WhySpeak's topics - tribe.net

the awakening

2008-10-05T14:40:34Z

"The Awakening"

A time comes in your life when you finally get it...when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out...ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through your eyes.

This is your awakening.
You realize it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon. You realize that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you... and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance. You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate, or approve of who or what you are... and that's OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions. You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself... and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval. You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you- or didn't do for you - and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn that people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and that everything isn’t always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself... and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance. You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties... and in the process a sense of peace and contentment are born of forgiveness. You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. You begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for. You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with. You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix. You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn that you don't know everything; it's not your job to save the world and that you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake. Then you learn about love. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You learn that alone does not mean lonely. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility anther importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO. You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drink more water, and take more time to exercise. You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play. You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for, and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it’s OK to risk asking for help. You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens, you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms. You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn that life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people... and you learn not to always take it personally. You learn that nobody's punishing you and everything isn't always somebody’s fault. It's just life happening. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls. You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower. Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart's desire. You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility. You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. Finally, with courage in your heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

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Voice your views about Bill C - 51.

2008-05-14T03:07:47Z

This will have a negative affect an traditional healers in Canada.

More Information about Bill C-51

www.stopc51.com
www.chinesemedicinetools.com/blog/webdoktor/bill-c51-taking-away-your-right-to-natural-health-
http://breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=44401

the Petition
http://go.care2.com/e/VdK7/qM../eVPG

Here's how to find your Member of Parliament:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

Audio Cast
http://foodsarenotdrugs.podomatic.com/

Quotes and Posted Views

Canadian Rights and Freedoms are at Risk
An Important Notice Regarding Bill C-51

On April 8th, 2008, the Canadian Minister of Health introduced Bill C-51 into the House of Commons. This Bill proposes significant changes to the current Food and Drugs Act that will have wide-ranging negative implications for Canadians.

Bill C-51 will:

· Remove democratic oversight, bypassing elected officials to vote in laws and allow bureaucrats to adopt laws from other countries without our consent.

· Remove 70% of Natural Health Products from Canadians and many others will be available by prescription only.

· Restrict research and development of safe natural alternatives in favor of high risk drugs.

· Punish Canadians with little or no opportunity for protection or recourse for simply speaking about or giving a natural product without the approval of government. More than 70% of people in Canada use a Natural Health Product. The new law goes so far as to warrant action against a person who would give another person an unapproved amount of garlic on the recommendation that it would improve that persons health.

Proposed New Enforcement Powers:

· Inspectors will enter private property without a warrant

· Inspectors will take your property at their discretion

· Inspectors will dispose of your property at will

· Inspectors will not reimburse you for your losses

· Inspectors will seize your bank accounts

· Inspectors will charge owners shipping and storage charges for seized property

· Inspectors will be empowered to store your property indefinitely

· Inspectors will levy fines of up to $5,000,000.00 and/or seek 2 years in jail per incident

With your assets and money under their control will you be able to defend yourself in Court?

Can you trust government with this new law and enforcement power?

Would our government really ever turn this law against us?

Will this new law be used to abuse and punish special interest groups, minorities, religious groups or others?

Why do bureaucrats want to bypass the Parliament and approval to create new laws?

Why do bureaucrats want seizure warrants without judge approval ?

With fines being increased a 1000 times, and seizing authority without a warrant, is Bill C-51 meant to bankrupt and silence its target audience?

Bill C-51: We Need Your Help On This One
Canada’s C-51 Law May Outlaw 60% of Natural Health Products; Big Pharma Pushing to Criminalize Supplements
by Mike Adams
(NaturalNews)

A new law being pushed in Canada by Big Pharma seeks to outlaw up to 60 percent of natural health products currently sold in Canada, even while criminalizing parents who give herbs or supplements to their children. The law, known as C-51, was introduced by the Canadian Minister of Health on April 8th, 2008, and it proposes sweeping changes to Canada’s Food and Drugs Act that could have devastating consequences on the health products industry.

Among the changes proposed by the bill are radical alterations to key terminology, including replacing the word “drug” with “therapeutic product” throughout the Act, thereby giving the Canadian government broad-reaching powers to regulate the sale of all herbs, vitamins, supplements and other items. With this single language change, anything that is “therapeutic” automatically falls under the Food and Drug Act. This would include bottled water, blueberries, dandelion greens and essentially all plant-derived substances.

The Act also changes the definition of the word “sell” to include anyone who gives such therapeutic products to someone else. So a mother giving an herb to her child, under the proposed new language, could be arrested for engaging in the sale of unregulated, unapproved “therapeutic substances.” Learn about more of these freedom-squashing changes to the law at the Stop51.com website: http://www.stopc51.com

New enforcement powers allow Canadian government to seize your home or business
At the same time that C-51 is outlawing herbs, supplements and vitamins, it would grant alarming new “enforcement” powers to the thugs enforcement agents who claim to be “protecting” the public from dangerous unapproved “therapeutic agents” like, say, dandelion greens. As explained on the www.Educate-Yourself.org website ((http://educate-yourself.org/cn/canadian…), the C-51 law would allow the Canadian government’s thugs enforcement agents to:

• Raid your home or business without a warrant
• Seize your bank accounts
• Levy fines up to $5 million and a jail terms up to 2 years for merely selling an herb
• Confiscate your property, then charge you storage fees for the expense involved in storing all the products they stole from you

C-51 would even criminalize the simple drying of herbs in your kitchen to be used in an herbal product, by the way. That would now be categorized as a “controlled activity,” and anyone caught engaging in such “controlled activities” would be arrested, fined and potentially jailed. Other “controlled activities” include labeling bottles, harvesting plants on a farm, collecting herbs from your back yard, or even testing herbal products on yourself! (Yes, virtually every activity involving herbs or supplements would be criminalized…)

There’s more, too. C-51 is the Canadian government’s “final solution” for the health products industry. It’s a desperate effort to destroy this industry that’s threatening the profits and viability of conventional medicine. Natural medicine works so well — and is becoming so widely used — that both the Canadian and American governments have decided to “nuke” the industries by passing new laws that effectively criminalize anyone selling such products. They simply cannot tolerate allowing consumers to have continued access to natural products. To do so will ultimately spell the destruction of Big Pharma and the outdated, corrupt and criminally-operated pharmaceutical industry that these criminally-operated governments are trying to protect.

Join the rally to protest C-51
On May 9th, 2008, Canadian citizens will be gathering at the Calgary Federal Court to protest C-51 and help protect their access to natural health products. Call 1-888-878-3467 to learn more, or visit the action page of Health Canada Exposed at: http://www.stopc51.com/c51/what_you_can_do.asp

NaturalNews is looking to hire someone with a good video camera to film the event. We’ll gladly pay you to video tape this and send us the resulting file, which we will edit and then post for NaturalNews readers. If you have a video camera (with good audio, hopefully) and can attend the May 9th rally, please contact us at (U.S.) 520-232-9300 for details. If you do film there, be sure to use the camera buddy system, where you have somebody in the distance filming YOU with the camera, so that if Canadian law enforcement thugs decide to assault you and steal your video camera in order to censor the event, then somebody else in the distance has THAT on video! You got that? So there are two cameras working, camera A is filming the rally, and it’s very close to the action. Camera B is set back farther from the scene, and it’s filming the person holding camera A. This is standard operating practice for filming such events, and it makes it very difficult for government thugs to shut down the video. Often, the person filming with camera B is in a car somewhere, or filming covertly so that they don’t attract attention. Zoom lenses help a lot.

In any case, if you manage to get some video of this event, then we’d be thrilled to share it with NaturalNews readers. And like I said, we’ll pay for footage, so call us for details. Together, we can help spread the word about this important rally for health freedom in Canada.

Learn more: http://www.stopC51.com

Press Facts

Eliminates the Ability of our Elected Officials to Protect Us
Section 30(7) of Bill C-51

1. Bypassing our elected official’s ability to vote out laws that are not the will of, or in the interest of the Canadian people.
2. Allows government agents, (not elected officials) to create binding laws behind closed doors.
3. New powers will allow enforcement of these laws by the searching and seizing of private property and bank accounts without warrants.

Fast Tracks New Drugs to Market; Reduced Safety Measures

1. By shortening the approval process for new drugs.
2. By placing the responsibility of safety on drug companies with a proven track record of downplaying the health risks and side effects.

Increased numbers of adverse drug reactions will lead to an increase in malpractice and personal law suits against doctors who prescribe new drugs which have not been tested properly for health and safety risks.

University of Arizona, concluded that overall, the cost of U.S. drug related morbidity and mortality exceed $177.4 billion in the year 2000 with over 200,000 deaths created annually.

Ernst F.R., Grizzle A.J., Drug Related Morbidity and Mortality: Updating the Cost-of-Illness Model, J Am Pharm Assoc. 2001;41:192-9

Makes Upwards of 70% of Natural Health Products illegal

1. At the current rate of licensing failure, more than 70% of natural health products will be illegal.
2. Broad definitions will allow government agents to invoke enforcement on people who do as little as share a “therapeutic product” with a friend. Garlic and many other foods are therapeutic products.

Not “one” person has ever died in Canada because of a Natural Health Product.

Bill C-51 is not about Canadian Safety

Bill C-51 is about Big Pharma

Bill C-51 will allow binding laws to be created in secret

In Canada the law making process takes place in a public forum with our elected officials voting for or against them. They are held accountable to the public for their decisions. If Bill C-51 passes, it will allow laws to be created behind closed doors, by government agents who may not have our best interests in mind.

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Location of mass graves of residential school children revealed; Independant tribunal established.

2008-05-14T03:05:16Z

Independent Tribunal Established Squamish Nation Territory (' Vancouver , Canada ') Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:00 am PST

At a public ceremony and press conference held today outside the colonial 'Indian Affairs' building in downtown Vancouver , the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) released a list of twenty eight mass graves across Canada holding the remains of untold numbers of aboriginal children who died in Indian Residential Schools. The list was distributed today to the world media and to United Nations agencies, as the first act of the newly-formed International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), a non-governmental body established by indigenous elders.

In a statement read by FRD spokesperson Eagle Strong Voice, it was declared that the IHRTGC would commence its investigations on April 15, 2008, the fourth Annual Aboriginal Holocaust Memorial Day. This inquiry will involve International human rights observers from Guatemala and Cyprus , and will convene aboriginal courts of justice where those persons and institutions responsible for the death and suffering of residential school children will be tried and sentenced. (The complete Statement and List of Mass Graves is reproduced below). Eagle Strong Voice and IHRTGC elders will present the Mass Graves List at the United Nations on April 19, and will ask United Nations agencies to protect and monitor the mass graves as part of a genuine inquiry and judicial prosecution of those responsible for this Canadian Genocide.

Eyewitness Sylvester Greene spoke to the media at today's event, and described how he helped bury a young Inuit boy at the United Church 's Edmonton residential school in 1953. 'We were told never to tell anyone by Jim Ludford, the Principal, who got me and three other boys to bury him. But a lot more kids got buried all the time in that big grave next to the school.'

For more information: <http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/> or write to the IHRTGC at: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca

Issued on Squamish Territory , 10 April, 2008, under the authority of Hereditary Chief Kiapilano. Press Statement: April 10, 2008 Mass Graves of Residential School Children Identified - Independent Inquiry Launched

We are gathered today to publicly disclose the location of twenty eight mass graves of children who died in Indian Residential Schools across Canada , and to announce the formation of an independent, non-governmental inquiry into the death and disappearance of children in these schools. We estimate that there are hundreds, and possibly thousands, of children buried in these grave sites alone. The Catholic, Anglican and United Church , and the government of Canada , operated the schools and hospitals where these mass graves are located. We therefore hold these institutions and their officers legally responsible and liable for the deaths of these children. We have no confidence that the very institutions of church and state that are responsible for these deaths can conduct any kind of impartial or real inquiry into them.

Accordingly, as of April 15, 2008, we are establishing an independent, non-governmental inquiry into the death and disappearance of Indian residential school children across Canada . This inquiry shall be known as The International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), and is established under the authority of the following hereditary chiefs, who shall serve as presiding judges of the Tribunal:

Hereditary Chief Kiapilano of the Squamish Nation, Chief Louis Daniels (Whispers Wind), Anishinabe Nation Chief Svnoyi Wohali (Night Eagle), Cherokee Nation, Lillian Shirt, Clan Mother, Cree Nation, Elder Ernie Sandy, Anishinabe (Ojibway) Nation, Hereditary Chief Steve Sampson, Chemainus Nation, Ambassador Chief Red Jacket of Turtle Island

Today, we are releasing to this Tribunal and to the people of the world the enclosed information on the location of mass graves connected to Indian residential schools and hospitals in order to prevent the destruction of this crucial evidence by the Canadian government, the RCMP and the Anglican, Catholic and United Church of Canada. We call upon indigenous people on the land where these graves are located to monitor and protect these sites vigilantly, and prevent their destruction by occupational forces such as the RCMP and other government agencies. Our Tribunal will commence on April 15 by gathering all of the evidence, including forensic remains, that is necessary to charge and indict those responsible for the deaths of the children buried therein. Once these persons have been identified and detained, they will be tried and sentenced in indigenous courts of justice established by our Tribunal and under the authority of hereditary chiefs.

As a first step in this process, the IHRTGC will present this list of mass graves along with a statement to the United Nations in New York City on April 19, 2008. The IHRTGC will be asking the United Nations to declare these mass graves to be protected heritage sites, and will invite international human rights observers to monitor and assist its work.

Issued by the Elders and Judges of the IHRTGC Interim Spokesperson: Eagle Strong Voice

Email: mailto:genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca 1-888-265-1007

IHRTGC Sponsors include The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared, The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada , the Defensoria Indigenia of Guatemala , Canadians for the Separation of Church and State, and a confederation of indigenous elders across Canada and Turtle Island .

Mass Graves at former Indian Residential Schools and Hospitals across Canada

British Columbia:

1. Port Alberni: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1973), now occupied by the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council (NTC) office, Kitskuksis Road . Grave site is a series of sinkhole rows in hills 100 metres due west of the NTC building, in thick foliage, past an unused water pipeline. Children also interred at Tseshaht reserve cemetery, and in wooded gully east of Catholic cemetery on River Road .

2. Alert Bay : St. Michael's Anglican school (1878-1975), situated on Cormorant Island offshore from Port McNeill. Presently building is used by Namgis First Nation. Site is an overgrown field adjacent to the building, and also under the foundations of the present new building, constructed during the 1960's. Skeletons seen 'between the walls'.

3. Kuper Island : Catholic school (1890-1975), offshore from Chemainus. Land occupied by Penelakut Band. Former building is destroyed except for a staircase. Two grave sites: one immediately south of the former building, in a field containing a conventional cemetery; another at the west shoreline in a lagoon near the main dock.

4. Nanaimo Indian Hospital : Indian Affairs and United Church experimental facility (1942-1970) on Department of National Defense land. Buildings now destroyed. Grave sites are immediately east of former buildings on Fifth avenue , adjacent to and south of Malaspina College .

5. Mission : St. Mary's Catholic school (1861-1984), adjacent to and north of Lougheed Highway and Fraser River Heritage Park . Original school buildings are destroyed, but many foundations are visible on the grounds of the Park. In this area there are two grave sites: a) immediately adjacent to former girls' dormitory and present cemetery for priests, and a larger mass grave in an artificial earthen mound, north of the cemetery among overgrown foliage and blackberry bushes, and b) east of the old school grounds, on the hilly slopes next to the field leading to the newer school building which is presently used by the Sto:lo First Nation. Hill site is 150 metres west of building.

6. North Vancouver : Squamish (1898-1959) and Sechelt (1912-1975) Catholic schools, buildings destroyed. Graves of children who died in these schools interred in the Squamish Band Cemetery , North Vancouver .

7. Sardis : Coqualeetza Methodist-United Church school (1889-1940), then experimental hospital run by federal government (1940-1969). Native burial site next to Sto:lo reserve and Little Mountain school, also possibly adjacent to former school-hospital building.

8. Cranbrook: St. Eugene Catholic school (1898-1970), recently converted into a tourist 'resort' with federal funding, resulting in the covering-over of a mass burial site by a golf course in front of the building. Numerous grave sites are around and under this golf course.

9. Williams Lake : Catholic school (1890-1981), buildings destroyed but foundations intact, five miles south of city. Grave sites reported north of school grounds and under foundations of tunnel-like structure.

10. Meares Island (Tofino): Kakawis-Christie Catholic school (1898-1974). Buildings incorporated into Kakawis Healing Centre. Body storage room reported in basement, adjacent to burial grounds south of school.

11. Kamloops : Catholic school (1890-1978). Buildings intact. Mass grave south of school, adjacent to and amidst orchard. Numerous burials witnessed there.

12. Lytton: St. George's Anglican school (1901-1979). Graves of students flogged to death, and others, reported under floorboards and next to playground.

13. Fraser Lake : Lejac Catholic school (1910-1976), buildings destroyed. Graves reported under old foundations and between the walls.

Alberta:

1. Edmonton : United Church school (1919-1960), presently site of the Poundmaker Lodge in St. Albert . Graves of children reported south of former school site, under thick hedge that runs north-south, adjacent to memorial marker.

2. Edmonton : Charles Camsell Hospital (1945-1967), building intact, experimental hospital run by Indian Affairs and United Church . Mass graves of children from hospital reported south of building, near staff garden.

3. Saddle Lake : Bluequills Catholic school (1898-1970), building intact, skeletons and skulls observed in basement furnace. Mass grave reported adjacent to school.

4. Hobbema: Ermineskin Catholic school (1916-1973), five intact skeletons observed in school furnace. Graves under former building foundations.

Manitoba:

1. Brandon : Methodist-United Church school (1895-1972). Building intact. Burials reported west of school building.

2. Portage La Prairie: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1950). Children buried at nearby Hillside Cemetery .

3. Norway House: Methodist-United Church school (1900-1974). 'Very old' grave site next to former school building, demolished by United Church in 2004.

Ontario:

1. Thunder Bay : Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital , still in operation. Experimental centre. Women and children reported buried adjacent to hospital grounds.

2. Sioux Lookout: Pelican Lake Catholic school (1911-1973). Burials of children in mound near to school.

3. Kenora: Cecilia Jeffrey school, Presbyterian-United Church (1900-1966). Large burial mound east of former school.

4. Fort Albany : St. Anne's Catholic school (1936-1964). Children killed in electric chair buried next to school.

5. Spanish: Catholic school (1883-1965). Numerous graves.

6. Brantford : Mohawk Institute, Anglican church (1850-1969), building intact. Series of graves in orchard behind school building, under rows of trees.

7. Sault Ste. Marie: Shingwauk Anglican school (1873-1969), some intact buildings. Several graves of children reported on grounds of old school.

Quebec:

1. Montreal : Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University , still in operation since opening in 1940. MKULTRA experimental centre. Mass grave of children killed there north of building, on southern slopes of Mount Royal behind stone wall.

Sources:

- Eyewitness accounts from survivors of these institutions, catalogued in Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust (2nd ed., 2005) by Kevin Annett.

- Other accounts are from local residents. See: http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/

- Documents and other material from the Department of Indian Affairs RG 10 microfilm series on Indian Residential Schools in Koerner Library, University of B.C.

- Survey data and physical evidence obtained from grave sites in Port Alberni , Mission , and other locations.

This is a partial list and does not include all of the grave sites connected to Indian residential Schools and hospitals across Canada . In many cases, children who were dying of diseases were sent home to die by school and church officials, and the remains of other children who died at the school were incinerated in the residential school furnaces.

This information is submitted by The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) to the world media, the United Nations, and to the International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC).

The IHRTGC will commence its investigations on April 15, 2008 on Squamish Nation territory.

For more information on the independent inquiry into genocide in Canada being conducted by the IHRTGC, write to: mailto:genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca

10 April, 2008, Squamish Nation Territory (' Vancouver , Canada ')

the truth is in here - http://relativenewz.ca

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Releasing The Spirits Ceremony - Prayers Needed For Buffalo Slaughtered In Yellowstone (Montana)

2008-04-09T12:05:42Z

From Chief Arvol Looking Horse - prayers needed for buffalo slaughtered in yellowstone
From: SD Peace and Justice Center www.sdpjc.org

Releasing the Spirits Ceremony
April 15th, 2008 - Noon Gardiner, MT

Simultaneous Prayer Vigils are encouraged to pray for the 1,302 (+)
buffalo that have been carelessly slaughtered this winter alone and the
thousands more slaughtered in the past decade since the last Releasing the
Spirit Ceremony held back in 1997!

*************
From Chief Arvol Looking Horse
Mi-ta-ku-ye (my relatives),

I have been called upon to perform the Spirit Releasing ceremony for
the thousands of buffalo that have lost their lives in the last decade, in
the mountains of the Yellowstone River country.

Many, many generations ago, our relatives, the Pte O-ya-te (Buffalo
People) came up from Wind Cave in the Black Hills; the heart of Un-ci
Ma-ka (Grandmother Earth) and prepared the way for our existence.
From that time forward, they gave of themselves for our survival, as
long as we respected their gift. They taught us how to live in an
honorable and respectful way by example and through the teachings
of the White Buffalo Calf Woman. She brought the Sacred Canupa
(Pipe) to remind us of our responsibilities and also provided us with
the knowledge of the sacred rites that are necessary to discipline
ourselves.

From the Buffalo Nation, our ancestors learned to have an honorable
relationship of being connected with Un-ci Ma-ka; this “way of life”
that identifies us of who we are as an O-ya-te (a People), with all it’s
sacred teachings. They understood the gifts from Un-ci and carefully
lived in harmony with her wellbeing. For that reason, we hold them to
be sacred. We co-existed in a good way until we were nearly
destroyed. Ob un-ka-so-ta-pi tka. The sacred Buffalo Nation in these
mountains are the survivors of that natural way of life. We are
culturally and spiritually indebted to them and we still need their
guidance, to remind us how to be at peace and harmony with Un-ci
Ma-ka.

Let it be known that Yellowstone territory; the habitat of the last wild
Buffalo Nation - is sacred ground, it has been a SACRED SITE for
the First Nation’s people, and for all humanity who hold deep respect
for all Creation. The Buffalo Nation has confirmed this fact; by where
they have ended up, continuing to survive in their natural migration,
struggling to live in a peaceful manner. Our ancestors also gave us
this message by fasting in this area long ago, as they recognized this
place of sacredness. This understanding is how we maintain the
balance upon Un-ci Ma-ka, to protect these places, especially for the
survival of our future generations to come.

These Buffalo that lost their lives in Yellowstone did not die by
Natural Law, nor were their spirits honored with ceremony. This is
why we must go there to perform a ceremony of honor for those that
lost their lives by the misunderstanding of human-kind and pray to
Wakan Tankan (Great Spirit) for pity of how gifts were unappreciated.
We must pray with all those who grieve and be grateful for them.
Many of the people who are deeply concerned of what has happened
in the manner of which their lives were taken; we see this as an unnecessary
massacre. We have known that this particular herd is the
last original Buffalo Nation that still follows their migration pattern, the
little that is left in tact; they are the sign of our connection to our
wellbeing of living in harmony. I humbly ask for all People to make
prayers on April 15th, at high noon; for a healing of humanity - for the
decisions that are being made with no regard for the sacredness of
life, for the massacred Buffalo’s spiritual journey and to protect what
is left - in understanding of what our journey in this life represents in
being responsible! We must pray for the healing of the human Spirit,
to understand the connection to all living beings on Un-ci Ma-ka.
In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!

Can-te Mi-ta-wa I-ta-han (from my heart)
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe

South Dakota Peace and Justice Center
Deb McIntyre, Director
PO Box 116 Sioux Falls, SD 57101
peaceandjustice@svtv.com www.sdpjc.org <www.sdpjc.org>

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Earth Hour [Official Celebration in the Philippines]

2008-04-03T15:13:08Z

When: March 29, 2008 from 7:00p.m. to 9:00p.m.
Where: Cultural Center of the Philippines - Front Lawn

On March 29, 2008, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm, the entire stretch of Roxas Boulevard which spans three (3) cities will join the rest of the world for Earth Hour-- an event that will create awareness on climate change and prove that people around the world working together can make a difference in the growing fight against global warming.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines' fountain area will provide the backdrop for a countdown event where Philippine Earth Hour Ambassadors will come together with local and international media for a symbolic "switch off". Even SM Mall of Asia, the world's third largest mall, will shut down their lights for Earth Hour. In fact, all of the SM Supermalls nationwide will be participating in Earth Hour. Ayala malls and all Ayala owned and maintained buildings will be shutting down their lights too. Makati will be participating as well and lights will go down in the metro's Central Business District and all Barangays. Likewise, expect hundreds of advertising billboards in Metro Manila to be switched off. (More details on participating establishments below)

Earth Hour in the Philippines is an initiative of WWF-Philippines, the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC), Green Army and Philips. This program is fully supported by the Pasay City Government through the auspices of Hon. Atty. Wenceslao B. Trinidad, City Government of Manila through Hon. Alfredo S. Lim, City Government of Paranaque through Hon. Florencio M. Bernabe, Jr., and the Makati City Governement through Hon. Jejomar Binay.

The Earth Hour (Metro) Manila team is working hard to encourage the rest of the metro to pitch in and switch off their lights. If you happen to be in the area of Roxas Boulevard on Saturday, please join us at the CCP front lawn for a special program during Earth Hour.

Earth Hour will take place throughout the Philippines from 8 to 9 in the evening on Saturday, 29 March 2008. WWF invites you to participate by shutting off lights for 60 minutes, organizing your own "lights-out" event or by forwarding this mail to your friends, workmates and family. Don't forget to SIGN UP at www.earthhour.org

How It Will Work

Currently, hundreds of cities in 130 countries have committed to 2008 Earth Hour. In each city, WWF will work with local officials, partners and sponsors to mobilize businesses, individuals and communities to demonstrate commitment to the health of our planet by turning off lights for one hour — from 8 to 9PM local time. To encourage longer term benefits, participants will be asked to replace older light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescents.

In the Philippines, Earth Hour is being implemented through the Task Force Earth Hour composed of WWF-Philippines, The Presidential Task Force on Climate Change, Department of Energy, and the Green Army. It is officially being implemented by the Cities of Pasay, Manila, Paranaque, and Makati.

What Will Happen

Roxas Boulevard – The flagship area for Earth Hour Philippines is Roxas Boulevard, and the local government units of Pasay, Manila, and Paranaque are working to ensure the successful switch-off of lights along the boulevard. At exactly 8:00pm on March 29, Saturday, all lights (both street lamps and business establishment lights) along the boulevard shall be switched off.

Cultural Center of the Philippines – The Earth Hour Countdown and Lights-Out Program will be held at the CCP front lawn, where the ceremonial switch-off will take place, led by Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad, Mayor Florencio Bernabe, and Mayor Alfredo Lim.

Street Lights: Street lights along the following major thoroughfares are expected to be switched off during Earth Hour:

· Roxas Boulevard

· Quirino Highway

· EDSA

· Ayala Avenue

· Gil Puyat Avenue (Buendia)

· Kalayaan Avenue (Makati)

· J.P. Rizal (Makati)

· Makati Avenue

Corporate Participation: To date, many corporations have pledged their support for Earth Hour:

· Philips Lighting Systems is the official sponsor for the Countdown Event and Lights-Out Program at the CCP

· Ayala Corporation is switching off all lights in all Ayala Malls and Ayala Properties

· Coca-Cola is turning off all its billboards in Metro Manila and providing drinks at the CCP event

· SM will turn off lights of Mall of Asia and all SM branches nationwide

· Starbucks is turning off its business signages and lights in all of its branches around Metro Manila and providing drinks at CCP event

· Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking, Red Ribbon, and Delifrance will turn off lights in their branches in Metro Manila

· HSBC will turn off lights in all its buildings and billboards all over Metro Manila

· Canon will turn off lights in all its buildings and billboards all over Metro Manila

· Makati Shangri-La will turn off the hotel's exterior and non-essential lights

· EDSA Shangri-La will turn off the hotel's exterior and non-essential lights

· The Peninsula Manila will turn off its exterior and non-essential lights

· Manila Ocean Park will turn off all its exterior lights

· Colliers will turn off all lights in all its buildings and has provided 60 volunteers

· Intel will turn off all lights in its buildings and has provided 40 volunteers

And daily more and more companies are joining.

Other participating cities: To date, the list of participating cities include: Pasay, Manila, Paranaque, Makati, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, Caloocan, Marikina City, Gen. Trias, Bais City, Dumaguete City, Dipolog City, Zamboanga City, Iligan City, Talisay City, Escalante, Baguio City, Iloilo City, Puerto Princesa City, Tarlac, Laoag City, San Fernando City and Bauang (La Union), San Fernando City (Pampanga), Santiago City, San Jose City (N. Ecija), Naga City, Legazpi City, Iriga City, Calbayog City, Ormoc City, and Tangub City.

Launched in Australia on the 31st of March 2007, Earth Hour moved 2.2 million people and 2100 businesses in Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour. This massive collective effort reduced the city's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour. With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

YOUR participation will go a long way in spreading the message that we, as individual droplets working collectively – can create an impetus far more powerful than the mightiest of rivers. For more information, log on to the WWF Earth Hour page at: www.earthhour.org.

posted in WhySpeak - 3 replies

Joyous Rebirth

2008-04-03T06:39:32Z

The evolution of traditions/celebrations through history is an interesting study
of its influences manifested in a diverse world culture we have. Whatever culture
we represent and embody, there is the universal knowledge/belief of the cycle
of life, of new birth, that link us all together; such I believe I see in the celebration
of Easter in my life.

To all my relations here, I greet each one a Happy Easter. May you all be filled
with the glory of renewal and completion.

********************
Interesting read:

Modern-day Easter is derived from two ancient traditions: one Judeo-Christian and the other Pagan. Both Christians and Pagans have celebrated death and resurrection themes following the Spring Equinox for millennia. Most religious historians believe that many elements of the Christian observance of Easter were derived from earlier Pagan celebrations. [read more at http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter.htm]

posted in WhySpeak - 1 reply

Close to home

2008-02-28T21:43:35Z

My country is undergoing a critical time. Discontent is rising here with a demoralized sense of nationhood. There is resistance for a puppet revolution though people are upset. News headlines take on the big circus of political controversies: scams, corrupt deals in government, factions, who is who. Someone plays victim turned hero; others play bandit. Rallies are held, mobilizing people to direct a point; for media to put on its plate. It is no different with show business as we turn ourselves everyday into a television novel while the oligarchs and feudal saints continue to reap money, rain or shine. It’s incredible!

We believe we need a revolution in our midst but without bloodshed. We believe that we don’t need dead heroes. More so, people who pretend that they are. I hope though that we don’t trick ourselves in this. Third world tyranny is the most vicious phenomenon I’ve ever witnessed. I grew up with it with parents hoping that things turn better by the time I have my own children – that the struggles they’ve confronted bear fruit for the benefit of the next generations. I know what is happening now greatly disappoints them.

I was 14 when I joined the rallies during the first People Power held in the Philippines. My mother and I stationed ourselves outside the walls of the government television network. Among other people, we were there to protect the media station from invasion as it was claimed to have already become the media network belonging to the people. I knew the impact of our efforts there while the threats and risks were real to me. And so, the People Power revolution came and went. And so did President Ferdinand E Marcos; and Martial Rule was lifted. With it, we believed that better days have come. Because of the nonviolent People Power movement, the Philippines was recognized worldwide as the most advanced country in terms of social activism. What followed suit was the birth of various nongovernmental organizations and civic action groups geared towards social change.

Yet where are we now?

We are as confused as ever. Corrupt as ever. The streets are filthy, forests denuded; with street children and families growing in number. There’s a going trend of gang rape; the circulation of videos of teenagers having sex. Pornographers are reaping money with cheap production costs in the expense of innocent children. It’s something we hear everyday, sensationalized or not. It’s almost ordinary to hear of these things. Then it seems that what would save us all from this is electing the ‘right’ presidentiable in 2010.

I want to believe that we know better as a people not to abuse People Power; to underestimate or over estimate it; though apparently, things are not getting any better at all. I’ve read an article which revealed that a sector is analyzing the seemingly detached behavior of the (thinking) masses. Little do they know that we are combusting in our own little corners; more frugal in managing our energies. The fact cannot be denied as well that as government goes on robbing this nation of its resources and pride, so blatantly without a cringe of shame, we – the people, are left with nothing to say anymore lest we return to a long kept list of the age old past.

One time, a girl approached me begging for money. She was 8 years old and a vision of neglect though made to look attractive. She could be a pedophile’s dream. I asked her: “If the world can hear you now, what will you say?” She said, “I need money.” I told her, “I will give you food.” She replied, “No, I need money.” Then she ran off to join a group of children converging at a dark spot along the pavement. I caught her sniffing rugby (solvent) with them.

How I really wish things are not the way it is.

But I keep talking about scenes like these: at government councils, regional discussions, in media; from person to person. At the end I wish I could just let go of the wheel and let it run on its own course. Helping people in difficult circumstances is becoming more and more complicated to fulfill. It is beyond theory and framework; and the manifestations of deprivation and oppression sprout in different lengths; in various landscapes of different faces. But it is what it is. It is a result of corruption.

Having become a nation of slaves, migrant workers, intellectuals on crossroads, corrupt people getting more famous by the day, we have a lot of sorting out to do as a people. There is presently a silent protest happening here wherein people gather together at the breakwaters of the Manila Bay to watch the sun set at the end of the day. No political talk; no rubbish. Just a silent appreciation for the beautiful sunset Manila Bay is famous for. Nightfall comes and people disperse casually. Such poetry, in there.

There is much pain in this struggle we face here, alright. But we are together in this. Always together in this. I say: there is always that calmness before the storm strikes. And silence, sometimes, is heard louder by all means.

Note: The Philippines is commemorating the first People Power revolution on February 25 (Monday, our time).

posted in WhySpeak - 15 replies

seeking for new moderator for this tribe

2008-02-28T16:51:08Z

If anyone would like to volunteer for the
post, kindly message me :)

thanks

posted in WhySpeak - 9 replies

The New Revelations

2008-02-19T00:20:54Z

From "The New Revelations: A Conversation with God"
by Neale Donald Walsch

The world is in trouble. Bigger trouble than it has ever been in before.

This book provides an explanation of the crisis we are facing in a way that not only clarifies the crisis, but clarifies how to resolve it.

Here is an extraordinary insight into what's really happening to us right now on this planet, why we've gone astray, and how we can get back on the path that we say we wish to take.

We can look away from what's happening -- the sudden and eruptive disintegration of life as we know it -- for only so long before the fact that we really are in big trouble presents itself to us in ways that we cannot ignore.

That is what is occurring right now. We are being confronted by events and conditions that we cannot ignore.

This does not mean that now is a time for despair. Despair, in fact, is the last thing this is a time for. Despair is what has created the problem. More despair is certainly not going to solve it.

No, now is not the time for despair, but for repair.

As we seek to repair the damage that we are doing, we are invited to explore the matter of why we are doing it. What has led us into the depth of despair that would cause us to begin destroying ourselves? That is the key question addressed by this book. It is a question many people do not want to ask. The answers are too threatening to our very way of life -- and many humans would apparently rather destroy their way of life than change it. They would rather see their lives end than see their lives altered.

This is a life-altering book. It contains New Revelations. It provides the tools with which to pull ourselves out of despair, lifting the whole human race to a new level of experience, to a new understanding of itself, to a new expression of its grandest vision.

This book was given to us, sent to us at just this moment, to help us. It presents its revelations in the form of a conversation with God. You do not have to believe that such a conversation took place to derive benefit from it. You have merely to be willing to follow the conversation, consider its contents, explore the possibility of applying them in your life, and observe the results.

The human race has reached a Time of Choosing. Our options are being placed before us by the tide of events -- and by those who are creating them. We can either move forward, building together at last a new world of peace and harmony based on new beliefs about God and Life, or move backward, separately and continuously reconstructing the old world of conflict and discord based on old beliefs about God and Life.

How long we can keep ourselves going if we continue to choose the Old Ways is open to speculation. But ultimately our civilization -- assuming no dramatic alteration in our present pattern -- will simply cave in on itself. And everything I see tells me we are just years -- not centuries, not decades, but years -- away from that.

For those who are ready to embrace new beliefs (or at least to consider them), the issue becomes, what would they be? And what outcomes could they produce? I believe these new revelations have been given to us to offer some possible and powerful answers to these questions.

This conversation with God began as a simple plea from one humble human being to the God of his understanding, in the way that works best for him. I asked God to reveal to us what we now need to know if we want to help change the self-destructive direction in which humanity is moving.

Now the God of my understanding may not appear to be the God in which you believe, but It is, I am convinced, the same God nonetheless. And I believe that if any person goes to this same God in purity, sincerity, and with deep desire, God responds.

This book is God's response.

I believe it can save the world.

(The Daily OM)

+++

God, please be here. We need help.

I am here.
We need help.

I know.
Right now.

I understand.
The world is on the brink of disaster. And I'm not talking about natural disaster; I'm talking about man-made calamity.

I know. And you're right.
I mean, humans have had disagreements before, and serious ones, but now our divisions and disagreements can lead not simply to wars -- which are bad enough -- but to the end of civilization as we know it.

That is correct. You have assessed the situation correctly.
You understand the severity of the problem; you simply do not understand the nature of the problem. You do not know what is causing it. So you keep trying to solve it at every level except the level at which it exists.

Which is?

The level of belief.
The problem facing the world today is a spiritual problem.

Your ideas about spirituality are killing you.

You keep trying to solve the world's problem as if it were a political problem, or an economic problem, or even a military problem, and it is none of these. It is a spiritual problem. And that is the one problem human beings don't seem to know how to solve.

Then help us.

I am.
How?

In many ways.
Name one.

This book.
This book will help us?

It can.
What do we have to do?

Read it.
And then what?

Heed it.
That's what they all say. "It's all in The Book," they say. "Read it and heed it. That's all you have to do." The problem is, they all hold up a different book.

I know.
And every book says something else.

I know.
So now we should "read and heed" this book?

It's not a question of what you should do. It's a question of what you may do if you choose to. It is an invitation, not a requirement.
Why would I want to read this book when I've already been told by True Believers that all the answers are in the other books -- the books that they are telling me to heed?

Because you have not heeded them.
Yes, we have. We believe that we have.

That's why you now need help. You believe that you have, but you have not.
You keep saying that your Holy Book (your cultures have many different ones) is what has given you the authority to treat each other the way you are treating each other, to do what you are doing.

You are able to say that only because you have not really listened to the deeper message of these books. You have read them, but you have not really listened to them.

But we have. We are doing what they say we should be doing!

No. You are doing what YOU say that they say you should be doing.
What does that mean?

It means that the basic message of all the sacred scriptures is the same. What is different is how human beings have been interpreting them.
There is nothing "wrong" with having different interpretations. What may not benefit you, however, is separating yourself over these differences, making each other wrong because of these differences, and killing each other as a result of these differences.

This is what you are now doing.

It is what you have been doing for quite some time.

You cannot agree even within a particular group of you, much less between groups, about what a particular book says and what it means, and you use these disagreements as justifications for slaughter.

You argue among yourselves about what the Qur'an says, and about what its words mean. You argue among yourselves about what the Bible says, and about what its words mean. You argue among yourselves about what the Veda says, what the Bhagavad-Gita says, what the Lun-y? says, what the Pali Canon says, what the Tao-te Ching says, what the Talmud says, what the Hadith says, what the Book of Mormon says...

And what of the Upanishad, the I Ching, the Adi Granth, the Mahabharata, the Yoga-sutras, the Mathnawi, the Kojiki?

Okay, we get the point.

No, actually, you don't. And that's the point. The point is, there are many holy writings and sacred scriptures, and you act as if there is only one.
It is your sacred scripture that is really sacred. All the rest are poor substitutes at best, and blasphemies at worst.

Not only is there only one Sacred Scripture, there is also only one way to interpret that Scripture: your way.

This spiritual arrogance is what has caused you your greatest sorrow as a species. You have suffered more -- and caused other people to suffer more -- over your ideas about God than over your ideas about anything else in the human experience.

You have turned the source of the greatest joy into the source of your greatest pain.

That's crazy. Why is that? Why have we done that?

Because there is one thing for which human beings seem willing to give up everything.
They will give up love, they will give up peace, they will give up health, harmony, and happiness, they will give up safety, security, and even their sanity, for this one thing.

What?

Being right.
You are willing to give up everything you've ever worked for, everything you've ever wanted, everything you've ever created, in order to be "right."

Indeed, for this you are willing to give up Life itself.

But isn't that how it should be? I mean, you have to stand up for something in life. And the Word of God IS what's right!

Which God?
Which God?

Yes, which God?
Adonai? Allah? Elohim? God? Hari? Jehovah? Krishna? Lord? Rama? Vishnu? Yahwey?

The God whose words were brought to us clearly by the Master and the Prophets.

Which Master and which Prophets?
Which Master? Which Prophets?

Yes.
Adam? Noah? Abraham? Moses? Confucius? Siddhartha Gautama? Jesus? Patanjali? Muhammad? Baha'u'llah? Jalal al-Din Rumi? Martin Luther? Joseph Smith? Paramahansa Yogananda?

You're not equating all of those with each other, are you?

Why not? Is one greater than the other?
Certainly!

Which one?
The one in whom I believe!

Exactly. Now you get the point.
So what do you want me to do, give up my beliefs?

I don't "want" you to do anything. The question is, what do you want to do?
I want to find a way to get past all of these mixed-up beliefs that humans have.

There is a way.
Which is?

Transcend them.
What does that mean?

Transcending means to go beyond, to move past. It does not mean to completely reject or totally destroy. You do not have to destroy a thing in order to move past it.
You would not want to destroy your old belief system in any event, because there is too much of it that you will wish to retain.

"Transcending" does not mean always being "other than," it means always being "larger than." Your new, larger belief system will no doubt retain some of the old -- that part of the old belief system that you experience as still serving you -- and so it will be a combination of the new and the old, not a rejection of the old from top to bottom.

Can you see the difference?

I think so.

Good. Then you can stop your resistance.
The reason humans have hung so tenaciously to their old beliefs is that they do not want to dishonor those beliefs by rejecting them completely, out of hand. They think that this is the choice they have: Reject the old or accept the old, totally. Yet that is not the only choice you have. You can review the old and see what parts of the old no longer work. You can expand the old to make some parts of the old work better. You can add to the old to make some parts of your belief system new.

Rejecting completely your present beliefs would be to discredit so much of what has been taught, so much of what has been understood, so much of what has been done -- and so much of what has been good.

It would make too much of the world feel "wrong." It would make ancestors "wrong," it would make entire scriptures "wrong," it would make present-day lives "wrong." People would have to admit that all of the spiritual aspects of the human experience have been a mistake, a misunderstanding.

This is more than most people can acknowledge. It is more than they should acknowledge, because it is not true.

In fact, you don't have to declare that you were "wrong" about anything, because you weren't. You simply didn't have a complete understanding. You needed more information.

Transcending current beliefs is not an outright rejection of them; it is an "adding to" them.

Now that you have more information that you can add to what you presently believe, you can enlarge your beliefs -- not completely reject them, enlarge them -- and move on with your lives in a new way.

A way that works.

But I don't have more information.

Yes, you do.
I do?

You have this book.

Let me see if I understand. You're saying that this book is on a par with the Torah, the whole Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita?

I did not say that. But, for the sake of discussion, were not those books written by mortals, guided by Divine revelation?
Well, yes, but surely you're not equating the words here with the words of Confucius, the teachings of The Buddha, the revelations of Muhammad...

Again I say...these were mere human beings, were they not?
I wouldn't call them "mere" human beings. They were very special human beings. Human beings who understood enormous truths. Human beings who were deeply inspired.

You, too, can understand enormous truths. You, too, can be deeply inspired. Do you think these experiences are reserved for the very few?
I tell you, they are meant for the very many.

Divine inspiration is the birthright of every human being.

You are all very special. You simply do not know that. You do not believe it.

Why not?

Because your religions have told you that you are not. They have told you that you are sinners, that you are unworthy, that only a very few among you have achieved a level of worthiness to be inspired directly by God -- and that all of those people are dead.
They have convinced you that no one living today could possibly achieve that level of worthiness, and, hence, no book written today could possibly contain sacred truths or the Word of God.

Why have they done so? Why have they told us this?

Because to tell you otherwise would be to leave open the possibility that another master, another prophet, another messenger of God could come along, bringing new revelations and opening you to new understandings -- and that is something that already established organized religions could not abide.
And so, while your world's religions may not be able to agree on which book contains the highest truth and the deepest wisdom and the True Word of God, there is one thing on which they are able to agree.

What's that?

Whatever book it is, it's an old one.
Definitely.

It's an old book.

It could not be a new book. It could not be a book written today.

God's direct revelations ended long ago, your religions agree. Only old sacred books can contain divine revelation.

Most people can accept that God's great truths have come to humans through humans. They simply cannot accept that this could be true of humans living today.

This is how you think. This is how you have it constructed.

If it's old, it's worthy; if it's new, it's unworthy.

If it's old, it's true; if it's new, it's false.

If it's old, it's right; if it's new, it's wrong.

If it's old, it's good; if it's new, it's bad.

This peculiar mindset is what makes progress on your planet so difficult, and evolution so time-consuming.

What complicates all this is that, as you have constructed it, this mindset applies only to things -- that is, inanimate objects -- and to ideas. Ironically, when it comes to people you have it constructed the other way around.

If it's new, it's worthy; if it's old, it's unworthy.

Thus, your society dismisses out of hand some of the brightest new ideas and some of the wisest older people.

Ask Hermann Kümmell.

Hermann Kümmell?

A medical doctor in Hamburg in the late 1800s who had a terrible time convincing other physicians that it was a good idea to wash their hands before surgery.
The idea of "scrubbing up" was summarily dismissed by "those who knew better," with Kümmell turned into a laughing-stock and practically driven out of his beloved medical profession for even suggesting that such a practice could save lives.

This stubborn tendency of human beings to cling to their past, to refuse innovation or new thinking until they are forced to do so by an ultimately embarrassing weight of evidence, has been slowing your evolutionary process for millennia.

Yet now it does not seem as if we can afford to have that process drag on. It feels as though, now, time is of the essence. We have reached a crossroad here.

Yes. You are facing now a new and startling danger -- a danger posed to your entire species. A threat to your very survival posed by the combination of a split in ideology and an advance in technology, which makes it possible for you to seek to resolve your differences with tools of human destruction unlike anything you may have heretofore dreamed of in your worst nightmare.
My God, what can we do?

There are five things you can choose now if changing your world, and the self-destructive direction in which it is moving, is what you wish to achieve.
1. You can choose to acknowledge that some of your old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.

2. You can choose to acknowledge that there is something you do not understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which will change everything.

3. You can choose to be willing for a new understanding of God and Life to now be brought forth, an understanding that could produce a new way of life on your planet.

4. You can choose to be courageous enough to explore and examine this new understanding, and, if it aligns with your inner truth and knowing, to enlarge your belief system to include it.

5. You can choose to live your lives as demonstrations of your highest and grandest beliefs, rather than as denials of them.

These are the Five Steps to Peace, and if you take them, you can shift everything on your planet.

Why all this emphasis on God and our beliefs? Why are you not telling us to change our worldwide political or economic systems? Why are you not telling us to change our laws and stop our violence and share our resources and discontinue our discrimination and halt our oppression and redistribute our abundance and end our wars and live in peace?

Because those are all changes in behavior.
Aren't our behaviors exactly what we need to change right now?

Yes. If what you decide you now desire is a world living in peace and harmony, the answer is yes.
Okay, you've got me. I don't understand. Why are you talking about beliefs when what we need to do is change behaviors?

Because beliefs create behaviors.

********************
Source: The Daily OM
Copyright © 2002 by Millenium Legacies, Inc.

posted in WhySpeak - 8 replies

This Small Planet Earth

2008-01-18T13:52:51Z

When I meet people in different parts of the word, I am always reminded that we are all basically alike: we are all human beings. Maybe we have different clothes, our skin is of a different color, or we speak different languages. This is on the surface. But basically, we are the same human beings. That is what binds us to each other. That is what makes it possible for us to understand each other and to develop friendship and closeness.... Because we all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.

The Dalai Lama
Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

posted in WhySpeak - 4 replies

Prayers for Kenya

2008-01-15T04:28:41Z

Please see link below and spread the word.
Thank you.

www.avaaz.org/en/kenya_fr..._fair/5.php/

posted in WhySpeak - 4 replies

Slow-Down Culture

2007-11-27T09:49:36Z

I picked this up from a friend of mine. I have no idea who the author is (I wish I know). This is a good read I wish to share to everyone.

~ M

***********************
An interesting reflection: Slow-Down Culture

It has been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes two years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalization processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold xxx quantity of meetings and work with a slow-down scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:

1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned
companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, very cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2,000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning, I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and needs a parking space closer to the door. Don't you think?" Imagine my reaction.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe called Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing.

Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned in Business Week. Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire to "have in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". The French, even
though they work 35 hours a week, are more productive than the Americans or the British. The Germans have established 28.8-hour work weeks and have seen their productivity driven up by 20%.

This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fastand the "do it now!". This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less orhaving a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greaterquality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress.

It means re-establishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. It means taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living. It stands for a less coercive work environment, happier, lighter and more productive, where humans enjoy doing what
they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al Pacino responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running after time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one
of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading this till the end. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

posted in WhySpeak - 3 replies

Stand with the Burmese Protesters

2007-10-01T11:22:39Z

After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising – and they need our help. Your contribution to this may come just a click away as you read this. Below is a link where you can sign the petition "...to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma."

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/tf.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

posted in WhySpeak - 0 replies

Gibran-speak

2007-09-14T09:03:18Z

Nature reaches out to us with welcoming arms, and bids us enjoy her beauty; but we dread her silence and rush into the crowded cities, there to huddle like sheep fleeing from a ferocious wolf.

Every thing [sic] in nature bespeaks the mother. Th sun is the mother of the earth and gives it its nourishment of heat; it never leaves the universe at night until it has put the earth to sleep to the song of the sea and the hymn of the birds and brooks. And this earth is the mother of trees and flowers. It produces them, nurses them, and weans them. The trees and flowers become kind mothers of their great fruits and seeds. And the mother, the prototype of all existence, is the eternal spirit, full of beauty and love.

- Kahlil Gibran

posted in WhySpeak - 6 replies

Radiation Warning Signs Placed on Cheyenne River

2007-07-30T13:56:28Z

Radiation Warning Signs Placed on Cheyenne River

SOUTH DAKOTA
by Shelley Bluejay Pierce, Native American Times Correspondent 7/29/2007

Radiation warning signs were posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in the small town of Red Shirt, South Dakota which lies on the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Several of these signs were placed warning people of the high nuclear radiation levels found in the Cheyenne River.

Several weeks ago Everitt Poor Thunder, a spiritual and community leader in Red Shirt, asked Defenders of the Black Hills, an environmental organization, whether the Cheyenne River water could be used to irrigate a community garden. A local well could not be used as it was found to be radioactive and warning signs surround that structure. The water well taps into the Inyan Kara aquifer that also contains the Lakota and Fall River formations, making up an extremely large aquifer of water supplies for many regions.

Residents of Red Shirt occupy a village site that is thousands of years old to the Oglala Tetuwan (Sioux) people. Many have lived here all of their lives, growing gardens with water taken from the Cheyenne River and fishing for catfish, bass, and turtles. In the summer months, the river is used for swimming and other recreational pursuits.

A water sample taken from the Cheyenne River was sent to a laboratory and the results revealed levels of alpha radiation above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level. Alpha radiation causes harm when ingested hence the warning signs were placed to warn people of the dangers in the Cheyenne River.

The portion of the Cheyenne River Basin that lies in southwestern South Dakota drains about 16,500 square miles within the boundaries of the state. The area in this basin includes part of the Black Hills and Badlands, rangeland, irrigated cropland, and mining areas. After traversing the western half of the state from southwest to northeast, the Cheyenne River flows into Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River.

Previous efforts remove the radiation in the water at Red Shirt have been unsuccessful. Drinking water is piped in, or residents must drive 25 miles to the little town of Hermosa to buy water. The Cheyenne River has dried up approximately one mile from Red Shirt and tests of the river bottom soil by Defenders of the Black Hills are pending. Initial tests using a Geiger counter revealed more than double the amount of normal background elevations for radiation.

South Dakota news reports recently referred to a DENR report and stated that uranium is naturally occurring in that area which is said to account for the radiation levels in the water.

\u201cIf that was the case, there would not have been villages there for thousands of years. There would have been no fish or any aquatic life previously in this river. We sampled the river with nets for aquatic life and found only 2 crayfish and about 10 minnows in more than 100 yards of the river. In essence, it's a dead river. There are two endangered species that use this River: the Sturgeon chubb, a small fish, and the Bald Eagle,\u201d explained Charmaine White Face, founder and Coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills.

According to published information in the The 2006 South Dakota Integrated Report For Surface Water Quality Assessment the Cheyenne River water quality continues to be generally poor. The lower Cheyenne drainage, in general, contains a high percentage of erodible cropland and rangeland in west central South Dakota. Historical mining records for the state show more than 4,000 exploratory uranium mining holes, some large enough for a man to fall into, in the southwestern Black Hills with an additional 3,000 holes just 10 miles west of the town of Belle Fourche, SD. These mining holes go to depths of 600 feet.

At a meeting for the Defenders of the Black Hills on Feb 26th 2005, discussions centered on the radiation levels in some areas reported at a staggering 1,400 times higher than the ordinary background radiation on the Grand River in the Cave Hills and the adverse affects to the villages on the Standing Rock Indian Reservations. Also discussed was the high proportion of cancer related illnesses and birth defects especially in the small community of Rock Creek.

\u201cThere are also hundreds of abandoned uranium mines in Wyoming whose runoff comes down the Cheyenne River, and also 29 abandoned mines in the southwestern Black Hills, all upstream of Red Shirt Village. One of the largest open-pit abandoned uranium mines in the southern Black Hills is a square mile and its runoff goes into the Cheyenne River,\u201d explained Charmaine White Face.

Most recently, a Canadian mining company, Powertech, began drilling uranium exploratory wells in the Dewey Burdock area northwest of Edgemont. Defenders of the Black Hills battled in court against the drilling permit allowing Powertech to drill 155 more exploratory wells at depths of 500-600 feet in the southwestern Black Hills but the Courts allowed the drilling after denying the appeal. Powertech currently has 4,000 uncapped, and unmarked uranium exploratory wells drilled previously. The mining company plans on doing In Situ Recovery (ISR) of uranium from the Lakota and Fall River aquifers. In Situ Recovery was formerly known as In Situ Leach (ISL) mining.

During the ISR process, a solution to dissolve the uranium is poured down the wells and the dissolved uranium brought back up to the surface. The uranium is separated from the remaining radioactive waste solution that is then reinjected into the aquifer after being held in waste ponds on the surface.

According to Powertech's mining application, each exploratory drill hole “will have a small excavated mud pit that will be approximately 12 feet by 5 feet” and 10 feet deep.

Among the concerns of the environmental groups are the possibility of overflow from the mud pits with the sudden rain showers that occur in the Black Hills. One of the aquifers empties directly into the Cheyenne River and is used by many ranchers to water their livestock. Among the deeper aquifers of concern is the Madison that provides water for many western South Dakota communities.

\u201cA list of uranium mining facts provided online by our organization, Defenders of the Black Hills, reveals a long history of abuses regarding uranium and coal mining in the Upper Midwest region. In an area of the USA that has been called \u201cthe Bread Basket of the World,\u201d more than forty years of mining have released radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps. Our grain supplies and our livestock production in this area have used the water and have been exposed to the remainders of this mining. We may be seeing global affects, not just localized affects, to the years of uranium mining\u201d concluded Charmaine White Face.

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Depleted Uranium Blasts to Increase At Livermore Lab

2007-07-30T13:53:08Z

[ There was recent news about signs posted on the Cheyene River telling that the river was contaminated with radiation and unfit. There was also an article posted a few months back about hogans built for the Dine' and the Hopi that were contaminated since the gravel taken for the flooring came from the area of abandoned mines. Now this, hey San Fran tribesters, this isn't Indian land, this is your back yard! We are all related, what affects one affects us all. - White Wolf]

Depleted Uranium Blasts to Increase At Livermore Lab - Video News Clip
by Cathy Garger ( savorsuccesslady3 [at] yahoo.com )
Wednesday Jul 25th, 2007 7:36 PM

A recent news clip that discusses Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's permit application to blast 8,000 lbs of contaminants including Depleted Uranium near San Francisco/San Jose area.
Following is a news clip out of Sacramento, CA that tells us that in the Greater San Francisco Bay/San Jose, CA area, a federal weapons laboratory has applied to explode up to 8,000 (EIGHT THOUSAND) pounds of toxic and radiological contaminants into California’s air annually.

In case you’ve not yet heard? This invisible “gift” to the good folks of California (and wherever else the wind blows) includes a mighty hefty dose of “Depleted” Uranium. This component of nuclear and radiological weapons stays around in the environment for more than 4 billion years and is, in fact, the very same nasty stuff that the military uses on “the enemy” in the Middle East.

This new permit that the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has filed with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is, however, nothing all that new. The only real “news” here is that the 8,000 lbs. is an eight-fold increase of what's already been going on near San Francisco for decades. One thousand pounds (1,000 lbs.) of these contaminants have routinely been exploded at Livermore’s Site 300 each year (since at least 1961) into California's air.

This is no joke. The federal government explodes “Depleted” Uranium into the open air INSIDE THE UNITED STATES in order to run “tests”, they tell us, that simulate some kind of new bombs. They certainly must be getting pretty darn good at making all kinds of new bombs by now, as they’ve been “testing” this stuff for the past 45 years in a densely-populated area filled with 10 million people!

No, this truly is *not* some diabolically horrid new plot for the next Stephen King movie. This is actually happening, and has happened – apparently below the national radar - for longer than many of us have been around.

One wonders then, if it is pure coincidence that in 2003, the greater San Francisco/San Jose area had more reported incidences of cancer than in the entire state of Maryland? One suspects not.
http://apps. nccd.cdc. gov/uscs/ Table.aspx? Group=TableGeo&Year=2003&Display=n

Apparently someone at the top must have recently decided that blasting 1,000 pounds of these poisons annually is not nearly enough aerosolized nano-sized particulates to be lodged, quite literally, up to decades inside America’s lungs!

With a state dedicated to improving public health and air quality almost with religious zeal, it’s mighty interesting that such an environmentally- conscious state would actually be Okay, Like, Whatevvvvver with regard to adding another 7,000 lbs. of health-destroying contaminants into the atmosphere –on top of the 1,000 lbs. they historically already blast there each year.

It’s believed that most Californians do not even know about these radioactive poison gas explosions. Nor do most Americans seem to even have a clue that an illegal war weapon of indiscriminate effects is being used by its own government in the air inhaled by its very own people. http://tinyurl. com/389l89

Below is a short news clip video by Cornell Barnard on the subject of the increase in toxic and radioactive contaminants into open air near the farm lands where a great deal of the produce (think grapes, lettuce, citrus fruits, dairy products, and wine) that winds up on kitchen tables across the nation is grown.

As you will see, the dutiful Livermore Laboratory Public Relations worker featured in the news clip is ever the maternal, soothing voice for the Department of Energy (the obedient agency that acts as the War Department’s handmaiden). The poison Lab spokesperson (could be anyone's Mom, Auntie, or next door neighbor) calmingly reassures Californians that there’s “no public threat” and that the feds, the people who put the (contaminated) bread and butter on her table, would never do anything to harm its citizens.

Well, as much as I hate to argue with a taxpayer-funded cheerleader for our national bombs and weapons “research and development” program, I have seen the list of roughly 70 contaminants they’re exploding at Site 300 at the Livermore Laboratory in California… and they sure don’t look very innocuous to me! These public health poisons include Depleted Uranium, Lead, Chloroform, Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia, Cyanide, Benzene - and that's just for starters!

When you watch the news clip, be sure to watch the Livermore PR spokesperson and her body language carefully. You know, one could even swear that her nose grows a bit longer by the time she’s finished speaking.

There are 2 news clips contained within the link below – the Cornell Barnard report is the one to watch.

Bomb Blast Test Debate Resumes Near Tracy
Written by Dan Adams, Reporter

http://www.news10. net/display_ story.aspx? storyid=30477

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Cuba's Cure

2007-07-20T15:18:02Z

CUBA'S CURE
by Sarah van Gelder
Summer 2007 | Yes! Magazine Online

Why is Cuba exporting its health care miracle to the world's poor?

Cubans say they offer health care to the world’s poor because they have big hearts. But what do they get in return?

They live longer than almost anyone in Latin America. Far fewer babies die. Almost everyone has been vaccinated, and such scourges of the poor as parasites, TB, malaria, even HIV/AIDS are rare or non-existent. Anyone can see a doctor, at low cost, right in the neighborhood.

The Cuban health care system is producing a population that is as healthy as those of the world’s wealthiest countries at a fraction of the cost. And now Cuba has begun exporting its system to under-served communities around the world—including the United States.

The story of Cuba’s health care ambitions is largely hidden from the people of the United States, where politics left over from the Cold War maintain an embargo on information and understanding. But it is increasingly well-known in the poorest communities of Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa where Cuban and Cuban-trained doctors are practicing.

In the words of Dr. Paul Farmer, Cuba is showing that "you can introduce the notion of a right to health care and wipe out the diseases of poverty."

Health Care for All Cubans

Many elements of the health care system Cuba is exporting around the world are common-sense practices. Everyone has access to doctors, nurses, specialists, and medications. There is a doctor and nurse team in every neighborhood, although somewhat fewer now, with 29,000 medical professionals serving out of the country—a fact that is causing some complaints. If someone doesn’t like their neighborhood doctor, they can choose another one.

House calls are routine, in part because it’s the responsibility of the doctor and nurse team to understand you and your health issues in the context of your family, home, and neighborhood. This is key to the system. By catching diseases and health hazards before they get big, the Cuban medical system can spend a little on prevention rather than a lot later on to cure diseases, stop outbreaks, or cope with long-term disabilities. When a health hazard like dengue fever or malaria is identified, there is a coordinated nationwide effort to eradicate it. Cubans no longer suffer from diphtheria, rubella, polio, or measles and they have the lowest AIDS rate in the Americas, and the highest rate of treatment and control of hypertension.

For health issues beyond the capacity of the neighborhood doctor, polyclinics provide specialists, outpatient operations, physical therapy, rehabilitation, and labs. Those who need inpatient treatment can go to hospitals; at the end of their stay, their neighborhood medical team helps make the transition home. Doctors at all levels are trained to administer acupuncture, herbal cures, or other complementary practices that Cuban labs have found effective. And Cuban researchers develop their own vaccinations and treatments when medications aren’t available due to the blockade, or when they don’t exist.

Exporting Health Care

For decades, Cuba has sent doctors abroad and trained international students at its medical schools. But things ramped up beginning in 1998 when Hurricanes George and Mitch hammered Central America and the Caribbean. As they had often done, Cuban doctors rushed to the disaster zone to help those suffering the aftermath. But when it was time to go home, it was clear to the Cuban teams that the medical needs extended far beyond emergency care. So Cuba made a commitment to post doctors in several of these countries and to train local people in medicine so they could pick up where the Cuban doctors left off. ELAM, the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine, was born, and with it the offer of 10,000 scholarships for free medical training.

Today the program has grown to 22,000 students from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the United States who attend ELAM and 28 other medical schools across Cuba. The students represent dozens of ethnic groups, 51 percent are women, and they come from more than 30 countries. What they have in common is that they would otherwise be unable to get a medical education. When a slum dweller in Port au Prince, a young indigenous person from Bolivia, the son or daughter of a farmer in Honduras, or a street vendor in the Gambia wants to become a doctor, they turn to Cuba. In some cases, Venezuela pays the bill. But most of the time, Cuba covers tuition, living expenses, books, and medical care. In return, the students agree that, upon completion of their studies, they will return to their own under-served communities to practice medicine.

The curriculum at ELAM begins, for most students, with up to a year of "bridging" courses, allowing them to catch up on basic math, science, and Spanish skills. The students are treated for the ailments many bring with them.

At the end of their training, which can take up to eight years, most students return home for residencies. Although they all make a verbal commitment to serve the poor, a few students quietly admit that they don’t see this as a permanent commitment.

One challenge of the Cuban approach is making sure their investment in medical education benefits those who need it most. Doctors from poor areas routinely move to wealthier areas or out of the country altogether. Cuba trains doctors in an ethic of serving the poor. They learn to see medical care as a right, not as a commodity, and to see their own role as one of service. Stories of Cuban doctors who practice abroad suggest these lessons stick. They are known for taking money out of their own pockets to buy medicine for patients who can’t afford to fill a prescription, and for touching and even embracing patients.

Cuba plans with the help of Venezuela to take their medical training to a massive scale and graduate 100,000 doctors over the next 15 years, according to Dr. Juan Ceballos, advisor to the vice minister of public health. To do so, Cuba has been building new medical schools around the country and abroad, at a rapid clip.

But the scale of the effort required to address current and projected needs for doctors requires breaking out of the box. The new approach is medical schools without walls. Students meet their teachers in clinics and hospitals, in Cuba and abroad, practicing alongside their mentors. Videotaped lectures and training software mean students can study anywhere there are Cuban doctors. The lower training costs make possible a scale of medical education that could end the scarcity of doctors.

U.S. Students in Cuba

Recently, Cuba extended the offer of free medical training to students from the United States. It started when Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi got curious after he and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus repeatedly encountered Cuban or Cuban-trained doctors in poor communities around the world.

They visited Cuba in May 2000, and during a conversation with Fidel Castro, Thompson brought up the lack of medical access for his poor, rural constituents. "He [Castro] was very familiar with the unemployment rates, health conditions, and infant mortality rates in my district, and that surprised me," Thompson said. Castro offered scholarships for low-income Americans under the same terms as the other international students—they have to agree to go back and serve their communities.

Today, about 90 young people from poor parts of the United States have joined the ranks of international students studying medicine in Cuba.

The offer of medical training is just one way Cuba has reached out to the United States. Immediately after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 1,500 Cuban doctors volunteered to come to the Gulf Coast. They waited with packed bags and medical supplies, and a ship ready to provide backup support. Permission from the U.S. government never arrived.

"Our government played politics with the lives of people when they needed help the most," said Representative Thompson. "And that’s unfortunate."

When an earthquake struck Pakistan shortly afterwards, though, that country’s government warmly welcomed the Cuban medical professionals. And 2,300 came, bringing 32 field hospitals to remote, frigid regions of the Himalayas. There, they set broken bones, treated ailments, and performed operations for a total of 1.7 million patients.

The disaster assistance is part of Cuba’s medical aid mission that has extended from Peru to Indonesia, and even included caring for 17,000 children sickened by the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine.

It isn’t only in times of disaster that Cuban health care workers get involved. Some 29,000 Cuban health professionals are now practicing in 69 countries—mostly in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. In Venezuela, about 20,000 of them have enabled President Hugo Chávez to make good on his promise to provide health care to the poor. In the shantytowns around Caracas and the banks of the Amazon, those who organize themselves and find a place for a doctor to practice and live can request a Cuban doctor.

As in Cuba, these doctors and nurses live where they serve, and become part of the community. They are available for emergencies, and they introduce preventative health practices.

Some are tempted to use their time abroad as an opportunity to leave Cuba. In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a new policy that makes it easier for Cuban medical professionals to come to the U.S. But the vast majority remain on the job and eventually return to Cuba.

Investing in Peace

How do the Cuban people feel about using their country’s resources for international medical missions? Those I asked responded with some version of this: We Cubans have big hearts. We are proud that we can share what we have with the world’s poor.

Nearly everyone in Cuba knows someone who has served on a medical mission. These doctors encounter maladies that have been eradicated from Cuba. They expand their understanding of medicine and of the suffering associated with poverty and powerlessness, and they bring home the pride that goes with making a difference.

And pride is a potent antidote to the dissatisfaction that can result from the economic hardships that continue 50 years into Cuba’s revolution.

From the government’s perspective, their investment in medical internationalism is covered, in part, by ALBA, the new trade agreement among Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba. ALBA, an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, puts human needs ahead of economic growth, so it isn’t surprising that Cuba’s health care offerings fall within the agreement, as does Venezuelan oil, Bolivian natural gas, and so on. But Cuba also offers help to countries outside of ALBA.

"All we ask for in return is solidarity," Dr. Ceballos says.

"Solidarity" has real-world implications. Before Cuba sent doctors to Pakistan, relations between the two countries were not great, Ceballos says. But now the relationship is "magnificent." The same is true of Guatemala and El Salvador. "Although they are conservative governments, they have become more flexible in their relationship with Cuba," he says.

Those investments in health care missions "are resources that prevent confrontation with other nations," Ceballos explains. "The solidarity with Cuba has restrained aggressions of all kinds." And in a statement that acknowledges Cuba’s vulnerabilities on the global stage, Ceballos puts it this way: "It’s infinitely better to invest in peace than to invest in war."

Imagine, then, that this idea took hold. Even more revolutionary than the right to health care for all is the idea that an investment in health—or in clean water, adequate food or housing—could be more powerful, more effective at building security than bombers and aircraft carriers.

Sarah van Gelder, executive editor of YES!, was in Cuba (legally) in December 2006 visiting medical schools, clinics, and hospitals. Her travel was supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies, and MEDICC provided program consulting.

Internet Source: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1733

posted in WhySpeak - 2 replies

Point of Return

2007-07-12T14:37:44Z

POINT OF RETURN
By Satish Kumar
July August 2007 | Resurgence Magazine Issue 243

TF! Editorial Comment: In this day and age of global warming, environmental destruction, social upheavals and the like, it is easy to fall into pessimism and cynicism. In the article below, the editor of Resurgence posits a "point of return" in contradistinction to a "point of no-return"--a concept embedded in ancient Sanskrit. It is a fundamental reframing that can empower inner and outer change.

It is ‘cool’ to be an optimist.

PESSIMISM IS IN fashion. Scientists, environmentalists and climatologists are claiming that collapse is around the corner and civilisation is coming to an end. Book after book tells us that we have passed the tipping point and have reached the point of no return. The skies are saturated with CO2 and the atmosphere is filled with greenhouse gases. We are told over and over that whatever we do, we cannot reverse the rise in temperature or prevent the sea from flooding London! What happened to New Orleans will happen to New York. Global warming is here to stay. The scenario of doom and gloom is expounded by experts and activists alike.

We do not underestimate the severity of the climate crisis. We respect the scientists who are predicting a catastrophic future for humanity. We agree that our present way of life, so dependent on the use of fossil fuel, is hanging on a cliff edge. If we go any further we will fall into the abyss. So the only thing we can do now is to take a step back; let’s call it "the point of return". We need to return to a way of life that is free from damaging dependence on fossil fuel.

At present we burn billions of barrels of petroleum every day for our food, clothes, homes, heating, lighting, transport and entertainment. This way of life is not only wasteful and unsustainable, but also very dangerous. As Sir Crispin Tickell writes in his article, it took nature 200 million years to create the vast store of fossil energy that we have almost spent in 200 years. The speed with which we are exhausting fossil energy is incredible. Sir Crispin suggests a fundamental shift in values and a radical return to a holistic worldview.

There is a word in Sanskrit for the point of return: it is pratikraman. Its opposite is atikraman, which means stepping outside our natural limits. Atikraman happens when we break the universal law. Returning to the centre of one’s being or to the source of inner wisdom is pratikraman. These two Sanskrit words provide a useful approach to understanding the current human predicament and a possible way out. A profound introspection is needed to examine the state of our psyche; we need to ask, are we meeting our need or indulging our greed? Are we healing or wounding the Earth?

In the context of climate change and global warming, addiction to oil is atikraman and a return to the energy derived from air, water and sun is pratikraman. One way to begin our pratikraman is to stop and put a cap on consumerism. We need a moratorium on motorways and runways. No new homes without insulation. We need to put an immediate freeze on industrialised agriculture everywhere in the world. Once we have put such a complete freeze on the use of fossil fuel, we can start the reduction process and the return journey to renewable resources. If we plan and manage our return journey carefully we should be able to escape the projected meltdown. We were able to repair the hole in the ozone layer by reducing the use of CFCs; we should be able to mitigate the extreme consequences of global warming if we can put an immediate cap on the use of fossil fuel and prepare to make the return journey instantly.

To meet the challenge of global warming, we need to change from being consumers to being artists; we have to take refuge in the arts and crafts. As William Morris advocated long ago, arts and crafts ignite our imagination, stimulate our creativity and bring us a sense of fulfilment. Poetry, painting, pottery, music, meditation, gardening, sculpting and umpteen other forms of arts and crafts can meet all basic human needs; produce beautiful objects to use, which need not require the use of fossil fuel. Human happiness, true prosperity and joyful living can only emerge from a life of elegant simplicity.

We are at the point of return from gross to subtle, from glamorous to gracious, from hedonism to healing, from conquest of the Earth to conservation of Nature, and from quantities of possessions to quality of life. It is ‘cool’ to be an optimist.

Satish Kumar

Satish Kumar is President of Schumacher UK, Editor of Resurgence and Director of Programmes at Schumacher College.

Internet Source: http://www.resurgence.org/2007/kumar243.htm

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