Dissected Dreams, Deliberative Decisions

Life and Philosophy with Little Girl Red by Mr. Drinkwater

2012-01-08T13:32:00.001+02:00

Life and Philosophy with Little Girl Red by Mr. Drinkwater

2012-01-08T13:29:00.000+02:00

Common? Oh, no, Common is not so common after all!

2012-01-08T12:57:00.001+02:00

By: Granita
Published: December 26, 2011 Progressive Populist Today

Common formerly known as Common Sense has talents that never seem to stop bringing his fans surprises.

The thing about the fella is that he is a not a particularly controversial person. Maybe it's because he is so smart that controversy attaches itself to Common; or maybe because the media doesn't take time to research their subject before they start spouting the Right Wing Fear Line.

Common is a Midwesterner who grew up in Chicago with a grounded childhood. That can be easily understood when watching him at his book signing - a double book signing as his mother, a university professor, was right there next to him signing her book too. His book is titled One Day It'll All Make Sense. The cover carries a recommendation from none other then the Poetess of Black Life herself, the incomparable Maya Angelou.

Maya Angelou premiered one of her new poems at Common's December concert. Woops. Here comes another controversy. She hadn't expected the 'n' word to pop up in her duet with Common. Gotta get the lady listening to some rap! 'Nigger' in the rap context is a nickname between close friends (although their parents still don't approve.)

You will probably remember the big, noisy and overwhelming non-controversy that wasted everybody's time when Michele Obama invited Common to the White House. The supposed rage on the right was caused by a lyric the artist had written years ago - well, teenagers do that kind of thing.

Common's new CD is The Dreamer/The Believer featuring Maya Angelou, John Legend and NAS. Learn more and listen to songs at his web site Think Common.

Blue Sky(lyrics to first verse)

by Common

Top of the class
Black Wall Street so my stock'll never crash
Giving what I ask
Pure religion and cash
For the windows that open I'm raising my glass
Daylight beams
Nightlife schemes
This is my inception
I'm writing my dreams.
A mortal view of a star
Doing what I'm born to do
I see the blue skies
Say the lord's coming through (Common, The Dreamer/The Believer)

I think, therefore . . .

2012-01-08T12:47:00.002+02:00

I am dangerous.

Globalisation, Ecological Crisis, and Dark Ages

SING C. CHEW
Explanations of long-term global transformations to date have been based overwhelmingly on socio-economic and political factors. As we increasingly question whether there are physical and environmental limits that would affect the reproduction of the world system, socio-economic and political factors might not necessarily be suf®cient to account for long-term global transformations. What needs to be added to the overall explanation of long-term social change is the inclusion of ecological and climatological changes as important dimensions in our understanding of global transformations. Given these parameters, global
transformations are outcomes not only of political and economic interactions, but are also consequences of the relationship between society (culture) and nature, and climatological changes. Over world history, the relationship between culture and nature has been punctuated with periods of ecological degradation and crisis.

Given these outcomes, the history of human civilisations can therefore also be described as the ``history of ecological degradation and crisis’’.

It is the latter moment, that of ecological crisis commonly known to historians as the Dark Ages, that is of interest to us. For during these periods of Dark Ages or ecological crisis, we ®nd political-economic and ecological patterns and trajectories that are very different from crisis-free periods. In this regard, Dark Ages are times exhibiting ecological degradation, climatic changes, reorganisation of socio-economic and political structures, and hegemonic challenges. On this basis, Dark Ages offer us a window into moments of system crisis and transformations.
cont. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0953732022000016081

Nebraska Democracy and Clean Water

2012-01-08T12:10:00.001+02:00

Nebraskans Take the Lead.

Keystone XL, Clean Water and Democracy for Full Article

Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative November 16, 2011

In today’s economy, job creation trumps just about everything. But for Nebraskans, at least one thing ranks higher – and that’s protecting their precious water sources. They know, as we all should, that ample clean water is crucial for economic vitality now and for generations to come.

Nebraska’s citizens and representatives rose up — along with many others across the country — and spoke out against the proposed route for Keystone XL, the $7 billion pipeline that would deliver half a million barrels of dirty crude laden with dangerous carcinogens from the Canadian tar sands to refineries in Oklahoma and along the Gulf Coast.

Netherlands Picture – Travel Wallpaper - National Geographic Photo of the Day

2012-01-08T11:37:00.001+02:00

Netherlands Picture – Travel Wallpaper - National Geographic Photo of the Day:

'via Blog this'

EMPIRE: Islam and America

2012-01-08T11:03:00.000+02:00

Angel Thunder and PR Man

2012-01-08T10:36:00.000+02:00

The words “Angel Thunder” might have the
ring of divine retribution, but this exercise is
not about war; it’s about saving lives. It makes
real the motto of military search and rescue:
“That others might live, and return home
with honor.

PR Man Amb. Charles A. Ray, Personnel Recovery

Animimation winner

2012-01-07T10:45:00.006+02:00

El Salón México by Paul Glickman

Official Selection in 26 national and international film festivals and winner 9 times. El Salón México is a gorgeously illustrated, but simply told animated adventure backed by the famous composition by Aaron Copland.This video has also been played during numerous children's concerts with the sound performed by live musicians. As if all that weren't enough, El Salón México will be published as a children's book in 2012.

Set your volume high and be prepared to be blown away by this video made by a retired cinematographer and a teen age genius.

http://vimeo.com/31909341

Iceland Picture – Landscape Photo - National Geographic Photo of the Day

2011-11-27T20:00:00.000+02:00

Iceland Picture – Landscape Photo - National Geographic Photo of the Day

Mikhail Gorbachev, 80, Shares His Thoughts on Perestroika, Glasnost, Obama - Yahoo! News

2011-03-03T00:36:00.000+02:00

"In 1987, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev reminded us that perestroika was not an "illumination or revelation." Perestroika was highly celebrated by his Western admirers. In Russia the changes during perestroika were often difficult and the attempted transition to a government designed with the best aspects of socialism and democracy was confusing to many citizens.

He explained perestroika aimed for "ever better satisfaction of the Soviet people's requirements for good living and working conditions, for good rest and recreation, education and health care."

He was responsible for glasnost , meaning openness. The release of information was a welcome although bittersweet time. Finally, Russian history, literature and books from the rest of the world were accessible.

In a Moscow news conference Gorbachev gently criticized comments made about the upcoming presidential elections. "I think it is far from being modest when Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) says that he will sit down with Dmitry Anatolievich (Medvedev) and choose who will run for president. This is for the voters to decide, notPutin."

In an exclusive interview with RT.com journalist Sophie Shevardnazde asked his thoughts on President Barack Obama. "I think he's been doing a good job so far. I think that he got his health care bill passed is terrific, but rich Republicans don't like it. I admire him because when things get hot, for example, when they had to get the new START treaty ratified, he got involved personally, he talks to people and about 12 senators changed sides . . . " please continue at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110302/pl_ac/7980438_mikhail_gorbachev_80_shares_his_thoughts_on_perestroika_glasnost_obama (photo is AP/AFP)

Good Reads Review "Murderous Intellectuals" 5 star out of 5 stars!

2011-03-01T17:54:00.000+02:00

Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS by Jonathan Maxwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On my radio show Talking Progressive Politics, Jim and I interviewed Jonathan Maxwell. He is a very soft spoken fellow from Georgia and very knowledgeable.

Original Air Date: January 16, 2011

JONATHAN MAXWELL & Cruel Talk Radio,Public Murders-Lessons from Germany*Talking Progressive Politics

Author JONATHAN MAXWELL joins us to talk about his highly acclaimed, well researched book "Murderous Intellectuals: German Elite and the Nazi SS." We'll also take some time to discuss how some Tea Party members have adopted Nazi-like tactics and rhetoric to attack the Obama Administration and its policies. We'll also discuss how conservatives manipulate ideas and images (such as patriotism and the American flag) to sway middle class voters away from populism and populist policies.***Jonathan's book has won an international literary competition: the "2011 Allbooks Review Editor's Choice Award" in the Best Non/fiction Book Category. "Murderous Intellectuals" was also rated one of the "20 Most Memorable Debuts of 2010" by online literary journal "Author Exposure"** . . . The show is packed full of interesting information. *** Listen to internet radio with Talking Progressive on Blog Talk Radio

View all my reviews

Leftover Vision Things

2011-02-17T12:44:00.001+02:00

Leftover Vision Things
Originally uploaded by rhiannonstone

From the flickr account of rhiannonstone via the Investigative Journalist Andy Worthington. Do we really need an Attorney General as much as we need an Artist General?
I really enjoy thinking about a global community where creativity (not destruction) is the priority of society.

Protesters Challenge Status Quo in Northern Africa, Middle East - Yahoo! News

2011-02-11T19:03:00.000+02:00

Protesters Challenge Status Quo in Northern Africa, Middle East - Yahoo! News

COMMENTARY | It seems all eyes are on Egypt and the "People's Revolution" on the streets of Cairo,Alexandria and outlying Egyptian provinces. The Egyptian protest started Jan. 25, having one demand: President Mubarak must step down. Worries have become more pronounced as the length of the protest has started making a negative economic impact.

The protest was organized by young people. Why are the young so angry? They were born when Mubarak was president, they have been through schooling including finishing university degrees only to realize jobs for them do not exist and Mubarak is still president.

The frustration isn't only felt by the young. Food prices are high and wages are low. Professionals, doctors, lawyers, judges and workers' unions are all part of the protests. To prove to the international world that this is not a religion-based dissatisfaction, Christians and Muslims have walked together holding hands. Christians have protected Muslims during their Islamic prayers.

continue here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/7827472_protesters_challenge_status_quo_in_northern_africa_middle_east

BIOSILK. Silk Therapy. Luxury Therapy for Your Body and Hair - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

2011-02-10T23:46:00.001+02:00

ORGANIC NATURAL BODY AND HAIR PRODUCT - REVIEW.

Natural silk product for your hair and body. Available in Greek beauty shops. Based in the USA.

BIOSILK. Silk Therapy. Luxury Therapy for Your Body and Hair - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

APIVITA Body Tonic - Toning Body Milk with Bergamont and Green Tea - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

2011-02-10T22:47:00.001+02:00

Organic, natural ingredient Greek beauty product review.

APIVITA Body Tonic - Toning Body Milk with Bergamont and Green Tea - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com

My pharmacist, Stella, gave me a sample of this body milk. I wasn't sure what to think about the use of teas but very pleasant natural product.

Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War. Part 1

2011-02-09T01:48:00.000+02:00

Video of Scared Lands and Wounded Lives:The Environmental Footprint of War on RT

"When we make war, we destroy not only the enemy, we destroy our earth as well. In all its stages – from the production of weapons through combat to clean up – war entails actions that pollute land, air and water, destroy biodiversity and drain natural resources. Yet the environmental damage caused by war (and preparations for war) is underreported, even ignored. The environment is war's silent casualty. Using specialist and eyewitness accounts from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Australia and the Pacific Islands, and supported by on-site and archival footage, Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives shows how war and preparations for war further compromise the environmental health of a planet already under stress from massive population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, and ruinous environmental practices. In the context of today's growing awareness and alarm about global climate change, the film shows that natural security (the protection and preservation of ecosystems) is an essential component of any realistic approach to national security.

Directed and produced by Alice and Lincoln Day, and VideoTakes, Inc."

APIVITA: Natural health and beauty care products in the ancient Greek tradition.

2011-02-08T14:31:00.000+02:00

APIVITA Health and Beauty Care
Products, A Greek company recognized internationally for innovation. Products are all organic and ethically produced.

Author Jonathan Maxwell Cruel Talk Radio Tea Party Public Murders-Learning from history 1/16/2011 - Talking Progressive | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

2011-01-18T22:27:00.000+02:00

Author Jonathan Maxwell Cruel Talk Radio Tea Party Public Murders-Learning from history 1/16/2011 - Talking Progressive | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Author JONATHAN MAXWELL joins us to talk about his highly acclaimed, well researched book "Murderous Intellectuals: German Elite and the Nazi SS." We'll also take some time to discuss how some Tea Party members have adopted Nazi-like tactics and rhetoric to attack the Obama Administration and its policies. We'll also discuss how conservatives manipulate ideas and images (such as patriotism and the American flag) to sway middle class voters away from populism and populist policies.***Jonathan's book has won an international literary competition: the "2011 Allbooks Review Editor's Choice Award" in the Best Non/fiction Book Category. "Murderous Intellectuals" was also rated one of the "20 Most Memorable Debuts of 2010" by online literary journal "Author Exposure"** . . . promises to be a show packed full of interesting information.

Richard Williams - The Thief Who Never Gave Up

2010-12-30T17:08:00.000+02:00

Richard Williams - The Thief Who Never Gave Up - The Thief and the Cobbler and Roger Rabbit - Animator. A BBC Interview/Featurette.

Original Version of the Animated Classic "The Cobbler and the Thief"

2010-12-30T16:53:00.001+02:00

Enjoy the original version of this lost animation classic, written and directed by three-time Academy Award winning animator Richard Williams (animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

Nearly 30 years in the making, a labor of love by a team of animation greats, this was to be the masterpiece of Williams' career, perhaps the most ambitious independent animated film ever conceived. Williams funded the film over the years with his millions of dollars of his own money, until after Roger Rabbit, Warner Brothers decided to fund the film. The Thief was the inspiration for Disney's film Aladdin, which proved to be its undoing. After over two decades of work, the film was taken away from Williams when he couldn't meet his deadline. It was eventually recut and destroyed, bought by Disney and destroyed further.

It has never been seen the way it was intended to be seen ... until now. Based on Williams' original workprint, missing scenes have been restored using storyboards and unfinished animation. Restored to its true form, this lost classic can finally be found.

Unofficial restoration by Garrett Gilchrist. (orangecow.org) This is not intended for profit, just a fanmade research project and tribute to this classic film.

Directed by Richard Williams
Screenplay by Richard Williams and Margaret French
Master animator Ken Harris
Produced by Imogen Sutton and Richard Williams

"Animation among the most glorious and lively ever created." - The New York Times

"It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas, and upon every grain of sand in the vast deserts, that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream, of an inward and invisible reality ... Once upon a time there was a golden city. In the centre of the golden city, atop the tallest minaret, were three golden balls. The ancients had prophesied that if the three golden balls were ever taken away, harmony would yield to discord, and the city would fall to destruction and death. But... the mystics had also foretold that the city might be saved by the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things. In the city there dwelt a lowly shoemaker, who was known as Tack the Cobbler. Also in the city... existed a Thief, who shall be ... nameless."

Also known (for cinema release and video in the USA) as Arabian Knight and The Princess and the Cobbler.

Christmas Movies From Over The Years. Romance, FUN and Family Films

2010-12-27T18:31:00.001+02:00

12 Christmas Movies From Over The Years. Romance, FUN and Family Films | Socyberty

Good Christmas holiday movies to rent on DVD including romance, comedy and old fashioned Christmas.

Some Tips for Managing Depression During The Holidays | Healthmad

2010-12-24T14:56:00.000+02:00

Some Tips for Managing Depression During The Holidays | Healthmad

“Happy Holidays”

Paradoxically end of year and new year celebrations can cause the blues.

The holidays can be an especially stressful time. Even though we understand that we are dealing with extra pressure on top of our everyday stress, we may expect ourselves to handle more than we can. We may not feel happy but we may feel pressured to “be happy.”

Having a list of simple reminders on how to manage sad feelings can help. Here is a sample to get you started on you list.

Take a quiet moment for a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Use the time to make a list of simple activities that make you feel better.

Over 50 and Hesitant to Start Using a Computer? | Computersight

2010-12-23T23:38:00.001+02:00

Over 50 and Hesitant to Start Using a Computer? | Computersight

Everyone uses computers now-a-days. You should, too. You'll have fun.
Here are some tips for you to help you get started.
. . . relax . . . and know you can do it.

Don't dis' the European Union until you've lived there!

2010-12-23T10:50:00.000+02:00

(A response to disrespecting E.U. by American) I'm probably one of those "American Liberals" people talk about. I lived most of my life in the United States (born and raised there) and my mind is open to change towards positive goals.
I immigrated to the E.U. about a decade ago for a better health care system and educational system for my children. As well as a safer place to raise children. I live in Crete (the large Greek island between Europe and Africa) and have found my expectations have been met.
The E.U. has met the main goal of forming a European community to end the inter-European wars that were devastating.
Although many languages and customs need to be kept in mind when the E.U. has meetings technology has helped communication go smoothly. Much more smoothly and civilly than in the U.S.A.'s Senate or House of Representatives.
A working democracy requires articulate diplomacy, a desire of the majority to find common workable solutions to common problems and time to communicate sufficiently with citizens whether they be working people, stay at home moms, leaders, in other words,everyone. Time and patience are required.
In general the populations in European countries have not declined because the refugees and immigrants forced out of their countries in Africa and the Middle East have landed in Europe in droves due to English-American foreign and trade policy decisions. For example, the wars against Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia. Ethiopia, etc. The most damaging trade policies have been in concert with oil companies. The most egregious example being the hell created by Shell in the Niger Delta.
My point being Europe has people from all over the world in great numbers. Most of these are young men who their parents don't want to see dead before their time. These young men are hard working, fast learners and intelligent. They are fully capable of becoming a successful workforce to make up for the 'end of bloodlines' in some countries. But Italy is an example of non acceptance of reality and is only hurting itself. Most Italians seem to have no problem displaying their racism openly and meanly in their cities and their airports. When the Italians are forced to embrace the "foreigners" as their new middle class the process of caring for the elderly will be able to continue. Surely they won't let the elderly simply die off before that happens.
Subsidies are a problem in the E.U. but not in the way you present them. For instance, Spain olive tree farmers used money from the E.U. to organize excellently to produce and export their olive oil. I have seen high quality Spanish olive oil sold more cheaply than the same product here in Crete. (Crete provides a huge amount of olive to the world market.) Some projects work some don't true. But when something works, a good model for other has been established.
Another point on farm subsidies. Instead of using the money to subsidize the same poor way of continuing agricultural practices all that needs to be done is too switch gears and do away with the corporate model of farming. In order to sustain food growing capacity the E.U. can use subsidies to rejuvenate and protect soils and incorporate good water management practices. The E.U. is continuing to have great success in developing better soil and water management practices. How long will farmers need to adapt to a new way of doing things? The young farmers are adapting ahead of the E.U. so I have optimism.
Dismissing Bulgaria and Romania is a bit racist. The citizens of both countries are facing an uphill and difficult battle no doubt about their problems. But their scientists are still working with other European scientists to find solutions. This would not be possible without the formation of the E.U. And northern Europeans and southern Europeans are getting together everyday to solve technical, scientific and educational obstacles. In this way northern Europe is having to shake is having to shake off its arrogance towards the south. This is good.

Empire - Promo: Hollywood and the war machine

2010-12-23T10:44:00.000+02:00

War is hell, but for Hollywood it has been a Godsend, providing the perfect dramatic setting against which courageous heroes win the hearts and minds of the movie going public.

Guests

	Oliver Stone, eight times Academy Award-winning filmmaker
	Michael Moore, Academy Award-winning filmmaker
	Christopher Hedges, author and former Middle East bureau chief, New York Times

The Pentagon recognises the power of these celluloid dreams and encourages Hollywood to create heroic myths; to rewrite history to suit its own strategy and as a recruiting tool to provide a steady flow of willing young patriots for its wars.

What does Hollywood get out of this 'deal with the devil'? Access to billions of dollars worth of military kit, from helicopters to aircraft carries, enabling filmmakers to make bigger and more spectacular battle scenes, which in turn generate more box office revenue. Providing they accept the Pentagon's advice, even toe the party line and show the US military in a positive light.

So is it a case of art imitating life, or a sinister force using art to influence life and death - and the public perception of both?

Empire will examine Hollywood, the Pentagon, and war.

Our interviewees this week are: Phil Strub, US Department of Defense Film Liaison Unit; Julian Barnes, Pentagon correspondent, LA Times; David Robb, the author of Operation Hollywood; Prof Klaus Dodds, the author of Screening Terror; Matthew Alford, the author of Reel Power; Prof Melani McAlister, the author of Culture, Media, and US Interests in the Middle East.

This episode of Empire can be seen from Wednesday, December 22 at the follwing times GMT: Wednesday: 1900; Thursday: 1400; Friday: 0300; Saturday: 1900.

Talking Progressive Politics

2010-12-18T21:19:00.000+02:00

Please join me Sunday, tomorrow, December 19, 2010.
Talking Progressive Politics
End of the lame duck session and end of the year tax bill signed. Join Jim Cullen and Vicki for a discussion from a progressive populist point of view. Michael Colliss, veteran of the Congressional process and Scott Clark, unemployed & 99r advocate will provide an informative discussion not to be missed.

TALKING PROGRESSIVE POLITICS Populists Speak Progressive Politics from the Heart | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

2010-12-09T18:04:00.000+02:00

TALKING PROGRESSIVE POLITICS Populists Speak Progressive Politics from the Heart | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio Wednesday we recorded an extra radio show for you with Michael Colliss and Scott Clark. We discussed the Unemployment Insurance extensions and the lame duck Congress. Take a listen and look over the blog which has weblinks which will lead you to easy ways to contact our leaders with your opinion. Thank you.

Army over college, the choice can change a family.

2010-12-02T00:53:00.001+02:00

Life Changes for the Family when a Son Chooses the Army Over College

I Worry More, Pray More and My Life Priorities Have Changed

I didn't mean to burst into tears that day. I had been reminding myself, "If she calls I'll tell her I'm here for support and then I'll just listen." But when she called, I couldn't stop

myself. I burst into tears when I heard her words, "Jess will be leaving for Iraq soon. And on the other end of the phone line my dear friend, Janie, burst into tears.

We cried together over the phone for some time, I don't know how long. I'm sure we were remembering the boys we knew in high school and what happened to them during the

Vietnam War. When we realized what we were doing we sadly laughed at ourselves, . . . continued . . . click here

What do Snooki, Hugh Hefner and a Chimp Have in Common with the Bush Tax...

2010-12-01T21:58:00.000+02:00

TALKING PROGRESSIVE POLITICS Populists Speak Progressive Politics from the ... - StumbleUpon

2010-12-01T21:08:00.001+02:00

TALKING PROGRESSIVE POLITICS Populists Speak Progressive Politics from the Heart

5 December 2010 Talking Progressive Politics on BlogTalkRadio

Israeli Palestine Peace Initiative Israeli Palestinian Confederation

* Leaders can’t make peace but people can.

* Josef Avesar will discuss the upcoming elections for the Israeli Palestinian Confederation .

* 211 Israelis and Palestinians have already announced their candidacy for the first Israeli Palestinian Confederation Elections which will take place on December 12, 2012

MEDIA BURY DOCUMENTS REVEALING ISRAEL’S DELIBERATE POLICY OF NEAR-STARVATION FOR GAZA

2010-11-18T00:07:00.001+02:00

November 17, 2010 from Media Lens

“PUT THE PALESTINIANS ON A DIET”

Israel has been forced to reveal what Palestinians and other observers on the ground have known for a long time: that the blockade of Gaza is state policy intended to inflict collective punishment, not to bolster Israeli “security”.

An Israeli human rights group has won a legal battle to compel the Israeli government to release three important documents. These outline state policy for permitting the transfer of goods into Gaza prior to the May 31 attack on the peace flotilla in which nine people were killed by Israeli forces. The group, Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, is demanding Israeli transparency. Meanwhile, Israel refuses to release documents on the current version of blockade policy which was “eased” after international condemnation following the flotilla attack.

The released documents, whose existence Israel had denied for eighteen months, reveal that the state approved “a policy of deliberate reduction” of basic goods, including food and fuel, in the Gaza Strip. Gisha Director Sari Bashi explains:

“Instead of considering security concerns, on the one hand, and the rights and needs of civilians living in Gaza, on the other, Israel banned glucose for biscuits and the fuel needed for regular supply of electricity – paralyzing normal life in Gaza and impairing the moral character of the State of Israel. I am sorry to say that major elements of this policy are still in place.” (Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, ‘Due to Gisha's Petition: Israel Reveals Documents related to the Gaza Closure Policy’, October 21, 2010; http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=1904&intSiteSN=113)

As Saeed Bannoura of the International Middle East Media Center reports, the Israeli government imposed a deliberate policy:

“in which the dietary needs for the population of Gaza are chillingly calculated, and the amounts of food let in by the Israeli government measured to remain just enough to keep the population alive at a near-starvation level. This documents the statement made by a number of Israeli officials that they are ‘putting the people of Gaza on a diet’.” (Saeed Bannoura, ‘Israeli government documents show deliberate policy to keep Gazans at near-starvation levels’, International Middle East Media Center, November 6, 2010 21:32; http://www.imemc.org/article/59843)

Bannoura adds:

“This release of documents also severely undermines Israel's oft-made claim that the siege is ‘for security reasons’, as it documents a deliberate and systematic policy of collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza.”

When Israel and the United States were reacting to Hamas’s election victory in Gaza in January 2006, long-time Israeli government adviser Dov Weisglass stated:

“The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” (‘Hamas readies for government, Israel prepares sanctions’, Agence France Presse, February 16, 2006)

The released documents contain actual equations used by the Israeli government to calculate the exact amounts of food, fuel and other necessities needed to do exactly that. (‘Submitted to Gisha in the framework of a Freedom of Information Act Petition, AP 2744/09 Gisha v. Defense Ministry’, Appendices B, C and D; http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/HiddenMessages/DefenseMinistryDocumentsRevealedFOIAPetition.pdf)

continue reading this article at Media Lens Alerts for more information and a way to take action to hold the media accountable.

Weblink came to my attention via @mparent27777 on Twitter. Thanks Marc!

Choose the subject for my next Broken Pencil DeathMatch entry

2010-11-17T20:46:00.000+02:00

Broken Pencil Deathmatch has started taking entries!! Fun is about to begin!
Would you like to read a brand new rural Iowa story?
or
Would you like to hear how the character in the "Talkin' About the Future of Farming" fared after the murders of the corporate pork raisers?

Talkin' About the Future of Farming

"Life is a Preparation for Death." Principle of Zoroastrianism

Mr. Drinkwater's Cartoons - Politics in Pictures

2010-11-17T19:01:00.000+02:00

Mr. Drinkwater's Cartoons - Tent City

and don't miss Mr. Drinkwater's "How to manage an endless war."

Aurora Displays Beautifully in Oklahoma

2010-11-17T18:51:00.000+02:00

Aurora Oklahoma
Credit & Copyright: Dave Ewoldt (Okarche, Oklahoma)

Aurora Oklahoma
Credit & Copyright: Dave Ewoldt (Okarche, Oklahoma)

Aurora from NASA site. 13 November 2010
Explanation: Nestled in the central US, the state of Oklahoma is noted for its gorgeous prairie skies and wide-open spaces, but not for frequent visitations of the northern lights. Still, following the intense solar activity late last month, aurora did come sweeping down the Oklahoma plains and skywatcher Dave Ewoldt managed to catch up with this photogenic apparition 40 miles northwest of Oklahoma City at about 3am CST on October 29. Anticipating aurora sightings, Ewoldt had spent the evening photographing nighttime views of small towns in the area while keeping an eye toward the north. He reports, "I was just about ready to call it a night when the show started. When it did, it was like someone turned on a lightswitch. I wish it would have lasted longer... [it] seemed like it was completely done in about 25 minutes." Watery reflections of the colorful show highlight the foreground in the stunning image while stars of the Big Dipper and the northern sky shine behind the dazzling Oklahoma auroral display.

Oklahoma Weather Watch for more incredible photographs from Oklahoma.

Global Warming and Climate Change - the Cause and the Effect

2010-11-17T18:28:00.003+02:00

Global Warming is the Rise in Temperature that Causes Climate Change

A nicely concise definition of 'global warming' describes the phrase to be a noun, with the meaning"An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase sufficient to cause climatic change."

Global warming is a noun.

First we note that the two words "global warming" used together are considered a noun.

A noun is a person, place or thing so we understand that the phrase "global warming" is some thing.

From the definition we can guess that "global warming" is something that is probably a phenomenon

indicating an increased temperature of the earth's atmosphere, the air surrounding the earth.

Not the air over our hometown or region or country but the air, the atmosphere of the globe, the sphere

that is our planet earth. The measurement is of the layer of atmosphere close to the earth's surface,

both over the land and the sea.

Average temperature is something weather announcers talk about.

Continued . . .

Continue for more of this informal science lesson global warming, temperature averages, climate change, etc.

Do you have any specific questions about global warming, climate change or weather? I will write a lesson out for you if you leave me a message in the comments.

increase sufficient to cause climatic change."Global warming is a noun.First we note that the two words "global warming" used together are considered a noun.A noun is a person, place or thing so we understand that the phrase "global warming" is some thing.
From the definition we can guess that "global warming" is something that is probably a phenomenon
indicating an increased temperature of the earth's atmosphere, the air surrounding the earth.

Not the air over our hometown or region or country but the air, the atmosphere of the globe, the sphere
that is our planet earth. The measurement is of the layer of atmosphere close to the earth's surface,
both over the land and the sea.

Average temperature is something weather announcers talk about. continued . . .

Unemployment Extension and Tier V New

2010-11-16T10:57:00.001+02:00

Democratic Leadership’s Plans During the Lame Duck Still Unclear

November 15th, 2010. Michael Colliss

The United States Congress returns to Washington today for what may be the most crowded agenda faced by any lame duck session in history; it will certainly be among the most contentious. As millions of Americans who lost their job through no fault of their own wonder if there will be an unemployment extension and a Tier V passed during the belief lame duck session, it appears that the uncertainty as to how the U.S. Congress will address these concerns is anything but resolved.

There are two separate “parts” of any federal unemployment insurance extensions; the reauthorization of Tiers I through 4 which are due to expire on November 30 and of course the enactment of a Tier V which would add more weeks of benefits for those who have been unable to find a job and have exhausted all weeks of unemployment insurance yet have still been unable to find a job. Please continue reading this article at http://su.pr/8tXRhT where you will be able to also read and/or submit comments.

More important points made in Michael Colliss' article at http://all247news.com http://su.pr/8tXRhT

There is a definite desire on the part of the Democratic majority that will exist in the lame duck session to pass extensions of eligibility for Tiers 1 through 4.
The Democratic leadership in both Houses, but especially the Senate freely acknowledge that any unemployment legislation will absolutely needs at least some Republican support to pass.
The Republicans do not seem to be amending their position that any unemployment legislation is paid for with offsets even if their goal of continuation of the Bush tax cuts is met
The possibilities of a Tier V expansion continue to exist, but it should be recognized that getting support for such legislation may be even more difficult then just the reauthorization of Tiers 1 – 4
It is almost certain that no significant action on any form of unemployment insurance legislation will take place until after Congress comes back to Washington on November 29 after the Thanksgiving Day break.
Unemployment Extension&Tier V News – Democratic Leadership’s Plans During the Lame Duck Still Unclear News 427 MCollis http://su.pr/8tXRhT

Talking Progressive Politics 11/14/2010 - Vicki in Greece | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

2010-11-15T17:30:00.004+02:00

Talking Progressive Politics 11/14/2010 - Vicki in Greece | Internet Radio | Blog Talk
Talk Radio on Talking Progressive Politics

Midterm election results and unemployment extension benefits discussed with Jim Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist and Scott Clark, author at Associated Content

Here's how GOP will try to kill health care overhaul
McClatchy DC By Tony Pugh WASHINGTON — In a symbolic show of opposition, resurgent House Republicans are eyeing an early up-or-down vote to repeal the Obama administration's health care overhaul, though a successful overturn of the controversial measure is well beyond their reach.

From Mr.Drinkwater Political commentary as art - A democracy paralyzed with ignorance and fear.

"The list of what should have been done, and should still be done, but now definitely won’t be done in the next two years is a long one.” Meteor Blades in article -After the Wave, Dems Still Standing.

Don't Panic; Populize "There is no need for panic at the mid-term election results. Dems lost 60 seats 7 their majority in the House because the unemployment rate is still near 105, not necessarily because voters rejected Democratic policies.. . . they opted to neuter Congress . . . Editorial, Jim Cullen, The Progressive Populist

Music today courtesy of Andy J. Gallagher from his new CD "helicopters dolphins submarines" The opening song is titled "On your way rejoicing" Andy J. Gallagher is a young lad from Essex with lots of talent. He writes songs with a punch to get our adrenaline flowing for the challenges ahead.

"Republicans won both houses of the state Legislature in Alabama for the first time since the end of the Civil War." from the article "After the Wave: Democrats Still Standing"

2010 Unemployment Extension - Will Republicans Have Lame Duck for Dinner? Nov 14, 2010 by Scott Clark

SALT. Evelyn Salt. The Movie . . . with a Female James Bond? Great Spy Flick

2010-11-12T15:47:00.002+02:00

SALT. Evelyn Salt. The Movie . . . with a Female James Bond? Great Spy Flick

SALT is a thrilling ride with Evelyn Salt played by Angeline Jolie.
Evelyn Salt is like MacGyver (TV series) when she uses her scientific knowledge to get out of scrapes.
SALT is the acronym for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
In order to understand the plot remember this is a movie that goes back and forth from contemporary times to the times of the Cold War and the SALT
I highly recommend SALT. I hope you will enjoy the movie as much as I have.
For my movie review click here or on title.

News Analysis-Bush War Crimes on Terror

2010-11-12T15:25:00.000+02:00

News Analysis-Bush War Crimes on Terror-11-10-2010

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Interesting news analysis on the Bush/Cheney War Crimes now that his book has come out.

Is the life of westerners more valuable than that of the easterners? This is the question that comes to the minds when reading Bush's recent book and his claims about war in Iraq.

George W. Bush in his book has said that by attacking Iraq saved American and British lives and has stopped possible terrorist attacks.

To discuss further on the issue, this edition of New Analysis is dedicated to the so-called war on terror triggered by Bush.

"Estelas de Jazz", book with photographs by Juan-Carlos Hernandez

2010-11-12T15:10:00.001+02:00

Friends, amazing photographs taken by my Virtual Son. He has an incomparable talent. Take a look and see if you don't agree. The following link is a peek into his art with music and video. Vicki

"Estelas de Jazz", book with photographs by Juan-Carlos Hernandez & texts by Belen Carmona Moreno

123 Jazz Photographs by Juan-Carlos Hernandez included on his book "Estelas de Jazz" (LAP Lambert, ISBN 978-3-8383-0874-6 ) with wonderful texts in spanish by Belen Carmona Moreno http://www.myspace.com/yobelenito

Juan-Carlos Hernandez sites :

http://juancarloshernandezjazzphotographer.blogspot.com/
http://juancarloshernandezphotographe.blogspot.com/

Music : "Peaceful Warrior"

composed by Aaron Parks http://www.aaronparks.com/
orchestred by Arthur Hnatek http://arthurhnatek.com/

soloist :
tenor saxophone Ben Flocks http://www.myspace.com/benflocksmusic

alto saxophone Max Cudworth http://www.myspace.com/maxcudworth

book available on :

Amazon.com http://amzn.to/9yftDJ
Amazon Germany http://amzn.to/90SAFw
Amazon UK : http://amzn.to/bMRxNM
Amazon Japan : http://amzn.to/a0GK5g
Gettextbook Germany : http://bit.ly/bsAgew

With photographs of :
Ornette Coleman
Sheila Jordan
Eduardo Kohan
Raphael Anker
Alex Blake
Andy Milne
Elisabeth Kontomanou
Rudresh Mahanthappa
Michel Bastet
Evan Parker
François Moutin
Scott DuBois
Martial Solal
Médéric Collignon
Stefano Di Battista
Nasheet Waits
Nicolas Masson
Pete La Roca Sims
Henri Texier
Skoota Warner
Sonny Rollins
Stéphane Fisch
Susana Raya
Tom Harrell
Stefano Saccon
Marc Copland
Thomas Morgan
Hank Roberts
Robin McKelle
Seamus Blake
Alice Perret
William Parker
Giovanni Falzone
Hilaria Kramer
Mario Pavone
Charles Lloyd
Jean-Paul Bourelly
Banz Oester
Béatrice Graf
Chris Potter
Dado Moroni
Co Streiff
Kenny Wheeler
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Denis Beuret
Steve Coleman
Jean-Yves Poupin
Bud Shank
Jason Moran
Eric McPherson
Kenny Barron
Flavio Boltro
Florence Melnotte
Guillaume Perret
Insa Rudolph
James Moody
Joe Locke
John Aram
Pascal Alba
Ken Vandermark
Lionel Loueke
Marc Ducret
Urs Leimgruber
Otomo Yoshihide
Paolo Fresu
Perry Robinson
Roy Hargrove
Peter Brotzmann
Ramon Lopez
Roberta Gambarini
Slide Hampton
Sunny Murray
Sylvie Courvoisier
Tom Rainey
Tony Malaby
Sophie Tassignon
Julie Campiche
Yael Miller
Yuri Honing
Henry Grimes
Charlie Mariano
Marc Perrenoud
Gerald Cleaver
Olivier Gatto
Camélia Ben Naceur
Lydia Filipovic
Enrico Rava
Tim Berne
Drew Gress
Matthieu Michel
Alexis Cuadrado
Ralph Alessi
Michel Portal
Rosario Bonaccorso
Jim Black
Samuel Blaser
Jacky Terrasson
Mark Helias
Mulgrew Miller
Ohad Talmor
Tania Maria
Al Foster
Moncef Genoud
Joshua Redman
Joey Baron
Richard Bona
Wayne Escoffery
Marcos Jimenez
Peter Van Huffel
Alain Della Maestra
Evaristo Perez
Abraham Burton
Herbie Hancock
Bill FrisellBob Stewart
Michel Wintsch
Dave Douglas
Ernie Odoom
Cyril Moulas
Martin Wisard
Patricia Tondreau
Gabriel Zufferey

2010-11-12T12:09:00.002+02:00

The Progressive Populist 1 December 2010

Selections from the December 1, 2010 issue

COVER/Jim Cullen
After the wave: Democrats still standing

EDITORIAL
Don’t panic; populize; Dems need a fighter

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

RURAL ROUTES/Margot McMillen
Support your community

DISPATCHES
GOP health care ‘repeal’ double talk;
Congress gets ducks in row;
Latinos key western Dem wins;
Dem skinflints don’t prosper;
After election, economic turnaround?;
Flush of money boosts GOP;
Grayson: 'If your voters don't show up, you lose';
GOP threatens to force fed default;
Report: Wall-Streeters funded Rove group;
Iowa justices ousted for upholding rights;
Three-way's the charm;
Dems win some gov races;
N.J. owes feds for scrapped tunnel;
Greens also-ran in S.C.;
Recession forces state budget cuts;
Dems need unity after elections ...

Drawings by Dolores Cullen

2010-11-08T22:23:00.002+02:00

Golfing in Zimbabwe - Charles Ray - associatedcontent.com

2010-11-08T14:25:00.004+02:00

Golfing in Zimbabwe

Published November 08, 2010 by:Charles Ray

The Politics Might Be Bad, but the Ancient Game is Popular

Mention Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in southern Africa, and golf in the same sentence, and you are likely to be greeted with a puzzled stare. Because of the political golf courses remain unknown to many outside Africa.

You might be surprised to know that golf has a long and distinguished history in Zimbabwe.

It was introduced by the Europeans in the 19^th century, and first course was constructed in the provincial town of Bulawayo in 1895. The game spread quickly, and today there are more than 50 courses scattered throughout the country, from the capitol Harare to Victoria Falls.

The political and economic turmoil of the late 1990s through 2009 caused a fall off in the pursuit of the 'ancient and honorable' game, but with dollarization of the economy in 2009, which brought back a measure of economic stability, golf came back with a vengeance. While the political situation in Zimbabwe remains unsettled, it has not had an impact on the intense love of golf here.

In early 2010, the Africom Zimbabwe Open, one of Africa's premiere tours, returned to the Royal Harare Golf Course in Harare. Golfers from more than 13 nations competed for the cup, and plans are already being made for the 2011 tournament. In a country where the normal work week comes to a halt at noon on Friday, corporate golf outings are the rule rather than the exception, and high level government and corporate executives can be found 'on the course' most Fridays and weekends.

Golf in Zimbabwe has a unique character, reminiscent of the age of the British Empire. The first time golfer is often taken by surprise by the obligatory 'tea break' at the turn. If you've played courses in Europe or North America where you lose your turn if you stop for refreshments after the first nine holes, this can take some adjustment.

Following are some of Zimbabwe's top courses. please continue at Golf Courses of Zimbabwe
Photo credits to Charles Ray, the author.

The New Arms Race - Empire - Al Jazeera English

2010-11-06T21:45:00.004+02:00

The New Arms Race - Empire - Al Jazeera English

Thursday. 11 November 2010. I'm still fretting about the experts on this episode; they are as frightening as the escalating self-perpetuating arms race.

1 They are totally focused on a fossil fuel energized society therefore we will keep fighting wars over fossil fuel products. (Now it's not necessary but soon it will not be possible to due inaccessibility of fossil fuel.)

2 They are still using as a reason to attack Iran, the Persian Empire by assuming the same motivations from a thousand of years ago are still at play now and that somehow this is logical.

3. They are totally comfortable with the assumption that Iran is working towards being a nuclear weapons power although the inspectors (nor others) have yet to offer valid factual proof.

4. And their attitude to Israel as known to have nuclear weapons, known to attack innocent people (they are an occupying force, afterall) and have been systematically carrying out genocidal attacks on the people the have colonized as an almost daily occurrence. Yet compared to Iran . . . ? Psychiatrist needed here please.

Saturday. 6 November 2010. This is a timely discussion. Not only is it informative as to the arms race, the distribution of arms and the continually growing business of arms sales.
Very strange at the end of the discussion how all three of the experts are trying to justify that Iran is a terrible enemy. They must know that inspectors said there is nothing in Iran to fear, but somehow their brains are not acknowledging what their better judgment must know and should be talking about.
We'll talk about this with Stephen Dufrechou on my next Talking Progressive Politics. How our subconscious rules our conscious and convinces us to make bad decisions and choices and lots of other contradictions in our understanding.

The New Arms Race - Empire - Al Jazeera English

2010-11-02T12:50:00.001+02:00

The New Arms Race - Empire - Al Jazeera English
The world has entered a new arms race, but what justifies this global military addiction?
The world has entered a new arms race at a time of relative peace, totalling $1.5 trillion, that is $217 for every person on the planet.

The Arms Race

	The New Arms Race
	The Asian Arms Race
	Lobbying and Economics

	The Middle East Arms Race

Over the last decade, Washington has doubled its military budget, fuelling massive military build-ups around the world, from the emerging powers in the South China Seas to the multi-billion-dollar arms deals in the Middle East, begging the question where and when this vicious cycle of rising military expenditures will end.
Aside from the strategic dimension, leaders and pundits have also advanced the economic case for their excessive spending, both in terms of supply and demand.
Apart from the extensive profits from selling arms, the military industry creates thousands of manufacturing jobs in the shadow of the latest international economic crisis and high unemployment.
However, considering that spending on the military takes away from other higher-yielding, less costly and more important sectors of the economy, Empire asks: What justifies this global military addiction, or, has the world been duped by the multi-national, military industrial complex?
Joining the discussion are Robert Kaplan from the Center for New American Security, Ellen Laipson, CEO and president at the Stimson Center, Joseph Cirincione, the president of Ploughshares Fund, and Ambassador Richard Butler, the former chief weapons inspector, Iraq.

BP Oil Spill Causing Serious Air Quality Concerns - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2010-10-28T10:50:00.000+03:00

Illness on the Gulf of Mexico legacy of oil spill. not helped by hyperbolic use of dispersants by BP
http://su.pr/7MwSPy
BP Oil Spill Causing Serious Air Quality Concerns - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Once again illness of those impacted by the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is in the news. I have some basic info in this article and the comments.

From Pakistan: Ruses that distract from a Counterterrorism strategy | Asnycnow Radio

2010-10-14T23:22:00.001+03:00

In the USA we don't know much about Pakistan. They had a big flood there and there exist bad guys in the mountains bordering Afghanistan. That's not much to know about an ally who is so important to the USA.

International political analyst, Mosharraf Zaidi offers down-to-earth common sense observations on the challenges and the solutions to Pakistan's counterterrorism challenges.

From Pakistan: Ruses that distract from a Counterterrorism strategy | Asnycnow Radio

100% Agreement in the United Nations: Less Talk, More Action!!! : reddit.com

2010-09-27T23:50:00.001+03:00

100% Agreement in the United Nations: Less Talk, More Action!!! : reddit.com

Right to Left on Political Spectrum, All Have an Opinion on the UN's 2015 Millennium Development Goals >>> Check out what the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institute and the Center for Global Development.

Who do you agree with?

Digg - Incumbent Democratic Governor Chet Culver is in Election Race Against Republican Former Governor Terry Branstad - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2010-09-26T00:26:00.002+03:00

Incumbent Democratic Governor Chet Culver is in Election Race Against Republican Former Governor Terry Branstad
Some things have changed since I was a kid but the names in politics haven't.

Terry Branstad has already governed Iowa for 16 years. He had a chance to enforce flooding prevention but didn't. He had a chance to help veterans but didn't.

Dr. Timoth Volm and Jim Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist, join Vicki to comment on their analysis of Iowa gubernatorial race so far.

Relief for Pakistan: What Americans Can Do

2010-09-05T00:32:00.000+03:00

Yes magazine

by Sarah van Gelder - Five Ways you can help Pakistan (and the rest of us)

Yes magazine has come up with 5 ways to help Pakistan and in doing so help ourselves, here are the 5 ways they suggest with a couple of notes from me.

1 Support Independent Pakistan-based Relief Efforts (The Edhi Foundation)

From the USA send a check to the following address with the notation “flood relief”:
The Edhi Foundation 42-07 National Street Corona, New York 11368
More about the Edhi Foundation can be found at http:/asnycnowradio.wordpress.com/Pakistan

2 Support Women (Global Fund for Women)

3 Debt Relief (Jubilee Network) A good article about why debt relief makes sense can be found at http:/asnycnowradio.wordpress.com/Pakistan

4 Convert Military Aid to Humanitarian Aid(Peace Tax)

5 Confront the Climate Change Disaster (350.org)

Management Styles: Does Your Boss Give You the Cold Shoulder or Breathe Down Your Neck? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2010-08-25T00:21:00.000+03:00

Management Styles: Does Your Boss Give You the Cold Shoulder or Breathe Down Your Neck? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Pat Protests and Promises to Picket

2010-08-19T11:49:00.000+03:00

Pakistan Families Need Support. People to People. Wednesday Update. « Asnycnow Radio

2010-08-18T12:08:00.001+03:00

Donating to Pakistan Families.

Here are some tip on making decisions on where and how to donate.

Last night instead of sleeping I was wondering . . . how many people in the Swat Valley know how to swim? . . . where are the family pets? . . . how much more can farmers take? . . . could I have survived such a disaster? . . . could I have saved my children? . . .

Destroyed road.

Look for the two children on the bed behind the tractor.

Western Union has special 0% fee for donating to Pakistan and has partnered with IRC, the International Rescue Committee.

Raging flood waters.

Small girl gazes at the destruction.

Lady walks past a thoroughly destroyed house.

Found a pot by this man looking though all the mess washed up by the floodwater.

I realized how strong the people of the flood zones in Pakistan have to be to survive and carry on. Without our donations they will not be able to survive though because their bodies will be dehydrated and they will starve.

France24 has just announced that 6 000 000 people need food and clean water; also they announced that approximately 20 000 000 people have been affected. And John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator has just told France24 that donations are needed immediately in order to get food, water and medical supplies to everyone in need.

The United Nations has said 3.5 million children in Pakistan’s flood zones are at risk of catching water-borne diseases. (August 17, 2010)

Now that you have an idea of how urgent is the situation here are some suggested ways to donate money to help the families of Pakistan who have been devastated by the flood.

Western Union -Donate to Pakistan Relief Efforts

Western Union -Donate to Pakistan Relief EffortsWestern Union has a special page for sending donations to Pakistan on the Internet. If you are not comfortable with sending money through the Internet they also list the Western Union agents so you can find the one nearest to you.

Send from any Agent location in the United States and from participating Agent locations in the United Kingdom as well as select countries in the Middle East including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.Money transfer fees will be $0* for any amount you send to Pakistan from 12th August to 12th September.

You can click on the Western Union above in blue type or use this web address by cutting and pasting into the address bar. http://www.westernunion.com/WUCOMWEB/staticMid.do?method=load&countryCode=US&languageCode=en&pagename=promoPakistan&pid=alphaPakpromo

*****************************************************************************************

Western Union has teamed up with the International Rescue Committee (IRC)a non-profit organization that responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives.

“The International Rescue Committee is responding to the devastation caused by severe monsoon season rains and extensive flash flooding throughout Pakistan. The flooding has killed more than a thousand people and has caused widespread damage that has forced villagers in remote regions to flee their homes.

With a robust network of local staff and partners already on the ground, and 30 years of experience working in Pakistan, the IRC is well-positioned to provide shelter, clean water, sanitation, and essential supplies to those who have fled the rising waters.

Make a gift to support our emergency efforts helping flood survivors in Pakistan.”

Raging flood, an example of the dangers and difficulties. Photo from IRC

http://www.theirc.org/abou t

IRC Crisis Watch Pakistan has information on the relief effort.

Donate on IRC page and help rescue lives in Pakistan.

Save the Children “The massive displacement of people, potential for the spread of disease and deteriorating living conditions are increasing risks to very vulnerable infants and children,” said Mohammed Qazilbash, Save the Children’s spokesperson in Pakistan. “Our medics are seeing cases of pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria — major killers of children in the developing world under normal conditions. So we are working around the clock to provide critical health services and support to parents so that they can take care of their children.” August 13, 2010

Donate on secure donation web page of Save the Children or DONATE $10 BY TEXTING “FLOOD” to 20222 (U.S. Only). Standard message rates apply.A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of the “Save the Children” by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.hmgf.org/t. Messaging & Data Rates May Apply. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP to short code “FLOOD”; Reply HELP to “FLOOD” for help.

Save the Children(Facebook)http://www.facebook.com/l/2415a;www.savethechildren.org/emergencies/asia/pakistan-floods-2010/

********************************************************************************************

My friends Mr. Mustansar Malik in Lahore, Pakistan and Ms Farhaa Xha who has experience working in flood affected areas in Bangladesh have both suggested the Edhi Foundation.

I have copied information from the blog Mystified Justice Sana Saleem Location: Karachi, Pakistan, in case you have an interest in the Edhi Foundation.

Over 1400 people have lost their lives, more than four million have been effected. Please donate generously and help spread the plea of the flood victims of Pakistan.

Edhi Foundation

Look behind the tractor, you will see a young girl sitting with her brother on a bed

USA – Edhi Center	USA Edhi international Foundation.42-07 National streetCorona, New York, 11368 USA Tel: (718) 639-5120 Fax:(718) 335-1978 Toll Free# 1-888-899-EDHI (3344) 42-07 National street Corona, New York, 11368 USA Tel: (718) 639-5120 Fax:(718) 335-1978 Toll Free# 1-888-899-EDHI (3344)
United Kingdom	Edhi International Foundation, 316 Edgware Road, London W2 1DY, United Kingdom Tel: 02077232050 and Fax: 02072249774
Canada	Canada Bilquis Edhi Charitable Shop 1801-1805 Danforth Ave Toronto-M4C-1J2 Canada Phone/Fax: +1 (416) 699-1388 Also include the following above the international addresses:
Japan	Japan Edhi International Foundation,RM 101 COPO Nikkei, 1-25 4-Chome, Minami-ohi Shinagawa -KU-Tokyo 140 Japan.
Australia	Australia Abdul Sattar Edhi International Foundation,Level 20, Picadly tower,133, Castle Reagh Street, Sydney 2000, Austrailia. Tel: 02-2646499, 03-3767-7282 Fax: 03-3764-4395, 02-264-7337
Bangladesh	Bangladesh Edhi International Foundation Inc,2/2 Purana palton, 3 rd Floor, Dhaka – 1000, Bangladesh

<http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/sanasaleem1/pakistan-floods-how-to-help>

************** I have more information from readers I will share with you soon, including information about the international foundation BRAC and a great How to Donate instruction book from Irish Aid (http://www.howyoucanhelp.ie/documents/theguide.pdf) ******Vicki******

More info at > Pakistan Families Need Support. People to People. Wednesday Update. « Asnycnow Radio

EPA and BP Lock Horns on BP's Use of Dispersants on the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2010-08-09T22:11:00.000+03:00

EPA and BP Lock Horns on BP's Use of Dispersants on the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

SALT: A Movie Review of the Suspenseful Spy Thriller Starring Angeline Jolie - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

2010-08-09T22:03:00.000+03:00

SALT: A Movie Review of the Suspenseful Spy Thriller Starring Angeline Jolie - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Dear Shelley. A journal. Day 1. | Red Room

2010-07-28T16:48:00.000+03:00

Dear Shelley. A journal. Day 1. | Red Room

Ex-Blackwater Prez Made $1.5 Mil a Year, 90% From US Taxpayers

2010-05-28T15:59:00.000+03:00

Ex-Blackwater Prez Made $1.5 Mil a Year, 90% From US Taxpayers

Pentagon Releases Names of US Soldiers Killed in Pakistan

2010-05-28T15:58:00.000+03:00

Pentagon Releases Names of US Soldiers Killed in Pakistan

Greece! Need a safety net in a nice color?

2010-05-10T20:40:00.002+03:00

"If you see yourself in an emergency situation, call us for a safety net.

It comes in three colors," Eurozone.

Comments and Questions for the Media on Greek Debt Reporting.

2010-05-10T12:48:00.002+03:00

   Much of the coverage from the Greek debt problems has been good. On the other hand . . .
   We do not need journalists or reporters telling us that the austerity measures will be tough.
   The austerity measures are already tough. We have been working to change the situation to the positive since the beginning of the new administration and as each new truth on depth of the problem came forward.
   The Euro has not been "a long term currency", the Euro, like the EU, is still young and learning to flex her muscles.
    Nor have any of the many encouraging benefits from using the Euro been mentioned.
    Unfortunately, much of the conversation has to do with whether or not "The Market" would be pleased.
    Discussions about the place of regulation in the stock market, whether or not speculators or investments have been acting ethically have not been obvious.
   A judgmental attitude as if Greeks were naughty sly children that have to be punished is often evident
   No discussion of the burden migrants fleeing wars have added and who is responsible for the care of the refugees.
   White collar crime – has it been mentioned?
   Tourism is the main income generator for Greece. After listening to the media people are afraid to come to Greece, some even terrified. Who will take responsibility for those losses?
    The effect of trade deals made during the former information on the negotiations for loans from the EU are still mysterious . . .
(Thanks for Listening.)

On the Road to Destruction. Greece in times of financial crisis.

2010-05-09T22:16:00.001+03:00

On the road to destruction
Commentary from eKathimerini

Can a society self-destruct? Yes, it most definitely can and the way Greece is headed right now it is a very real possibility that it will.

Here we have a state and a society that allow a handful of nihilistic hooligans to torch the city and cause the deaths of three citizens.

We have the leadership of the country’s second biggest political party opting for a populist line of rhetoric and failing to answer a simple question on whether or not it will support the government’s economic recovery plan.

We see a society that is mad, and justifiably so, and we see it going down an ill-advised path.

Then we see the government, caught in the grips of panic, contributing to the populist fever and pouring more oil over the fire.

Greece is at the most crucial point of its post-1974 history and whether we destroy ourselves or not, whether we go bankrupt or not, depends not just on our political leadership, but also on every single one of us individually and collectively.

Date : 6/5/10
Copyright: http://www.ekathimerini.com

~Thoughts from Vicki ~
I wanted to share the above commentary from the English language portion of the Greek newspaper, ekathimerini.com (Kathimerini), because of the drama with which it is written as well as some of the cultural points it brings up which we can explore together.
15 hooligans who label themselves anarchists in order to give themselves feelings of justification for their acts of vandalism . . . and now murder. . . were filmed by security cameras attacking a bank.
In the USA, citizens have shown up at talks given by President Obama with guns casually slung over their shoulders. In the streets of Athens during times of protest the unions of public worker unions find themselves next to a few young men and women with kerchief-covered faces and backpacks stuffed with Molotov cocktail ingredients.
A CNN International reporter interviewed different segments of the protesters on the street but avoided the self-proclaimed anarchists. I’m sure they seem quite threatening particularly to Americans. Unfortunately, when questioned, the “anarchists” are not able to speak logically about their “movement” or what they are trying to accomplish by their actions. There seems to be an attitude that protest is the means and the end.
The police are in the same position as others in dealing with the austerity measures yet they are they receive the primary attacks from the anarchists.
ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines) at banks are the second favorite target. I have a personal experience in wanting to pay the mother of one of the vandals of bank ATMs. She was quite anxious to have some money from me, and I would have helped her out . . . but the ATMs at the banks had been destroyed. It was the weekend and I was unable to give her the cash she wanted. Whether it registered to her 20-something son that he was hurting his own family by he and his friends’ actions was not clear. Another of their contradictory acts is to protest that they want jobs yet these hooligans don their kerchiefs and backpacks to protest against private universities that could give them and college graduates of their generation very good jobs at home in Greece.
And the group that was caught by the cameras tossing firebombs into the bank have used this same method before targeting banks.
20,000 to 40,000 citizens on the streets during a demonstration is few for Athens where strikes by labor unions of both working class and professional groups are quite common. A handful of the ragtag vandals following behind the legitimate protesters have been given credit by much of the foreign news media for causing a panic on Wall Street; exactly the wrong kind of social reinforcement needed by this immature group.
PASOK is the name of the party which won the recent elections and inherited all many shocking surprises of a country badly in debt. They won against the second large political party in Greece, the New Democracy Party, and the party which Barnaby Phillips, the AJE Athens correspondent, rightly reported has almost thoroughly discredited itself with the populace.
Although the majority of the citizens understand that the austerity measures are the only choice and support Prime Minister Papandreou and the PASOK party; New Democracy is playing along with the foreign media and voting against the austerity plan. Or is it possibly the speculators who gave loans and have been betting for a Greek default who are being supported?
The commentary from ekathimerini was written after three innocent people died in a bank when a fire bomb came crashing through the office window. They died of asphyxiation.
I don’t agree that the government has been in a panic. The Prime Minister and the Ministers of Economy and Finance have been articulate and soft spoken each time they’ve been questioned on the decisions they have been making.
Will the Greek society self-destruct? An unlikely scenario given the history of Greek survival against all odds.
Will the Greek government go bankrupt? The European Union is young and a mechanism has not been established for members of the European Union to go bankrupt (The Brief, CNNI).
The modern democracy of Greece is young and far more inclusive than the ancient Greek democracy. (Perhaps you recall the USA government/Kissinger-backed dictators who ruled Greece in the early 1970’s?)
I do agree with the last sentence of the commentary which is the reality we face in Greece. “Greece is at the most crucial point of its post-1974 history and whether we destroy ourselves or not, . . . depends not just on our political leadership, but also on every single one of us individually and collectively.”

Are Drones a Technological Miracle or a Heartless Killer?

2010-05-08T23:47:00.001+03:00

written by Zuzana Falťanová

As it was shown in the documentary movie “Digital Nation” the technology is everywhere around us and has wide usage in many branches like education or military where the technology serves as a treatment for PTSD or as a weapon where the unmanned predatory drones are navigated from the US to operate the military missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq. Although the invention of the drones sounds like a technological miracle, it has many challenges since it raises ethical questions and provides a scary vision of future robotic warfare.

The usage of drones has a long history according to the Lieutenant Colonel Richard P. Schwing from the US Air Force, initially the unmanned vehicle called “drone” was used just for a surveillance purpose and later the upgraded models, like MQ-1 Predator, can carry 114 Hellfire missiles with the laser guidance technology. Moreover, there are also non combatant versions of drones which provide search and rescue mission in the US. (USAWC Strategy research Project, 2007). The original aim of the drones has widened and the current versions are not only used as the main weapon against the war on terror, but also can be used as a means of rescue.

The drones benefit the rescue missions and doubtless the military operations too because the unmanned “planes” are smaller and allow easier maneuverability with the vehicle, therefore, these drones can be used in a terrain which is dangerous or unsafe for manned aircraft. The drones lower the cost of the war since instead of the soldiers the drones are put on the battlefield whose navigators sit thousands miles away and after their shift the navigators can go home and spend the evening with their family. Thanks to the drones the war became easier to fight since the lives of the soldiers are saved and the drones’ pilot are not exposed to the atrocities of the battlefield. Being a drone pilot and going to a war means completely something else today than it was in the past since it reminds us more of playing a video game with the exception that the real humans are being killed. Also, the drones have recorded a huge success in eliminating some key figures of the Al Qaeda leaders or some other insurgents from CIA´s most wanted list.
However, those killed by the drones are not just the “bad guys”, as Brookings Institution reports, the drone attacks claim high civilian casualties since 10 civilians have to die for each insurgent killed, and these high casualties of non-combatant spark the unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the public condemnation for these drone attacks play into the insurgent´s hand since every time drones slaughter the civilians, their families seeking the revenge often join the Taliban fighters. (Schirch, 2009). This shows that the death toll of the civilian population highly exceeds the death toll of the insurgent, so the drones actually undermine the US strategy of winning hearts and minds of Afghan and Pakistani people, since the high civilian casualties inspires their families or other people to become the new recruits in Taliban ranges. Thanks to the drones the US effort and strategy in Afghanistan becomes more contra-productive since it alienates the Afghan and Pakistan public which represents for the US the key factor for winning this war.

Although the lower number of US soldiers casualties seem only a positive thing, the author Peter W. Singer of the book “Wired for War” argues that the drone usage produce the fake perception that the war cost nothing since the Americans are protected from the reality of battlefield and from the moral consequences of the war. Due to the fact that the distant Pakistan tribal areas are forbidden or inaccessible for the media organizations, the damages after the drone attacks stay unnoticed. (Mayer, 2009). The drone concept sounds very alluring since the drones operate in the terrain which is hard to cover for the media, so it produces the imagination of costless war. Moreover, when a war cost many lives of US soldiers, the public support for the war is very low and the public uproar could even stop the war operation. However, when there will not be any casualties of US soldiers and the collateral damage of drone attacks would be less documented in remote areas of Pakistan or Afghanistan, the public will care less about the war, and for the government would be easier to start a war.

The increased usage of the robots in the modern warfare raises also another issue like it was stated in the article in the Indypendent newspaper where the author Eric Stoner points out that the modern high tech used in warfare helped to decrease the death toll of US soldiers, however, the number of civilian casualties has sharply increase. In WWI the civilian casualties claimed 10 percent, in WW II the death toll of non combatants was over 50 percent, and nowadays more than 90 % of the killed is civilian population since for example in Iraq, 4,300 US soldiers were killed, however, the number of civilian casualties was over 600, 000. (Stoner, 2009). Although the high tech helps to reduce the number of soldiers killed, the rate of civilians killed is drastically higher. But the future of warfare belongs to the robots and also the drones will be even more upgraded as the current warfare demands for the automatically preprogrammed drones which would be able to execute the mission without the navigation from the pilot.(Stock Treck, 2010). The vision for usage for the autonomous drones in the modern warfare sounds like some breakthrough, however, I just wonder who would be responsible if such automatically preprogrammed drone would cause some huge damage and kill by mistake hundreds of civilians. Who would claim responsibility for it? It would be definitely hard to prove somebody’s guilt, so what about justice? The technology used in modern warfare reminds us of some science fiction movies, but I think that when the WW III would be fought with such high tech, then like Einstein said, the WW IV would be fought with sticks and stones.

This digital age brings many advantages since the technology enhances our lives. The drones represent the technological miracle; however, with this boosting tendency some crucial factors like the illusion of costless war or the rising number of civilian casualties are simply overlooked. Will the future breakthroughs in technology mean a begging of a new highly developed age or a beginning of the end of the civilization?

References

USAWC Strategy research Project. (2007). Unamnned ariel vehicle – Revolutionary tools in war and peace. Retrieved April 25, 2010 from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi

Schirch, L. (2009, October 13). The costs of the drones strikes. The Huffington Post Retrieved April 25, 2010 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-schirch/the-costs-of-drone

Mayer, J. (2009, October 26). The predator war. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 25, 2010 from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_mayer

Stoner, E. (2009, April 17). Robot Wars. The Indypendent. Retrieved April 25, 2010 from http://www.indypendent.org/2009/04/16/robot-wars/

Shock Treck. (2010). Multi-Mission Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Retrieved April 25 2010 from http://www.stocktrekimages.com/gallery-info-uav.asp

On My Second Trip to Toronto (btw is homelessness now acceptable way of living?)

2010-05-08T19:50:00.001+03:00

Tripping over the man’s legs that were stretched over the heating grate in the sidewalk etched many things into my mind about my first trip to Toronto. Many things have been tucked away for never forgetting.

I had turned the corner carefully because in front of me I was pushing a stroller holding my toddler. The smoothed out snowy city sidewalk was white with a layer of paper-thin compacted snow. I pulled back suddenly because I unexpectedly saw a man half sitting, half laying, shifting his body into position on the ground right in front of me.

My first thought was that this man was not homeless. He was making himself comfortable as he probably did every night after supper in his own living room; I was simply hallucinating; seeing him here on the sidewalk.

I paused close to him with my mouth open, my arms reaching out to him as if I was going to pick him up to carry him home in my arms.

“This isn’t right” I wanted to say, but his eyes darted a quick glare into mine, “No, it isn’t right. I know.”

He reached his hands out and rearranged his legs and hips for optimum warmth over the grate beneath him. The way he lifted his legs with his hands, well, I don’t think his legs worked normally anymore.

My companion looked at me with the usual disgusted grimace meant for me only. I sighed as I continued my walk to the Japanese restaurant.

I’ve never met a stranger in my life so I’ve never felt the need to take seriously the constant fright-inducing eleventh commandment, “Do not thou ever talk to a stranger.” With its unwritten Biblical corollary, “Or thy will be kidnapped, molested and abandoned.”

The two of us and the babe in stroller trudged across the road making scrunch, scrunch noises with our treaded boots.

Inside the Japanese restaurant I could not see anything for a very long time, even after being blindly led by the pretty dark-haired hostess to a privately screened table. The heat and steam of the food condensed clouds of water on my eyeglass lenses. The plastic lenses were probably a temperature equal to the outdoors, many degrees below zero.

When I could see I drank some Japanese beer which I usually drink with enjoyment because it is my favorite. I sipped it without enthusiasm thinking of the man sitting on the street. And the mushroom soup was very light and nice, my favorite soup is Japanese mushroom soup but I felt no great rapture from my slurpy swallows.

After the meal back in the hotel room my stomach then my whole body went through a wrenching bout of food poisoning.

Was it the food from the nice Japanese restaurant though?

Or was it from the social poison of knowing people were sleeping on the other side of the hotel wall with no bed, no shelter, no hope.

************************************************

For the first time I entered the Geist Post Card Contest with this micro-essay, true story! I didn't win but am glad I took the challenge.
Geist can be found at http://www.geist.com/ . . . in Canada!

Vicki

View Change | Link TV

2010-03-08T22:18:00.000+02:00

View Change Link TV

Obama burned your expectations to ashes?

2009-12-14T22:17:00.000+02:00

Ahh, if you invested a lot in Obama getting elected your feelings of betrayal must be very deep.

TO DO NOW:

1. Get yourself and your family off fossil fuel. Work on neighborhood projects and hire small businesses who understand sustainability and getting off the grids and off the auto-highways.

2. I'm writing a list of people Obama should have appointed to be his economic advisers & am going to demand he fire the crooks and get some intellects in there - do u have any names you would like to share with my list

3. Genocide was committed from the beginning in Iraq, now Pakistan and of course in Afghanistan - w bush etc. all need to be tried for war crimes. we can support the U.N. or we can join the international groups that support justice for war criminals and international courts of justice. I need input on this one, too.

4. Get involved with what Africom is doing in Africa (the u.s.a military presence there is called -Africom). I'm going to get involved with TransAfrica Forum. TransAfrica Forum has started organizing groups working with and for Africa so to streamline process and hopefully get things done more efficiently.

So? Tear down Christian churches due to their meaninglessness, tear down minarets due to their evil?

2009-12-06T22:45:00.001+02:00

"Is Islam good for Europe?" from El Mundo

Did you happen to read this article from El Mundo yet?
I glanced over the article finding no new ideas until I got to the sneaky last paragraph and the following comments.
"Many Europeans in our day look at the old Christian churches in a manner wholly devoid of faith. They perceive them as purely cultural objects, which they are as well. Now this is very hard to do with minarets, even with what remains of Muslim architecture in Spain. In minarets, old and new alike, religion reigns supreme, alone, despotic. Which is an intrinsically negative factor for present-day Europe."
I've written my essential thoughts below and wonder how my neighbors at Red Room feel about the subject. I hope you will have time to leave a comment.

Unfortunately, I can’t agree with you. Minarets are a lovely architectural form. They give interest for the eye within the city landscape. More minarets should be built not fewer, for variety and beauty of the city.

Racists will use any symbol to depict as villainous to serve their purpose, whether their accusations are reasonable or not.

The great religions of the world as we know them now will evolve into other forms in time. But human spirituality will still look to the historical art, architecture and literature of the past. So we need to honor the religious cultural designs in their many beautiful forms.

But we must work past the stubborn tendency for these religions to stay firmly rooted in a past that doesn’t speak to us today in any real way, not in a way that resonates with most people anyway.

Religion needs to step into the millennium just as we each are interpreting our personal spiritual being.

("Islam good for Europe?" found on AlejandroGlenti at http://su.pr/1qRR5A)

Individualism and Equality of People Gone Mad

2009-11-06T21:37:00.002+02:00

Here’s my 6 Sentences based on my really, true experience in the Al Jazeera English (AJE) Chat Room at Livestation. Vicki

In discussions with chat room americans try to keep in mind that high levels of intellect, experience, reasoning and expertise are not equal to nor greater than the opinions expressed by those in the chat room.

So . . . if you have the four above characteristics and attempt to explain your viewpoint you will receive no respect if you disagree with someone, because you are showing a difference of opinion not presenting a better argument.

Until you jump on board the patriot bandwagon you are only deserving of ridicule for proposing a thought different from anything heard before in the chat room.

Now an individual in america is one person or one corporation which believes, that is, has unshakable faith in the power of nondiscernment and group think.

Equality of the people means you have two choices: right or wrong because there is nothing in between and nothing on at the edges.

When the bullying group teaches you a lesson by team insults, and you lose your cool when they start deriding “common sense”- don’t be surprised - YOU will be the one tossed from the chat room for calling them “Bulls—t As—oles,” however accurate that may be.
(Originally posted at http://sixsentences.ning.com/profiles/blogs/individualism-and-equality-of)
Drawing from the "Huntress: Year One" Author: Ivory Madison Artist: Cliff Richards

El Niño, La Niña, and Rainfall

2009-10-28T15:07:00.000+02:00

El Niño, La Niña, and Rainfall

Subcribe only to Unsubcribe

2009-10-26T21:23:00.001+02:00

I am really happy about the Internet, I have just switched to Hellas OnLine which means I have a fiber optic connection. The line has taken a long time to place because Chania sits on a huge hard rock. A great place to live when an earthquake trembles through, but not so good for digging ditches and laying underground cables. The wait has been worth it.

I enjoy being able to get in touch with my friends around the world whenever I wish. I also enjoy making new friends. And I enjoy researching. The only problem is that I have an interest in so many things that I'll follow just about any link that pops up if I think I can learn something new.

So I am really getting to understand my characteristic behaviors and there definitely exist some that need a bit of change.

The looming bad habit is my penchant for signing up for free newsletters. Pretty much any button that says 'free' in reach of a mouse click does get clicked. I've notice my work weeks go like this.

I sit down with a coffee frappe and good intentions for creative writing. I end up signing up for a lot of newsletters and widgets. The next week I end up unsubscribing because I will never read nor use most of my newly collected items from the Net.

Not only that, I feel badly for the people I am "unsubscribing from." What if I hurt their feelings? I don't want to do that, so if the number of subscribers or followers are noted I keep anything with less than 100 subscribers, I don't keep anything with more than 1000 subscribers and the rest I debate about.

Well, today is Monday. I wonder what weird behavioral quirk will rear its ugly head next.

Definition of Global Warming Word-by-Word

2009-09-27T20:52:00.000+03:00

The best concise definition I found on the web of ‘global warming’ describes it to be a noun, with the meaning “An increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, especially a sustained increase sufficient to cause climatic change.” (http://www.answers.com)
First note that the two words “global warming” used together are considered a noun. This is important because from this info we understand that “global warming” is some ‘thing’. A ‘something’ that is probably a phenomenon indicating an increased temperature of the earth’s air. Not of our hometown or region or country but the “globe” or the sphere that is our planet earth.
Next notice the phrase “An increase in the average temperature” and think about what that might mean in general. When your local weather forecaster says the ‘average temperature of this month’s daily winter temperatures recorded at noon,” we can understand that every daily temperature of the month which was recorded at twelve o’clock noon
(1) Has been added together and the (2) sum is divided by the number of days in the month.
Let’s take the month of December, having 31 days, 31 recorded temperatures have been added together, and their sum divided by 31 to come up with one number: the average.
The average temperature is not the mean average temperature. The mean average temperature refers to the temperature taken at noon on December 16^th. The mean average temperature is important but it is not the data point described in the global warming definition. The two numbers (average temp and mean average temp) may vary significantly so the difference between the two can be quite important when trying to understand atmospheric temperatures.
When we come to “climatic change” in the definition it is preceded by the word “cause” so we can expect that if there is a cause there is an effect. Viola!
The phenomena termed global warming is the average of temperatures recorded around the earth (in the atmosphere above both land and sea) which under the right circumstances will cause a shift in climate (climate change).

Gale E. Christianson's book, "Greenhouse The 200 year story of Global Warming" is a great resource for people trying to understand global warming, historians, students and their professors.

Go Green! Why not fill the earth's atmosphere with greenhouse gasses?

2009-09-27T20:45:00.000+03:00

Greenhouse gasses . . . Let’s start at the beginning with the French savant, Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, who set the mathematical foundation for understanding the movement of heat within bodies and along the boundaries of bodies. When Fourier started considering how the earth stayed warm enough for plants and animals to thrive on earth he realized the upper atmosphere of the earth acts like a boundary, an invisible dome, so his theory is often referred to as “the bell jar theory.” Now-a-days we call the phenomena “the greenhouse effect.” http://su.pr/Abeaj2
Fourier asked himself, “Why is the heat generated by the sun’s rays not lost after striking and bouncing off the great oceans and landmasses of the world?”*
He hypothesized what we now know to be the physical action of heat being trapped in the earth’s atmosphere. The sun rays strike the earth; rebound back towards space, but not all travels back into space because the upper atmosphere reabsorbs much of the heat still being generated by the rebounding sun rays. The reabsorbed energy bounces back towards the earth bathing plants and animals once again with heat.
With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution black, billowing clouds from burning coal and smelting iron darkened skies. At first the industrialists tried to alleviate the air pollution by building higher smokestacks. But the ‘upper dome’ described by Fourier’s hypothesis in fact is much too high to alleviate the traveling of heat back into earth’s atmosphere.
Unpredicted by anyone at the start of the Industrial Revolution was the continuing pouring of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere until the mass of manmade greenhouse gases would reach a concentration that would alter micro climates and cause climate disruptions randomly on earth’s surface because they are trapped under the outer atmospheric boundary.
The greenhouse gases include chemicals we have all smelled as air pollution: Carbon Dioxide, CO2 (ex. from burning carbon based fuel in motor vehicles, furnaces, factories) and Methane, CH4 (ex. from the gas emitted by animals as flatulence). Others greenhouse chemicals include Fluorocarbons, CFCs (air conditioners/ refrigerator coolants) and Nitrous oxide NO (laughing gas and fertilizers). If you would like more detail go to http://su.pr/5i9ui2 at the University of Michigan website.

HOW DO WE KNOW CO2 INCREASED WITH THE START OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION? FROM THE ADVENTURES OF DEDICATED EXPLORERS AND RESEARCHERS WHO HAVE BROUGHT US ICE CORES TO STUDY.

For more graphs, photos, links and discussions visit Big Think and add your Big Ideas!

http://bigthink.com/vickinikolaidis/greenhouses-are-good-for-plants-so-why-worry

Opportunity for Creativity: Environmental Crisis Solutions

2009-09-27T20:34:00.000+03:00

Water Harvesting to Divert Flood Causing Rainfalls.
The flood in the Philippines could have been a gift from heaven for populations suffering from drought.
Water harvesting is a habit we all need to nurture.
I imagine hundreds of robotic drones flying to the area as soon as the rains start. Each drone would drop a large curved flexible plastic sheet tethered to the drone at four corners in order to catch the rain. When the plastic sheet is full enough a gadget would pop out of the drone and tie up the top of the sheet, cut it free and let the large balloon full of water drop to the sea where boats would pull it to Africa.
We already have the drones and the balloons that are pulled by boats (for example, to take water to Santorini and other islands without fresh water supplies in the summer.)
I know we have engineers that could design the rest.
This seems to me to be a win-win situation. Catch the water -
save the Philippines from a devastating flood and give water to those who must have water to survive.
It could happen!

This is part of an idea originally posted at Big Think. Give Big Think a visit to share your Big Ideas!
http://bigthink.com/vickinikolaidis/environment-opportunity-for-creativity

Van Jones bringing up a lot of emotional voices.

2009-09-09T17:26:00.003+03:00

Van Jones subject makes fearful letter writers dramatic.

Would like you like to join?

I'm trying to communicate with some difficult to understand letter writers.

They seem to be so fearful they aren't able to make sense.

My most recent point follows.

Dear fellow mates blogging here,

My intimate experience with raging bullies is that the more outrageous their statements the faster you best agree and get to a safe place.

So in lies the conundrum of fear fevered bullies sputtering out vitriol which follows no reason.

Free speech is necessary in a democracy but believing ill reasoned fantasies has led to massacres in Nazi Germany, Rwanda and Yugoslavia.

Do you want the same situation in your country or do you want to look for facts and find out who is really jerking you around?

Those that have posted inappropriate comments about Pres. Obama and Van Jones have not offered a valid argument, reason or identified references for the information which validates their position.

Their fear has surfaced as name calling, blame and strange attempts at humor.

As a mother I can tell you, any mother with sons such as the Misters Obama and Jones would be proud as can be.

So as a Mother I want to say to everyone, "Do not be afraid.

Trust what your eyes tell you."

Both men work with white skinned people with no problem. When you see films with them and white skinned people they are interacting positively.

Don't ask "Where are the jobs he created?" Look it up, you are computer literate or you wouldn't have posted here.

Who do you trust more than yourself to verify he is the real deal and so are the jobs?

Sincerely, Vicki

Politics. Decided. Finally at the nub of the problem.

2009-09-07T11:10:00.000+03:00

With the resignation of Van Jones there’s no mistaking the power struggle that began as soon as the east coast colonies came together in the continental congress and an empire began to organize itself.

The grasping of the world’s natural resources to the bitter end has become overwhelming powerful by wielding cash and fear; I wonder how we are going to extract ourselves from this tragic dilemma. If only one nation was battling itself the repercussions wouldn’t be felt throughout the world. Unfortunately the military superpower of the world has decided to wage the battle starting with the most vulnerable and helpless.

How can families concerned with daily work, school and home protect themselves from the robotic weapons?

The occupation of Palestine has been the loudest warning that this is a war against citizens. The Israeli military used drones years ago in the portion of Palestine that had not yet been occupied by Israelis. Now a wide swath of murder blankets Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan successfully ridding this portion of the world sometimes of three to four generations of families with one bomb.

In other places we can watch whole families starve to death in the comfort of our homes. Groups of people with an ancestry of the indigenous have had to leave areas made unlivable due to a tiny shift in the atmospheric temperature. The drought and flooding that have ensued for several decades hasn’t been enough time to for modern technology to produce natural disaster warning systems, innovative infrastructure nor even guaranteed shelter for those who own only a few pieces of cloth which covers their body.

Now the world’s superpower has become so arrogant that its own citizens are being treated as badly as those in the rest of the world. The throwing down of the gauntlet in the new wave of civil war in the United States was announced with the privatization of prisons.

If a business wants to make money managing prisons (to please their shareholders, of course) they have to have plenty of prisoners. So even though white-skinned people still are in a majority of the population and as logically follow, they are the people committing the most crimes. But who do we find in the prisons? Non-white skinned people, the poor, the young (the ‘juvenile delinquents’).

The elderly and the weak need health care but where is the profit? Only healthy people can hope for no problems with the corporate health insurance now available. If the ill are cared for the profit margin narrows and that is not acceptable (to the shareholders, of course).

But still operating with freedom around the country are the environmentalists. If they have their way each family will be able to control the consumption and source of the family’s energy. The whole system will fall apart and the shareholders will be upset.

Van Jones is considered an enemy of the powerful who do not want to give up that power nor their riches. He is the example. Lately Jim Hanson the most famous climatologist in the world was arrested and thrown in prison but that barely rippled through the information dimension. In another country that would have caused an outrage but all remained quiet on the home front.

So who better to target than Van Jones? He possesses all the characteristics many have been trained to hate due to a constant diet of fear and vitriol. Van Jones is young, smart, healthy, tall, dark-skinned, patriotic, wants to empower those with no jobs by giving the jobs, worst of all he wants the citizens of the U.S.A. to empower themselves, to become strong, to become innovative and he has the dynamism and the brains to help make that happen.

Here is the crux of the dangerous tensions laid out in a black and white format.

Are you for taking natural resources from the rest of the world or do you want to be able to control your own energy needs with nature’s resources which are available to everyone?

Put more succinctly.

     Do you trust the people holding the most money in the world or do trust yourself to do a better job of providing a decent future for your family?
   And put even more simply.
      Do you want to be a part of mass destruction or mass creation?

Nazis and Asexual Reproduction

2009-09-07T09:50:00.000+03:00

In the dream I felt very light hearted. I can't image why. I was pregnant and being chased by Nazis.

My hubby and I and four of our friends were having a great time sitting on the floor waiting for the Lamaze classes to start. People started trickling into the room. I was laughig and talking with my friends until I looked around the room to find the teacher. What I saw was a room full of blonde, blue-eye young men similarly dressed in camouflage garb and some had automatic firearms causally slung from their shoulders.

Smiling brightly I signaled to my group, "We have to get out of here."

Altogether when no one was paying attention to us, we fled as one body through the door and we all kept running. We had to split up because the Nazi boys were chasing us and taking potshots at us. Running down the suburban street I noticed a garage door partially opened. I flung myself lightly under the door rolling myself gracefully under a short workbench.

I was calm and patient and quite satisfied to rest under the workbench in a strange garage. Maybe because I had company. Tiny fluffy kitties were asexual reproducing . One kitty about three inches long would float from the air. In a flash the kitty would have transformed itself into a pair connected along their side, like Siamese twins. It didn't take long for lots of the sweet little animals to appear from inside the folds of my clothes and float around the workbench.

The door into the garage from the house opened. Calmly the lady of the house stepped into the garage and peaked under the bench. "Stay where you are," she whispered to me, all the time pretending she was rummaging through the tools for a particular item.

"They are running through the neighborhood looking into windows. They are all carrying weapons and they are specifically looking for you."

After some amount of time had passed she crouched down to tell me the danger had passed. She was enchanted by the kittens. The dream ended while we were admiring the kittens and watching one turn into a double kitty and afterwards separate into two floating minatures pets.

Extremists using double standards to get their way.

2009-09-06T13:45:00.000+03:00

Unfortunate resignation at the White House.

Today's disappointing news from The States is the resignation of the dynamic Mr. Van Jones.

Van Jones should not have resigned. I'm very sorry he will no longer be an advisor in this administration's White House.

With Van's resignation, many will feel vindicated to use smear campaigns, not facts, to persecute anyone they don't like for any reason. Just like parents who can not teach their children inappropriate behavior, unfortunately the Republican Party has not been able to bring its extremist members back into the fold.

Creating jobs in a green economy
Mr. Jones is a mover and shaker with great ideas for job creation in a green economy. Maybe a more sophisticated government can snap him up and use his advice while giving him respect.

I don't understand how comparing Pres. Obama to a monkey wasn't considered "coarse rhetoric and extremist" by the same people that want to ruin Mr. Jones' reputation. Through use of hyperbole, scare tactics and with no evaluation of the quality of his work they succeeded in forcing him out of the administration.

What do U.S.A. citizens want? What do they get? Democracy?

2009-08-30T16:26:00.000+03:00

Unfortunately, the USA has the most military power and takes great pride on using it daily against innocent people.

Do U.S.A. citizens agree with this policy? Do U.S.A. citizens want the U.S. military in control of Africa (Africom)?

Do they want to be under surveillance just in case they do something someone listening feels may be traitorous or out of bounds?

Do they want elections that use computers that are hacked and intimidation to get the vote?

Do they want peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders hurt and imprisoned?

Do they want the elctoral college which negates the vote of the majority? Do they want journalists murdered and sidelined?

Do they want different parts of the govt at war with each other so that when one part is backing a coup the other part is promising aid?

Do they want a government that supports the flow of drugs from state to state and into the country rather than stopping the demand for addictive drugs?

Do they want a government that is satisfied enough with the polluted cancer inducing environment of the U.S.A. that it only gives mouth service to cleaning up the environment while polluting the environment intolerably with the building and use of weapons of mass destruction?

Do they want a government that uses unmanned robots to kill innoccent people so some soldiers don't even have to leave the country to become murderers?

Do they want a country which closes options for the young so young people see military service as their only option for the future?

Do they want war veterans to become a danger to themselves and their community rather than give them the health support they need?

Do they want a country of malnutritioned, obese children?

Do they want a country of illiterate people that can't even read the chart at the eye doctors' let alone a newspaper?

Do they want a country where everyday more and more people are living in a tent, just one tent away from the street? Do they want a country that refuses health care and lets people die for profit?

DEMOCRACY is a word that means many things to many people depending on whether they want (1) to have an intelligent sharing of information or (2) drive the fear of the devil into people or (3) to trick people.
Democracy comes from the citizens of a place not from the occupation forces who decide they want that place.

The U.S. calls itself a democracy but is it?

The U.S. has isolated itself from the rest of the world enough that even the meanings of words in English mean something very different to other English speaking peoples.

Yes, a country that calls itself a democracy can cooperate with countries having different ideologies if only because this is not junior high. This is the real world and life and death issues are not solved by the bully in the schoolyard. The bully only makes the problem worse.

How occupation forces can move forward in Iraq?

2009-08-30T16:20:00.000+03:00

The best way forward?

Use the judicial system to punish appropriately rather than indiscriminate killing.

Use the military to guard the perimeters of the hospitals, schools, food markets. Put the troops 4 deep, 10 deep or 20 whatever is necessary to protect and keep supplies for the citizens where they belong.
Provide escorts for citizens who need it to go back to university classes and jobs.

Follow the laws of Iraq. Drive with care.

LEARN THE LANGUAGES USED AND SPEAK THEM.

Replenish the soil, get water to the people, let the electricians of Iraq fix their own electricity.

Buy food from Iraq and neighboring countries. Quit transporting anything that can be found anywhere. Ship the trash from the packaging back to the US.

Southern Iraq is experiencing the worse drought since inhabited by people. Help fix this problem.

FLOOD the country with doctors, nurses, architects, archeologists, engineers and ask the Iraqis "How can we help you? What do you want us to do?" And then do it.

Empty the huge American "embassy" (reported to measure the same as 8 football fields) and turn it over to the people of Iraq for a Medical University and Hospital or whatever they choose.

Need Public Deliberations on Mental Health Care, too.

2009-08-21T17:58:00.004+03:00

Need Public Deliberations on Mental Health Care, too.

There’s an irony to the constant exposure we have had to mental illness in the last few years yet, public discussion of mental illness is missing in newspapers, T.V. reports and town hall meetings. The elephant in the room that everyone sees but no one will mention I would suggest is mental health care.

There was something about George W. Bush that I found so offensive I always avoided any news about him. Something about the way he held his mouth curved up in cruel ridicule and the way he hitched up his shoulders into a curve over his chest before he blurted out something ‘cute’ and offensive, things like that. When I understood (after quite a bit of denial) that he was going to run for the office of President of the United States of America, I was absolutely flabbergasted. So I sat down on the couch to view one of his stump speeches. The audience contained only handpicked supporters as usual, yet he was lying to them. He was lying even when there was no good reason to lie! Suddenly I realized; I knew him! The classic Dry Drunk.

I felt sick. So many people in the U.S.A. (and around the world) had the same moment of understanding due to the common experience with family, friends, coworkers, bosses and many, through their own addiction experience. Clearly the 12-step program is not solving the problem of alcoholism comprehensively. If health clinics were equipped to help people lose the alcohol addiction and people had insurance to pay for it, think of the huge decrease in alcoholism that could be accomplished! Think of the benefits to communities and families!

Then what a shock when the U.S.A. ended up with Dick Cheney as Vice-president! I don’t how he would be diagnosed by a professional. A person who promises a democracy to a country’s citizens, a country he then attacks by manipulating our government system and then watching the innocent citizens dying and imprisoned in unspeakable ways without calling the violence to a halt. A person with his power who can stand by and say, “Oh well, it’s working for me” can’t be high on the good mental health spectrum. I know there’s something about lack of compassion and a lack of the capability for emphasizing with others that signals some serious problems.

I have an anecdote about a personal experience in getting mental health care that is almost humorous, at least in a black humor. With my ‘excellent’ and expensive health insurance in hand I described to my p.g. the torturous headaches, sleep deprivation, fatigue and other symptoms that turned out to be classic depressions of depression. I asked if he could give me something to help me and he looked at me disgustedly and said rudely, “No, it’s all in your head.” I thought, “Well, yes, I thought to myself, it seems to be in my head.” But that was it he refused to help ease the pain or even speak of my problem.

I tried many years to find a good trustworthy empathetic therapist, and I congratulate myself for never giving up until finally after reaching; middle age I found a smart, helpful therapist who still helps with phone appointments. But just before I found her I was unhappily going to a woman who had problems with disrespect for her patients and alcohol problems. I stuck with her cause I had to have some connection to therapy and I was too tired to keep thinking. She didn’t want to diagnose me with depression; because I had come to her on my own volition I couldn’t be depressed (what was that about). Not only that she didn’t want to put on my health records ‘clinical depression’ for fear it would hurt my job opportunities in the future. I’m not comfortable with lying and I’m not ashamed that the serotonin in my brain has to be regulated so I said “write it down and let’s get something done here, for crying out loud. She suggested an average of four books to read at each of my visits and quilted me into entering group therapy. I was so sadly unaware I had no idea how I got into group therapy or how to get out! Many people have much worse experiences even unfortunately leading to suicide.

"Medical complaints arise from psychological factors at least as often as they do from physical problems,” according to the American Psychological Association.

"Despite what we’ve seen on television, I believe that serious debate is taking place at kitchen tables all across America. In the past few years, I’ve received countless letters and questions about health care.
Some people are in favor of reform, and others have concerns. But almost everyone understand that something must be done.” President Obama stated in Health Care Reform speech.

Over kitchen tables, we can be sure many friends, families and health professionals are including mental health in discussions about health care reform.

Visiting Crete This Year? Or Dreaming of a Visit to Crete?

2009-08-11T22:39:00.007+03:00

(Originally found at RedRoom.com)

I've been promising to send some information on types of places to stay in Chania. Here are some sites to pique your interest!

Milia Village

At he top of the mountain. Relaxing 'agrotourism' in a hotel steeped in history. I've stayed here and like it very much. The people there are fantastic. The organic food is gourmet.

http://www.milia.gr/

Ionas Hotel

This hotel is only a couple blocks from the harbor at Chania with the entire cafe's lining the coast. But Ionas Hotel is tucked away so there is no noise problem. They are often a nice breakfast buffet, simple and healthy, lots of variety. Friends have stayed there and it is wonderful. I want to stay there someday!

http://www.ionashotel.com/

Here are some sites I found on www.CreteExplore.com to help you get started!

http://www.activehotels.com

http://www.booking.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g189415-d265321-Reviews-Rodon_Hotel-Chania_Crete.html

HAVE FUN DREAMING AND PLANNING!

P.S.

On RedRoom (h ttp://www.redroom.com/blog/vickinikolaidis) I also have images from a Greek Surrealist Art Exhibit

and the link to my review at www.CreteGazette.com )

I'm a News and Media Junky CNN International-IDesk

2009-08-11T21:24:00.005+03:00

Do you ever watch CNN International? I highly recommend this channel if you are interested in a more sophisticated and international news gathering service than the homegrown CNN.

I am signed up to Real Player's SuperPass and I'm very happy with the package: CNN International, Al Jazeera, EuroNews and France Channel 24, all offered in English.

I enjoy Al Jazeera, too but I feel a special affection for the CNN International team of journalists. When I first moved to Crete I was able to watch them on TV with the help of our $15.00 roof antenna. They allow lots of opportunities for viewers to send comments. Ah, heaven for a media activist and opinionated lady like myself.

After CNN International was replaced by Vouli (a great channel like a partnering of C-Span and PBS except with the Greek parliament and documentaries from Greece and all over the world) I lost track of my friends on CNN International for a bit. Now that I'm able to view regularly again many changes have taken place, fortunately even more opportunities for viewers to communicate exist (even sending videos) as well as new programs.

Ms Hala Gorani is now commandeering the International Desk, I-Desk, which has a nice blog. The I-Desk blog has polls for viewers and a chance to comment with other listeners from all over the world on many subjects.
Not only is Ms Gorani a capable news anchor she is also a good author. Here is her blog post about her Syrian Nana whom unfortunately passed away this August. Here's the link, I think you might enjoy reading it, too.
http://internationaldesk.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/08/remembering-nana/#comment-10746

Dreams of tension, sleep for relaxation

2009-08-11T20:39:00.006+03:00

This morning I struggled to wake up because my dream had me so anxious, I really needed a break. Not only that I was so tense I could barely look from side to side. My shoulders were frozen with one tight rectangular muscle at the top of my back. So I stiffly walked as best I could into the saloni (family room) with Asproula (my dog companion) wildly herding me toward the balcony so she could bark at cats.
In my dream I had met a young gypsy boy who was ill. His parents weren't in the dream because they thought he was just pretending to be ill so he wouldn't have to work. He was successfully placed in foster care and the dream ended with a big banquet to celebrate his becoming healthy again. The boy was from Romania, the banquet was in a beautifully elegant taverna in Crete but the end must have been in Iowa because, just as I was beginning to relax from organizing these events, a huge blizzard hit and the boy became ill again. So I HAD to wake up or else I had this niggling feeling in my head the dream was going to start over again and become one cyclic never ending exhausting nightmare.
My husband was helping me out in this dream but the two days before I had actor boyfriends. On Monday, Jeremy Priven was my boyfriend. He was full of energy and we were always busy running around New York City or moving into a new apartment. Sunday morning just before I woke up my dream fellow was Robert Downey, Jr. He was a much more relaxed boy friend from what I can remember. I suspect I was having a whole series of actor-boy friend dreams but as soon as I started remembering them 'Poof' a new dream cycle.
No hugs or kisses in the dreams but we were definitely a couple planning and carrying out our plans together. They were fun dreams.
Don't other people relax when they sleep, aren't dreams supposed to work out our mental stresses subconsciously so our brain works better during the day, does anyone else have dreams that keep them so busy they have to spend five or six hours resting to leave the dream world behind?
Just wondering.

2009-08-09T18:17:00.000+03:00

New York Times is on Babelgum!
Maybe you'll enjoy this short film as much as I do.
Maya Lin (the creator of the Vietnam memorial) has created wave fields - using real fields - of nature!

http://www.babelgum.com/4000182/arts-maya-lins-wave-field.html

Fairytale Old Harbor at Night (Daily Life in Crete)

2009-08-06T21:12:00.000+03:00

I'll tell you a secret, although I'm a bit embarrassed. I haven't been out of the house for many days because of the strength of the sun. In August I usually spend most days at home due to both the sun's intensity and the large number of tourists. . .

http://www.redroom.com/blog/vickinikolaidis/fairytale-old-harbor-night-daily-life-crete-0