Independence Lost

The great myth of the land of the free:


Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe
Thomas DiLorenzo

Edited and written by David Gordon, senior fellow of the Mises Institute and author of four books and thousands of essays.


Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe. By Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Crown Forum, 2006. 223 pgs.

Thomas DiLorenzo calls attention to a vital fact that demolishes the popular view that one of Lincoln's primary motives for opposing secession in 1861 was his distaste for slavery. Precisely the opposite was the case. It is well known that, in an effort to promote compromise, a constitutional amendment was proposed in Congress that forever forbade interference with slavery in states where it already existed. Lincoln referred to the proposal, the Corwin Amendment, in his First Inaugural, stating that he was not opposed to the amendment, since it merely made explicit the existing constitutional arrangement regarding slavery. Of course, Lincoln was here characteristically mendacious; nothing in the constitution prior to the amendment prohibited amendments to end slavery.[1]

So much is well established, but DiLorenzo adds a surprising touch. Far from viewing the Corwin Amendment with grudging consent, Lincoln was in fact its behind-the-scenes promoter. "As soon as he was elected, but before his inauguration, Lincoln 'instructed Seward to introduce [the amendment] in the Senate Committee of Thirteen without indicating they issued from Springfield.' … In addition, Lincoln instructed Seward to get through Congress a law that would make the various 'personal liberty laws' that existed in some Northern states illegal. (Such state laws nullified the Federal Fugitive Slave Act, which required Northerners to apprehend runaway slaves)" (p. 54, quoting Dorothy Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals).

Extension of slavery was of course an entirely different matter, and here Lincoln refused all compromise. Here we confront a paradox. If Lincoln thought it more important to preserve the union than oppose slavery, why was he unwilling to compromise over slavery in the territories? If he thought slavery's extension was too high a price to pay to preserve the union, why was he willing permanently to entrench slavery wherever it already existed? It is hard to detect a moral difference between slavery in the states and the territories.

DiLorenzo readily resolves the paradox. Lincoln opposed extension of slavery because this would interfere with the prospects of white workers. Lincoln, following his mentor Henry Clay, favored a nationalist economic program of which high tariffs, a national bank, and governmentally financed "internal improvements" were key elements. This program, he thought, would promote not only the interests of the wealthy industrial and financial powers he always faithfully served but would benefit white labor as well. Blacks, in his opinion, would be better off outside the United States; and, throughout his life, Lincoln supported schemes for repatriation of blacks to Africa and elsewhere. If blacks left the country, they could not compete with whites, the primary objects of Lincoln's concern. (Lincoln, by the way, did not see this program as in any way in contradiction to his professed belief that all men are created equal. Blacks, he thought, have human rights but not political rights.)[2]

DiLorenzo's interpretation of Lincoln resolves our paradox, and he finds additional support for it in the views of a leading abolitionist, none other than the great libertarian theorist Lysander Spooner. To Spooner, the primary motive of Lincoln and the war party was to preserve and consolidate Northern control of the Southern economy. The Southern states could not be allowed to evade the tariff, a key element of the mercantilist American system that Lincoln favored. "He wrote that the war 'erupted for a purely pecuniary consideration,' and not for any moral reason. He labeled the economic lifeblood of the Republican Party, Northern bankers, manufacturers, and railroad corporations, 'lenders of blood money' … To Spooner the Northern financiers of the war who had lent money to the Lincoln government did so not for 'any love of liberty or justice,' but for the control of [Southern] markets' through 'tariff extortion.' … Spooner interpreted the crushing of the Southern secessionists … as suggesting that Southerners should 'Submit quietly to all the robbery and slavery we have arranged for you, and you can have your peace'" (pp. 57–59).

But the theory of Spooner and DiLorenzo faces an objection. Even if the abolition of slavery was not uppermost in Lincoln's mind when the war began, did he not eventually issue the Emancipation Proclamation? Was Lincoln at that point not a sincere opponent of slavery? To this objection, Spooner replied with a sharp rejoinder. The Republicans did not end slavery 'as an act of justice to the black man himself, but only as a 'war measure,' he [Spooner] wrote, using the exact words … that Lincoln himself used in the Emancipation Proclamation" (p. 59).

DiLorenzo, like Spooner, makes skilled use of quotations from Lincoln to support his analysis of Lincoln's policies. "In his first inaugural address Lincoln shockingly threw down the gauntlet over the tariff issue, literally threatening the invasion of any state that failed to collect the newly doubled tariff … '[T]here needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the national authority.' What was he [Lincoln] talking about? What might ignite bloodshed and violence? Failure to collect the tariff, that's what … he further stated that it was his duty 'to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion…' In other words, Pay Up or Die" (p. 126).

Lincoln for once spoke with complete truth. He did indeed resort to any means necessary, however brutal, to crush the Southern secessionists. The result of Lincoln's aggressive prosecution of the war was "the killing of one out of four males of military age while maiming for life more than double that number" (p. 28).

Lincoln turned aside all opposition to his ruthless conduct of the war, and he did not hesitate to act against judges who insisted on the rule of law. "In October 1861 Lincoln ordered the District of Columbia provost marshal to place armed sentries around the home of a Washington, D.C. circuit court judge and place him under house arrest … the judge had carried out his constitutional duty to issue a writ of habeas corpus to a young man being detained by the provost marshal, allowing the man to have due process … By placing the judge under house arrest Lincoln prevented him from attending the hearing in the case" (pp. 94–95).

But what is a lowly circuit court judge, compared with the Chief Justice of the United States? Lincoln ordered an arrest warrant prepared for the aged Roger Taney, who had ruled that Lincoln had no authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. The warrant was fortunately never served, and Taney escaped imprisonment. Some have doubted the story, but DiLorenzo finds confirmation in several sources, including the memoirs of Benjamin Curtis, no friend of Taney's. When he served on the Supreme Court, Curtis wrote a strongly worded dissent from Taney's opinion in the Dred Scott case. "Nevertheless, in his memoirs he praises the propriety of Justice Taney in upholding the Constitution by opposing Lincoln's unilateral suspension of habeas corpus. He refers to the arrest warrant for the chief justice, accusing him of treason, as a 'great crime'" (p. 94).

By his insistence upon the unpalatable truth about Lincoln, DiLorenzo defies the acolytes of what he aptly terms the "Lincoln cult." The "Lincolnite Totalitarians" find in Lincoln a precedent for their own assaults on liberty. Harry Jaffa, often a target in these pages, is Lincoln's foremost academic defender. Jaffa, a disciple of Leo Strauss, views Lincoln as the principal exponent of the Declaration of Independence. How can Jaffa think this, given Lincoln's brutal policies of suppression? In large part, the answer lies in the fact that Jaffa has his own agenda: "in my [DiLorenzo's] 2002 debate with Jaffa … he declared at one point that 9/11 proved that 'we need a strong central government.' It was not just a coincidence that he made this declaration in the context of a debate over Lincoln's legacy" (p. 14).

Another influential admirer of Lincoln shared Jaffa's centralizing goals. Frank Meyer, an editor of National Review, criticized Lincoln for his centralizing policies, warmongering, and repression of civil liberties. William F. Buckley disagreed, as usual without any arguments supporting his own position. Rather than respond to the obvious truths to which Meyer had called attention, Buckley airily remarked that some people "have a thing" about Lincoln.

DiLorenzo maintains that Buckley adopted this view because Lincoln's policies were a precedent for the statist and belligerent Cold War policies he favored. As usual, Murray Rothbard saw to the heart of the issue. Rothbard "quoted Buckley … 'we have got to accept Big Government for the duration [of the cold war] — for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged … except through the instrumentality of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores' … The founder of National Review was a 'totalitarian socialist,' Rothbard wrote, 'and what is more admits it'" (pp. 151–52).

Equally as bad, if not worse, is another Lincoln totalitarian whom DiLorenzo discusses in a chapter aptly called "Making Cannon Fodder." Walter Berns, in Making Patriots, seeks a means to inspire America's youth to be willing to sacrifice their lives in war at the state's behest. "To inspire 'patriotism' in the nation's youth, a national poet must mesmerize them in a cause, says Berns … Fortunately, Berns informs us, such a national poet is at hand. That person is Abraham Lincoln, whom he describes as 'statesman, poet, and … the martyred Christ of democracy's passion play'" (pp. 144–45). Worship of Lincoln is the linchpin of the "civil religion" that Berns favors.[3]

Supporters of Lincoln are of course not confined to those, like Jaffa and Buckley, who claim to be conservatives. Eric Foner, a leading academic defender of Lincoln, "was such an apologist for Soviet communism that he opposed the breakup of the Soviet Union and, naturally invoked the Lincoln legend as the reason for his opposition." He urged Mikhail Gorbachev to deal with Soviet secession movements "in the same brutal manner that Lincoln dealt with the Southern secessionists" (pp. 153–54).

DiLorenzo's well-argued and forcefully written book shows that the struggle against the "Lincoln cult" is a vital part of the case for liberty. The book is fittingly dedicated to the memory of Mel Bradford, who paid a heavy price for his devastating analysis of Lincoln, in A Better Guide Than Reason and numerous other books and essays. Ronald Reagan had Bradford under consideration to head the National Endowment for the Humanities, but a coalition of neoconservatives and leftists launched a smear campaign against him. The campaign stressed Bradford's opposition to Lincoln and unfortunately succeeded in derailing the nomination. Bradford would have very much enjoyed DiLorenzo's excellent book.



by Thomas J. DiLorenzo:


After the publication of my 2002 book, The Real Lincoln, I continued to research and write on the topic. Among the things I’ve learned since then is that Abraham Lincoln was a far worse tyrant than I portrayed him as being in that book. A thousand times worse.

I’ve also learned that there is only one genuine Lincoln scholar in America – David Donald – and he’s retired. The rest are all Lincoln cultists and court historians. The cultists, like Harry Jaffa and his merry band of Straussians, ignore actual American history, fabricate a false history, or dabble in semantics and word games in order to portray The Great Centralizer as a god-like figure. They routinely refer to him as "Father Abraham" and compare him to Jesus or Moses. They do this because their agenda is not only the deification of Lincoln, but of executive power and nationalism in general.

Their modus operandi is to provide propaganda for the foreign policy imperialism wing of the Republican Party and for the cause of dictatorial executive power, a cause that George W. Bush has embraced wholeheartedly. They assist politicians like Newt Gingrich, who recently advocated the invasion and occupation of Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea (Wall Street Journal Online, Sept. 7) in an article that began with a Lincoln quote and was peppered with other Lincoln quotes to make his case for what he calls "World War III."

The false legend of Abraham Lincoln that they have contrived is used as moral cover for foreign policy imperialism and the pursuit of empire. That’s why they have just announced that their Claremont Institute "statesmanship" award for 2006 will be presented at a black tie dinner to Victor Davis Hanson, the Lincoln-quoting, National Review Online propagandist for the war in Iraq (and for just about every unconstitutional, illegal, or immoral act the Bush administration has engaged in while prosecuting that unnecessary war).

The court historians run the gamut from hard-core leftists like Eric Foner, who opposed the breakup of the Soviet Union (saying Lincoln wouldn’t have allowed it) to mainstream liberals like Doris Kearns-Goodwin (author of Team of Rivals) and Mario Cuomo (author of Why Lincoln Matters: Today More than Ever, co-authored with Lincoln cult leader Harold Holzer). Like the Straussians, they too have found the false legend of Abraham Lincoln to be useful to their political agenda, whether it is socialism, as with Foner, or welfare statism, as with Goodwin and Cuomo.

In the academic world there exists a Church of Lincoln, but that church is built of straw (perhaps manure would be more accurate). The religious rhetoric that is used to describe Dishonest Abe, who was probably an atheist, is misleading and useless as far as understanding American history is concerned. That of course is the purpose of it.

Many of the most famous quotes of Lincoln are proven fakes, for example. He never even said "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time." The Lincoln cultists and court historians use many of these fake quotes to present a false image of their "Father Abraham."

I also devote a chapter to the meeting Lincoln had with a number of free black men in which he implored them to lead by example and migrate to Liberia, in Africa. Fortunately for them, they ignored his plea.

Lincoln was a white supremacist all his life (as were most white people of his era) and it was actions such as this that caused some of the most prominent abolitionists to vigorously denounce him and his regime as phonies and fakes with regard to their pronouncements about human freedom. I devote a chapter to such denunciations by the great libertarian/abolitionist from Massachusetts, Lysander Spooner.

One of the most insidious acts of the gatekeepers is keeping Americans from understanding their true history as a people. The Jeffersonian, states’ rights tradition, for example, has been whitewashed from the history books thanks to the efforts of several generations of gatekeepers and court historians. I explain the truth about states’ rights, which was an important Northern as well as a Southern political doctrine prior to 1865. I also explain some of Dishonest Abe’s Big Lies about the doctrine and why he was truly the anti-Jefferson.

In The Real Lincoln I made the case that Lincoln’s (and the Republican Party’s) "real agenda" was the old Hamilton/Clay mercantilist agenda of protectionist tariffs, corporate welfare, central banking, the creation of a giant political patronage machine, and the pursuit of an empire that would rival the British empire. Lincoln Unmasked takes this much further and goes into more detail about the true mercantilist origins of the Republican Party (which hasn’t changed much); Lincoln’s personal corruption as a railroad industry lobbyist; the fact that he literally owed everything, politically, to northern protectionists; and his key role in cementing central banking into place in America. These topics were all mentioned in The Real Lincoln, but in different ways and not in as much detail as in Lincoln Unmasked.

Several chapters are devoted to just how the Lincoln cultists employ the Lincoln legend to "justify" foreign policy imperialism, "totalitarian bureaucracy" at home, the abolition of civil liberties, blind obedience to the state, and even imprisoning opponents of the regime’s wars. All of this is patently un-American, and the "sainted" Lincoln is invoked to "justify" it by the Lincoln cult.

Readers of Lincoln Unmasked will also learn that, since the publication of The Real Lincoln, a number of books have been published by very distinguished authors that support or confirm my analysis. This includes a book by a New York Times editorial writer, a former U.S. Navy Secretary, a distinguished University of Virginia historian, a liberal who writes for Harper’s, The New Yorker, and The New Republic, a "popular historian" who has authored a dozen books, a well-known journalist, and a prominent business historian. The "gate" really is beginning to rust.

Over the past several years I have received hundreds (maybe thousands) of emails from people who have read my writings about Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, his imprisonment of thousands of Northern war dissenters, his shutting down of hundreds of opposition newspapers, his not-so-hidden economic agenda, and other well-documented facts and have asked: "Why wasn’t I taught that in school?" Or, "I was a history major in college and I never heard of that!" The chapters of Lincoln Unmasked devoted to the gatekeepers explain why.



The overwhelming majority of works on Lincoln judge him by his words and not his deeds. Any politician could be made to look like a saint with that methodology. And when some of his more dastardly deeds, such as micromanaging the waging of war on fellow citizens, are mentioned they are always obscured by a mountain of hollow excuses, rationales, cover-ups, and justification.


Thomas J. DiLorenzo [send him mail] professor of economics at Loyola College in Maryland and the author of The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, (Three Rivers Press/Random House). His next book, to be published in October, is Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed To Know about Dishonest Abe (Crown Forum/Random House).


Tao Te Ching verse 75

when taxes are too high
people go hungry
when the government is too intrusive
people lose their spirit

act for the people's benefit
trust them; leave them alone:



And so what do we gain from the Lincoln's legacy? We have become again an impoverished dependent nation. We borrow from Europe and Japan to defend the oil of Europe and Japan in the Persian Gulf. We borrow from China to buy the goods of China. We are as dependent on foreign borrowing as we are on foreign oil.

And the questions arise: If the men of '76, who led those small and vulnerable states, were wiling to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for America's independence, what is the matter with us?

Do we not value independence as they did? Or is it that we are simply not the men our fathers were?

Happy Independence Day.





People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

What Makes a Religion, a Religion?

Posted by Scorn on November 6, 2008 at 6:18pm
View Scorn's blog

Ok, I have come across this question in a few groups on MySpace. I decided to answer the question to the best of my ability here.

The first thing a religion needs to be consitered a religion is some fundamental beliefs. It needs to stress some values and rules for life such as treat others as you want to be treated, dont be greedy, ect. It needs to make the person following that religious path want to better themselves.

It also needs a set of tenets and practices, often centered on specific supernatural or moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature. It needs to make an attempt at understanding the world around us and what happens after death. Death is, afterall, a corner-point in all religions.

There also should be a sense of cultural traditions, writing, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience. This last part isnt really a "must-have", but it definatly helps in recruting followers.

And the last thing a religion needs is people who live there life by that relgion. It needs someone to claim that faith as theres. Without this, a religion cannot exist.

This is the best that I could answer the question as of now. I feel that I have covered the basics of what makes a religion real.

Blessed be to all,
Scorn.


TAO
32nd Verse

The Eternal Tao has no name.
Although simple and subtle,
no one in the world can master it.


If kings and lords could harness them,
the 10,000 things would naturally obey.
Heaven and Earth would rejoice
with the dripping of sweet dew.

Everyone would live in harmony,
not by official decree,
but by their own goodness.

Once the whole is divided, the parts
need names.
There are already enough names;
know when to stop.
Know when reasons sets limits
to avoid peril.

Rivers and streams are born of the ocean,
and all creation is born of the Tao.
Just as all water flows back to
become the ocean,
all creation flows back to become the Tao.

~Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching





People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!

Welcome to Sacred Circle Of Light

Your presence here around this campfire, in the glow of this candle, under this lightbulb, or under this fiery sun, says you are a creature of the light and as such have the light within you as well.

Jolly Roger; a Haunting Voice From the Year 2005

The New American Slavery

By Jolly Roger
slicingthroats@yahoo.com
4-2-5


The average American in the year 2005 lives a fragile existence, in a struggle for survival that can be ended by missing a few paychecks. The carrot at the end of the stick which was formerly known as "the American dream" has been replaced by a whip that can best be described as the American nightmare of homelessness, and slow, early death. You no longer work to achieve a better life for yourselves and your children. You work to keep a roof over your head, and you pray that you don't lose it. You became a slave when fear replaced incentive as your motivation to work, but I still suggest that you work while you can, because if the company you work for can't send your job overseas, the U.S. government is allowing 2000 people per day to enter this country illegally, because they're willing to do your job for less.

It doesn't matter if you're a "white collar" or "blue collar" employee. If you're an American, you're too highly paid. There are billions of people who want your job, and your government is doing all they can to see that you lose it to them. You see, we're not really Americans anymore. Now we're just anonymous faces in the "global village," because our government has sold our nation to foreigners and international bankers, and the new bankruptcy law has doomed the American citizen to a life of debt slavery. They'll insist that illegal immigrants are only doing jobs that Americans refuse to do, and you'll probably believe it, because if you're watching the TV that shovels that crap, you probably still have your job. The illegal immigrants are doing jobs that Americans always did, and every unemployed American I talk to can't find a job anywhere. And just like the European immigrants that flooded this country before the economic depression of the 1930's, today's illegal immigrants also have no gripe with a government that has allowed them work for high wages in America, and send billions back to their homeland. Nor do they care very much about our constitution, bill of rights, or way of life. They're only here for what they can grab, and our government has welcomed them with open arms, because they're grabbing it from you.

You're already working much longer, and much harder, to achieve a much lower standard of living than the previous generation, and 25 percent of working Americans no longer even get a vacation. The Social Security retirement age has been raised to match the life expectancy of American males, so apparently, you're also expected to work until you're dead. When you do finally get a vacation, they only trip you'll be taking will be in a pine box, and that's only if you're one of the lucky ones. Most of us will only get the state-issued canvas bag that gets tossed into the pit with all the others. If you don't mind the fact that you'll be working until you're dead, you might also want to consider the fact that you'll get nothing for your labor, because this nation's economy is about to crash like a freight train, and when it does, everything you've worked for will vanish. After the depression gets ugly, and your family has made the adjustment from three meals per day to three meals per week, the newspapers will blame your hunger on "the economy," as if it were some magical force that uncontrollably ruined a couple hundred million lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Politicians and international bankers can manipulate national economies at will, much in the way the media manipulates your mind, and a decision has been made to impoverish Americans, because global government requires that everyone in the world have an equally low standard of living. Simply put, we're being robbed of all we've worked for, because our government wants us to be poor, hungry, and docile, dependant upon them for our existence, and in fear of them for our lives. The government of the United States is intentionally destroying the economy of the United States, because the politicians and the international bankers they work for have decided that the American way of life, and catering to the demands of the American constitution, is simply too expensive.

Regardless of how wealthy you think you are, you actually have no real money at all. The "federal reserve notes" that are in your wallet, and your bank account, aren't really money, but are actually only paper on a debt that can never be paid, not even by combining all the assets and labor of every American alive today. Any loan-shark with a third grade education will tell you "the paper's no good," and naturally, the foreign investors who allow us to float this debt, have come to the same conclusion.

What is commonly known as the "U.S. dollar," represents a debt that is owed by the U.S. federal government, to the federal reserve bank. The federal reserve bank happens to be the privately owned entity that lent the money that's represented by the paper in your wallet. The federal reserve act signed away everything you own, and the fruit of your labor as collateral on this debt, and as foreign investors are becoming increasingly unwilling to invest the $2 billion per day needed to cover the interest, our creditors will want to collect it.

About 90 percent of all Americans are mortgaged to the hilt, and would have little or no assets left if all debts and liabilities were to be paid.* Most Americans have taken advantage of low interest rates, and are now paying a mortgage on their homes. The booming real estate market has made every purchase profitable, because the price of a home always rises. The problem is that the price of a home today is incredibly over-inflated, and the real estate boom that's been keeping the American economy afloat, is about to bust. Interest rates are going to rise, and the price of your home is going to drop drastically, which will leave you stuck paying for a house that probably wouldn't pay the interest on your debt if you sold it. If you're lucky enough to remain employed, inflation will shred your paycheck until you can no longer make mortgage payments. This is when you need to remember that when a nation's economy collapses, the wealth of the nation doesn't disappear, it only changes hands.

Millions of Americans are about to be tossed into the street, and because we're a kinder and gentler America, from the street they'll be tossed into shelters. Once in the shelter, they'll be wards of the social service system, which will make sure they all have food, and a bed to sleep in. In exchange for that food and shelter, the "welfare reform" act will put them to work at jobs where they will collect no additional salary. I guess the idea of "welfare reform" is a lot more acceptable to Americans than "forced labor" but regardless of what you call it, many Americans will soon experience slavery once again, and the slaves are not just sweeping public streets. Under the welfare reform act, many Americans are being put to work for private companies for no wages other than the cost of their food and shelter, both of which constitute the bare minimum requirements of survival. By causing the economy to collapse, and then "saving" the poor, our government can legally force millions of Americans into slavery. The new slavery will be blamed on "the economy," and it will employ a much larger percentage of the population than it did before the civil war.

To understand how they're accomplishing this, we need to turn our thoughts back to our monetary system, because due to the fact that it is no longer based on the gold standard, our government is in control of the money supply, and that gives them the ability to cause rampant unemployment, which is exactly what they're doing. The framers of the U.S. constitution protected us from this brand of tyranny, but because Americans were foolish enough to ignore and/or trust their government, they will become slaves, but most of them will blame themselves for their plight.

Article 1, Section 10, of the U.S. constitution clearly states that "no state shall... make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." The constitution's prohibition of "fiat money" (what's in your wallet) guarantees that the wealth of the nation remains in the hands of the people, which leaves the government incapable of stealing the population's wealth, as they're doing today. You can collect all the dollars that you like. Our government decides what they're worth, and by keeping the presses working overtime, they're insuring that the dollar will soon be worthless.

The U.S. department of labor has also changed the way it collects data regarding unemployment, which allows for the fraudulent unemployment figures that are printed in the newspapers, and allows working Americans to believe that things aren't really that bad. Their new "household survey" system avoids counting most of the poor by basing unemployment figures on telephone surveys. A real estimate, based on population and payroll taxes, reveals that about 25 percent of the American workforce is presently unemployed, and that will eventually force them into the social service slavery system. Unless your mortgage and debts are completely paid off, and you can still pay your property taxes, there's a good chance you'll soon be joining them. Welcome to the third world, and to an American world, where slavery is legal once again.

What are you going to do when your government forces you into slavery? You can't avoid it, because if you're homeless, you'll be rounded up and brought to a "shelter", where you'll be fed, and probably medicated if you're not happy to be there. With so many people becoming homeless, it will be easy for them to find an apartment for you, and social services will pay your rent, and give you food stamps.

Soon after that they will find you a job, but naturally, you won't be taking home a paycheck because you're in debt to the social service system. They'll tell you that you're working your way back to independence, but since your salary will never be more than your expenses, you'll work for free until you're dead. If you refuse to work, the government "assistance" will be cut off, you'll be back out on the street, and you'll probably do your next job with a shackle around your ankle.

I'm not asking that you waste the time or paper required to write your congressman, because they don't care what you think anyway. What I am asking you to do is to remember something. When the economy does crash, and you're forced into the street. I want you to remember that this isn't your fault, and it's not the result of a "bad economy." Please remember that you're poor, hungry and homeless, because that's where our government wants you to be, and they intentionally destroyed the U.S. economy because they want you to suffer, and beg. And regardless of how bad things get, never sell your rifle. -- Jolly Roger

And he said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet; and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. (Luke 22:36)

"Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens..... Lenin was certainly right." - John Maynard Keynes*

*90 percent of all Americans are mortgaged to the hilt, and would have little or no assets left if all debts and liabilities were to be paid. --- Rep. Traficant to U.S. Congress.

**John Maynard Keynes is the economist for whom our present monetary system is named.

Unlike this nation's wealth, anything written by Jolly Roger is the property of the American people, and the author hereby grants permission to anyone who so desires to post, copy, forward or distribute this letter as they see fit, and in fact, the author encourages you to do so.






People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Salbuchi - Global Financial Collapse

You need to see this my friends, Part 1

China is starting to dump dollar




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

The Other Angel Of Iran

Mona Mahmudnizhad


So many times when you think about people being tortured and killed for religious beliefs, it’s hard to picture the person, the young girl behind the story. The story that really never made the news or got lost behind other headlines. The story of every individual persecuted for believing in something, that others see as a threat.

Well imagine being 16 years old and you and other women and girls have been teaching Baha’i children’s classes. You and nine other women and girls are arrested and charged with teaching children’s classes on the Baha’i Faith (Sunday School), Well, that is one happened in Shiraz, Iran on June 18, 1983.

Mona Mahmudnizhad was teaching her religion (the Baha’i faith) to children, something we in the U.S. take for granted every day.

In an attempt to make the women and girls recant their belief in the Baha’i Faith and Baha’u’llah, they were physically and mentally tortured. Yet, these ten women and girls, like most Baha’is arrested and tortured refused to recant their faith. The women knew that if they didn’t recant that they would be executed. The time came and the women were escorted from their cell, some could hardly walk, their feet had been beat until they were a bloody mess. The women cried quietly and stood steadfast to their knowledge that they would be reunited in heaven.

When it was time for the first to be hung, Mona Mahmudnizhad a brave young girl walks forward, choosing to lead the way to Heaven, God and Baha’u’llah, and to give the others’ courage walked up to the rope. She kissed the noose reverently and placed it over her head, before the executioner had a chance. The remaining women and girls followed Mona Mahmudnizhad into heaven and forever in every Baha’is’ heart.

There has been at least on song written about Mona by Canada music artist Doug Cameron made the top of the pop charts with his son “Mona with the Children", then a video was produced for the song, and a play was recently enacted in her honor.

Persecution of Baha’is is still goes on to this day. People are dying for what they believe in, 20,000+ have been tortured and killed, they have lost all rights to property, jobs and education in Iran.


Author - Sandy Mullins

The other nine women that were martyred in Shiráz on June 18, 1983: Mrs. Nusrat Yalda'i, Mrs. 'Izzat Janami Ishraqi, Miss Roya Ishraqi, Mrs. Tahirih Siyavushi, Miss Zarrin Muqimi, Miss Shirin Dalvand, and Miss Akhtar Sabit.

Mona's Dream is an upcoming Jack Lenz film.

People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

On the Side of Light

Why Religion has failed us as darkness continues to engulf the Earth. It is the biggest money making show known to man!

In our honest search for the face of God; we have been bedazzled by its theatrics from the first epoch of time when primitive holy men first discovered they could get fat off of the peoples generous sacrifices.

I have been open to accept the true Truths of all faiths. While at the same time acknowledging the great evil man has used religion for. Powerful text can move entire populations of people into action. By creating doctrine and dogma of fear, many a leader has controlled and manipulated his people's emotions. However I must first respect the good that religion has accomplished. I appreciate good intentions and practice. Yet, I feel that instead of allowing it to become a abstract god in itself, religion should be used as a stepping-stone, providing invaluable inspiration and wisdom towards this journey that we call life. I believe that every person should seek God first in their heart independently, as opposed to having dogma crammed down their throats at a young age. I feel that Children should be nurtured and taught to seek wisdom, and God's Love. The of the basic facts of life, will then come naturally, and then, may these precious ones be allowed to take what they have learned and make up their own mind about their viewpoints.

To keep itself alive, a controlling religion must bring forth a sense of fear and anxiety. This anxiety is not just a psychological state. Anxiety is, as Martin Heidegger says, "a type of human existence. Nor is anxiety similar to fear. Fear has an object, such as a snake or an enemy against which it is possible to defend ourselves." People's anxiety comes from the pressing down of time as we realize that we are all destined to die. Instead of worrying about today and the beauty that comes from every waking moment, I feel like some aspects of religions distract us from accepting the greatness that is right now. Should children be raised in fear?

The Qur'an tells the people of Islamic faith, "The true believers are those who feel a fear in their hearts when Allah is mentioned. This kind of a lifestyle must greatly affect an individual's existence, and how they experience their world. Take Muslim women for example. It is hard to see that beautiful smile underneath those heavy Burqas.

Further harm that I feel certain religions bring us, is it's inhibition to allow one to search for knowledge. The Holy Bible cautions against knowledge throughout. This statement is supported with the epistle of Paul in the book of Colossians 2:8. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy… according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." Christians are expected to disregard beliefs that aren't either in the bible, or spoken at church. "For the priest's lips should KEEP knowledge, and others should seek the law at HIS mouth: for he is the messenger of God." (Malachi 2:7). Religion shifts focus from an interpersonal search, into having to accept the doctrine of others. The church brings about this herd mentality that becomes accepted by their followers. People switch on their auto-pilot, accepting almost anything that is put out in front of them. Doing so, they become close minded and prejudiced.

As in the case of Jehovah's witnesses, who believe that anybody who is not in their particular sect is not capable of entering the Kingdom of Heaven, fixed judgments of other people are already in place. These preconceived opinions can hurt our society. How is one to truly love thy neighbor if one doesn't respect their differences in belief?

In conclusion, I believe that spirituality depends on a personal search for truths. I don't believe that teaching little children about an eternity of fiery agony and unending pain is the way to recruit. True seekers and free-thinkers take the initiative to consider all information without the prejudiced influence of their peers. I don't find it rational to live by a set of rules that were made for farmers, Sheppard's, and fishermen living in a time of disease and death. To end, I will leave you with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, "God has no religion."




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Life's Little Rotten Potatoes.

Arrr! Shiver me timbers!
I've long been plundering treasures from the Internet sea, but some marvelous plunder is too extensive or are a more appealing read just as they are posted on the grand blog galleons that bare them. There is nothing worse than carrying a bunch of rotten taters around in you head. So I will give you a little taste, then send you off to read the full story, if you like, or you could just stay here and clean the dust off this monitor.

Tao Living:

The Tao of Forgiveness

by Derek Lin

One day, the sage gave the disciple an empty sack and a basket of potatoes. "Think of all the people who have done or said something against you in the recent past, especially those you cannot forgive. For each of them, inscribe the name on a potato and put it in the sack."

The disciple came up quite a few names, and soon his sack was heavy with potatoes.

"Carry the sack with you wherever you go for a week," said the sage. "We'll talk after that."

At first, the disciple thought nothing of it. Carrying the sack was not particularly difficult. But after a while, it became more of a burden. It sometimes got in the way, and it seemed to require more effort to carry as time went on, even though its weight remained the same.

After a few days, the sack began to smell. The carved potatoes gave off a ripe odor. Not only were they increasingly inconvenient to carry around, they were also becoming rather unpleasant.

Finally, the week was over. The sage summoned the disciple. "Any thoughts about all this?" >> http://www.taoism.net/living/2004/200409.htm

My friend, the link under (Tao Living), is quicker.






People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

THE ECOKOSHER REBBE

I think he is one of us, he seems like the most appealing rabbi since the late Alvin Fine!


RABBI GERSHON STEINBERG-CAUDILL
Obtained smika (ordination) from Rabbi Gershon Winkler, who received smika from Rabbi Bentsion Bruk of Jerusalem, Israel

PROMOTING AND RECOGNIZING THE LIGHT OF THE DIVINE FEMININE FACE OF THE ESSENCE WITH MANY NAMES THAT WE CALL - GOD


לא ישא גוי אל גוי חרב ולא ילמדו עוד מלחמה


Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn about war any more. ISAIAH 2: 4


Women within Judaism were not, and are not, viewed as "inferior." Women have at various times in Jewish history been placed in a more or less subjected role, but not as inferiors. This is seen in the early creation myth of women itself. The creation story in Genesis 1: 26-28, suggests that man and woman were created equal. The later creation story in Genesis 2: has man created first and woman being separated from the man and thus shows a hierarchy of sorts (in that the man also names the woman "Passionate One - Eeshah" - from EYSH, fire, passion, and HEH, of God; a take on what the Adam (the Earth Being) called himself, an Eesh, a Fire Being) that is then modified by the statement "It is not good for the Adam to be alone; I will make an EQUAL OPPOSITE (Ezer Kenigdo) for him" (Genesis 2: 18).
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides) said that the text does not imply the subordination of women to men; rather, it requires that human males are to be different from the males of the animal world, who mate and move on to the next partner. The Jewish man "wishes his wife to be with him always." This is a statement against promiscuity, which is seen as a degradation of God's intentions in creating human beings male and female. It is this promiscuity which becomes viewed as idolatry and is called TOEYVAH, an abomination.
The woman is also viewed in the role of the Messiah figure throughout the Garden of Eden story. The Adam gave the woman her name CHAVAH (Chet, Vav, Heh) which means Life Giver, but is a form of the Sacred Name Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh (Jehovah) which means All Existent Life Giver, as he saw her in the active role of animating man to fulfill his potential in life. The woman was viewed as the embodiment of the Divine in the humanly realm. Thus the Names for God Elohim, YHVH, Yah, and El Shaddai are all feminine in gender.
The fact that women served as Prophetesses, Warriors, Queens (ruling without a King), Judges and Priestesses show this to be so. In the area of ritual and governance, women normally were not present, their role being in the home and in rearing children.

RABBI GERSHON STEINBERG-CAUDILL


THERE IS NO ONE TRUE RELIGIOUS PATH


THE "ONE RELIGION" IS LIKE GOD'S PUZZLE OF THE RAINBOW. IT IS A ONENESS MADE UP OF ALL RELIGIOUS PATH TRADITIONS. IF EVEN ONE IS MISSING, THE PUZZLE IS NOT COMPLETE. EVERY RELIGION IS NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE.


The Walking Stick Rebbe, the Holy Teacher of the Ecokosher Rebbe, Rabbi Gershon Winkler שליט"ה states: "Judaism does not believe that Judaism is the only legitimate path to God. In fact, the Torah's concluding statement is that never again arose among the Israelites a prophet as great as Moses (Deuteronomy 34: 10), to which the ancient teachers add: "Among the ISRAELITES there never arose one like Moses, but among the nations of the world it is possible that such a one could arise" (Bamidbar Rabbah 14: 19). Judaism also does not see itself as the sole embodiment of wisdom (Eichah Rabbah 2: 13) or the only avenue to Paradise in the Hereafter. Rather, everyone - Jewish or not - can earn a portion of the World to Come (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a and Tosefta Sanhedrin 13: 1), because we are judged not by our religious affiliation, but by our actions in the world: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses that anyone, Jew or gentile, man or woman, slave or maidservant, can bring the Divine Presence upon oneself, all in accordance with one's deeds" (Tana D'Bei Eliyahu Rabbah 10: 1). Some sages even went so far as to extend the name YEHUDI (JEW) to ANYONE who denied belief in idolatrous worship (Babylonian Talmud, Megilah 13a). The fourth-century Rabbi Yirmiyahu held that a non-Jew who endeavored in the study and practice of Torah was equivalent to a KOHEIN GADOL, the Jewish High Priest (Sifra Acharei Mot 13: 12)".






People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

The Hairy Ainus of Japan II

Alas it has proven to be my most popular post ever.
At the time it was posted, the Hebrew children of the east coast were the only camp of bloggers that accepted me for who I am, almost like an honorary son of David, if not an ornery one. Just as I came into this world by the helping hand of a Jew, I became a blogger in the same fashion. If not for their kindness and encouragement, I may have never started this blog. Most have gone on to other things their blogs now like tombstones are but mute testimony to what once was a very vibrant social enterprise. It was a grand time, when I was free to write crazy things, and good humor was in abundant supply. I miss Bananaman and TAB, most of all.

The Despised Ainu People sound like Jews to me. I mean God gets around, who knows where he put the first Hebrews?

Here is a humorist's rebuttal to that hairy post of long ago.

Meanwhile, in Japan, many Jewish researchers were convinced that the long-haired Ainu people of Hokkaido were a lost tribe of Israelites, on the evidence that the Ainu are not Japanese, and therefore must be Jewish. A Jewish colony had existed in Kaifeng in China for many years, and China is, after all, *nearly* Japan. The Reverend felt it necessary to reply.



The Hairy Ainus of Japan



Oh dear. I feel this one is something of an old chestnut.



Many of my best friends are Hairy Ainus, and I can quite categorically state, after much research into this subject, that the Ainus are not descended from Jewish stock. As my Hairy Ainu friend, Levi 'Schlemiel' Matsumoto, said to me one day over a traditional Ainu meal of sushi and bagels, 'My life! These kvetches with their long beards and their skullcaps are saying to us, you are not being Japanese already! Is wahnsinnig, neh?'



The solution is simple; the Ainus are not Jews, but vice versa. All Jews originated in Japan, and have since migrated to the Middle East, where, for example, Yuri Geller is a striking example of the large hairy Ainus of Palestine. Some of them migrated further, to Britain, and became the Celts, where Mick Hucknall provides an excellent example of the ginger-haired Celtic Ainus. Some of them stayed in Kaifeng and became the Chinese Mandarins, who speak Mandarin Chinese, which is identical to Yiddish in all respects save grammar and phonetic structure. Some of these Celts, Mandarins and Jews emigrated to the New World, where they prospered and founded a race of giants; the Americans are still regarded, indeed, by many sources, as being the biggest Ainus in the world.


To cut a long story short, then, there are very few people in the world today who are not Jewish. Among those few peoples who are *not* descended from Lost Tribes of Israel are:


(1) Jews (those few Tribes of Israel with sound directional sense)


(2) Ainus


(3) Atlanteans


(4) Self-transforming Machine Elves


(5) The vast majority of Chinese persons who are descended from

dinosaurs

I hope that this will answer any queries and hope to end discrimination against Ainus everywhere.

Yours


Ignatius Churchward Von Berlitz M.A. (Dom. Sci.) Oxon. (Oklahoma ... FINN



In truth, the sad history of the Ainu is much like that of the Jews, and the American Indian.



The historical rights of the Ainu have not been given much attention until now, particularly by Japan, where most of them live. There are about 25,000 Ainu in Japan, and some on the Russian island of Sakhalin. Until the last century the Ainu lived in relative peace, living off the fish, bear, deer and other wildlife on Hokkaido and the smaller Kurile Islands to the north. But almost simultaneous expansion by Japan and Russia in the middle of the last century squeezed them out of their habitats.

A Japanese government also forced the Ainu to adopt Japanese names, and banned them from fishing and hunting, reducing them to poverty much like the dispossession of the Australian Aborigines. The Ainu are an embarrassment to Japan which likes to maintain that it is an ethnically homogenous society.

The Ainu have been constant victims of discrimination, and even today many Japanese families would strenuously object if their daughter or son wanted to marry an Ainu. Coming originally from Siberia, the Ainu have more body hair than other Japanese - leading a Japanese travel agency in 1981 to promote a tour of Hokkaido including 'a visit to a village of the famous hairy Ainu'.

But in the past 10 years, encouraged by the worldwide trend of indigenous people to reassert their own tradtions, the Ainu have grown in confidence. 'The Ainu are reviving their old culture,' said Jiro Suzuki, a professor of social anthropology at Tokyo's Sokka University.

The campaign by the Ainu to remind people of their historic ties to the Kuriles may not come to much, but Mr Akibe hopes it at least will raise the profile of the Ainu from 'famous hairy people' to human beings who happen to have a different culture to mainstream Japan.


The New York Times reports (via Japundit )that just this year, Japan has finally recognized the rights of the indigenous Ainu. This recognition was apparently timed to coincide with Japan's hosting of an international conference of indigenous peoples on the island of Hokkaido (formerly the home of the Ainu) but it comes a little late for this rapidly disappearing culture:

In a study by the Hokkaido prefectural government in 2006, just under 24,000 people identified themselves as Ainu. Most were of mixed blood and lacked the telltale fair skin or hirsute features that distinguished older Ainu from the Japanese. But it is not known how many live outside Hokkaido since Japan has never conducted a nationwide census of Ainu.




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

New Hope for Gender Equality

INDONESIA: Using Religion to Strengthen Gender Equality
By Fabio Scarpello

DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 12 (IPS) - ‘My husband rapes me repeatedly. I asked the ulama (religious leader) for help, but he sided with him, saying that according to Islam, a woman has to obey her husband. I have nowhere else to go. I have no tears left to shed. I no longer scream.’

It was while recording stories like this that staff at Indonesia’s National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), a branch of the country’s Human Rights Commission, decided in 2007 that they needed to focus on religious leaders if they wanted to protect women.

That insight led to intense brainstorming, studies and analysis, which with time has morphed into three books written by female scholars and religious leaders representing Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism.

Titled ‘Breaking the Silence: Religions Listen to the Voice of Female Victims of Violence in the Name of Justice’, the books in Bahasa Indonesia were launched in the capital Jakarta, late-April. They aim to break the monopoly held by men over interpretations of holy books and to challenge the hegemonic patriarchal culture upon which domestic violence is based.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46804

It's about time! No matter what I may say or think; religion is here to stay.
I really hope this goes world wide.




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Walking Barefoot on the path of Abraham

What is HOLY?
When Moses approached the burning bush in Shemot - Exodus - Chapter 3, the Lord spoke to him and said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Moses found himself in the powerful, spiritual and sensual omnipresence of God. Learning to walk Barefoot with your only true Love, is not about learning to be religious; far from it! Any religion that claims to be holy, is in of it's self, little more than pure idolatry. In reading the life of Abraham, I feel have no doubts many thing were added or altered after the fact. One thing I am sure of is that Abraham understood the self edifying recognize Indeed for most it would be frighting and disconcerting to drop all doctrine dogma and tradition to stand naked before the face of God; but Abrahan knew there had to be something more, and was well rewarded for his boldness! So would this not be the proper way to respond to God's presence in our lives? Is it not ironic that so many religions, owe their origins to a man who walked away from religion and found the path to a true relationship with God. As for Moses, I doubt there was much difference between his sandals, and his stinky feet. the formality of taking them off was a sign of faith and respect. We must realize that God's holy presence is always with us in this life and it is His will, not have us separated from Him by any of our human contrivances. Your God is here and now, not off far away in some heaven. We have an ongoing relationship, as we learn to love God more deeply, trusting Him more and more, walking with Him, feeling Him inside and all around us. As we flow in His power to fulfill His purposes. The power of faith and how to activate it. The power of praying God's will and expecting to see results. The power of sharing in God's blessings and wisdom over your life. The power of agreement. The power of giving, forgiving and thanksgiving. The power of praying over your children. The power of your inheritance of divine love and how to pass it on. The universal healing power of the Creator.


Both from a generically religious and from a specifically soteriological point of view the omnipresence of God is of great practical importance for understanding the nature of your personal spiritual walk. In the former respect it contains the guaranty that the actual nearness of God and a real communion with Him may be enjoyed everywhere, even apart from the places hallowed for such purpose by a specific gracious self-manifestation. (Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 139). In the other respect the divine omnipresence assures the believer that God is at hand to save in every place where from any danger or foe His people need salvation (Yeshayahu- Isaiah - Chapter 43:2).

What I am saying is that if we could all agree to stand together under Abraham's tent; what a wonderful world it would be. And at this moment, as I humbly present my heart to your God, I petition on your behalf this simple prayer: I pray that you experience the full power of God's Love, and that by His grace, you also learn to live and love more abundantly in return.





People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

The Bliss of Departure

When I seek to free my mind from this world, I love to read. And What good is reading if one does not share with others some of the passion, joys and mysteries one discovers?

``` The Bliss of Departure
``` Radmila Lazić

Page 2.
Translation(s):
The Bliss of Departure (English)
[Translator: Charles Simic]


The Kind of Poems I Write


I ought to have a new lover
Get rid of the one I have
As if he were a can with a past–due date.

I ought to drive fast cars,
My hair flying out of the window
As if I were some Rosamund
Riding on a horse.
That’s the kind of poems I write.

I ought to sleep till noon
Lie around on a wide bed
Like wheat over “mother” earth.

I ought not to care about time
Not to move slowly, not to hurry,
To drink each day to its dregs,
Night after night—like a chain smoker—
And step on a butt with my heel.
Words are embers. I burn myself into poetry.
That’s the kind of poems I write.

I ought to wear tight dresses,
Drape my shoulders with furs,
Wear high heels on my heels,
Paint myself and cover myself with jewels
Like a Christmas tree—
So my own mother doesn’t recognize me.

I ought to be cheerful, smiling, flirty
To sing and dance till 3. A.M.
Mindful of my sex appeal
When some stud approaches me.
That’s the kind of poems I write.

Thorns, bumbles bees and bees with their stingers
Ought not to touch me.
With my handkerchief I’ll wipe every worry and wrinkle
As if they were drops of sweat on my forehead.

I ought to have enough dough
For rent, taxes and few more things.
Money comes handy when there’s nothing else.
When kisses are misplaced, when words all trickle out.
With money one can breathe on credit!

I ought to tan my body on some rock
Far from the piers of Disaster.
I ought to emigrate from the land of Apathy
To the land of Wishes
So I can desire all and renounce nothing.
I ought to bathe myself in scented bubbles,
Draw a razor to some vein.
That’s the kind of poems I write.




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Auf Wiedersehen

Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehn
The last of my guest have now departed. Alas not everyone could be here for the reunion, but it was a grand event just the same. I got to embrace people I have not seen in many years, and had such a wonderful time, as we rekindled the magic memories of past glories and adventures. I will try to post some pictures as things get back to normal. Perhaps I can do it between cleaning house, and doing laundry.

Cumberland Falls




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Religion. Full of Deadly Pride and Arrogance

Some would say that as a Western man, I’m in no position to judge the beating and killing of women, but I am much more than the sum of my earthly domain. It is apparent that all the major religions of this world have been tainted by countless unholy acts, such as idolatry and murder. The arrogant neurosis of the dysfunctional group dynamic, is often found in the form of general collectivism in cults and religious groups. Hence most religions by default exude a corrupted group conscience, virtually imposing it as collective arrogance, and denial. Religion means salvation to many, but don't be deceived; blind faith in primitive dogma, is also the great wall, between God and the heart of man. Like everyone, I am a child of our Creator; and I know all too well what He has written on my heart! We all see the great suffering that our people endure, not in the will of God, but in the name of religion. It would be morally irresponsible of me not to rebuke any culture or faith in this world that practices such apparent evils; as barbaric, arrogant and delusional.

The long suffering women of Islam might have the greatest standing on the issue, and a reason to be heard. That is, until they lose consciousness.

On April 7, 2007, a teenage Yazidi Kurdish girl named Du’a Al-Aswad was stoned to death by a lynch-mob in Iraq, because she had violated her family’s honor. She was not the first, nor the the last, as thousands of women and children continue to meet the same tragic fate.


A year after the stoning, Saudi reformist and human rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar wrote a scathing article in which she harshly criticized the sexist character of Arab culture and particularly the phenomenon of “honor killings.”

"Du’a Al-Aswad is a victim of the wild male madness called ‘honor.’ This concept is prevalent throughout the Greater Middle East [Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Al-Kabir], or perhaps I should say the Greater Filthy East [Al-Sharq Al-Awsakh Al-Kabir], since it is worthy of this label from every perspective – in particular [when it comes to] the treatment of women. From Pakistan and Afghanistan through Iran, the Middle East, and all the way to Morocco, this entire part of the world [is full of] defeated and dejected men, whose only way to gain some sort of victory is by beating their women to death".

"The depraved men who participated in the stoning of Du’a – all of them [guilty of] premeditated and deliberate murder – were raised to believe that the lives of their women are theirs to control. That is why they competed with one another at stoning Du’a, and fought to film her as she gasped out her last breaths. These horrible men conspired to kill a young girl who had committed no crime and hurt no one. Each of them picked up a boulder and hurled it at her. [Feeling] prideful and glorious, they bashed in this young [girl’s] head, and her blood pooled on the ground as she lay there dead…"

"But killing her was not enough for them. After she was dead, they mutilated her young body, kicking her and piling more rocks on top of her. Then they broke out in cries of ‘Allah akbar,’ and ‘there is no god but Allah’ as though they had just won a strategic battle".

"Had Du’a been an animal, someone would have [probably] taken notice and tried to rescue her from these inhuman men. But she was a woman, and in the Greater Filthy East, the life of a woman is worth far less than the life of an animal".

Wajeha Al-Huweidar doesn't say barbaric or subhuman, but she doesn't have to. She says much more.

"Those who believe that men have more rights than women, and raise their children to believe the same, are raising [more] men who will kill another Du’a in some other place. All those who believe that they have the right to hit a woman in order to ‘educate’ her or ‘correct her ways’ might be involved in the murder or harming of a woman".

"Any legislator who passes a law dealing leniently with ‘honor killings’ is just as culpable as those who actively participated in the murder of the victims – [just as culpable as] the murderers who have the blood of Du’a and of other women on their hands".

"All governments that discriminate between men and women in rights and duties, that shelter the perpetrators of ‘honor killings,’ and that give men either partial or complete control over women’s lives… collaborate with the perpetrators of these despicable crimes…"

Riz Khan - Jordan Honour Killings - 15 May 07

Islam & Mental Illness (Arabic with Subs.)



For the heart and soul of Man, there is indeed hope for the future. We must follow what has been placed in our hearts by the Holy One; and seek liberty and justice for all women. For us to become complacent with apathy, would mean more death sentences for thousands of God's greatest gift to man. ` Hope' for abused women in Dubai - 10 11 07





People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Invasion!

My castle is now being overrun by handsome men. and there are more a coming!
All my male relatives are descending on this remote outpost like locus.
We are having a wonderful time, even the maid, the cook, and the dishwasher.
Oh boy do I miss having a wife.

World Wide Poverty and Survival

Many parts of the world are over populated and there is high unemployment. Then also you have the problem where corrupt employers use the system to pay as little as possible.

As in the Philippines, if you have less than 10 employees or contract employees that work for less than 6 months, the labor laws and benefits can be ignored.

Many businesses hire their employees for only 5 months, so they can pay less than the prevailing wage and give no benefits. If an employee is good, they might be offered another 5 month contract.

There is also the “It’s ok” mentality where employees are happy to have a job and if the employer is not willing to pay the “13th month” bonus, which is the law, the employee feels “it’s ok, at least I have a job.”

They do much the same with Mexicans here in America. there are also many skilled tradesmen willing to work day jobs for cash, if they can find them. With no real money to secure and protect our wealth, we find ourselves living in a slave state with only one way out.

Most folks in the States live in fair to excellent conditions. There are many who do not have a high income, and at least have an apartment or live with Kinfolks. If needed one could get roommates, but most have some kind of place to live. Yet it is the poor who best know how to live in hard times! Because they have always known it. We the middle class are the ones who will hurt the most.

In the depressed reservations and other areas of the world; there are good people. Such as the folks living deep in the mountains of Appalachia and other countries, where I have special friends so dear to my heart. Some live their lives in arcadian conditions that seem so alien, that many would not understand. But for them, they are happy to have a roof over their heads, somewhere to soft to lay down to sleep and something to eat.

Without a doubt in what I have witnessed over the years, the more humble the family, the more compassion and grace they exhibit. Having experienced their uninhibited love; I often marvel how the enjoyment of even small things means so much to them. They may seem to possess very little, but they are wealthy indeed with so much love for each other.

Whenever I see these kind of living conditions, I've been tempted to feel great sorrow, but over time, I have seen how hospitable and happy these marvelous people are with their friends and family. I pity not the humble, but only envy their path, for they are the backbone of humanity. For from the midst of adversity super souls are created. Indeed we are all the same even though many of us have forgotten our roots. If by giving up all that I have; I could find peace in my heart, I would do so gladly. But few ever take up poverty by choice. We the children of God's Earth, have all the same dreams and desires, to be all we were meant to be. As we dream of a better life, the impoverished also strive to move up in economics, have a nicer home, and a brighter future for their loved ones.
Yet despite all the meddling and exploitation they must suffer, as the world goes to Hell in a hand basket; these noble Children of God, find happiness in what they have, since they know that in this life there are those with much less.

"Be wise and help all beings impartilly, abandoning none.
Waste no opportunities!
This is called following the light".



I need not write of the dark side of poverty, we know it all too well.
Hell on earth, will be the topic for some other day.






People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Wisdom is Supreme

Wisdom is a long-cherished wish to the believer. He takes it from wherever he listens to it; and he does not mind from where it came out.
Prophet Muhammad (s) as as narrated by Ibn Hibban.


Proverbs 1:6-7
Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-
for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise


Indeed it is nubile wisdom that I seek as my lover; therefore it would be prudent and wise just to let these timeless words speak for themselves!

Proverbs 4: 5-9
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or swerve from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will set a garland of grace on your head
and present you with a crown of splendor."


Proverbs 8: 1-36
Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
beside the gates leading into the city,
at the entrances, she cries aloud:
"To you, O men, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
You who are simple, gain prudence;
you who are foolish, gain understanding.
Listen, for I have worthy things to say;
I open my lips to speak what is right.
My mouth speaks what is true,
for my lips detest wickedness.
All the words of my mouth are just;
none of them is crooked or perverse.
To the discerning all of them are right;
they are faultless to those who have knowledge.
Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,
for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
"I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
I possess knowledge and discretion.
To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.
Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have understanding and power.
By me kings reign
and rulers make laws that are just;
by me princes govern,
and all nobles who rule on earth. [1]
I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
With me are riches and honor,
enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than fine gold;
what I yield surpasses choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice,
bestowing wealth on those who love me
and making their treasuries full.
"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, [2] , [3]
before his deeds of old;
I was appointed [4] from eternity,
from the beginning, before the world began.
When there were no oceans, I was given birth,
when there were no springs abounding with water;
before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
before he made the earth or its fields
or any of the dust of the world.
I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
"Now then, my sons, listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.
Listen to my instruction and be wise;
do not ignore it.
Blessed is the man who listens to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.
For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the LORD .
But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
all who hate me love death."

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
-- Ayn Rand.

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-- Benjamin Franklin

Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
-- Khalil Gibran



It is not only necessary to love, it is necessary to say so.
-- French proverb.

Dear one, thanks for the inspiration!





People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Respect the Dead by Honoring the Living

To those who bravely endeavor to seek liberty and justice for all. This is a salute to the special people in our lives. A good opportunity to show our abiding love and respect to all those who by their noble and gracious deeds continue to fight the good fight.

It is to these I am most grateful, the kinfolk and friends that despite adversity, continue to carry on the highest traditions of our divine human nature. It is only by living a good life filled with love and compassion; thus being an inspiration to others. That we can truly honor those who have preceded us in life. As we are indeed their living testimony.

It is good that we also honor the war dead, This I do without hesitation, but not just the military. I also acknowledge the millions of men, women. children who lost their lives to the horrors and evil of war.




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Little Things Mean A Lot

I've got to get my groove back, I have made too many dear friends to be derelict or despairing. I'm not willing to let a single one of you down. You have shown me in so many wonderful little ways how much you care. It is now my delightful duty to return the blessing you have given to me. We are all in this boat together! So let us unfurl the banner of love; as we cast our sails on this sea of life, and make the most of it.


Oh yes, I have loved that song for as long as I can remember.
Little Things.




People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

In The Hot Seat

From the Philippines to Madagascar and all stations in between.
I have noble friends who are riding on the political edge.
Endeavoring to make a stand at the risk of life and fortune; for the sake of their people.

I stand aghast at the events that have been unfolding, as nations awaken to the vast conspiracy that has robbed the people of their freedom and wealth. NO they were not content with that! The also seek to enslave the future. Unbridled fascism grows as despots desperately cling to power. The people of earth have never been so raped and brutalized by the Evil of Greed, and the Lust for Power.
In the name of FREEDOM, I see a world wide revolution coming.
The like of, has never been seen before. To be sure it will not be a bloodless one. The Devil will not give up without a fight. Even here in this great land of America; the people are seeing the writing on the wall, and are arming themselves in unprecedented numbers. At this point I would prefer to run and hide myself away, if not for the courage of these brave women. As long as there are strong God fearing hearts; the light of the people shall not extinguished!

The Man In the Doorway

I was looking up a song for a friend, but when I saw this on YouTube; I just had to to drop everything, and look it up.

"Note: The man in the door could be the gunner on the right or the crew chief on the left."


I was only in the air one time, that one trip in a Bell UH-1 Iroquois made it easy for me to see why these flying tin cans were loved, yet regarded as a notorious death trap for the crew.

Yet day after day, these gallant young men were willing to take the risk, and valiantly gave their all, in the name of freedom; or so they thought.

Sometimes, it is the bad guys who win. Sometimes, it is for our lack of fortitude and courage; that we let them. As fathers sons mothers and daughters in every nation; Many a brave sentinel of freedom, gave and will give their all. As they nobly take up the banner now, and in the future. Let us take heart, and let not their precious lives go in vain.



The Man In the Doorway

The Man In The Doorway....a poem by Michael Ryerson, USMC, FAC, 1966-1968, RVN "michaelryerson@sbcglobal.net" Email Michael Ryerson

Tribute to the Door Gunner

They came in low and hot, close to the trees and dropped their tail in a flare, rocked forward and we raced for the open doorways. This was always the worst for us, we couldn't hear anything and our backs were turned to the tree line.



The best you could hope for was a sign on the face of the man in the doorway, leaning out waiting to help with a tug or to lay down some lead.



Sometimes you could glance quickly at his face and pick up a clue as to what was about to happen. We would pitch ourselves in headfirst and tumble against the scuffed riveted aluminum, grab for a handhold and will that son-of-a-bitch into the air.



Sometimes the deck was slick with blood or worse,

sometimes something had been left in the shadows under the web seats, sometimes they landed in a shallow river to wash them out.



Sometimes they were late,

sometimes...they were parked in some other LZ with their rotors turning a lazy arc, a ghost crew strapped in once too often, motionless, waiting for their own lift, their own bags, once too often into the margins.



The getting on and the getting off were the worst for us but this was all he knew, the man in the doorway, he was always standing there in the noise, watching, urging...swinging out with his gun, grabbing the black plastic and heaving, leaning out and spitting, spitting the taste away, as though it would go away...

They came in low and hot, close to the trees and dropped their tail in a flare, rocked forward and began to kick the boxes out, bouncing against the skids, piling up on each other, food and water, and bullets...a thousand pounds of C's, warm water and rounds, 7.62mm, half a ton of life and death.

And when the deck was clear, we would pile the bags, swing them against their weight and throw them through the doorway, his doorway, onto his deck and nod and he'd speak into that little mic and they'd go nose down and lift into their last flight, their last extraction.

Sometimes he'd raise a thumb or perhaps a fist or sometimes just a sly, knowing smile, knowing we were staying and he was going but also knowing he'd be back, he'd be back in a blink, standing in the swirling noise and the rotor wash, back to let us rush through his door and skid across his deck and will that son-of-a-bitch into the air.

They came in low and hot, close to the trees and dropped their tail in a flare, rocked forward, kicked out the boxes and slipped the litter across the deck and sometimes he'd lean down and hold the IV and brush the dirt off of a bloodless face, or hold back the flailing arms and the tears, a thumbs-up to the right seat and you're only minutes away from the white sheets and the saws and the plasma.

They came in low and hot, close to the trees and dropped their tail in a flare, rocked forward and we'd never hear that sound again without feeling our stomachs go just a bit weightless, listen just a bit closer for the gunfire and look up for the man in the doorway.



Mike Ryerson was an 0844/0846 with 11th Marines at Chu Lai (hill 69)
and then an FO with 5thMarines for a while before being transferred to 3rd MarDiv,
12th Marines(hill55) and then to the DMZ (Dong Ha, Charlie 2, Con Thien) with 4th and
9th Marines. Feb '66 to Mar '68(yes, 25 months!) michaelryerson@sbcglobal.net

Casualty Statistics of Air Ambulance Crews
Statistics confirm that air ambulance pilots and crewmen were at risk of being injured, wounded, or killed during their one-year tour. About 1,400 Army commissioned and warrant officers served as air ambulance pilots in the war, one of the most dangerous types of aviation in Vietnam. About forty aviators (both commanders and pilots) were killed by hostile fire or crashes induced by hostile fire. Another 180 were wounded or injured as a result of hostile fire. Another forty-eight were killed and about two hundred injured as a result of non-hostile crashes, many at night and in bad weather while on evacuation missions.

These totals mean that slightly more than one-third of the aviators became casualties in their work, and the crew chiefs and medical corpsmen who accompanied them suffered similarly. Furthermore, helicopter ambulance missions in the Vietnam War were lost to hostile fire at a rate 3.3 times higher than other aviation missions. Even compared to the loss rate for non-medical helicopters on combat missions, the ambulance loss was 1.5 times higher. Warrant officer aviators, who occasionally arrived in South Vietnam without medical training or an assignment to a unit, were sometimes warned that air ambulance work was a good way to get killed.

This next one about killed me, the young man favors so much, one of my nephews, I had more than a few tears myself.

A TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN CORPSMAN OF THE VIETNAM WAR


The cost of the helicopter war was high, 2202 Huey pilots were killed: The Army lost 2,249 to hostile fire—more than half of them Hueys—and 2,075 to accidents; the Marines lost 424 to all causes. Between 1966 and 1971, one Army helicopter was lost for every 7.9 sorties—564 pilots, 1,155 crewmen, and 682 passengers were killed in accidents alone. More Hueys were downed in Vietnam than any other type of aircraft.

1st Lt. James Phillip Fleming Distinguished himself as Aircraft Commander of a UH-1F Iroquois, transport helicopter when he aided a Special Forces Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol being overrun by a large, heavily armed hostile force on 26 November 1968. The call was heard by Captain Fleming’s five ship Green Hornet flight. Two gunships and three transport helicopters arrived to find the team trapped on three sides with their backs to an impassable river. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing the 6-man Green Beret team, who were surrounded and besieged by the enveloping reinforced N.V.A positions, near Duc Co, Vietnam.


"THE VIETNAM WAR touched a generation of Americans with its human tragedy, sacrifice, and strife. In terms of casualties, it was the fourth most costly war in American history. However, despite a monumental military effort and modern technology, the war was lost as support from the American public and its elected officials waned. Now, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, as we embark on what might well be another protracted war, lessons from the Vietnam experience become relevant. On a positive note, a refined system for the triage, management, and evacuation of wounded military personnel evolved in Vietnam. A wounded soldier could actually be at a well-equipped base hospital within minutes after injury. At those facilities, casualties had a more than 90% chance of survival, despite some of the most horrific wounds in the history of warfare."
Kelly, Patrick J. M.D.

Why Worry?

Ninety percent of the things we tend to worry about we have no control over, so why worry about them?


I believe God is very much alive and knows our every need; He has a reason for the drama that is unfolding therefore, He doesn't need to hear any fear and doubts from me. As long as I trust God to be in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about?

"If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you." Calvin Coolidge

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles,
but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." Buddha

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." Charles Schultz

We live in a culture where everyone seems to worry. Turn on the news – someone got shot, there’s mercury in the fish we eat, the cows have got BSE, a new super-flu is coming, terrorists are regrouping, … On and on it goes. If you take all of this stuff seriously, it’s likely that you’ll never go out, never eat, never travel, never take any kind of risk at all.

Things never happen the way you imagine. When you worry, you are predicting the future. You are saying, "I know that things will turn out badly." But this just isn’t the case. You have no idea how the future is going to turn out, except to say that it will not be what you think it will be. So why worry?


Worry means you give away your power. Some people are so entrenched in worry that they cannot see any other way to live. But worry robs you of your power to be proactive. The truth is that you are in control and you can choose how to react to situations, so why choose to give that power away so easily and so unconsciously?


Worrying is completely unproductive. Why waste your energy doing something that gets you nowhere. On a treadmill at least you get some exercise, but worry is a truly pointless activity. Spend your time and energy on something more useful.


Worry distorts reality. We live in an age where people live longer, have better access to health care, have more opportunity for personal and professional growth, more chance to travel, greater access to information and lifelong education, and many other wonderful things. Yes, there are risks and potential dangers, but worry magnifies these disproportionately and blinds us to the wonders of our age.


Worrying is bad for your health. Worry is not a normal state of mind, and it adversely affects your health, even your physical health. When you worry, physical changes are happening in your body which are very damaging. It increases stress which can increase blood pressure, cause higher levels of stomach acid, cause muscle tension and headaches, among many other things.


Worry is not natural. Do little children worry? Do animals worry? Do all adults worry? There is nothing inherent in being human that means you have to worry. Worry is a pathology, a distortion of our natural, healthy state.

Do you know the most frequent instruction given in the Bible? Surprisingly, it is not ‘love one another’ or ‘love God’ or anything like that. It is simply ‘do not be afraid.’ I don’t know how many times it appears, but I’ve seen estimates between 100 and 366 times. You don’t have to be religious to realize that this is good advice.

So how can we break out of this worry habit? Like all habits, it might not be easy to do, but there are some clear, simple and effective steps you can take to eliminate worry from your life.

Realize that you are in control. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey tells us that the first step to a better life is the realization that we are free to choose how to react to circumstances. Worry is a choice – it’s inside our own head and, as such, it is within the sphere of our own influence.

Recognize that worry is a habit. Like all habits, there is a momentum to worry, and it might not be easy to break away from this, especially if you’ve been a worrier all your life. But it’s possible to change any habit.

Keep things in perspective. E. Joseph Crossman said, "If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today." Are you still worrying about those things? Will all this stuff matter a 100 years from now?


Face your fears. Nelson DeMille said that "Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face." After you do something that scares you, you’ll probably find it wasn’t as bad as you thought. With time, all your worry will dissipate.

Poetry: " Fear and Worry " with Song:

Jason Mraz -The Remedy(I Won't Worry) (live)

The Everly Brothers - Why Worry?

Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy

Remember I love you.
Auf Wiedersehen









People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...

Thank God for my friends

I am grateful for all those who think of me as their friend, and especially of those pure of hearts that I can fall back on in time of need. And this is one of those times!

So for your benefit with no further delay, here are a few insightful post from two of my very special angels.


masterwordsmith
Welcome to my blog - the place through which I hope to share my thoughts, opinions and different perspectives of life.

DO IT ANYWAY
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway ...

If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives ;
Be kind anyway...

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies ;
Succeed anyway ...

If you are honest and frank , people may cheat you ;
Be honest and frank anyway ...

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight ;
Build anyway ...

If you find serenity and happiness , they may be jealous ;
Be happy anyway ...

The good you do today , people will often forget tomorrow ;
Do good anyway ...

Give the world the best you have , and it may never be enough ;
Give the world the best you've got anyway ...

You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God ;
It was never between you and them anyway ...

written by Mother Teresa(1910-1997)


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Bai Maleiha B. Candao
Cotabato City, Central Mindanao, Philippines
Bai Maleiha is a focused writer who espouses justice, peace and interfaith unity in the midst of the decaying moral and cultural fibers of many people owing to political vindictiveness, power struggle and hypocritical pro-poor concerns masking vested interest and self- promotion.

She used to edit and publish her own community paper,"The New Mindanao Kris", from 1997 to 2001. At the height of the 2000 Mindanao war, she allied with her fellow journalists to call for peace.
Do unto others
Originally uploaded by Princess Activist


Do unto others
goodness of an act
Offer the flowers
in your garden
Let sweet thoughts be haven
For lost and lonely souls

Do wear before others
the crown in your smile
Let fragile souls
be touched with serenity
Calmness and sincerity
a permanent tranquility..


The Golden rule,
must be embed
Value your words
Be good
Do unto others
What you want
Done unto you..


Great minds of governments
Great poets of humanity
Great parents of the world
Rule with such golden words..

It is a rule
By God and just men
For goodness must win
At all cost
At all times


Do unto others
The best deeds
The best acts
Do unto others
sweetness beyond life
Extend kindness
Forever be just
Do unto others
The gift of love
For God is love
Of thy golden life...












People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Take no one for granted and embrace all equally with joy!
Julie A. Manhan ...