As a long time supporter of human rights and a member of Amnesty International, I do my best to pay attention, attend, be proactive, educate myself, and for the most part, not shut out issues that may feel too horrible to think about.
Trust me, that’s not always easy.
This NY Times Op-Ed article by Elizabeth Edwards is so good, I am creating a post for it. Here is the permalink if anyone would like to read the article as it was posted in today’s New York Times:
April 27, 2008
Chapel Hill, N.C.
FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?
James Woodcock(photographer)/Billings Gazette
Going green isn’t just about the environment anymore.
With gas prices soaring, we all seem to be watching the green go, go, go.
But
For Lloyd Schell of Lockwood, Montana, watching the green go, go, go has taken on a whole new meaning.
As an occasional paid educator, one of my favorite classes to teach is Media’s Influence on Society.
The first part of each class begins with a fun quiz designed to create an awareness of how each student is or has been influenced by the media. The results have never failed to shock each individual class member.
Propaganda is not new.
Remember when movies were just plain fun?
Well, get ready to have an old fashioned good time at the movies again!
I’m taking a day off from the serious side of life.
Cat owner or not, this is one of the funniest videos I’ve watched in a long time.
Sit back, turn up the volume, and get ready to laugh out loud!
Enjoy…
In celebration of Earth Day, I invite you to learn about The Vital Ground Foundation. Understanding the importance of the grizzly bear as an umbrella species helps to understand the importance of the work being done by all of those committed to Vital Ground.
Enjoy this wonderful video narrated by Sir Anthony Hopkins and then click here to learn more about Vital Ground.
Celebrate Earth Day!
Two thoughts continued to rise to the top of my thought list over and over this past weekend, except, of course, when Another Thin Man was airing on TCM.
And then William Powell and Myrna Loy held the two top spots.
Ah, what a nice 2 + hours that was.
Then it was back to reality.
While the news media focuses virtually all of their attention, once again, on the typical one or two items of “hot” interest in the world, I continue to think about two specific items within their coverage.
1. Barack Obama has financially out raised and out spent Hillary Clinton by 4 to 1 according to a number of outlets.
Yet
She continues to keep pace within the voting public.
According to last week’s “Who’s Your Pick for President?” AOL straw poll, with more than 370,000 voters from all over the US, Hillary Clinton led the voting democrats at 54% to Barack Obama’s 46%.
I find it very interesting that Obama has had to out spend Clinton by 4 to 1 just to maintain his position within the overall voting public. And this doesn’t include Michigan and Florida, both states won by Hillary Clinton.
With the millions and millions and millions of dollars Barack Obama has raised and spent, he has not been able to pull far enough away from Hillary Clinton to secure the nomination.
And he recently announced that he believes Hillary Clinton will win in Pennsylvania.
Interesting.
IF Barack Obama does win the Democratic nomination, just how much money is it going to take?
Why is it costing so much money to sell his “good judgment?”
2. Watching the women of the FLDS community speak on the various news programs and watching one of the women give a tour of her home on the FLDS community ranch, one of the thoughts that kept rising to the forefront of my mind was “THIS is what it looks like when art is removed from the world.”
The arts are a means of expression.
This morning on the Today Show, Meredith Viera asked one of the FLDS women to share the reason why all of the women from the ranch look so similar (i.e., hair and dress). The woman answered by saying that it was their own [individual] choice to wear their hair up and out of their face and that their hairstyle(s) and dress did not have any specific designation.
To me, when I watch the women speak, sit, and respond, I see the absence of self expression.
My comment is not intended as a judgment on the FLDS members, but as an observation on how strongly I believe in the power of the arts.
And the absence there of.
From blogcatalog.com:
| Thanks to you, May marks the first anniversary of Bloggers Unite and this time we’re launching an awareness campaign chosen by BlogCatalog members. On May 15, let’s unite for human rights and make a statement that all people are born with basic rights and freedoms - life, liberty, and justice!
On May 15th 2008, let’s come together and all blog about Human Rights. There are dozens and dozens of human rights issues that you can write about. The one you choose is up to you. |
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Topics to Consider
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There are many organizations that promote human rights and work to protect people. We’ve picked three to help you learn more and find breaking topics.
We have an entire group discussion dedicated to Bloggers Unite (http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/bloggers-unite) where you can add more organizations that you think are worth including.
To join, simply visit the Bloggers Unite page (http://unite.blogcatalog.com/) to get more information. Then, on Thursday, May 15th, write a blog post that shares awareness about human rights.
Your blog post could:
If you have any questions, please e-mail bloggersunite@blogcatalog.com. And please, don’t forget to tell your friends to blog about this too. Together, I know we can raise awareness and prove bloggers can do good!
Seems hard to believe that the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK killing 168 people and injuring 500 was 13 years ago today.
I remember that day so clearly.
I was living in Tulsa, OK at the time; working full time for my pastor’s ministry and the church I was attending.
Every morning one of the pastors of the church led the staff in prayer.
That morning as we were praying a quietness came over all of us.
That morning’s prayer session was different and we all knew it, but didn’t know why. Normally, as we all left the room to go back to our own work spaces we would be joyful and talkative.
Not that morning.
We were all quiet.
I always kept a radio in my work space and when I returned at 9:15, I turned it on.
I remember looking at my phone and seeing a number of messages and thinking that odd for so early in the morning. Calls usually didn’t start coming in until after 10:00 AM.
If I remember correctly, the bomb went off around 9:02 AM.
At 9:20 AM my phone began to ring again and it didn’t stop the entire day.
As I drove home that night, I could barely get to my drive way because the road was filled with cars.
Cars parked EVERYWHERE.
Miles of cars parked EVERYWHERE.
I lived across the street from the Red Cross Blood Center.
Watching the news, I remember being so struck by the sight of the children being carried out of the massive, massive destruction.
None of the children were crying. Not one.
This was a trauma many of us had never before experienced.
Oklahoma City, OK, April 19, 1995 — remembering both the fallen and the heroes of that day.
