acts or even attempting to justify them? The College professor who has been studying them for 15 years may have collected a lot of data, but I also have been studying these thieves, criminals and arsonists for some time (2 years) and it is readily apparent that there are no redeeming qualities of these individuals. They are by far the worst the human race has to offer as an example of our species. Think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34256
Celebrating Our Nation and Heroes
We need to celebrate our Nation. We have lost track of all we are and all we have build here. We negate the hard work, dreams and energy it took to build this country. We need a renewed sense of what it means to be an American. No suggesting substituting Nationalism for what is really missing. We need strong roll models and leadership; we need to have some heroes too. We need both, don't you see? If you look at those little tin can rockets that those astronauts went up in to reach the moon the first time, you might say they were insane and not heroes. I say they did it to move our species forward into the future and they are definitely heroes, brave ones at that.
We have others amongst us who are doing the same today, but we do not even know their names. Help me find them, we should name airports and freeways and bridges after them now, not when they are dead, now. This way we can let them teach us what it takes to be great again. There are so many ten-foot tall dead white men heroes. We have many heroes in history some we have made up. What about the ones we have now, those we can learn from and they can challenge us to go for it. To believe in ourselves and to achieve all those things which need to be discovered, understood and conquered. Yes we see the agony of defeat, but we are not defeated we are the defeator, not the defeatee; Never give up, Never give up, never give up. We need to teach it and believe it to reach it.
We need to see the winners and we need not hurt the image to satisfy our own inadequacies in the never-ending saga of mass media hysteria of "build them up and burn them down." If we are not worthy of the top prize in our own lives, let us work harder to achieve it. Not give up, be defeated or blame others, with the help of our TV set and media pundit telling us what to think. Let us be the strong Americans our ancestors were when they came here to make a better life. Let us throw out the media's views of; us, our government and society; we need not accept such malarkey; we are great, America is great and we as individuals can be great. The Media is wrong and only trying to play on our weaknesses and self doubt, while adding to it to keep their ratings up and by watching this we are letting them. Misery loves company, fight it, and refuse to surrender to mediocrity, fight long and hard to do what is right and for the right reasons; dump the BS. No one has ever gotten anywhere in life that way.
No one ever got to be a good parent, grandmother, schoolteacher or leader without sacrifice. It does not matter what you do; it is hard work and takes discipline to be a standout. Great customer service takes discipline, just like the hard training athletes must endure. Same with the achieving in the military or grades in school. You get out what you put in. If you refuse to go the distance the distance will get you. Do not succumb; do not let anyone tell you, you are not good enough. If you are not, then change, no excuses now. The leaders and heroes did it, so can you? I know you can, do you? If you listen to the media we are all to feel helpless and wait until the next terrorist attack. That is bad advice, think positive, keep a watchful eye and stay proactive. The media just wants you to stay home and watch TV for ratings. Garbage television every night, on every channel, in every language, on every TV ever created. Why do you allow such ridiculous BS in your head? Interviewers interviewing their own reporters? What are they thinking, are you buying this, want to buy some waterfront property in the Mojave Desert?
You know it would be nice to have a few heroes to look up to and give guidance, it would be wonderful to listen to what they have accomplished for the betterment of mankind, it would be great to see who today's heroes are and where they came from, because I just bet deep down they are the same as all of us. If they can do, you sure as heck can too. That would certainly be a great thing to sleep on for those who want to achieve their American Dream. Think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34470
We have others amongst us who are doing the same today, but we do not even know their names. Help me find them, we should name airports and freeways and bridges after them now, not when they are dead, now. This way we can let them teach us what it takes to be great again. There are so many ten-foot tall dead white men heroes. We have many heroes in history some we have made up. What about the ones we have now, those we can learn from and they can challenge us to go for it. To believe in ourselves and to achieve all those things which need to be discovered, understood and conquered. Yes we see the agony of defeat, but we are not defeated we are the defeator, not the defeatee; Never give up, Never give up, never give up. We need to teach it and believe it to reach it.
We need to see the winners and we need not hurt the image to satisfy our own inadequacies in the never-ending saga of mass media hysteria of "build them up and burn them down." If we are not worthy of the top prize in our own lives, let us work harder to achieve it. Not give up, be defeated or blame others, with the help of our TV set and media pundit telling us what to think. Let us be the strong Americans our ancestors were when they came here to make a better life. Let us throw out the media's views of; us, our government and society; we need not accept such malarkey; we are great, America is great and we as individuals can be great. The Media is wrong and only trying to play on our weaknesses and self doubt, while adding to it to keep their ratings up and by watching this we are letting them. Misery loves company, fight it, and refuse to surrender to mediocrity, fight long and hard to do what is right and for the right reasons; dump the BS. No one has ever gotten anywhere in life that way.
No one ever got to be a good parent, grandmother, schoolteacher or leader without sacrifice. It does not matter what you do; it is hard work and takes discipline to be a standout. Great customer service takes discipline, just like the hard training athletes must endure. Same with the achieving in the military or grades in school. You get out what you put in. If you refuse to go the distance the distance will get you. Do not succumb; do not let anyone tell you, you are not good enough. If you are not, then change, no excuses now. The leaders and heroes did it, so can you? I know you can, do you? If you listen to the media we are all to feel helpless and wait until the next terrorist attack. That is bad advice, think positive, keep a watchful eye and stay proactive. The media just wants you to stay home and watch TV for ratings. Garbage television every night, on every channel, in every language, on every TV ever created. Why do you allow such ridiculous BS in your head? Interviewers interviewing their own reporters? What are they thinking, are you buying this, want to buy some waterfront property in the Mojave Desert?
You know it would be nice to have a few heroes to look up to and give guidance, it would be wonderful to listen to what they have accomplished for the betterment of mankind, it would be great to see who today's heroes are and where they came from, because I just bet deep down they are the same as all of us. If they can do, you sure as heck can too. That would certainly be a great thing to sleep on for those who want to achieve their American Dream. Think about it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34470
Monday, 22 February 2016
Poor Little Rabbit: The Runaway Bride
The airwaves crackle with speculation about the Georgia woman who just couldn't face her long-planned wedding. Law enforcement is deciding if they should prosecute or try to recoup the almost 100,000 dollars spent when it was believed that she had been abducted.
What's the problem? Her fiance states that he still loves her and wants to marry her. The vendors for the 600-guest wedding will get paid anyway, without any of the work. The families' pride will eventually be restored and their embarrassment erased.
What does the hoopla say about the state of our society? In other eras, without the mass communication apparatus available today, people could just disappear, and often did. When someone drops out now, we assume foul play because we are so inured to its occurrence. Is it her fault that a manhunt was launched? Her initial claim that she had been abducted was patently false; her real act of running away was an emotional jolt to her family but surely not against the law, nor was it for the California housewife who chucked everything and went to Las Vegas.
Or is there an obscure statute somewhere that prohibits us from shipping out with no notice and no apology? If we are not avoiding debts or crimes, why can't we go wherever we want?
Our society is so organized and our identities so rigidly bound with numbers and personal history that we can no longer escape ourselves. Wherever we go, we can be traced: social security numbers, names, dates of birth, bank account numbers, fingerprint archives, Internet droppings, medical and dental records. Where does it stop?
Communication and intelligence-sharing is needed for security purposes but just how deep into our private lives should Big Brother intrude? Personal freedom means the freedom to be ourselves, to go wherever, and do whatever, we want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Do others have, in fact, the right to know who and where we are?
Look at the almost-bride's eyes in every photograph. She looks like a terrified rabbit seeking a way to bolt - and finally she did. Poor little rabbit, you didn't get very far, did you?
The occasional urge to flee, to run off to join the circus, to tie up our goods in a scarf on a stick and set off to see the world, tempts all of us at times.
Forget it. You'll be found, brought back, publicly humiliated, and presented with a bill for the money it cost to search for you.
No wonder we read books, watch movies, and play games rooted in fantasy. Was it a coincidence that both the George bride and the California housewife both headed for Las Vegas, the ultimate fantasy? We are no longer allowed a life of adventure or exploration, spending our days, as Thoreau envisioned, leading lives of "quiet desperation."
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34565
What's the problem? Her fiance states that he still loves her and wants to marry her. The vendors for the 600-guest wedding will get paid anyway, without any of the work. The families' pride will eventually be restored and their embarrassment erased.
What does the hoopla say about the state of our society? In other eras, without the mass communication apparatus available today, people could just disappear, and often did. When someone drops out now, we assume foul play because we are so inured to its occurrence. Is it her fault that a manhunt was launched? Her initial claim that she had been abducted was patently false; her real act of running away was an emotional jolt to her family but surely not against the law, nor was it for the California housewife who chucked everything and went to Las Vegas.
Or is there an obscure statute somewhere that prohibits us from shipping out with no notice and no apology? If we are not avoiding debts or crimes, why can't we go wherever we want?
Our society is so organized and our identities so rigidly bound with numbers and personal history that we can no longer escape ourselves. Wherever we go, we can be traced: social security numbers, names, dates of birth, bank account numbers, fingerprint archives, Internet droppings, medical and dental records. Where does it stop?
Communication and intelligence-sharing is needed for security purposes but just how deep into our private lives should Big Brother intrude? Personal freedom means the freedom to be ourselves, to go wherever, and do whatever, we want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others. Do others have, in fact, the right to know who and where we are?
Look at the almost-bride's eyes in every photograph. She looks like a terrified rabbit seeking a way to bolt - and finally she did. Poor little rabbit, you didn't get very far, did you?
The occasional urge to flee, to run off to join the circus, to tie up our goods in a scarf on a stick and set off to see the world, tempts all of us at times.
Forget it. You'll be found, brought back, publicly humiliated, and presented with a bill for the money it cost to search for you.
No wonder we read books, watch movies, and play games rooted in fantasy. Was it a coincidence that both the George bride and the California housewife both headed for Las Vegas, the ultimate fantasy? We are no longer allowed a life of adventure or exploration, spending our days, as Thoreau envisioned, leading lives of "quiet desperation."
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34565
Homosexuals Have Higher Intelligence
I find that when people dump all the preconceived notions of society, they tend to be better observers. Therefore in my professional opinion and observational studies of human nature through people watching: A Gay American in that regard does have an advantage over others in observing things, he/she/it feels, sees or studies. As long as the individual or test subject in this case keeps an open mind, much is possible.
Many believe that people who are homosexual and travel against the norm of society, are better observers provided they do not cloud their views by assuming. Of course one would not have to be gay to do that, but as a whole you will find a higher intelligence level in homosexuals; less clouded issues of perception. Gay men tend to be good judges of character of women and other men. I think this is because they spend much time talking with them and many women open up their feelings to them, because, well they are easy to talk to. A gay man can provide empathy that another straight man in society would not wish to show or has psychologically blocked from his realm of thought. Most of this is due to social engineering and nurture to hide one's feelings.
In that regard outsiders studying Western Culture, behavior, societies and the human brain are able to study without prejudice of what they will find. For instance when Gandhi said about Western Culture "I think it would be a good idea," he did so through is observation of the concept, incidentally; so do I and maybe someday we might want to re-evaluate what we have built and fix it. When Ayn Rand discussed Capitalism and socialist views, which stifle the innovation and when Charles Dickens predicted much of what we see today; they did so as observers. A gay man presently in this period is outside the norm of society, especially in some places like Billings or Butte Montana since there are Oil Field Boys and Mining Men. They are rough, tough guys there, by way of genetic breeding and nurture, partly also due to the hostile weather conditions in higher latitudes. I hope this makes sense to you. It is but another theory and observation. Never turn my brain off and always seek to study everything I see, hear, feel, touch, smell, receive and observe. Do you? Maybe you might think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34487
Many believe that people who are homosexual and travel against the norm of society, are better observers provided they do not cloud their views by assuming. Of course one would not have to be gay to do that, but as a whole you will find a higher intelligence level in homosexuals; less clouded issues of perception. Gay men tend to be good judges of character of women and other men. I think this is because they spend much time talking with them and many women open up their feelings to them, because, well they are easy to talk to. A gay man can provide empathy that another straight man in society would not wish to show or has psychologically blocked from his realm of thought. Most of this is due to social engineering and nurture to hide one's feelings.
In that regard outsiders studying Western Culture, behavior, societies and the human brain are able to study without prejudice of what they will find. For instance when Gandhi said about Western Culture "I think it would be a good idea," he did so through is observation of the concept, incidentally; so do I and maybe someday we might want to re-evaluate what we have built and fix it. When Ayn Rand discussed Capitalism and socialist views, which stifle the innovation and when Charles Dickens predicted much of what we see today; they did so as observers. A gay man presently in this period is outside the norm of society, especially in some places like Billings or Butte Montana since there are Oil Field Boys and Mining Men. They are rough, tough guys there, by way of genetic breeding and nurture, partly also due to the hostile weather conditions in higher latitudes. I hope this makes sense to you. It is but another theory and observation. Never turn my brain off and always seek to study everything I see, hear, feel, touch, smell, receive and observe. Do you? Maybe you might think about it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34487
The 7 Deadly Sins: New American Icons?
With the focus of the world on the change of power in Rome, now seems like an appropriate time to look at some tenets of that ancient faith as developed through the centuries.
We all break one of the 10 commandments occasionally, and feel terribly guilty afterwards. The 7 deadly sins are something else: not only do we too frequently display them, but our culture seems bent on idolizing them! Consider:
Pride
The arrogance of believing that our way is the only way and asserting our certainty about how the world should work is exemplified by President Bush and his right-wing minions. The fact that he won re-election confirms that our citizens have no aversion to excessive pride, no matter what their particular religious doctrine prescribes.
Envy
"Keeping up with the Joneses" is a cultural pursuit touching all levels - we want what others have, we want it now, and we will build up our personal debt (just like the National Debt) to get it. Not only do we crave the expensive toys that confer rarefied social status, we rejoice in the fall of our competition and take secret delight in the firing of a coworker who beat us out of a promotion or the fall of a public personality who unfairly seemed to have it all.
Anger
Road rage entered the common vernacular when it became a common occurrence. We no longer publicly counsel patience and personal restraint, we laud the value of being upfront and aggressive. Business executives strive to be straight shooters and drivers, seeing self-contained, mild workers as passive and non-managerial material. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it any more" is a rallying cry for any cause we promote.
Sloth
While we continue to extol the virtues of hard work and personal effort, we quietly buy our lottery tickets, wile away our time at the alluring casinos now dotting the national landscape, and enter every contest where we might get something for nothing. Surf the Internet and try to count the ubiquitous and seductive ads promising monstrous income levels without work, without effort, without thought, without meaning.
Greed
We are constantly hearing of scams that have left hundreds of people penniless, homeless, or otherwise terribly hurt. Why are so many victimized? Trace the swindle to its core and there sits greed - the promise of a better investment return, more income, making a small fortune. While most of us are well aware that something that sounds too good to be true probably isn't, we still fall for it if the reward sounds good enough. Do you think the spammers would keep sending out those emails "I am the widow of the late Nkrumo Obol who amassed 25 million dollars . . . " if they never received one response?
Gluttony
Ah! Super-sized America. Two thirds of us are overweight, four in ten clinically obese. Do we have a national metabolic problem? No, we are a nation of guzzlers: we eat too, too much food, consume voluminous cheap foreign goods to the tune of billions of dollars per year, and siphon the majority of the earth's oil into our gluttonous SUVs. We have lost all sense of moderation and balance. We live to consume and then poison our environment with the garbage such overconsumption produces.
Lust
Forty percent of marriages involve at least one affair. Our religious leaders, sports stars, celebrities and even a former President, indulge their libidos when opportunity combines with personal power. Sex has become the vehicle for selling anything and everything, its economic value proved over and over. Desperate housewives and Internet pornography are not mere "lusting in my heart" but reveal the lurid landscape we have developed that creates superstars out of those who exude sex and virility as if it were a talent or a sign of character. We have birthed industries and empires based solely on gossip, rumor, and the promise of sexually-oriented details. Plastic surgeons become millionaires over the bodies they rework for the goal of increasing desirability and eliciting greater lust in the eyes of the beholder.
Are these sins really deadly? Regardless of the "moral value" vote trumpeted after the 2004 elections, few of us regard all manifestations of these sins as totally unacceptable. We may be tempted, we may fall short of our aspirations, we expect to occasionally slip. But when we elevate such personal and characterological weaknesses to the level of cultural goals, we pay the price: a violent, dangerous, and self-destructive society that demands ever more aggressive security, protection, and policing, and produces a burgeoning prison population.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34563
We all break one of the 10 commandments occasionally, and feel terribly guilty afterwards. The 7 deadly sins are something else: not only do we too frequently display them, but our culture seems bent on idolizing them! Consider:
Pride
The arrogance of believing that our way is the only way and asserting our certainty about how the world should work is exemplified by President Bush and his right-wing minions. The fact that he won re-election confirms that our citizens have no aversion to excessive pride, no matter what their particular religious doctrine prescribes.
Envy
"Keeping up with the Joneses" is a cultural pursuit touching all levels - we want what others have, we want it now, and we will build up our personal debt (just like the National Debt) to get it. Not only do we crave the expensive toys that confer rarefied social status, we rejoice in the fall of our competition and take secret delight in the firing of a coworker who beat us out of a promotion or the fall of a public personality who unfairly seemed to have it all.
Anger
Road rage entered the common vernacular when it became a common occurrence. We no longer publicly counsel patience and personal restraint, we laud the value of being upfront and aggressive. Business executives strive to be straight shooters and drivers, seeing self-contained, mild workers as passive and non-managerial material. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not taking it any more" is a rallying cry for any cause we promote.
Sloth
While we continue to extol the virtues of hard work and personal effort, we quietly buy our lottery tickets, wile away our time at the alluring casinos now dotting the national landscape, and enter every contest where we might get something for nothing. Surf the Internet and try to count the ubiquitous and seductive ads promising monstrous income levels without work, without effort, without thought, without meaning.
Greed
We are constantly hearing of scams that have left hundreds of people penniless, homeless, or otherwise terribly hurt. Why are so many victimized? Trace the swindle to its core and there sits greed - the promise of a better investment return, more income, making a small fortune. While most of us are well aware that something that sounds too good to be true probably isn't, we still fall for it if the reward sounds good enough. Do you think the spammers would keep sending out those emails "I am the widow of the late Nkrumo Obol who amassed 25 million dollars . . . " if they never received one response?
Gluttony
Ah! Super-sized America. Two thirds of us are overweight, four in ten clinically obese. Do we have a national metabolic problem? No, we are a nation of guzzlers: we eat too, too much food, consume voluminous cheap foreign goods to the tune of billions of dollars per year, and siphon the majority of the earth's oil into our gluttonous SUVs. We have lost all sense of moderation and balance. We live to consume and then poison our environment with the garbage such overconsumption produces.
Lust
Forty percent of marriages involve at least one affair. Our religious leaders, sports stars, celebrities and even a former President, indulge their libidos when opportunity combines with personal power. Sex has become the vehicle for selling anything and everything, its economic value proved over and over. Desperate housewives and Internet pornography are not mere "lusting in my heart" but reveal the lurid landscape we have developed that creates superstars out of those who exude sex and virility as if it were a talent or a sign of character. We have birthed industries and empires based solely on gossip, rumor, and the promise of sexually-oriented details. Plastic surgeons become millionaires over the bodies they rework for the goal of increasing desirability and eliciting greater lust in the eyes of the beholder.
Are these sins really deadly? Regardless of the "moral value" vote trumpeted after the 2004 elections, few of us regard all manifestations of these sins as totally unacceptable. We may be tempted, we may fall short of our aspirations, we expect to occasionally slip. But when we elevate such personal and characterological weaknesses to the level of cultural goals, we pay the price: a violent, dangerous, and self-destructive society that demands ever more aggressive security, protection, and policing, and produces a burgeoning prison population.
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34563
National ID Card? Congress Approves Electronic ID Card
Are we moving towards an Orwellian 1984 scenario in the United States? Are we still truly the land of the free? Many are predicting severe limitations to our way of life in light of the impending requirement of a national ID card.
On May 10, 2005, Congress approved the "Real ID Act" as part of a military spending bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly.
So, what's the big deal? Currently, the federal government has no method for tracking citizens within the United States. If you fly to Las Vegas for a week, the government cannot track you without obtaining a warrant based on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The "Real ID Act" potentially kills the advertising slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Effective May 2008, all Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards containing electronically encoded personal information. The personal information will include your name, sex, address, date of birth and a digital photograph at a minimum. All of this information will be kept in a national database. Anyone without the ID card will be unable to fly, open a bank account, enter federal buildings and, most likely, obtain a job. In short, we are looking at a database that allows the federal government to track your every move, finances, spending activities, etc.
From a practical standpoint, the Department of Homeland Security will put forth specifications for the cards. It is believed that the cards will be issued through state DMV offices and may be incorporated into drivers' licenses. To obtain the card, citizens will be required to produce a photo identification, proof of address, social security number card and possibly finger prints or retinal scans. The information will then be digitized and put into a federal database. The particularly scary element of this is that there are no limitations on what the can be required by the Department of Homeland Security. Can DNA samples be far behind?
Backers of the Act argue that it is needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses and prevent terrorists from "hiding in the open." Opponents argue the cards constitute a national ID card, gross violation of civil rights and platform for massive identity theft. Whether you support the Act or not, it is undeniable that big brother will have you in his sights beginning May 2008.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/35417
On May 10, 2005, Congress approved the "Real ID Act" as part of a military spending bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly.
So, what's the big deal? Currently, the federal government has no method for tracking citizens within the United States. If you fly to Las Vegas for a week, the government cannot track you without obtaining a warrant based on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The "Real ID Act" potentially kills the advertising slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Effective May 2008, all Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards containing electronically encoded personal information. The personal information will include your name, sex, address, date of birth and a digital photograph at a minimum. All of this information will be kept in a national database. Anyone without the ID card will be unable to fly, open a bank account, enter federal buildings and, most likely, obtain a job. In short, we are looking at a database that allows the federal government to track your every move, finances, spending activities, etc.
From a practical standpoint, the Department of Homeland Security will put forth specifications for the cards. It is believed that the cards will be issued through state DMV offices and may be incorporated into drivers' licenses. To obtain the card, citizens will be required to produce a photo identification, proof of address, social security number card and possibly finger prints or retinal scans. The information will then be digitized and put into a federal database. The particularly scary element of this is that there are no limitations on what the can be required by the Department of Homeland Security. Can DNA samples be far behind?
Backers of the Act argue that it is needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses and prevent terrorists from "hiding in the open." Opponents argue the cards constitute a national ID card, gross violation of civil rights and platform for massive identity theft. Whether you support the Act or not, it is undeniable that big brother will have you in his sights beginning May 2008.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/35417
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Sunday Talk Shows - My World is Changing
For the last several years I have loved to watch the Sunday morning talk shows. Not always but most times they had the brightest and most interesting people discussing the issues of the day. But recently the quality of the shows has gone way down. Now the majority of the talk is just 'talking points' from politicians, not really substantive discussions of the issues.
Thank heavens; Fareed Zakaria has come to the rescue with his Sunday afternoon talk show, Global Public Square (GPS)! He interviews excellent people from around the world and it is an orderly and intelligent process. Each guest is asked terrific questions and we get to listen to their opinions and views. There is no shouting or interruption or rebuttal. If needed Fareed gives a correction or asks a follow-up question for clarification and challenge. He is extremely well versed in all the issues around the world and well respected by significant and important thinkers from many countries. Today, October 5, 2008, the first guest was Bill Gates and the later guests were from India, China and Singapore. The reactions from the international community are very important and were enlightening. Gates was asked to explain why 75% of his and Warren Buffett's wealth in the charitable foundation is being spent overseas instead of here at home. I've wondered about that too. It doesn't seem right or smart. But Gates gave an intelligent and reasonable explanation that makes me feel better about it. Overall our country is doing pretty well and we have a good governmental system and many private enterprises trying to allocate our resources in the best possible ways. We haven't figured out what to do about our education system or what to do with all the kids who drop out of even high school. The total is staggering at 50% of our inner city kids and 17% nationwide. But the problems are not about a lack of money. From a world point of view there are many worse inequities and injustices that his foundation is trying to improve. It makes sense. We, the American people, care about justice and fairness everywhere. Of course if things change the foundation could redirect their resources.
I also liked Bill's endorsement of Warren Buffett's philosophy about not leaving too much to his kids. He told about Buffett saying "Why don't we just take all the descendents of the Olympic winners from 50 years ago and put them in our Olympic games?" The same thing is true about passing down so much wealth and control to the kids of very successful people. I like that.
Now, about what to do about our school system and the dropouts, I have some ideas.
Jerry W. Willis
[http://www.jerrywwillis.com]
To receive the free E-Workbook: Starting the Journey - the first step in understanding your Purpose in Life which will help you and your kids build the life you've been dreaming of, visit [http://www.jerrywwillis.com] go to the Contact Us tab fill in the information, ask any questions and make any comments and submit.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1556701
Thank heavens; Fareed Zakaria has come to the rescue with his Sunday afternoon talk show, Global Public Square (GPS)! He interviews excellent people from around the world and it is an orderly and intelligent process. Each guest is asked terrific questions and we get to listen to their opinions and views. There is no shouting or interruption or rebuttal. If needed Fareed gives a correction or asks a follow-up question for clarification and challenge. He is extremely well versed in all the issues around the world and well respected by significant and important thinkers from many countries. Today, October 5, 2008, the first guest was Bill Gates and the later guests were from India, China and Singapore. The reactions from the international community are very important and were enlightening. Gates was asked to explain why 75% of his and Warren Buffett's wealth in the charitable foundation is being spent overseas instead of here at home. I've wondered about that too. It doesn't seem right or smart. But Gates gave an intelligent and reasonable explanation that makes me feel better about it. Overall our country is doing pretty well and we have a good governmental system and many private enterprises trying to allocate our resources in the best possible ways. We haven't figured out what to do about our education system or what to do with all the kids who drop out of even high school. The total is staggering at 50% of our inner city kids and 17% nationwide. But the problems are not about a lack of money. From a world point of view there are many worse inequities and injustices that his foundation is trying to improve. It makes sense. We, the American people, care about justice and fairness everywhere. Of course if things change the foundation could redirect their resources.
I also liked Bill's endorsement of Warren Buffett's philosophy about not leaving too much to his kids. He told about Buffett saying "Why don't we just take all the descendents of the Olympic winners from 50 years ago and put them in our Olympic games?" The same thing is true about passing down so much wealth and control to the kids of very successful people. I like that.
Now, about what to do about our school system and the dropouts, I have some ideas.
Jerry W. Willis
[http://www.jerrywwillis.com]
To receive the free E-Workbook: Starting the Journey - the first step in understanding your Purpose in Life which will help you and your kids build the life you've been dreaming of, visit [http://www.jerrywwillis.com] go to the Contact Us tab fill in the information, ask any questions and make any comments and submit.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1556701
Have You a Use For Bamboo?
A hardy plant, bamboo grass can be quite daunting to deal with when planted in your backyard. Bamboo will grow as far and wide as you will allow it, covering most a yard in months and just about all of the sky line if you allow it. Bamboo is also difficult to remove, as it virtually cannot be killed. No matter how much you poison it, chop it, burn it, dry it out, bamboo will just return in a matter of weeks without warning.
With it being such a hardy plant, bamboo has developed many new and exciting uses. Not only is it pest resistant, it can help farmers with wind erosion and rain run off. This sturdy plant can keep soil in place, particularly in new construction areas, where the goal is to keep soil in the proper place and not have it move after a heavy rain.
Its durability makes bamboo an excellent industrial material as well. When dried and treated, bamboo can be used for a multitude of products, such as clothing, paper, furniture and building/construction material. Bamboo is also considered a food alternative. Bamboo shoots are widely held as a delicacy in Asian cultures, but are slowly finding an audience in American and European cultures as well. The Chinese have even devised a way of making beer out of bamboo. There are fragrances now that are use the essence of bamboo. You can even wear bamboo organic clothing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to bamboo!
There are so many ways to use bamboo shoots, runners and stalks for industrial and commercial use. Its quick growing nature makes it a valuable renewal resource, only requiring a few weeks to grow to full capacity rather than several decades as most trees. In fact, certain species of bamboo can grow up a foot a day, if living in the proper conditions.
While most bamboo is native to Asia and Australia, there are some that have become acclimated to certain regions of the United States, particularly the more tropical regions of the south. Florida has many types of bamboo growing wild in the swamps, as well as in the landscapes of well-groomed and finely manicured yards. Bamboo is a naturally dense plant and makes for a great environmentally friendly and very private fencing substitute.
The American trend is to use bamboo as a hardwood flooring alternative to pine, oak and other flooring. Since bamboo is naturally pest resistant, it makes it a great choice for household use. It is also as strong and durable as its hard wood cousin. While bamboo might be a bit more expensive at times, it is an environmentally friendly, eco-centric decision to install bamboo flooring in your home.
Purchasing bamboo products is a sound decision. Not only do bamboo products stand the test of time, yet as a renewable resource, bamboo can be replenished in nature within weeks without any major environmental harm. Utilizing the growing speed, strength and versatility of bamboo allows the environment a chance to replenish its own tree population and gives us much more sound, environmentally friendly options.
Blair LeMire is a writer, director, producer, and artist who first garnered the attention of the international press in 1998 when he performed his song Linda Angel at the vigil held for Linda McCartney at London's Trafalgar Square. The heartfelt tribute attracted the attention of news cameras, and his impromptu performance was televised internationally.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1550760
With it being such a hardy plant, bamboo has developed many new and exciting uses. Not only is it pest resistant, it can help farmers with wind erosion and rain run off. This sturdy plant can keep soil in place, particularly in new construction areas, where the goal is to keep soil in the proper place and not have it move after a heavy rain.
Its durability makes bamboo an excellent industrial material as well. When dried and treated, bamboo can be used for a multitude of products, such as clothing, paper, furniture and building/construction material. Bamboo is also considered a food alternative. Bamboo shoots are widely held as a delicacy in Asian cultures, but are slowly finding an audience in American and European cultures as well. The Chinese have even devised a way of making beer out of bamboo. There are fragrances now that are use the essence of bamboo. You can even wear bamboo organic clothing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to bamboo!
There are so many ways to use bamboo shoots, runners and stalks for industrial and commercial use. Its quick growing nature makes it a valuable renewal resource, only requiring a few weeks to grow to full capacity rather than several decades as most trees. In fact, certain species of bamboo can grow up a foot a day, if living in the proper conditions.
While most bamboo is native to Asia and Australia, there are some that have become acclimated to certain regions of the United States, particularly the more tropical regions of the south. Florida has many types of bamboo growing wild in the swamps, as well as in the landscapes of well-groomed and finely manicured yards. Bamboo is a naturally dense plant and makes for a great environmentally friendly and very private fencing substitute.
The American trend is to use bamboo as a hardwood flooring alternative to pine, oak and other flooring. Since bamboo is naturally pest resistant, it makes it a great choice for household use. It is also as strong and durable as its hard wood cousin. While bamboo might be a bit more expensive at times, it is an environmentally friendly, eco-centric decision to install bamboo flooring in your home.
Purchasing bamboo products is a sound decision. Not only do bamboo products stand the test of time, yet as a renewable resource, bamboo can be replenished in nature within weeks without any major environmental harm. Utilizing the growing speed, strength and versatility of bamboo allows the environment a chance to replenish its own tree population and gives us much more sound, environmentally friendly options.
Blair LeMire is a writer, director, producer, and artist who first garnered the attention of the international press in 1998 when he performed his song Linda Angel at the vigil held for Linda McCartney at London's Trafalgar Square. The heartfelt tribute attracted the attention of news cameras, and his impromptu performance was televised internationally.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1550760
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