US singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder was awarded one of France’s top cultural honours, the Commander of Arts and Letters award, on Saturday, which he dedicated to his deceased mother.
France ‘calls to say I love you’ with Stevie Wonder award
March 8th, 2010
Religious ‘healers’ win followers in Europe
March 8th, 2010
Thousands of people are attending churches across Europe hoping to be healed of physical and spiritual illnesses. Healers are becoming increasingly popular amongst the devout, but there are fears it could lead to a split within some Christian churches.
The State of Our World Today
March 8th, 2010
Submitted By: Allison Ryan
All of the farthest reaching tendrils of human history have led us to where we are now. This world—which could so easily be paradise—has gone astray, and has become an uncomfortable chaos. Perhaps this sounds ridiculous, but the truth of the matter is that we have known nothing but chaos, and cannot even conceive of a paradise, much less create one. This is why we seem to be stuck here.
Our brief view of history has presented to us a world in which humans have made notable attempts to curb their own cruelty, but have not a clue as to how it can be done. There have been sprinklings throughout history of slaughter and persecution, and conversely, periods when creativity and culture blossomed, and periods when health and wellness and periods when spirituality and faith were especially strong.
Much like a see saw, virtues and vices take turns to rise, only to sink once again after they have peaked. Men are forever striving to produce beautiful and fertile lands, fine cities, and magnificent estates. Much physical and mental toil has been expended for the making of awe-inspiring buildings, palaces, monuments and thousands of different artistic treasures.
They have willingly sacrificed wealth and paid homage to religion; that which forbade them to take a life, to oppress, or to plunder. It taught them to follow the path of gentleness, beauty and righteousness. They have existed under governments who claimed their purpose was to enforce a system promising safety, order and good living; a society in which relaxation was not unheard of. Men have tried so hard to achieve happiness and prosperity. And then?
All of these achievements are overshadowed by our disgusting attachment to war. It is constantly being glorified, we are constantly told that fighting is the noblest thing a man can do for his country. War—the ingredients of which are murder, devastation, ravage, oppression, plunder—is diametrically opposed to everything men endeavored to build. In but a few hours, war creates matchwood, ashes, corpses, and cripples; A waste land of their once whole existence!
In such a schizophrenic state of affairs, for generations past, humans have been raised in this world of such glaring contradictions that clear thought is nigh on impossible. Blind compromise is the only attitude conceivable for average men. Pure, straight thinking and mindfulness meditation just seemed to get in the way, and so it has dropped out of use.
Man has attempted to live a double life of virtuous faith and religion with vice of cruelty and warfare. He clings so desperately to his basest instincts and simply cannot give them up, so he molds his thoughts to compliment both sides of his personality; the innate and the learned.
These fixed thoughts stagnated, and for generations continued to sink into insurmountable trenches. The result was a type of mentality which put most of the population at the mercy of brainwashing and propaganda. Such individuals made up communities, formed habits and set rules, producing nations which claimed authority over any within their boundaries, and refused to acknowledge any authority themselves.
More and more obedience they exacted from their docile citizens; more and more they demanded the right to invade destroy and rob their neighbors. These nations call themselves “sovereign states,” which in actual fact means nothing but that the state as an individual unit is a barbaric miscreation.
What Makes People Kill?
March 7th, 2010
Submitted By: MILES PRIDE
A Black Hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including light, can escape its pull. The black hole has a One-Way surface.
The Bible says that the heart of mankind is deceitful beyond measure and desperately wicked.
If someone in an affluent society goes on a rampage murdering, men, women and children and then stores the remains in a freezer for subsequent meals, we say, that is sick and wicked.
Wicked is obvious but deceitful flies under the radar. However, “deceit” is the motor that drives a wicked heart!
Killing in self defense is somewhat understandable but cold blooded murder is another matter, one has to convince him or herself that it must be done. That is where the internal deception comes into play.
I was lying awake one night and at about 1:30 in the morning I heard five loud bangs! Myself and a few neighbors carefully ventured to our doorways to investigate. A young man barely out of his teens lay dead on the pavement with four bullets to the head and one in his back.
As police and neighbors try to unravel the crime it didn’t take long to find the gunman. It was the dead man’s friend. The gunman was sitting in a van not far from where the victim lived. It was not unusual for this man to be sitting in his van late at night. But this particular night, he deceived himself into believing that he had to take his friend’s life. To date he has no compelling reason for killing his friend.
The heart/mind concept is used in the Bible and in contemporary literature, it has to do with thoughts intermingled with emotions.
People can be loving, caring and genuinely helpful. It’s only when they succumb to various levels of self deception that the heart reveals it’s dark side. It can run the gambit from cheating on one’s spouse to atrocities like those attributed to Adolf Hitler.
I am not completely surprised at what anyone does because I accept the diagnosis from the Bible concerning the heart/mind.
It makes the most bizarre behavior make sense. It’s only when one believes that man is basically good that one is completely baffled.
Don’t get me wrong, we have good in us and a little good can overcome quite a bit of darkness. But it’s important to understand why we think some thoughts and why we should be careful with our thought life.
Often, when a darkened heart unlashes its deadly horror, devastated lives are left behind in the aftermath. Once the deed is done, no amount of psychoanalysis or apologies can console the grieving souls left to pick up the pieces.
Lastly, it is extremely important to monitor the heart/mind or emotions/thoughts of our children at a young age. Some people think that if we simply teach a child to do the right thing that it’s enough. Not so, we must get in the trenches with what’s going on in their world and continually rescue them from, The Black Hole.
About MILES PRIDE http://www.inhalehealth.com This may save your life or a love one!
Crimes in Public Schools
March 7th, 2010
Submitted By: Richard Armen
Parents, teachers, and students expect schools to be a safe place. Acts of violence disrupt the learning process, not to mention having a profoundly negative emotional impact on those affected by school violence. According to a recent report on school crime and student safety by the CDC and the Department of Education, students aged twelve through eighteen are the victims of more than 2.7 million crimes at school each year. Over the past year, fifteen percent of all high school students reported being involved in a physical altercation on school property. Just how common are crimes on school campuses?
28 percent of students in middle school and high school reported being bullied in the last six months.A significant portion of these students also admitted avoiding one or more places at school for their own safety. Nearly 20% of students in middle and high school report being threatened with a beating.
According to the Gun-Free Schools Act Report, nearly four thousand students are expelled each year for bringing a gun to school. Perhaps surprisingly, more than a third of these expulsions involve middle school students, and a tenth involve even younger students. School violence might be a stereotypically high school occurrence, but it happens at all levels of the school system, even among kids as young as seven or eight years old.
In addition to incidents involving firearms, there are also thousands of other crimes, from physical assault to threat to vandalism, happening on school campuses worldwide. Not only gun-related expulsions, but also violence in general, is actually more common in middle schools than at high schools. Students aged twelve through fourteen are more likely than older students to become victims of crime at school.
It is likely that violence, theft, and drugs will continue to be significant problems in the school system. A tenth of all high school students reported being threatened with, or injured with, a weapon in the previous year. Students in middle school or high school are more likely to be victims of theft while at school than while away for school. A quarter reported that drugs had been offered to them on school property within the past year.
The point to take away from this is that kids are not immune from violence in schools, no matter their age. This might seem like an urban high school problem, but it happens in schools of all sizes, and in all locations. A staggering 86 percent of all public schools reported one or more serious violent incidents in the 2005-2006 school year. The overall crime rate within schools is 46 reported crimes each year per 1,000 students. If you have a child at school, no matter their age, they must be prepared to deal with the possibility of such situations arising.
Your options to protect your children from violence at school are unfortunately limited. The vast majority of schools have a ‘no tolerance’ policy, meaning that students may not carry such devices as pepper spray or a stun gun. They can, however, bring a personal alarm to school, and this can be invaluable in alerting teachers and other adults to a violent or potentially violent confrontation.
The MTA and their lie’s
March 4th, 2010
The MTA continue to lie about raising the fair every time they feel the need to get more money out of the hard working people who need and rely on public transit to go about their every day routines In the 60’s and 70’s the public didn’t sit back and except the lie, they would boycott the transit system until they remembered who they were working for. I think it’s time for the people to take back the control of the system and let the MTA know that we are not going to take any more. If they want to make cuts because of the economy the first place to start is with management, who make large salaries.
I would like to know what you think about the idea of cutting the salaries of MTA excutives who make large salaries and they can afford to give back a little.
Bunning, Reid Cross Words Over Unemployment
March 3rd, 2010
Sen. Jim Bunning has again blocked the Senate from extending unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies for the jobless. Bunning has been single-handedly blocking the stopgap legislation since Thursday.
Apple Sues HTC Over IPhone Patents
March 3rd, 2010
Apple has sued HTC, accusing the rival smartphone maker of violating patents related to the popular iPhone.
Postal Woes May End Saturday Mail Delivery
March 3rd, 2010
The post office is renewing its drive to drop Saturday delivery, and plans a rate increase, in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year. Without drastic action the agency could face a loss of $238 billion over 10 years.
Senate Approves Jobless Aid As Bunning Relents
March 3rd, 2010
The Senate has approved extended unemployment benefits and stopgap highway finding that had been held up by Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning.