freshwest
freshwest's JournalA Warning From 1851 To Those Who Deny Human Rights.
Sojourner Truth Speech of 1851, "Ain't I a Woman"
Uploaded on May 9, 2011
Sojourner Truth Speech of 1851 performed at Kansas State University's 8th Diversity Summit April 1, 2011. Performed by Pat Theriault.
My favorite woman of all time.
Every word is a beautiful truth.
Good lord, I had to erase everything I was going to say. Ms. Harvey, this is for you:
You're welcome to steal any or all of it. The ideas and results matter, not sources or labels, IMO.
But to clarify, I also don't support the 'No Label' movement that was used to peel off Democrats, with false claims that 'both parties are the same.' That's the Libertarian party mantra to make themselves higher than the two major parties. It is not serious thinking, it's self serving, deliberating misleading, dishonest and intellectual laziness.
I'm talking about the meanings. There was a quote from years ago, but I didn't file the exact wording. It read, in my own words.
'Do not seek to imitate the answers your fathers found when seeking the truth (god, reality, etc.) and accept it as the last word on the subject. Seek instead, what they sought.'
That intent disposes of dogmas and parroting. Ideology is great for gathering a group. But individuals in that group need to remember that the group is not the end or the solution. It's just the beginning.
FDR had many failures but kept trying. He said, 'It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.' This is what I see in Obama, that same method, applied to our time and circumstances. Many of the people that supported FDR and the New Deal would be anathema to the Democratic Party of today, partcularly those who believe in equality for all.
Another one from FDR, 'The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.'
This is the core of Obamacare. The complaints come from those who have much, and the praise from those who have had too little for too long.
For persistent naysayers, so quick to criticize, FDR said, 'The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.' Obama is an idealist, not an ideologue.
Skepticism taken to the extreme is a dead end road, as well as some of the conspiracy language. 'It's all hopeless, all pre-ordained, unless something comes to save us.' To which I say nothing is that way and no one is coming to save you.
That is how I see the phrase, 'We are the ones we have been waiting for.' The source of it is the Hopi Elders and it means much more than what I say.
Cynicism always supports the status quo no matter what label it wears. Those advantaged by the status quo will tear down every attempt to change it, and call themselves wise or principled, like Nader was, unwilling to 'settle for less than the best.' Those in dire straits aren't afforded such a luxury, and are called names for not having lofty goals. But survival is good enough to have the chance to make a better future.
Yet another quote, since I love FDR so well, think of this process, 'Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.' Instead of sitting back and living in the past that we scarely know, a future we can only guess, and ignoring those around us.
Feel free to steal at leisure. To attempt to own a thought or words, is to deny that many of our thoughts are shared and should be as freely returned to others as they gave them to us, JHMO.
It's good that they aren't reckless. But Iceland is not an outlier or behind in the world community:
They are scientifically advanced and have access to one of the world's biggest armed group: NATO. A little information on Iceland:
'Among NATO members, Iceland has the smallest population and is the only one with no standing army. Its lightly armed Coast Guard is in charge of its defences.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland
Iceland's defences consist of the Icelandic Coast Guard which patrols Icelandic waters and airspace and other services such as the National Commissioner's National Security and Special Forces Units.[1][2][3][4] Iceland is however the only NATO member which maintains no standing army, although there is no legal impediment to forming one and Icelandic services perform the operations fellow NATO allies relegate to their standing armies...
There is in addition, a treaty with the United States for military defences and who once maintained a military base, Naval Air Station Keflavik. There are also agreements about military and other security operations with Norway,[7][8] Denmark[9][10][11] and other NATO countries.
Iceland holds the annual NATO exercises entitled Northern Viking. The most recent exercises were held in 2011,[12] as well as the EOD exercise "Northern Challenge". In 1997 Iceland hosted its first Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercise, "Cooperative Safeguard", which is the only multilateral PfP exercise so far in which Russia has participated. Another major PfP exercise was hosted in 2000. Iceland has also contributed ICRU peacekeepers to SFOR, KFOR and ISAF.
The government of Iceland contributes financially to NATO's international overhead costs and recently has taken a more active role in NATO deliberations and planning. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Reykjavík in June 1987. Additionally Norway has agreed to grant Icelandic citizens the same eligibility as Norwegian citizens for military education in Norway and to serve as professional soldiers in the Norwegian Defence forces.[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Iceland
Let's look at the scope of NATO for a moment:
NATO recieves 70% of the world's defense money. Here is the map of NATO countries in the region:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's "Partnership for Peace", with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.[4]
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the breakup of Yugoslavia, and conducted its first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the organization sought better relations with former Cold War rivals, which culminated with several former Warsaw Pact states joining the alliance in 1999 and 2004. The 11 September attacks of 2001 signaled the only occasion in NATO's history that Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty has been invoked as an attack on all NATO members.[5] After the attack, troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF, and the organization continues to operate in a range of roles, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations[6] and most recently in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. The less potent Article 4, which merely invokes consultation among NATO members has been invoked three times, and only by Turkey: once in 2003 over the Iraq War, and twice in 2012 over the Syrian civil war after the downing of an unarmed Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet and after a mortar was fired at Turkey from Syria.[7]
NATO spans the globe:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/North_Atlantic_Treaty_Organization_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg
NATO members:
Albania
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark*
Estonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal*
Romania*
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey*
United Kingdom
United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO
Everyone's tax dollars. Iceland is part of the world community and have used it to their advantage. I'm sure that was TMI but I'm too tired to edit it. See you around.
Why we haven't heard from Grand Theft Izzy lately:
But Benghazi Mania is covered by Obamacare:
Oh wow. Love the picture and that video there. Cried a bit. Okay, a lot. Reminds me of:
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
~ Maya Angelou
In the first video, I almost feel the very ground resonating in time to joy and love in all the dancing, singing and being.
We may be on the precipice of a great change. As much as I love Angelou's eloquent reading, I thought this with the song Vessels, was symbolic, too. I'm looking forward to that day. Here's to Valentine's Day, 2014-02-14.
Thanks, Sheshe...
The truth about the ACA, from 2010! What media refused to show!
President Obama Makes Surprise Call To Gail O'Brien
Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010
President Obama made a surprise call yesterday to Gail O'Brien, a woman in Keene, NH, who is benefiting from the Affordable Care Act, which was passed six months ago today. Gail was previously uninsured and diagnosed with high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Thanks to the new law, Gail now has insurance through the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan that will pay for her treatments, and she is responding very well.
That was September 2010 before the midterms. Want to talk about conspiracy? What was on the air the entire year?
The Tea Party and their astroturf protests about the horrors of the ACA and Death Panels, etc. is what all the cable networks went with instead of telling the truth, giving Americans some information they could use.
The 2010 elections were a set up from the Koch brothers to lie about the ACA, fast track Keystone and keep the Bush tax cuts. That led to the Sequester and all the rest. And we are still fighting the lies about Obama and Obamacare after all of this time.
For the BOG. Popcorn gets a reprieve. What about Carmel?
Obama and his daughters brave a wet and windy day to pardon turkeys at the White House.
Barack makes some humorous remarks, even made a comment about 'less fortunate turkeys.'
There is a mention of Carmel running for the honor next year. Was he pardoned, too?
It seems to me, that Obama is the first president to pardon more than one turkey a year.
I'll leave out my thoughts on the turkeys in Congress at this time.
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