A new way of equalizing wealth

As you may have determined, I'm someone who feels that the awarding of wealth in the U.S. has reached enormously unbalanced levels. I've already pointed this out in the "Why Do You Work So Hard" article as well as the follow up "More on Why Do You Work So Hard", both of which pointed out the ever growing disparity in income levels as well as the shocking fact of a LARGE (37%) drop in Real Dollar value of the minimum wage over time.

So it's with tongue planted firmly in cheek that I point out that a way to take away some of the assets of those obviously earning more than necessary is for them to bid on the ability to partner with Tiger Woods in the 2009 Buick Invitational ProAm. (And speaking of loss of income, the proceeds benefit the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, a city fairly hard hit with the economic downturn of the latter part of the 20th century.) So, CEOs out there, pony up some of that 400+ times earning power and make a date with Tiger.

Mainstream Media's carefully chosen words

There was an article yesterday that really caught my attention and placed a focus on how carefully each word in a given news article is chosen. That article is this one from Yahoo News, speaking about an ad that's airing which recalls that fact that in Feb. Sen. McCain stated that he would be fine with having U.S. forces in Iraq for the next 100 yrs., albeit, with qualifications.

The key part of the article is where it is stated that the ad "falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq." It doesn't "falsely suggest" that Sen. McCain "wants" a 100-year war. It informs the viewer that Sen. McCain is fine with a 100-year occupation in Iraq. (The ad drops the portion of the senator's response where he mentions "We’ve been in South Korea … we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea 50 years or so." The rest is him talking.)

Compare this with how the article quotes that town hall discussion McCain had in January, which is "Maybe 100. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, that'd be fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day."

The ACTUAL discussion was this:

Q: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years — ” (cut off by McCain)

McCain: “Maybe a hundred.”

Q: “Is that …” (cut off)

McCain: “We’ve been in South Korea … we’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea 50 years or so. That would be fine with me. As long as Americans …”

Q: [tries to say something]

McCain: “As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. That’s fine with me, I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training and equipping and recruiting and motivating people every single day.

Now, ask yourself if this sort of political ad is:
1. Reasonable
2. Common
From your answer determine whether or not it "falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq."

Then ask yourself the question of whether or not the mainstream media is attempting to distort the issue (by distorting what was actually said, for example.) How much trust do you place in that?

A Stroke Of Insight into Nirvana

All I can say about this video is that it is amazing. I'm wishing that each of you gains as much from it as I did:
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor Finds Nirvana

It's a talk she gave in Monterey in February of this year about her experience of having a stroke; an experience from which she receives what she calls a "tremendous gift". That gift is Nirvana. What's special in this talk is that she delivers it in such a perfect way that we truly get to grasp the insight she gained.

Save it for a time in which you can spare about 20 mins. of uninterrupted time. You'll really be happy that you did.

I think we all generally have at least a little bit of a grasp on what she speaks of but don't fully put it into action. Maybe it's time we do.

7 "social sins" posted about yesterday are not official church position

So my instinct WAS right in that there was no way that the Catholic Church was trying to add to the list of 7 mortal sins. But you really can't get more credible a source that The Associated Press. It turns out that they were fooled. Which actually points out just how credible (or not so credible) the mainstream media is these days.

The true situation is that an Archbishop from the Catholic Church was really making an appeal to churchgoers to increase their use of the sacrament of Confession.

Yes, it seemed far fetched, and it was.

Not that the new list doesn't carry weight however. It certainly is worthy of note.

The Catholic World News has the story.

Sick Cows Hit Food Supply

It's interesting to see the mainstream media covering a situation that points straight to one of the list of "social sins" allegedly newly added to the list of mortal sins I wrote about yesterday (which is not truly the case.) For it seems to be pure greed that is behind this company's actions.

It appears that they where well aware of the illegality of placing downed cows into the food supply. But the greed must have stepped in from the fact that they are able to purchase these cows for pennies on the dollar because of their sick state. And if they can turn that small investment around by having these sicks cows appear well enough to enter the chute and move on to slaughter, they've just made a large profit on that small investment. So they dragged them by chains, jabbed them with forklifts and shocked them with cattle prods, all in attempt to get them in the chute.

It took undercover video from the Humane Society to finally bring the situation the attention it deserved. This attention has, rightfully so, included an appearance in front of the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee.

"The head of the Southern California slaughterhouse at the center of the largest beef recall in U.S. history acknowledged Wednesday that cattle were illegally slaughtered at his plant and that cows too sick to stand were forced into the food supply.

Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. President Steve Mendell made the admissions after a congressional panel forced him to watch undercover video of abuses of cattle at his plant. Mendell watched head-in-hand as cows were dragged by chains, jabbed by forklifts and shocked to get them into the box where they'd be slaughtered.

Afterward he briefly bowed his head, then backed away from claims he made in his written testimony that no ill cows from his plant entered the food supply."

The end result: 143 million pounds of beef were recalled, 50 million of which was headed for your children's school lunches. How does that make you feel?

(The above quote is from an AP article on the congressional hearing.)

Vatican adds 7 "social sins" to list of deadly sins

The Vatican has just added 7 "social sins" to the list of 7 deadly sins, doubling that list in one day.

The new seven "social sins" are:

1. “Bioethical” violations such as birth control
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

And, in case you are forgetting, the original 7 deadly sins are:

1. Pride
2. Envy
3. Gluttony
4. Lust
5. Anger
6. Greed
7. Sloth

If you'd like more information, read the full AP article, Vatican Lists New Sinful Behavior.

I've been a bit quiet...

Sorry about that. I guess I've just been collecting myself.

A primary motivation for creating this blog is to try to pass along those tidbits of knowledge that one learns over time that can REALLY go a long way to helping others improve their own quality of life. It's those bits of information that I want to include here.

I also am chosing to try to avoid being one of those who follows the same methodology as the standard news service does in this day and age. That of informing you about all the bad things that are happening out in the world (or in the case of the US news services, a SMALL portion of the bad, evil and corrupt things that are going on out there. LOL.) I will be reserving the right to point out a negative where it's possible to realize a large positive by doing so. As I suppose I've already done in exposing how the simple act of saving money (in a large bank) can power an incredibly negative amount of things, including war. (So, once again, make sure you take action to move your money out of the "traditional" banking system and into a credit union (1stly) or a community bank (2ndly.) The world will thank you.)

So look for some more thoughts that you should hopefully be able to use to "wake up from the slumber" that many of us seem to be in. And feel free to point me in the direction of enlightening ideas via the comments. (I'll try to keep on top of any spam, should the spammers show up. Perl is your friend.)

And, as is taught in Vipassana Mediation, Be Happy!

Expounding on those "Wise Ideas" mentioned earlier

In the "Some wise ideas" post of a couple of weeks ago I pointed out a webpage that encouraged you to "2. Eat fresh food" because it "improves your health and supports local farmers." Well, it seems that simply pointing that out alone is not enough. There's more to it than just the concept of "eating fresh food".

I was pretty amazed to recently discover some details about our sugar habit in the U.S. What I discovered is mentioned in this article. An important point being "In 1816, the average sugar consumption per person was 15 pounds per year. In 1955, the average sugar consumption was 120 pounds per year. Now in 1990 it is about 180 pounds per person per year. This is equivalent to half a pound per day per person." And that was 1990!! What would that be today?? I wasn't able to locate details very quickly, except one note that teenage boys TRIPLED their soda consumption in about that same time period.

So what does that mean for you? It probably means that taking the simple step of looking at your processed sugar consumption can help get you well on your way to eating better. There are books to consider referencing to find out more. "Sugar Blues" is one of them. I also located this article that touches on the health related issues of sugar consumption.

It's important to realize the rapid change in sugar consumption that has happened over a comparatively small amount of time (say 200 years of the last hundreds of thousands of years) has far outpaced our body's capabilities to adapt to that change. Our bodies simply aren't meant to process this level of sugars.

So I'll finish by letting you in on this article, and leave you to consider what it means to your life. Hopefully it means you'll live a healthier and more enjoyable one!

More on "Why Do You Work So Hard"

I found some really interesting statistics in an article entitled "The Disunited States of America" at Ode Magazine. The article states the following: "The minimum wage has fallen by 37 percent since 1968 in terms of real dollars; 11 percent of Americans don’t have enough to eat;..."

Yes, you read that right. And if you read the previous post you're probably wondering about the equity in a huge increase in CEO pay vs. a pretty huge DECREASE in the value of a minimum wage. Is that your idea of a viable society??

I'll leave you to think on this a little more, and in my next post I'm planning on adding to the theme with some thoughts on different ways to approach the issue of work (and all things related to your spending time at work.)


Be happy!

Why do you work so hard??

I love this article from Mark Morford. In it he includes this statement: "Work really extra super hard and do nothing else but work and ignore your family and spend 14 hours a day at the office and make 300 grand a year that you never have time to spend, sublimate your soul to the corporate machine and enjoy a profound drinking problem and sporadic impotence and a nice 8BR mini-mansion you never spend any time in, and you and your shiny BMW 740i will get into heaven."

And near the end he adds: "But the truth is, God, the divine true spirit loves nothing more than to see you unhinge and take risk and invite regular, messy, dangerous upheaval. This is exactly the energy that thwarts the demons of stagnation and conservative rot and violent sanctimonious bloody Mel Gibson-y religion, one that would have all our work be aimed at continuously patching up our incessant potholes of ugly congenital guilt, as opposed to contributing to the ongoing orgiastic evolution of spirit."

It's a fantastic piece. Make sure you read it. Then when you're done and have had time to REALLY digest the thoughts behind that artice (and I mean REALLY digest it. Let it sink it. Give it some brain thought and let it sink into your soul) go and read this article. (Wait, you DID let the 1st article really sink in, right?) It talks about the fact that in 2004 the ratio of the AVERAGE ceo to the AVERAGE production worker is 431 to 1. Yup, 431 to 1, up from 301 to 1 the year prior. (Note, it IS down from the all-time high of 525 to 1 in 2001.) The most troubling thing is the trend. In 1990 the ratio was 107 to 1 and in 1982 (remember who was President then?) it was only 42 to 1. Even those #'s come into question, as it won't be until 2007 that the SEC will likely start forcing companies to reveal the true value of all the executive perks that they include in their pay packages. So it's likely that the numbers are even higher.

So the big impact is when you put both of these realities together; many of us are driven to work insanely long hours in pursuit of some elusive goal all the while REALLY benefitting an insanely small number of people who are the TRUE ones reaping the benefits of your time spent working. Think about that. Then go read the Mark Morford article again. :)

I'll leave you with a joke that puts this in a similar perspective.

An American businessman was at a pier in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied only a little while.

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The American then asked the Mexican how he spent the rest of his time.

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. "You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then, senor?" asked the Mexican.

The American laughed, and said, "That's the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You'll become very rich, you would make millions!"

"Millions, senor?" replied the Mexican. "Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Some wise ideas

Some wise ideas are spoken here. If there are simple actions that you can take in order to have a HUGE impact on your life, these are some of them.

Once I take the time I'll be posting signs with this on them around town. You should too!

Welcome!

Hello to all you people out there. An idea came about this morning upon hearing about a foreign professor who yesterday was denied a visa to teach in the US. The idea/revelation was that the U.S. government was flatly admitting that, to them, ideas are a threat, and can be considered a terrorist act. I then began to think about which other countries out there espouse a similar ideal. The first, and most obvious one, that came to mind was China. THAT was a frightening thought.

So, if you feel like it, why not go ahead and add countries who you feel view ideas as a threat (with the same or greater level of concern as the U.S. gov't does) in the comments section below. Then we'll see what sort of company the U.S. government is keeping.

But more importantly, to keep adding to the pool of ideas that can benefit massive amounts of people, in this forum I'll start talking about ideas that can benefit you, your family, your friends, your community, your world. After all, your world is what YOU make it. (How's THAT for a terrorist idea to start?)

US Blocks Indigenous Bolivian Scholar From Entry

From Democracy Now:

In education news, the U.S. government is blocking an indigenous Bolivian professor from entering the country to teach at the University of Nebraska for what it's calling security reasons. The professor, Waskar Ari Chachaki, is a member of the Aymara indigenous people in Bolivia and is a leading authority on religious beliefs and political activism in Bolivia. The American Historical Society has called on the U.S. government to reconsider. The group's president-elect Barbara Weinstein called the situation "very disturbing." Weinstein said "It would have to be unimaginable circumstances for someone from Bolivia to be classified as a security risk." A State Department official told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the government has 'derogatory information' about Ari that renders him ineligible for the visa. But the government has not shared that information with Ari or the university. Ari is considered to be a moderate voice within the Aymaran community and some of his critics have accused of being too 'pro-U.S'. He received his doctorate from Georgetown. Two years ago, another foreign-born professor, Tariq Ramadan, one of the leading Muslim scholars in Europe, was denied a visa to teach at the University of Notre Dame.