Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Mom Blog Crusade From The Living Room

Check out this great story in the New York Times. This is a story about a homemaker mom blogger and her fight for a Yemeni journalist's life. Jane Novak who knows (or at least when she started knew) nothing about Arab culture or language. She is a stay at home mom (wish I was) who has become such a popular person in Yemen that the papers sell more copies when her face is on the cover. Her outspoken blog on Yemeni affairs is banned there because the government officials have dubbed and villified her "An American Agent, A Shiite monarchist, a member of Al-Qaeda or "the Zionist Novak." She has been targeted by the Yemeni government largely because of her fight for the life and freedoms of journalist Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani. He is on trial for writing a story about a bloodbath in the northern part of the country and he is a supporter of freedom and democracy. Novak has worked hard in his defense contacting politicians from both the U.S. and Yemen, human rights activists and journalist from around the globe. She has a petition for al-Khaiwani's freedom. The penalty for his crime is usually death and the verdict is expected tomorrow. Novak and Khaiwani have become friends despite the language barrier because he wrote her to thank her for her fight on his behalf and the letter touched her so deeply it prompted her to fight further. He addressed his letter to Jane Novak the American journalist and political analyst. She didn't have the heart to tell him she was just a stay at home mom who agreed with his point of view and supported his freedom until much later because she did not want to make him lose hope. When she finally told him the truth about herself he said he became even prouder of her and her work. The story touched me a bit so perhaps it will touch you too.

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Does Integrity Really Pay?

So today I was reading an article in Free Money Finance about how Integrity Pays and I wondered if this was really true. As an employee for many different companies I have experienced quite a long list of events that most would qualify as immoral on the part of the employers of said companies. I tend to wonder though when hearing how profitable those companies are and have been if integrity in business is a positive thing or not. I have come to the point where I wonder if integrity is one of those things "THEY" teach the country of propaganda controlled American conformist puppets. Think about it. Religion teaches you to have a particular set of morals, to work hard, to help out your neighbor, to always tell the truth etc. etc. and all the while religion is making the most money compared to anyone in the world. Does it make you wonder if religion is some money maker's way of keeping us all in line? At school your whole life you learn to be one of the cogs fitting into the big wheel that runs your country, while the most successful and wealthy people didn't even bother to finish school. Do you wonder if school is just a little factory that teaches us how to be little stepford factory worker types following routines so that we can make more money for "the man" while we struggle to make ends meet and can't even afford to save for our own retirement, pay for our children's college, or health insurance. The government teaches us all day long that we should be good little citizens and follow the law while they jump in and out of other countries breaking their own rules, while our president uses a national tragedy to give himself and his vice president unlimited power. Does it make you wonder if following the rules is just another phrase that means you are falling into line with just what "THEY" want you to do so that "THEY" can be the ones who control 90% or more of the country's wealth and 90% of the country's population at the same time. I just wonder if we are all conformist puppets who believe that following rules and routines will make us as successful as the small few that we see doing just that like Hobby Lobby and Chic-fil-A or if that is really true and with Honor, Courage and Commitment to a specific routine, spiritual practice and ritual a person can faithfully rise to the top. Someone answer this one for me cause you know my conspiracy theorist, pessimistic ass won't be looking at this one without bias.

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Mildred Loving Dies At Age 68

I am sad to say that Mildred Loving died on May 2. For those of you who don't know who Mildred Loving is, she fought the Supreme Court and won ending the ban on interacial marriages. She was angered by being banished from Virginia for marrying a white man so she fought the fight that was the landmark case striking down the last of the segregation laws to remain on the books - those requiring the separation of races in marriage. She died of pneumonia. The incident that caused the case to begin in the first place was quite appalling. Acting on an anonymous tip police busted into the bedroom of the couple as they lay together 5 weeks after their marriage and demanded to know who the woman Mr. Loving was sleeping with. Mildred Loving replied "I'm his wife" and pointed to the marriage certificate on the wall. To that the police replied "that's no good here." And so it all began. Though the Supreme Court struck down miscegenation laws many states were rebelliously slow to actually take the laws off their books. Alabama didn't remove their law from the books until the year 2000. Mrs. Loving stopped giving interviews but last year she issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the announcement of the Supreme Court Ruling, urging that gay men and lesbians be allowed to marry. Rest in Peace Mrs. Loving, Rest in Peace.

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Sunday, May 04, 2008

Bill Moyers Journal - Essay On Reverend Wright



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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Nanny Rescues Child From Coyote Attempting to Have A Kid's Meal

Wow!!! What the heck is going on in California? Wasn't it just a few months ago that I did a story on a babysitter who had to fight off some crazy kidnapper who rushed into the house where she was watching someone's children? Now a California Nanny is fighting of wildlife to protect the children of the family she works for. What the hell!!?!! What will be next?

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Kraft Reformulates Oreo So That It Will Sell In China

Kraft couldn't figure out why their Oreo sales were down in China so after some studies to find that it had too much sugar for the taste of Chinese consumers they lessened the sugar quantity and changed it into a long 4 layer wafer covered in chocolate. I wonder if the lead and fertilizer in products coming from China has affected their sense of taste? Perhaps we should add some additives of our own into the foods we sell them and let them see how it feels.

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