Woman Who Protested TSA Pat-Downs At OKC Airport Banned From Flying
I just love how regular people become terrorists and suspicious, according to the TSA. Granted, I'm not saying what she didn't wasn't provocative, but that doesn't make her a terrorist. The TSA is making criminals out of regular people, all the while, people are still able to board planes with weapons. Example. Example. Example. Example.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
All is Calm and Peaceful in Bethlehem
This news warms my heart..
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Bethlehem celebrates merriest Christmas in years
By TIA GOLDENBERG and DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Tia Goldenberg And Dalia Nammari, Associated Press – 2 hrs 43 mins ago
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – The traditional birthplace of Jesus is celebrating its merriest Christmas in years, as tens of thousands of tourists thronged Bethlehem on Friday for the annual holiday festivities in this biblical West Bank town.
Officials said the turnout was shaping up to be the largest since 2000. Unseasonably mild weather, a virtual halt in Israeli-Palestinian violence and a burgeoning economic revival in the West Bank all added to the holiday cheer.
By nightfall, a packed Manger Square was awash in red, blue, green and yellow Christmas lights.
Merrymakers blasted horns, bands sang traditional Christmas carols in Arabic, boy scout marching bands performed and Palestinian policemen deployed around the town to keep the peace.
A group of 30 tourists from Papua New Guinea, all wearing red Santa hats, walked around the nearby Church of the Nativity, built on the site where tradition holds Jesus was born. Both church officials and the Palestinian president voiced hopes for peace.
Pat Olmsted, a 64-year-old teacher from Sugar Land, Texas, was celebrating her first Christmas in Bethlehem and broke into tears as she stood in Manger Square. "It just gives me a whole true meaning of the Bible. As I read the pages, it will mean so much more to me," she said.
Bethlehem used to attract tens of thousands of tourists from around the world for Christmas celebrations, but attendance dropped sharply following the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000.
As the fighting tapered off over the last five years, attendance steadily climbed. The town's 2,750 hotel rooms were booked solid for Christmas week, and town officials say more hotels are under construction.
Israeli officials have said they expect about 90,000 visitors in Bethlehem during the current two-week holiday season, up from 70,000 last year.
But the bloodshed has left its mark. Visitors entering the town must cross through a massive metal gate in the separation barrier Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian attacks last decade.
The Roman Catholic Church's top clergyman in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, crossed through the gate in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem. Later, he celebrated Midnight Mass, the peak of the holiday's events in town.
In his homily, Twal issued a conciliatory call for peace between religions and urged an "intensification" of dialogue with Jews and Muslims.
"We need to unite and integrate the many values we have in common: prayer, piety, fasting, almsgiving, and ethical values," he said.
"Our hope for Christmas is that Jerusalem not only become the capital of two nations, but also a model for the world, of harmony and coexistence of the three monotheistic religions," he added. "During this Christmas season, may the sound of the bells of our churches drown the noise of weapons in our wounded Middle East, calling all men to peace and the joy."
The crowds continued to swell throughout the day. By Friday night, Israeli military officials, who coordinate movement in and out of the West Bank, said the number rose to some 70,000 people on Christmas Eve alone, compared with 50,000 last year.
Raed Arafat, the 40-year-old owner of the Stars and Bucks Cafe, played Christmas songs over loudspeakers and handed out free Arabic coffee at his shop near Manger Square. Tourists snapped photos and bought mugs emblazoned with the cafe chain's green logo, modeled after the American Starbucks company.
"There are more people this year," an ecstatic Arafat said. "Christmas this year is not like every year because now there is more quiet."
The holiday had its surreal moments. Many visitors were local Palestinians, including a large number of Muslim women whose faces were covered by veils. The loud Muslim call to prayer from a mosque next to Manger Square briefly drowned out the celebrations.
"Because of the hard situation and the pressure we are living in, we take advantage of any joyful moment and bring our children to play," said Khitam Harazallah, a veiled Muslim housewife from the nearby Deheishe refugee camp who came with her two young children.
Today, just one-third of Bethlehem's 50,000 residents are Christian, down from about 75 percent in the 1950s. The rest are Muslims.
The Christian population throughout the Middle East has shrunk in recent decades as people flee violence or search for better opportunities abroad. Christians make up roughly 2 percent of the population in the Holy Land.
With the end of fighting, the West Bank has undergone an economic revival in recent years, illustrated by new shopping malls and widespread construction projects in the bustling city of Ramallah.
But a deadlock in Mideast peace talks between Israel and the West Bank government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, along with a flare-up in violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, threatened to cast a pall over the celebrations.
Abbas, a Muslim, traveled to Bethlehem to greet the revelers, saying he hoped the coming year will finally bring peace. He also said the Palestinians were issuing a special postage stamp honoring Bethlehem.
"We are seekers of peace in the path of Jesus," he said. "We hope that next year will be a year of peace by establishing the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace and security."
Israel maintains an embargo on Gaza, which is governed by Abbas' rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas. In a goodwill gesture, Israel allowed 500 members of Gaza's tiny Christian community to travel to Bethlehem.
Niveen Wadia, a 40-year-old Gaza woman, said coming to Bethlehem was "a very beautiful feeling."
"In Gaza we don't have any celebration atmosphere. We are the minority there," she said.
Dampening the holiday cheer, Israeli authorities said three Italian pilgrims were killed Friday afternoon when their car crashed into an electric pole near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. Two other women in the car were hospitalized. Israeli officials said the women were in the Holy Land to celebrate Christmas.
Article retrieved from here.
More pictures are here.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Unemployed? Try Yoga!
Here's another example of the American ineptitude to stomach the economic crisis we're in and an indicator that nobody is taking it seriously:
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Unemployed get another jobless benefit _ free yoga
(AP) – 5 hours ago
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The women snuggle into nests of pillows and blankets.
A light breeze, like a mother blowing on a baby's boo-boo, falls from ceiling fans and tickles their backs. The room is dark, silent, until they crawl out of child's pose and chant, "Omm."
This is free yoga for the unemployed: a different kind of jobless benefit where former managers, laid-off limo drivers and others can turn to the grown-up version of nap time to ease the stress of being out of work.
With national unemployment just below 10 percent, $20 yoga classes don't qualify as necessities for many out-of-work people who've pruned luxuries from their budgets. So in a gesture that's part send-good-vibes-to-the-universe and part community outreach, a handful of yoga studios have decided to cut the unemployed a break.
"We didn't want them to have to choose, 'Should I eat today or go take this class?' We wanted to give them the ability to do both," said Zack Lynn, a computer techie by day who teaches a free yoga class for people out of work in Columbus.
The Integral Yoga Institute in New York started offering free weekly classes last year when some students lost their jobs and couldn't afford to pay $17 per course. Now, a dozen or two jobseekers drop in for free sun salutations and other stretches every week.
"It helps to quiet the mind and helps people realize that this is a temporary situation," said Jo Sgammato, the studio's general manager.
Yogis say breathing exercises can reduce the stress of job interviews and post-stretching tea time is good for networking.
"You're not really thinking about other things," said Quinn Johnson, a 42-year-old former limo driver who started attending Integral Yoga's free classes earlier this year. "You're relaxing. You're stretching."
Some students have found work and switched to paid classes. But employment experts and yogis alike are quick to point out that yoga shouldn't get all the credit.
"Yoga's not getting anybody a job," said Wendy Enelow, an executive career consultant in Coleman Falls, Va. "What the yoga studios do — and I think kudos to them — is if you physically feel better, your head's going to feel better and you're in a better place to manage your job search."
Practicing yoga is believed to reduce stress and improve concentration. Some studios offer special classes to help veterans work through traumatic experiences and women cope with pregnancies.
Can't make it to the weekly class? The studio in New York — and others in cities such as Chicago and Berkeley, Calif. — have given unemployed people discounts on other sessions. At Integral, that means paying $10 per class instead of $17.
Yogis follow a granola-crunching code of honor at the free classes in New York and Columbus. (Asking for proof of unemployment seems like a yoga buzzkill.)
"If somebody comes all the way here and tells us they want to take that free class because they're unemployed, we're going to believe them," Sgammato said.
Back in the dark yoga sanctuary in the Columbus studio, called Yoga on High, Lynn leads a group of unemployed — or barely employed — women through relaxing poses.
It's yoga more shabby than chic. Most of the students are dressed in T-shirts and hoodies rather than the hip hippie garb of Lululemon. They rely on the kinds of blankets you might find in car trunks.
Apparel aside, the class resembles its full-priced counterpart. Students bend into silhouettes of the alphabet — the outline of an A in downward-facing dog, an I as they stretch long, lean, toward the ceiling.
The din from the street gives way to a yawn-inducing state of silence, the kind of silence that quiets the deepest worrier's qualms. A sign reminds fellow yogis passing by, "Quiet Please.... Savasana In Progress!"
Lynn adjusts the students' postures as they ripple through poses. Then he tucks them into forts made of ergonomic pillows for deep relaxation.
"If you are extremely comfortable and want to stay there, that's fine," he says. "But I would prefer that you lie on your back for at least a few minutes."
Bethia Woolf, a 35-year-old who recently started a food-tour company in Columbus, went to her first free class after she lost her job as a rowing coach. She says the class forced her to get out of the house and stay in a routine — something she wouldn't have been able to afford if she had to shell out $15 per class.
"Even though it has a lot of health and well-being benefits, there's things you feel guilty about spending money on that aren't essentials," Woolf said.
On the Net:
* www.yogaonhigh.com/: http://www.iyiny.org/
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Retreived from here.
Monday, December 06, 2010
American Environmentalism
If something was real and you knew it was real, data alone would be the compelling argument. The would be no arm twisting or pay offs to convince others that whatever it is that you are talking about is real. It just is. This is why I am seriously concerned about the arm twisting phenomenon that I have seen throughout this country the past couple years; the botched data from the IPCC, to Al Gore flying around the world preaching how everyone else needs to conserve but him. It's ok that he has a mansion and yacht. However, everyone else should change their lifestyle to comport to what he says is true. All the more reason when I checked the news this morning that I was yet again dismayed at what I read about "Global Warming" initiatives. Let me tell you that Global Warming is becoming such a joke that even Japan doesn't want to extend the Kyoto accord..
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The US embassy cables
WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord
Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen accord
Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage.
The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial "Copenhagen accord", the unofficial document that emerged from the ruins of the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2009.
Negotiating a climate treaty is a high-stakes game, not just because of the danger warming poses to civilisation but also because re-engineering the global economy to a low-carbon model will see the flow of billions of dollars redirected.
Seeking negotiating chips, the US state department sent a secret cable on 31 July 2009 seeking human intelligence from UN diplomats across a range of issues, including climate change. The request originated with the CIA. As well as countries' negotiating positions for Copenhagen, diplomats were asked to provide evidence of UN environmental "treaty circumvention" and deals between nations.
But intelligence gathering was not just one way. On 19 June 2009, the state department sent a cable detailing a "spear phishing" attack on the office of the US climate change envoy, Todd Stern, while talks with China on emissions took place in Beijing. Five people received emails, personalised to look as though they came from the National Journal. An attached file contained malicious code that would give complete control of the recipient's computer to a hacker. While the attack was unsuccessful, the department's cyber threat analysis division noted: "It is probable intrusion attempts such as this will persist."
• Read more about how the US cajolled other countries into supporting the Copenhagen Accord.
The Beijing talks failed to lead to a global deal at Copenhagen. But the US, the world's biggest historical polluter and long isolated as a climate pariah, had something to cling to. The Copenhagen accord, hammered out in the dying hours but not adopted into the UN process, offered to solve many of the US's problems.
The accord turns the UN's top-down, unanimous approach upside down, with each nation choosing palatable targets for greenhouse gas cuts. It presents a far easier way to bind in China and other rapidly growing countries than the UN process. But the accord cannot guarantee the global greenhouse gas cuts needed to avoid dangerous warming. Furthermore, it threatens to circumvent the UN's negotiations on extending the Kyoto protocol, in which rich nations have binding obligations. Those objections have led many countries – particularly the poorest and most vulnerable – to vehemently oppose the accord.
Getting as many countries as possible to associate themselves with the accord strongly served US interests, by boosting the likelihood it would be officially adopted. A diplomatic offensive was launched. Diplomatic cables flew thick and fast between the end of Copenhagen in December 2009 and late February 2010, when the leaked cables end.
Some countries needed little persuading. The accord promised $30bn (£19bn) in aid for the poorest nations hit by global warming they had not caused. Within two weeks of Copenhagen, the Maldives foreign minister, Ahmed Shaheed, wrote to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, expressing eagerness to back it.
By 23 February 2010, the Maldives' ambassador-designate to the US, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, told the US deputy climate change envoy, Jonathan Pershing, his country wanted "tangible assistance", saying other nations would then realise "the advantages to be gained by compliance" with the accord.
A diplomatic dance ensued. "Ghafoor referred to several projects costing approximately $50m (£30m). Pershing encouraged him to provide concrete examples and costs in order to increase the likelihood of bilateral assistance."
The Maldives were unusual among developing countries in embracing the accord so wholeheartedly, but other small island nations were secretly seen as vulnerable to financial pressure. Any linking of the billions of dollars of aid to political support is extremely controversial – nations most threatened by climate change see the aid as a right, not a reward, and such a link as heretical. But on 11 February, Pershing met the EU climate action commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, in Brussels, where she told him, according to a cable, "the Aosis [Alliance of Small Island States] countries 'could be our best allies' given their need for financing".
The pair were concerned at how the $30bn was to be raised and Hedegaard raised another toxic subject – whether the US aid would be all cash. She asked if the US would need to do any "creative accounting", noting some countries such as Japan and the UK wanted loan guarantees, not grants alone, included, a tactic she opposed. Pershing said "donors have to balance the political need to provide real financing with the practical constraints of tight budgets", reported the cable.
Along with finance, another treacherous issue in the global climate negotiations, currently continuing in Cancún, Mexico, is trust that countries will keep their word. Hedegaard asks why the US did not agree with China and India on what she saw as acceptable measures to police future emissions cuts. "The question is whether they will honour that language," the cable quotes Pershing as saying.
Trust is in short supply on both sides of the developed-developing nation divide. On 2 February 2009, a cable from Addis Ababa reports a meeting between the US undersecretary of state Maria Otero and the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, who leads the African Union's climate change negotiations.
The confidential cable records a blunt US threat to Zenawi: sign the accord or discussion ends now. Zenawi responds that Ethiopia will support the accord, but has a concern of his own: that a personal assurance from Barack Obama on delivering the promised aid finance is not being honoured.
US determination to seek allies against its most powerful adversaries – the rising economic giants of Brazil, South Africa, India, China (Basic) – is set out in another cable from Brussels on 17 February reporting a meeting between the deputy national security adviser, Michael Froman, Hedegaard and other EU officials.
Froman said the EU needed to learn from Basic's skill at impeding US and EU initiatives and playing them off against each in order "to better handle third country obstructionism and avoid future train wrecks on climate".
Hedegaard is keen to reassure Froman of EU support, revealing a difference between public and private statements. "She hoped the US noted the EU was muting its criticism of the US, to be constructive," the cable said. Hedegaard and Froman discuss the need to "neutralise, co-opt or marginalise unhelpful countries including Venezuela and Bolivia", before Hedegaard again links financial aid to support for the accord, noting "the irony that the EU is a big donor to these countries". Later, in April, the US cut aid to Bolivia and Ecuador, citing opposition to the accord.
Any irony is clearly lost on the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, according to a 9 February cable from La Paz. The Danish ambassador to Bolivia, Morten Elkjaer, tells a US diplomat that, at the Copenhagen summit, "Danish prime minister Rasmussen spent an unpleasant 30 minutes with Morales, during which Morales thanked him for [$30m a year in] bilateral aid, but refused to engage on climate change issues."
After the Copenhagen summit, further linking of finance and aid with political support appears. Dutch officials, initially rejecting US overtures to back the accord, make a startling statement on 25 January. According to a cable, the Dutch climate negotiator Sanne Kaasjager "has drafted messages for embassies in capitals receiving Dutch development assistance to solicit support [for the accord]. This is an unprecedented move for the Dutch government, which traditionally recoils at any suggestion to use aid money as political leverage." Later, however, Kaasjager rows back a little, saying: "The Netherlands would find it difficult to make association with the accord a condition to receive climate financing."
Perhaps the most audacious appeal for funds revealed in the cables is from Saudi Arabia, the world's second biggest oil producer and one of the 25 richest countries in the world. A secret cable sent on 12 February records a meeting between US embassy officials and lead climate change negotiator Mohammad al-Sabban. "The kingdom will need time to diversify its economy away from petroleum, [Sabban] said, noting a US commitment to help Saudi Arabia with its economic diversification efforts would 'take the pressure off climate change negotiations'."
The Saudis did not like the accord, but were worried they had missed a trick. The assistant petroleum minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told US officials that he had told his minister Ali al-Naimi that Saudi Arabia had "missed a real opportunity to submit 'something clever', like India or China, that was not legally binding but indicated some goodwill towards the process without compromising key economic interests".
The cables obtained by WikiLeaks finish at the end of February 2010. Today, 116 countries have associated themselves with the accord. Another 26 say they intend to associate. That total, of 140, is at the upper end of a 100-150 country target revealed by Pershing in his meeting with Hedegaard on 11 February.
The 140 nations represent almost 75% of the 193 countries that are parties to the UN climate change convention and, accord supporters like to point out, are responsible for well over 80% of current global greenhouse gas emissions.
At the mid-point of the major UN climate change negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, there have already been flare-ups over how funding for climate adaptation is delivered. The biggest shock has been Japan's announcement that it will not support an extension of the existing Kyoto climate treaty. That gives a huge boost to the accord. US diplomatic wheeling and dealing may, it seems, be bearing fruit.
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Reference for this article can be found here.
Should a open and "free" Republic be engaged in this behavior? Does this not reflect our morally corrupt nature that we've become?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Federalist Papers: Interpretation of the US Constitution
In these trying times, in the United States nowadays, we are forced to take a good look at ourselves. Look deep, to find those things truly valuable to us in order for us to be able to move forward as a country. In an effort to more fully understand the founding principles, I have taken up the task of reading the Federalist Papers, essays commonly used as interpretations of the intent behind our United States Constitution. There Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison strive to explain in narratives the philosophies behind the decisions they made. I am currently on the fourth of 85 essays.. Wish me luck..
The Federalist Papers can be found here.
Monday, November 29, 2010
We Still Hold These Truths
..."to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
The Heritage Foundation has made a touching video about our founding principles. Principles in which one of the people states are being sliced away like salami.
People, even as touching as this video may be, the truth about where we are is surely more stark. The international community has financed our government operations to the extent that Americans no longer are in control of their own destiny. Individual freedoms, property rights, and interests of the people have become completely arbitrary to the decisions of the elites of the state. Government has become a commanding force that exerts its force in many matters with prejudice seeking to be a paternalistic omniscient well-intended oppression that has layers of bureaucracy; that, in the end, does not prevent what it was put in place to prevent. While the weight of the structure continues to build, the supports that keep the structure standing are continually being attacked.
In the wake of the serious recession, we've emerged as corporate statists; corporate fascists. Bailing out and subsidizing projects the government feels is best for everyone, even though these projects never turn a profit and can never survive without the subsidies provided. All indicators are pointing toward a severe economic collapse in which dismantlement of the United States would ensue. The labor in this country, unwilling to negotiate with their employers, demand still the luxuries no longer affordable. These companies will go out of business. The litigious society that successfully sues companies that have nothing to do with someone's malady will aid in the economic collapse. Judges legislating from the bench; acting as a one man king or queen usurping the power of the Legislative and Executive branch of government.
We need serious austerity measures in place for us to go forward: Meaningful tort reform of our legal system, government backing out of it's paternalistic role of running everyone's life (no more welfare, family courts, subsidies for favorite industries), restoring the virtue of private property, dispensing of the interstate commerce clause, bring true fairness to labor negotiations, rewarding of savings, productivity and investment, outlaw teachers unions, outlaw government unions in totality. But, unfortunately, nobody has the guts to step up to get back to the principles of freedom- to fly as high as your wings can take you. Americans no longer have the stomach to face their responsibilities; yet try to be interventionists across the globe seeking to order people around in their own land. Bring home the troops and have them carry out their true role.
The weight of the structure continues to build and sooner, rather than later, the entire structure of bureaucracy will crash down upon itself as in every other example of Socialist and Communist experiments in the past.
Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
The Heritage Foundation has made a touching video about our founding principles. Principles in which one of the people states are being sliced away like salami.
People, even as touching as this video may be, the truth about where we are is surely more stark. The international community has financed our government operations to the extent that Americans no longer are in control of their own destiny. Individual freedoms, property rights, and interests of the people have become completely arbitrary to the decisions of the elites of the state. Government has become a commanding force that exerts its force in many matters with prejudice seeking to be a paternalistic omniscient well-intended oppression that has layers of bureaucracy; that, in the end, does not prevent what it was put in place to prevent. While the weight of the structure continues to build, the supports that keep the structure standing are continually being attacked.
In the wake of the serious recession, we've emerged as corporate statists; corporate fascists. Bailing out and subsidizing projects the government feels is best for everyone, even though these projects never turn a profit and can never survive without the subsidies provided. All indicators are pointing toward a severe economic collapse in which dismantlement of the United States would ensue. The labor in this country, unwilling to negotiate with their employers, demand still the luxuries no longer affordable. These companies will go out of business. The litigious society that successfully sues companies that have nothing to do with someone's malady will aid in the economic collapse. Judges legislating from the bench; acting as a one man king or queen usurping the power of the Legislative and Executive branch of government.
We need serious austerity measures in place for us to go forward: Meaningful tort reform of our legal system, government backing out of it's paternalistic role of running everyone's life (no more welfare, family courts, subsidies for favorite industries), restoring the virtue of private property, dispensing of the interstate commerce clause, bring true fairness to labor negotiations, rewarding of savings, productivity and investment, outlaw teachers unions, outlaw government unions in totality. But, unfortunately, nobody has the guts to step up to get back to the principles of freedom- to fly as high as your wings can take you. Americans no longer have the stomach to face their responsibilities; yet try to be interventionists across the globe seeking to order people around in their own land. Bring home the troops and have them carry out their true role.
The weight of the structure continues to build and sooner, rather than later, the entire structure of bureaucracy will crash down upon itself as in every other example of Socialist and Communist experiments in the past.
The Volatility or "Fear" index
Reading through the news this morning, I found it funny that the market affixes a price tag to fear. Basically, this is "With increased activity in options trading, particularly with put options (which let investors profit from falling prices), options prices rose in response to the volatile market movements, thereby boosting the VIX.
It seems that it's typical to see the VIX move counter to the S&P 500. When the market is jittery and falling, the VIX tends to rise. And by the same token, when the stock market seems to be chugging along and few investors are seeking out the "insurance" that options can sometimes offer, the VIX drops and fear is deemed to be low (Reference)."
It seems that it's typical to see the VIX move counter to the S&P 500. When the market is jittery and falling, the VIX tends to rise. And by the same token, when the stock market seems to be chugging along and few investors are seeking out the "insurance" that options can sometimes offer, the VIX drops and fear is deemed to be low (Reference)."
Sunday, November 28, 2010
The Progression of a Soul
I'm a bit reluctant to post this (as I am with many topics posted here), I feel compelled for some reason to jot this down before it escapes me. I was raised Catholic, but do not currently practice at this time; however, I still have a strong affinity for this sect of Christianity for many reasons I will omit at this point. One thing that's always bothered me is the omission of the Bible of many topics that we may ask ourselves about life and God's relationship with it. For instance, at what point does the soul enter the body? Where is the soul actually made? Has our soul inhabited other human bodies before? Christ was essentially mute on these questions, with regards to the Bible as we know it today. As we all know, many Gospels were left out of the modern Bible by the Council of Nicea so there will be no way for definitively know for sure if the topic was spoken of. Secondly, we must take into consideration that these topics were spoken 2000 years ago, so any explanation would have been spoken from the standpoint that any person living 2000 years ago may understand. Having a more educated population of people today, it may have been written differently.
Some time ago, I happened to run into an article about a man named Edgar Cayce who lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's who used to go into trances and find cures for ailments, talk about history and Christ. When he was a boy, he would learn books by heart simply by sleeping on them. Reading about this guy got me really interested, but what interested me even more, was some of the things that he said while he was in these trances about Christ. I won't go too much into it, as you can check it out for yourself but I will give you a synopsis.
His hypothesis was that Christ was more like an "older brother" to humanity. The following paragraphs are excerpts from the website:
"From Cayce's perspective, we are not simply physical bodies, instead we are spiritual beings who are having a physical experience entailing personal growth and development. Many individuals have incorrectly assumed that the goal of being in the earth is to simply reach heaven, find enlightenment, or somehow "get out of the earth." And yet, this is a perspective quite different from that contained in the Cayce material. Instead, Cayce believed that as children of God, our mission was to somehow bring spirit into the earth."
"The dynamics of our deep and literal connection to God can be found throughout scripture, beginning with Genesis when we are told that God made humankind in the Creator's image. But our relationship with God as our Parent is perhaps no more clearly illustrated than in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24). This parable describes the journey of the soul: we were with God in the beginning, through the power of our free will we were able to make choices that were not necessarily in perfect accord with the Creator. And, at some point, we will "arise" and decide to return to God, regaining our inheritance and experiencing our true relationship with Him."
"The readings state that God desires to be expressed in the world through us. The example set by Jesus is apparently a "pattern" of wholeness for each and every soul.Regardless of an individual's religious or personal beliefs, this Christ pattern exists in potential upon the very fiber of their being. It is that part of each of us that is in perfect accord with the Creator and is simply waiting to find expression in our lives."
"Reincarnation is the belief that each of us goes through a series of lifetimes for the purpose of spiritual growth and soul development. Cayce's approach does not include the concept of transmigration, which states that it is possible for human beings to be born again as animals. From the standpoint of the Cayce material, souls only occupy human bodies through their spiritual growth and developmental process."
After reading this some time ago, it has lingered in my head for a very long time. I've grappled with the idea that a soul can jump into a human, be with it throughout it's lifetime, then leave the body after the flesh dies only to find a new challenge in another human lifetime.
Now, the questions that I have had to ask myself is: (a) Are my beliefs strong enough to be confronted with this; enough to be objective? Answer is yes, I believe so. (b) Do I believe in good in evil? Light and dark? Answer is yes. (c) Do I believe that there is another spiritual realm? Answer is yes.
The next question that I really had to get over was a tough one. Is any one religion "right?" Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. It took me a long time to mill the idea that these religions would have any connection. All stated here, after all, do have their good points. Should I not believe that "all roads lead home," if asked my specific faith?
What I believe is that each being, each soul, that inhabits a living being is a little piece of creation, a piece of God. Some souls are more cognizant and more aware than others. I'm in agreement with Mr. Cayce's statements that all souls are striving for "Christhood," progressing their way back to the creator (aka dying and going to heaven). I do believe that Christ was a living person, I also believe that he is the Son of God. More importantly, I think that he was crucial in establishing the guidebook for souls, the Bible, for humankind. In-so-doing, the Bible was made with just enough information to allow people to keep going on their way of progression to the light. This is no different for the Torah or the Qu'ran for Muslims. My firm belief is that any religion when practiced for the good or the light, will aid our souls in its progression back home. This is where it gets tricky because many religions have their customs and beliefs that can lead to extremism that commit acts that do not conform to the light. Who are we to say that our religion is more "right" than another's? We see it all the time though. Certain people preaching in the name of their religion about murder and enslavement of another people because their beliefs are more right than others or hold some sort of Divine sanction against another therefore justifying their extreme action. I subscribe to none of this. Why? Because this follows no means of good or light for humanity. If we're all God's children, would He approve or disapprove of people using his name to justify murder? Does God really care what custom your religion has, so long as you have faith in Him? Does He really care how many times you go to Church when you willingly commit acts like a sinner outside of the Church/Synagogue/Mosque/Temple?
I do believe that there is a life cycle- a light and a dark. Both spiritual realms exist and make each other's presence known in every day life.
All these are interesting points to ponder; certainly, provocative in circles. But then again, so little is known outside of what is stated in the Bible or many other religious texts to be able to explain with more detail some of the intricacies of what may lie beyond death and how it all works. Being a Christian, I'm perfectly fine with this thinking because it does not violate my beliefs in any way; in fact, I think that it strengthens them. We should all be skeptical of what people say though and their interpretations of literal meanings in the religious texts, using them as precursors to commit acts that contrast with the premise of them.
Some time ago, I happened to run into an article about a man named Edgar Cayce who lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's who used to go into trances and find cures for ailments, talk about history and Christ. When he was a boy, he would learn books by heart simply by sleeping on them. Reading about this guy got me really interested, but what interested me even more, was some of the things that he said while he was in these trances about Christ. I won't go too much into it, as you can check it out for yourself but I will give you a synopsis.
His hypothesis was that Christ was more like an "older brother" to humanity. The following paragraphs are excerpts from the website:
"From Cayce's perspective, we are not simply physical bodies, instead we are spiritual beings who are having a physical experience entailing personal growth and development. Many individuals have incorrectly assumed that the goal of being in the earth is to simply reach heaven, find enlightenment, or somehow "get out of the earth." And yet, this is a perspective quite different from that contained in the Cayce material. Instead, Cayce believed that as children of God, our mission was to somehow bring spirit into the earth."
"The dynamics of our deep and literal connection to God can be found throughout scripture, beginning with Genesis when we are told that God made humankind in the Creator's image. But our relationship with God as our Parent is perhaps no more clearly illustrated than in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24). This parable describes the journey of the soul: we were with God in the beginning, through the power of our free will we were able to make choices that were not necessarily in perfect accord with the Creator. And, at some point, we will "arise" and decide to return to God, regaining our inheritance and experiencing our true relationship with Him."
"The readings state that God desires to be expressed in the world through us. The example set by Jesus is apparently a "pattern" of wholeness for each and every soul.Regardless of an individual's religious or personal beliefs, this Christ pattern exists in potential upon the very fiber of their being. It is that part of each of us that is in perfect accord with the Creator and is simply waiting to find expression in our lives."
"Reincarnation is the belief that each of us goes through a series of lifetimes for the purpose of spiritual growth and soul development. Cayce's approach does not include the concept of transmigration, which states that it is possible for human beings to be born again as animals. From the standpoint of the Cayce material, souls only occupy human bodies through their spiritual growth and developmental process."
After reading this some time ago, it has lingered in my head for a very long time. I've grappled with the idea that a soul can jump into a human, be with it throughout it's lifetime, then leave the body after the flesh dies only to find a new challenge in another human lifetime.
Now, the questions that I have had to ask myself is: (a) Are my beliefs strong enough to be confronted with this; enough to be objective? Answer is yes, I believe so. (b) Do I believe in good in evil? Light and dark? Answer is yes. (c) Do I believe that there is another spiritual realm? Answer is yes.
The next question that I really had to get over was a tough one. Is any one religion "right?" Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. It took me a long time to mill the idea that these religions would have any connection. All stated here, after all, do have their good points. Should I not believe that "all roads lead home," if asked my specific faith?
What I believe is that each being, each soul, that inhabits a living being is a little piece of creation, a piece of God. Some souls are more cognizant and more aware than others. I'm in agreement with Mr. Cayce's statements that all souls are striving for "Christhood," progressing their way back to the creator (aka dying and going to heaven). I do believe that Christ was a living person, I also believe that he is the Son of God. More importantly, I think that he was crucial in establishing the guidebook for souls, the Bible, for humankind. In-so-doing, the Bible was made with just enough information to allow people to keep going on their way of progression to the light. This is no different for the Torah or the Qu'ran for Muslims. My firm belief is that any religion when practiced for the good or the light, will aid our souls in its progression back home. This is where it gets tricky because many religions have their customs and beliefs that can lead to extremism that commit acts that do not conform to the light. Who are we to say that our religion is more "right" than another's? We see it all the time though. Certain people preaching in the name of their religion about murder and enslavement of another people because their beliefs are more right than others or hold some sort of Divine sanction against another therefore justifying their extreme action. I subscribe to none of this. Why? Because this follows no means of good or light for humanity. If we're all God's children, would He approve or disapprove of people using his name to justify murder? Does God really care what custom your religion has, so long as you have faith in Him? Does He really care how many times you go to Church when you willingly commit acts like a sinner outside of the Church/Synagogue/Mosque/Temple?
I do believe that there is a life cycle- a light and a dark. Both spiritual realms exist and make each other's presence known in every day life.
All these are interesting points to ponder; certainly, provocative in circles. But then again, so little is known outside of what is stated in the Bible or many other religious texts to be able to explain with more detail some of the intricacies of what may lie beyond death and how it all works. Being a Christian, I'm perfectly fine with this thinking because it does not violate my beliefs in any way; in fact, I think that it strengthens them. We should all be skeptical of what people say though and their interpretations of literal meanings in the religious texts, using them as precursors to commit acts that contrast with the premise of them.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Zionist Extremism
Zionism is described as follows by the Jews against Zionism website: "it is a movement founded by Theodor Herzl in 1896 whose goal is the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael, or Zion, the Jewish synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The name of 'Zionism' comes from the hill Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was situated. Supporters of this movement are called 'Zionists'.
The purpose of this website (Jews Against Zionism) is to explain why traditional Jews do not support Zionism (the return to the land called "Israel") and why the Zionist ideology is totally contrary to traditional Jewish law and beliefs and the teachings of the Holy Torah.
Here is a good explanation of Zionism:
Jews, Christians and Muslims against Zionism:
Seems provocative, does it not? The truth is that it isn't provocative to suggest that Jews in Israel are a part of the world community and they need to start acting like it. They have disenfranchised Palestinian Muslims and Christians alike. There are also videos all over YouTube of Hasidic Zionist Jews harassing Christians and Muslims. This may be hard to hear or read, but think about it; does a religion of tolerance truly teach people to do this? Unfortunately, I think that some Jews in Israel have fallen for the Zionist ideology then treat their neighbors horribly.
Jews have had a tough history, this is true. The UN acknowledges Israel as a country, yes. But, at what point do people in the world community recognize what Israel does to its neighbors? There is simply no excuse for murder, destruction and enslavement no matter what people may be the perpetrator or the victim. Extremism must be stopped and the Zionists in Israel need to stop their recklessness.
The purpose of this website (Jews Against Zionism) is to explain why traditional Jews do not support Zionism (the return to the land called "Israel") and why the Zionist ideology is totally contrary to traditional Jewish law and beliefs and the teachings of the Holy Torah.
Here is a good explanation of Zionism:
Jews, Christians and Muslims against Zionism:
Seems provocative, does it not? The truth is that it isn't provocative to suggest that Jews in Israel are a part of the world community and they need to start acting like it. They have disenfranchised Palestinian Muslims and Christians alike. There are also videos all over YouTube of Hasidic Zionist Jews harassing Christians and Muslims. This may be hard to hear or read, but think about it; does a religion of tolerance truly teach people to do this? Unfortunately, I think that some Jews in Israel have fallen for the Zionist ideology then treat their neighbors horribly.
Jews have had a tough history, this is true. The UN acknowledges Israel as a country, yes. But, at what point do people in the world community recognize what Israel does to its neighbors? There is simply no excuse for murder, destruction and enslavement no matter what people may be the perpetrator or the victim. Extremism must be stopped and the Zionists in Israel need to stop their recklessness.
Big Government TSA
If you didn't know already, there is a federal bureaucracy called the Transportation Security administration or TSA that searches people at the airport. This was a gift from George W. Bush that just keeps on giving.
In case you aren't up to speed on the news, this agency is renowned for patting down grandma, or 8 year old kids for that matter.
First, why are we patting down grandma and kids who exhibit no suspicious behavior? This is so blatantly useless, it could only be a government organization doing this. Why don't we just cut to the chase here and say that we should just abolish the TSA. The echo chamber of "conservatives" found their new whipping boy whom they will punish. They'll sit and harp about it until I puke on my pants as I am driving in my car. Seriously, let's quit harping about it and abolish this bureaucratic, useless organization. All the TSA is doing is pissing off every person who wants to fly in the United States and would doubtfully actually thwart any type of attack. Terrorists are versatile and creative with their plans; Americans on the other hand, are dependents expecting big daddy government to shield them from every possible hardship in life. It simply comes as no surprise that a big federal behemoth has beget from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
By the way, if you plan on flying in the US, a new disclaimer will come written on your ticket: "Sexual assault may be conducted for your security."
Suddenly the old Ben Franklin quote starts to make a little more sense...
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither."
Sunday, October 17, 2010
..Even Rome Fell
Julius Caesar transformed the Roman Republic into an Empire, from a democratic to a strictly autocratic rule. Proceeding this, Emperors fought their wars, pillaged the people of early Europe and enslaved many people. This constant warring among people led to the final overthrow of the Western Roman Empire in the late 400's. High taxes, inflation, devaluation of the currency, food shortages, water shortages and environmental impacts of farmland led people away from the once prosperous city state. Rome had seen three transitions through its history; a Kingdom, a Republic and finally an Empire.
As I reflect on the history of the Roman Experiment, I can't help but think of the times that we live in today, in modern day America. America was founded on the principal of freedom which early patriots fought for (which is quite ironic given what the early patriots did to native Americans) with little money and almost no support, but that of France. Today we look at ourselves becoming the very oppression that we were running away from, not so long ago. Our institutions breaking us down into ethnic groups, our President pandering to every advocacy group that seeks to steal taxpayer dollars for their own little pet issue, and our laws becoming redundant and ridiculous. Taxes being raised, private property rights being eroded with every government intrusion, these are the things that are happening now.
Surely, I can say that I can never think that any outside force will break us apart, but I do contend that our own policies to one another will lead us right to our own consequences that all of us will have to face. We're being divided into rich and poor, black and white, this religion or that, gay or straight, etc etc. We have found so many reasons that we should not unite that I can see many people living here feeling no shame in supporting causes that in some way hurt one another. The productive in this country are penalized for having too much and the poor are awarded with stipends that support and encourage lives of non productive behavior. How can non productive behavior help this country in any sense? Millions of immigrants came here searching for a country that allowed them to be free to be able to live and work for what they wanted. Nowadays some immigrants get to come here and apply for welfare and social security benefits. This is a blatant abuse of the system, yet the system actually encourages these situations as a premise for needing to take more money from the productive in this country.
No country will ever be able to penetrate us and so long as we stand against a foe; it will be our own social institutions and economic policies that bring us down. Right now, the United States of America is living on borrowed time in terms of an economic, then an entire societal calamity. We have few precious moments to act on addressing our fiscal situation and if we do not, there will no longer be a United States. A civil war will shatter the union and like in any war, many innocents will die.
They say that history always repeats itself; unfortunately, if we continue walking down this road with these economic policies with Presidents more concerned about pandering, throwing parties and taking lavish taxpayer funded vacations, spending money this country does not have, it will happen. A certain ideology has been stoking the flames for racial and class division, in recent years here and I can smell a slight hint of something along the lines of a French Revolution; but there will be more sides than just the rich and the poor. There will be the people vs. the elites, then people with certain ideologies fighting one another.
The United States must address its fiscal problems or there will cease to be an America in the future.
As I reflect on the history of the Roman Experiment, I can't help but think of the times that we live in today, in modern day America. America was founded on the principal of freedom which early patriots fought for (which is quite ironic given what the early patriots did to native Americans) with little money and almost no support, but that of France. Today we look at ourselves becoming the very oppression that we were running away from, not so long ago. Our institutions breaking us down into ethnic groups, our President pandering to every advocacy group that seeks to steal taxpayer dollars for their own little pet issue, and our laws becoming redundant and ridiculous. Taxes being raised, private property rights being eroded with every government intrusion, these are the things that are happening now.
Surely, I can say that I can never think that any outside force will break us apart, but I do contend that our own policies to one another will lead us right to our own consequences that all of us will have to face. We're being divided into rich and poor, black and white, this religion or that, gay or straight, etc etc. We have found so many reasons that we should not unite that I can see many people living here feeling no shame in supporting causes that in some way hurt one another. The productive in this country are penalized for having too much and the poor are awarded with stipends that support and encourage lives of non productive behavior. How can non productive behavior help this country in any sense? Millions of immigrants came here searching for a country that allowed them to be free to be able to live and work for what they wanted. Nowadays some immigrants get to come here and apply for welfare and social security benefits. This is a blatant abuse of the system, yet the system actually encourages these situations as a premise for needing to take more money from the productive in this country.
No country will ever be able to penetrate us and so long as we stand against a foe; it will be our own social institutions and economic policies that bring us down. Right now, the United States of America is living on borrowed time in terms of an economic, then an entire societal calamity. We have few precious moments to act on addressing our fiscal situation and if we do not, there will no longer be a United States. A civil war will shatter the union and like in any war, many innocents will die.
They say that history always repeats itself; unfortunately, if we continue walking down this road with these economic policies with Presidents more concerned about pandering, throwing parties and taking lavish taxpayer funded vacations, spending money this country does not have, it will happen. A certain ideology has been stoking the flames for racial and class division, in recent years here and I can smell a slight hint of something along the lines of a French Revolution; but there will be more sides than just the rich and the poor. There will be the people vs. the elites, then people with certain ideologies fighting one another.
The United States must address its fiscal problems or there will cease to be an America in the future.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Citizens Filiming Police
Police scrutiny is a very touchy subject. At what point does an average citizen cross the line with regards to filming a police officer in their line of duty? Here is a news article that I just ran across and find myself pondering both sides of the issue:
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
TALLAHASSEE — Diop Kamau's home in a leafy, gated community just north of town is not easy to find — for good reason.
For more than two decades, the 52-year-old former Hawthorne, Calif., police officer has made a living embarrassing cops with a video camera.
Stung by the rough treatment of his father during a 1987 traffic stop by another California department, Kamau turned to a second career recording police across the country in compromising — often abusive — encounters with the public.
Some of the controversial videos made using hidden microphones and cameras found their way to network and cable television, exposing police to deserved criticism. Mostly, the videos helped launch a new generation of public accountability for local law enforcement. One of Kamau's most effective weapons is a battered 1968 Chevrolet Impala, wired with microphones and cameras, that Kamau, who is black,drives to test the racial profiling tendencies of local police on behalf of paying clients.
"Frankly, there are a lot of people with badges and guns who don't like me very much," Kamau says, motioning to the network of surveillance cameras that protect his home from unwanted visitors. "I step on a lot of toes."
Starting with the grainy images first broadcast by Kamau and other pioneer citizen watchdogs — notably the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, shot by a nearby resident— the public surveillance of cops has exploded to potentially include anyone with a cellphone.
The videos are so ubiquitous that analysts and police debate whether they are serving the public interest — or undermining public trust in law enforcement and even putting officers' lives in jeopardy. The videos are subjecting officers' actions in public places to new scrutiny and changing the way accusations against cops play out in court. In some communities, police are fighting back by enforcing laws that limit such recordings. Other departments are seeking new training for officers to prepare for the ever-present surveillance on the street.
Just about every day, it seems, there is fresh video of cops engaged in controversial actions: Police slamming an unarmed man to the street in Denver. A college student thrashed by officers with batons during a University Maryland basketball victory celebration. An Oakland transit officer fatally shooting an unarmed man on a train platform.
"There is no city not at risk of a video showing an officer doing something wrong," says San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a coalition representing the 56 largest cities in the USA. "The question, when one of these videos do surface, is what we do about it."
In Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts, some police have responded by trying to limit such recordings when they believe those recordings interfere with police actions.
In Maryland, motorcyclist Anthony Graber was charged with felony violations of Maryland's wiretapping law for recording a March 5 encounter with a gun-brandishing state trooper during a traffic stop. The law requires both parties to consent to the recording of a private conversation. Graber faced a maximum 16-year prison sentence if convicted until Horford County Circuit Court Judge Emory Pitt threw out the case Sept. 27, saying, "Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public."
Some departments have sought training for officers to prepare them for increased surveillance of police activity.
"All of our people should be conducting themselves like they are being recorded all the time," says Lt. Robin Larson, who oversees training for the 3,200-officer Broward County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, which once hired Kamau to help prepare new cadets by making them aware their actions could be taped and transmitted.
Some police believe videotaping officers poses broad risks that reach beyond Internet embarrassments: It could cause officers to hesitate in life-threatening situations.
"The proliferation of cheap video equipment is presenting a whole new dynamic for law enforcement," says Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union. "It has had a chilling effect on some officers who are now afraid to act for fear of retribution by video. This has become a serious safety issue. I'm afraid something terrible will happen."
Kamau and others argue terrible things already have occurred to victims of officer abuse, and video has brought some of the most brutal cases to the public's attention. Video also has helped narrow the "credibility gap" between police and their accusers, civil rights lawyer John Burris says.
"It used to be that the police officer always got the benefit of the doubt," says Burris, who represented Rodney King in a civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles related to his videotaped beating by white Los Angeles police officers. Television broadcasts of the infamous tape, one of the first to show the power of citizen videos of police actions, prompted widespread public outrage.
"The camera, increasingly, is offering a shock to the consciousness," Burris says.
To ignore the effect of video on police credibility, Kamau says, is "like disregarding the influence of the Internet on political campaigns."
"Things are changing dramatically," he says, "and police are not prepared for it."
Video helps explain officer's actions
Video has helped to resolve many cases of police misconduct, but such images also can present a more complex account of officer behavior.
Former Oakland transit cop Johannes Mehserle is in jail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 5 in connection with the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant largely because the incident was captured on video.
Yet video also is the reason, defense attorney Michael Rains says, that Mehserle was convicted July 8 of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter after he was charged with murdering the unarmed, 22-year-old train passenger.
The criminal allegations followed transit officers' response to reports of fighting aboard a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.
Grant was among a group pulled off the train at a local stop, according to court documents. Mehserle and another officer had detained the group, the documents state, when Mehserle shot the unarmed Grant while the man's hands were cuffed behind his back in a scene captured by bystanders on cellphone and video cameras.The images of the shooting involving a white officer and a black victim quickly hit the Internet, where they prompted violent protests in Oakland and instant comparisons to the Rodney King case.
"The King video went viral pretty quickly for back then," says Burris, who also represents the Grant family. "But this went as fast as anything could go. The outrage came much quicker."
State prosecutors charged Mehserle with murder, and the case — because of its notoriety and local unrest — was moved to Los Angeles.
Defense attorney Rains concedes the raw video initially had a "shocking effect" on jurors.
"I tried to prepare them for it," he says. "I guess you don't get oblivious to seeing something like that."
What did help Mehserle's case, Rains says, is that more than one video showed what happened that morning; six were introduced at trial. Taken together, Rains argued, the videos captured several angles and supported his client's claim that he meant to draw a stun gun but mistakenly pulled his .40-caliber handgun.
Rains says his client's hand movements recorded on some of the videos were consistent with attempts to open the snap of the holster of his stun gun.
"His body was doing things as if to draw and fire the Taser, not the gun," Rains says.
More video, Rains says, shows Mehserle's "compelling" reaction after the shooting.
"The video shows him throwing his hands to his head in shock," Rains says. "It was a terrible thing to happen. It was a tragedy it did." But the attorney says he was "very, very happy to have this video."
Although Burris does not agree with the jury's apparent interpretation of the videos (jurors have not spoken publicly about their decision), he also is happy they exist.
"Without the videos, there would have been no prosecution," he says. "It meant everything."
A 'profound effect' on officers' actions
David Allred, a former Justice Department official who prosecuted police misconduct cases for more than 30 years, says the proliferation of video in police cases is likely to have "a profound effect" on the long-term behavior of officers.
"If you're prosecuting a case and you can find video to support it, it's just terrific," Allred says. "But often it's terrific for the police, as well, because it can just as easily exonerate officers.
"The real impact, I think, is on what officers will do if they think they are being photographed."
One of the most-viewed incidents — more than 200,000 views on YouTube— is a March encounter between a University of Maryland student and Prince George's County, Md., police officers during a celebration of a Maryland basketball victory.
A video shows senior Jack McKenna approaching officers, who began pummeling him with batons. A police report alleged that McKenna had provoked the encounter by striking mounted officers and their horses, contrary to what is shown in the video.
Three officers have been suspended and the case remains under investigation by Prince George's County and the Justice Department.
In August, the city of Denver's public safety manager resigned and two officers were reassigned after questions surfaced about police conduct in at least two incidents captured on video. The incidents, which remain under investigation by Denver police, include an April 2009 encounter between police and two pedestrians, one of whom is shown being violently wrestled to the street.
The encounter was recorded by a security camera mounted on a light pole and later landed the alleged victims on network morning news programs.
"At this point, officers need to be constantly reminded that the potential for them to be on video or to be photographed is extraordinarily high," Pasco says.
'It embarrassed us'
Larson, the Broward County Sheriff's Office training officer, says her agency knows firsthand the power of video and has learned from it.
The lesson was delivered about three years ago by Kamau. While working for his private investigative firm policeabuse.com and a client, the former cop walked into one of the agency's reception areas with a hidden camera and found immediate problems with the way officers and employees dealt with the public. Kamau says police routinely provided incorrect information to people or couldn't answer basic questions about department policy, such as how to file a complaint against police.
"It embarrassed us," Larson says, adding the video found its way to local television.
Larson says the incident "sparked a lot of activity" within the agency, leading to changes in public reception area staffing, including retraining. Police officials also invited Kamau to help train new cadets.
"Even though he could be viewed as the enemy, we were open to learning from the experience," she says. "If we screwed up, give us your thoughts on how we can make it better."
Kamau, who helps clients resolve their grievances with police, says he counsels many of them to arm themselves with cameras to support their cases.
"Video is making victims more credible," Kamau says. "If Rodney King would have tried to tell his story without video, nobody would have believed it."
Found at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-15-1Avideocops15_CV_N.htm
Seems to me that there shakes out to be two sides of the issue; people who don't think police should be taped during the process of their duty, and people that feel that they need to hold police to a higher standard, keeping their actions in check. The next question that I am compelled to ask myself is why people would want to do this? Is it an unwarranted invasion on a police officer just because they don't like police or is it a failure of police departments and police unions failing to hold bad cops accountable?
Ultimately, what I have to come down to is this: They are public employees who are paid by my tax dollars as their salary. Their work is not secret; many times it is available for review by the public. Whether one may agree or not, politically motivated police departments and police unions provide the pushback to holding people accountable for their actions. So how are the citizens to hold police accountable for untoward actions? Best case scenario would be private citizens annoying regular rank and file police as they do their duty possibly impeding police duty (which would be against the law). Worst case scenario would be a state prohibiting private citizens filming public occurrences while police could or may be engaged in outright lawlessness with no recourse on behalf of the private citizen. This would be the case since the burden of evidence of the occurrence would be on the citizen.
The implication alone that police lawlessness is disturbing; however, what is more disturbing would be the motivation of a state to prohibit citizens to hold police accountable (by filming them) in cases that seem police are overstepping or abusing their power.
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
TALLAHASSEE — Diop Kamau's home in a leafy, gated community just north of town is not easy to find — for good reason.
For more than two decades, the 52-year-old former Hawthorne, Calif., police officer has made a living embarrassing cops with a video camera.
Stung by the rough treatment of his father during a 1987 traffic stop by another California department, Kamau turned to a second career recording police across the country in compromising — often abusive — encounters with the public.
Some of the controversial videos made using hidden microphones and cameras found their way to network and cable television, exposing police to deserved criticism. Mostly, the videos helped launch a new generation of public accountability for local law enforcement. One of Kamau's most effective weapons is a battered 1968 Chevrolet Impala, wired with microphones and cameras, that Kamau, who is black,drives to test the racial profiling tendencies of local police on behalf of paying clients.
"Frankly, there are a lot of people with badges and guns who don't like me very much," Kamau says, motioning to the network of surveillance cameras that protect his home from unwanted visitors. "I step on a lot of toes."
Starting with the grainy images first broadcast by Kamau and other pioneer citizen watchdogs — notably the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, shot by a nearby resident— the public surveillance of cops has exploded to potentially include anyone with a cellphone.
The videos are so ubiquitous that analysts and police debate whether they are serving the public interest — or undermining public trust in law enforcement and even putting officers' lives in jeopardy. The videos are subjecting officers' actions in public places to new scrutiny and changing the way accusations against cops play out in court. In some communities, police are fighting back by enforcing laws that limit such recordings. Other departments are seeking new training for officers to prepare for the ever-present surveillance on the street.
Just about every day, it seems, there is fresh video of cops engaged in controversial actions: Police slamming an unarmed man to the street in Denver. A college student thrashed by officers with batons during a University Maryland basketball victory celebration. An Oakland transit officer fatally shooting an unarmed man on a train platform.
"There is no city not at risk of a video showing an officer doing something wrong," says San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a coalition representing the 56 largest cities in the USA. "The question, when one of these videos do surface, is what we do about it."
In Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts, some police have responded by trying to limit such recordings when they believe those recordings interfere with police actions.
In Maryland, motorcyclist Anthony Graber was charged with felony violations of Maryland's wiretapping law for recording a March 5 encounter with a gun-brandishing state trooper during a traffic stop. The law requires both parties to consent to the recording of a private conversation. Graber faced a maximum 16-year prison sentence if convicted until Horford County Circuit Court Judge Emory Pitt threw out the case Sept. 27, saying, "Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public."
Some departments have sought training for officers to prepare them for increased surveillance of police activity.
"All of our people should be conducting themselves like they are being recorded all the time," says Lt. Robin Larson, who oversees training for the 3,200-officer Broward County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, which once hired Kamau to help prepare new cadets by making them aware their actions could be taped and transmitted.
Some police believe videotaping officers poses broad risks that reach beyond Internet embarrassments: It could cause officers to hesitate in life-threatening situations.
"The proliferation of cheap video equipment is presenting a whole new dynamic for law enforcement," says Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union. "It has had a chilling effect on some officers who are now afraid to act for fear of retribution by video. This has become a serious safety issue. I'm afraid something terrible will happen."
Kamau and others argue terrible things already have occurred to victims of officer abuse, and video has brought some of the most brutal cases to the public's attention. Video also has helped narrow the "credibility gap" between police and their accusers, civil rights lawyer John Burris says.
"It used to be that the police officer always got the benefit of the doubt," says Burris, who represented Rodney King in a civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles related to his videotaped beating by white Los Angeles police officers. Television broadcasts of the infamous tape, one of the first to show the power of citizen videos of police actions, prompted widespread public outrage.
"The camera, increasingly, is offering a shock to the consciousness," Burris says.
To ignore the effect of video on police credibility, Kamau says, is "like disregarding the influence of the Internet on political campaigns."
"Things are changing dramatically," he says, "and police are not prepared for it."
Video helps explain officer's actions
Video has helped to resolve many cases of police misconduct, but such images also can present a more complex account of officer behavior.
Former Oakland transit cop Johannes Mehserle is in jail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 5 in connection with the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant largely because the incident was captured on video.
Yet video also is the reason, defense attorney Michael Rains says, that Mehserle was convicted July 8 of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter after he was charged with murdering the unarmed, 22-year-old train passenger.
The criminal allegations followed transit officers' response to reports of fighting aboard a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.
Grant was among a group pulled off the train at a local stop, according to court documents. Mehserle and another officer had detained the group, the documents state, when Mehserle shot the unarmed Grant while the man's hands were cuffed behind his back in a scene captured by bystanders on cellphone and video cameras.The images of the shooting involving a white officer and a black victim quickly hit the Internet, where they prompted violent protests in Oakland and instant comparisons to the Rodney King case.
"The King video went viral pretty quickly for back then," says Burris, who also represents the Grant family. "But this went as fast as anything could go. The outrage came much quicker."
State prosecutors charged Mehserle with murder, and the case — because of its notoriety and local unrest — was moved to Los Angeles.
Defense attorney Rains concedes the raw video initially had a "shocking effect" on jurors.
"I tried to prepare them for it," he says. "I guess you don't get oblivious to seeing something like that."
What did help Mehserle's case, Rains says, is that more than one video showed what happened that morning; six were introduced at trial. Taken together, Rains argued, the videos captured several angles and supported his client's claim that he meant to draw a stun gun but mistakenly pulled his .40-caliber handgun.
Rains says his client's hand movements recorded on some of the videos were consistent with attempts to open the snap of the holster of his stun gun.
"His body was doing things as if to draw and fire the Taser, not the gun," Rains says.
More video, Rains says, shows Mehserle's "compelling" reaction after the shooting.
"The video shows him throwing his hands to his head in shock," Rains says. "It was a terrible thing to happen. It was a tragedy it did." But the attorney says he was "very, very happy to have this video."
Although Burris does not agree with the jury's apparent interpretation of the videos (jurors have not spoken publicly about their decision), he also is happy they exist.
"Without the videos, there would have been no prosecution," he says. "It meant everything."
A 'profound effect' on officers' actions
David Allred, a former Justice Department official who prosecuted police misconduct cases for more than 30 years, says the proliferation of video in police cases is likely to have "a profound effect" on the long-term behavior of officers.
"If you're prosecuting a case and you can find video to support it, it's just terrific," Allred says. "But often it's terrific for the police, as well, because it can just as easily exonerate officers.
"The real impact, I think, is on what officers will do if they think they are being photographed."
One of the most-viewed incidents — more than 200,000 views on YouTube— is a March encounter between a University of Maryland student and Prince George's County, Md., police officers during a celebration of a Maryland basketball victory.
A video shows senior Jack McKenna approaching officers, who began pummeling him with batons. A police report alleged that McKenna had provoked the encounter by striking mounted officers and their horses, contrary to what is shown in the video.
Three officers have been suspended and the case remains under investigation by Prince George's County and the Justice Department.
In August, the city of Denver's public safety manager resigned and two officers were reassigned after questions surfaced about police conduct in at least two incidents captured on video. The incidents, which remain under investigation by Denver police, include an April 2009 encounter between police and two pedestrians, one of whom is shown being violently wrestled to the street.
The encounter was recorded by a security camera mounted on a light pole and later landed the alleged victims on network morning news programs.
"At this point, officers need to be constantly reminded that the potential for them to be on video or to be photographed is extraordinarily high," Pasco says.
'It embarrassed us'
Larson, the Broward County Sheriff's Office training officer, says her agency knows firsthand the power of video and has learned from it.
The lesson was delivered about three years ago by Kamau. While working for his private investigative firm policeabuse.com and a client, the former cop walked into one of the agency's reception areas with a hidden camera and found immediate problems with the way officers and employees dealt with the public. Kamau says police routinely provided incorrect information to people or couldn't answer basic questions about department policy, such as how to file a complaint against police.
"It embarrassed us," Larson says, adding the video found its way to local television.
Larson says the incident "sparked a lot of activity" within the agency, leading to changes in public reception area staffing, including retraining. Police officials also invited Kamau to help train new cadets.
"Even though he could be viewed as the enemy, we were open to learning from the experience," she says. "If we screwed up, give us your thoughts on how we can make it better."
Kamau, who helps clients resolve their grievances with police, says he counsels many of them to arm themselves with cameras to support their cases.
"Video is making victims more credible," Kamau says. "If Rodney King would have tried to tell his story without video, nobody would have believed it."
Found at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-15-1Avideocops15_CV_N.htm
Seems to me that there shakes out to be two sides of the issue; people who don't think police should be taped during the process of their duty, and people that feel that they need to hold police to a higher standard, keeping their actions in check. The next question that I am compelled to ask myself is why people would want to do this? Is it an unwarranted invasion on a police officer just because they don't like police or is it a failure of police departments and police unions failing to hold bad cops accountable?
Ultimately, what I have to come down to is this: They are public employees who are paid by my tax dollars as their salary. Their work is not secret; many times it is available for review by the public. Whether one may agree or not, politically motivated police departments and police unions provide the pushback to holding people accountable for their actions. So how are the citizens to hold police accountable for untoward actions? Best case scenario would be private citizens annoying regular rank and file police as they do their duty possibly impeding police duty (which would be against the law). Worst case scenario would be a state prohibiting private citizens filming public occurrences while police could or may be engaged in outright lawlessness with no recourse on behalf of the private citizen. This would be the case since the burden of evidence of the occurrence would be on the citizen.
The implication alone that police lawlessness is disturbing; however, what is more disturbing would be the motivation of a state to prohibit citizens to hold police accountable (by filming them) in cases that seem police are overstepping or abusing their power.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
To Brazil and Beyond....
Salvador, Brazil. In the state of Bahia. This photo was a difficult one to take as all the peddlers are always swarming a white out-of-place guy like me. How humbled I was when I came back to the United States.
In mid July until the end of July I went to Brazil with my wife and since that time I have not really had the time to keep up on the posting to the blog, but that's okay. Life comes first, everything else comes second. While I was there, I was dumbfounded by the class division and lack of opportunity juxtaposed to the United States, in economic terms. Americans believe that their suffering at this time is the most egregious inconvenience they've ever experienced. After coming back from Brazil, I now understand what poverty is and I swear that I will never complain again about being cold in the winter. I swear I won't! Typical Brazilians are warm of heart and very giving in how they conduct their daily lives. Family is not just a word with six letters, it's a lifestyle. Family is one of the most important things in their life and I have really been taken back by the nuances. People were happy there, for the most part. There was laughing among friends on the street, there was cheering for their local soccer team on television and plenty of good feeling to go around. I was really happy to have went there and broke my cycle of ending up in Europe every time that I left the United States. I've learned a lot and I swear that I will quit complaining about common things here but are luxuries in other parts of the world. Simply put, I am humbled.
For the next part of this story, I should remind you that this is a half political/philosophical blog along with the remaining 50% of the blog being somewhat personal to me. While there is an extent to what I will admit on the internet, I will share some things that will personalize what I'm writing.
My wife dropped a bomb on me after I got home. A friend of mine's wife dropped a bomb.. errr, more like she just disappeared. One moment she was asking him what he wanted for dinner, the next she was gone; only for my friend to be told by her father that she was alright and to not worry anymore. My wife didn't even come close to that in this instance and which all produced a rather odd chain of events. Nothing of event happened recently; however it was mentioned to me that a stone would most likely break when you hit it softly for the 1001'st time. So the small event "broke the rock." Making a really long story a bit shorter and omitting personal details, I just have to say that we're in a situation where we are "dating," again. I love this woman dearly and have made it clear of my intent to remain with her for the rest of my life, but now is the time for renewal and new beginnings.
I've been having a tough time sifting through all of this chaos lately and feel kind of disappointed that I'm with a person who's felt let down in certain respects. Why all this came to light, I don't know. I wish I did. I'm pretty confident in how I feel about her but I do not get that reciprocated at the present time. There's an air of uncertainty about her that I'm not quite comfortable with. Time will tell and it exposes all truths. In the end, I hope we end up being together again and finally getting things right between her and I. Some of the things that I need if I am to live up to some of the things she requests, I need a bit of that passion back from her. Her confidence in us and in the relationship.
All of this has left me to do the only thing that I can do: love her. So until that time, I will continue to do so the ways that I know how. All I can say is that I need to protect myself (and I am) in this era of uncertainty. None of this is what I have asked for or decided that I have wanted- I've been forced into this position so now I have to do prudent things at this time.. I'll leave it up to you to decide what a "prudent" thing may be vis a vis being in a situation like mine. It has also been my decision to march forward with my own life, following a few of my dreams while she's working on things in her own head. I hope to hell that she comes around sooner than later. I'm planning some big things in my life and would love nothing more than her to be along for the ride with me. But, that's her decision and she needs to find all this in her own heart and soul. The chances do not look bleak between us, they actually look very good, by the way. Taking into consideration all of the odd things that just happened, I'm seriously between the forty yard lines on every issue right now when it comes to us though. All I can do is see what I see and I'm not quite convinced I see that passion that would allow us to be together for the rest of our lives as of right now. We'll see though...
As a footnote, I will get back to posting more again as there has been plenty of interesting news lately. I'm finally getting back into the swing of work and life is settling down a bit again.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Reflection: Considerations of Paulo Coelho's Philosophy
If one actually knew me in person, they would believe that I am a social person that is grounded in reality. Possibly too much so. The notion does not escape me that I find myself a stranger in a common land; among my own people, yet nothing could be further from the truth.
The counter balance to my ground in reality is the contemplation of certain philosophical aspects to life. Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian author, has had my attention since the day that I read his book, The Alchemist. Some call Coelho pretentious; I say that I really do not mind what personality he may have. The most important aspect to his relationship with humanity is what he writes. Nonetheless, I am getting a little off track here.
At times, I have this overwhelming urge to travel, to see more and experience those things in the world that have yet to be seen by my eyes... I have been all over the gorgeous countryside of Germany. North to Bremen, Halle and Leipzig and as far south as the Schwarzwald (The Black Forest). Rome was also beautiful, yet interestingly enough ironic for an ancient city to try to live up to contemporary times. It was amazing to walk through the streets of Rome, wondering how many great people walked these same little streets for thousands of years before me. The Vatican was also a sight to be seen. Prior to my trip in 2006, I contacted the Vatican Oficio Scavi office so that I may see what remains of the times of St. Peter. I was able to gain access to the underground crypt being led by a woman who had a strong Irish accent. There were about 8 of us, I presumed that most of us were Americans, and were basically told that we needed to remain quiet and allow the guide to show us around. We witnessed some of the earliest depictions of Christ where early Christians built their mausoleum around what was thought to be the burial site of St. Peter. We eventually got to the site, after laughing at how humorous the early Romans were for writing endearing jokes on tombstones about that person with whom laid beneath. What I saw was not all that grand in its totality, but knew that I was seeing firsthand one of the most important things I will ever see in my life. The actual tomb of St. Peter, encased by marble slabs installed by Emperor Constantine. The guide gave us the story and shortly after entered a very small golden chapel almost right outside of the tomb. I was still in a state of shock from what I have just seen.
How the philosophy of Paulo Coelho impacts me is my ability to set aside my Christian beliefs and know that many of his quotes are the moral stepping stones of being closer to my faith: being closer to being the person that I would like to be for all the right reasons. Consider a few of his quotes:
-Dreams are the language of God.
-At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.
-When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
-No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
-Love one another, but let's not try to possess one another.
-We all prepare ourselves to slay dragons, but end up instead being devoured by the ants of the details that we never bothered to look at.
-All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect. Anyone who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective way for worshipping and sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, that person is the only one responsible for his or her actions along the way and has no right to shift responsibility for any personal decisions on to that religion.
-I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.
-I don't regret the painful times; I bare my scars as if they were medals. I know that freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile is dimmed by tears.
-The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.
-Everything has been written by the same hand.
-How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.
-Only the following items should be considered to be grave faults: not respecting another's rights: allowing oneself to be paralyzed by fear; feeling guilty; believing that one does not deserve the good or ill that happens in one's life; being a coward. We will love our enemies, but not make alliances with them. They were placed in our path in order to test our sword, and we should, out of respect for them, struggle against them. We will choose our enemies.
-We need to forget what we think we are, so that we can really become what we are.
-Face your path with courage, don't be scared of people's criticism. And, above all, don't let yourself get paralyzed by your own criticism.
The quotes are all from Mr. Coelho in his various books. The few short sentences that he produces, he communicates a powerful message that only the reader can process and apply to their life. These words do have a sliding scale of truth to them depending on the life that you have lived. In particular, I enjoy the quotes about people being under the impression that because they are in the same place everyday or live with the same person that those people tend to be comfortable with the idea that they are now owners of another. How quickly life corrects this notion of fallacy.
The counter balance to my ground in reality is the contemplation of certain philosophical aspects to life. Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian author, has had my attention since the day that I read his book, The Alchemist. Some call Coelho pretentious; I say that I really do not mind what personality he may have. The most important aspect to his relationship with humanity is what he writes. Nonetheless, I am getting a little off track here.
At times, I have this overwhelming urge to travel, to see more and experience those things in the world that have yet to be seen by my eyes... I have been all over the gorgeous countryside of Germany. North to Bremen, Halle and Leipzig and as far south as the Schwarzwald (The Black Forest). Rome was also beautiful, yet interestingly enough ironic for an ancient city to try to live up to contemporary times. It was amazing to walk through the streets of Rome, wondering how many great people walked these same little streets for thousands of years before me. The Vatican was also a sight to be seen. Prior to my trip in 2006, I contacted the Vatican Oficio Scavi office so that I may see what remains of the times of St. Peter. I was able to gain access to the underground crypt being led by a woman who had a strong Irish accent. There were about 8 of us, I presumed that most of us were Americans, and were basically told that we needed to remain quiet and allow the guide to show us around. We witnessed some of the earliest depictions of Christ where early Christians built their mausoleum around what was thought to be the burial site of St. Peter. We eventually got to the site, after laughing at how humorous the early Romans were for writing endearing jokes on tombstones about that person with whom laid beneath. What I saw was not all that grand in its totality, but knew that I was seeing firsthand one of the most important things I will ever see in my life. The actual tomb of St. Peter, encased by marble slabs installed by Emperor Constantine. The guide gave us the story and shortly after entered a very small golden chapel almost right outside of the tomb. I was still in a state of shock from what I have just seen.
How the philosophy of Paulo Coelho impacts me is my ability to set aside my Christian beliefs and know that many of his quotes are the moral stepping stones of being closer to my faith: being closer to being the person that I would like to be for all the right reasons. Consider a few of his quotes:
-Dreams are the language of God.
-At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.
-When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
-No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
-Love one another, but let's not try to possess one another.
-We all prepare ourselves to slay dragons, but end up instead being devoured by the ants of the details that we never bothered to look at.
-All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect. Anyone who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective way for worshipping and sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, that person is the only one responsible for his or her actions along the way and has no right to shift responsibility for any personal decisions on to that religion.
-I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.
-I don't regret the painful times; I bare my scars as if they were medals. I know that freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile is dimmed by tears.
-The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.
-Everything has been written by the same hand.
-How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.
-Only the following items should be considered to be grave faults: not respecting another's rights: allowing oneself to be paralyzed by fear; feeling guilty; believing that one does not deserve the good or ill that happens in one's life; being a coward. We will love our enemies, but not make alliances with them. They were placed in our path in order to test our sword, and we should, out of respect for them, struggle against them. We will choose our enemies.
-We need to forget what we think we are, so that we can really become what we are.
-Face your path with courage, don't be scared of people's criticism. And, above all, don't let yourself get paralyzed by your own criticism.
The quotes are all from Mr. Coelho in his various books. The few short sentences that he produces, he communicates a powerful message that only the reader can process and apply to their life. These words do have a sliding scale of truth to them depending on the life that you have lived. In particular, I enjoy the quotes about people being under the impression that because they are in the same place everyday or live with the same person that those people tend to be comfortable with the idea that they are now owners of another. How quickly life corrects this notion of fallacy.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - Investors.com
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
By THOMAS SOWELL Posted 06:13 PM ET
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.
But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
Retrieved online from: Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - Investors.com
This is an interesting editorial; however, I would shy away from the use of the word "Nazi." These days, calling someone a Nazi is as hallow as the person using the term. But this does not elude the point that Mr. Sowell does have an interesting argument. I think we all can agree that:
-A Republic and/or democratic political system does rely on the intelligence of its citizens.
-Freedoms in this country are being dismantled piece by piece (namely, for the "good" of the public). Primary seat belt laws, DUI laws for, "physical control," of the vehicle, etc.
-Governments ought not "shakedown" private companies for funds preemptive to a tort claim being brought forth in court. Doing so is outside the chains of the Constitution.
Read the Declaration of Independence, and you will see what the Founding Fathers were referring to when they were talking about a tyrant. They spoke of a Monarch dissolving Houses of Representatives and the Monarch installing Representatives at their discretion. Installing judges loyal to only the King, being paid by the King, and not having the true interest of the people in mind.
History is made every day. Even though all of us are only here for a short while, we can and should build on the concept of freedom and hard work; the concepts that built America to the place that it is today. Where we are losing our way, I do not know. One sentiment that lingers without question, is the notion that we truly are.
By THOMAS SOWELL Posted 06:13 PM ET
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.
But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
Retrieved online from: Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - Investors.com
This is an interesting editorial; however, I would shy away from the use of the word "Nazi." These days, calling someone a Nazi is as hallow as the person using the term. But this does not elude the point that Mr. Sowell does have an interesting argument. I think we all can agree that:
-A Republic and/or democratic political system does rely on the intelligence of its citizens.
-Freedoms in this country are being dismantled piece by piece (namely, for the "good" of the public). Primary seat belt laws, DUI laws for, "physical control," of the vehicle, etc.
-Governments ought not "shakedown" private companies for funds preemptive to a tort claim being brought forth in court. Doing so is outside the chains of the Constitution.
Read the Declaration of Independence, and you will see what the Founding Fathers were referring to when they were talking about a tyrant. They spoke of a Monarch dissolving Houses of Representatives and the Monarch installing Representatives at their discretion. Installing judges loyal to only the King, being paid by the King, and not having the true interest of the people in mind.
History is made every day. Even though all of us are only here for a short while, we can and should build on the concept of freedom and hard work; the concepts that built America to the place that it is today. Where we are losing our way, I do not know. One sentiment that lingers without question, is the notion that we truly are.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Pres. Obama's Speech about BP
President Obama gave a speech that seems that everyone is up in arms about. All sides of the political spectrum are thrashing this speech for their own reasons. Now, I have watched this video and believe that ultimately it comes down to lack of substance. Not only does it lack substance, but Mr. Obama keeps going on and on about this conversation about nothing. Everyone else has their grievance as to why they didn't like it. Mine is because he lacked substance.
Interesting to note that there are only 5,142 views on this video.
Interesting to note that there are only 5,142 views on this video.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Lessons of the Misery index
Unemployment plus interest rates are typically dubbed the "Misery Index." I believe that this was concocted with the best of intentions, however, has become abused over the years to give the prima facie appearance that the economy is not as bad as it really is.
The unemployment calculation is formulated based on the desire of the individual to continue looking for work. If the person loses their job and is not actively seeking work they are not considered unemployed. This also excludes people that quit their jobs also.
Inflation takes a basket of goods from the economy and measures its price over a given period of time. BUT, the inflation calculation leaves out the prices of food and energy which, I argue, should be included in the calculation since it is a snapshot of the consumer realities in the marketplace. At the present time, food and energy are considered too volatile of commodities to include in the index.
So what happens when you hire a couple hundred thousand temporary census workers? What happens when you exclude the prices of food and energy? A distorted misery index that does not accurately reflect the true realities of the consumer. It's a simple accounting trick which emboldens those to seek to spend more money on temporary programs that have no economic return but reflect good on their politicking.
The census workers are taken off the "unemployment" roles and are returned to the "employed" roles reflecting a greater strength in the employment rate (which also does not make the distinction between government and private sector jobs) than is actual reality.
In the case of the interest rates, if they are held artificially low, this again gives an appearance that inflation has not been settling in the economy and further paralyzes the private sector from making any form of investment because they are too scared that if they throw their money in Treasury bills, they will surely not make any return on their investment.
The misery index would work properly if the proper data were used to make the calculation. The current calculation is simply Draconian in its present form. Mainly because this index is consulted by Nation leaders to help determine the health of the state.
Image Retrieved from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121279701661353763.html
The unemployment calculation is formulated based on the desire of the individual to continue looking for work. If the person loses their job and is not actively seeking work they are not considered unemployed. This also excludes people that quit their jobs also.
Inflation takes a basket of goods from the economy and measures its price over a given period of time. BUT, the inflation calculation leaves out the prices of food and energy which, I argue, should be included in the calculation since it is a snapshot of the consumer realities in the marketplace. At the present time, food and energy are considered too volatile of commodities to include in the index.
So what happens when you hire a couple hundred thousand temporary census workers? What happens when you exclude the prices of food and energy? A distorted misery index that does not accurately reflect the true realities of the consumer. It's a simple accounting trick which emboldens those to seek to spend more money on temporary programs that have no economic return but reflect good on their politicking.
The census workers are taken off the "unemployment" roles and are returned to the "employed" roles reflecting a greater strength in the employment rate (which also does not make the distinction between government and private sector jobs) than is actual reality.
In the case of the interest rates, if they are held artificially low, this again gives an appearance that inflation has not been settling in the economy and further paralyzes the private sector from making any form of investment because they are too scared that if they throw their money in Treasury bills, they will surely not make any return on their investment.
The misery index would work properly if the proper data were used to make the calculation. The current calculation is simply Draconian in its present form. Mainly because this index is consulted by Nation leaders to help determine the health of the state.
Image Retrieved from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121279701661353763.html
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Political Spectrum: Libertarian
Milling around the net, trying to find a page that can identify where I am on the political spectrum, I found this. I have long known that I am not big on the Red team, and certainly pretty far from the left, I'm more orange.
| Where are you on the political spectrum Your Result: Libertarian You believe in individual liberty and capitalism. You are fiscally conservative, socially liberal and likely to be a foreign policy isolationist. You just want to be left alone. | |
| Conservative | |
| Wingnut | |
| Moderate | |
| Liberal | |
| Lefty | |
| Where are you on the political spectrum Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
NJ Governor Chris Christie: I'm such a fan
Since Gov. Chris Christie got elected, I have been following his speeches where he communicates his believes and does not capitulate to the special interests, unions, and organizations that seek to continue to be subsidized by the taxpayer. He is a "breath of fresh air," in an era of out of control federal spending. No matter what side you are on, one has to admit that something needs to be done about the spending. Enjoy some of Gov. Christie in some of my favorite moments...
One of my favorites:
One of my favorites:
Friday, June 11, 2010
Lighten it up- Kardinall Offishall; Dangerous
Ok all, let's lighten it up for a bit. I love the song "Dangerous" by Kardinall Offishall and I found a video on youtube that a guy and his buddy does an awesome rendition of it on the piano and drums.. I must say it is EXCELLENT!
Here's the official song:
And here is the Piano version of it by the youtube user "bangabullet90."
Here's the official song:
And here is the Piano version of it by the youtube user "bangabullet90."
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Portugual Decriminalizes All Drugs in 2001
What if we had no failed drug war? What if we decriminalized drugs in all forms? What could possibly happen? If you are interested in knowing, set aside about 80 minutes for the report of Portugual's drug decriminalization analysis.
If the United States were serious about drug use and eradicating drug cartels, it may be wise to seriously look at a real world example of decriminalization.
"In 2001, Portugal began a remarkable policy experiment, decriminalizing all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Some predicted disastrous results — that drug addiction rates would soar and the country would become a haven for "drug tourists." Now that several years have passed, policy experts can study the results. In a new paper for the Cato Institute, attorney and author Glenn Greenwald closely examines the Portugal experiment and concludes that the doomsayers were wrong. There is now a widespread consensus in Portugal that decriminalization has been a success. The debate in Portugal has shifted rather dramatically to minor adjustments in the existing arrangement. There is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. Join us for a discussion about Glenn Greenwald's field research in Portugal and what lessons his findings may hold for drug policies in other countries (Cato Institute, 2010)."
Reference: The Cato Institute. Policy Forum. Retrieved from http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5887
If the United States were serious about drug use and eradicating drug cartels, it may be wise to seriously look at a real world example of decriminalization.
"In 2001, Portugal began a remarkable policy experiment, decriminalizing all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Some predicted disastrous results — that drug addiction rates would soar and the country would become a haven for "drug tourists." Now that several years have passed, policy experts can study the results. In a new paper for the Cato Institute, attorney and author Glenn Greenwald closely examines the Portugal experiment and concludes that the doomsayers were wrong. There is now a widespread consensus in Portugal that decriminalization has been a success. The debate in Portugal has shifted rather dramatically to minor adjustments in the existing arrangement. There is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. Join us for a discussion about Glenn Greenwald's field research in Portugal and what lessons his findings may hold for drug policies in other countries (Cato Institute, 2010)."
Reference: The Cato Institute. Policy Forum. Retrieved from http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5887
The Tea Party and the Drug War | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Tea Party and the Drug War | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Tea Party and the Drug War
by Jeffrey A. Miron
Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is the author of Libertarianism, from A to Z, from Basic Books.
Added to cato.org on June 7, 2010
This article appeared on National Review Online on June 7, 2010.
Voter dissatisfaction with Republicans and Democrats is at historic levels, and the tea-party movement is hoping to play kingmaker in the November elections. The country's current breed of discontent is ideal for the tea parties, because economic concerns are foremost, allowing the movement to sidestep the divisions between its libertarian and conservative wings.
As the elections near, however, voters will want to know where the party stands not just on the economy but on social issues. A perfect illustration is drug policy, where conservatives advocate continued prohibition but libertarians argue for legalization. Which way should the tea party lean when this issue arises?
If the party is true to its principles — fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets — it must side with the libertarians.
Fiscal responsibility means limiting government expenditures to programs that can be convincingly said to generate benefits in excess of their costs. This does not rule out programs with large expenditures, or ones whose benefits are difficult to quantify; national defense is guilty on both counts, yet few believe that substantial military expenditure is necessarily irresponsible.
Any significant expenditure, however, should come with a credible claim that it produces a benefit large enough to outweigh both the expenditure itself and any ancillary costs. From this perspective, drug prohibition is not remotely consistent with fiscal responsibility. This policy costs the public purse around $70 billion per year, according to my estimates, yet no evidence suggests that prohibition reduces drug use to a significant degree.
And prohibition has unintended consequences that push its cost-benefit ratio even farther in the wrong direction. Prohibition generates violence and corruption by pushing drug markets underground and inflating prices. Prohibition inhibits quality control, so users suffer accidental poisoning and overdoses. Prohibition destroys civil liberties, inhibits legitimate medical uses of targeted drugs, and wreaks havoc in drug-producing countries.
Drug prohibition, at least when imposed at the federal level, is also hard to reconcile with constitutionally limited government. The Constitution gives the federal government a few expressly enumerated powers, with all others reserved to the states (or to the people) under the Tenth Amendment. None of the enumerated powers authorizes Congress to outlaw specific products, only to regulate interstate commerce. Thus laws regulating interstate trade in drugs might pass constitutional muster, but outright bans cannot. Indeed, when the United States wanted to outlaw alcohol, it amended the Constitution itself to do so. The country has never adopted such a constitutional authorization for drug prohibition.
Finally, drug prohibition is hopelessly inconsistent with allegiance to free markets, regardless of the level of government. Free markets should mean both that businesses can operate as they please and that individuals can purchase and consume whatever they want, so long as these actions do not harm others, even when such decisions seem unwise. Drug prohibition interferes with precisely these activities.
Thus, if the tea-party believes in its principles, it must choose the libertarian path on drug prohibition.
The Tea Party and the Drug War
by Jeffrey A. Miron
Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University and senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is the author of Libertarianism, from A to Z, from Basic Books.
Added to cato.org on June 7, 2010
This article appeared on National Review Online on June 7, 2010.
Voter dissatisfaction with Republicans and Democrats is at historic levels, and the tea-party movement is hoping to play kingmaker in the November elections. The country's current breed of discontent is ideal for the tea parties, because economic concerns are foremost, allowing the movement to sidestep the divisions between its libertarian and conservative wings.
As the elections near, however, voters will want to know where the party stands not just on the economy but on social issues. A perfect illustration is drug policy, where conservatives advocate continued prohibition but libertarians argue for legalization. Which way should the tea party lean when this issue arises?
If the party is true to its principles — fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets — it must side with the libertarians.
Fiscal responsibility means limiting government expenditures to programs that can be convincingly said to generate benefits in excess of their costs. This does not rule out programs with large expenditures, or ones whose benefits are difficult to quantify; national defense is guilty on both counts, yet few believe that substantial military expenditure is necessarily irresponsible.
Any significant expenditure, however, should come with a credible claim that it produces a benefit large enough to outweigh both the expenditure itself and any ancillary costs. From this perspective, drug prohibition is not remotely consistent with fiscal responsibility. This policy costs the public purse around $70 billion per year, according to my estimates, yet no evidence suggests that prohibition reduces drug use to a significant degree.
And prohibition has unintended consequences that push its cost-benefit ratio even farther in the wrong direction. Prohibition generates violence and corruption by pushing drug markets underground and inflating prices. Prohibition inhibits quality control, so users suffer accidental poisoning and overdoses. Prohibition destroys civil liberties, inhibits legitimate medical uses of targeted drugs, and wreaks havoc in drug-producing countries.
Drug prohibition, at least when imposed at the federal level, is also hard to reconcile with constitutionally limited government. The Constitution gives the federal government a few expressly enumerated powers, with all others reserved to the states (or to the people) under the Tenth Amendment. None of the enumerated powers authorizes Congress to outlaw specific products, only to regulate interstate commerce. Thus laws regulating interstate trade in drugs might pass constitutional muster, but outright bans cannot. Indeed, when the United States wanted to outlaw alcohol, it amended the Constitution itself to do so. The country has never adopted such a constitutional authorization for drug prohibition.
Finally, drug prohibition is hopelessly inconsistent with allegiance to free markets, regardless of the level of government. Free markets should mean both that businesses can operate as they please and that individuals can purchase and consume whatever they want, so long as these actions do not harm others, even when such decisions seem unwise. Drug prohibition interferes with precisely these activities.
Thus, if the tea-party believes in its principles, it must choose the libertarian path on drug prohibition.
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