Dear Friends-
I never thought I'd see the day when I would become a gardener. I'm really not the sort of gardener my parents are. I plant ideas and let concepts grow. That's really my forte: communication. I like to see ideas spread like wildfire, and I like to teach people about how much easier communication can be if they "seed" a conversation with "good vibes" beforehand. Is that the hippie in me talking?
I was such a pacifist as a kid that I rebelled whenever my parents wanted me to weed the garden or go pluck the dandelions out of the front lawn. A la Machaelle Wright, I thought dandelions had a right to live, just as much as the grass did, and I dreamed of planting a nice furry yellow lawn right in the middle of the neighborhood, where grown men poisoned bees, birds and other wildlife with toxic weed killers. I looked forward to a lawn gone to seed with fluffy floaties infiltrating the perfect green velvet of the holier than thou weed bigots. They wanted me and my dandelions out of the neighborhood. Well, in my dreams. Meanwhile, M & D sent a sullen daughter out into the front yard with the forked dandelion digger.
Anyway, as gas prices soar and so goes the price of everything else, including groceries, I have decided to become a gardener, in the interests of budgeting and self-preservation. Since we all know that it's unlikely that the price of anything is going to go down, and that the powers that be have set their sights on $8/gallon gas prices, we have to do something. Planting a garden is one of my solutions to rising prices, and it's also my way to get natural stuff in my body, instead of all the preservatives and unpronounceable junk in today's foods. Frankly, life was a lot easier in Houston, what with Central City Coop and Whole Foods and Central Market. But here in farm coun try, it's a little more difficult, believe it or not. I am grateful that some things are cheaper here, and that there is less pollution, but it is much more of a challenge to get the basic food items I used to have, so cheaply and so easily found in the city.
Good news is, my parents are farmers. So when they moved back into their house, they planted fruit trees immediately (cherry, peach, pear), and we all have gardens going. I have a bean plant, some pepper plants, and radishes rising, although I planted a bunch of other things too. We're late in our planting, so it may be pot luck as far as what comes up. And of course, we are dealing with ME, not the sort you want planting your garden!
But anyway, we recently had a mini-family reunion, and all the beautiful 80 year old ladies (and I am not kidding!) were reminiscing about their childhoods, and I just thought, "We are going to have to go back to that." What a concept! Living the sustainable, earth-responsible life. Native Americans have been doing that forever, and a lot of other folks too-like poor people, the world round! Could you survive all by yourself, without the modern day conveniences? Could you feed and shelter yourself?
I think reality TV host Jeff Probst and producer Mark Burnett need to do a version of "Survivor in the City" or "Survivor Down on the Farm" (well, they did that with the kids last summer!) and see if these people could survive as homeless people in the city or as farmers out on the Plains. Could you? What would happen if it were just you and the elements? That's the way life was, once upon a time, and just how resourceful are you?
On thing is sure; Mother Nature is making herself heard lately, and because of that, I think people are beginning to think twice and three times about where they stand in the scope of things. We have to get down and dirty at some point, because we could use and abuse ourselves right out of existence. The good news is, that although we are animals, we have brains, and we can communicate, so we have some advantages in that we can make conscious choices to conserve and caretake.
I like Machaelle Wright, because she believes that all living things have a right to existence, but that we have to listen to, respect, and communicate with each other. Machaelle is an unusual person in that she has done research (check out http://www.perelandra.com) on co-creating with wildlife and nature, and she believes she communicates with them, and that they listen. For a whole new look at life, I suggest reading her autobiography Behaving As If The God in All Life Mattered. That will change your vi ewpoint on what's going on with earth changes, upheaval, and storms as well as global warming. I reject a recent email that I received saying that Mother Earth was "purging" lately, which to me seems such a Westernized view that people are being punished for something. Come on, now!
As an astrologer, I guess I view life as a cycle, and Earth as a planet does not qualify storms or earthquakes as "bad" or as "purges". And if you think God is involved in it, why would God punish the poor and not the "wicked"? Seems to me there are other places that should have gotten the old "heave-ho", if that's the case, and I won't bore you with my list of places that should have been "purged", but suffice it to say, they are alot closer to home. Really, that's really rude of me or anyone else to say, because we are talking about the loss of life here, and these people are someone's family members. How about some compassion here?
As I heard someone mention on the radio yesterday, "it is God's will," and then he said, "but I haven't figured out why yet." One thing I do know is that it's making people re-think their connection to Mother Nature, and that can only be a good thing. I've always felt that if we were smart enough to screw it up, we're also smart enough to fix it. And in either case, Mother Earth doesn't care. She'll do what she does: revolve, evolve. The question is, will you?
Plant your garden, sing to your plants, and grow.
Gotta go!
If you want to take one of my surveys on "Love & Age", go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Surveys.html
If you want to find out about improving your Love quotient, go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Love_Gods___Goddesses.html
If you want to know all about Soulmates, go to: http://www.propheticeye.com/Soulmates.html .
I also now have my Election predictions and latest World & Local predictions online, so have fun surfing! Check out the World predictions, because I did predict the earthquakes & a tsunami, but to be fair, I thought that the problems with Tibet were worse. I will have new Middle East and USA ruminations online later in the week. To check out the future, go to: http://www.propheticye.com . P.S. I want to reiterate that astrology is NOT a psychic science. It is a science of forecasting, based on planetary positions, more like weather forecasting. I'm just reading maps when I do it. It works, though!!!
http://www.propheticeye.com
Love ya,
Andrea
If you need a consultation or reading, please contact me by emailing me back at the address above, or call 713.301.9843, and leave a message.
In need of a website?
Have you been putting it off because of the time and expense? Don't wait any longer! I can give you an inexpensive but effective and attractive looking website for a low dollar figure within a couple of days! Every business or service needs a website these days to make a statement. A website can give a new business or service the credibility it needs! Ask about my quick website services, and if you buy one, you'll get a free email account linked to your web name! Call me, call me!!! 405.375.3803 or email me at booklady@communicateok.com .
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Century of Lies
Tuesdays, 11:30am-Noon. Dean Becker of the Drug Truth Network delves into the truth about the drug war via interviews with judges, scientists, doctors & authors to encourage listeners to investigate the Century of Lies. This show also has a regular installment of Government "Drug War Facts" from Doug McVay. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/
Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, online, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature "Iran: All Options on the Table" featuring Scott Ritter
George W. Bush proclaimed, "The action and policies of the Government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States." That was part of executive order Bush issued extending the national emergency with respect to Iran. The leaders in Washington and those that would replace them frequently chant in unison that when it comes to Iran: All options are on the table. Iran is virtually encircled by American military forces. It has not threatened the U.S. So why would America attack? Seems nutty, right what with Iraq and Afghanistan? But Tehran has always been in Washington's gunsights.
Scott Ritter is a former Marine intelligence officer and a veteran of the first Gulf War. He served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq for seven years. He's an expert on weapons and arms control. In the lead up to the attack on Iraq, Ritter openly questioned whether Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction. He is the author of Frontier Justice and Waging Peace. His latest book is Target Iran.
Where recorded: Boulder, CO Date recorded: 18 Jan 2008
You can download these programs or purchase them on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Help us get RESULTS!
RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty. RESULTS Educational Fund is committed to educating the public, the media, and leaders about issues related to poverty and hunger in the United States and abroad. We hold public forums, train citizens in democracy, hold media conference calls to share the latest information, and produce quality oversight research to determine the effectiveness of programs for the poor. RESULTS Educational Fund is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Watch RESULTS' new video "Everyday Heroes" to quickly learn about how RESULTS works to empower citizens to speak out powerfully against hunger and poverty in the U. S. and around the world.
Our vision is of a world where persistent hunger and the devastating impact of poverty no longer cripple the chances of individuals and families to sustain themselves, thrive, and contribute their talents to the world in which they live - where all people have a fair chance at success. A 1976 report by the National Academy of Sciences reported that we possess all of the resources, structures and technology to end hunger in a single generation, but that the political will to make it a priority is missing. We envision a world where citizens actively voice their concerns to their elected officials and thereby choose the policies and priorities of their governments, and we work toward a world where the end of hunger and the worst aspects of poverty has become an international priority.
E-mail: results@results.org Address: RESULTS Educational Fund, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington, DC 20002
Telephone : RESULTS (202) 783-7100 RESULTS Educational Fund (202) 783-4800. Who To Go To: Christine Naylor, Executive Director, cnaylor@results.org. Automatic monthly donations initiation or changes: Glynda Featherstone, gfeatherstone@results.org
Major Gifts, Planned Gifts, Grants, Foundations: Glynda Featherstone, gfeatherstone@results.org Grassroots Fundraising: Gwen Garcelon, ggarcelon@results.org
Activate more!!! Be selective when you buy gas.
Thanks to Ed Griffing for giving me this info. To find the cheapest gas in your area, go to
http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx and plug in your zip code. A map will come up with the cheapest place closest to you. In addition, please check out this list of oil and gas companies. I suggest that you pick the one that is most suitable for you and support that gas station. The following is also from Ed:
The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis...
This is Andrea speaking: George Bush who has been pals with the Saudi royal family forever is currently visiting with his buds right now. Since both families have been in the oil and gas business together, do you really think he's asking for them to lower the price of oil? Come on, now! And the Bushes have been arms dealers since Grandpappy Bush, so that's something to think about. And a reminder that of the 9/11 hijackers, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one from Lebanon, and one from Egypt. Zero from Iraq, zero from Iran, zero from Palestine, zero from Syria. Hmmmm.. ...
These companies import Middle Eastern oil :
Shell.......................... 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels
Here are some large companies that DO NOT import Middle Eastern oil: Sunoco, Conoco, Sinclair, BP/Phillips, Hess, ARC0, and Citgo All of this information is available from the Department of Energy. Each is required to state where they get their oil and how much. AND DON"T FORGET TO DRIVE 55, if you can't ride your bike or take the bus!
Green Action: Live like there's no tomorrow! Live the sustainable life!
In Houston, visit http://www.sustainliving.org/. Visit there to find out MORE!!! The following is from the Sustainableokc.org website.
Live Responsibly
What does it mean to live responsibly? It means living with a minimal impact-including using fewer natural resources, reducing waste, and considering the quality of life that future generations will experience when making your own lifestyle decisions.
You can start off by measuring your ecological footprint, an estimate of the amount of land needed to support you given the choices you make in life. The average American uses more resources than available. How do you measure up? While lots of behaviors affect the size of your ecological footprint, three biggies stand out. If you want the biggest bang for your buck (or time), try changing these three things:
1. Green your residence. You can "green" your home in a lot of ways. Increasing energy efficiency, using recycled and reclaimed materials, and landscaping naturally are three examples. Browse these websites and you're sure to find a wealth of information. In our neck of the woods, we have local chapters of the US Green Building Council and the AIA Committee on the Environment doing great things. Wanna go all the way? Get your home LEED certified.
2. Green your transportation. We all hate filling up at the pump. The cost, the smell, the guilty conscience... So cut back! Ride your bike. Take the bus. For goodness sake, walk! If you must drive a car, try to combine errands in a single trip, carpool, and buy a fuel efficient car (a hybrid is a good bet-just make sure to check the mpg's). If you still drive a big SUV there may be hope for saving your poor soul, but it's getting slimmer by the day.
3. Green your food. Love food? We do too! And so does the earth, especially when it's vegetarian, locally-grown, and organic (in that order of preference). Try slowly reducing the amount of meat you eat because it takes a lot more natural resources (especially water) to produce meat than veggies. While you're at it, buy locally grown. Not only is it fresher, it's much more earth-friendly. Consider the fact that the average food item you buy at the superm arket has traveled 1500 miles to reach your plate-that's a lot of carbon emissions. When you buy locally, you'll be supporting the local economy and eating fresher and healthier. And don't forget that your own garden is the A+ of locally-grown!
Read this Book!
Here's a great book for your teenagers: You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Aunt Laya Saul. Aunt Laya covers everything a teen has to deal with: subjects like beieving in yourself, trusting yourself, defining your boundaries, failure, regret, drug abuse, alcohol, sex and sexual abuse, suicidal thoughts, and relationships of all kinds. When I read the clips from her book, I wish I had her book when I was young! Heck, I wish I had it as a married person!
If you want to check it out, go to her website at http://www.auntlaya.com or you can order her book from Amazon.com by plugging in "Aunt Laya" in your search.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Big Talk/Small Talk, & the Past is your Present
Friends & Neighbors & Best Buds, Happy Spring!
Most places have some cherry blossoms and wisteria, azaleas and daffodils and lovely redbuds. So, enjoy!
I have a friend who I met online named Jordan. He goes to Rice U. in Houston, and he and a friend started up this cool online deal called “Big Talk”. Having been in the singles biz for nearly a decade, I have oft heard the refrain, “I hate small talk!” That’s mainly because singles hate to go ask somebody where they’re from or what sign they are, and business networkers hate to ask people, “What do you do?” There’s a purpose for small talk, though, and that is to help us learn how we are connected. In those little threads in which we find commonality, like having gone to the same high school, loving Hawaii, or growing up in a similar part of the country, we find not only comfort but companionship, and friends.
My friend Jordan, however, is a man after my own heart, because he has “Big Talk” on his mind. Nearly two years ago, I started this email newsletter and started bringing up odd subjects for people to think about and consider. I have gotten many love letters and plenty of hate mail too, but the best thing is, I got some 10,000 people across the country talking and sometimes “activating”. And that has been my goal all along! So whether you just donated to the food bank, started using some Law of Attraction techniques, started meditating, watched some alternative news, or shot me an email telling me to go You-Know-Where, the journey has been wonderful.
Now I encourage you to join Jordan by chiming in on his project called “Big Talk”. He won’t be asking what your sign is—he’ll leave the astrology to me! But he will offer you lots of forums in which you can shoot the breeze. (One of my blogs is called, El Shamal, “Shoot the breeze, not people.”)
The idea of “Big Talk” takes the idea of introductory small talk UP several notches. Strangers don’t normally discuss things like race, religion, or the meaning of life when they first meet. Joining into Big Talk is like jumping into a big pool and doing a Cannonball!!! You know what I mean! It’s against normal communication patterns to go from “Hi, my name is Andrea” to “My position on race in this country is…” It’s almost considered impolite, and under certain circumstances, it would be. But with Big Talk, as with my weekly email newsletter, we drop the formalities and go for the gusto! And the cool thing is, it’s invigorating and exciting, energizing and meaningful, can be deep and heartfelt, and causes this wonderful sharing thing. Very cool.
Jordan and his friend Nick first started getting into the concept of making their everyday “Big Talk” into something they could share with family, friends, and MORE. The “MORE” part was really BIG. They were trying to figure out how to get people to join into deep and meaningful conversations despite their fear, apathy, prejudice, doubt, and lack of time, among other things. Think of how many times you have avoided getting into a conversation about race, religion, or politics, because certain disagreeing people were in the room. Sometimes, when we discuss subjects that are either unpopular or have been slanted by the media in a certain way, folks immediately get out the boxing gloves—or ball bats! We want to discuss things like ladies and gentlemen—or, at the very least, like the British Parliament (know what I mean? ;) but not like European soccer fans.
Anyway, at Rice, with the encouragement of Professor John Stroup and the funding of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, Jordan, Nick, and webmaster Will started up the Big Talk website, which you can find at http://www.betweenaduck.com . There you can become a fellow Big Talker by joining the fray. Once a month, they pick one question, and discuss it to death, no holds barred. Don’t ya just love it?! The March question is “How does race impact your life and society, and how should it?” You might still be able to get your words in, if you go there right now… Jordan, if you are out there, please send me the April question, so I can get that ball rolling! The goal of Big Talk, according to the website is... “to give people a better understanding of themselves and their world, and to cause a greater appreciation of different cultures and viewpoints.”
So, I encourage you to go to http://www.betweenaduck.com and chat it up, big style!
Meanwhile, here is what I want to share this week…
I heard a smidgin of a Martin Luther King, Jr. speech on the radio this week, and I thought, “Wow, you could change the venue from being about Vietnam to being about Iraq, and it would still make sense.” I have included some snippets of the speech here. What do you think? To read the whole thing or to hear it, go to http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm . Yeah, it was called the “Breaking the Silence” speech. I could go for that. Being a Big Mouth Big Talker myself.
…This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers…
…And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries…They must see Americans as strange liberators....
...What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?...
Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call "fortified hamlets." The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these. Could we blame them for such thoughts? We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. These, too, are our brothers.
...This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words, and I quote:
“Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote).”
...Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
...A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies…
...A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." …
...A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." …
...America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war…
...We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word" (unquote)…
AND LASTLY, MLK SAYS, ...We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today.
WELL, I MUST ADD, TODAY IS YESTERDAY. Historians know that we are doomed to repeat the past if we don't learn from it.
Gotta go!
If you want to take one of my surveys on “Love & Age”, go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Surveys.html
If you want to find out about improving your Love quotient, go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Love_Gods___Goddesses.html
If you want to know all about Soulmates, go to: http://www.propheticeye.com/Soulmates.html .
I also now have my Election predictions and latest world & local predictions, as well as individual predictions for April online, so have fun surfing! http://www.propheticeye.com/Elections_2008.html
Love ya,
Andrea
If you need a consultation or reading, please contact me by emailing me back at the address above, or call 713.301.9843, and leave a message.
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: BrokenBeatz
BrokenBeatz is a fast paced wall-to-wall Drum and Bass mix show featuring scorching live sets, exclusive guest DJ mixes, and interviews with some of the top international names in the genre. BrokenBeatz always features a cutting-edge playlist, regularly including tracks from a truly global range of Drum and Bass producers and MC’s. Expect to hear host, DJ Pmaz, spinning an eclectic range of D&B selections ranging from deep liquid-soul grooves, dance floor mashups, old school ragga-jungle, and plenty of intense dubplate business. For more info check out www.brokenbeatz.org , and be sure to lock on each and every Sunday morning, 4am-6am CST to catch BrokenBeatz live and direct, and exclusively featured on KPFT Houston, 90.1FM. Tuesdays 3-6am.
Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature Blackwater: Mercenary Army, with featured speaker Jeremy Scahill
A hidden story of the U.S. war on Iraq has been the use private contractors, a shadow force almost as big as the American army. The major company operating in Iraq and raking in millions of dollars in taxpayer money is Blackwater. The well-connected North Carolina-based firm is the elite Praetorian Guard of the so-called war on terror. Blackwater and other private armies apparently operate with no supervision or oversight. Their crimes go unpunished. Gen William Caldwell, the top spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said: "Contractors are out of our lane, and we don't comment on them." Jeremy Scahill is the author of the bestseller "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" He is the recipient of the Polk Award for journalism. He is a frequent contributor to "The Nation" magazine and "Democracy Now!"
Date recorded: 7 May 2007 Where recorded: Boulder, CO
You can download these programs or purchase them on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Helping the Homeless
The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and advocate for the needs of persons who are homeless through support and coordination of services. In 1982 at the request of then Harris County Judge Jon Lindsey and Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire, the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc. (the Coalition) was founded by area homeless social services for an exploding number of people who were homeless that were emerging as a result of local economic deterioration. In 1988, the Coalition incorporated as a 501(c) 3. The Goals of the Coaliton include, but are not limited to, establishing, maintaining, providing and assisting those entities that serve the needs of people who are homeless though advocacy, education, information exchange, collection of current and accurate data relevant to homeless issues, identify gaps in homeless services and develop solutions to meet those needs, coordination of public and private resources, and dispensing information and referral sources to those that are homeless or at risk.
Things You can do...
• Support existing programs with time and money. • Use your area of expertise and share your skill. • Get your School, Church or Business Involved. • Build Homes for people that are homeless. • Help with job training to create permanent solutions. • Hire someone who is homeless. • Write to local, state and federal representatives. • Teach your children about the problems of homelessness. • Treat people that are homeless with respect and understanding.
You can volunteer to help the homeless at any of these organizations: JOHN S. DUNN CENTER, Aids Foundation of Houston (AFH), SEARCH, Emergency Aid Coalition, www.volunteerhouston.org, End Hunger Houston, Catholic Charities, Fort Bend County Women's Center, The Furniture Bank, The Star of Hope, Crisis Intervention of Houston. You can mail a donation to: CFTH, Attn: Finance Department, 811 Dallas St, Suite 821, Houston, TX 77002 Or make a donation by telephone at 713-739-7514. This website has lots of info: http://www.homelesshouston.org/hh/Default_EN.asp
Green Action: Drive a Clean Machine.
Go to http://www.h-gac.com/human-services/airchecktexas/default.aspx OR http://www.nctcog.org/trans/air/act/ to find out how you can get some money to turn in your old cloud-emitting car and get a new clean vehicle. The AirCheckTexas Repair and Replacement Assistance Program is designed to help vehicle owners comply with vehicle emissions standards to reduce ozone-forming pollutants created by on-road motor vehicles. It addresses the highest polluting vehicles and provides an incentive for citizens to contribute to the regional air quality solution. The AirCheckTexas Repair and Replacement Assistance Program expanded to offer more financial assistance to more vehicle owners. You may be eligible to receive vouchers for $3,000 toward the purchase of a newer car or truck and $3,500 toward a hybrid vehicle from participating auto dealers. Up to $600 for repair assistance is available. Check it out!!!!
Most places have some cherry blossoms and wisteria, azaleas and daffodils and lovely redbuds. So, enjoy!
I have a friend who I met online named Jordan. He goes to Rice U. in Houston, and he and a friend started up this cool online deal called “Big Talk”. Having been in the singles biz for nearly a decade, I have oft heard the refrain, “I hate small talk!” That’s mainly because singles hate to go ask somebody where they’re from or what sign they are, and business networkers hate to ask people, “What do you do?” There’s a purpose for small talk, though, and that is to help us learn how we are connected. In those little threads in which we find commonality, like having gone to the same high school, loving Hawaii, or growing up in a similar part of the country, we find not only comfort but companionship, and friends.
My friend Jordan, however, is a man after my own heart, because he has “Big Talk” on his mind. Nearly two years ago, I started this email newsletter and started bringing up odd subjects for people to think about and consider. I have gotten many love letters and plenty of hate mail too, but the best thing is, I got some 10,000 people across the country talking and sometimes “activating”. And that has been my goal all along! So whether you just donated to the food bank, started using some Law of Attraction techniques, started meditating, watched some alternative news, or shot me an email telling me to go You-Know-Where, the journey has been wonderful.
Now I encourage you to join Jordan by chiming in on his project called “Big Talk”. He won’t be asking what your sign is—he’ll leave the astrology to me! But he will offer you lots of forums in which you can shoot the breeze. (One of my blogs is called, El Shamal, “Shoot the breeze, not people.”)
The idea of “Big Talk” takes the idea of introductory small talk UP several notches. Strangers don’t normally discuss things like race, religion, or the meaning of life when they first meet. Joining into Big Talk is like jumping into a big pool and doing a Cannonball!!! You know what I mean! It’s against normal communication patterns to go from “Hi, my name is Andrea” to “My position on race in this country is…” It’s almost considered impolite, and under certain circumstances, it would be. But with Big Talk, as with my weekly email newsletter, we drop the formalities and go for the gusto! And the cool thing is, it’s invigorating and exciting, energizing and meaningful, can be deep and heartfelt, and causes this wonderful sharing thing. Very cool.
Jordan and his friend Nick first started getting into the concept of making their everyday “Big Talk” into something they could share with family, friends, and MORE. The “MORE” part was really BIG. They were trying to figure out how to get people to join into deep and meaningful conversations despite their fear, apathy, prejudice, doubt, and lack of time, among other things. Think of how many times you have avoided getting into a conversation about race, religion, or politics, because certain disagreeing people were in the room. Sometimes, when we discuss subjects that are either unpopular or have been slanted by the media in a certain way, folks immediately get out the boxing gloves—or ball bats! We want to discuss things like ladies and gentlemen—or, at the very least, like the British Parliament (know what I mean? ;) but not like European soccer fans.
Anyway, at Rice, with the encouragement of Professor John Stroup and the funding of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, Jordan, Nick, and webmaster Will started up the Big Talk website, which you can find at http://www.betweenaduck.com . There you can become a fellow Big Talker by joining the fray. Once a month, they pick one question, and discuss it to death, no holds barred. Don’t ya just love it?! The March question is “How does race impact your life and society, and how should it?” You might still be able to get your words in, if you go there right now… Jordan, if you are out there, please send me the April question, so I can get that ball rolling! The goal of Big Talk, according to the website is... “to give people a better understanding of themselves and their world, and to cause a greater appreciation of different cultures and viewpoints.”
So, I encourage you to go to http://www.betweenaduck.com and chat it up, big style!
Meanwhile, here is what I want to share this week…
I heard a smidgin of a Martin Luther King, Jr. speech on the radio this week, and I thought, “Wow, you could change the venue from being about Vietnam to being about Iraq, and it would still make sense.” I have included some snippets of the speech here. What do you think? To read the whole thing or to hear it, go to http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm . Yeah, it was called the “Breaking the Silence” speech. I could go for that. Being a Big Mouth Big Talker myself.
…This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers…
…And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries…They must see Americans as strange liberators....
...What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?...
Now there is little left to build on, save bitterness. Soon the only solid physical foundations remaining will be found at our military bases and in the concrete of the concentration camps we call "fortified hamlets." The peasants may well wonder if we plan to build our new Vietnam on such grounds as these. Could we blame them for such thoughts? We must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise. These, too, are our brothers.
...This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words, and I quote:
“Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the heart of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism (unquote).”
...Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
...A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies…
...A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." …
...A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." …
...America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war…
...We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word" (unquote)…
AND LASTLY, MLK SAYS, ...We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today.
WELL, I MUST ADD, TODAY IS YESTERDAY. Historians know that we are doomed to repeat the past if we don't learn from it.
Gotta go!
If you want to take one of my surveys on “Love & Age”, go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Surveys.html
If you want to find out about improving your Love quotient, go to: http://www.loveinloveout.com/Love_Gods___Goddesses.html
If you want to know all about Soulmates, go to: http://www.propheticeye.com/Soulmates.html .
I also now have my Election predictions and latest world & local predictions, as well as individual predictions for April online, so have fun surfing! http://www.propheticeye.com/Elections_2008.html
Love ya,
Andrea
If you need a consultation or reading, please contact me by emailing me back at the address above, or call 713.301.9843, and leave a message.
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: BrokenBeatz
BrokenBeatz is a fast paced wall-to-wall Drum and Bass mix show featuring scorching live sets, exclusive guest DJ mixes, and interviews with some of the top international names in the genre. BrokenBeatz always features a cutting-edge playlist, regularly including tracks from a truly global range of Drum and Bass producers and MC’s. Expect to hear host, DJ Pmaz, spinning an eclectic range of D&B selections ranging from deep liquid-soul grooves, dance floor mashups, old school ragga-jungle, and plenty of intense dubplate business. For more info check out www.brokenbeatz.org , and be sure to lock on each and every Sunday morning, 4am-6am CST to catch BrokenBeatz live and direct, and exclusively featured on KPFT Houston, 90.1FM. Tuesdays 3-6am.
Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature Blackwater: Mercenary Army, with featured speaker Jeremy Scahill
A hidden story of the U.S. war on Iraq has been the use private contractors, a shadow force almost as big as the American army. The major company operating in Iraq and raking in millions of dollars in taxpayer money is Blackwater. The well-connected North Carolina-based firm is the elite Praetorian Guard of the so-called war on terror. Blackwater and other private armies apparently operate with no supervision or oversight. Their crimes go unpunished. Gen William Caldwell, the top spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said: "Contractors are out of our lane, and we don't comment on them." Jeremy Scahill is the author of the bestseller "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" He is the recipient of the Polk Award for journalism. He is a frequent contributor to "The Nation" magazine and "Democracy Now!"
Date recorded: 7 May 2007 Where recorded: Boulder, CO
You can download these programs or purchase them on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Helping the Homeless
The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and advocate for the needs of persons who are homeless through support and coordination of services. In 1982 at the request of then Harris County Judge Jon Lindsey and Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire, the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc. (the Coalition) was founded by area homeless social services for an exploding number of people who were homeless that were emerging as a result of local economic deterioration. In 1988, the Coalition incorporated as a 501(c) 3. The Goals of the Coaliton include, but are not limited to, establishing, maintaining, providing and assisting those entities that serve the needs of people who are homeless though advocacy, education, information exchange, collection of current and accurate data relevant to homeless issues, identify gaps in homeless services and develop solutions to meet those needs, coordination of public and private resources, and dispensing information and referral sources to those that are homeless or at risk.
Things You can do...
• Support existing programs with time and money. • Use your area of expertise and share your skill. • Get your School, Church or Business Involved. • Build Homes for people that are homeless. • Help with job training to create permanent solutions. • Hire someone who is homeless. • Write to local, state and federal representatives. • Teach your children about the problems of homelessness. • Treat people that are homeless with respect and understanding.
You can volunteer to help the homeless at any of these organizations: JOHN S. DUNN CENTER, Aids Foundation of Houston (AFH), SEARCH, Emergency Aid Coalition, www.volunteerhouston.org, End Hunger Houston, Catholic Charities, Fort Bend County Women's Center, The Furniture Bank, The Star of Hope, Crisis Intervention of Houston. You can mail a donation to: CFTH, Attn: Finance Department, 811 Dallas St, Suite 821, Houston, TX 77002 Or make a donation by telephone at 713-739-7514. This website has lots of info: http://www.homelesshouston.org/hh/Default_EN.asp
Green Action: Drive a Clean Machine.
Go to http://www.h-gac.com/human-services/airchecktexas/default.aspx OR http://www.nctcog.org/trans/air/act/ to find out how you can get some money to turn in your old cloud-emitting car and get a new clean vehicle. The AirCheckTexas Repair and Replacement Assistance Program is designed to help vehicle owners comply with vehicle emissions standards to reduce ozone-forming pollutants created by on-road motor vehicles. It addresses the highest polluting vehicles and provides an incentive for citizens to contribute to the regional air quality solution. The AirCheckTexas Repair and Replacement Assistance Program expanded to offer more financial assistance to more vehicle owners. You may be eligible to receive vouchers for $3,000 toward the purchase of a newer car or truck and $3,500 toward a hybrid vehicle from participating auto dealers. Up to $600 for repair assistance is available. Check it out!!!!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Truth, Lies, & Mirrors on the Wall!
Calling all y'all!
There’s a lot of talk lately about truth and lies lately. Who’s telling the truth, and who isn’t? Roger Clemens? Eliot Spitzer? Hillary? John McCain? But is truth absolute? Should we give people a break if their behavior is not the best, not the most noble? Should we overlook certain deficiencies or faults in certain people if they appear to be a good guy or a good gal in other respects? Well, I do think there are some truths that are absolute. When Bill and Monica and Roger and some of the others meet their Maker (and friends & relatives) in the hereafter, there won’t be any room for excuses. At the pearly gates, it’ll be, didja do it, yes or no? Well, really, since I think God is Santa, the door will either be left open or locked shut when some of those folks get there. And they already know whether the guy with the white beard will leave them coal or a key at their demise. It's rather pointless for us to worry our pretty little heads about it, because they know who will be sweatin' bullets at the final roll call.
So here’s another question, how responsible do we have to be to other people and for other people? Can we lie our asses off and still go to Heaven? Can we cheat on our spouses or significant others and still not take credit for their hurts or betrayals? Can we treat people any way we please?
Well, here’s something to remember: yes, we ARE responsible for ourselves, our actions, and our words, even if we lie. And if the world around us gets upset for what we do or say, whether lie or truth, that too is our baby. Since it’s our baby, we gotta care for it.
Highly spiritual folks know that we create everything about the world we see, even those so-called "betrayals". We literally ARE responsible for the stuff that goes on around us, because what you see around you is the result of your thinking, choices, and actions. Mirror mirror on the wall…Yes, that person in your life who you don’t like is a reflection of YOU. That situations that keeps coming up that put you in this fix is about YOU.
If you are truly spiritual, you know that there’s no use blaming anybody else for anything, because you created everything, fixes and fiestas.
In fact, you don’t have to be spiritual to know this: you just have to be a responsible person or a person of integrity. Well, many of you don’t even need to have integrity all the time, but you do have to have a good head on your shoulders. My dad never understood why some people lead such screwed up lives, because he claims, “Those things never happened to me!” When I was young, I thought that some people just had bad breaks or “bad luck” in their lives. My dad made choices that were good for his family. I’m not saying life was always smooth sailing, but my dad is a responsible man who lives by his principles.
And my mom, she is my best teacher about speaking the truth. Speaking truth may not always be the easiest path, but there’s a freedom in it. For one thing, you don’t have to keep track of your lies. For another thing, you are never weak as long as you speak the truth. Truth is a major sword of empowerment. When you speak it, you can never be hurt, because things are the way they are. But most people can’t handle telling the truth or hearing it. They think they’ve gotta tell a little white lie for kindness or a big fat lie of omission in order to prevent hurting others, and yet telling the truth, to me, is the highest form of showing responsibility and integrity. As Harry Truman once said, “I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.” This is sometimes the way it is, when truth-seekers and truth-speakers meet those who approve of lying or at least those who indulge in it. Telling the truth clears the air. Doesn't the Bible say, “the truth shall set you free?”
Speaking the truth is the best example of taking responsibility for your action and words, and you don't even have to defend yourself! Your words and actions WILL BE your truth. This is something that seems to be lacking in today’s headlines, leaders, and in our own daily lives. Everybody’s going, “He said/she said. He did/she did.” Blame. Let’s blame everyone but ourselves. These are not people who are living in truth, either practically or spiritually. Are these the people we want to be "responsible" for our country?
If you open your mouth once to put the blame on someone for something in your life, you are not facing the repercussions of YOUR OWN choices and actions. If you use anybody or anything (parents, the stars, bad luck) as a scapegoat, you are not paying attention to YOUR OWN "burden of blame". There is only one person who creates your life: YOU. God (or the universe or Santa) makes it possible for you to do this. He gives you a big canvas, a paintbrush, a bunch of paints, and then says, “PAINT!” What did YOU paint today? How have you painted your life? How have you painted your future? Nobody else did it; nobody else does it. Only YOU.
Life is about choices. If you are living with mean, angry, bad people, MOVE. If you hate your job, QUIT. If you aren’t having fun, START. Maybe it’s not all that simple, but maybe it IS. And nobody said simple is EASY. It’s not your partner keeping you in that miserable apartment. It’s you who has chosen to stay with him or her in that misery. It’s not your parents who kept you from “being a success”. You chose not to be a success. Or, maybe, just maybe, you ARE a success, but you’re not judging yourself by the right terms. And those terms are: what do you want in your life? A house, 2 kids, a picket fence, and weekends off to be with your family? If you have that, you ARE a success. You may never have a title or a degree or a six digit salary, and you may never have a mansion, but your life IS a success if you have the things you’ve always wanted. And if you really want those other things, it’s never too late to go for it. I once knew of a fifty-five year old woman whose husband dumped her, so she went back to college to become a lawyer. I also heard recently of a hundred year old man who always wanted to learn to read, and so he did. I myself am 55 and just got my college degree a couple of years ago. It was fun! I didn't sleep for about 3 years, but it was fun!
It’s NEVER too late to fill your life with the actual pursuit of your dreams, because half of the pleasure is the process of getting there. So, no excuses. No scapegoats accepted here. And no victims.
Have a personality problem with somebody? Look again, because that person is showing you YOU. That obnoxious woman who bumped into you in the grocery store? Is she showing you your own obnoxiousness or the part of you that allows yourself to be pushed around all the time? It’s one or the other, and sometimes both! Remember, she was chosen especially for you, just like the prizes in the Newlywed Game. She was placed in your path to show you something about yourself, so did you get the message? Or will it have to happen again? How many times will it happen until you finally get it?
And whenever you accuse someone of something, beware! You are almost certainly talking about yourself! My big lessons have to do with pushy, over-nearing people. They are teaching me to be mighty ornery, because I have played the victim much of my life. They are also teaching me to say no and set boundaries and to tell the truth. Even though I shudder when I see certain people coming, I know they are me, or they are for me, and they have something to teach me. The ones who don’t listen—what do you think they have to teach? How about the ones who have to have the last word? Sound like anybody we know? ;) It’s about learning balance. We take something of the toughness and something of the vulnerable and find the balance. Everybody knows that bullies are bullies because they feel weak and insecure at basis. So, don’t get angry; get even. Even-tempered and balanced, that is.
The other thing I have to say (always a lot!) is: treat people how you wish to be treated. If you have a lot of ugly-tempered people in your life who don’t respect you, then I have two questions for you: how’s YOUR temper lately? (They’re only showing you YOUR anger, and what others show you will get more violent, the more you try to hold your own temper down—take some “safe anger” lessons! Are you giving them respect? “I can’t respect her; she’s a no-good poor example of a co-worker” blah blah blah. Yes, you can. Respect her, that is. She is a human being with basic human rights. No matter how you think she performs as an employee or behaves as a person, respect her. If you don’t respect her first, you will never get respect from her. Ever. This is what keeps most of us at odds with others: we refuse to give people their basic human rights, because we’re too stubborn.
Another significant lesson from such a scenario is that it’s telling you that you don’t respect yourself, if you allow disrespect in your life. So there’s your choice: respect her and see how things change, just like a miracle, or continue the situation where you allow disrespect. At any rate, you’d better look deeply at the issue of respect in your life, and face some of the truths about it.
Believe me, giving people basic human rights can change your life. Not only that, it often changes theirs! More than once I have worked with co-workers who had the reputation of being rude, stubborn, and even mean. I decided immediately that these were individuals who needed a lot of love and a lot of respect, because they didn’t have any for themselves. I “targeted” them and promised myself that I could love and respect than longer than they could be obnoxious to me. I remember even telling one guy that I could love him longer than he could be a jerk, because I knew that he really wasn’t one. Well, I’ll tell you, about face.
This man ended up loving me and I loved him, and we are still the best of friends. He still doesn’t get along with everybody, but we have a deep loyalty to each other born out of being real with one another, being vulnerable, being human. Every “tough case” co-worker was never tough for me, because I knew what they needed. So everybody else would complain about this one or that one, but this one and that one used to love to see me and I loved to see them too! They treated the others who still dissed them behind their back with scorn, but not me. Why do you think that is?
This is not to say that I haven’t had any problems with people. We all do. But it’s the ones that bug me the most that teach me the most—about myself, about loving, about accepting people. One of the wisest angels in my life was my little east Texas Granny, who once told me that in her life she learned two things: to forgive everyone their trespasses and to love people for who they are. Of a particularly overbearing person, she said, “Remember, he don’t mean nothin’ by it; that’s just his way.” Now there’s a bit of East Texas-style unconditional love, if I ever heard it. And that’s the truth.
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Border Crossings
Wednesdays 10:00 - 11:00 PM. News and events from South Asia.Border Crossings features current events, music, and community activities in the broad context of South Asia. Our mission is to provide entertainment, unbiased information, and in-depth analysis. A central component of the show is interviews with local and international writers, artists, journalists and political activists. A regular show consists of recent news and commmentary, music, Houston area cultural events report, and a featured topic for detailed discussion that includes interviews with experts and listener phone calls. It is hosted by Jaspal and Nusrat with production assistance from Krupa and other volunteers. .This show offers open discussion of important local issues as well as issues of relevance to South Asians and the World. It also promotes interactions between people from different South Asian countries and local population. We have no political agenda except to support secularism, understanding of different religions and cultures, and peaceful coexistence in the world.
RECENT SHOWS: have included discussions with Astronaut Sunita Williams, constitutional lawyer Neal Katyal, Pervez Hoodbhoy on Iraq, Houston Council Member Gordon Quan on Iraq, Anita Gaines, Director of International Students Office at the University of Houston on SEVIS registration system, Attorney Imran Mirza on immigration registration program, and Ahmed Rashid on Afghanistan. You can hear some of these shows by visiting their website at http://www.bcrossings.org/
Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature How TV Exploits Its Audience and Advertising & the End of the World
Sut Jhally on the Media in 2 different features. In a 1958 speech, legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow said about TV, "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it is nothing but wires and lights in a box." Imagine if Murrow were around today with all talk shows full of hot air, vitriol and salaciousness. That box is a delivery system for media corporations to sell eyeballs, audiences, to other corporations called advertisers. That's the political economy of TV. Viewers are bombarded with ads wrapped around inane programming. The box has great potential as Murrow says, but it is barely approaching it. TV is more of a device to get people to buy things they don't really need. Sut Jhally is Professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation and the author of The Codes of Advertising. He co-directed the critically acclaimed documentary, Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire. Where recorded: Amherst, MA Date recorded: 8 Mar 2007 You can download these programs or purchase them on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Run, walk, and ride for a charitable cause!
As spring approaches, make sure you have scanned for a great charity event in which you can participate--either by getting your exercise or by volunteering! No matter what your level of ability, you can participate for a cause. To find a charity, think of a disease or issue that has meant alot to someone near and dear to you. You may have known someone with MS or breast cancer, or you may remember how hard it was for you to come up with the money to go to college. Search online for the events going on near you. In the Houston area, preparations for the MS-150 bike ride from Houston to Austin are now underway. There are loads of bike rides that happen before the MS-150 that are training rides that still benefit groups from high schools to elementary schools to other charitable groups. The walks and rides are available in all lengths and for all abilities. The website for the Texas ride is http://www.ms150.org/ms150/. The closest ride in Oklahoma is the Frisco to Fort Worth ride. The website address is http://dallas.ms150.org/dallas/ There is another ride in Texas that goes from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. You can find that ride by going to: http://biketothebeach.ms150.org/btb/ Bike riders in Oklahoma can join the Flower Power Bike Ride in Muskogee, OK. They will offer bike rides from 10-100miles. Contact joel@muskogeeparks.org. To find a fun run or runners group near you, go to http://www.rrca.org and see their national groups. Enjoy, and have a blast helping others!
Green Action: Check the Pollution levels in your city and then email a friend!
You can go to http://www.scorecard.org and plug in your zip code, and find out what hazards are in your neighborhood. I live in Harris County, in the Heights, (where aging hippies and queens go to die! ;) ) and here's what it says about that: " In 2002, this county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of total environmental releases." Oooh, doagie, now I know why I need to be in OKC. I used to hack like a recovering smoker every time I went to see my folks north of Austin. By comparison, where I am in Oklahoma has a very low hazard. Woo hoo! You can feel it, and you can see the stars in the sky at night!
Harris County was among the worst in Total environmental releases, Cancer risk score (air and water releases), Noncancer risk score (air and water releases), Air releases of recognized carcinogens, Air releases of recognized developmental toxicants, and Air releases of recognized reproductive toxicants.
Here are the Texas companies that are contributing to this. The number one cancer risk in Houston is caused by release of carbon tetrachloride. These companies are responsible: Facility Name City Pounds of CFC 11-equivalents GB BIOSCIENCES CORP. in HOUSTON, OXY VINYLS L.P.in LA PORTE, VCM PLANT in LA PORTE, SYNGENTA CROP PROTECTION BAYPORT SITE in PASADENA, DOW CHEMICAL CO.in LA PORTE, LA PORTE ATOFINA PETROCHEMICALS INC. - BAYPORT HDPE PLANT in PASADENA, REDDY ICE #312 in SOUTH HOUSTON, FOAM ENTERPRISES in HOUSTON, DU PONT LA PORTE PLANT in LA PORTE, GLOBAL OCTANES CORP.in DEER PARK, CLEAN HARBORS DEER PARK L.P. in DEER PARK, OXY VINYLS L.P. - DEER PARK C/A in DEER PARK, DEER PARK REFINING L.P. in DEER PARK, POLYTHANE SYSTEMS. INC.in SPRING, CROWN CENTRAL PETROLEUM CORP., HOUSTON REFY.in PASADENA and CELANESE LTD. CLEAR LAKE PLANT in PASADENA.Isn't it funny that one of the major polluters is named "Clear Harbors" and, of course, Clear Lake isn't "clear", as we know.
In Oklahoma, here are the worst polluters. While OKC air is among the best in the country, there has been some releases into the water.Here are the folks polluting the Oklahoma City area. 1 DOUBLE EAGLE REFINERY CO. 2 FOURTH STREET ABANDONED REFINERY 3 MOSLEY ROAD SANITARY LANDFILL 4 TINKER AIR FORCE(SOLDIER CR/BLDG 300) To fnd out what pollutants they are releasing and to write to them about it, please go to http://scorecard.org and plug in your zip code. Then go to "threats" page.
From the Scorecard.org website: You can Take Action.If you are concerned about toxic chemical releases and waste generation in your area, the Environmental Defense encourages you to take action. For facilities that rank in the worst 20% in terms of TRI emissions or waste generation, Environmental Defense is currently providing a free fax service to let you tell these companies your concerns, and request answers to your questions. At your request, a message is sent by fax to the facility at no cost to you, with the facts and figures for that facility already included. You can tailor the message any way you want.
Discussion Forum is the place to air your views, ask questions, or give answers about local chemical pollution, polluters and pollutants. This forum is for discussions about polluting facilities that are profiled in Scorecard, or any other local sources of pollution that concern you. Find out what people are saying about a company, or meet others working on environmental problems in your community.
Scorecard lets you send an email message to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of efforts to improve the Toxics Release Inventory. It also links you to volunteer opportunities and directories of environmental organizations in your area, so you can join with others to work on local toxic chemical problems. And it connects you to information about how to prevent pollution and about the tools other communities have successfully used to reduce pollution.
Facility InformationIf you want to contact a industrial plant directly about its chemical releases and waste generation, Scorecard gives you the contact names and phone numbers for the local plant, as the company itself reported them to TRI.
Please go to http://www.scorecard.org to find out where your community stands! That's your green action for the week!
There’s a lot of talk lately about truth and lies lately. Who’s telling the truth, and who isn’t? Roger Clemens? Eliot Spitzer? Hillary? John McCain? But is truth absolute? Should we give people a break if their behavior is not the best, not the most noble? Should we overlook certain deficiencies or faults in certain people if they appear to be a good guy or a good gal in other respects? Well, I do think there are some truths that are absolute. When Bill and Monica and Roger and some of the others meet their Maker (and friends & relatives) in the hereafter, there won’t be any room for excuses. At the pearly gates, it’ll be, didja do it, yes or no? Well, really, since I think God is Santa, the door will either be left open or locked shut when some of those folks get there. And they already know whether the guy with the white beard will leave them coal or a key at their demise. It's rather pointless for us to worry our pretty little heads about it, because they know who will be sweatin' bullets at the final roll call.
So here’s another question, how responsible do we have to be to other people and for other people? Can we lie our asses off and still go to Heaven? Can we cheat on our spouses or significant others and still not take credit for their hurts or betrayals? Can we treat people any way we please?
Well, here’s something to remember: yes, we ARE responsible for ourselves, our actions, and our words, even if we lie. And if the world around us gets upset for what we do or say, whether lie or truth, that too is our baby. Since it’s our baby, we gotta care for it.
Highly spiritual folks know that we create everything about the world we see, even those so-called "betrayals". We literally ARE responsible for the stuff that goes on around us, because what you see around you is the result of your thinking, choices, and actions. Mirror mirror on the wall…Yes, that person in your life who you don’t like is a reflection of YOU. That situations that keeps coming up that put you in this fix is about YOU.
If you are truly spiritual, you know that there’s no use blaming anybody else for anything, because you created everything, fixes and fiestas.
In fact, you don’t have to be spiritual to know this: you just have to be a responsible person or a person of integrity. Well, many of you don’t even need to have integrity all the time, but you do have to have a good head on your shoulders. My dad never understood why some people lead such screwed up lives, because he claims, “Those things never happened to me!” When I was young, I thought that some people just had bad breaks or “bad luck” in their lives. My dad made choices that were good for his family. I’m not saying life was always smooth sailing, but my dad is a responsible man who lives by his principles.
And my mom, she is my best teacher about speaking the truth. Speaking truth may not always be the easiest path, but there’s a freedom in it. For one thing, you don’t have to keep track of your lies. For another thing, you are never weak as long as you speak the truth. Truth is a major sword of empowerment. When you speak it, you can never be hurt, because things are the way they are. But most people can’t handle telling the truth or hearing it. They think they’ve gotta tell a little white lie for kindness or a big fat lie of omission in order to prevent hurting others, and yet telling the truth, to me, is the highest form of showing responsibility and integrity. As Harry Truman once said, “I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.” This is sometimes the way it is, when truth-seekers and truth-speakers meet those who approve of lying or at least those who indulge in it. Telling the truth clears the air. Doesn't the Bible say, “the truth shall set you free?”
Speaking the truth is the best example of taking responsibility for your action and words, and you don't even have to defend yourself! Your words and actions WILL BE your truth. This is something that seems to be lacking in today’s headlines, leaders, and in our own daily lives. Everybody’s going, “He said/she said. He did/she did.” Blame. Let’s blame everyone but ourselves. These are not people who are living in truth, either practically or spiritually. Are these the people we want to be "responsible" for our country?
If you open your mouth once to put the blame on someone for something in your life, you are not facing the repercussions of YOUR OWN choices and actions. If you use anybody or anything (parents, the stars, bad luck) as a scapegoat, you are not paying attention to YOUR OWN "burden of blame". There is only one person who creates your life: YOU. God (or the universe or Santa) makes it possible for you to do this. He gives you a big canvas, a paintbrush, a bunch of paints, and then says, “PAINT!” What did YOU paint today? How have you painted your life? How have you painted your future? Nobody else did it; nobody else does it. Only YOU.
Life is about choices. If you are living with mean, angry, bad people, MOVE. If you hate your job, QUIT. If you aren’t having fun, START. Maybe it’s not all that simple, but maybe it IS. And nobody said simple is EASY. It’s not your partner keeping you in that miserable apartment. It’s you who has chosen to stay with him or her in that misery. It’s not your parents who kept you from “being a success”. You chose not to be a success. Or, maybe, just maybe, you ARE a success, but you’re not judging yourself by the right terms. And those terms are: what do you want in your life? A house, 2 kids, a picket fence, and weekends off to be with your family? If you have that, you ARE a success. You may never have a title or a degree or a six digit salary, and you may never have a mansion, but your life IS a success if you have the things you’ve always wanted. And if you really want those other things, it’s never too late to go for it. I once knew of a fifty-five year old woman whose husband dumped her, so she went back to college to become a lawyer. I also heard recently of a hundred year old man who always wanted to learn to read, and so he did. I myself am 55 and just got my college degree a couple of years ago. It was fun! I didn't sleep for about 3 years, but it was fun!
It’s NEVER too late to fill your life with the actual pursuit of your dreams, because half of the pleasure is the process of getting there. So, no excuses. No scapegoats accepted here. And no victims.
Have a personality problem with somebody? Look again, because that person is showing you YOU. That obnoxious woman who bumped into you in the grocery store? Is she showing you your own obnoxiousness or the part of you that allows yourself to be pushed around all the time? It’s one or the other, and sometimes both! Remember, she was chosen especially for you, just like the prizes in the Newlywed Game. She was placed in your path to show you something about yourself, so did you get the message? Or will it have to happen again? How many times will it happen until you finally get it?
And whenever you accuse someone of something, beware! You are almost certainly talking about yourself! My big lessons have to do with pushy, over-nearing people. They are teaching me to be mighty ornery, because I have played the victim much of my life. They are also teaching me to say no and set boundaries and to tell the truth. Even though I shudder when I see certain people coming, I know they are me, or they are for me, and they have something to teach me. The ones who don’t listen—what do you think they have to teach? How about the ones who have to have the last word? Sound like anybody we know? ;) It’s about learning balance. We take something of the toughness and something of the vulnerable and find the balance. Everybody knows that bullies are bullies because they feel weak and insecure at basis. So, don’t get angry; get even. Even-tempered and balanced, that is.
The other thing I have to say (always a lot!) is: treat people how you wish to be treated. If you have a lot of ugly-tempered people in your life who don’t respect you, then I have two questions for you: how’s YOUR temper lately? (They’re only showing you YOUR anger, and what others show you will get more violent, the more you try to hold your own temper down—take some “safe anger” lessons! Are you giving them respect? “I can’t respect her; she’s a no-good poor example of a co-worker” blah blah blah. Yes, you can. Respect her, that is. She is a human being with basic human rights. No matter how you think she performs as an employee or behaves as a person, respect her. If you don’t respect her first, you will never get respect from her. Ever. This is what keeps most of us at odds with others: we refuse to give people their basic human rights, because we’re too stubborn.
Another significant lesson from such a scenario is that it’s telling you that you don’t respect yourself, if you allow disrespect in your life. So there’s your choice: respect her and see how things change, just like a miracle, or continue the situation where you allow disrespect. At any rate, you’d better look deeply at the issue of respect in your life, and face some of the truths about it.
Believe me, giving people basic human rights can change your life. Not only that, it often changes theirs! More than once I have worked with co-workers who had the reputation of being rude, stubborn, and even mean. I decided immediately that these were individuals who needed a lot of love and a lot of respect, because they didn’t have any for themselves. I “targeted” them and promised myself that I could love and respect than longer than they could be obnoxious to me. I remember even telling one guy that I could love him longer than he could be a jerk, because I knew that he really wasn’t one. Well, I’ll tell you, about face.
This man ended up loving me and I loved him, and we are still the best of friends. He still doesn’t get along with everybody, but we have a deep loyalty to each other born out of being real with one another, being vulnerable, being human. Every “tough case” co-worker was never tough for me, because I knew what they needed. So everybody else would complain about this one or that one, but this one and that one used to love to see me and I loved to see them too! They treated the others who still dissed them behind their back with scorn, but not me. Why do you think that is?
This is not to say that I haven’t had any problems with people. We all do. But it’s the ones that bug me the most that teach me the most—about myself, about loving, about accepting people. One of the wisest angels in my life was my little east Texas Granny, who once told me that in her life she learned two things: to forgive everyone their trespasses and to love people for who they are. Of a particularly overbearing person, she said, “Remember, he don’t mean nothin’ by it; that’s just his way.” Now there’s a bit of East Texas-style unconditional love, if I ever heard it. And that’s the truth.
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Border Crossings
Wednesdays 10:00 - 11:00 PM. News and events from South Asia.Border Crossings features current events, music, and community activities in the broad context of South Asia. Our mission is to provide entertainment, unbiased information, and in-depth analysis. A central component of the show is interviews with local and international writers, artists, journalists and political activists. A regular show consists of recent news and commmentary, music, Houston area cultural events report, and a featured topic for detailed discussion that includes interviews with experts and listener phone calls. It is hosted by Jaspal and Nusrat with production assistance from Krupa and other volunteers. .This show offers open discussion of important local issues as well as issues of relevance to South Asians and the World. It also promotes interactions between people from different South Asian countries and local population. We have no political agenda except to support secularism, understanding of different religions and cultures, and peaceful coexistence in the world.
RECENT SHOWS: have included discussions with Astronaut Sunita Williams, constitutional lawyer Neal Katyal, Pervez Hoodbhoy on Iraq, Houston Council Member Gordon Quan on Iraq, Anita Gaines, Director of International Students Office at the University of Houston on SEVIS registration system, Attorney Imran Mirza on immigration registration program, and Ahmed Rashid on Afghanistan. You can hear some of these shows by visiting their website at http://www.bcrossings.org/
Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature How TV Exploits Its Audience and Advertising & the End of the World
Sut Jhally on the Media in 2 different features. In a 1958 speech, legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow said about TV, "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it is nothing but wires and lights in a box." Imagine if Murrow were around today with all talk shows full of hot air, vitriol and salaciousness. That box is a delivery system for media corporations to sell eyeballs, audiences, to other corporations called advertisers. That's the political economy of TV. Viewers are bombarded with ads wrapped around inane programming. The box has great potential as Murrow says, but it is barely approaching it. TV is more of a device to get people to buy things they don't really need. Sut Jhally is Professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation and the author of The Codes of Advertising. He co-directed the critically acclaimed documentary, Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire. Where recorded: Amherst, MA Date recorded: 8 Mar 2007 You can download these programs or purchase them on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Run, walk, and ride for a charitable cause!
As spring approaches, make sure you have scanned for a great charity event in which you can participate--either by getting your exercise or by volunteering! No matter what your level of ability, you can participate for a cause. To find a charity, think of a disease or issue that has meant alot to someone near and dear to you. You may have known someone with MS or breast cancer, or you may remember how hard it was for you to come up with the money to go to college. Search online for the events going on near you. In the Houston area, preparations for the MS-150 bike ride from Houston to Austin are now underway. There are loads of bike rides that happen before the MS-150 that are training rides that still benefit groups from high schools to elementary schools to other charitable groups. The walks and rides are available in all lengths and for all abilities. The website for the Texas ride is http://www.ms150.org/ms150/. The closest ride in Oklahoma is the Frisco to Fort Worth ride. The website address is http://dallas.ms150.org/dallas/ There is another ride in Texas that goes from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. You can find that ride by going to: http://biketothebeach.ms150.org/btb/ Bike riders in Oklahoma can join the Flower Power Bike Ride in Muskogee, OK. They will offer bike rides from 10-100miles. Contact joel@muskogeeparks.org. To find a fun run or runners group near you, go to http://www.rrca.org and see their national groups. Enjoy, and have a blast helping others!
Green Action: Check the Pollution levels in your city and then email a friend!
You can go to http://www.scorecard.org and plug in your zip code, and find out what hazards are in your neighborhood. I live in Harris County, in the Heights, (where aging hippies and queens go to die! ;) ) and here's what it says about that: " In 2002, this county ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of total environmental releases." Oooh, doagie, now I know why I need to be in OKC. I used to hack like a recovering smoker every time I went to see my folks north of Austin. By comparison, where I am in Oklahoma has a very low hazard. Woo hoo! You can feel it, and you can see the stars in the sky at night!
Harris County was among the worst in Total environmental releases, Cancer risk score (air and water releases), Noncancer risk score (air and water releases), Air releases of recognized carcinogens, Air releases of recognized developmental toxicants, and Air releases of recognized reproductive toxicants.
Here are the Texas companies that are contributing to this. The number one cancer risk in Houston is caused by release of carbon tetrachloride. These companies are responsible: Facility Name City Pounds of CFC 11-equivalents GB BIOSCIENCES CORP. in HOUSTON, OXY VINYLS L.P.in LA PORTE, VCM PLANT in LA PORTE, SYNGENTA CROP PROTECTION BAYPORT SITE in PASADENA, DOW CHEMICAL CO.in LA PORTE, LA PORTE ATOFINA PETROCHEMICALS INC. - BAYPORT HDPE PLANT in PASADENA, REDDY ICE #312 in SOUTH HOUSTON, FOAM ENTERPRISES in HOUSTON, DU PONT LA PORTE PLANT in LA PORTE, GLOBAL OCTANES CORP.in DEER PARK, CLEAN HARBORS DEER PARK L.P. in DEER PARK, OXY VINYLS L.P. - DEER PARK C/A in DEER PARK, DEER PARK REFINING L.P. in DEER PARK, POLYTHANE SYSTEMS. INC.in SPRING, CROWN CENTRAL PETROLEUM CORP., HOUSTON REFY.in PASADENA and CELANESE LTD. CLEAR LAKE PLANT in PASADENA.Isn't it funny that one of the major polluters is named "Clear Harbors" and, of course, Clear Lake isn't "clear", as we know.
In Oklahoma, here are the worst polluters. While OKC air is among the best in the country, there has been some releases into the water.Here are the folks polluting the Oklahoma City area. 1 DOUBLE EAGLE REFINERY CO. 2 FOURTH STREET ABANDONED REFINERY 3 MOSLEY ROAD SANITARY LANDFILL 4 TINKER AIR FORCE(SOLDIER CR/BLDG 300) To fnd out what pollutants they are releasing and to write to them about it, please go to http://scorecard.org and plug in your zip code. Then go to "threats" page.
From the Scorecard.org website: You can Take Action.If you are concerned about toxic chemical releases and waste generation in your area, the Environmental Defense encourages you to take action. For facilities that rank in the worst 20% in terms of TRI emissions or waste generation, Environmental Defense is currently providing a free fax service to let you tell these companies your concerns, and request answers to your questions. At your request, a message is sent by fax to the facility at no cost to you, with the facts and figures for that facility already included. You can tailor the message any way you want.
Discussion Forum is the place to air your views, ask questions, or give answers about local chemical pollution, polluters and pollutants. This forum is for discussions about polluting facilities that are profiled in Scorecard, or any other local sources of pollution that concern you. Find out what people are saying about a company, or meet others working on environmental problems in your community.
Scorecard lets you send an email message to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of efforts to improve the Toxics Release Inventory. It also links you to volunteer opportunities and directories of environmental organizations in your area, so you can join with others to work on local toxic chemical problems. And it connects you to information about how to prevent pollution and about the tools other communities have successfully used to reduce pollution.
Facility InformationIf you want to contact a industrial plant directly about its chemical releases and waste generation, Scorecard gives you the contact names and phone numbers for the local plant, as the company itself reported them to TRI.
Please go to http://www.scorecard.org to find out where your community stands! That's your green action for the week!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
True Love and Goo Goo Eyes
Dearly Beloveds and Friends---
Have you missed me? I am missing you, that's for sure, as I write from wintry weather on the Plains. I'm in the throes of home decorating and although I enjoy things like stripping wall paper and painting, I feel a bit lonely out here. It was a Valentine's Day without all of you, and that, I regret! The world has been a bit crazy, as I promised in my January email, and even though I know the train is coming, sometimes there's no way to prepare for it. Even if you know the guy is waiting in the alley for you, sometimes all the karate classes in the world, a big hard baseball bat, and even a high-powered gun won't help. In astrology, as in life, prayer is the only thing that can save you, and in this case, I was praying, all right! Sometimes I drag my feet when I don't want to do something, but the train comes on nonetheless. So, heck, I just got on the train, and I hope it goes somewhere fun. So far, so good.
Although I have so much political stuff to write about, without even mentioning any of the candidates, I thought I should give you all a break and write about LOVE, as we are at Valentine's Time. Prayer and LOVE are the great healers. All those folks finagling with the The Secret or love potions and money spells need to know that LOVE is the thing that brings you what you REALLY want. I mean, the Love you have inside you, not that stuff you see on "Millionaire Matchmaker". The fastest way to achieving Love is to BE loving. And there you have it! No spells or wishes required!
But times have changed, and while some things stay the same, the nature of relationships is changing. Partnerships are no longer meant to be ownerships or power trips or even codependencies. A new kind of partnership and a new kind of love is here. (or is it so new after all?) The partnerships are becoming open and equal with more independent individuals, and the new love is unconditional, or as my friend Rosie used to say, the kind of love that states “I accept you” instead of “I love you”.
This being the case, I hope we will stop seeing maudlin movies that show two people who can’t live without each other. Well, of course, you CAN live without each other! What did you do for the first twenty or so years of your life? Personally, I find certain romantic dramas portray folks who are obviously severely dysfunctional. Persons who stare into each other’s eyes continuously while the world passes them by are not exhibiting love, but probably are showing the effects of what I call “karmic charm”, and what the Eva Peirrakos' Pathwork books call Eros. This is an immediate and heightened level of attraction where the beloved appears golden in every respect. I say, give it a few years! In some cases, only a few months are necessary for the spell of Eros to wear off, and then, so does the so-called “love”. Obviously, it never was love in the first place, because love is NOT this romantically blissful entwinement so often depicted in movies, dramas, and books. What’s demonstrated is really just infatuation. And, really, who wants that?
Okay, I see a few of you raised your hands. Y’all are obviously immature, narcissistic egos or needy love-starved, just-dying-to-be-codependent souls. Or maybe you’re just lonely and want to be adored for a while. But, listen, all is not well in Pedestal Land, because eventually one of two things happens: you fall off your perch, OR it dissolves under your feet. And that’s when infatuation is no help to you, because it and its magnetic power are no longer there. So then what do you do? Hope for another adoring pal to become enamoured of you? Go after another “Love Fix” yourself? But remember, it’s not even really love; it’s a synthetic replacement that disintegrates the first time you show your true colors.
Then there’s those of you who like being UNDER the pedestal: the doormats, the foot wipes. Y’all are addicted to loving, to adoring even the most obnoxious folks. And yet, remember again, this really isn’t loving: it’s an addiction to being a victim, to being used, and is probably a behavior learned in childhood or at least an attitude adopted at that time.
I know you’re asking, “Well, if such blind adoration isn’t love, then what IS real love?” The realest kind of love is often that of a parent for a child, the unconditional variety that says: I love you no matter how you are, even if you misbehave, get dirty, wet your pants, eat with your hands, and get bad grades. I love you whether you’re fat or thin, plain or pretty, smart or not, and no matter what you believe or whatever you do. This is the ideal kind of love that we should have for a mate. Now I admit that some of us are hard tested by our loved ones at many times. They do makes us mad (or sad) sometimes, and I’m certainly not suggesting that you seek out a Significant Other with a bladder problem. But truth be told, if you really do love someone and they are the incontinent sort, you’ll bring them some “Depends” with their next bouquet of flowers. Yes, even that will not stop you from loving someone if you really do.
Now I know y’all hate advice, but I’ll give it anyway, and then you can choose to ignore me if you’re ornery and like to do things the hard way. So here it is: you can’t change people. They can only change themselves. So if you want love in your life, you’ll have to love people the way they are. If there’s something you don’t like about your latest gal pal or boy toy, and if you REALLY want love in your life, then you’d better learn to love that thing you don’t like, because it’s there for life, for better or for worse. And when you can love that person the way he or she is, even when they are being The Ultimate Jerk, without losing your own identity, then you’ve got it: TRUE LOVE. And if you can stick with your Significant Other throughout the bad times as well as the good, then you’ve got it. True Love. How about, can you love this person if they gain weight, lose their hair, get a disease? If yours is an unequivocal “yes!” then you’ve got True Love.
And what if your answer to one of those questions is NO? Maybe you need to learn something about what True Love is. Or maybe that person just isn’t the one for you. One thing’s for sure: it’s not True Love. True Love isn’t dreamy eyes; it isn’t physical lust, and it isn’t personality addiction. In the movies, we like to see pretty people, lustful and dreamy, who “can’t live without each other”. These people are, for one thing, imaginings, and for another, sick imaginings. I have a friend who has refused to let her female children watch Disney movies so they won't be misled about women's roles by them. I like that idea, actually!
More important today is the individual who is just as comfortable being alone as with others: a well balanced, fascinating person who is interested in something (not just focused on or “living for” someone) and who feels good about who he or she is. If you think another person is going to “fill up the holes in you", you are sadly mistaken. Besides, I can’t think of anybody more annoying than a so-called Prince Charming who can’t look at anything besides me and who needs to call 5 times a day for contact. I was married to someone like that, and it wasn't fun, or love, either. Sweet words won’t sway me if I know they are bullsh** (or if I know it is clingy BS).
How to gain a girl's attention? Ben Franklin knew: pay homage to her mind, and then you'll get the rest of the body. Or, I say to both guys and girls, just be yourself. Don’t try to impress me. Just be you. What are you interested in? Talk about it, and talk about yourself, but not too much. Guys whose only topic of conversation is themselves are plentiful and boring too; remember to keep the conversation two way. That means we can talk about me too, but again, not too much.
Just be an interesting person to do stuff with, whether it’s to talk or not to talk. Sometimes it’s great to have a partner just to be quiet with. You don’t have to try hard to find the perfect pal or to be one: just be genuinely you, and you’ll naturally attract the perfect partner. If you try too hard or push too much, you’ll only set your potential partners running away, so let people know that “what you see is what you get”. If they like it, they’ll stick around all on their own without you having to get out a collar and chain. And don’t lie about you are, what you like, etc. If you like at all, you are up the S creek, because you won’t attract a real or lasting match for yourself, and besides, you’re bound to get found out eventually. Never try to be someone you’re not.
One thing more: you don’t really NEED a relationship. It’s nice, it can be fun, comforting, even exciting, but the main person on earth that you need to get to know is YOU. When you’ve accomplished this and enjoy your own company and can be fine with solitude, THEN you’re really ready for Real Relationship and True Love. In the relationship biz, we know that love needs can be met in many ways, with family and friends, with meaningful and purposeful work with others, even with pets!
But a love partnership these days is about becoming a true partnership, two individuals each leading exciting lives and then sharing the excitement with each other when they get in each other’s company. Partners are each other’s moral support group, cheering one another on to accomplish their individual dreams, which may or may not happen to coincide with each other. But if the True Love is there, it doesn’t matter if the paths are different. The freedom of unconditional love is a commitment to allow each other to pursue desired paths, come what may. Even Mom and Dad did that, in their own way.
For those of you who haven’t yet found this highly idealistic state in life and for those of you who think this is all a bunch of hooey, here’s a little mud in your eye: For all I’ve said, every person you’re with is already your perfect partner AT THIS VERY MOMENT IN TIME, no matter how screwed up they (and therefore you too) are. Every partnership is holy, whether we think we feel love or whether we don’t feel any at all, because our relationships are showing us every day how we are progressing (or not) on the path of life. How are you doing? Look at your relationships with others, and you will see reflected back at you your own personal progress and self-growth. That said, I hope you are respecting others and that you are requiring that they be respectful of you, even while you love them with all their flaws. And that, my friends is LOVE.
Have a great week! For those trying reach me, email me back at the email address above, or call my cell phone and leave a message (713.301.9843). All readings will have to be done by phone, and that is indeed possible, as I do this for people all over the world all the time. For other stuff, email me. God bless the internet and the cell phones!!! What did we do twenty years ago? We got in our cars and drove or wrote letters. But then, gas was cheap, and stamps were too!
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blues Brunch on Sundays
11 AM - 2 PM. on KPFT radio. "Blues Brunch is a blues show representing the only form of music that knows no boundaries be it color, religion, national origin, or other. It is music that was created by blacks in America reflecting their suffering as slaves and laborers. With that said and since part of our mission is to foster peace among the peoples of the world, I feel this show through its music and its diversity, has succeeded and continues to succeed in bridging the gap between listeners of this world, whomever they may be... This is the reason I had when I first started doing this show ages ago, and I'm sticking to it!"--Nuri Nuri, "The Big Bossman". This award-winning show is produced and hosted by a foreign guy, a Palestinian Moslem at that! Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature The Terror Dream with Susan Faludi 9/11 was a double hijacking. First the actual event, and then the political hijacking engineered by an assortment of neocons, theocons, chicken hawks and born-again imperialists. Within weeks Afghanistan was attacked and occupied and plans were underway to invade Iraq, even though that country had nothing to do with 9/11. America, muscular and robust, fights wars and threatens others with military action. And something was happening on the home front as well. There was a revival of so-called traditional values and gender roles. Men defend and protect and women stay home and raise kids. It was like old times. Masculinity was back. And feminism was put in its place: on its back and in the kitchen. Political theater kicked in with pseudo-macho presidents swaggering on aircraft carrier flight decks to fables about Jessica Lynch. Did fairy talesreplace reality? Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her articles appear in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Nation. She is the author of the bestseller Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her latest book is The Terror Dream: Fear & Fantasy in Post-9/11 America.
Where recorded: Portland, Oregon on October 19, 2007
You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!!
WOW, Day of Action and WOW! Walk for Women 2008On International Women's Day let's cause a stir! Join our WOW! Day of Action and help us celebrate women around the world. Here's how to get involved! Whether you join us in person and walk our fun, one-mile walk, or walk virtually from your location - you can be involved in this event! WOW! Parties for a Cause. Gather some friends together and have some fun, while at the same time supporting the work of WOW! Plan one March 8 or any day during March. Become a WOW! supporter! Any donation made during February or March this year will qualify you as a member. Please join us! See what our friends and colleagues are doing on March 8! Join Work of Women (WOW!) @ World Neighbors on International Women's Day for our first annual Walk for Women. WOW! @ World Neighbors supports World Neighbors entire mission, including activities like women's savings and credit groups, leadership development, water projects, and community and reproductive health. It also goes to the crucial work of social change - of supporting communities to work together, identify solutions to their needs and involve members equitably in contributing to and benefiting from the development process. It challenges men and women to be creators and participants in a culture of hope and empowerment, and to share equally in the fruits of their investment. By participating in this event you will be making a difference in the lives of women throughout the world. Go to: http://walkforwomen.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=265302 or http://www.wn.org for more on World Neighbors.For info about how to do a Party for Women instead, go to: http://www.workofwomen.org/Party-for-Change.php
Help help help! Darfur: Aerial bombings and attacks lead thousands of civilians to flee to Chad Geneva/Birak-Tchad -Medicins Sans Frontieres is extremely concerned by the fate of civilians remaining in targeted areas and requests unhindered access to these populations. From February 8 to 10, the Sudanese army, assisted by militias, launched a large offensive in northwest Darfur. This military offensive, one of the most violent over the past few years, resulted in an immediate population displacement and the forced interruption of all medical activities in Seleia where MSF had been running a health centre project since 2006. Our team present in Chad, the neighbouring country, confirms that at least 7,000 new refugees, including Sudanese staff from MSF, reached the area of Birak after fleeing the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba and Seleia now emptied of their population. This is only a fraction of the civilians directly affected by the offensive which are estimated to be around 50,000 people. According to the refugees, the attacks started on February 8, with aerial bombardment by military planes and attack helicopters. Testimonies of refugees tell the horror of the violence they were faced with. "We saw the soldiers surrounding our town before they started looting our houses setting them afire," said one of the inhabitants of Seleia who arrived in Birak region. The compound of the MSF team was attacked and looted, despite the fact that many women and children had sought refuge in the medical structure. Furthermore, the displaced population reports being further attacked, threatened and looted by roaming militias, while en route to Chad during the night. The refugees in Chad have gathered around villages, under trees, and have nothing but the clothes they wore when they fled. The MSF team has taken charge of some of the wounded in need of urgent medical care. The immediate priorities are to provide access to clean water and distribute shelter blankets, as the area is particularly cold and windy, and to set up medical consultations. "MSF is extremely worried about the fate of those populations that were left behind," said Huub Verhagen, MSF Head of Operations for Chad and Sudan. "Many families have been separated during the attack and are without news of those who remain in Darfur." Access to the region north of El Genina has been systematically refused to our international staff in Sudan since mid-December 2007, despite reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the need to carry out a rapid health assessment after the recent attacks. MSF is deeply concerned by the situation and requests to all belligerents free and unhindered access to the populations in dire need of emergency assistance. MSF medical teams have been working on both sides of the border between Chad and Darfur-Sudan since 2004, providing care for populations directly affected by the conflict. In Seleia, MSF provided a range of medical services including antenatal and surgical care, with an average of 1, 500 consultations per month. In mid-December 2007, the international staff in Seleia was temporarily evacuated but had since then repeatedly requested administrative authorizations to return to the area. (taken from the MSF website)
Please help by donating at this online location: http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/donations/OR learn how you can volunteer at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Green Action: Go to your Extension Service now for info on planting!
Yes, folks, it's that time of year to get to work planting your "Carbon Credits"! You can get a soil sample test from your Extension Service as well as a complete list of what's good plantin' for your area. In Oklahoma, contact your County Extension Service at your local County Courthouse or logon to: http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/extension In Texas, go to http://texasextension.tamu.edu/ to find out where your local office is. The websites have lots of great info. Texas AgriLife Extension Service offers practical, how-to education based on university research. It's available to any resident of Texas. You may read it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio, attend an Extension workshop, order a publication, or just call your county Extension office! Get planting, and if you've never done it before, now's the time!
Have you missed me? I am missing you, that's for sure, as I write from wintry weather on the Plains. I'm in the throes of home decorating and although I enjoy things like stripping wall paper and painting, I feel a bit lonely out here. It was a Valentine's Day without all of you, and that, I regret! The world has been a bit crazy, as I promised in my January email, and even though I know the train is coming, sometimes there's no way to prepare for it. Even if you know the guy is waiting in the alley for you, sometimes all the karate classes in the world, a big hard baseball bat, and even a high-powered gun won't help. In astrology, as in life, prayer is the only thing that can save you, and in this case, I was praying, all right! Sometimes I drag my feet when I don't want to do something, but the train comes on nonetheless. So, heck, I just got on the train, and I hope it goes somewhere fun. So far, so good.
Although I have so much political stuff to write about, without even mentioning any of the candidates, I thought I should give you all a break and write about LOVE, as we are at Valentine's Time. Prayer and LOVE are the great healers. All those folks finagling with the The Secret or love potions and money spells need to know that LOVE is the thing that brings you what you REALLY want. I mean, the Love you have inside you, not that stuff you see on "Millionaire Matchmaker". The fastest way to achieving Love is to BE loving. And there you have it! No spells or wishes required!
But times have changed, and while some things stay the same, the nature of relationships is changing. Partnerships are no longer meant to be ownerships or power trips or even codependencies. A new kind of partnership and a new kind of love is here. (or is it so new after all?) The partnerships are becoming open and equal with more independent individuals, and the new love is unconditional, or as my friend Rosie used to say, the kind of love that states “I accept you” instead of “I love you”.
This being the case, I hope we will stop seeing maudlin movies that show two people who can’t live without each other. Well, of course, you CAN live without each other! What did you do for the first twenty or so years of your life? Personally, I find certain romantic dramas portray folks who are obviously severely dysfunctional. Persons who stare into each other’s eyes continuously while the world passes them by are not exhibiting love, but probably are showing the effects of what I call “karmic charm”, and what the Eva Peirrakos' Pathwork books call Eros. This is an immediate and heightened level of attraction where the beloved appears golden in every respect. I say, give it a few years! In some cases, only a few months are necessary for the spell of Eros to wear off, and then, so does the so-called “love”. Obviously, it never was love in the first place, because love is NOT this romantically blissful entwinement so often depicted in movies, dramas, and books. What’s demonstrated is really just infatuation. And, really, who wants that?
Okay, I see a few of you raised your hands. Y’all are obviously immature, narcissistic egos or needy love-starved, just-dying-to-be-codependent souls. Or maybe you’re just lonely and want to be adored for a while. But, listen, all is not well in Pedestal Land, because eventually one of two things happens: you fall off your perch, OR it dissolves under your feet. And that’s when infatuation is no help to you, because it and its magnetic power are no longer there. So then what do you do? Hope for another adoring pal to become enamoured of you? Go after another “Love Fix” yourself? But remember, it’s not even really love; it’s a synthetic replacement that disintegrates the first time you show your true colors.
Then there’s those of you who like being UNDER the pedestal: the doormats, the foot wipes. Y’all are addicted to loving, to adoring even the most obnoxious folks. And yet, remember again, this really isn’t loving: it’s an addiction to being a victim, to being used, and is probably a behavior learned in childhood or at least an attitude adopted at that time.
I know you’re asking, “Well, if such blind adoration isn’t love, then what IS real love?” The realest kind of love is often that of a parent for a child, the unconditional variety that says: I love you no matter how you are, even if you misbehave, get dirty, wet your pants, eat with your hands, and get bad grades. I love you whether you’re fat or thin, plain or pretty, smart or not, and no matter what you believe or whatever you do. This is the ideal kind of love that we should have for a mate. Now I admit that some of us are hard tested by our loved ones at many times. They do makes us mad (or sad) sometimes, and I’m certainly not suggesting that you seek out a Significant Other with a bladder problem. But truth be told, if you really do love someone and they are the incontinent sort, you’ll bring them some “Depends” with their next bouquet of flowers. Yes, even that will not stop you from loving someone if you really do.
Now I know y’all hate advice, but I’ll give it anyway, and then you can choose to ignore me if you’re ornery and like to do things the hard way. So here it is: you can’t change people. They can only change themselves. So if you want love in your life, you’ll have to love people the way they are. If there’s something you don’t like about your latest gal pal or boy toy, and if you REALLY want love in your life, then you’d better learn to love that thing you don’t like, because it’s there for life, for better or for worse. And when you can love that person the way he or she is, even when they are being The Ultimate Jerk, without losing your own identity, then you’ve got it: TRUE LOVE. And if you can stick with your Significant Other throughout the bad times as well as the good, then you’ve got it. True Love. How about, can you love this person if they gain weight, lose their hair, get a disease? If yours is an unequivocal “yes!” then you’ve got True Love.
And what if your answer to one of those questions is NO? Maybe you need to learn something about what True Love is. Or maybe that person just isn’t the one for you. One thing’s for sure: it’s not True Love. True Love isn’t dreamy eyes; it isn’t physical lust, and it isn’t personality addiction. In the movies, we like to see pretty people, lustful and dreamy, who “can’t live without each other”. These people are, for one thing, imaginings, and for another, sick imaginings. I have a friend who has refused to let her female children watch Disney movies so they won't be misled about women's roles by them. I like that idea, actually!
More important today is the individual who is just as comfortable being alone as with others: a well balanced, fascinating person who is interested in something (not just focused on or “living for” someone) and who feels good about who he or she is. If you think another person is going to “fill up the holes in you", you are sadly mistaken. Besides, I can’t think of anybody more annoying than a so-called Prince Charming who can’t look at anything besides me and who needs to call 5 times a day for contact. I was married to someone like that, and it wasn't fun, or love, either. Sweet words won’t sway me if I know they are bullsh** (or if I know it is clingy BS).
How to gain a girl's attention? Ben Franklin knew: pay homage to her mind, and then you'll get the rest of the body. Or, I say to both guys and girls, just be yourself. Don’t try to impress me. Just be you. What are you interested in? Talk about it, and talk about yourself, but not too much. Guys whose only topic of conversation is themselves are plentiful and boring too; remember to keep the conversation two way. That means we can talk about me too, but again, not too much.
Just be an interesting person to do stuff with, whether it’s to talk or not to talk. Sometimes it’s great to have a partner just to be quiet with. You don’t have to try hard to find the perfect pal or to be one: just be genuinely you, and you’ll naturally attract the perfect partner. If you try too hard or push too much, you’ll only set your potential partners running away, so let people know that “what you see is what you get”. If they like it, they’ll stick around all on their own without you having to get out a collar and chain. And don’t lie about you are, what you like, etc. If you like at all, you are up the S creek, because you won’t attract a real or lasting match for yourself, and besides, you’re bound to get found out eventually. Never try to be someone you’re not.
One thing more: you don’t really NEED a relationship. It’s nice, it can be fun, comforting, even exciting, but the main person on earth that you need to get to know is YOU. When you’ve accomplished this and enjoy your own company and can be fine with solitude, THEN you’re really ready for Real Relationship and True Love. In the relationship biz, we know that love needs can be met in many ways, with family and friends, with meaningful and purposeful work with others, even with pets!
But a love partnership these days is about becoming a true partnership, two individuals each leading exciting lives and then sharing the excitement with each other when they get in each other’s company. Partners are each other’s moral support group, cheering one another on to accomplish their individual dreams, which may or may not happen to coincide with each other. But if the True Love is there, it doesn’t matter if the paths are different. The freedom of unconditional love is a commitment to allow each other to pursue desired paths, come what may. Even Mom and Dad did that, in their own way.
For those of you who haven’t yet found this highly idealistic state in life and for those of you who think this is all a bunch of hooey, here’s a little mud in your eye: For all I’ve said, every person you’re with is already your perfect partner AT THIS VERY MOMENT IN TIME, no matter how screwed up they (and therefore you too) are. Every partnership is holy, whether we think we feel love or whether we don’t feel any at all, because our relationships are showing us every day how we are progressing (or not) on the path of life. How are you doing? Look at your relationships with others, and you will see reflected back at you your own personal progress and self-growth. That said, I hope you are respecting others and that you are requiring that they be respectful of you, even while you love them with all their flaws. And that, my friends is LOVE.
Have a great week! For those trying reach me, email me back at the email address above, or call my cell phone and leave a message (713.301.9843). All readings will have to be done by phone, and that is indeed possible, as I do this for people all over the world all the time. For other stuff, email me. God bless the internet and the cell phones!!! What did we do twenty years ago? We got in our cars and drove or wrote letters. But then, gas was cheap, and stamps were too!
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blues Brunch on Sundays
11 AM - 2 PM. on KPFT radio. "Blues Brunch is a blues show representing the only form of music that knows no boundaries be it color, religion, national origin, or other. It is music that was created by blacks in America reflecting their suffering as slaves and laborers. With that said and since part of our mission is to foster peace among the peoples of the world, I feel this show through its music and its diversity, has succeeded and continues to succeed in bridging the gap between listeners of this world, whomever they may be... This is the reason I had when I first started doing this show ages ago, and I'm sticking to it!"--Nuri Nuri, "The Big Bossman". This award-winning show is produced and hosted by a foreign guy, a Palestinian Moslem at that! Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature The Terror Dream with Susan Faludi 9/11 was a double hijacking. First the actual event, and then the political hijacking engineered by an assortment of neocons, theocons, chicken hawks and born-again imperialists. Within weeks Afghanistan was attacked and occupied and plans were underway to invade Iraq, even though that country had nothing to do with 9/11. America, muscular and robust, fights wars and threatens others with military action. And something was happening on the home front as well. There was a revival of so-called traditional values and gender roles. Men defend and protect and women stay home and raise kids. It was like old times. Masculinity was back. And feminism was put in its place: on its back and in the kitchen. Political theater kicked in with pseudo-macho presidents swaggering on aircraft carrier flight decks to fables about Jessica Lynch. Did fairy talesreplace reality? Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her articles appear in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Nation. She is the author of the bestseller Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her latest book is The Terror Dream: Fear & Fantasy in Post-9/11 America.
Where recorded: Portland, Oregon on October 19, 2007
You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!!
WOW, Day of Action and WOW! Walk for Women 2008On International Women's Day let's cause a stir! Join our WOW! Day of Action and help us celebrate women around the world. Here's how to get involved! Whether you join us in person and walk our fun, one-mile walk, or walk virtually from your location - you can be involved in this event! WOW! Parties for a Cause. Gather some friends together and have some fun, while at the same time supporting the work of WOW! Plan one March 8 or any day during March. Become a WOW! supporter! Any donation made during February or March this year will qualify you as a member. Please join us! See what our friends and colleagues are doing on March 8! Join Work of Women (WOW!) @ World Neighbors on International Women's Day for our first annual Walk for Women. WOW! @ World Neighbors supports World Neighbors entire mission, including activities like women's savings and credit groups, leadership development, water projects, and community and reproductive health. It also goes to the crucial work of social change - of supporting communities to work together, identify solutions to their needs and involve members equitably in contributing to and benefiting from the development process. It challenges men and women to be creators and participants in a culture of hope and empowerment, and to share equally in the fruits of their investment. By participating in this event you will be making a difference in the lives of women throughout the world. Go to: http://walkforwomen.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=265302 or http://www.wn.org for more on World Neighbors.For info about how to do a Party for Women instead, go to: http://www.workofwomen.org/Party-for-Change.php
Help help help! Darfur: Aerial bombings and attacks lead thousands of civilians to flee to Chad Geneva/Birak-Tchad -Medicins Sans Frontieres is extremely concerned by the fate of civilians remaining in targeted areas and requests unhindered access to these populations. From February 8 to 10, the Sudanese army, assisted by militias, launched a large offensive in northwest Darfur. This military offensive, one of the most violent over the past few years, resulted in an immediate population displacement and the forced interruption of all medical activities in Seleia where MSF had been running a health centre project since 2006. Our team present in Chad, the neighbouring country, confirms that at least 7,000 new refugees, including Sudanese staff from MSF, reached the area of Birak after fleeing the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba and Seleia now emptied of their population. This is only a fraction of the civilians directly affected by the offensive which are estimated to be around 50,000 people. According to the refugees, the attacks started on February 8, with aerial bombardment by military planes and attack helicopters. Testimonies of refugees tell the horror of the violence they were faced with. "We saw the soldiers surrounding our town before they started looting our houses setting them afire," said one of the inhabitants of Seleia who arrived in Birak region. The compound of the MSF team was attacked and looted, despite the fact that many women and children had sought refuge in the medical structure. Furthermore, the displaced population reports being further attacked, threatened and looted by roaming militias, while en route to Chad during the night. The refugees in Chad have gathered around villages, under trees, and have nothing but the clothes they wore when they fled. The MSF team has taken charge of some of the wounded in need of urgent medical care. The immediate priorities are to provide access to clean water and distribute shelter blankets, as the area is particularly cold and windy, and to set up medical consultations. "MSF is extremely worried about the fate of those populations that were left behind," said Huub Verhagen, MSF Head of Operations for Chad and Sudan. "Many families have been separated during the attack and are without news of those who remain in Darfur." Access to the region north of El Genina has been systematically refused to our international staff in Sudan since mid-December 2007, despite reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the need to carry out a rapid health assessment after the recent attacks. MSF is deeply concerned by the situation and requests to all belligerents free and unhindered access to the populations in dire need of emergency assistance. MSF medical teams have been working on both sides of the border between Chad and Darfur-Sudan since 2004, providing care for populations directly affected by the conflict. In Seleia, MSF provided a range of medical services including antenatal and surgical care, with an average of 1, 500 consultations per month. In mid-December 2007, the international staff in Seleia was temporarily evacuated but had since then repeatedly requested administrative authorizations to return to the area. (taken from the MSF website)
Please help by donating at this online location: http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/donations/OR learn how you can volunteer at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Green Action: Go to your Extension Service now for info on planting!
Yes, folks, it's that time of year to get to work planting your "Carbon Credits"! You can get a soil sample test from your Extension Service as well as a complete list of what's good plantin' for your area. In Oklahoma, contact your County Extension Service at your local County Courthouse or logon to: http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/extension In Texas, go to http://texasextension.tamu.edu/ to find out where your local office is. The websites have lots of great info. Texas AgriLife Extension Service offers practical, how-to education based on university research. It's available to any resident of Texas. You may read it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio, attend an Extension workshop, order a publication, or just call your county Extension office! Get planting, and if you've never done it before, now's the time!
True Love and Goo Goo Eyes
Dearly Beloveds and Friends---
Have you missed me? I am missing you, that's for sure, as I write from wintry weather on the Plains. I'm in the throes of home decorating and although I enjoy things like stripping wall paper and painting, I feel a bit lonely out here. It was a Valentine's Day without all of you, and that, I regret! The world has been a bit crazy, as I promised in my January email, and even though I know the train is coming, sometimes there's no way to prepare for it. Even if you know the guy is waiting in the alley for you, sometimes all the karate classes in the world, a big hard baseball bat, and even a high-powered gun won't help. In astrology, as in life, prayer is the only thing that can save you, and in this case, I was praying, all right! Sometimes I drag my feet when I don't want to do something, but the train comes on nonetheless. So, heck, I just got on the train, and I hope it goes somewhere fun. So far, so good.
Although I have so much political stuff to write about, without even mentioning any of the candidates, I thought I should give you all a break and write about LOVE, as we are at Valentine's Time. Prayer and LOVE are the great healers. All those folks finagling with the The Secret or love potions and money spells need to know that LOVE is the thing that brings you what you REALLY want. I mean, the Love you have inside you, not that stuff you see on "Millionaire Matchmaker". The fastest way to achieving Love is to BE loving. And there you have it! No spells or wishes required!
But times have changed, and while some things stay the same, the nature of relationships is changing. Partnerships are no longer meant to be ownerships or power trips or even codependencies. A new kind of partnership and a new kind of love is here. (or is it so new after all?) The partnerships are becoming open and equal with more independent individuals, and the new love is unconditional, or as my friend Rosie used to say, the kind of love that states “I accept you” instead of “I love you”.
This being the case, I hope we will stop seeing maudlin movies that show two people who can’t live without each other. Well, of course, you CAN live without each other! What did you do for the first twenty or so years of your life? Personally, I find certain romantic dramas portray folks who are obviously severely dysfunctional. Persons who stare into each other’s eyes continuously while the world passes them by are not exhibiting love, but probably are showing the effects of what I call “karmic charm”, and what the Eva Peirrakos' Pathwork books call Eros. This is an immediate and heightened level of attraction where the beloved appears golden in every respect. I say, give it a few years! In some cases, only a few months are necessary for the spell of Eros to wear off, and then, so does the so-called “love”. Obviously, it never was love in the first place, because love is NOT this romantically blissful entwinement so often depicted in movies, dramas, and books. What’s demonstrated is really just infatuation. And, really, who wants that?
Okay, I see a few of you raised your hands. Y’all are obviously immature, narcissistic egos or needy love-starved, just-dying-to-be-codependent souls. Or maybe you’re just lonely and want to be adored for a while. But, listen, all is not well in Pedestal Land, because eventually one of two things happens: you fall off your perch, OR it dissolves under your feet. And that’s when infatuation is no help to you, because it and its magnetic power are no longer there. So then what do you do? Hope for another adoring pal to become enamoured of you? Go after another “Love Fix” yourself? But remember, it’s not even really love; it’s a synthetic replacement that disintegrates the first time you show your true colors.
Then there’s those of you who like being UNDER the pedestal: the doormats, the foot wipes. Y’all are addicted to loving, to adoring even the most obnoxious folks. And yet, remember again, this really isn’t loving: it’s an addiction to being a victim, to being used, and is probably a behavior learned in childhood or at least an attitude adopted at that time.
I know you’re asking, “Well, if such blind adoration isn’t love, then what IS real love?” The realest kind of love is often that of a parent for a child, the unconditional variety that says: I love you no matter how you are, even if you misbehave, get dirty, wet your pants, eat with your hands, and get bad grades. I love you whether you’re fat or thin, plain or pretty, smart or not, and no matter what you believe or whatever you do. This is the ideal kind of love that we should have for a mate. Now I admit that some of us are hard tested by our loved ones at many times. They do makes us mad (or sad) sometimes, and I’m certainly not suggesting that you seek out a Significant Other with a bladder problem. But truth be told, if you really do love someone and they are the incontinent sort, you’ll bring them some “Depends” with their next bouquet of flowers. Yes, even that will not stop you from loving someone if you really do.
Now I know y’all hate advice, but I’ll give it anyway, and then you can choose to ignore me if you’re ornery and like to do things the hard way. So here it is: you can’t change people. They can only change themselves. So if you want love in your life, you’ll have to love people the way they are. If there’s something you don’t like about your latest gal pal or boy toy, and if you REALLY want love in your life, then you’d better learn to love that thing you don’t like, because it’s there for life, for better or for worse. And when you can love that person the way he or she is, even when they are being The Ultimate Jerk, without losing your own identity, then you’ve got it: TRUE LOVE. And if you can stick with your Significant Other throughout the bad times as well as the good, then you’ve got it. True Love. How about, can you love this person if they gain weight, lose their hair, get a disease? If yours is an unequivocal “yes!” then you’ve got True Love.
And what if your answer to one of those questions is NO? Maybe you need to learn something about what True Love is. Or maybe that person just isn’t the one for you. One thing’s for sure: it’s not True Love. True Love isn’t dreamy eyes; it isn’t physical lust, and it isn’t personality addiction. In the movies, we like to see pretty people, lustful and dreamy, who “can’t live without each other”. These people are, for one thing, imaginings, and for another, sick imaginings. I have a friend who has refused to let her female children watch Disney movies so they won't be misled about women's roles by them. I like that idea, actually!
More important today is the individual who is just as comfortable being alone as with others: a well balanced, fascinating person who is interested in something (not just focused on or “living for” someone) and who feels good about who he or she is. If you think another person is going to “fill up the holes in you", you are sadly mistaken. Besides, I can’t think of anybody more annoying than a so-called Prince Charming who can’t look at anything besides me and who needs to call 5 times a day for contact. I was married to someone like that, and it wasn't fun, or love, either. Sweet words won’t sway me if I know they are bullsh** (or if I know it is clingy BS).
How to gain a girl's attention? Ben Franklin knew: pay homage to her mind, and then you'll get the rest of the body. Or, I say to both guys and girls, just be yourself. Don’t try to impress me. Just be you. What are you interested in? Talk about it, and talk about yourself, but not too much. Guys whose only topic of conversation is themselves are plentiful and boring too; remember to keep the conversation two way. That means we can talk about me too, but again, not too much.
Just be an interesting person to do stuff with, whether it’s to talk or not to talk. Sometimes it’s great to have a partner just to be quiet with. You don’t have to try hard to find the perfect pal or to be one: just be genuinely you, and you’ll naturally attract the perfect partner. If you try too hard or push too much, you’ll only set your potential partners running away, so let people know that “what you see is what you get”. If they like it, they’ll stick around all on their own without you having to get out a collar and chain. And don’t lie about you are, what you like, etc. If you like at all, you are up the S creek, because you won’t attract a real or lasting match for yourself, and besides, you’re bound to get found out eventually. Never try to be someone you’re not.
One thing more: you don’t really NEED a relationship. It’s nice, it can be fun, comforting, even exciting, but the main person on earth that you need to get to know is YOU. When you’ve accomplished this and enjoy your own company and can be fine with solitude, THEN you’re really ready for Real Relationship and True Love. In the relationship biz, we know that love needs can be met in many ways, with family and friends, with meaningful and purposeful work with others, even with pets!
But a love partnership these days is about becoming a true partnership, two individuals each leading exciting lives and then sharing the excitement with each other when they get in each other’s company. Partners are each other’s moral support group, cheering one another on to accomplish their individual dreams, which may or may not happen to coincide with each other. But if the True Love is there, it doesn’t matter if the paths are different. The freedom of unconditional love is a commitment to allow each other to pursue desired paths, come what may. Even Mom and Dad did that, in their own way.
For those of you who haven’t yet found this highly idealistic state in life and for those of you who think this is all a bunch of hooey, here’s a little mud in your eye: For all I’ve said, every person you’re with is already your perfect partner AT THIS VERY MOMENT IN TIME, no matter how screwed up they (and therefore you too) are. Every partnership is holy, whether we think we feel love or whether we don’t feel any at all, because our relationships are showing us every day how we are progressing (or not) on the path of life. How are you doing? Look at your relationships with others, and you will see reflected back at you your own personal progress and self-growth. That said, I hope you are respecting others and that you are requiring that they be respectful of you, even while you love them with all their flaws. And that, my friends is LOVE.
Have a great week! For those trying reach me, email me back at the email address above, or call my cell phone and leave a message (713.301.9843). All readings will have to be done by phone, and that is indeed possible, as I do this for people all over the world all the time. For other stuff, email me. God bless the internet and the cell phones!!! What did we do twenty years ago? We got in our cars and drove or wrote letters. But then, gas was cheap, and stamps were too!
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blues Brunch on Sundays
11 AM - 2 PM. on KPFT radio. "Blues Brunch is a blues show representing the only form of music that knows no boundaries be it color, religion, national origin, or other. It is music that was created by blacks in America reflecting their suffering as slaves and laborers. With that said and since part of our mission is to foster peace among the peoples of the world, I feel this show through its music and its diversity, has succeeded and continues to succeed in bridging the gap between listeners of this world, whomever they may be... This is the reason I had when I first started doing this show ages ago, and I'm sticking to it!"--Nuri Nuri, "The Big Bossman". This award-winning show is produced and hosted by a foreign guy, a Palestinian Moslem at that! Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature The Terror Dream with Susan Faludi 9/11 was a double hijacking. First the actual event, and then the political hijacking engineered by an assortment of neocons, theocons, chicken hawks and born-again imperialists. Within weeks Afghanistan was attacked and occupied and plans were underway to invade Iraq, even though that country had nothing to do with 9/11. America, muscular and robust, fights wars and threatens others with military action. And something was happening on the home front as well. There was a revival of so-called traditional values and gender roles. Men defend and protect and women stay home and raise kids. It was like old times. Masculinity was back. And feminism was put in its place: on its back and in the kitchen. Political theater kicked in with pseudo-macho presidents swaggering on aircraft carrier flight decks to fables about Jessica Lynch. Did fairy talesreplace reality? Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her articles appear in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Nation. She is the author of the bestseller Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her latest book is The Terror Dream: Fear & Fantasy in Post-9/11 America.
Where recorded: Portland, Oregon on October 19, 2007
You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!!
WOW, Day of Action and WOW! Walk for Women 2008On International Women's Day let's cause a stir! Join our WOW! Day of Action and help us celebrate women around the world. Here's how to get involved! Whether you join us in person and walk our fun, one-mile walk, or walk virtually from your location - you can be involved in this event! WOW! Parties for a Cause. Gather some friends together and have some fun, while at the same time supporting the work of WOW! Plan one March 8 or any day during March. Become a WOW! supporter! Any donation made during February or March this year will qualify you as a member. Please join us! See what our friends and colleagues are doing on March 8! Join Work of Women (WOW!) @ World Neighbors on International Women's Day for our first annual Walk for Women. WOW! @ World Neighbors supports World Neighbors entire mission, including activities like women's savings and credit groups, leadership development, water projects, and community and reproductive health. It also goes to the crucial work of social change - of supporting communities to work together, identify solutions to their needs and involve members equitably in contributing to and benefiting from the development process. It challenges men and women to be creators and participants in a culture of hope and empowerment, and to share equally in the fruits of their investment. By participating in this event you will be making a difference in the lives of women throughout the world. Go to: http://walkforwomen.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=265302 or http://www.wn.org for more on World Neighbors.For info about how to do a Party for Women instead, go to: http://www.workofwomen.org/Party-for-Change.php
Help help help! Darfur: Aerial bombings and attacks lead thousands of civilians to flee to Chad Geneva/Birak-Tchad -Medicins Sans Frontieres is extremely concerned by the fate of civilians remaining in targeted areas and requests unhindered access to these populations. From February 8 to 10, the Sudanese army, assisted by militias, launched a large offensive in northwest Darfur. This military offensive, one of the most violent over the past few years, resulted in an immediate population displacement and the forced interruption of all medical activities in Seleia where MSF had been running a health centre project since 2006. Our team present in Chad, the neighbouring country, confirms that at least 7,000 new refugees, including Sudanese staff from MSF, reached the area of Birak after fleeing the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba and Seleia now emptied of their population. This is only a fraction of the civilians directly affected by the offensive which are estimated to be around 50,000 people. According to the refugees, the attacks started on February 8, with aerial bombardment by military planes and attack helicopters. Testimonies of refugees tell the horror of the violence they were faced with. "We saw the soldiers surrounding our town before they started looting our houses setting them afire," said one of the inhabitants of Seleia who arrived in Birak region. The compound of the MSF team was attacked and looted, despite the fact that many women and children had sought refuge in the medical structure. Furthermore, the displaced population reports being further attacked, threatened and looted by roaming militias, while en route to Chad during the night. The refugees in Chad have gathered around villages, under trees, and have nothing but the clothes they wore when they fled. The MSF team has taken charge of some of the wounded in need of urgent medical care. The immediate priorities are to provide access to clean water and distribute shelter blankets, as the area is particularly cold and windy, and to set up medical consultations. "MSF is extremely worried about the fate of those populations that were left behind," said Huub Verhagen, MSF Head of Operations for Chad and Sudan. "Many families have been separated during the attack and are without news of those who remain in Darfur." Access to the region north of El Genina has been systematically refused to our international staff in Sudan since mid-December 2007, despite reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the need to carry out a rapid health assessment after the recent attacks. MSF is deeply concerned by the situation and requests to all belligerents free and unhindered access to the populations in dire need of emergency assistance. MSF medical teams have been working on both sides of the border between Chad and Darfur-Sudan since 2004, providing care for populations directly affected by the conflict. In Seleia, MSF provided a range of medical services including antenatal and surgical care, with an average of 1, 500 consultations per month. In mid-December 2007, the international staff in Seleia was temporarily evacuated but had since then repeatedly requested administrative authorizations to return to the area. (taken from the MSF website)
Please help by donating at this online location: http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/donations/OR learn how you can volunteer at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Green Action: Go to your Extension Service now for info on planting!
Yes, folks, it's that time of year to get to work planting your "Carbon Credits"! You can get a soil sample test from your Extension Service as well as a complete list of what's good plantin' for your area. In Oklahoma, contact your County Extension Service at your local County Courthouse or logon to: http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/extension In Texas, go to http://texasextension.tamu.edu/ to find out where your local office is. The websites have lots of great info. Texas AgriLife Extension Service offers practical, how-to education based on university research. It's available to any resident of Texas. You may read it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio, attend an Extension workshop, order a publication, or just call your county Extension office! Get planting, and if you've never done it before, now's the time!
Have you missed me? I am missing you, that's for sure, as I write from wintry weather on the Plains. I'm in the throes of home decorating and although I enjoy things like stripping wall paper and painting, I feel a bit lonely out here. It was a Valentine's Day without all of you, and that, I regret! The world has been a bit crazy, as I promised in my January email, and even though I know the train is coming, sometimes there's no way to prepare for it. Even if you know the guy is waiting in the alley for you, sometimes all the karate classes in the world, a big hard baseball bat, and even a high-powered gun won't help. In astrology, as in life, prayer is the only thing that can save you, and in this case, I was praying, all right! Sometimes I drag my feet when I don't want to do something, but the train comes on nonetheless. So, heck, I just got on the train, and I hope it goes somewhere fun. So far, so good.
Although I have so much political stuff to write about, without even mentioning any of the candidates, I thought I should give you all a break and write about LOVE, as we are at Valentine's Time. Prayer and LOVE are the great healers. All those folks finagling with the The Secret or love potions and money spells need to know that LOVE is the thing that brings you what you REALLY want. I mean, the Love you have inside you, not that stuff you see on "Millionaire Matchmaker". The fastest way to achieving Love is to BE loving. And there you have it! No spells or wishes required!
But times have changed, and while some things stay the same, the nature of relationships is changing. Partnerships are no longer meant to be ownerships or power trips or even codependencies. A new kind of partnership and a new kind of love is here. (or is it so new after all?) The partnerships are becoming open and equal with more independent individuals, and the new love is unconditional, or as my friend Rosie used to say, the kind of love that states “I accept you” instead of “I love you”.
This being the case, I hope we will stop seeing maudlin movies that show two people who can’t live without each other. Well, of course, you CAN live without each other! What did you do for the first twenty or so years of your life? Personally, I find certain romantic dramas portray folks who are obviously severely dysfunctional. Persons who stare into each other’s eyes continuously while the world passes them by are not exhibiting love, but probably are showing the effects of what I call “karmic charm”, and what the Eva Peirrakos' Pathwork books call Eros. This is an immediate and heightened level of attraction where the beloved appears golden in every respect. I say, give it a few years! In some cases, only a few months are necessary for the spell of Eros to wear off, and then, so does the so-called “love”. Obviously, it never was love in the first place, because love is NOT this romantically blissful entwinement so often depicted in movies, dramas, and books. What’s demonstrated is really just infatuation. And, really, who wants that?
Okay, I see a few of you raised your hands. Y’all are obviously immature, narcissistic egos or needy love-starved, just-dying-to-be-codependent souls. Or maybe you’re just lonely and want to be adored for a while. But, listen, all is not well in Pedestal Land, because eventually one of two things happens: you fall off your perch, OR it dissolves under your feet. And that’s when infatuation is no help to you, because it and its magnetic power are no longer there. So then what do you do? Hope for another adoring pal to become enamoured of you? Go after another “Love Fix” yourself? But remember, it’s not even really love; it’s a synthetic replacement that disintegrates the first time you show your true colors.
Then there’s those of you who like being UNDER the pedestal: the doormats, the foot wipes. Y’all are addicted to loving, to adoring even the most obnoxious folks. And yet, remember again, this really isn’t loving: it’s an addiction to being a victim, to being used, and is probably a behavior learned in childhood or at least an attitude adopted at that time.
I know you’re asking, “Well, if such blind adoration isn’t love, then what IS real love?” The realest kind of love is often that of a parent for a child, the unconditional variety that says: I love you no matter how you are, even if you misbehave, get dirty, wet your pants, eat with your hands, and get bad grades. I love you whether you’re fat or thin, plain or pretty, smart or not, and no matter what you believe or whatever you do. This is the ideal kind of love that we should have for a mate. Now I admit that some of us are hard tested by our loved ones at many times. They do makes us mad (or sad) sometimes, and I’m certainly not suggesting that you seek out a Significant Other with a bladder problem. But truth be told, if you really do love someone and they are the incontinent sort, you’ll bring them some “Depends” with their next bouquet of flowers. Yes, even that will not stop you from loving someone if you really do.
Now I know y’all hate advice, but I’ll give it anyway, and then you can choose to ignore me if you’re ornery and like to do things the hard way. So here it is: you can’t change people. They can only change themselves. So if you want love in your life, you’ll have to love people the way they are. If there’s something you don’t like about your latest gal pal or boy toy, and if you REALLY want love in your life, then you’d better learn to love that thing you don’t like, because it’s there for life, for better or for worse. And when you can love that person the way he or she is, even when they are being The Ultimate Jerk, without losing your own identity, then you’ve got it: TRUE LOVE. And if you can stick with your Significant Other throughout the bad times as well as the good, then you’ve got it. True Love. How about, can you love this person if they gain weight, lose their hair, get a disease? If yours is an unequivocal “yes!” then you’ve got True Love.
And what if your answer to one of those questions is NO? Maybe you need to learn something about what True Love is. Or maybe that person just isn’t the one for you. One thing’s for sure: it’s not True Love. True Love isn’t dreamy eyes; it isn’t physical lust, and it isn’t personality addiction. In the movies, we like to see pretty people, lustful and dreamy, who “can’t live without each other”. These people are, for one thing, imaginings, and for another, sick imaginings. I have a friend who has refused to let her female children watch Disney movies so they won't be misled about women's roles by them. I like that idea, actually!
More important today is the individual who is just as comfortable being alone as with others: a well balanced, fascinating person who is interested in something (not just focused on or “living for” someone) and who feels good about who he or she is. If you think another person is going to “fill up the holes in you", you are sadly mistaken. Besides, I can’t think of anybody more annoying than a so-called Prince Charming who can’t look at anything besides me and who needs to call 5 times a day for contact. I was married to someone like that, and it wasn't fun, or love, either. Sweet words won’t sway me if I know they are bullsh** (or if I know it is clingy BS).
How to gain a girl's attention? Ben Franklin knew: pay homage to her mind, and then you'll get the rest of the body. Or, I say to both guys and girls, just be yourself. Don’t try to impress me. Just be you. What are you interested in? Talk about it, and talk about yourself, but not too much. Guys whose only topic of conversation is themselves are plentiful and boring too; remember to keep the conversation two way. That means we can talk about me too, but again, not too much.
Just be an interesting person to do stuff with, whether it’s to talk or not to talk. Sometimes it’s great to have a partner just to be quiet with. You don’t have to try hard to find the perfect pal or to be one: just be genuinely you, and you’ll naturally attract the perfect partner. If you try too hard or push too much, you’ll only set your potential partners running away, so let people know that “what you see is what you get”. If they like it, they’ll stick around all on their own without you having to get out a collar and chain. And don’t lie about you are, what you like, etc. If you like at all, you are up the S creek, because you won’t attract a real or lasting match for yourself, and besides, you’re bound to get found out eventually. Never try to be someone you’re not.
One thing more: you don’t really NEED a relationship. It’s nice, it can be fun, comforting, even exciting, but the main person on earth that you need to get to know is YOU. When you’ve accomplished this and enjoy your own company and can be fine with solitude, THEN you’re really ready for Real Relationship and True Love. In the relationship biz, we know that love needs can be met in many ways, with family and friends, with meaningful and purposeful work with others, even with pets!
But a love partnership these days is about becoming a true partnership, two individuals each leading exciting lives and then sharing the excitement with each other when they get in each other’s company. Partners are each other’s moral support group, cheering one another on to accomplish their individual dreams, which may or may not happen to coincide with each other. But if the True Love is there, it doesn’t matter if the paths are different. The freedom of unconditional love is a commitment to allow each other to pursue desired paths, come what may. Even Mom and Dad did that, in their own way.
For those of you who haven’t yet found this highly idealistic state in life and for those of you who think this is all a bunch of hooey, here’s a little mud in your eye: For all I’ve said, every person you’re with is already your perfect partner AT THIS VERY MOMENT IN TIME, no matter how screwed up they (and therefore you too) are. Every partnership is holy, whether we think we feel love or whether we don’t feel any at all, because our relationships are showing us every day how we are progressing (or not) on the path of life. How are you doing? Look at your relationships with others, and you will see reflected back at you your own personal progress and self-growth. That said, I hope you are respecting others and that you are requiring that they be respectful of you, even while you love them with all their flaws. And that, my friends is LOVE.
Have a great week! For those trying reach me, email me back at the email address above, or call my cell phone and leave a message (713.301.9843). All readings will have to be done by phone, and that is indeed possible, as I do this for people all over the world all the time. For other stuff, email me. God bless the internet and the cell phones!!! What did we do twenty years ago? We got in our cars and drove or wrote letters. But then, gas was cheap, and stamps were too!
Love ya,
Andrea
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blues Brunch on Sundays
11 AM - 2 PM. on KPFT radio. "Blues Brunch is a blues show representing the only form of music that knows no boundaries be it color, religion, national origin, or other. It is music that was created by blacks in America reflecting their suffering as slaves and laborers. With that said and since part of our mission is to foster peace among the peoples of the world, I feel this show through its music and its diversity, has succeeded and continues to succeed in bridging the gap between listeners of this world, whomever they may be... This is the reason I had when I first started doing this show ages ago, and I'm sticking to it!"--Nuri Nuri, "The Big Bossman". This award-winning show is produced and hosted by a foreign guy, a Palestinian Moslem at that! Logon to http://www.kpft.org and click on "Listen Now!" in the upper right hand corner. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, in Houston, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature The Terror Dream with Susan Faludi 9/11 was a double hijacking. First the actual event, and then the political hijacking engineered by an assortment of neocons, theocons, chicken hawks and born-again imperialists. Within weeks Afghanistan was attacked and occupied and plans were underway to invade Iraq, even though that country had nothing to do with 9/11. America, muscular and robust, fights wars and threatens others with military action. And something was happening on the home front as well. There was a revival of so-called traditional values and gender roles. Men defend and protect and women stay home and raise kids. It was like old times. Masculinity was back. And feminism was put in its place: on its back and in the kitchen. Political theater kicked in with pseudo-macho presidents swaggering on aircraft carrier flight decks to fables about Jessica Lynch. Did fairy talesreplace reality? Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her articles appear in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Nation. She is the author of the bestseller Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her latest book is The Terror Dream: Fear & Fantasy in Post-9/11 America.
Where recorded: Portland, Oregon on October 19, 2007
You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!!
WOW, Day of Action and WOW! Walk for Women 2008On International Women's Day let's cause a stir! Join our WOW! Day of Action and help us celebrate women around the world. Here's how to get involved! Whether you join us in person and walk our fun, one-mile walk, or walk virtually from your location - you can be involved in this event! WOW! Parties for a Cause. Gather some friends together and have some fun, while at the same time supporting the work of WOW! Plan one March 8 or any day during March. Become a WOW! supporter! Any donation made during February or March this year will qualify you as a member. Please join us! See what our friends and colleagues are doing on March 8! Join Work of Women (WOW!) @ World Neighbors on International Women's Day for our first annual Walk for Women. WOW! @ World Neighbors supports World Neighbors entire mission, including activities like women's savings and credit groups, leadership development, water projects, and community and reproductive health. It also goes to the crucial work of social change - of supporting communities to work together, identify solutions to their needs and involve members equitably in contributing to and benefiting from the development process. It challenges men and women to be creators and participants in a culture of hope and empowerment, and to share equally in the fruits of their investment. By participating in this event you will be making a difference in the lives of women throughout the world. Go to: http://walkforwomen.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=265302 or http://www.wn.org for more on World Neighbors.For info about how to do a Party for Women instead, go to: http://www.workofwomen.org/Party-for-Change.php
Help help help! Darfur: Aerial bombings and attacks lead thousands of civilians to flee to Chad Geneva/Birak-Tchad -Medicins Sans Frontieres is extremely concerned by the fate of civilians remaining in targeted areas and requests unhindered access to these populations. From February 8 to 10, the Sudanese army, assisted by militias, launched a large offensive in northwest Darfur. This military offensive, one of the most violent over the past few years, resulted in an immediate population displacement and the forced interruption of all medical activities in Seleia where MSF had been running a health centre project since 2006. Our team present in Chad, the neighbouring country, confirms that at least 7,000 new refugees, including Sudanese staff from MSF, reached the area of Birak after fleeing the towns of Abu Suruj, Sirba and Seleia now emptied of their population. This is only a fraction of the civilians directly affected by the offensive which are estimated to be around 50,000 people. According to the refugees, the attacks started on February 8, with aerial bombardment by military planes and attack helicopters. Testimonies of refugees tell the horror of the violence they were faced with. "We saw the soldiers surrounding our town before they started looting our houses setting them afire," said one of the inhabitants of Seleia who arrived in Birak region. The compound of the MSF team was attacked and looted, despite the fact that many women and children had sought refuge in the medical structure. Furthermore, the displaced population reports being further attacked, threatened and looted by roaming militias, while en route to Chad during the night. The refugees in Chad have gathered around villages, under trees, and have nothing but the clothes they wore when they fled. The MSF team has taken charge of some of the wounded in need of urgent medical care. The immediate priorities are to provide access to clean water and distribute shelter blankets, as the area is particularly cold and windy, and to set up medical consultations. "MSF is extremely worried about the fate of those populations that were left behind," said Huub Verhagen, MSF Head of Operations for Chad and Sudan. "Many families have been separated during the attack and are without news of those who remain in Darfur." Access to the region north of El Genina has been systematically refused to our international staff in Sudan since mid-December 2007, despite reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the need to carry out a rapid health assessment after the recent attacks. MSF is deeply concerned by the situation and requests to all belligerents free and unhindered access to the populations in dire need of emergency assistance. MSF medical teams have been working on both sides of the border between Chad and Darfur-Sudan since 2004, providing care for populations directly affected by the conflict. In Seleia, MSF provided a range of medical services including antenatal and surgical care, with an average of 1, 500 consultations per month. In mid-December 2007, the international staff in Seleia was temporarily evacuated but had since then repeatedly requested administrative authorizations to return to the area. (taken from the MSF website)
Please help by donating at this online location: http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/donations/OR learn how you can volunteer at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
Green Action: Go to your Extension Service now for info on planting!
Yes, folks, it's that time of year to get to work planting your "Carbon Credits"! You can get a soil sample test from your Extension Service as well as a complete list of what's good plantin' for your area. In Oklahoma, contact your County Extension Service at your local County Courthouse or logon to: http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/extension In Texas, go to http://texasextension.tamu.edu/ to find out where your local office is. The websites have lots of great info. Texas AgriLife Extension Service offers practical, how-to education based on university research. It's available to any resident of Texas. You may read it in the newspaper, hear it on the radio, attend an Extension workshop, order a publication, or just call your county Extension office! Get planting, and if you've never done it before, now's the time!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Censored & MIA, Don't fall in the cracks! Only crackpots, screwballs, and nuts allowed.
Happy New Year! Haumikole! Hello, my friends!
So, here comes 2008, the Year of One, starting off in chaos, with communications wild and rampant, a feeling of rebellion in the air, and really, for some us, push comes to shove. If you didn't do something about your mid-December epiphany, well, now's the time! Get ready for a surfer's ride. Remember last year's craziness beginning with Anna Nicole and the Virginia Tech tragedy? Well, we are starting on our crazy roller coaster ride for 2008, but fortunately, for most of us, it's all about words. So expect lots of BS (this IS campaign season, after all), secrets to be exposed (mostly in mid-February--should be a fascinating post Valentine's Day "massacre" this year), and folks just plain ole' behaving badly.
I've also described the first three months of this year as being someone akin to watching George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead". Remember that movie? All these Zombies walking around, unable to communicate, invading our homes AND the mall, and the only thing that puts 'em out of their misery is a bullet right in the Third Eye. Well, in metaphysical circles, it would be said that we'll be getting a "blasted opening", literally, of the Ajna Center, in somewhat periodic bursts, kinda like sticking your hand in an electrical circuit every other day. This is a literal Wake Up Call. Kundalini rising like a snake on acid. Ooh, Lordy! And everybody will be so self-absorbed, they'll think they are lonely, left out, and listless, in the middle of the crowd. Since this is about feeling disconnected and learning detached compassion, not selfish woe-is-me whining, here's what I say: For the next 3 months, do random acts of kindness. Volunteer or give to someone who doesn't know you. That way, you can still feel good about yourself, and you won't care that the person you just helped never said thank you, because you'll never see them again anyway. Because if you try to help those you love, you will just be casting your pearls before swine.
What's the lesson? Unconditional Love, yessirree bob! It isn't about you. It is about compassion for the other person. Wake up and smell the coffee. For more info on your personal spring surfing session, go to http://www.propheticeye.com/predictions/ or call me for an appointment at 713.301.9843.
One reason, my darlings, that I have been MIA is my own personal chaos with parental moves, friends in need, and more. I am charting my own changes which have been nothing more than slow rumblings for the last year and a half. Now, the fissure from that earthquake is opening up underneath my feet, and I had better JUMP! How about you? I want to welcome new friends to this email family of mine, twelve thousand strong--we could have quite a movement if we all decide to act!!! So, today I will talk about all the crazy things going on and charge you to act, using compassion, because that is what the next 3 months is really about. You can either have a 3 month Valentine of Love and Miracles, or you can have 3 months of a lonely and chaotic ride, and it's pretty hard to ride that roller coaster without somebody to hold onto. If you can read this email, then you have a computer, and that means you have more than homeless persons, or people living in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Sudan, and other poor countries. It's time for you to really step into the shoes--or lack of same--of a homeless person or any person living anywhere on the planet who is hungry, cold, sick, and/or poor. It's time for you to look at the folks who work hard for practically nothing, who do the jobs most of us here in the states don't want to do (we might get our manicures messed up), people who have lost their homes due to war or our own encroaching government, people who have no education or skills, people ill, with or without insurance, and the elderly, wherever they are. LOOK.
So during the last couple of weeks, mine eyes have run across so much craziness that I can't even write about it all, because I would be writing for the rest of the year on topics that just came up since January1st!!! In 15 days, the world is wild! That said, I am going to list some of these events, with links, so you can go read about what's going on. I encourage you to take your time this week, and visit all these sites for a moment to acquaint yourself with issues of 2008. Here's the news.
***Homeland Security is seizing the land of the indigenous peoples along the southern border of the U.S. I'm sorry, guys, but I just can't get off this horse. Anyway, it's really about the federal government taking people's land, and if you think it can't happen to you, then those of you on the Richmond rail line or anywhere along the central Texas corridor where the 8-lane toll highway is going to be built had better get ready! When I heard about the land being taken on January 7, I searched the Native American Times for an article, and not one was to be found. I wrote to Liz Gray the editor, and she sent me the letter sent to Michael Chertoff via Peter Schey, President and Executive Director of Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law representing Dr. Eloisa García Tamez about the U.S. government stealing of her lands in Eagle Pass, Texas. It goes on and on. I guess the feds couldn't do what they wanted to do, because they ended up having to file a lawsuit, and the Apaches are fighting. Go, Geronimo! I hope your spirit is watching. If you would like a copy of the letter to pass on to others or just to read, I will send it to you. Meanwhile, you can also go to: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/12/urgent-alert-homeland-security-to-seize.html or for current news on this: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com.
***And, in a spirit of "Back at ya, mf-er!" the Lakota nation has re-seized their land on the central plains, with ole' Russ' Means at the helm! Go on now, brutha! To see a map of the Lakota lands and read more about this completely UNREPORTED event, that has been going on for quite a while here--how did the white-ass media miss this? Hmmm...go to: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/01/republic-of-lakotah-declares-liens-on.html or http://www.republicoflakotah.com/ The blog bbsnorrell calls "CENSORED" contains some of the most interesting unreported information that you should know about as a human being living in North America. I encourage you to read this and then dare you to tell me that Native Americans need to "get over it". Is that what you are going to say to African Americans too?
***And now for something completely different...I encourage you to rent the movie "SICKO", even if you hate Michael Moore. Yes, even folks who dislike him have spoken well of this movie on the insurance and pharmaceuticals industries. And if you weren't sick before watching it, you will be afterwards, metaphorically, I mean, of course! I think Michael Moore is pretty obnoxious, and while I haven't entirely disagreed with him about some of his points, I think that sometimes he reduces his credibility with his behavior. But, anyway, that doesn't lessen what he does bring to light, and "SICKO" surprised even me, who knows from investigating corporate ownership and political links that the military industrial complex is connected to the rise of insurance companies, pharmaceutical industries, and hospital equipment industries. It's that old Cannery Town revolving door. We send you off to get injured or near dead--or feed you stuff to make you sick, and then we rotate you through our hospitals, charge you an arm and a leg, sometimes literally, and then dump you off, either at home or on Skid Row. The whole thing is quite frightening, really, when you think of these folks rubbing their hands together greedily, thinking of all the old baby boomers headed for operations, hospitals, and nursing homes. Someone is quite pleased with all of this.
The hardest part to watch was the lady whose husband couldn't get a bone marrow transplant--not because he didn't have a donor or didn't have insurance--he did, but because the insurance company denied him saying it was "experimental surgery". He died. I look at that, and the old woman dropped off on Skid Row by a hospital that didn't want to treat her, and I know that will be me. When I go to town, I scout for bridges and woods where I can live once I get too old and crippled to work, because I know Houston doesn't have a Skid Row. I got kind of upset when they rebuilt part of I-10, because I had an apartment planned out there under the bridge among the reeds. Do you think I'm kidding? Go watch this movie.
So then, watching the movie, I realized that I can move OUT of the states when I get old to get treated. The movie is filled with AMERICANS who were in Canada, England, France, and Cuba, where they got treated for NOTHING, yes, you read that right, NOTHING, even though they were foreigners. The biggest joke of the movie was when Michael Moore kept asking what does it cost, and they LAUGHED at him!!!! They said, "What do you mean? It doesn't cost anything. Are you crazy?!!" France even gave one guy a 3 month sabbatical and sent him off to the south of France to recuperate. Ah, yes, I love the French! They know what LIVING is. The lady who bought her inhalers here in the states for $120 a piece cried when the Cubans charged her 5 CENTS for the same thing. Yes, Cuba has it going on, health-wise. The US has far higher infant mortality than Cuba.
And of course, most everybody has seen the part in the movie where Michael Moore takes his gang of those refused by American insurance companies and hospitals to Guantanamo Bay. There, he requests by bull horn that they receive the same health care that the unaccused "terrorists" there are getting. Remember, they haven't been accused yet, which is why they aren't on American soil, so they don't receive habeas corpus like the rest of us, which is so they can torture them. But after they are tortured, they get the best medical and dental care that money can buy, which many of us, ON American soil, paying our insurance rates, CAN'T get. Enough about "SICKO". Rent it. Watch it and weep! It's supposed to be funny. It isn't.
***After that, nothing much seems important, but there's more hanky panky with the voting machines. If you read at all, then you know that that's how the 2000 election ended up with George Bush being selected by the Supreme Court for prez and then how he happened to win in Ohio in 2004 when exit polls said he was losing...If you read and paid attention to news sources other than ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and FOX et al, that is. If you read as events were happening, there were even photos of the hanky panky, and representative John Conyers did his best to bring it all to light, but what choice did we have anyway, Kerry or Bush? That's not much of a choice, but I prefer the one who showed up when duty called, not the one who couldn't win "Millionaire" if he were wired. But, yes, folks, it's happening again. Much as I don't like the folks on the dais this time, either, the exit polls showed Obama winning by 8%, and then he somehow lost with those dang Diebold machines. For the facts and figures that are really fishy, go to http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5544#more-5544. Kucinich has asked for a recount, and look for details at the bottom of the page. Clinton Optical scan 91,717 52.95%, Obama Optical scan 81,495 47.05%. Clinton Hand-counted 20,889 47.05%, Obama Hand-counted 23,509 52.95% The percentages appear to be swapped. That seems highly unusual, to say the least.
***And, oh yeah, Dennis...The major networks have been refusing to let him participate in the debates, him Grandpa Mike, and a few of the others. Why do you think that is? Because he is reasonable? This has been going on for 8 years. From the Associated Press, January 13, 2008: NEW YORK - An angry Dennis Kucinich lashed out at John Edwards on Friday, saying his Democratic rival showed "a consistent lack of integrity" by suggesting fewer candidates should participate in presidential forums and then trying to explain his remark to reporters. Kucinich's comments came after Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton were overheard Thursday discussing the possibility of limiting the number of participants in future presidential forums. So WHAT"S NEW, PUSSYCAT? You guys just blew it. Now I will have to vote for the Green Party candidate Jared Ball, billed as the Hip-Hop candidate. (Now, tell me, what the hell were THEY thinking when they thought of that campaign concept?!) For more on Jared, who really is a wonderful and reasonable man, with great ideas and a ridiculous marketing manager, go to http://www.jaredball.com .
***And now for something not so completely different...After the eerie voice and the tete a tete between an American ship and Iranian patrol boats last week....there is something out there called "The Kennebunkport Warning" (that's in Maine, fellow Southerners). It says, "To the American people, and to peace loving individuals everywhere: Massive evidence has come to our attention which shows that the backers, controllers, and allies of Vice President Dick Cheney are determined to orchestrate and manufacture a new 9/11 terror incident, and/or a new Gulf of Tonkin war provocation over the coming weeks and months. Such events would be used by the Bush administration as a pretext for launching an aggressive war against Iran, quite possibly with nuclear weapons, and for imposing a regime of martial law here in the United States ." This is the same premise under which the Patriot Act was imposed on us after 911, reducing our civil liberties. Go to http://reopen911.org/ or watch some Alex Jones movies. I used to think that man was nuts but I don't anymore. Go to http://www.infowars.com/ to watch some movies that will scare the dickens out of you because of the evidence. If you live in Oklahoma, you know the truth about the bombing of the Murrah Building, and Alex Jones talks about that too, as related to 911. Maybe the eerie voice in the Iranian confrontation was Dick...
***Speaking of conspiracies, last night there was something on PBS about the Kennedy Assassination, and not a word was said about LBJ and his cronies. I think the most logical story about what happened to JFK is told in this interview with Lyndon's mistress. It's all about men and power and greed. The age old story. And there was a man who could shoot and not miss, and it wasn't Lee Harvey O. If this doesn't blow your socks off, I don't know what will...it's much more plausible than any conspiracy theory: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1929769365635576415. If you've lived in Texas and known some good ole' boys, you know what I'm sayin'...
***And hey, what about those national ID cards....how do you feel about that? I don't know about you but I don't want these folks to be following me around everywhere I go or checking out everything I do. I don't even like using the Randalls or Krogers cards (I've been on Krogers strike anyway, for a number of years) so I take the card and use it for the discounts but I never really sign up. Even the people who work there think it's a pain, so they give me the card to get the discount, which I never fill out. Anyway, when I reached 50, I realized that there was a hidden silver lining to becoming"invisible"--I could act like a man and do what I want and nobody cares, and nobody bugs or harasses me! Since people over 44 don't have to get the "Real ID", I feel grateful for my age. Since I reached the over 50 mark, I have been trying hard to become MORE invisible, not less! So now, if I could only shut my mouth!!! (There's a book out called How To Be Invisible by J.J. Luna. Obviously, I haven't read it.)
***While I was in Oklahoma, I noticed in one of the little towns that one of their most mobbed restaurants was closed. It wasn't until I read the Sunday paper that I realized that the reason the restaurant was closed was house bill HB1804. This renders it illegal in Oklahoma to have people working for you if you have not checked their immigration status. I was shocked that Oklahoma passed this bill, and I hadn't heard about it. Texas is right next door, and I had heard the flap about a north Texas town that tried this and even a Pennsylvania town that were requiring employers to do what our federal government hasn't done--or risk arrest. So neither the major media nor any of my media providers mentioned this at all--I just remember reading the article that some store sales were down by 33%-50%, and that it was attributed to losses from the new anti-immigration bill. That means, the Mexicans have left town, and not just the folks here illegally. They have family values, so they are ALL leaving. One reason for the bill was because the feds weren't doing their work at the border. Another reason was to prevent immigrants from getting health care. Did someone say the United States is a Christian nation? Wll, the Christian Right likes to say they are Christian and then they vote for a bill like this. I think they'll have to move to Canada or Cuba with me, where health care is FREE. For a related article, go to: http://newsok.com/article/3179353/1197347643
***By the way, since Cuban immigrants that cross illegally are allowed to stay here, no questions asked, isn't that a double standard? Maybe when they find out how much their health care costs, they'll be swimming back!
***Y'all know the old news secrets about the Houston DA with racist and sexist emails on his computer? And the asst. DA, running to take his job, who called the Lakewood Church-goers and followers of Joel Osteen a bunch of "screwballs and nuts"? Yeah, old news, more business as usual...what's on your computer?
***And then there's the aliens in Stephensville, TX. Speaking as someone who just went through there a couple of weekends ago, I think they (the aliens) are after the barbecue! Nothing beats Texas barbecue!
Oooh doggie, and I didn't even mention the B-word (the Brit). What a year we have a-comin'!!! 'Nough said. And it's only 15 days in. Yikes.
If you want to know what part of your life will be crazy, just call and leave me a message on my cell at 713.301.9843 for an appointment. The stars do tell!!! Or email me back at booklady@houstonholistic.com . I will be in Houston only until February 1st, so make your appointment NOW!
Mitaku Oyasin! We Are all related!
Love ya, Andrea
Matchmaking Search:
*Guys in their 40's, all shapes, sizes, and interests. I need some guys in that age range who like to dance, especially.
*Ladies in their 40's who are interested in dating fit and active men over 55. No slugs, I promise!
______________________________________________________________________
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blue Grass Zone!!!The Blue Grass Zone is a Blue Grass music and News on KPFT FM radio, 90.1, hosted by Chris Hirsch. Houston's only bluegrass radio program is every Sunday from 4:00 until 6:00PM. The Bluegrass Zone features a call in request line. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature Rolling Back Corporate Power: Lessons from the Past with Richard GrossmanIt seems that corporations have been part of the scene forever. Not the case, really. An 1886 landmark Supreme Court decision elevated corporations to its current special legal status. In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the Court ruled that a private corporation was a person and as such, under the Constitution, was protected by the Bill of Rights. The consequences of that ruling were enormous. Today, corporations stand virtually unchallenged. Such behemoths as ExxonMobil and General Electric make billions in profits and straddle the earth. In many instances their bottom line is bigger than most of the economies of countries in the UN. Sure they create jobs and so-called wealth but at what cost? And who really benefits? Perhaps there are lessons from the past that can help us to contest corporate power today. Richard Grossman is a top expert on law and corporations. He directs the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy and is author of Taking Care of Business. Recorded at Yellow Springs, Ohio on Nov 30, 2006.You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Urgent Alert: Homeland Security to seize Lipan Apache lands!!!Please write to your senators and congresspersons as well as the White House about the illegal federal absorption of Apache lands that is happening right now as we speak. If you value your own property or have been a victim of immanent domain, or if you are someone who believes in the rights and ownership of indigenous people and their lands, given by treaty, that are now being blatantantly disrespected, please read this: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/12/urgent-alert-homeland-security-to-seize.html or go to http://www.congress.org, insert your zip code, and you'll be able to write directly to everyone you want to write about these issues.
Help help help! Is Your Dog the Love of Your Life?
Help Dogsdeservebetter.org help to make other dogs as lucky during our Have a Heart for Chained Dogs 2008 Campaign. Join us February 7-14th for Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Week. The GOAL in our 6th Season is to SEND OUT 10,000 VALENTINES TO CHAINED or PENNED DOGS. DDB is striving to raise awareness for chained and penned dogs in a positive way...by delivering Valentines, a brochure and a treat coupon to dogs living outside all over the U.S. and into other countries where we have representation, such as Canada and Australia. Here's where you come in:1. Make Valentines. Teachers, Students, Scout Leaders, Group Leaders, Individuals please make Valentines! Since last year we had more Valentines than addresses, we're asking you to stress quality over quantity this year...we'd rather have 10,000 awesome valentines that REALLY hit home with dog caretakers. To see what others have done, see the link above. The valentines can say anything along the lines of 'Bring us into the home and family.' Send them to us by February 5th at P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684.2. Mail Coupons for Free or Reduced Cost Treats or Dogfood. Last year we did not have enough treat coupons to fill all the Valentines. Can you help us out this year by mailing any and all treat or dogfood coupons you have to us at P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684?3. Send addresses for Chained or Penned Dogs. This is so CRUCIAL! Please, take the time to find out the address of that chained or penned dog near you, even though it takes a little time...last year we did not make our goal, and we'd really like to make the goal this year!! To make our goal, we need to mail at least 10,000 Valentines. Send address via mail, call 877.636.1408 to report addresses, or e-mail them to info@dogsdeservebetter.org. You remain anonymous!4. Sponsor Valentines. The cost of this campaign is quite high, due to material and mailing fees, but it is well-worth it! You may either sponsor Valentines for addresses you provide, or sponsor Valentines for others who provide us with addresses. In 2007 DogsDeserveBetter delivered over 5200 Valentines to chained or penned dogs!
DOGS DESERVE BETTER is a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing the chained dog, and bringing our 'best friend' into the home and family. Dogs Deserve Better, 2003 First Place Winner of the ASPCA/Chase Pet Protector Award, is a voice for chained and penned dogs, whose sadness speaks only through the eyes. As the days become years, many of these dogs sit, lay, eat, and defecate within the same 10-foot radius. Chained by the neck, they exist without respect, love, exercise, social interaction, and sometimes even basic nourishment. They live as prisoners, yet long to be pets. Find them at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org .
Green Action: Join the Food Coop!
Organic Produce is available in a “fresh market” setting Wednesday from 9 AM to 6:30 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. You can purchase incredible organic produce by the piece or by the pound. Produce is from local farmers and a procurer of national organics. You can obtain a pre-ordered Mixed Share of fruits and vegetables, a Gundermann's Choice Share, a Fruit Share, or by luck in stopping by and picking your produce from the Extras available. You may exchange unwanted produce for something else of equal value in the market section. Joining the Co-op costs only $48 a year, or you can volunteer to "work off" your coop member dues. Mixed Share: assorted fruits and vegetables from local growers and an organic distributor. We have at least two green leafys, 3 - 6 assorted vegetables, and a mix of 2-4 kinds of fruit. Small: $12.00 Medium: $17.00 Large: $34.00. We are located in Ecclesia, 2115 Taft Street. 9am - 6:30pm Wednesdays. Saturday Co-Op now at 1705 California St, 9am - 2pm Saturdays. Go to http://www.centralcityco-op.org.
So, here comes 2008, the Year of One, starting off in chaos, with communications wild and rampant, a feeling of rebellion in the air, and really, for some us, push comes to shove. If you didn't do something about your mid-December epiphany, well, now's the time! Get ready for a surfer's ride. Remember last year's craziness beginning with Anna Nicole and the Virginia Tech tragedy? Well, we are starting on our crazy roller coaster ride for 2008, but fortunately, for most of us, it's all about words. So expect lots of BS (this IS campaign season, after all), secrets to be exposed (mostly in mid-February--should be a fascinating post Valentine's Day "massacre" this year), and folks just plain ole' behaving badly.
I've also described the first three months of this year as being someone akin to watching George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead". Remember that movie? All these Zombies walking around, unable to communicate, invading our homes AND the mall, and the only thing that puts 'em out of their misery is a bullet right in the Third Eye. Well, in metaphysical circles, it would be said that we'll be getting a "blasted opening", literally, of the Ajna Center, in somewhat periodic bursts, kinda like sticking your hand in an electrical circuit every other day. This is a literal Wake Up Call. Kundalini rising like a snake on acid. Ooh, Lordy! And everybody will be so self-absorbed, they'll think they are lonely, left out, and listless, in the middle of the crowd. Since this is about feeling disconnected and learning detached compassion, not selfish woe-is-me whining, here's what I say: For the next 3 months, do random acts of kindness. Volunteer or give to someone who doesn't know you. That way, you can still feel good about yourself, and you won't care that the person you just helped never said thank you, because you'll never see them again anyway. Because if you try to help those you love, you will just be casting your pearls before swine.
What's the lesson? Unconditional Love, yessirree bob! It isn't about you. It is about compassion for the other person. Wake up and smell the coffee. For more info on your personal spring surfing session, go to http://www.propheticeye.com/predictions/ or call me for an appointment at 713.301.9843.
One reason, my darlings, that I have been MIA is my own personal chaos with parental moves, friends in need, and more. I am charting my own changes which have been nothing more than slow rumblings for the last year and a half. Now, the fissure from that earthquake is opening up underneath my feet, and I had better JUMP! How about you? I want to welcome new friends to this email family of mine, twelve thousand strong--we could have quite a movement if we all decide to act!!! So, today I will talk about all the crazy things going on and charge you to act, using compassion, because that is what the next 3 months is really about. You can either have a 3 month Valentine of Love and Miracles, or you can have 3 months of a lonely and chaotic ride, and it's pretty hard to ride that roller coaster without somebody to hold onto. If you can read this email, then you have a computer, and that means you have more than homeless persons, or people living in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Sudan, and other poor countries. It's time for you to really step into the shoes--or lack of same--of a homeless person or any person living anywhere on the planet who is hungry, cold, sick, and/or poor. It's time for you to look at the folks who work hard for practically nothing, who do the jobs most of us here in the states don't want to do (we might get our manicures messed up), people who have lost their homes due to war or our own encroaching government, people who have no education or skills, people ill, with or without insurance, and the elderly, wherever they are. LOOK.
So during the last couple of weeks, mine eyes have run across so much craziness that I can't even write about it all, because I would be writing for the rest of the year on topics that just came up since January1st!!! In 15 days, the world is wild! That said, I am going to list some of these events, with links, so you can go read about what's going on. I encourage you to take your time this week, and visit all these sites for a moment to acquaint yourself with issues of 2008. Here's the news.
***Homeland Security is seizing the land of the indigenous peoples along the southern border of the U.S. I'm sorry, guys, but I just can't get off this horse. Anyway, it's really about the federal government taking people's land, and if you think it can't happen to you, then those of you on the Richmond rail line or anywhere along the central Texas corridor where the 8-lane toll highway is going to be built had better get ready! When I heard about the land being taken on January 7, I searched the Native American Times for an article, and not one was to be found. I wrote to Liz Gray the editor, and she sent me the letter sent to Michael Chertoff via Peter Schey, President and Executive Director of Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law representing Dr. Eloisa García Tamez about the U.S. government stealing of her lands in Eagle Pass, Texas. It goes on and on. I guess the feds couldn't do what they wanted to do, because they ended up having to file a lawsuit, and the Apaches are fighting. Go, Geronimo! I hope your spirit is watching. If you would like a copy of the letter to pass on to others or just to read, I will send it to you. Meanwhile, you can also go to: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/12/urgent-alert-homeland-security-to-seize.html or for current news on this: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com.
***And, in a spirit of "Back at ya, mf-er!" the Lakota nation has re-seized their land on the central plains, with ole' Russ' Means at the helm! Go on now, brutha! To see a map of the Lakota lands and read more about this completely UNREPORTED event, that has been going on for quite a while here--how did the white-ass media miss this? Hmmm...go to: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/01/republic-of-lakotah-declares-liens-on.html or http://www.republicoflakotah.com/ The blog bbsnorrell calls "CENSORED" contains some of the most interesting unreported information that you should know about as a human being living in North America. I encourage you to read this and then dare you to tell me that Native Americans need to "get over it". Is that what you are going to say to African Americans too?
***And now for something completely different...I encourage you to rent the movie "SICKO", even if you hate Michael Moore. Yes, even folks who dislike him have spoken well of this movie on the insurance and pharmaceuticals industries. And if you weren't sick before watching it, you will be afterwards, metaphorically, I mean, of course! I think Michael Moore is pretty obnoxious, and while I haven't entirely disagreed with him about some of his points, I think that sometimes he reduces his credibility with his behavior. But, anyway, that doesn't lessen what he does bring to light, and "SICKO" surprised even me, who knows from investigating corporate ownership and political links that the military industrial complex is connected to the rise of insurance companies, pharmaceutical industries, and hospital equipment industries. It's that old Cannery Town revolving door. We send you off to get injured or near dead--or feed you stuff to make you sick, and then we rotate you through our hospitals, charge you an arm and a leg, sometimes literally, and then dump you off, either at home or on Skid Row. The whole thing is quite frightening, really, when you think of these folks rubbing their hands together greedily, thinking of all the old baby boomers headed for operations, hospitals, and nursing homes. Someone is quite pleased with all of this.
The hardest part to watch was the lady whose husband couldn't get a bone marrow transplant--not because he didn't have a donor or didn't have insurance--he did, but because the insurance company denied him saying it was "experimental surgery". He died. I look at that, and the old woman dropped off on Skid Row by a hospital that didn't want to treat her, and I know that will be me. When I go to town, I scout for bridges and woods where I can live once I get too old and crippled to work, because I know Houston doesn't have a Skid Row. I got kind of upset when they rebuilt part of I-10, because I had an apartment planned out there under the bridge among the reeds. Do you think I'm kidding? Go watch this movie.
So then, watching the movie, I realized that I can move OUT of the states when I get old to get treated. The movie is filled with AMERICANS who were in Canada, England, France, and Cuba, where they got treated for NOTHING, yes, you read that right, NOTHING, even though they were foreigners. The biggest joke of the movie was when Michael Moore kept asking what does it cost, and they LAUGHED at him!!!! They said, "What do you mean? It doesn't cost anything. Are you crazy?!!" France even gave one guy a 3 month sabbatical and sent him off to the south of France to recuperate. Ah, yes, I love the French! They know what LIVING is. The lady who bought her inhalers here in the states for $120 a piece cried when the Cubans charged her 5 CENTS for the same thing. Yes, Cuba has it going on, health-wise. The US has far higher infant mortality than Cuba.
And of course, most everybody has seen the part in the movie where Michael Moore takes his gang of those refused by American insurance companies and hospitals to Guantanamo Bay. There, he requests by bull horn that they receive the same health care that the unaccused "terrorists" there are getting. Remember, they haven't been accused yet, which is why they aren't on American soil, so they don't receive habeas corpus like the rest of us, which is so they can torture them. But after they are tortured, they get the best medical and dental care that money can buy, which many of us, ON American soil, paying our insurance rates, CAN'T get. Enough about "SICKO". Rent it. Watch it and weep! It's supposed to be funny. It isn't.
***After that, nothing much seems important, but there's more hanky panky with the voting machines. If you read at all, then you know that that's how the 2000 election ended up with George Bush being selected by the Supreme Court for prez and then how he happened to win in Ohio in 2004 when exit polls said he was losing...If you read and paid attention to news sources other than ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and FOX et al, that is. If you read as events were happening, there were even photos of the hanky panky, and representative John Conyers did his best to bring it all to light, but what choice did we have anyway, Kerry or Bush? That's not much of a choice, but I prefer the one who showed up when duty called, not the one who couldn't win "Millionaire" if he were wired. But, yes, folks, it's happening again. Much as I don't like the folks on the dais this time, either, the exit polls showed Obama winning by 8%, and then he somehow lost with those dang Diebold machines. For the facts and figures that are really fishy, go to http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5544#more-5544. Kucinich has asked for a recount, and look for details at the bottom of the page. Clinton Optical scan 91,717 52.95%, Obama Optical scan 81,495 47.05%. Clinton Hand-counted 20,889 47.05%, Obama Hand-counted 23,509 52.95% The percentages appear to be swapped. That seems highly unusual, to say the least.
***And, oh yeah, Dennis...The major networks have been refusing to let him participate in the debates, him Grandpa Mike, and a few of the others. Why do you think that is? Because he is reasonable? This has been going on for 8 years. From the Associated Press, January 13, 2008: NEW YORK - An angry Dennis Kucinich lashed out at John Edwards on Friday, saying his Democratic rival showed "a consistent lack of integrity" by suggesting fewer candidates should participate in presidential forums and then trying to explain his remark to reporters. Kucinich's comments came after Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton were overheard Thursday discussing the possibility of limiting the number of participants in future presidential forums. So WHAT"S NEW, PUSSYCAT? You guys just blew it. Now I will have to vote for the Green Party candidate Jared Ball, billed as the Hip-Hop candidate. (Now, tell me, what the hell were THEY thinking when they thought of that campaign concept?!) For more on Jared, who really is a wonderful and reasonable man, with great ideas and a ridiculous marketing manager, go to http://www.jaredball.com .
***And now for something not so completely different...After the eerie voice and the tete a tete between an American ship and Iranian patrol boats last week....there is something out there called "The Kennebunkport Warning" (that's in Maine, fellow Southerners). It says, "To the American people, and to peace loving individuals everywhere: Massive evidence has come to our attention which shows that the backers, controllers, and allies of Vice President Dick Cheney are determined to orchestrate and manufacture a new 9/11 terror incident, and/or a new Gulf of Tonkin war provocation over the coming weeks and months. Such events would be used by the Bush administration as a pretext for launching an aggressive war against Iran, quite possibly with nuclear weapons, and for imposing a regime of martial law here in the United States ." This is the same premise under which the Patriot Act was imposed on us after 911, reducing our civil liberties. Go to http://reopen911.org/ or watch some Alex Jones movies. I used to think that man was nuts but I don't anymore. Go to http://www.infowars.com/ to watch some movies that will scare the dickens out of you because of the evidence. If you live in Oklahoma, you know the truth about the bombing of the Murrah Building, and Alex Jones talks about that too, as related to 911. Maybe the eerie voice in the Iranian confrontation was Dick...
***Speaking of conspiracies, last night there was something on PBS about the Kennedy Assassination, and not a word was said about LBJ and his cronies. I think the most logical story about what happened to JFK is told in this interview with Lyndon's mistress. It's all about men and power and greed. The age old story. And there was a man who could shoot and not miss, and it wasn't Lee Harvey O. If this doesn't blow your socks off, I don't know what will...it's much more plausible than any conspiracy theory: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1929769365635576415. If you've lived in Texas and known some good ole' boys, you know what I'm sayin'...
***And hey, what about those national ID cards....how do you feel about that? I don't know about you but I don't want these folks to be following me around everywhere I go or checking out everything I do. I don't even like using the Randalls or Krogers cards (I've been on Krogers strike anyway, for a number of years) so I take the card and use it for the discounts but I never really sign up. Even the people who work there think it's a pain, so they give me the card to get the discount, which I never fill out. Anyway, when I reached 50, I realized that there was a hidden silver lining to becoming"invisible"--I could act like a man and do what I want and nobody cares, and nobody bugs or harasses me! Since people over 44 don't have to get the "Real ID", I feel grateful for my age. Since I reached the over 50 mark, I have been trying hard to become MORE invisible, not less! So now, if I could only shut my mouth!!! (There's a book out called How To Be Invisible by J.J. Luna. Obviously, I haven't read it.)
***While I was in Oklahoma, I noticed in one of the little towns that one of their most mobbed restaurants was closed. It wasn't until I read the Sunday paper that I realized that the reason the restaurant was closed was house bill HB1804. This renders it illegal in Oklahoma to have people working for you if you have not checked their immigration status. I was shocked that Oklahoma passed this bill, and I hadn't heard about it. Texas is right next door, and I had heard the flap about a north Texas town that tried this and even a Pennsylvania town that were requiring employers to do what our federal government hasn't done--or risk arrest. So neither the major media nor any of my media providers mentioned this at all--I just remember reading the article that some store sales were down by 33%-50%, and that it was attributed to losses from the new anti-immigration bill. That means, the Mexicans have left town, and not just the folks here illegally. They have family values, so they are ALL leaving. One reason for the bill was because the feds weren't doing their work at the border. Another reason was to prevent immigrants from getting health care. Did someone say the United States is a Christian nation? Wll, the Christian Right likes to say they are Christian and then they vote for a bill like this. I think they'll have to move to Canada or Cuba with me, where health care is FREE. For a related article, go to: http://newsok.com/article/3179353/1197347643
***By the way, since Cuban immigrants that cross illegally are allowed to stay here, no questions asked, isn't that a double standard? Maybe when they find out how much their health care costs, they'll be swimming back!
***Y'all know the old news secrets about the Houston DA with racist and sexist emails on his computer? And the asst. DA, running to take his job, who called the Lakewood Church-goers and followers of Joel Osteen a bunch of "screwballs and nuts"? Yeah, old news, more business as usual...what's on your computer?
***And then there's the aliens in Stephensville, TX. Speaking as someone who just went through there a couple of weekends ago, I think they (the aliens) are after the barbecue! Nothing beats Texas barbecue!
Oooh doggie, and I didn't even mention the B-word (the Brit). What a year we have a-comin'!!! 'Nough said. And it's only 15 days in. Yikes.
If you want to know what part of your life will be crazy, just call and leave me a message on my cell at 713.301.9843 for an appointment. The stars do tell!!! Or email me back at booklady@houstonholistic.com . I will be in Houston only until February 1st, so make your appointment NOW!
Mitaku Oyasin! We Are all related!
Love ya, Andrea
Matchmaking Search:
*Guys in their 40's, all shapes, sizes, and interests. I need some guys in that age range who like to dance, especially.
*Ladies in their 40's who are interested in dating fit and active men over 55. No slugs, I promise!
______________________________________________________________________
Featured KPFT Program of the Week: Blue Grass Zone!!!The Blue Grass Zone is a Blue Grass music and News on KPFT FM radio, 90.1, hosted by Chris Hirsch. Houston's only bluegrass radio program is every Sunday from 4:00 until 6:00PM. The Bluegrass Zone features a call in request line. I suggest listening on your computer at http://www.kpft.org .---Andrea
Find KPFT at 90.1 FM, 24 hours a day. Please donate at http://www.kpft.org and click on "GIVE NOW". You can listen live online at this same address. Your work day will never be bored while you are listening.
You can also hear Alternative Radio programs directly by logging on with your computer to http://www.alternativeradio.org . Would you like to get some REAL NEWS for a change, without having to leave the United States?
News Feature Rolling Back Corporate Power: Lessons from the Past with Richard GrossmanIt seems that corporations have been part of the scene forever. Not the case, really. An 1886 landmark Supreme Court decision elevated corporations to its current special legal status. In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the Court ruled that a private corporation was a person and as such, under the Constitution, was protected by the Bill of Rights. The consequences of that ruling were enormous. Today, corporations stand virtually unchallenged. Such behemoths as ExxonMobil and General Electric make billions in profits and straddle the earth. In many instances their bottom line is bigger than most of the economies of countries in the UN. Sure they create jobs and so-called wealth but at what cost? And who really benefits? Perhaps there are lessons from the past that can help us to contest corporate power today. Richard Grossman is a top expert on law and corporations. He directs the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy and is author of Taking Care of Business. Recorded at Yellow Springs, Ohio on Nov 30, 2006.You can download this program or purchase it on CD at http://www.alternativeradio.org .
Activate!!! Urgent Alert: Homeland Security to seize Lipan Apache lands!!!Please write to your senators and congresspersons as well as the White House about the illegal federal absorption of Apache lands that is happening right now as we speak. If you value your own property or have been a victim of immanent domain, or if you are someone who believes in the rights and ownership of indigenous people and their lands, given by treaty, that are now being blatantantly disrespected, please read this: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/12/urgent-alert-homeland-security-to-seize.html or go to http://www.congress.org, insert your zip code, and you'll be able to write directly to everyone you want to write about these issues.
Help help help! Is Your Dog the Love of Your Life?
Help Dogsdeservebetter.org help to make other dogs as lucky during our Have a Heart for Chained Dogs 2008 Campaign. Join us February 7-14th for Have a Heart for Chained Dogs Week. The GOAL in our 6th Season is to SEND OUT 10,000 VALENTINES TO CHAINED or PENNED DOGS. DDB is striving to raise awareness for chained and penned dogs in a positive way...by delivering Valentines, a brochure and a treat coupon to dogs living outside all over the U.S. and into other countries where we have representation, such as Canada and Australia. Here's where you come in:1. Make Valentines. Teachers, Students, Scout Leaders, Group Leaders, Individuals please make Valentines! Since last year we had more Valentines than addresses, we're asking you to stress quality over quantity this year...we'd rather have 10,000 awesome valentines that REALLY hit home with dog caretakers. To see what others have done, see the link above. The valentines can say anything along the lines of 'Bring us into the home and family.' Send them to us by February 5th at P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684.2. Mail Coupons for Free or Reduced Cost Treats or Dogfood. Last year we did not have enough treat coupons to fill all the Valentines. Can you help us out this year by mailing any and all treat or dogfood coupons you have to us at P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684?3. Send addresses for Chained or Penned Dogs. This is so CRUCIAL! Please, take the time to find out the address of that chained or penned dog near you, even though it takes a little time...last year we did not make our goal, and we'd really like to make the goal this year!! To make our goal, we need to mail at least 10,000 Valentines. Send address via mail, call 877.636.1408 to report addresses, or e-mail them to info@dogsdeservebetter.org. You remain anonymous!4. Sponsor Valentines. The cost of this campaign is quite high, due to material and mailing fees, but it is well-worth it! You may either sponsor Valentines for addresses you provide, or sponsor Valentines for others who provide us with addresses. In 2007 DogsDeserveBetter delivered over 5200 Valentines to chained or penned dogs!
DOGS DESERVE BETTER is a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing the chained dog, and bringing our 'best friend' into the home and family. Dogs Deserve Better, 2003 First Place Winner of the ASPCA/Chase Pet Protector Award, is a voice for chained and penned dogs, whose sadness speaks only through the eyes. As the days become years, many of these dogs sit, lay, eat, and defecate within the same 10-foot radius. Chained by the neck, they exist without respect, love, exercise, social interaction, and sometimes even basic nourishment. They live as prisoners, yet long to be pets. Find them at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org .
Green Action: Join the Food Coop!
Organic Produce is available in a “fresh market” setting Wednesday from 9 AM to 6:30 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. You can purchase incredible organic produce by the piece or by the pound. Produce is from local farmers and a procurer of national organics. You can obtain a pre-ordered Mixed Share of fruits and vegetables, a Gundermann's Choice Share, a Fruit Share, or by luck in stopping by and picking your produce from the Extras available. You may exchange unwanted produce for something else of equal value in the market section. Joining the Co-op costs only $48 a year, or you can volunteer to "work off" your coop member dues. Mixed Share: assorted fruits and vegetables from local growers and an organic distributor. We have at least two green leafys, 3 - 6 assorted vegetables, and a mix of 2-4 kinds of fruit. Small: $12.00 Medium: $17.00 Large: $34.00. We are located in Ecclesia, 2115 Taft Street. 9am - 6:30pm Wednesdays. Saturday Co-Op now at 1705 California St, 9am - 2pm Saturdays. Go to http://www.centralcityco-op.org.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
