Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all the loveliest friends a person could have. Especially to you my dear Heidi.

Let us all be thankful and of good cheer. Let us show compassion and love wherever we go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktlwCPDd94

*artwork by Matthew Buckingham

Lest We Forget No. 2

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada and my father fought in the Second World War. Join me in remembering.

http://circlingmyhead.blogspot.com/2008/11/interview-with-veteran.html

Love you Dad xoxoxo

500th Post Giveaway

I have been thinking for a little while about what I could give back to all of you who give so much to me.

What could I give? What could I do? How could any of it have more meaning than just the here and now?

I know a young Australian doctor named Maithri (My3) Goonetilleke and he has a dream. He has a dream that I believe in. His dream is for the people of Swaziland to have running water and food to eat; a dream where children can actually survive childhood.

Maithri is instrumental in the group ‘Possible Dreams International’ and their website is http://possibledreamsinternational.org/ . Maithri’s blog is ‘The Soaring Impulse’ and his website is http://www.soaringimpulse.com/ . If you have not visited him yet, you really are missing out on an important young man.

My dear friend Tessa has been selling her prints and donating 100% of the proceeds to help save the lives of children in Swaziland. Tessa’s blog, where you can see her prints is at http://aerialarmadillo.blogspot.com/ . The paintings are beautiful and the prints are wonderful, I know, as I am lucky enough to own two of them myself.

Maithri wrote once “And yet, somewhere in our collective imagination, we have created worlds within worlds. Third worlds and first worlds. Worlds where it is not ok for even one child to die and other worlds where a child dies every 3 seconds and no one blinks an eyelid. I hear of words like ‘compassion fatigue’ …And I have to tell you that the concept nauseates me. That we who have so much can even contemplate tiring of reaching out to those of our human family who have absolutely nothing, is absolutely incomprehensible to my little brain.”

I have talked to Tessa about purchasing three of her prints for my giveaway and Tessa has generously offered to throw in a fourth so that we can have not one, not two, not three, but four lucky winners.

So on to the giveaway and how it works. Simple really….

Think positive thoughts and send them out to the world and then leave a comment with the name of the print that you would love to have from Tessa’s site and by next Tuesday, the 27th of October I will post the winners.

Good luck to all of you and please sit and watch this video and be as thrilled as I am about the good work that some good people are doing in our world today. People, hopefully like you and I that don’t suffer from compassion fatigue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiYhEpMnfDg&feature=player_embedded

Love Renee xoxoxo

*artwork by my very dear friend Tessa Edwards

Happy Thanksgiving

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Originally Canadians gave thanks for a successful harvest and since Canada is further north then the U.S. our harvest season is earlier.

‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’ ~~ John F. Kennedy ~~

Polanski

‘Some of the get-out-of-jail-free crowd thinks that the reason Polanski should go free is because he’s a gifted artist. Maybe you’re right. Instead of an Oscar we should let the Best Director fuck your kids.’

~~ Screenwriter Michael Seitzman in an article from the Huffington Post ~~

They should all be held accountable. The whole shit and caboodle of them.

*artwork by Daryl Cagle

Canada Day No. 2

Shouting out a great Canada Day from my beautiful province of Manitoba where you just raise your arm and you can touch the stars.

I have many reasons to be proud of who I am and where I come from. And today on Canada day I would like to tell you one of the reasons why I am very proud to be a Canadian.

In 2005, Canada passed a law to legalize same-sex marriage and when that happened I was very proud. Canada along with Sweden, Spain, South Africa, Belgium, Netherlands, and Norway recognize the rights of all their citizens to marry.

By becoming the fourth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage; I believe it has only enhanced Canada’s image as a decent and tolerant nation. By recognizing the commitment of marriage between same-sex couples, Canada has signaled to the world that there is a secure place for homosexuals in our country.

Welcoming homosexuals into the compact of marriage is the surest sign a society can send that it no longer considers them beyond the pale.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

What God Has Made

I know a young Australian doctor and his name is Maithri (My3) Goonetilleke. He has a blog and it is entitled The Soaring Impulse. It is a dream blog with many lovely stories, songs, poems, inspiration that walks off the page, and where a real 28-year old man writes and tells us his truth. He says of himself that he is ‘Just another young poet walking the broken road to freedom.’ Maithri is a man that is making a difference in the world. Maithri is a man among men.

He is doing work right now in Swaziland; a country with the highest prevalence of HIV in the world at 42% of the population, a country where orphaned children make up 10% of the population. The little mountain kingdom of Swaziland has over 70,000 orphans and over 15,000 child-headed families.

The intention of my post is to bring awareness to the children of Swaziland and to, if at all possible for some of us in these hard times, raise some money for the humanitarian work that is being done there. And if not in Swaziland than maybe in your own backyard where you see that there is a need.

My very dear friend Tessa has been selling some prints of her artwork where 100% of the proceeds are going to Maithri’s friend and colleague Dr. Joyce Mareverwa who works hard to save the lives of HIV/AIDS orphans.

You can find Tessa’s artwork and the story she wrote on her decision to take a stand on this very important issue in Swaziland and the people who live there here:

http://aerialarmadillo.blogspot.com/2009/02/world-was-silent-when-they-died-orphans.html

Please watch the video on Tessa's post, it is heartbreaking. I have watched this video a few times because that is all I can stand.

On April 25, 2009 I was visiting Maithri’s blog and was poked through the eyeballs by the truth.

In that day’s post entitled ‘Maybe its the third world’ Maithri writes:

“And yet, somewhere in our collective imagination, we have created worlds within worlds. Third worlds and first worlds. Worlds where it is not ok for even one child to die and other worlds where a child dies every 3 seconds and no one blinks an eyelid. I hear of words like ‘compassion fatigue’…And I have to tell you that the concept nauseates me. That we who have so much can even contemplate tiring of reaching out to those of our human family who have absolutely nothing, is absolutely incomprehensible to my little brain.”

“I know that if we were face to face with these people. If we could only see their humility, their dignity, the immensity of their love and kindness in the midst of the deepest sorrow imaginable…”

Maithri writes about a little girl named Khosiyendzile which means ‘what God has made’ on April 15th and I invite you to treat yourself to pure joy by reading this post:

http://soaringimpulse.blogspot.com/2009/04/khosiyendzile.html

~~ Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. ~~ by Mother Theresa.

If you are able and your circumstances allow, please either go to Tessa’s site or Maithri’s site and donate to help the children in Swaziland.

Love Renee xoxoxo

*artwork by Tessa Edwards

Aids/HIV

Before anyone goes off, I am putting out this disclaimer ‘I am Catholic.’ And yes, I know I am much more than Catholic, blah blah blah, but for the intent of this post I am just stating it up front.

When the Vatican picks a man like Joseph Ratzinger to become the Pope, is it any wonder that the Catholic Church is losing people in droves?

Besides being on the polar opposite end of almost every thing he stands for, I wanted to know if anyone has heard what Pope Benedict said about Aids/HIV in Africa last week.

Pope Benedict said that the condition was ‘a tragedy that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems.’ I would be laughing my head off right now if it weren’t for the seriousness of this statement and the many people in Africa who will follow what their local priests tell them.

Condoms aggravate the problems of Aids/HIV?? It is the one thing that we do know helps the situation and spread of this horrible disease.

He is so out of touch and such a loon. It is so time to get a Pope that is young and knows what the hell is going on in the world.

Pope Benedict insists that the Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against Aids, by advocating sexual abstinence and fidelity within a marriage as major ways of fighting the disease. Different but the same I guess, as being against the Nazis’ but joining the Hitler youth, kind of like showing you are against war by goose-stepping and saluting the Fuhrer.

In the moral and knowledge department it feels as though the Catholic Church is being run by the same person that ran the United States for the last eight years.

Pope Benedict also states that the solution to Aids/HIV is ‘spiritual and human awakening and friendship for those who suffer.’

Unlike being able to vote the worst President in U.S. history out of office and sending him to Texas, to hopefully never be heard from again, unless of course I hear the sweet screams of him being thrown into prison for what he has done (I digress). I think the only way to get rid of a Pope is that he has to die.

And this is supposed to be God’s representative. I’m not buying it for a minute.

*artwork by Natalie Dee

God Versus His Representatives

I have many thoughts and journal entries on God. God this and God that, and I believe this and I believe that.

I am not going to list or write about all of them here, because they would fill up too many pages. But I am going to write some here and some there and some now and some later. Some will be what I believed then and some are what I believe now and some will be what pops into my head just in the second I am writing. Some are old and some are new and some are a mixture of the both time periods.

You will see that as I go on in these various posts about God that I believe everything and I believe nothing.

And if you catch me in contradictions (just like the sentence above) that is fine and you can feel free to point them out to me. I am full of contradictions just like the Judea-Christian bible; but I do not proclaim that I am God’s word on earth.

Today on my pulpit I thought I would talk about God (spirituality) versus his representatives (organized religion).

God reminds us that we are all one; one with him and one with each other. Representatives teach division, disunity, and separation which are all the opposite of God. God teaches us unconditional love while representatives teach us love is conditional for only those that are like-minded. Representatives gave us the crusades, jihads, and told us it was right to slaughter others in God’s name. God teaches us to honour the rights and beliefs of others. Representatives teach us that the world’s indigenous peoples are savages that must be saved. God teaches love, peace, unity, and harmony. Representatives teach us that wars are justified and therefore have participated in mass killings on a grand scale.

God teaches us that he is within while representatives teach that he is in Heaven and that the only way to connect with him is to let them be our intermediary. God says we are born in innocence while representatives say we are born in sin. God teaches us to have faith in ourselves and the representatives would have us have faith in them. God says ‘we’ have all the answers and that by going within ‘we’ can find them. Representatives teach us that only it has the answers and to get them ‘we’ must go outside of ourselves and look to them.

God says that we are free to make choices on our own and that we must take personal responsibility for our actions. Representatives say that we must follow their choices and act their way. God is unconditional love; yet representatives teach us guilt and fear. God leads us to him to lighten our burden and ease our pain. Representatives would have us fear God’s wrath unless we have given the prescribed sacrifice. God teaches that we are made in his image and that we should not be ashamed of who we are or who we love. Representatives have taught us to be ashamed, guilty and to feel dirty especially if we love someone of the same sex. God teaches that we should not be ashamed of our sexuality; that it is a celebration of love. Representatives try to enforce laws such as Proposition 8 in California.

God teaches us to respect all living things and to honour the earth. Representatives pay lip service to living things and the earth. God does not require us to make monetary donations to him; while the representatives have become big business.

God teaches us that we are free to choose our own path to God. Representatives’ command that we follow their path and that if we choose not to, we will never see God. God teaches us to search for universal truths and to open our hearts and listen; listen to our hearts and they will tell us when we have found the truths. Representatives teach us that we have no choice but to accept their truth. God teaches us that there is no Hell, no judgment and no angry God. Representatives teach that there is a hell, we will be judged, and that if we don’t follow their path we will meet up with an angry God.

God has taught me that I am on a long spiritual journey and that when my physical body dies my spirit will move on and be reunited with my other (my source); my God whom I love. Representatives teach that we have one life to live or many lives but until we get it right there will be nothing for us but Heaven or Hell.

I am off the pulpit now, but having said all this, I still appreciate the representative that I was raised with. The Catholic Church was my representative and I like many things about it. I love the pomp and ceremony. I love the Catholic mass and all the rituals it entails. When I die I want a complete Catholic funeral with the incense and holy water and if you all feel like wailing and moaning you go right ahead.

First Family

Yes you can Mr. President . . . . . . .

Farewell Suckers

Before George W. Bush (Bush) was elected as President of the United States for the first time, my father (miss his insight) said to me and Wahid “Mark my words, if he is elected there will be a war within a year because he has the looks of a man that needs to prove something to his father; he will go in and finish the war his father started.”

I from the first hated his swagger, arrogance and that stupid smirk on his face. Mind you I am a Canadian who always wants an American democrat to win. Like most Canadians (I think) I am not very interested in Canadian elections (we have Harper who I hate) but I am very interested in American elections.

One of my son-in-laws (Charlton) said that Canadians vote for the political party and Americans vote for the person. I think that is correct. For example in Canada we don’t even know what religion our Prime Minister practices, while in the States (even though they still say separation of church and state) they do know what religion their President practices and where he practices it. In Canada that appears to be a non-issue. I personally don’t care if someone has a faith or not; for me it is can you do the job and represent what your citizens want.

I guess I am also very interested in American politics because I love American people. They are my people too. I have been to almost every State and I love the place and the people. Personally I think the majority are amazing.

I am so long-winded; I had no intention of writing all of the above, because the focus of this post is to talk about Bush’s farewell speech that will be held sometime this evening.

Presidential farewell speeches date back to George Washington and will continue tonight with Bush. When you are watching tonight please do not feel sorry for this imbecile while he stumbles and squirms and shows his stupid grin. He is the village idiot, but not the one who wouldn’t hurt a fly, that is not the role he has been playing. He has been the most powerful man in the world and people have been stomped-out under the heel of his cowboy boot.

During the eight years between Bush’s ascension to his ignominious exit have been marked by two wars (thousands of dead and injured), Guantanamo prison camp, Hurricane Katrina, Abu Gharib prison, torture, financial chaos and overall instability worldwide.

Bush a.k.a the Worst President Ever made very good use of the television during his eight year term. Basically he never used it, as people may have found out just what a fool he is. He rarely talked to the press and I think that may have been because they might have asked him to spell cat. Then he may have sounded like the man he is, a man completely unqualified to be President of the United States.

He is leaving office with his soulless sidekick dead eyed dickless Dick and for millions of people around the world it cannot come soon enough. The only thing more I want to hear about those two bastards again is that they are being charged with crimes against humanity.

Quotes from an idiot:

Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country. – Poplar Bluff, Mo., 09/06/04

I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense. – Washington, D.C., 04/18/06

See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. – Greece, N.Y., 05/24/05

There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again. -- Nashville, Tenn., 09/17/02

We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers. – Houston, Tex., 09/06/00

People say, ‘How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?’ You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you. – Washington, D.C. 09/19/02

You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one. – Des Moines, Iowa, 10/26/06

I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office. – Washington, D.C., 05/12/08

Enough Posturing

I am so angry.

In his last days that bastard George Bush is blocking a serious international resolution of the United Nations to stop the fighting in Gaza. Instead he is trying to impose a skewed alternative that would legitimize the suffocating chokehold the blockade has on Gaza (why Hamas cites for their rocket attacks in the first place).

How is it that the United Nations can be blocked by one country?

What can I post here? Anyone with one brain cell left must be aware of the unevenness of the firepower and the blatant brutality of the invasion in Gaza.

The bloodshed in Gaza is escalating as politicians of the worst stripe posture and the diplomats allow them to continue to argue. Over 700 have now been killed with half of the people being comprised of civilians. There are well over 100 children dead. Thousands have been injured and 1.5 million terrified civilians have no escape from this prison-like enclave as the borders are sealed. Hamas (not innocent either) continues to fight and fire rockets at Israel killing five civilians.

The violence only worsens as Bush continues his posturing. Fuck I hate that bastard.

(Note that International Journalists are not allowed into the war zone.)

It's Your Planet

I was turned on to this environmental disaster by grrrl and her outrage made me outraged. It reminded me to wake my sleepy head up and remember to care more this year. It is your planet so please try to give a shit.

It is 2009; stop believing what the man tells you. And if your water source is from the Emory River in Tennessee, stop drinking it.

A containment wall in the Kingston Fossil Plant burst causing a 40 acre landslide of toxic sludge.

The Governor of Tennessee held a fistful of coal ash that spread over a valley to show that he is not worried about the toxicity. He was reportedly heard stating ‘This (sludge) is absolutely going to contain arsenic, lead, boron, and thallium. But this stuff, it’s not high-level waste. I don’t think people should be scared of the stuff. There’s a greater danger from air quality, from flying ash being ingested.’ It is reported further that despite the governors sludge-handling in front of the media that the state health commissioner repeatedly urged him to wash his hands afterward and also told people who visit the site that they should leave their shoes outside their homes and that their clothes should be washed multiple times.

Some disgracing video I just watched showed dead fish on the banks of the tributary and officials stating ‘in terms of toxicity, until an analysis comes in, you can’t call it toxic.’ Where is your moral responsibility?

Environmentalists are saying the sludge is four to five feet deep and could fill over 800 Olympic size swimming pools. Not only do they not know how to clean it up, they don’t know where to put it.

It is now being reported that independent water samples are as different from night and day to official water samples taken from the Emory River (surprise surprise). Unofficial reports list concentrations of eight toxic chemicals ranging from twice to 300 times higher than drinking water limits. These results are in such conflict from official results that as a result scientists and activists are warning people to drink bottled water (being one of the poorest states I don’t know how the average person will be able to buy it).

We Can Do Better

December 10, 2008 was the 60th anniversary of when the world came together (after the horrors of World War II) at the United Nations to unanimously pass the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

This powerful declaration states that every human being deserves dignity, freedom, and respect. It is the first blueprint for global rights establishing the fundamental freedoms for all people.

The UDHR started a global movement that literally opened prison doors, shut down torture and execution chambers, and caused the downfall of the worst tyrannies happening in the world.

Despite progress, 60 years later, millions of people are still denied basic human rights. Many governments still show more interest in abusing power than respecting those they lead. We only have to look at what has happened in Iraq (Abu Ghraib) or if we are willing what is going on in Darfur.

There is a wonderful video that I want to share with all of you entitled ‘The Price of Silence.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xevGz8_MBKk&tr=y&auid=4310459

100 Dead Canadian Soldiers

I have recently put a playlist on my blog (thanks Yaya) and I invite you to listen to one of the greatest anti-war songs of all time. Joan Baez singing ‘Where Have all the Flowers Gone’.

Three men were killed on Friday, December 5th which brought the Canadian death toll of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan to 100. One hundred people killed because little men want to play big boys of war. I for one am sick of it.

We need to be reminded that while the angels weep for us, we do not weep for our brothers and sisters in this world.

Let’s pray for greater understanding of each other and for the betterment of us all. Let us all, in our own way, pray for world peace.

Shout Out On Proposition 8

I thought this was a very funny way to get a serious point across.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

The Great Liberator

I’d like to be known as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace….I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process.

~ George W. Bush ~

er, what about the part about committing treason to start a needless war that’s killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and left a country with little electricity and sewage running in the streets, Great Liberator.

~ Brian Brown Walker ~

We're Not Strangers To Love

I just wanted to turn you on to this great video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg

Woot Woot

44th President of the United States

Imagine

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one.

Do the world a favour. Vote Obama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0