Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

If people want to change, they will. If they don’t want to, it’s hard to make them do so. The current interest in the environment is a good thing. The best way to make a contribution in fashion is to promote the idea that a fundamental interest in preserving the environment is itself fashionable.
-Giorgio Armani

By HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer Hrvoje Hranjski

MANILA, Philippines – Former President Corazon Aquino, who swept away a dictator with a “people power” revolt and then sustained democracy by fighting off seven coup attempts in six years, died on Saturday, her son said. She was 76.

The uprising she led in 1986 ended the repressive 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos and inspired nonviolent protests across the globe, including those that ended Communist rule in eastern Europe.

“People used to compare me to the ideal president, but he doesn’t exist and never existed. He has never lived,” she said in the 2007 Philippine Star interview.

For the complete story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_re_as/as_obit_corazon_aquino

The winners from the 2009 Swackhamer Video Contest, sponsored by: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

As for myself I do not have a favorite video, I think they are all outstanding and all have a very important message to share with us.  We need to empower the new generation, not with bombs but with education and advocacy. We need to work together in the face of peace, embrace new ideas to settle conflicts justly and without violence.

“We can sum it up in one sentence: Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future, between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific conquests…….Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we see even more clearly that peace is the only goal worth struggling for. This is no longer a prayer but a demand to be made by all peoples to their governments — a demand to choose definitively between hell and reason.”
Albert Camus, Combat, 8 August 1945

“The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation initiates and supports worldwide efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, to strengthen international law and institutions, and to inspire and empower a new generation of peace leaders. Founded in 1982, the Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan international education and advocacy organization. It has consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is recognized by the UN as a Peace Messenger Organization.” - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Out of 120 videos that were submitted, I have posted the top 3 winners. Contestants made videos addressing the topic “Breakthrough: Putting the Nuclear Genie Back in the Bottle.”

For more information and to view more videos please visit: http://www.wagingpeace.org/
http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=genieinbottle

Chipotle Pictures (continue reading…)

Campaigners from the international coalition End Water Poverty delivered more than 80,000 petitions to Downing St, urging Gordon Brown to prioritise water and sanitation at the 2009 G8 Conference in Italy. They also carried yellow jerry cans filled with water from the Thames to highlight the fact that for millions of people dirty river water is still their main source of drinking water.
-Water Aid

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/

There is no doubt that the tropical rainforests of the world are in danger. Every hour approximately six species of life in our tropical rainforests are destroyed. Experts agree that the number one cause of extinction in the tropical rainforest is due to the destruction of the tropical rainforest environment.”

-Jason Albright

The entire range of living matter on Earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae could be regarded as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the Earth’s atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond those of its constituent parts.

-James Lovelock, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth

Photo by: jay Jacobson
http://blogs.jayjacobson.com/
http://www.jayjacobson.com

We can’t escape what is going on in all of our lives, it’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue, it consumes our conversations and thoughts, it has hijacked our TV and it is the world’s economic downturn, the loss of jobs and the increase of unemployment. Personally I have entered into a realm that is foreign to me. I have experienced bouts of fear and insecurity of what my future or our future holds.

Life is more complicated now for everyone. How can we keep a positive attitude during these tough economic times? As for me, getting back to the basics was the magical key to moving past my fear and insecurity. Sometimes we are so caught up in a cycle of negativity; we then tend to manifest more negativity into our lives. It is like a domino effect or a bad roller coaster ride that you want to end but just do not know how to make it stop. What worked for me was to step back, clean out my attack (my mind and literally my life) and simplify.

What follows is a list of what has helped me. Instead of trying to tackle everything on this list at once, choose a few things that appeal to you, and give them a try. Bookmark this page and come back to it from time to time to try out other ideas. Best yet, they might inspire new ideas of your own! Please e mail me with ideas to add to this list that might help others.

Clean Out The Clutter In Your Head: For me what helps is mediation, the five Tibetans and yoga. All of these you can do from the comforts of your own home.

Mediation: I like to close myself off in a dark room or a room lit by candles, soft natural music (sounds of nature or chanting works best for me) and incense. I sit quietly in a cross-legged position on the floor and put a cushion or pillow under my hips. I create length in my spine by imagining spaces between each vertebra. I then place my hands on my legs palms up. I visualize a white light that surrounds and protects me and then I ground myself (I try to visualize almost tree like roots growing from my limbs fasting me to the earth), I take in 4 deep breaths and then steady my breathing and my heart to allow my body to relax. After I am comfortable, I visualize a water fall washing away my problems, fears, obstacles and negative energy and when I feel completely relaxed, I enjoy the moments of silence, drifting into space. After moments of silences and my thoughts start to drift back into focus, I visualize my life as I wish it to be. (continue reading…)