Don’t mess with us

Harsh justice in China

No forgiveness; no quarter. Happy Christmas from China

Reuters

A SEASON of good cheer in much of the world, late December saw a typically harsh apportionment of justice by China’s legal system, and a typically rigid display of governmental indifference to foreign opinion. On Christmas Day a Beijing court sentenced Liu Xiaobo, a veteran human-rights activist, to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”. China swatted away all criticism about this as groundless meddling in its internal affairs.

In a separate case that was not entirely an internal affair, China’s reaction was not much different. On December 21st Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old Briton charged with smuggling drugs, had his death sentence upheld by China’s Supreme People’s Court. Rejecting pleas for clemency from Mr Shaikh’s family, international human-rights groups, and the British government, Chinese authorities executed him by lethal injection on December 29th in the north-western region of Xinjiang, where he was first arrested in late 2007 after carrying roughly 4kg of heroin into the country.

Family members claimed Mr Shaikh suffered from bipolar disorder, and was the victim of manipulation by the drugs traffickers who, they claimed, tricked him into carrying the contraband. British officials announced news of the execution before China did. Hours after it took place China’s foreign-ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said it would brook no outside interference in the workings of its legal system, and expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to Britain’s complaints. The prime minister, Gordon Brown had said he was “appalled” and condemned the execution “in the strongest terms”. Ms Jiang said Mr Shaikh’s case was handled appropriately and all his legal rights had been honoured at trial. A day after the execution, Chinese newspapers were full of angry commentary over Britain’s attempt to intervene. Many drew comparisons to the Opium War.

Although it ended in the first known execution of a European in China since the 1950s, Mr Shaikh’s case was otherwise not unusual. According to available (and incomplete) statistics, China executed 1,700 convicts in 2008, or nearly five each day.

Neither was the harsh treatment meted out to Mr Liu unusual by Chinese standards. Criticism of the government, though always risky, is sometimes tolerated. Attempts to organise criticism, however, as Mr Liu had by helping draft a petition calling for political freedoms, are routinely met with a firm thumping. Jailed twice before for his political activities Mr Liu knew this as well as anyone. He had said he was ready to face prison again.

The document he helped write in December 2008 was called Charter 08. It soon attracted more than 300 other Chinese signatures. Its publication marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the year since its release, thousands more have signed it.

Charter 08 calls for sweeping changes in China’s political order, including an end to limits on free expression, political activity and religious practice. It proposes drastic reforms that would dismantle one-party rule, allow public supervision of government officials, and free the army and judiciary from Communist Party control.

Mr Liu was detained just before the release of the manifesto and held for six months before charges were lodged. His sentencing came two days after a trial lasting less than three hours. The 11-year term exceeds any other known sentence for the vague crime of “inciting subversion”. Within days of the sentencing, Chinese media published a speech by a senior security official who warned of threats to China’s social stability from “hostile forces stirring up chaos” and called for “pre-emptive attacks” against them. “In the new year, there will be no relaxation of stability preservation, and no lightening of pressure on stability,” said Yang Huanning, a deputy minister of public security.

Mr Liu won supporters on the internet, a central theatre these days in the struggle for civil liberties. The authorities are moving to tighten their control there. Besides stepping up monitoring and blocking “unsuitable” web traffic, regulators have put new restrictions on the registration and operation of websites by individuals.

The founder of a web-hosting service in Beijing says that internet servers have been unceremoniously unplugged under new rules and new standards of enforcement. “For nine years I have run a successful and legal business, and now I have suddenly been told that what I do makes me a criminal.” Worried that his company may not survive, and angry about the arbitrary changes, he will not, however, circulate a protest petition—not if he is wise, that is.

__________

Full article and photo: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15187020&source=features_box_main

[Via http://abluteau.wordpress.com]

Soon. Very Soon.

Alrighty folks. Here is the start of my Hong Kong blog. Everything below this post is the end to the beginning of my photography, so make sure to check it out if you have not already! As most of you know, I am heading to Hong Kong, China to start a new chapter of my life. There, I will be continuing my studies, living a new culture, traveling & meeting amazing, new people. I will be gone (as of now) for 5 months, until May 24. This is a huge step. I am extremely thrilled to take off on my 20 hour and 45 minute flight, yet nervous to leave everyone and everything (shout out to my girl Ruby!) behind in the cold, literally. Of course, I am feeling more pumped than nervous! I cannot wait to experience a new life with new thrills and excitement. What I am looking forward to most is meeting new people from China and all over the globe. I want to hear other people’s stories and lifestyles. I just find it fascinating.

Anywho, right now I am still in Minnesota. 5 freaking days left until departure! I still have a checklist of things to complete, but all in time. I said my first, real goodbye yesterday to my loving family (Lisa, Jim, Jack & Isabelle). On my way home from a fantastic spaghetti meal & an eventful sledding experience involving my right leg and a tree, I realized it’s FINALLY here. I’ve been so use to saying “Only one year until I get outta here! Only 6 months until I leave for the great Hong Kong!” Now I am sitting in bed, saying “Only 5 more days until I launch!” I still have lots of goodbyes to fit in before I head out of the country. Again, all in time.

Well, this is a start to my blog. I was craving a beginning to this chapter, so here it is. Stay updated and comment as many times as you wish, I enjoy reading them! =)

Everyone, take care and do not forget to laugh with the people you love.

-Justin

[Via http://jweinzierl06.wordpress.com]

British man faces execution in China

Akmal Shaikh has been told by his family he will be executed on Tuesday morning after being found  guilty of drug smuggling charges.

Shaikh is 53 and from London. He has denied all knowledge of the 4kg of heroin that was found on his person in Urumqi in 2007.

The mans family claim he is mentally ill.

They also said that Shaikh is refusing to give up hope.

Soohail described his cousin, Akmail as “obviously very upset.”

[Via http://uncoverdclj.wordpress.com]

China: The world’s new number two economy?

With the revision of China’s 2008 GDP to $4.5 trillion, the nation now is poised to overtake Japan as the world’s second largest economy.

With 8 percent growth forecast for 2009 and Japan’s economy, which stood at $4.9 trillion last year, emerging from its worst recession since World War II, economists predict that China soon will stand second only to the United States in total economic output.

“It is only a matter of time before China’s total economic volume surpass that of Japan given China’s robust growth,” Xu Lianzhong, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission, told state-run media.

If it overtakes Japan, it will complete a dramatic five-year economic rise that saw it leap-frog the economies of the United Kingdom in 2005 and Germany in 2007.

The power of such rankings, however, is more emotional than substantive. China’s explosive growth reflects newly created wealth, not a zero-sum game: The gains of China were not the cause of equivalent economic losses among the world’s top economies. Indeed, the growth of China has been a boon to all developed economies across the world.

Still, the emotional weight of such rankings is strong. Whether China’s economy has already eclipsed Japan may be subject to debate, but the opening of the Wuhan-Guangzhou bullet train line this weekend gives China sole claim to the fastest trains in the world – once a point of pride in post-War Japan.

And on Sunday, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao made his strongest statement yet to state media that China won’t bow to foreign pressure to float the value of its currency – which implicitly suggests China now has the clout to weather criticism from its top trading partners.

So once it overtakes Japan, will it also overtake the U.S.? Most economists say yes – but not anytime soon.

China’s total economy is still one-third the size of the U.S., and conservative estimates don’t see its total output eclipsing the U.S. until around 2025.

Also important to keep in mind what Xu Lianzhong, from the National Development and Reform Commission, told China state media: “What matters more is the per capita figure, and in the case of China, the total figure has to be divided by 1.3 billion.”

Even if China has already eclipsed Japan in total economic output, the average Chinese income in 2008 was $3,200 – compared to $38,000 in Japan.

[Via http://business.blogs.cnn.com]

Ice sculpture park to be set up in Inner Mongolia Autonomus Region

Technicians from Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, work on an ice sculpture in Hexigten Qi in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Dec. 25, 2009. Over 30 ice sculpture makers from Harbin arrived in Hexigten Qi to set up an ice sculpture park. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

Source

->>>>><<<<<-

[Via http://sjpaderborn.wordpress.com]

Documentary about hermits in China - part 1

I have not yet seen this film but it looks fascinating.  This text is taken from the film’s website www.festivalmedia.org

“Amongst White Clouds is an intimate insider’s look at students and masters living in scattered retreats dotting China’s Zhongnan Mountain range. These peaks have reputedly been home to recluses since the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. It was widely thought that the tradition was all but wiped out, but this film emphatically and beautifully shows us otherwise.

Inspired in part by the noted book by Bill Porter (Red Pine), Road To Heaven: Encounters With Chinese Hermits, and filmed on location in China by American director Edward A. Burger, the film takes an unforgettable journey into the hidden tradition of China’s Buddhist hermit monks.

One of only a few foreigners to have lived and studied with these elusive practitioners, Burger is able, with humor and compassion, to present their tradition, their wisdom, and the hardship and joy of their everyday lives among the clouds.”

Directed by Edward A. Burger

Produced by Chad Pankewitz

FM1006–86 minutes / Color / English, Chinese (English subtitles) / Stereo / NTSC / All Region

SRP $24.95

[Via http://hermitblog.wordpress.com]

Bad China

Why didn’t China want to give foreign experts permission to study carbon emissions inside China? John Lee writes at ForeignPolicy.com:

“… these international teams would undoubtedly discover exactly how dysfunctional the heart of the country really is. They would see firsthand and report back how China’s 45 million local officials remain the most formidable obstacle to improving transparency in China’s sprawling economic structure — protecting their turf, defending their privileges, arbitrarily enforcing the law, and when it comes to economic performance, blatantly cooking the books.”

The short of it, Lee says, is that Beijing couldn’t get local power brokers on board to meet emissions requirements even if it wanted to. It’s an old story about central control in China; that is, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. So, what actually happened in Copenhagen? At the Guardian, Mark Lynas says he was in the room when China wrecked the deal on climate change. And China’s leader wasn’t.

What I saw was profoundly shocking. The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, (sic) did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country’s foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world’s most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his “superiors”.

And why did China deep six a deal? Lynas says it had everything to do with geopolitics.

China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.

[Via http://matthewjbell.wordpress.com]

thus begins the nine week wait until china

Soooo I am back at home.  For nine weeks.  I may go a bit stir crazy.

Anyway, finals went fine.  Leaving school was really sad, but I am kind of glad to be home.  I missed just relaxing and not really doing anything.  Of course I still have things that I have to do, but there’s not really anything pressing as of right now.  Later this break I’ll be working at Mom’s school as a bilingual aide, and then teaching little children Chinese, but as for now I just have a few forms to fill out and Christmas to enjoy.

Today was pretty fun.  Hung out with the puppy, then went sledding and out to eat with some high school friends.  After that Greg came over and me, him, and Mom made and decorated some cookies, as well as threw flour on the flour and slid around.  Then we watched The Santa Clause.  What a good movie.

Overall, today was a really good day.  Tomorrow I think Mom and I are going shopping, mostly for food but maybe a mallventure will happen as well.  And Dad’ll be at work all frickin’ day, so I doubt I’ll see him.  Although maybe if I stay up late enough I will.  But I kinda just want to go to bed.  We’ll see what happens.

Then Christmas!

[Via http://brandibrandi.wordpress.com]

Dutchess of York Sarah Ferguson Plans to 'Flog' Knock-offs Of Royal Goods On QVC, British Paper Reports

Fergie plans to flog royal knock-offs on QVC, Photo from News of the World

It looks like the British royal family may be coming to QVC.

Dutchess of York Sarah Ferguson, the royal rebel, is reportedly negotiating with QVC to do a line of knock-off’s of the royal family’s china, glassware, silverware and line, according to the News of the World newspaper in England.

The New York Post picked up that story in an item it ran in Monday’s paper.

Of course, the Post had to play up that old home shopping stereotype, by writing “The crown jewels are going cubic zirconia.”

The British paper really took Fergie to task, saying she “was secretly planning to flog family silver knock-offs.” The paper described Fergie as “cash strapped,” and that she was going to copy royal family heirlooms and her wedding gifts.

The News of the World said Fergie had already had talks with QVC execs in Los Angeles (puzzling, since QVC is based in West Chester, Pa.).

The royal family threw a hissy fit when Princess Diana’s ex-butler, Paul Burrell, was selling jewelry based on the late Diana’s pieces, the British paper reported.

But Fergie is apparently determined to create her own “brand,” as marketing morons out it. She is trying to negotiate with QVC in secret before the Queen’s ire is sparked, according to News of the World.

One quote in the story says that Fergie has a lot of fans in America, “and that’s where the money is.”

Fergie’s plans shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Back in September, she told New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams that she was talking with designer Tommy Hilfiger about doing a clothing line for QVC.

[Via http://homeshoppingista.wordpress.com]

China Stands Accused of Systematically Wrecking Global Climate Deal

Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor in Copenhagen, and Jonathan Owen in London report, The Independent, UK, Dec. 20, 2009-

China “systematically wrecked” the Copenhagen climate summit because it feared being presented with a legally binding target to cut the country’s soaring carbon emissions, a senior official from an EU country, present during the negotiations, told The Independent on Sunday yesterday.

The accusation, backed up by a separate eye-witness account from the heart of the talks of obstructive Chinese behaviour, reflected widespread anger among many delegations about the nation’s actions at the conference.

The concluding agreement about tackling global climate change was widely criticised yesterday for being too weak, and was seen as a dashing the hopes of many concerned about the warming threat. The lack of teeth in the “Copenhagen accord” – which, it is accepted on all sides, is inadequate for fighting climate change – was widely blamed by environmentalists on President Barack Obama for not making bigger US commitments to cut carbon emissions.

Yet the key element of the agreement, a timetable for making its commitments legally binding by this time next year, was taken out at the last minute at the insistence of the Chinese, who otherwise would have refused to agree to the deal.

Also removed, at Chinese insistence, was a statement of a global goal to cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, and for the developed world to cut its emissions by 80 per cent by the same date. The latter is regarded as essential if the world is to stay below the danger threshold of a two-degree Centigrade temperature rise.

The “50-50″ and “50-80″ goals have already been accepted by the G20 group of nations and world leaders who were negotiating the agreement, including Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel of Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Kevin Rudd of Australia. They were said to be amazed at the Chinese demands, especially over the developed nations’ goal. The European official said: “China thinks that by 2050 it will be a developed country and they do not want to constrain their growth.”

China, with its rapidly expanding economy, has now overtaken the US as the world’s biggest CO2 emitter, and although at the meeting it agreed for first time to a target to constrain its emissions growth in an international instrument, it is desperate not to have that made legally binding, the official said. He added: “This conference has been systematically wrecked by the Chinese government, which has adopted tactics that were inexplicable at first as we had been led to believe they wanted an agreement.”

Even more pointed allegations about Chinese behaviour came last night from another source at the heart of the negotiations.

The source was present as heads of state and government drafted the final document, and gave the IoS an astonishing eyewitness account. He said: “There were 25 heads of state in the room; this was about six o’clock on Friday night. To my right there was President Obama in the corner, with Gordon Brown on one side, the Ethiopian President on the other, the President of Mexico, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea…

“If China had not been in that room you would have had a deal which would have had everyone popping champagne corks. But this was the first sign that China is emerging as a superpower, which is not interested in global government, is not interested in multilateral governance that affects its own sovereignty or growth. You could tell this lack of engagement through the process; they play a much cleverer game than anyone else. They were running rings around the Americans.

“It’s always easier to block than to try and get something. The Americans will probably be given some of the blame because that’s the conventional narrative all the pressure groups have – that the rich countries are bad, they didn’t give enough money or they would not create enough mitigation targets.”

The source went on: “But the truth is, I was in that meeting and the ‘Annex 1′, rich countries had mitigation targets of 80 per cent by 2050 which everyone supported, and it was taken out by the Chinese. The deal was watered down because the Chinese wouldn’t accept any targets of any sort, for anybody. Not themselves or anybody else. Legally binding stuff was taken out by the Chinese as well and there was a lot of anger in the room. It was controlled but it was very, very clear what the feelings were.

“The Chinese were happy as they’d win either way. If the process collapsed they’d win because they don’t have to do anything and they know the rich countries will get the blame.

“If the deal doesn’t collapse because everyone is so desperate to accommodate them that they water it down to something completely meaningless, they get their way again. Either way they win. I think all the other world leaders knew that by that stage and were just furious that they couldn’t do anything about it.

“It was extraordinary to see, and incredibly worrying for what it bodes for the future of our planet in this century. China is not going to get less powerful, and if this is the way that it’s going to behave, then we have problems.”

Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change who led the negotiations for Britain, said last night: “It’s disappointing that the Chinese insisted we should not commit to a global 50 per cent emissions cut, and it’s disappointing that they didn’t support a legally binding treaty. I think both of these are necessary.”

Additional reporting by Rebecca Buchan and Claire Cooper

Eyewitness: Amid the confusion and chaos, we waited in vain for the hand of history on our shoulders

It was colourful, chaotic and confusing. But the sense most people will probably walk away with after nearly two weeks of talks in Copenhagen is one of intense disappointment and deflation……. (more details from The Independent)

[Via http://chinaview.wordpress.com]

The Frightening Rise Of Christian Persecution: Christians Around The World Are Being Shot, Burned, Hanged, Tortured And Stuffed Into Metal Shipping Containers

There is a widely quoted statistic that more Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in the 19 centuries leading up to it.  But as bad as the 20th century was, the 21st century is starting to make that look like a Sunday picnic.  In every corner of the globe, Christians are being shot, burned, hanged, tortured and even stuffed into metal shipping containers.  Christian clergy are being marked for assassination around the world, hundreds of churches are being burned to the ground along with scores of homes and businesses owned by Christians.  Dozens of nations across the globe have now passed strict anti-conversion laws in an attempt to stifle the spread of Christianity.  In the countries where Christians are not yet facing physical persecution, they still must deal with open discrimination, lawsuits and increasing ridicule.  Christianity is now the most hated and most persecuted religion on the plant.  The reality is that the words that Jesus spoke in John 15:18 ring truer today than ever: ”If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Keep those words in mind as you read the following shocking reports of Christian persecution from all over the world….  Hit the link at the top of this post for these reports, then visit the rest of the site.

Christians are being persecuted worldwide

This was my first visit to the site The End of the World (this is not the end of the world – this is just the end of the world as we know it). It contains much information and is well worth a visit. The above report tells of horrific persecution of Christians in China, Eritrea, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and more. The tentacles of anti Christianity are steadily creeping through Europe and into the United States. We must be as aware of what is happening on this issue as we are in the war on world wide terrorism as the seem to be somewhat relevant to each other. Where is the media on reporting this. To busy reporting on muslim whining about unfairly being treated?

Barack Obama Mocks And Makes Fun Of The Bible—No Christian Would Do This

[Via http://boudicabpi.wordpress.com]

Copenhagen: A Greener Planet?

What is this jamboree all about? These talks about climate change and a whole lot of heads of states descending at Copenhagen, the innocent me is star struck. What a bloody congregation, nothing like this has ever been seen for something so unfathomable. You see, if the temperature of our planet rises by just two degrees, we are doomed. It is all about gas – yes emissions and ways and means to reduce them. There are a whole lot of very committed young men and women out there fighting the Danish police every time there is a press photographer around. And then they sit around and drink coffee till they spot another blighter with a camera, and the routine is carried out solemnly. The police throw them around, and they try to push the cops back – a hugely committed lot I must say! These are the green terrorists. They think that the planet is going to seed because of the callousness of us all. They have a point, but I see a larger reason behind these ferocious and sometimes not so loud demonstrations that have been going on outside the venue of the talks.

Inside the venue, people are walking around very purposefully and seem all business till one finds that very little is being actually achieved. The ones that matter like the representatives of the developed and the BASIC countries are the first to admit that the talks are still at a very nascent stage. But the crowds of people inside the venue seem to be so purposeful and busy as if the burden of humanity has fallen on their frail shoulders. This sure is some gathering!!!!

I am not a skeptic by nature. I like new ideas and people with a mission. But the Copenhagen summit looks like one big carnival with little purpose. Do they really care about the planet? Most of the dignitaries including Prince Charles, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Obama and others have flown in on a chartered flight – a personal plane. How much were the emissions per person- carbon footprint? Copenhagen as of now must be the most overcrowded polluted city in the whole of Europe. And they are talking about climate change.

The Americans have very magnanimously put forward a sum of 100 billion dollars by 2020 for the developing countries as their contribution towards climate change. Magnanimous – is it not? India is saying that they will sign the agreement if they double the amount. Ridiculous! Why is the US so eager for the climate talks to fructify? Are they really keen on this? Do they really believe in the theory that this planet is in peril? To me it seems more about economics than about any real concern for the environment. If we know anything about the Americans it is that they will invest in anything only if it benefits them. Why are they so keen on a legally binding treaty? And why are countries like India and China not too eager to commit themselves? The Americans want to trap the developing and the least developed countries, especially those that have abundant natural resources. What kind of a trap is this? Well, once the developing and the least developed countries commit themselves on legally binding emission norms then they will have to ensure that they follow that in letter and in spirit. They will then be made to import western ‘green technology’ that will reduce the emissions to the levels that they have promised. That includes nuclear power plants and technology to reduce emissions in thermal power plants, and solar technology and others that they shall insist these countries import. So what they are putting forward as monetary compensation will all go back to the west in the form of imports that will be incumbent on these countries to ‘reduce emissions’. Obama is not a fool to bring hundreds of his top bureaucrats and officials to Copenhagen for nothing. John Kerry and many other Senators make up the American entourage. The west is not ready to put a cap on their emissions and even if Obama did sign a ‘Copenhagen declaration’ he may not be able to get it ratified in the Senate. The Kyoto protocol was set aside and was never accepted by the lawmakers on the Capitol Hill.  So why is Obama so keen on a Copenhagen pact? He is hedging his bets, that if they can get the developing nations to sign on a legally binding emissions cut, he would then be able to sell the deal back home. That is why there is so much pressure on countries like India, China, Brazil and South Africa. The Chinese played a smart move when they ensured that the African countries withdraw from the talks en masse. The Chinese have leverage with the Africans as they are the largest investors in Africa. This was the Chinese way of putting the pressure back on the west. The crowds jostling with the police outside the venue are also a pressure building tactics on the part of the western nations to make sure the developing countries fall in line.

India has been trying to play the role of a mediator between the western countries and China while making sure its own interest is not jeopardized. In that the interests of the BASIC countries are closely linked and India is on the same page as China. Yet India would not be totally averse to an agreement at Copenhagen. For one, India really believes that the right way forward is the green way. The other more compelling reason is that India believes that it will benefit from this agreement as India has some very useful green technology in companies like Suzlon who are in a big way into solar and wind energy and could benefit from these international norms. India also has the expertise of making small nuclear power plants that can be useful for some of the smaller underdeveloped and least developed countries. So, India sees itself not totally out of sync with what the west is aiming at. Most of these least developed countries and some of the small island nations that have tourism as their main source of income can also afford some of these green technologies that should be useful for them and which India can provide. Other least developed countries have natural resources that the west and the developing world could use. At Copenhagen what all countries are looking at is; what they are giving and what they will benefit. Can we say that they have anything to do with climate change?  Copenhagen is more about economics than any real concern for the planet. Obama and the Europeans hope to be able to steam roll over all those who are resisting the west’s agenda. Manmohan Singh was not too keen to go to Copenhagen, but he was almost dragged from Delhi on a flight to Copenhagen. The Danish prime minister taking over as the head of the Summit showed as to which way the winds were blowing.

The world is decisively moving towards greener future. The only caveat is that what these big monoliths are doing should also percolate down to the ground. Basic things like the use of plastic bottles for soft drinks and mineral water must be banned. These are non-biodegradable and a big burden on the ecology. This should not be too difficult. Planting more trees must be a way of life. Use of cars and trucks must be curtailed and mass transport must be encouraged. Cities must be planned in such a way so as to facilitate this lifestyle. Solar and wind power must be harnessed. Planes must adhere to strict emission norms. Ships must have wastage recycle system so that they do not dump everything into the sea. Sea lanes are becoming more and more congested and in these areas there are hardly any fish left and the marine life is endangered. Off shore drilling must be done in such a way that marine life is not affected. If we are really serious about saving this planet we must learn to conserve energy and resources so as to reuse what we are using. Ecological awareness should be a way of life. Copenhagen is not about climate change – it is more about economics. And at the end of the day, I am not sure the agreements that these leaders take back home will be ratified by their respective parliaments and law makers. Copenhagen is about lobbyists jostling against one another, and I am not even mentioning East Anglia.

[Via http://sharma24.wordpress.com]

Journalism and anonymity

I spotted this interesting piece by Dan Kennedy featured in The Guardian’s CiF pages today. He was discussing a recent article in the WSJ by the New York Times’ David Carr that used several anonymous sources and reporters, which had led Dan Gillmor and others to cry out in protest.

In the West, as Kennedy reminds us, the rules are pretty clear:

The Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics says we should “Identify sources whenever feasible” and “Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity.”

But Kennedy goes on to argue,

anonymous quotes are like any other tool. When abused, they can turn journalism’s purpose on its head, leading us to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. Used properly, though, they can help journalists accomplish their main goal, as explained in the preamble to the aforementioned code of ethics – to seek out and tell the truth.

The discussion resonated with me because, in my latest piece for Shanghai Daily, the majority of my sources wished to remain anonymous. My subject matter was pretty innocuous: I was speaking to foreign students in the city to see how they fared coming from the West to the intense world of the middle kingdom. Perhaps they preferred anonymity because many of their comments were negative – several lamented the total lack of administrative efficiency, poor teaching quality and impoliteness. However, nothing that was published was pushing the envelope or would warrant the interviewees being chased out of China with sticks.

Being a Western reporter in China is like treading on eggshells and taking stabs in the proverbial dark with what I can or can’t print. Grappling with the fundamental need to get the truth out is, obviously, that much more frustrating. But I was only too surprised when a colleague encouraged me to be more candid.

Reporting in the Chinese media landscape also often means our sources prefer anonymity. But, as Kennedy reminds us, as long as we fulfil role in seeking and revealing the truth, what does it matter?

China’s media reform is slow and the road is long. That said, such frustrations can often be an exciting part of the unfolding process.

[Via http://martaruco.wordpress.com]

New Month, New Picture

As of December 12th, 6 Months has reached the 1 month mark.  Yay!  Thanks to all of you, the blog has already received nearly 1,200 hits from all over the world! In honor of the first month, I’ve decided to change the custom header and will continue to do so every month (or when the mood strikes me).   From now on, all of the pictures I will post on the custom header are pictures I have taken.  The current picture was taken in Hangzhou on one of my favorite paths I often traveled near Xi Hu, pronounced similar to “she who” (West Lake).

A review of the past month’s journey:

• Inspiration and initiation of the blog
• Spontaneous travel to Madison, Wisconsin and Lake Superior
• Acclaim from Teresa Rodriguez Williamson on her website, Tango Diva
• Letters of Appreciation  (still going…)
• Keeping Promises
• Music magic from my childhood

What’s around the bend…

• A continuation and completion of the Letters of Appreciation
• Keeping the Promises to others and myself (including the book, publishing, and trying out for a play)
• Music magic from the teen years and beyond
• An exciting interview and article about the ladies at Spring: Inspiration in Bloom.
• And, who knows?  Life’s all about surprises…

[Via http://6monthstolive.wordpress.com]

Are We Better Off?

I was Youtubing for famous IR songs and got hold of this song from the movie Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu , song name Sorgame Endraaalum! Immediately wanted to pen down some random thoughts.

Quite often, you find this song being used to describe how how much we miss our home land, esp for the ones who live across the sea. I wanted to take a small diversion and present from a statistical point of view, we are better off compared to cities across the world on all important counts. It has been almost 2 decades since this song came, as much as the song is fresh, so is our wonderful motherland, Tamil Nadu. I myself used to whine about our city, roads, water, traffic, infrastructure, government, law and order etc, but hold on..read further to find out how much we are ahead and better.

I stumbled upon this website : http://www.worst-city.com/ and I just thought it would be good to couple the Youtube song + some statistics. The irony is that, the developed nations seems to have the same problem as we do but on a different scale. Take for example, Traffic , every now and then you see people whining and crying about roads, traffic, their dream to see 4/6/8 lane roads where they can take their girl ona convertible at 110s, choking at the amount og pollution, gas that emanates during traffic jams etc..Every one of us would been held up in a traffic jam, may be a worse one and we curse everything at that juncture starting from  Aaandava, yaar muhathule muzicheeno all the way upto  andha kadankaran nasamapoha, vandi ye ethitu nikamaporane. Take a snapshot of this, In Sao Paulo, this June, there was a traffic jam, which would even qualify into the guiness books as the worst one..Traffic was stand still upto a distance of 182 Miles or 293 Kms :O  WTF Imagine how would it look if starting from Kathipara you had just cars, bikes, buses, people, cattles all lined up in “doggy” style position stretching all the way upto say roughly Trichy ..

Residents of Sao Paolo do amazing things in their cars. They shave. They apply their makeup. They chat up the girl or guy in the neighboring car and make dates. They read. They learn foreign languages. They watch DVDs. Paulistas do all these things because they have no choice; the city’s crippling traffic problem forces them to spend a major proportion of their lives inching their way through gridlock.

News Article : http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1733872,00.html

So much hue and cry is being raised about this whole man made global warming tamasha , though it is a propaganda by Gore Like intellectual hypocrties, it really holds true in China` Linfen Province. Arsenic contaminated water, clouds of smoke dust and coal etc..Imagine how it would feel to swallow drak cloud of friggin ash! Look at this poor fellow..his face speaks!

China has 16 of the worlds 20 most polluted places!! I would say Neyveli as a greenery heaven compared to some of Chinas industrial areas.

[Via http://theseventhhill.wordpress.com]

Chinese Cellphone Users Rose Over 10mn in Oct

The number of cellphone users in China jumped 10.061 million in October 2009, compared with 9.336 million in the previous month, citing a report by BOCOM International Holdings Co., Ltd.

In detail, China Mobile Ltd. saw the number of its cellphone users grow 5.099 million in October, including 654,000 TD-SCDMA subscribers; the 2G mobile phone users of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. increased 801,000; and the cellphone users of China Telecom Corp., Ltd. hiked 3.14 million.

Both university freshmen and China Unicom’s launching of the 3G services largely contributed to China’s cellphone user base enlargement, BOCOM International pointed out, expecting that the 3G business would become an important growth engine for the local telecoms market.

In addition, China Telecom’s user growth is partly attributed to its competition for low- and medium-end customers, and the operator’s user base is expected to grow fast in line with its consumer subsidization at the end of this year.

Original here.

[Via http://chinainnovation.wordpress.com]

Parental Child Abduction: Top Ten Tips for Expats

By Jeremy D. Morley Before you move overseas, realize that if you have children in a new country you may find yourself trapped there. An example: Angie the American and Gus the Greek (from Cyprus) moved to Cyprus with their baby. Life in Cyprus didn’t work out for Angie. In fact, she hates it there. But Gus refuses to leave and he refuses to allow Angie to take the baby back to the States to live. Since both Cyprus and the U.S. are parties to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Angie will be in big trouble if she takes the child back to the States without Gus’ permission. Angie wishes she had consulted an international family lawyer before she moved overseas. Now she’s stuck there.

If you make a deal with your husband or wife that you’re going overseas just for a trial and that you’ll return if it doesn’t work out – Get it in writing. Verbal agreements always seem to be forgotten when things blow up. But also know that even a written agreement may not work. A foreign court handling your child custody case may well that it doesn’t care what your deal with was with the other parent; it must only consider what’s best for the kids.

Before you switch residences, consider how it might impact a possible divorce. An example: Arnie and Alice in America signed a prenuptial agreement before they married. Not only that, but Arnie made pretty sure that it was watertight not only by having it drafted by his own lawyer but also by insisting that Alice have her own independent lawyer, and by putting term sin the agreement that are pretty fair to Alice. Arnie feels secure. Then they move to London, England oblivious of the fact that their prenup may well be unenforceable in a divorce court in England. English courts still hold that prenuptial agreements are against public policy and, while this policy is supposed to be changing, it most certainly hasn’t changed yet. To make matters much worse for Arnie (who had bags of money before the marriage and thought he was fully protected by the prenup), there is no distinction in England between marital property and separate property acquired before the marriage. He could be blowing half of his pre-marriage assets just by moving the family to England.

Before leaving home, you should hope and plan for the very best. But you also need to be prepared for the very worst. So if you are a “trailing spouse,” consider the following:

Don’t sell the house. If you maintain an address in the States it will be easier to claim that you maintained your home as your permanent residence. Certainly it will indicate that it continues to be your “domicile” (the place you live in indefinitely which remains as your domicile even if you move temporarily to another place remains your home. Having a place to return to will also make your case a lot stronger if you need to prove that your kids should be allowed to move “back home.”

Keep your contacts with your job. Prepare for the day when you may want to re-enter the job market back home. Perhaps you can even continue to do some work even while overseas.

Keep your network of friends and family at home.

If you’re overseas and are “planning” to get divorced, be as strategic as possible. Plan your moves. Consult someone who really understands the big picture. Figure out where it’s best for you to be at the time you tell your soon-to-be-ex that it’s all over. You may need to move yourself, the kids, the soon-to-be-ex and the marital assets to another place before you break the news that you want out of the marriage. And don’t leave without the evidence. It’s very frustrating when a client tells me a story of the other spouse’s gruesome physical abuse and shameless hiding of marital assets and when I ask for the evidence I’m told that it was all left behind in the foreign country before the client came back home. Intelligent planning, with strategic professional advice, is the key.

If you’re feeling stuck overseas and have children with you, don’t just bolt for the (airplane) door with the kids and run ‘back home’ to the States. Plan things out first. If you take the kids you may be guilty of international child kidnapping. You could even be arrested at the airport before you leave. If you make it to the States, you’ll probably be forced to return by an American court – and then, to completely add insult to injury, you’ll probably have to pay your spouses’s legal fees and travel expenses as well as your own. When you return your case will be heard in the foreign court, where you will be branded as an international child abductor. Consult knowledgeable international family law counsel sooner, rather than later.

On the other hand, if it’s your spouse who’s feeling unhappy and upset and who may “do a runner” back home, there are lots of things that you should be doing. Some are pretty obvious: Be kind; be understanding; and don’t stay out all night with the guys or gals from the office. Other tips are not so clear, and whether you implement them depends very much on the circumstances. Hide the passports. Befriend her travel agent, who may tell you if she’s making an airline reservation. Consult her friends. Suggest counseling. Have a plan to call the police and alert the border guards if you discover that she has taken the kids.

If you’re overseas and pregnant, and not 1000% confident that you’ll always want to live in the overseas country, consider very seriously getting out of there now. If your baby is born overseas, whether in Sweden or Saudi Arabia, the child’s “habitual residence” for purposes of the Hague Convention will be Sweden or Saudi Arabia – and that can create terrible problems if you want to take your baby “back home.”

Don’t assume that the local authorities won’t help. So many times, expats feel that the local social welfare agencies won’t understand and that they will automatically side with the other spouse who is a citizen. In fact, in many countries the support services are excellent and you should try them. Plus, an American court in a Hague Convention case won’t accept your defense that returning a child to the foreign country will put the child in grave risk of harm unless you can show that the foreign support services are unable to provide the needed protection.

Local divorce lawyers may not be your best bet. They want your business. They have an incentive to encourage you to bring your lawsuit in the place where they practice and they usually don’t know anything about the laws in other places. An international divorce lawyer, who consults with local lawyers as appropriate, can give you much more objective “big-picture” advice.

Published by: ABP World Group International Child Recovery Service Visit our web site at: www.abpworld.com

[Via http://abpworld.wordpress.com]

Perfection: Thousand-Hand Dance

The video in hand shows the performance of a dance called “Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva”. It is one of the best examples of a successful teamwork manifesting perfection, precision, creativity, synchronization, and above all, strong will and challenge. These qualities are, unfortunately, forgotten by many especially in the era of quick action and materialistic values. However, they are crucial and need to be developed a great deal if a community actually seeks development.

 

When I first saw this dance, I was amazed and impressed. So I decided to share it with you. But when I searched the internet for further information about the show, I learned that this is a Chinese show (again) and the dancers are handicapped (again and again). Astonishingly enough, these 21 young dancers are DEAF! I neither intended to look for handicapped nor Chinese dancers, but this show can not be ignored. As I don’t want to repeat what I already wrote on the post “Handicapped Societies” (on http://abcdevelopment.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/handicapped-societies-en/ ) , I tried to extract new lessons from this one. However, it seems that it is destined to extract lessons from handicapped Chinese dancers for the second time J. It is worth mentioning that I am not biased towards or against anyone, but, undoubtedly, great work deserves to be highlighted regardless of all other aspects.

 

This is a dance performed in 5:57 minutes (three seconds less than 6 minutes). Yet, it took the wonderful team presenting it countless hours of work to prepare for it in such an amazing and organized way. Preparations include music composition, music selection, clothes, accessories, choreography, stage décor, logistics, training, and rehearsals.

 

I have always learned to enjoy and imagine the whole but also to give time for its analysis and division into its components to see how it is made possible. Consequently, while watching this video, I tried to analyze the wonderful show thinking of the indispensable elements and qualities that made it possible:

1. Perfection: Perfection only comes from hard work and the will to do the work perfectly. It is the criterion that makes things memorable and eternal. Hundreds of dances are performed everyday, but how many of them are remembered…forever?!! Only the very few perfect ones are.
2. Precision: Dancers are almost all of the same size, movements are well organized, and angles of each movement for each person are well calculated so that no one steps out of the line and no hand spoils the “drawing” by moving slower or quicker than the planned speed. The 21 dancers are standing exactly behind each other appearing as one person with “a thousand hands”. We don’t notice the numerousness unless the camera shots the line from the side.    
3. Creativity:

The first step of creativity is imagination. Not only that good imagination is a gift from God, but it is also an acquired skill. As I believe, we need to have a will to imagine and create new things in order to have the ability to do that. No one can be creative if they don’t wish to do new things or do things in a new way. In my opinion, the best way to be creative is to be an attentive observer. A good tool is watching the universe: the sky, stars, sunset, sunrise, sea, different creatures sharing this planet with us, and millions of other things, colors, and relations. We can see the colors, changes, figures, glory, and marvels. Another tool is to open our eyes to the world and others’ experiences and see how we can merge different things together so that we don’t reinvent the wheel.

      In this video, I can see a very strong effect of the sea. The colors and some movements in the first few minutes remind me of the goldfish. Some other movements give the feeling of swimming. The idea of large group synchronization is similar to that of fish groups moving together as one body with different parts. The last “portrait” makes the dancers look and move like a caterpillar.

      We can also see that every second we can take a “snapshot” or “portrait” of a new, beautiful, and perfectly drawn picture. 

1. Synchronization: One of the most difficult tasks is to synchronize the performance of several elements to work together in harmony. The more the elements (here dancers) involved in the task, the more difficult it gets. In this dance, there are 21 dancers moving together in perfect harmony giving the impression that they are in fact one body. Moreover, to start in a line is difficult, but to go back to the same perfect line after spreading all over the place with such a large group of dancers is much more difficult.
2. Preserving culture: Anyone can tell that this is an Asian dance. More specifically, Chinese. Not just because the dancers have Asian faces, but everything else can tell this: the clothes, the music, the choreography, and the colors.
3. Challenge: As I mentioned earlier, these dancers are deaf. When they thought of doing something useful, they could have been artists of visual arts like paintings or sculptures, poets, or any other profession not requiring the sense of hearing. But in that case, the challenge would not have been strong enough. In this dance, we notice the beats that were used as signals for the dancers to organize their steps in the next position.
4. Teamwork: Everyone of the team knows perfectly well their role, is well trained to perform it, and very well recruited. No one steps into someone else’s job just to show that they know better. Everyone is certain that they will all be outstanding only if the whole project is, and they will not be anything unless they are all parts of a whole. Moreover, from the name of the dance “Thousand Hand” and the first minute of the show, we can clearly visualize the effect of team work; i.e. obtaining a thousand hands instead of two for the same body.

 

And this is how strong communities are built…..

 

I wish you a great time watching the video: Enjoy and … think! 

[Via http://abcdevelopment.wordpress.com]

Vitamin Creative Space

Vitamin Creative Space:

Vitamin

Vitamins are essential for life, Vitamin Creative Space views contemporary art as the vitamin which keeps our life and society open.

Space

It is a Space of physical and spiritual unity: the “Space” has been developing by the non-stop explorations within the transforming Chinese context, practically and theoretically.

Creative

Life is a process of endless movement and extension.The activities happening in this Space are constantly connected with the floating energies from life.

Vitamin Creative Space is exploring an alternative working mode, specifically geared to the contemporary Chinese context. In order to operate independently from institutionalized funding, it is active both as an “independent” art space and as a “commercial” gallery. Vitamin Creative Space is actively challenging the preconception by merging these two, which traditionally are opposed strategies for supporting and presenting contemporary art, raising the searching of new Chinese contributions both from artistic practice level and institutional level within the new global context.

[Via http://mycatalogart.wordpress.com]

Working Girl?

I was asked recently by a reader whether or not expat wives can work in Beijing. The answer is “yes, but”…Let me explain.

If you speak to women who’ve been trailing spouses in China for a while, some of them will tell you they were given an automatic work visa along with their husbands upon entry into China.  That’s certainly what I was told but alas it has proved untrue.

The combination of the 60th anniversary (which raised feelings of invincibility to a whole new level here) and the recession have meant the Chinese government sees less and less need for foreign workers. I’ve been told anecdotally that work visas generally are now much harder to come by, with companies having to provide a lot more detailed evidence of why they want to hire a foreign worker over a Chinese one. Information from the Chinese government on this point is often conflicting and unclear.

If you want to find work here it is possible. Many expat wives set up their own businesses to ensure a portable career. Others decide to start a family. Others find companies willing to take them on under the table (albeit for a token wage – think around EUROs 150-300 a month), and others trawl around for freelance work, the favourites being writing/editing and teaching English. A very good place to start and to seek up-to-the-minute advice is the excellent VIVA network which holds monthly networking meetings and is run by seasoned expat business women. I’d also recommend the national chambers of commerce, specialist Beijing-based groups on LinkedIn and alumni associations.

All of this brings me to the bigger topic of what happens when working women become expat wives. I know from personal experience it is not at all an easy transition to make. Whatever the benefits of taking time out, don’t let anyone tell you there is no loss of identity involved in becoming a tai-tai. Speaking personally, loss of financial independence is a big part of this. I’ve seen firsthand how it can make expat women here in Beijing incredibly lonely, depressed and angry, and take a huge toll on marriages.

There have been a couple of very interesting stories in the media here about this phenomenon over the last few weeks. I’m linking them here so those who are new to this odd trailing spouse life know they are not alone, and more importantly, that there is help out there. Get thee to an expat coffee morning!

[Via http://wifeschool.wordpress.com]

Connections: Body, Spirit, and SEX SLAVERY around the World

November 8, 2007 at 12:54pm

Connections: Body, Spirit, and SEX SLAVERY around the World

Do you realize that the body is connected to the spirit? Your body is not cheap, or to be used for prostitution, but for GOD, and very valuable.

Connection: the spiritual support that we give to sin helps increase the number of girls being raped, molested, and forced to be prostitutes.

We may not be able to save every molested little girl, or sex slave in Thailand, Africa, or America, but We can make a difference! How? By refusing to support sin, and the cheapening of the human body, in ANY form.

Also, by praying that God would save them, and save their abusers, and CRUSH any industry that abuses the human body to advertise or make money. (magazines, music, movies, clubs)

Do you realize that every time you support:

a porno video

a party, club or nightspot that uses sex to sell

a porn website

a hip hop video that cheapens womens bodies

any other magazine or advertisement that cheapens womens or mens bodies

using the term ‘pimp’ as a positive word

a movie that uses sex or naked bodies to attract viewers

that you are spiritually or financially supporting ‘human trafficking’ aka SEX SLAVERY

which is the NUMBER ONE SLAVE INDUSTRY EVER in the World?

Did you know that there are more SEX SLAVES in the world right NOW then all the African American slaves ever?

Did you know that Prostitution is the BIGGEST FASTEST growing Industry across the EARTH right now?

Most of these are preteen (4-12) and teenage girls that are either sold by their parents for money, or kidnapped by strangers.

How does America support the Child Prostitute Slave Industry?

Financially.

A Lot of it is Purchased through the INTERNET!

Bought by vacationers.

Entertainment Industry

Pornography over the Internet

watching horny videos. Or even “Positive” Rappers that make body cheapening songs like Talib Kweli’s “Hot Thing”

supporting Filthy music about sex

Strip clubs, orgy parties, American sin-clubs

Advertisements that display sexual images, that should be private

These things make the human body a cheap thing for display, not the temple of God like it should be. This contributes to people’s thinking that they can sell it for real.

Travel Industry

“business” vacations in Asia with a LOT of extra curriculars

Spiritually (In Yourself)

Men, when you let sexual sin use you as a slave, in your eyes or your body, and allow others to do the same you are contributing spiritually to the rape of an 8 year old girl in Thailand, Africa, or Cambodia… or the molestation of a little girl in America… How? Because sin grows and spreads spiritually. The lifestyle we live spreads into the culture that surrounds us. The culture that surrounds us spreads into other cultures. (Look at hip hop and the American entertainment culture. it spreads everywhere.

You have to hate sin to destroy it.

Fashion Industry (Spiritually)

Women when you sell your own body with the clothes you half-wear, showing cleavage, not covering your bootie (not being modest acc to 1 Peter 2 ), you spiritually contribute to lust of men, and to the prostitution industry, and the CHEAPENING of the body of a 13 year old girl in Thailand, Africa, or Cambodia… AND America!

This message is about connecting our lifestyles to how it affects others. You will definitely suffer for it, but sin affects more than just you.

Teach someone else not to support sin in ANY way! Do not support the cheapening of the human body in ANY way.

Look it Up!

STORY OF A GIRL SOLD

SEX SLAVERY VIDEO

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R5eWyrXd-hU

hip hop video about it by Mr. J (this video is an answer to Talib Kweli’s song “hot thing”)

see international Justice Mission

http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=178&srcid=-2

see trafficking

www.humantrafficking.org

dateline video

Sex slave sting

November 8, 2007 at 12:54pm

Connections: Body, Spirit, and SEX SLAVERY around the World

Do you realize that the body is connected to the spirit? Your body is not cheap, or to be used for prostitution, but for GOD, and very valuable.

Connection: the spiritual support that we give to sin helps increase the number of girls being raped, molested, and forced to be prostitutes.

We may not be able to save every molested little girl, or sex slave in Thailand, Africa, or America, but We can make a difference! How? By refusing to support sin, and the cheapening of the human body, in ANY form.

Also, by praying that God would save them, and save their abusers, and CRUSH any industry that abuses the human body to advertise or make money. (magazines, music, movies, clubs)

Do you realize that every time you support:

a porno video

a party, club or nightspot that uses sex to sell

a porn website

a hip hop video that cheapens womens bodies

any other magazine or advertisement that cheapens womens or mens bodies

using the term ‘pimp’ as a positive word

a movie that uses sex or naked bodies to attract viewers

that you are spiritually or financially supporting ‘human trafficking’ aka SEX SLAVERY

which is the NUMBER ONE SLAVE INDUSTRY EVER in the World?

Did you know that there are more SEX SLAVES in the world right NOW then all the African American slaves ever?

Did you know that Prostitution is the BIGGEST FASTEST growing Industry across the EARTH right now?

Most of these are preteen (4-12) and teenage girls that are either sold by their parents for money, or kidnapped by strangers.

How does America support the Child Prostitute Slave Industry?

Financially.

A Lot of it is Purchased through the INTERNET!

Bought by vacationers.

Entertainment Industry

Pornography over the Internet

watching horny videos. Or even “Positive” Rappers that make body cheapening songs like Talib Kweli’s “Hot Thing”

supporting Filthy music about sex

Strip clubs, orgy parties, American sin-clubs

Advertisements that display sexual images, that should be private

These things make the human body a cheap thing for display, not the temple of God like it should be. This contributes to people’s thinking that they can sell it for real.

Travel Industry

“business” vacations in Asia with a LOT of extra curriculars

Spiritually (In Yourself)

Men, when you let sexual sin use you as a slave, in your eyes or your body, and allow others to do the same you are contributing spiritually to the rape of an 8 year old girl in Thailand, Africa, or Cambodia… or the molestation of a little girl in America… How? Because sin grows and spreads spiritually. The lifestyle we live spreads into the culture that surrounds us. The culture that surrounds us spreads into other cultures. (Look at hip hop and the American entertainment culture. it spreads everywhere.

You have to hate sin to destroy it.

Fashion Industry (Spiritually)

Women when you sell your own body with the clothes you half-wear, showing cleavage, not covering your bootie (not being modest acc to 1 Peter 2 ), you spiritually contribute to lust of men, and to the prostitution industry, and the CHEAPENING of the body of a 13 year old girl in Thailand, Africa, or Cambodia… AND America!

This message is about connecting our lifestyles to how it affects others. You will definitely suffer for it, but sin affects more than just you.

Teach someone else not to support sin in ANY way! Do not support the cheapening of the human body in ANY way.

Look it Up!

STORY OF A GIRL SOLD

SEX SLAVERY VIDEO

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R5eWyrXd-hU

hip hop video about it by Mr. J (this video is an answer to Talib Kweli’s song “hot thing”)

see international Justice Mission

http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=178&srcid=-2

see trafficking

www.humantrafficking.org

dateline video

Sex slave sting

xxxxxx xxxxxx December 7 at 2:10am

u should send this message out again!!

[Via http://sospression.wordpress.com]

Report warns of water crisis by 2030 for India & China !

A report backed by big business users of water warns that without global action, demand for water in 2030 will outstrip supply by 40 per cent.

The biggest problems will be in India and China, and without concerted action, India will not be able to meet half of its water needs by 2030.

In neighbouring China, the problem is even worse, with demand expected to outstrip supply by 25 per cent.

The report warns demand for water in 2030 could outstrip supply by 40 per cent. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) – part of the World Bank – collaborated with multinational companies including Coca Cola, Nestle, Standard Chartered Bank and brewer Miller, among others, to write “Charting Our Water Future”.

The report says the worst affected areas will be in developing countries where one third of the world’s population lives.

One of the report’s authors, Giulio Boccaletti from strategists the McKinsey Group, says water is everybody’s problem and requires new government policies and investment, involvement of the private sector, efficiency measures, research and education.

The cost could be between $54 billion and $64 billion, but the savings could be enormous.

IFC senior manager Usha Rao-Monari told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia many of their clients – large water users – collaborated on the report.

“The first thing that they’re thinking about and worrying about and taking measures to address is saving water,” she said.

“They’re using less water or they’re treating waste water and using that for their production process, and leaving fresh water for consumption for example by surrounding communities.

“There is much broader recognition of this in all parts of the world than we had initially thought when we first started working on this report.”

The report focuses on two other countries – Brazil and South Africa.

Australia’s creation of water rights and a market for the Murray Darling Basin is used as one example where the capacity exists to regulate users.

In others, microfinance – the provision of financial services to low-income clients without access to banking and related services – might be used to improve irrigation.

Guilio Boccaletti says: “The point we’re trying to make is that there exists a number of ways, a number of policy levers, to try and adopt and help implement a program of sustainable water use to get to water security.”

From ABC News

[Via http://myviews4life.wordpress.com]

The Lord of Doom

This from the Lord of Doom, The “Carbon Credits” Millionaire Profit (no I did not mean Prophet ) AL GORE in the London Times:

“Even a final treaty will have to set the stage for other tougher reductions at a later date,” he said. “We have already overshot the safe levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.”

“We are gambling with the future of human civilisation in accepting odds that by any definition make our present course reckless . . . But it’s still the most likely path to success.”

2006- USA TODAY: Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a “carbon-neutral lifestyle.” To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. “Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb,” warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. “We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin.”

Gee, thanks Chicken Little.

He said that a system of carbon emissions trading was a more realistic first step on this path and rejected criticism from James Hansen, the pioneering climate change scientist at Nasa, who has condemned both Mr Gore and the Copenhagen meeting for their focus on carbon markets as a solution to climate change.

Mr Gore said: “The correct policy response will include both of these powerful tools. But the degree of political difficulty associated with a carbon tax is a degree of difficulty much higher than the cap and trade approach.”

Like this Mr. Doom: UK telegraph Nov 14,2009: Everyone in Britain should have an annual carbon ration and be penalised if they use too much fuel, the head of the Environment Agency will say.

Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity.

Like with a bank account, a statement would be sent out each month to help people keep track of what they are using.

If their “carbon account” hits zero, they would have to pay to get more credits.

Those who are frugal with their carbon usage will be able to sell their unused credits and make a profit.

Lord Smith will call for the scheme to be part of a “Green New Deal” to be introduced within 20 years when he addresses the agency’s annual conference on Monday.

An Environment Agency spokesman said only those with “extravagant lifestyles” would be affected by the carbon allowances.

He said: “A lot of people who cycle will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those with extravagant lifestyles who would lose out.”

You mean like the Liberal Elites with their mansions and private jets??

Of course not, silly.

Back to Gore: He also brushed aside questions over the reliability of climate science that have followed the publication last month of leaked e-mails between climate experts. He claimed that the scientific consensus around climate change “continues to grow from strength to strength”. He added: “The naysayers are in a sunset phase with a spectacular climax just before they subside from view. This is a race between common sense and unreality.”

Does that mean the liberal elites will give up their private jets to save the planet?

USA TODAY: Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

He’s raping the earth for profit. Someone call the Environmentalist Luddities!!

Oh wait…

2007:  These latest revelations are reason enough to rent the movie just to see Gore standing before an enormous bar-graph comparison of individual carbon emissions by nationality while sanctimoniously tut-tutting about how the average American’s energy use is greedily off the charts.

A Gore spokesman tried to deflect the charges of “do as I say, not as I do” by stating that the Gores “purchase offsets for their carbon emissions to bring their carbon footprint down to zero.” Gore himself has been very public about this approach to carbon neutrality, but not only is this claim not exactly true, it’s quite meaningless in terms of global warming.

First, Al Gore doesn’t purchase carbon offsets out of his own pocket and the actual economic cost, if any, to him is unknown.

The actual offset purchaser is a London-based investment firm, Generation Investment Management (GIM), that Al Gore co-founded with former Goldman Sachs executive David Blood and others in 2004.

Goldman Sachs? Where have I heard that one before….

So. Lord Doom has a “carbon credits”  offset company. So he’s buying off his “carbon footprint” from himself.

How convenient. Or  is this an Inconvenient Truth?

The elite liberal intelligensia are preaching doom and destruction and the death of mankind.

And many are Profiting from it.

There’s a term for that, and it’s not Nobel Laurette.

Huckster.

Scam Artist.

Fraud.

Did you know there’s a Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), as in a  Commodities Market??

And here I thought Wall Street trader types were evil?

“Did we think Kyoto would [reduce global warming] when we signed it [in 1997]?… Hell no!” said Gore. He then explained that the actual point of Kyoto was to demonstrate that international support could be mustered for action on environmental issues. (Al Gore say about the Kyoto Protocol following a private presentation of his climate slide show I attended at the Americans for Tax Reform offices in January, 2006.-Fox News)

His company buys the offsets for their employees. There’s no cost to him. He benefits politically – and perhaps financially, as well – from them. He then advocates that the rest of us who cannot so easily offset are carbon production suffer myriad personal sacrifices.

The would-be Emperor has no clothes.

While Gore and the other Liberal Elites relax in  posh luxury you should be taking shorter and colder showers, and hanging your laundry outside to dry. As Gore and his Environmentalist Doomsayers jet around the world in first-class comfort to hob-nob with society’s elites about his self-declared “moral imperative”, you should travel less and bike to work. You should use less electricity while Al and his wife, Tipper, use 20 times the national average. Now that’s a real carbon offset.

“Are you ready to change the way you live?” Gore literally meant you – and only you.

Just Recently- Lord Doom cancels his show at Copenhagen: As described in The Washington Times’ Inside the Beltway column Tuesday, the multimedia public event to promote Mr. Gore’s new book, “Our Choice,” included $1,209 VIP tickets that granted the holder a photo opportunity with Mr. Gore and a “light snack.”

“Our Choice” is the sequel to his “inconvenient truth”. I’m sure the movie will be coming soon.

Maybe it was the Inconvenient Truth that he and his fellow doomsayers are LYING. Ya Think?

IDB:  As the high priests of what Czech President Vaclav Klaus has called a “religion” prepare their pilgrimage to worship the earth goddess Gaia in Copenhagen, complete with humanity being sacrificed, the heresy of climate truth is finally being heard.

The gospel of climate change, once expressed with the messianic fervor of an Elmer Gantry by Al Gore, is now expressed with the stammering incoherence of an Elmer Fudd by the defenders of doctored and destroyed data.

“What is most important is that CRU continues its world-leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible,” Phil Jones said in a statement.

My, that sounds like a very political statement.

According to the Daily Collegian, the Penn State University student newspaper, professor Michael Mann, featured prominently in the CRU e-mails and creator of the famous and fraudulent “hockey stick” showing a sharp and sudden increase in man-caused global warming, is being investigated by the university.

This includes Jones’ note to his colleagues telling them he had “just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline” in temperatures.

Now we just have to get the Ministry of Truth (ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN,MSNBC, et al) to actually cover the real story instead of the alleged “hacking” “crime”.

But I won’t hold my carbon dioxide exhaling breath.

According to the U.S. Treasury, this proposal includes between $100 billion and $200 billion in additional taxes a year, costing an additional $1,761 per family — equivalent to a 15% hike in the personal income tax.

A further report commissioned by the U.S. Senate has shown that the additional gas taxes in the proposal equate to $3.6 trillion by 2035. According to an analysis by the independent Heritage Foundation, once fully implemented this would lead directly to a staggering 2.5 million jobs lost.

And other reports suggest that air fares would double at best (all that evil airline fuel you know). So going anywhere would be out of the question for millions of people.

So you won’t be able to afford your car, and will have to take government funded public transit or bike to work, if you have one. You won’t be able to go on vacation anywhere, and your taxes will skyrocket.

But you’ll feel good about “saving the planet” right along side Lord Doom as he rakes in the millions.

But Al Gore and his Liberal Elites will still have their mansions, private limos, and private jets!

You must make the sacrifice!

You must be the sacrifice to the Gods of Green Gaia.

Ruth Lea, an economist from Arbuthnot Banking Group, told the Daily Mail: “This is all about control of the individual and you begin to wonder whether this is what the green agenda has always been about. It’s Orwellian. This will be an enormous tax on business.”

Yes, Mrs Lea, you do have wonder.

And with unemployment at 10.2% I’m sure more taxes is just what they need to start hiring people.

Meanwhile China, the biggest polluter in the world says “no” to any deals and laughs hysterically at the Lord and and ladies of Doom.

Hindu, The National Newspaper of India Online: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang, “China and India both are developing countries and victims of climate change,” he said. “The two countries do not have obligations to binding emissions reduction targets. On climate change, both countries have same positions, same concerns and same demands.”

China and India, along with Brazil and South Africa, this week submitted a joint draft listing their non-negotiable demands ahead of Copenhagen. The draft said the countries would not accept legally binding cuts and international measurement, reporting and verification of unsupported mitigation actions.

So the world’s biggest polluter is the victim.

And the US, #2, is the perpetrator.

And Obama and Doomsayer’s and Fraud’s “consensus” agree.

A Chinese made candle to light your home and a Chinese-made bike to pedal to work (if you can get one that is) anyone??

[Via http://indyfromaz.wordpress.com]

Rick Moran caught lying again.

“I’ve made the point before but it bears repeating. Russia, China, and the rest of the world are not stupid. Even if it is their desire to stick it to the west and the US, you have to be bloody out of your mind to acquiesce in the prospect of Iran building a nuke.”

You are WRONG (as usual). It is in the interest of Russia and China to make Iran a nuclear state, because Iran will then aim its nuclear missiles against America and its allies. Russia and China won’t be targeted – they are Iran’s best allies and buddied with it several years ago to oppose America and, ultimately, bring it down. They will NEVER back ANY real sanctions against Iran. And Russia will continue to supply Iran with nuclear fuel, missiles, reactors, and the weapons Iran needs to defend itself against the US (e.g. S-300 SAMs and SU-30 Flanker jets).

“Everyone knows that if that were to occur, the prospect of nuclear war would become a real possibility.”

Gibberish. The prospect of nuclear war would remain what it is now – an unrealistic fiction propagated by scaremongers. There’s no evidence that Iran would ever use nuclear weapons first – unless attacked by Israel or the US. Iran is deterrable. The mullahs are cruel, but not insane. They know that Tehran would become a radioactive crater if they launched a nuke at the US or Israel.

[Via http://zbigniewmazurak.wordpress.com]

It’s all about Cixi. Imperial residences, Beijing, China

24th November

Once upon a time in a land far far away there was a little girl called Cixi who always dreamed of being an empress. She dreamed that she would wear fine clothes, order 100 dishes to be made for dinner every day and have 10,000 caged birds released on her birthday every year. Then one day, when she was 15 years old, Cixi was called to the Imperial Palace to interview for a position as one of Emperor Xianfeng’s 10,000 concubines (mistresses).

Like many of the Emperors before him, Xinagfeng felt it was his personal responsibility to place his seed in every woman in the Chinese empire so every night he selected a tablet from a silver plate bearing the name of one of his concubines. The girl was then carried to his room wearing only a yellow cloth wrapped around her. She had to be carried because the bindings on her feet were too tight to allow luxuries such as walking. The servant carrying the girl was always a eunuch.

Despite the fact that the Emperor had his own palace with over 8,000 rooms, he was infected with the same illness as many other men and so many of his predecessors – jealousy. As such, the only men allowed into his palace had to be infertile, to protect the integrity of his many seeds. Thus the palace and its surrounding buildings was given the name of The Forbidden City. This however offered an opportunity to boys of bad blood and low class that they would never have otherwise – to gain entrance to the inner echelons of the Imperial circle. For this, they were willing to sacrifice their testicles and any social standing they had outside of the palace. In the hope that they would be buried whole, albeit apart from their family, they always carried their redundant testicles in a pouch on their belts.

Anyway, once installed inside the Imperial Palace walls, the ambitious Cixi soon became the Emperor’s favourite concubine, bearing him a son who would go on to become head of the empire. As her son was still an infant when Xinagfeng died, Cixi seized her opportunity to rule in his place as Empress Dowager (Queen Mum) for the following 25 years. When her son died of syphilis Cixi had him replaced with her nephew who she swiftly imprisoned, continuing her rule and her extravagant spending spree as China’s coffers got drier and drier.

One of Cixi’s most extravagant gifts to herself was her Summer Palace – a series of lodgings, temples and pleasure grounds set around a massive lake just outside Beijing. Of course Cixi understood that money didn’t grow on trees so, to cover the cost of building a giant marble ship and a series of building with names such as ‘The Hall of dispelling Clouds’, she cut the money that had been intended to build China’s navy.

Protected by all her layers of silk and her army of servants, the regent of China had nothing to do with the little people. It was in a typically misjudged fashion, therefore, that Cixi eventually shot herself in the foot. In response to foreign invasions of the Chinese borders and growing unrest among the population, Cixi collaborated with the racist Boxer Movement, ordering them to kill all foreigners in China, which they happily set about doing. When the western world inevitably retaliated, Cixi and her puppet nephew were forced to go into hiding. When they did eventually resurface there was little to be salvaged of their dynasty. Before she lost her position as Empress Dowager, Cixi did manage to pass one last order – to have her nephew assassinated.

[Via http://yearlongbreakup.wordpress.com]

China Now Spending $9 Billion a Month on Renewable Energy

The US is falling behind in the clean energy race, Steven Chu told a Clemson University symposium, while visiting South Carolina on Monday. The University has just won a Department of Energy grant for wind testing at a world-class level, and will be testing wind turbines larger than ever before seen in this country, as I detailed here last week: South Carolina to Lead US With $98 Million World-Class Wind Center.

The Department of Energy award to Clemson University is one of many that the US Department of Energy has invested this year in renewable energy, reversing years of neglect of the “braintrust” infrastructure of research and development that drives renewable energy innovation.

Both China and Europe wind increasingly look to each other for renewable energy infrastructure, while the US is being left behind by both continents. Since signing Kyoto in 1997; agreeing to carbon constraints that forced it to forge ahead and develop new renewable low carbon energy, Europe has raced ahead in wind and solar power, and now dominates the world market.

“America has the opportunity to lead the world in a new industrial revolution,” Mr. Chu told business leaders, political leaders and engineers at a Clemson University symposium.

But, he said: “The world is passing us by. We are falling behind in the clean energy race … China is spending $9 billion a month on clean energy … China has now passed the United States and Europe in high-tech manufacturing. There is no reason the United States should cede high-tech manufacturing to anyone.”

“This is going to be a very competitive business and we want to help the United States get a leadership position in wind generation technology,” Mr. Chu said.

“This is high-tech manufacturing. This means quality jobs for Americans, this means better exports and balance of trade, it means better consumption at home, it further drives down the price of wind, it betters our exports, it creates jobs in America. We see all good things.”

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/01/china-now-spending-9-billion-a-month-on-renewable-energy/

[Via http://evergreenpower.wordpress.com]