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

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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!