…the social interaction amid the educated who know bullsh*t when they see it. Kudos to you, kids. Good Grief.
(hat tip to Courtney Baxter at feministing)
Category Archives: spirituality
Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies…
I saw recently where James Taylor was supposed to sing the Star Spangled Banner, and started singing “America, the Beautiful”…God Bless him. I want to put a vote in for America, the Beautiful for our national anthem. The Star Spangled Banner sings of war and bombs but America the Beautiful sings of the beauty of our country, the abundance, and the brotherhood (as yet to be realized, but a worthy goal).
A beautiful, crisp morning as the sun rises….now moved across the horizon for the winter sleep…
I saw six deer this morning. Sometimes they will stop and just observe me, but mostly they just run off, with white tails bobbing up…it never ceases to amaze me how they can be standing still in front of a four foot tall fence and leap over it with such athletic grace. They like apples, by the way. A momma deer and baby were seen nibbling apples one morning while they hung from the tree. You’ll see a half-eaten apple on the ground and know that it was lunch for a deer.
I went out the other morning, and the birds were singing as if it were a Spring day. It caught me off guard….this is Fall, right…? :p
There were cardinals singing, Blue Jays sounding the warning, and another bird I couldn’t identify singing its little heart out. Funny.
I’ve seen a bird that is mostly grayish black that at first I thought was a junco, but it’s tail looked like a sparrow’s and it was too big to be a junco.
The hummingbirds have long since sought warmer climates. I miss their antics. They spend more energy fighting over the food, when there is plenty there, rather than conserving the energy they used fighting so they wouldn’t need so much food….I know there is a lesson for mankind in there, somewhere….
You remember the hornet’s nest I mentioned? Something happened to it–we had about three days of rain (no chemtrails to interfere), and then we had really windy days….so it may have been the combination that caused the nest to lose its outer wrap (for want of a better word). It literally had torn off the wrap down to the honeycomb-like inner chambers. I guess birds could have gotten to it, too, but I’ve never seen that. Not that I’ve seen that many hornets’ nest….in my youth, when I lived around the woods, but not since moving to the city.
Here’s an informative blog on hornet’s nests. I learned something today–I saw the honeycombs of the torn hornet’s nest but I did not realize they actually made honey! It makes perfect sense, though, because they need something for the pupae. However, I wanted to double check this, and another site said they did not make honey.
Continuing the search, I found this:
I also learned that the Maya believe hornets/wasps learn the hut owner’s scent and leave them alone….but may go after visitors. Interesting. Hornets generally do leave people alone….unless they mess with them. There was one story of my childhood where one of the neighborhood kids thought it would be funny to poke a hornet’s nest. Um-hmm….you can guess what happened…hornets mad as hell swarmed him. They had to get a hose to get them off. Yep, he never did that again…
I found this interesting blog on hornet nest destruction. Apparently, bears will tackle anything. This site is pretty interesting with discussions on biodiversity. Someone posted a video on biodiversity but it advocates eco-tourism, and setting aside small tracts of land for preservation. I think both of these ideas send the wrong message. Tourism is tourism and the more people that trample the ground, disturbing the wildlife, the more stress they bring to resources and the life forms there–not to mention more pollution by using motorized vehicles. I shake my head at folks who drive up in SUV’s to the parks….the irony seems lost on them on the damage their vehicles cause by consuming gas and polluting with exhaust, which are destroying the nature that they seek.
And the setting aside tracts of land is a noble idea–but in my view, it absolves the rest of the occupants of the land their responsibility to take care of the land they’re on. In other words, it’s like they’re saying “we have this land over here that is being preserved, therefore, you can pollute the hell out of the other land that isn’t in the preserve.” It’s still missing the HUGE point that we cannot separate the land by lines….as much as we have been brainwashed into thinking that it is possible to do just that.
Water runoff polluted with pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified forms, mercury, etc., will migrate from the unprotected land to the protected land. Toxic air will flow over the protected land. There is no way to keep a tract of land pristine while the land surrounding it is poisoned. Just like we see with the nuclear accident in Japan–what happens in one area affects another that has nothing to do with it. We have to see that everything we do affects another–to take care.
Another link someone posted is something near and dear to my heart–natural water filtration a la natural swimming pools. Pretty cool, eh? Last one in is a rotten egg! 🙂
Also, there is a thread on endangered invertebrates. Interesting read.
Have a great Sunday. 🙂
75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht
Germans observed the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) when the assault against the Jews began in earnest.
It’s hard to watch the video of it. The pure hatred of the dark ones sends chills down my spine.
(kind of like the war on the poor, children (public ed.), and the elderly (Social Security) and the overreach of the NSA in the U.S. now, eh?)
Arafat
Global News has this up on the poisoning of Yassar Arafat. You might recall my post on that a year ago.
A report on what polonium is here.
Not stuff to mess with, eh?
And speaking of radiation….howz about some radiated water…? Oh, I know the report states it’s not from the radiated side of the plants, but you know, I’m having a hard time trusting nuclear plant operators to tell the truth when that truth could be politically and financially damaging to their interests. Canadians, be on the lookout for three-eyed fish sprouting feet….
First Nations continue standing up
This is a pretty good report of the events surrounding the recent clash with the armed forces and the First Nations of Canada.
From the post:
It is of particular importance to note that – according to Augustine – the Warrior Society and the RCMP had even negotiated for the possibility that an ISL security guard would want to come and pray at the sacred fire. The guards could come and pray any time they wanted, but neither they, nor anyone else, was permitted to bring weapons of any kind to the sacred fire.
“[ISL] already knew,” says Augustine. “When we negotiated the first time, when an ISL worker comes out to the sacred fire – because they were welcome, anytime they were welcome – as long as they don’t have any weapons. [But] they could come and pray with us anytime they want. And that was part of the negotiations. They could come out at any time and pray with us, or go out the back way and shift change then.”
~~~~~~~~~~
I think it’s important, too, to note the First Nations people welcoming the guards into camp–as long as they were not armed. And praying together? What a wonderful way to seek spiritual guidance together—to seek that which feeds the Light. I don’t believe that God would sanction polluting the Earth….and causing all the misery to humans, animals, plants, the soil, and the water that fracking does.
If you recall the previous videos on the confrontation, the female Warrior was clearly upset at them offering tobacco. Now we see the story behind that–they offered tobacco the night before as a symbol of wanting peace for everyone. Then the very next morning,they show up with guns drawn–even when they knew the indigenous were unarmed and seeking a peaceful way to get SWN off their land.
Here is a look at Chief Arren Sock presenting their demands to the public/press:
I think what is hard for white folks to understand is that the indigenous society is not based on hierarchical status. Until recently, I didn’t understand all of what that means, myself, because it’s so ingrained that *somebody* MUST be in charge. The Chief system was something imposed upon the indigenous by the Europeans–they required someone to be spokesperson and to call all the shots. The people were offended by this because their society was not set up that way. As Chief Sock states in this video, he does not speak for the others. He doesn’t tell the other indigenous what to do —they act on their own autonomy. They see this as each person acting according to what the Creator wishes for them to do, as far as my understanding.
A couple of tweets here and here on it. The last pic with the story behind the brave Warrior standing between a pregnant woman and this armed guard…who’s the terrorist, again…?
Another tweet here on once again labeling environmentalists as terrorists. If you recall, when I worked for the state health dept., one of the training sessions I had included Dept. of Hysterical Security. They did an exercise where environmentalists were going to use bio warfare by injecting food borne pathogens into food at a fair booth. The whole scenario was outlandish and reminded me of the story of Chicken Little who ran around crazy exclaiming that the sky was falling because an acorn dropped on his head. It makes a broad sweeping generalization about a group that is generally peaceful with a few idiots who resort to violence as a means to an end. Unfortunately, they not only achieve their goal, but they also persuade others NOT to join the movement because they don’t condone that behavior and because, as said previously, they don’t want to be labeled as troublemakers. **not to mention that some of those causing trouble could be agent provocateurs who are not actually environmentalists, but paid disruptors from the outside posing as environmentalists.
Some good news here. Glad to see someone has some sense and vision to look beyond today and the $$$ short term gain. Just say NO to the money, honey.
The stories of life and death
This makes me cry. Not just for the sad ending, but when they talked of his last five hours of life, it reminded me of my Mom’s passing. They sang songs, too. What a gift music is–to comfort in times of sorrow, as well as celebrating the good times…
….and I feel the same way he did–I was at that point many times when I was much sicker. I can count at least three times where I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for breath because my lungs would not inflate or had fluid. The last time, I begged God to just take me. I think it’s harder for the family when one passes over–they see it as final, but I don’t.
It’s final for the life here on Earth, and that is sad, but I can’t wait to get to the other side….it’s beautiful and full of love.
Mi’kmaq not backing down
Checking in with the First Nations protestors in Canada….
SWN refuses to acknowledge they are trespassing on First Nations land and continue to use that land for fracking, despite the protests. My understanding is that they have started a fire blockade today at noon.
Someone posted a link to this video that captures in pictures when words fail…
…at 1:25 and 1:38, look at the concentration of teargas on ONE individual!!
….at 1:56,and the next photo should have the caption underneath with one word: COURAGE
…at 2:12 full disclosure: both sides had dogs. Gotta love their sense of humor.
…at 2:19…<sigh>….really? Is this man armed? He appears to be unarmed and of smaller stature than the SWN security officer.
Another video here on the mistreatment of the protestors taken in:
First, Do No Harm…
…is what doctors affirm when they get their degrees. But the Bush/Cheney Administration demanded physicians and other medical professionals to abandon that rule and devise ways of torturing people. Some of these people were innocents who ended up at Guantanamo because their accuser was paid some cold, hard cash….
My understanding is that if a member of the military is required to do something that is against their ethics, they have the right to respectfully refuse the order.
Just imagine if they had….
Some physicians do care, however, and marched on Washington….
I wonder if they had closed their offices for a day in protest…or God forbid, if they refused to implant a new heart in the Dark One Cheney in protest…
Education News **edited
Think the NSA is bad? How about the Gates Foundation?? Sends chills down your spine how this non-government corporation has so much free access to personal data. The next question is: for what purpose? Sheila Resseger posted this letter to Secretary Duncan. Thank YOU, Senator Markey, for asking these important questions. Tim Furman posted this link for a gathering in Chicago on student privacy.
Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal, along with other *cough* news rags, allegedly stole private information via cell phones to use against the owner. Keep in mind that Coulson was directly linked to the British Prime Minister. And the Gates Foundation is sponsoring “news” stories running in The Guardian.
Diane has a link up to this excellent post that just hits the nail on the head—how does one stack the deck so there is as little opposition as possible….? One holds meetings at times that almost guarantee low attendance by those involved–teachers, parents who work and parents with little ones ( they won’t bring little ones to the meetings and single parents will have difficulty getting sitters,too.)
The post features this video (under immature link):
Really eye-opening, eh? Is it fair to characterize Deasy as a bully and an idiot? From this episode, he seems to be a control freak running amok whom is more interested in feeding his ego than actual concern for the children. He claims she is being disrespectful to the kids, while he is showing disrespect for their teacher. Blessings to you, Patrena Shankling. Nobody should have to be treated in such an abusive manner—and what you experienced was classic verbal abuse where it doesn’t matter what you say, the abuser will escalate his tirade.
More on Deasy here.
Speaking of abuse, Diane posted this on a child psychotherapist’s assessment of the testing, testing, testing of our children and how demoralizing it is to them. Six years old!
And JCGrim posts a comment on how the abuse gets worse—Good God:
School leaders say La Vergne High has a split lunch period, half academic intervention to help students who may be struggling in a subject and half lunch.
“They are not segregating them in the traditional sense. If the kids’ scores are low in certain areas, they are getting help in that area. If you want to label that segregation, then that’s not the correct way to label it,” said Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.
~~~~~~~~~
Well, you know, they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Whether the segregation is intentional or not, it is still segregation. And what is wrong with you that you can’t even give the kids a break from learning for a half-hour? The brain needs a break, for crying out loud! Let the kids be kids and socialize without being overshadowed!
Diane posts here on Mark Naison. He describes how and why he became an activist. **edited to add link. Oops.
From his post:
Teachers everywhere were being driven out of their jobs and stripped of their autonomy and creativity. Children everywhere were being deluged with tests, and subjected to a one size fits all curriculum that, in all too many instances, smothered their unique talents and aptitudes.
~~~~~~~~~
(sorry for the large text) — as I’m reading this, I’m reminded of something a nun said at a parents’ meeting once: we all have gifts to bring to the world–we have the jocks and beauty queens, but we need the nerds, the clowns, the creative, the stoic, etc. — those that are not necessarily celebrated in popular media, but whose gifts would surely be missed had they not graced the world. Even those who are mentally challenged bring something to the world.
Naison is understandably upset with the Administration for the education policies. However, I have seen a change in President Obama in the past, oh, year or year-and-a-half, in that he seems to be breaking away from the Clinton -thinking. My hope is that the more President Obama sees the damage that is happening to the children and public education as a whole, he will rethink the policies and replace Arne Duncan. We can hope….
Diane also posts the links to the Daily Show appearance. When she stated that Jon was upset about Common Core and how his staff was personally experiencing what we’ve been blasting about, I was upset that he doesn’t talk about it on air! Arrrgh! A missed opportunity to help the public understand why we are so upset and how our children are being psychologically abused!
(A side note~ I admire Jon for adopting the pit bull, but still would not recommend them. They have been bred to be fighters, and as such, their powerful jaws make it impossible to separate them from anything they’ve sunk their teeth into—there are stories of pit bulls who would not release even when someone was beating on them to get them off of another dog/human being. )
Diane has a link to Mercedes Schneider’s debunking the Louisiana “miracle”. This is why one needs to ask how statistics were compiled and what methodology they used. The lies will be exposed when these questions are answered.
Diane and Michelle Rhee will debate Feb. 6. Rhee made increasing demands which seem to speak of the lack of substance to her arguments.
Finally, in my own little corner of the world– a quiz on Indiana politics and ruining public education by devious means.
Note in the comments that charter school proponents are now trying to market charter schools as “community schools” to make destroying public schools more palatable.
This comment just makes me want to cry because it’s so true:
Carol Ring
Indiana gets national recognition once again!
We are ‘leaders’ in many areas…eighth most polluted air in the nation, broken infrastructure, roads with cracks and potholes, 47th in the nation for adults with college degrees, most polluted rivers in the U.S., underfunding of public schools [so more money can go to charter schools], eighth most overweight population in the nation and our recent achievement in outstanding ‘education reform’ is an increased number of vouchers and charter school expansion!
Add to this list of achievements the desire of our GOP controlled Congress and Tea Partier Governor Pence to dilute Superintendent Glitz’s responsibilities simply because she understands the needs of children and teachers.
It sometimes feels overwhelming.
~~~~~~~~~~
God help Indiana.
Plagiarizing isn’t really stealing….
Rachel Maddow has an issue with Rand Paul claiming someone else’s writing is his own….and how he pretends “it’s no big deal”.
If you recall the post on only the crooks get jobs.…there seems to be a pattern here, eh?
But, no, we’re not done…I was watching the Ed Show on MSNBC, and he was stating that Bill O’Reilly has made the claim he knows why Jesus died–because he went after the tax collectors. Ed said it was because he was sent here to die for us so that we could have everlasting life. He also said something about the moneychangers being thrown out because they were in the Temple.
Hmmm….I remember making the statement on a comment on crooks and liars regarding this subject.(tried to find it,but it’s not on the website).
It’s been probably a year since I made the comment, and some of you might remember it–someone on the blog had made a crack about Jesus not caring about the poor, etc. To which I replied that Jesus fed the poor with loaves and fishes, he touched those with leprosy (which was like AIDS in those days), and he threw the moneychangers (bankers) out of the Temple when the religious leaders had allowed them to set up shop there. I said that was probably the real reason Jesus was murdered–he made the religious leaders look bad (and pissed off the bankers by interfering with their business).
I haven’t read O’Reilly’s book. I don’t know the exact quote or context of it ….but it would piss me off to know this creep has a book out there, making $$$, while he stole an idea from someone else.
Oh….and O’Reilly claims that Jesus told him to write the book.
Um-hmmm….if Jesus had really told him that, he would have told O’Reilly to pay for the costs of printing it and hand out copies for free.
Never ceases to amaze me when people try to make money off of Jesus….I can’t imagine he would have healed someone and then said “That’ll be $100.”
Eagle 