Either You Are, Or You Aren't a Renaissance Woman!
A renaissance woman is someone who sets her own agenda for personal achievement and will not allow herself to be manipulated or intimidated by self-proclaimed spokesmen who try and wrap their political philosophies around terms like "equality," "choice," "peace," "tolerance" and "diversity." She understands that she has been created for such a time as this and embraces her destiny as a challenge and not a curse, no matter what her personal circumstances. She is a winner not a whiner, a leader not a follower, a victor, not a victim. She wants to change the paradigm of the feminist movement that has served to marginalize and ridicule women who do not follow their collective agenda.
Millions of women around the country, from all professions, backgrounds and cultures, are courageously picking up the mantel of leadership and virtue, that the feminist movement has squandered. They are providing thoughtful and accurate analysis, on a variety of issues, of where, and who we are as a nation.
As we celebrate Juneteenth, also know as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, it is fitting that we pause to recognize the origin of this important part of our African American heritage.
June 19th marks the day in 1865 when word reached blacks in Texas that slavery in the United States had been abolished. More than two years earlier, on January 1, 1863, Republican President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Delivered during the American Civil War, this proclamation ordered the freeing of all slaves in states that were rebelling against Union forces. The proclamation had little effect in Texas, where there were few Union troops to enforce the order.
News of the proclamation officially reached Texas on June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger, backed by nearly 2,000 troops, arrived in the city of Galveston and publicly announced that slavery in the United States had ended. Republicans had passed the Thirteenth Amendment on January 31, 1865 that was ratified on December 6, 1865 to abolish slavery in the United States.
Reactions among newly freed slaves ranged from shock and disbelief to jubilant celebration. That day has been known ever since as Juneteenth, a name probably derived from the slang combination of the words June and nineteenth.
Juneteenth commemorations began in Texas in 1866. Within a few years they had spread to other states and became an annual tradition, celebrating freedom for blacks in addition to many other themes, including education, self-improvement, African American accomplishments throughout history, and tolerance and respect for all cultures.
The racial divisiveness prevalent today would not exist if the Democrats in control of the Southern states had left African Americans alone at the moment in history when blacks were freed from slavery and the Juneteenth celebrations began. Instead Democrats set for themselves the horrendous task of keeping blacks in virtual slavery.
Southern Democrats passed discriminatory Black Codes in 1865 to suppress, restrict, and deny blacks the same privileges as whites. The Codes forced blacks to serve as apprentices to their former slave masters.
In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was started by Democrats to lynch and terrorize Republicans, black and white, and the Ku Klux Klan became the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party.
To counter the discriminatory and terrorizing actions by Democrats, Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that was designed to establish a new government system in the Democrat-controlled South, one that was fair to blacks.
Further, the Fourteenth Amendment pushed by Republicans was ratified in1868 that granted blacks citizenship. The Fifteenth Amendment also pushed by Republicans was ratified in 1870 that granted blacks the right to vote.
Undaunted, Democrats passed discriminatory Jim Crow Laws in 1875 to restrict the rights of blacks to use public facilities. In response, Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which prohibited racial discrimination in public facilities.
Shamefully, Democrats fought against anti-lynching laws, and when the Democrats regained control of Congress in 1892, they passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil right laws enacted by Republicans. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Democrats and issued a ruling in the case of “Plessy v. Ferguson” in 1896 that established the "separate but equal" doctrine. That opinion stated that it was not a violation of the Constitution to have separate facilities for blacks. It took Republicans nearly six decades to finally get the civil rights laws of the 1950’s and 1960’s passed over the objection of the Democrats.
To advance civil rights for blacks, Republicans started the NAACP on February 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The first black head of the NAACP was black Republican James Weldon Johnson who became general secretary in 1920 and wrote the lyrics to the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Republicans also founded the HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) because Democrats were trying to prevent blacks from getting a good education.
During the civil rights era of the 1960's, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought to stop Democrats from denying civil rights to blacks. It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a Republican as has been affirmed by his niece, Dr. Alveda C. King.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would not have joined the Democratic Party, the party of the Ku Klux Klan and segregation.
Dr. King fought against Democrat Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor in Birmingham who let loose vicious dogs and turned skin-burning fire hoses on black civil rights demonstrators.
Democrat Georgia Governor Lester Maddox famously brandished ax handles to prevent blacks from patronizing his restaurant. Democrat Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963 and thundered, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." All of these racist Democrats remained Democrats until the day they died.
The so-called “Dixiecrats” remained Democrats and did not migrate to the Republican Party. The Dixiecrats were a group of Southern Democrats who, in the 1948 national election, ran a third party ticket that supported segregation and Jim Crow laws passed by Democrats. Even so, they continued to be Democrats for all local and state elections, as well as for all future national elections.
Unknown today is the fact that the Democratic Party supported the Topeka, Kansas school board in the 1954 “Brown v. Topeka Board of Education” Supreme Court decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren who was appointed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. This landmark decision declared that the "separate but equal" doctrine violated the 14th Amendment and ended school segregation.
After the Brown decision, Democrat Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus tried to prevent desegregation of a Little Rock public school. President Eisenhower sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate the schools and pushed through the 1957 Civil Rights Act. In 1958, Eisenhower established a permanent US Civil Rights Commission that had been rejected by prior Democrat presidents, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Ignored today is the fact that it was Roosevelt who started blacks on the path to dependency on government handouts during the Great Depression with his “New Deal” that turned out to be a bad deal for blacks. Even though Roosevelt received the vote of many blacks, Roosevelt banned black American newspapers from the military because he was convinced the newspapers were communists.
Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman's issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.
Little known is the fact that it was Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois, not Democrat President Lyndon Johnson, who pushed through the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. In fact, Dirksen was instrumental in the passage of civil rights legislation in 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1968. The chief opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were Democrat Senators Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd, a former official in the Ku Klux Klan who is still in Congress. None of these racist Democrats became Republicans.
Democrats ignore the pivotal role played by Senator Dirksen in obtaining passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, while heralding President Johnson as a civil rights advocate for signing the bill.
Notably, in his 4,500-word State of the Union Address delivered on January 4, 1965, Johnson mentioned scores of topics for federal action, but only thirty five words were devoted to civil rights. He did not mention one word about voting rights. Information about Johnson’s anemic civil rights policy positions can be found in the “Public Papers of the President, Lyndon B. Johnson,” 1965, vol. 1, p.1-9.
In their campaign to unfairly paint the Republican Party today as racists, Democrats point to President Johnson’s prediction that there would be an exodus from the Democratic Party because of Johnson’s signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Omitted from the Democrats’ rewritten history is what Johnson actually meant by his prediction. Johnson’s statement was not made out of a concern that racist Democrats would suddenly join the Republican Party that was fighting for the civil rights of blacks. Instead, Johnson feared that the racist Democrats would again form a third party, such as the short-lived States Rights Democratic Party. In fact, Alabama’s Democrat Governor George C. Wallace in 1968 started the American Independent Party that attracted other racist candidates, including Democrat Atlanta Mayor (later Governor of Georgia) Lester Maddox.
Democrat President John F. Kennedy is also lauded as a civil rights advocate. In reality, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil rights Act while he was a senator. After he became president, John F. Kennedy opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph who was a black Republican.
President Kennedy, through his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King. To his credit, Republican President Ronald Reagan made Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday, ignoring how the Democrats had smeared Dr. King.
Democrats denounced Senator Trent Lott for his remarks about Senator Strom Thurmond. However, there was silence when Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd praised Senator Byrd, a former official in the Ku Klux Klan, as someone who would have been "a great senator for any moment.” Senator Thurmond was never in the Ku Klux Klan and, after he became a Republican, Thurmond defended blacks against lynching and the discriminatory poll taxes imposed on blacks by Democrats.
Democrats today castigate Republican Senator Barry Goldwater as anti-black. However a review of Senator Barry Goldwater’s record shows that he was a Libertarian, not a racist. Goldwater was a member of the Arizona NAACP and was involved in desegregating the Arizona National Guard.
Goldwater also supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as well as the constitutional amendment banning the poll tax. His opposition to the more comprehensive Civil Rights Act of 1964 was based on his libertarian views about government. Goldwater believed that the 1964 Act, as written, unconstitutionally extended the federal government's commerce power to private citizens, furthering the government’s efforts to "legislate morality" and restrict the rights of employers.
It is instructive to read the entire text of Goldwater's 1964 speech at the 28th Republican National Convention, accepting the nomination for president that is available from the Arizona Historical Foundation. By the end of his career, Goldwater was one of the most respected members of either party and was considered a stabilizing influence in the Senate. Senator Goldwater's speech may be found also on the Internet at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwaterspeech.htm
In the arsenal of the Democrats is a condemnation of Republican President Richard Nixon for his so-called “Southern Strategy.” These same Democrats expressed no concern when the racially segregated South voted solidly for Democrats for over 100 years, yet unfairly deride Republicans because of the thirty-year odyssey of the South switching to the Republican Party that began in the 1970's. Nixon's "Southern Strategy” was an effort on his part to get fair-minded people in the South to stop voting for Democrats who did not share their values and were discriminating against blacks. Georgia did not switch until 2004, and Louisiana was controlled by Democrats until the election of Republican Governor Bobby Jindal in 2007.
As the co-architect of Nixon’s “Southern Strategy”, Pat Buchanan provided a first-hand account of the origin and intent of that strategy in a 2002 article that can be found on the Internet at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30233
In that article, Buchanan wrote that when Nixon kicked off his historic comeback in 1966 with a column about the South (written by Buchanan), Nixon declared that the Republican Party would be built on a foundation of states rights, human rights, small government and a strong national defense, and leave it to the “party of Maddox, Mahoney and Wallace to squeeze the last ounce of political juice out of the rotting fruit of racial injustice.”
During the 1966 campaign, Nixon was personally thanked by Dr. King for his help in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Nixon also endorsed all Republicans, except the members of the John Birch Society.
Notably, the enforcement of affirmative action began with Richard Nixon‘s 1969 Philadelphia Plan (crafted by black Republican Art Fletcher who became know as “the father of affirmative action enforcement”) that set the nation‘s first goals and timetables. Nixon was also responsible for the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1970’s.
Fletcher, as president of the United Negro College Fund, coined the phrase “the mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Fletcher was also one of the original nine plaintiffs in the famous “Brown v. Topeka Board of Education” decision. Fletcher briefly pursued a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1995.
Nixon began his merit-based affirmative action program to overcome the harm caused by Democrat President Woodrow Wilson who, after he was elected in 1912, kicked blacks out of federal government jobs and prevented blacks from obtaining federal contracts. Also, while Wilson was president and Congress was controlled by the Democrats, more discriminatory bills were introduced in Congress than ever before in our nation’s history. Today, Democrats have turned affirmative action into an unfair quota system that even most blacks do not support.
Just as Democrats built their economic power base on the backs of poor blacks during the time of slavery, Democrats today have built their political power base on the backs of poor blacks today.
As author Michael Scheuer stated, the Democratic Party is the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.
Democrats have been running black communities for the past 40 years, and the socialist policies of the Democrats have destroyed the economic and social fabric of black communities. A wise man once wrote that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
It is way past time for blacks to end their unfounded loyalty to the Democratic Party, stop having their vote taken for granted and seize control over their own destiny.
Only then will blacks be truly free.
Frances Rice is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, a lawyer and chairman of the National Black Republican Association. She can be contacted at: www.NBRA.info
There was a time in our country when a woman had gallant men riding in to defend her honor. Since the failed feminist movement has destroyed these pedestals of virtue and reduced women to nothing more than dim reflections of the boorish men they seek to emulate, it is no surprise that chivalry has experienced societal obsolescence.
Otherwise, we would be seeing the husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons of dishonored women rising up in righteous indignation, and just pure justified anger, at the way their wives, sisters, daughters and mothers are being treated by the current crop of cads.
When Hugh Hefner’s misogynist, exploitive website posted a list of 10 conservative women who should be graphically raped for a variety of reasons, there was no outrage by family members of these defiled, innocent victims of a potential hate crime. There was no outrage by a complacent society that has been convinced, once again, that we live in a divided society where some are more worthy than others.
These chauvinists today are the same self-absorbed elitists who fought a war to keep a segment of society in bondage. They are the same early chauvinists who fought to keep women from voting seeing them as less worthy than men. These are the ones who embraced Margaret Sanger, the mother of Planned Parenthood, who had as her life mission, destroying the lives of those she felt were less than human, less than perfect, less than worthy of the protection of the law.
These are the ones who honor an abortion doctor who has committed murder for money, while dishonoring and debasing a young woman, Bristol Palin, who chooses to give life to the consequences of her choices in life. While calling her a hypocrite, they don’t seem to understand that her decision to give birth to her child, while robbing an abortionist of a paying client, actually represented exactly what her values are. When she speaks now about abstinence, it is from a position of someone who wasn’t, and who understands the consequences of sexual activity out of wedlock.
This blatant misogyny and anti-women hatred has taken on an unusual twist that tries to justify the boorish behavior by men suggesting that two men together are more worthy than one conservative woman on her own. White males who exploit and destroy women’s lives like Hugh Hefner, or have a platform of denigration, like David Letterman, are the standard bearers and water carriers for the truest chauvinistic behavior which relegates women to second class citizen, not even valued for intimacy or conjugal relations. They are called “dumb bitches” by men who fancy themselves as bitches in a male dominated society.
What is the purpose of women? Is it to satisfy the lustful fantasies of dirty, pitiful old men like Hugh Hefner? Is it to supply a cheap, unfunny laugh line for an old man who has lost his edge and has to suggest that raping a 14 year old, or an 18 year old, innocent girl is funny? Is it to just be beautiful, wear a crown and keep your pretty little mouth shut? Is it to become politically active and accepted ONLY if you espouse one set of beliefs over another, and if you don’t, you are referred to as a “slutty airline hostess”? Men have denigrated women to the point where two men think that their anatomy is the equivalent of a woman’s and choose that option to the real thing because women, in their eyes, are not worthy of intimacy. Two percent of the population, claiming to be the victims of societal victimization, are the ones who have the power to punish women, like Carrie Prejean, who express a different opinion.
If the men whose loved ones have been dishonored, won’t call these cads out, then perhaps the women should. In the old days, it was a duel to the death. These cowards would soil themselves if they had to face real women, who scare them so much, they have to threaten them from inaccessible, safe positions because they know these strong women would rip these small-minded, immature, pathetic men a new one.
With women as 51% of the population, whether they are conservative or liberal, they need to realize that this wave of anti-women sentiment sweeping the nation will not stop and ask about party affiliation. All women will be exploited, marginalized, demonized, perverted and destroyed. If the self-proclaimed “feminists” remain silent on this continued abuse of conservative women, they are as guilty as the men who fantasize about raping women because of what they believe. Do they really think they will escape a society destined to destroy all contrary thought?
When Betty Freidan wrote her book, “The Feminine Mystique,” she was a frustrated “house wife” who was bored of playing tennis and living a protected, pampered life, so she tried to drive a spike into the heart of chivalry while ushering in the debasement of women. As we survey the landscape of ruined lives, aborted babies, exploited and dehumanized women who have been placed on a plantation of politically correct oppression, monitored by men who applaud the misogyny of feminism, we realize her book should have been named, “The Feminist Mistake.”
It is time for a REAL feminist movement that is not a self-absorbed, shallow, destructive reflection of how boorish men treat strong women. Real feminists should call these cowards out, challenge them to a duel and kick their pathetic, collective butts. Then they should challenge every single man who stood silently by as this abuse continued. Then they need to unseat every entrenched politician who has turned a blind eye to this abuse that has been allowed to continue, claiming millions of victims every year. This is the time for REAL feminism if there ever was a time. And if chivalry isn’t dead, it better wake up.
To his eternal shame, in order to acquire and maintain power, President Barack Obama has adopted the Democratic Party’s strategy of keeping blacks poor, angry and voting for Democrats.
Using the politics of poverty and race-baiting, Obama garnered nearly 96 percent of the black vote that helped propel him to the pinnacle of power. That power is now being used by Obama to accomplish his liberal agenda which includes wrecking our economy and weakening our national defense, leaving us vulnerable to another terrorist attack.
Obama is trying to destroy our free enterprise system and “change” America into a failed socialist nation with growth-killing tax increases, the take over of private businesses through bailouts and trillions of dollars in irresponsible deficit spending on wasteful social programs.
Millions of jobs have been lost since the passage of Obama’s Stimulus Bill that includes over 8,000 wasteful pork projects. That pork-laden bill will stimulate only the Democratic Party – not the economy, nor black communities. Incredibly, Obama turned a $450 billion deficit into a $9 trillion deficit, and he is promising to spend even more, including $1.5 trillion on a disastrous government-controlled health care scheme. All of this uncontrolled, budget-busting deficit spending will send our nation careening over an economic Clift into oblivion.
The tens of thousands of Americans participating in Tea Parties across this country – peacefully protesting Obama’s socialist actions and policies – are being mocked by President Obama and derided as “racist” by his fellow Democrats and liberal media allies, all in an effort to silence average Americans. Complaints are not allowed about the fact that under Obama’s America, all Americans will be dependent on the government for their well-being, just as are poor blacks.
While professing to care about the plight of the poor, Obama continues to take actions that keep blacks impoverished, so he can use black grievances for partisan political gain. In his book “Dreams From My Father”, Obama wrote disdainfully about blacks who complain about being poor, yet continue to vote for Democrats — like Obama — who keep them poor. On page 147 of his book, Obama described what he and his fellow Democrats do to poor blacks as “plantation politics” when he wrote: “A plantation. Black people in the worst jobs. The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we’d all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our soul for a Christmas turkey.”
That Boston Globe article shows how Obama provided millions of tax dollars to his slum lord buddies, including now convicted felon Tony Rezko who contributed hundred of thousands of dollars to Obama’s political campaign and helped Obama buy a million-dollar house in a shady real estate deal.
As president, Obama put a poison pill in the Stimulus Bill that kills welfare reform, so that tax dollars can no longer be used to help the poor become self-sufficient through job training and child care assistance. Instead welfare will, once again, become a government handout that keeps poor blacks mired in generational poverty. Welfare has destroyed the black family, and Uncle Sam has replaced the father in black urban homes.
After Obama worked to end the school choice opportunity scholarship program in the District of Columbia that helps poor blacks get a better education, he produced a budget that, astonishingly, eliminates the $85 million designated for the HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). In typical hypocritical liberal fashion, Obama is sending his own two children to a private school, while kicking poor blacks out of that same private school and effectively sending the poor blacks back to the failing DC public school system.
Waking up to the danger Obama poses to the poor and our economy, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) issued an alarming report showing that Obama’s “cap-and-trade” mandates – designed by radical environmentalists – would make American consumers poorer and the products they buy more expensive.
Another study reported by the Heritage foundation demonstrates that Obama’s cap-and-trade, or “cap-and tax”, law could be an even bigger economic disaster, raising electricity rates by 90 percent and the price of gasoline by 74 percent. Only a hard-core liberal would be so wedded to his liberal agenda that he would deliberately put that agenda above the well-being of the people in this country. That report may be found at: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/05/22/epas-flawed-cap-and-trade-analysis/
Just as some black Republicans, including the NBRA, are fighting to help save black communities from continued destruction by the Democratic Party‘s socialist policies, average Americans are in a battle to save our country from being turned into a failed socialist nation by Obama and his Democrat minions. With the liberal media refusing to hold Obama accountable and Democrats in control of Congress, there is no check on Obama’s power, except we, the people. Our only real weapon is our vote.
Three cheers to the sensible people in California who, by an incredible 65-35 margin, said “no” to five initiatives for higher taxes for irresponsible spending on “feel good” social programs that are wrecking California’s economy. “Tighten your belt”, Californians shouted at their government, each citizen wielding just one vote, but, oh, the impact of that vote. Remember also that no Republican in the House of Representatives voted for that economy-wrecking Stimulus Bill.
Edmund Burke wrote: “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Those who wish to stop Obama and the liberal Democrats from destroying our traditional values and plunging our nation into economic oblivion should stand up and be counted. Participate in Tea Parties. Stop funding the liberal media by cancelling your subscriptions and turning off liberal radio and TV programs. Protect your family – don’t buy those tin can hybrid cars produced by the union-run auto companies that were taken over by Obama with our tax dollars and awarded to the unions.
So, in 2010 and 2012 – in order to save America – do not vote for any Democrat. Just say “no” to Obama’s socialism. Believe me, our government will hear us, loudly and clearly, when we run the tax and spend Democrats out of Congress.
So they say the war is over in Sri Lanka. After over 30 years of fighting, the Tamil Rebels are no longer holding a hundred thousand people captive as human shields. The thousands of children that had been recruited as soldiers have been released. Everything is back to normal. Or is it?
Over 250,000, people have been displaced and are in need of shelter in disease ridden refugee camps where there is limited supply of food and clean water. Over the years, there have been thousands of documented cases of recruitment of child soldiers, who must learn how to feel safe again. After having been trained in heavy artillery and bullied into carrying cyanide tablets and grenades with orders to blow themselves up instead of being taken captive by the government, some find it difficult to blend. Go figure. Families, who live in neighborhoods where the only buildings left standing are latrines, are left to rebuild their lives. Children are trying to find some semblance of normalcy in attending schools that were used as base camps. Fields, where water supplies had been cut off by the Tamil Tigers, such as at the water gate near Mavil Aru, must learn to produce food again. Bridges that were destroyed to prevent the Army from coming to the Tamil Tigers’ camp, and other roads must be rebuilt. How does one get used to meeting a new person without first inquiring if he is Sinhalese or Tamil or Muslim? What will lasting peace look like if it is even possible?
Like any other change, return to normalcy will take place one person at a time, one attitude at a time, one project at a time, one day at a time--for a long time. It will take people willing to give, to go, to learn, to listen, to understand, to implement changes. It will take more people like Labugama Narada and some friends and colleagues who took initiative and worked with the local Army to help relieve some of the suffering.
Rev. Narada is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, living in Japan. He joined forces with the Seishouji Temple in Tokyo, his friend, Wajira Buddhi, a monk in Sri Lanka, Mr. and Mrs. Kamal Harischandra, a Sri Lankan businessman and his wife, and an immigration officer in Sri Lanka by the name of Prabhath Alutge. Mr. Alutge is the new and first Head of the Human Trafficking Department in Sri Lanka. With the Sri Lankan army providing access, this diverse group drove 10 hours from Colombo to visit schools between Kantale and Mavil Aru, staying overnight at the Army camp, a trip which took another 2 hours to travel only 24 kilometers! They took school supplies, such as notebooks and drawing books and colored pencils. The delivered these things to elementary schools and secondary schools where the kids were delighted with their new treasures. Umbrellas, slippers, water bottles were distributed, as well as soccer balls, volley balls and nets, and cricket equipment.
Even though education is free and compulsory, with uniforms provided, in Sri Lanka, many children do not have shoes and other necessities. Other children found it difficult to even get to school at all due to the danger of being caught in crossfire, being recruited along the way to be a soldier, fear of landmines, or just needing to help the family with work, usually in agriculture or fishing.
Rev. Narada said that, “We were just trying to make happiness for the kids.” At another school, he donated computers and microscopes that he brought from Japan. He explained that in most cases the people are really very innocent. They didn’t care if he was a Buddhist or Hindu monk, they just needed someone to talk to and confide in. They have been traumatized in so many ways: hunger, fear, trauma, death. He said that they talked to the children about living a good life and the basic principles of their faith, such as reverence for life and honesty. One of the schools, Vigneshvara College, Kovilgama, was a Tamil school the children did not speak Sinhalese; however, at another school, Suriyapura Vidyalaya, Alla, they did. Rev. Narada said that in the future, as a practical step toward reconciliation and peace, the schools will teach both languages as well as English.
He thinks that the best hope for Sri Lanka is to establish a lasting peace by promoting understanding and communication. The best way to do this, he thinks, is through good education and learning about the world. On their way home, he and Wahira Buddhi planted King Coconut trees, which offer both food and water, to symbolize hope and to plant that hope in the hearts of the people.
By Wednesday, May 20, 2009, Malawi’s government will have some new faces. Ballots will be cast on the 19th and counted. Having gained independence from Britain in 1994, Malawi is still a relatively new democracy, and there is certainly still room for improvement as they consider who will be the next president and members of Parliament.
Malawi is still one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world. There are multiple issues that need to be addressed, not the least of which is HIV/AIDS with approximately 12% of the adult population being infected. Other concerns are centered around a literacy rate of 62%, and water borne illnesses with deaths resulting from that.
John Chikago, Parliamentary candidate for the Ntcheu Central Constituency, has already been working hard for the people of his district. Having served nine years as Ambassador to South Africa as well as Japan, it was in Japan that Chikago became a Christian and began to understand the importance of love and serving those who live in poverty.
This, he says, prompted him, on his return to Malawi in December 2005, to establish a charitable organization by the name of “Culture Awakening Society”. This name was inspired by Genesis 1:23 where it is written that God created human beings in His image and likeness. His understanding of this verse was that while God created humans, He also created a culture for them in which to live that was Godlike.
The Culture Awakening Society was therefore established to assist Malawians to awaken and discover the secrets of God. He explains that this is because before God created human beings, he first created other living things including soils, minerals and water. "God has a plan for every country and person. In other words," he says, "Malawi is not a poor country to God, but her citizens are the one failing to understand God’s plans."
As the needs of the citizens are many and diverse, his approach was to join forces with like minded individuals and organizations and to address food security for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children, construction of school blocks to enable school children to attend school during flood months and sinking of boreholes for potable water.
The projects made a significant impact on the lives of the citizens, which prompted them to request that he stand for them as their Parliamentary candidate in the upcoming election. Eleven candidates are all vying for that post. His party has formed an electoral alliance with another opposition party with the objective of removing the incumbent government from power. This means that each candidate is elected on personal merit.
He states that his mission is “to take the election as a service, not a prize for self enrichment.” He continues, “I believe God created us to serve His children. Having been exposed to a number of development models, I believe the best development model is when citizens are left to act as their own liberators. The role of a leader should be that of a facilitator and connecting the citizens to opportunities. Already, World Hope International ( www.worldhope.net ), another organization I helped to introduce to Malawi, and the Culture Awakening Society are helping make a difference in the lives of the poor.” He hopes that they continue to do so even after his election.
After visiting the villages and listening to Traditional Leaders, he has been able to assess the greatest needs of the citizens of his district. They are: the need for potable water, because of the frequent outbreaks of cholera, hook worms and dysentery; school blocks or buildings; farm inputs such as fertilizer, seeds and diesel pumps to improve food productivity; and two ambulances to transport pregnant women and seriously ill patients to the main hospital. He shares his thoughts about implementing solutions for these needs:
-Potable water can be found by sinking boreholes and wells in every village. World Hope International has already brought into the country an efficient drilling machine, but we need money for fuel and buying the pumps and other equipment.
-To build school blocks, a donor only needs to provide cement, galvanized roofing sheets and skilled carpenters. The citizens already understand the importance of project partnership, so they contribute burnt clay bricks, sand stones and water. The reason for this need is that, since democracy was introduced as a human right, the age for attending school was lowered from age 10 to 5 years. This decision, while a good one, created a shortage of classrooms, so that some children learn in makeshift "lean-to" classrooms and under the trees. These conditions, according to Chikago, continue to adversely affect the students’ education, as they cannot attend classes when it is flooding during the rainy season.
-Fortunately, Malawi, and in particular, Ntcheu District is blessed with rivers that do not dry up during off season months, and it has many wetlands which could be used to grow off-season crops. The only requirements are seed, fertilizers and the diesel water pumps. Government, Chikago says, would provide free land and technical services upon request.
-Even though every district has a main hospital, the distance to village clinics is prohibitive so that many expectant mothers prefer to deliver at home, without adequate medical care. Also, many sick people, such as those suffering from cholera, die due to delays in arriving at the main hospital, so a couple of ambulances would help save lives.
So, while Malawi has a long way to go, John Chikago has already started using his connections, wisdom and experience to help the people of Malawi. He has already begun living his dream for his people and putting his plans into effect. “I want to work hard for my voters to become a model member of Parliament,” he says, “and use that as a credential for the 2014 presidential elections.”
It finally happened. Saudi Arabia is having a beauty pageant. That's right. A beauty pageant. It's actually the second one and interest is growing: from 75 contestants last year to almost triple that this year. Who would have thought? The catch is that, instead of a parade of flawlessly firm, perfectly coiffed, expensively dressed (or not) beauties, there is a meeting of the minds and souls of women.
Apparently, when the pageant opens on Saturday, approximately 200 women will meet, attend classes on topics such as "Discovering Your Inner Strength" and discuss morally relevant topics. One of the most highly valued virtues in the Muslim faith is to honor your parents. Interestingly enough, that is also one of the most highly valued beliefs of the Christian and Jewish faiths also, as well as most others, I presume. The winner of the pageant will have proven to the judges that she is most devoted to her parents and her commitment to Islamic morals is strong.
What a radical idea to have a beauty pageant that values your inner beauty more than outer beauty. Of course as in all things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We may not all value the same things, but I think it is pretty important to value who one is instead of what one looks like. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of beautiful people doing good and have been put in such positions because people think they are beautiful or important or famous. We need to use whatever gifts we have. If one of those gifts is a beautiful face and figure, or a high profile, that's great. But let's not forget to look a little deeper and see the many valued gifts in our souls and minds as well.
In the final analysis, it's what we do with the gifts that we have, not how we look or what we say. I just want to applaud the effort to show these women in Saudia Arabia that they have value and they can use that value and the gifts that they possess to benefit others. Then maybe we really will have "world peace".
When Ronald Reagan switched parties from Democrat to Republican in 1962, it was because “the Democrat party left me, I didn’t leave it,” he explained. There was a huge exodus out of the Democrat party during those embarrassing days when all the governors of most southern states were not only Democrats, but active segregationists.
Millions of people switched parties during the very successful Southern Strategy, orchestrated by Richard Nixon and Pat Buchanan to bring southerners back to the party of Lincoln. They had become frustrated by the Democrats in their party who were clinging to the erroneous supreme court ruling in Plessey v. Ferguson that suggested blacks could be equal while being kept separate.
This exodus from the Democrat party ushered in the era of Nixon, but other than his positive position on civil rights, including introducing “Affirmative Action,” he was not necessarily a “conservative.” It was the election of Jimmy Carter that successfully galvanized the true conservatives in the country and elected the man who personified the very essence of the meaning of that word. There were no pale pastels in who and what Reagan was and stood for, and the world was changed for the good as a result of his principled stance on issues ranging from national defense, to decreased taxes, less government interference in our lives and greater personal freedoms and responsibility.
Now, as political pendulums have been known to swing, the Republicans find themselves in the same demoralized position that the Democrats were in 40 years ago, but for different reasons. The Democrats moved slowly, to their detriment, off the dime of racism, clinging to values that had been part of that party for over 150 years, even opposing the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, unanimously. By the time they realized the nation did not want a separate but equal society, it was too late, and they lost control of the White House.
They suddenly realized though that this group of people they had tried so hard to
keep from voting because they traditionally voted 100% Republican, could fill in the gap of those much needed votes to win elections. As quickly as they moved to remake their racist image into the “champions of civil rights,” they had to move with that same speed to destroy that legacy in the Republican Party and developed the politics of personal destruction, bringing Nixon crashing down.
Unfortunately, the Republican Party always seems to be a day late and a dollar short in realizing the game plan designed to bring about its demise. The party thought for years that because their intentions, and very founding were pure, that the rest of the world would rally behind their cause of justice for the slaves in not only emancipation, but in voting rights and equal civil rights. They seem to forget that half the nation, all Democrats, opposed that freedom and were willing to fight and die on that hill and divide the nation over it.
For decades Republicans were convinced the righteousness of causes like the sanctity of life, individual liberty, freedom to speak their mind, believe in their God, defend their homes and country were values embraced by all compassionate, coherent Americans. But somewhere along the way they lost their moral compass and forgot why they were even in politics in the first place, until Arlen Specter reminded them that it has become a professional game of self-serving empowerment, the people be damned.
So, what we now have are two parties jockeying for popularity with moderates and undecideds, while one brilliantly continues to court their very powerful and impressive liberal base. The Republican Party though, for some reason, has grown not only disenchanted with their base but actually blame them for losing races where Democrat-lite candidates are crammed down their throats. They don’t understand the definition of the word “base” in political terms and fail to understand that it means “majority.”
On the new “Listening Tour” where they are saying the same thing that keeps losing seat after seat, they have gathered an eclectic group of Republicans who are trying to appeal to their base . . . but not really. If they really wanted to appeal to their base, which they deplore, they would not have brought John McCain on the tour. He is a wonderful man who leans so far left that Arlen Specter has to reach over and keep him from falling over. That is like bringing the Marlboro Man to a smoke-free convention. And what are they saying that hasn’t been said before except, Reagan was then, this is now, we have to move past Reagan. That is the new mantra of the now moderate Republican Party that ironically fought tooth and nail to keep him from getting the nomination in 1980. They knew they could eventually put their moderate candidate in to prove moderation is far better than principled values and commitment to the original intent of the constitution and keeping as many freedoms for the individual away for the federal government. Can you say “Justice Sutter?”
Reagan personifies more than any living Republican what the party used to and should stand for, but no longer does. They can’t seem to wrap their little minds around the concept of symbolism and purpose and think conservatives are trying to play “Weekend with Bernie,” with Reagan. They don’t get that to lose track of what direction you take in life as an individual, as a political party, as a leader, as a nation, then you no longer control your destiny, but it is now in the hands of those who would destroy it.
There is only one way for the Republican Party to wake up to the reality that their erosion is not due to a drift to the right, it is due to a pole vault to the left and beyond, leaving any semblance of conservative identity in the dust. And since the base has become basically voiceless, marginalized, ridiculed and ignored, as witnessed during the nationwide tea parties, it is up to them to make a statement that is not only heard, but also listened to.
What better way to get the attention of the national and state Republican parties than to change your voter registration to “independent,” and what better day to do it on than “Independence Day.” (This year it falls on a Saturday, so it would have to be July 3). This would serve several very important purposes. First, the conservatives of the party can not only move from the back of the bus, but get off the bus and find their own mode of transportation. Second, it will provide a huge block of undiscovered, unclassified, undistilled citizens who can’t be neatly packed in Petri dishes to be sliced and diced by all the political pundits who pride themselves on knowing to the person how they are going to vote before they do.
If there really are conservatives out there, then you can take back your identity from the pollsters, take back your vote from a party that resents it, and take back the power to actually have an impact on future races. And the great thing about being an Independent is that it truly is bi-partisan and non-partisan the way the two parties claim they want to be. Which begs the question . . . why have a different party if all you want to do is be bi-partisan and non-partisan . . . just have one big party . . . sort of like we have now. There are leftist, conservatives and moderates who are independents and no candidate would be able to take that voting block for granted. They would actually have to say what they really are going to do, not what a handful of identified voters want them to say they are going to do.
The most effective and powerful form of protest that would have a historic impact on the electoral process would be for people to regain their anonymity in voting and have both parties and all candidates truly seek their vote legitimately. It would allow candidates who don’t agree with the direction of either party to run independent of them, without having to go to the trouble and expense of starting a third party. Because the idea of independence is that you truly are an individual, expressing your opinion, running on that philosophy and allowing those who agree or disagree, to make their voices known at the polls.
Many Democrats left that party because it left them, and they are the same, free thinking individuals who keep reminding the party elite that it is not the party they are loyal to, but the ideals and values that make up the foundation of that party. But if that new party moves from that foundation, then a free thinking individual is going to move in the direction of their own personal lodestar and plant their standard in a new ground of liberty, leadership and direction.
So this Independence Day . . . Register as an Independent!!!
The world seems to be turning upside down these days! Changes are happening every time you turn around. People are losing money; people are losing jobs; people are losing homes. These are indeed scary times. Most people I talk to, though, aren't really afraid, but they definitley are feeling in limbo. Several people in the last week have expressed the need to change their paradigm. We need to change the way we see the world and how to BE in the world. People are feeling an urgency to live their lives to the fullest; to use their gifts and talents for the benefit of others; to find the most profound way that they can to show love and change the world through BEING who we are. Certainly the big businesses and the big institutions that we have learned to trust are crumbling and we need to learn to learn to trust ourselves...and to trust our creator. His spirit of life and creativity and love live in us. It seems that if we are not expressing that love through actions that we are not doing our part to sustain what is good in the world. If we just stand by and let our business leaders and government leaders react in fear and make quick decisions based on public opinion (which changes every minute) we are relinguishing our power and responsibility that we have been given. To whom much is given, much is required. We can no longer sit around and let others make decisions and just float along. We need to use our gifts and talents and strengths to make the world a better place. What step can you take today to correct a wrong, to love someone unloved, to change the course of your life to a more productive and powerful one? You can find help and suggestions and motivation at www.marianneclyde.com
Contact Frances
Related Link