February 2008
Ring A Bell For Bringing Peace To Prisons, New Life To Prisoners
Posted by Doug on February 29, 2008
Many of us have read the news today that 1 out of 100 Americans are in prison and that it is costing some states more money than education. Well Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) of which several of my friends are involved is working to change this dyer situation. Hopefully more will join them in this worthy campaign which like America Works helped move people successfully from welfare to work. My friends, monthly and sometimes by-monthly visit prisons creating special relationships with prisoners through music and talks and give them support and understanding on how they can change and become productive citizens. IFI has five goals for these prisoners: 1. A willingness to condemn previous behavior, 2. Recognize that life is a “work in progress” and that spiritual growth is a life long process 3. Replace the values of prison life with something positive and more worthwhile, 4. Development of a sense of hope and purpose. 5. Recognition of the need to give back to society. George Washington in his Farewell Address wrote, ” Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political (and personal) prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” It is imperative and cost effective that we help those less fortunate who have been led astray by giving them hope for a better tomorrow which in turn will give them the freedom to want and know that working with these values will bring positive changes that in turn will give them a new beginning and bring them and their families a sense of PEACE!
The New York Philharmonic – A diplomatic Instrument of Peace?
Posted by Doug on February 28, 2008
Music like sports and food has a universal appeal that can unite and break down many barriers to unity and fraternity. Being the first instrument to thaw the ice cold relations between the United States and North Korea, is this a step in a positive direction? It seems many people see it as a small opening into an isolated, impoverished nation. How will the 2008 Olympics in China be seen? Will both these events break down barriers and create a more open dialogue between East and West. Kwon Soo-hyun, one of the Philharmonic’s violinists, originally from Seoul, commented, “It is very important for us to be a cultural ambassadors.”
Pyongyang is two months overdue on declaring all its nuclear facilities, as promised to the United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia. Those countries have pledged aid and improved diplomatic relations if North Korea abandons all its nuclear programs. It seems to me Kim Jong Il of North Korea has little choice but to relent, but will he?
When good people do Nothing!
Posted by Doug on February 26, 2008
A German’s point of view on Islam?
A man whose family was of German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
“Very few people were true Nazis “he said,” but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. (The vast majority of all of us just want to live in peace, So?)
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority”, the “silent majority”, is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving”?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up , because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghani’s, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Newt Gingrich in his book Real Change says that the only way real change will come about is through everyone becoming, to the best of their abilities, citizen leaders. Freedom and Peace are not “Spectator Sports”. So what are you going to do about it?
When the Bells Ring and Markets Open Today What Can You (We) Expect?
Posted by Doug on February 7, 2008
Will it be up or down 100, 200, 300 + points? Will it depend on what happened in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Europe or in the US? Will it depend on the price of oil, gold or some other commodity? Does a global event cast its effect on these volatile market movements (market movement today took days and months to develop just a few years ago)? If we have not already seen what is happen in the world today the markets certainly give us a better picture. We are all connected in more ways then many of us would like to be. We are all part of the global economy. We are all part of what is called the human race. We are all one big interesting family who believe it or not came from the same parents or very similar parents? These market bells remind us of this fact daily. Why have we not yet recognized this fact? How can we join together as Robert Muller has so well outlined in his Plan 2010 and make this planet a safer, more equitable, fairer place for all? Will leveling the playing field move us toward world peace or at least have us begin to consider world peace as a possibility? Just think of the money available if we can melt down those cannons, WMD, and turn them into Peace Bells – monetary funds diverted from a war machine to a peace movement. This will be a huge amount of money to alleviate poverty, provide nourishment for the hungry and better education for all which in turn will melt prejudice moving all toward a deeper understanding of others and a richness of freedom in truth. Moneys that will develop health care for both the less fortunate and our aging world populations. When will we recognize we are all one family? When it is too late? Who will buy goods in a world of chaos? Where will the wealthy hide in a world of destruction and calamity? What if just one major city were destroyed, be it Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, London or New York? How would that affect the rest of the world its people and markets? How long would it take us to recover?
The Giants won the Bell Lap yesterday! Will Candidates Win the Bell Lap Tomorrow?
Posted by Doug on February 4, 2008
Is it all about Freedom which could bring Peace? Well the G Men captured the freedom to work their butts off and won a fantastic game in the last 2 minutes This victory certainly brought not only peace of mind knowing that they are a historical Super Bowl Winner (underdog wild card team who beat the supposed best team in the NFL) but they also get a trip to Disney. But will defense bring world peace or is it loving, fraternal offense that is necessary? Tomorrow we, you and I individually, have an opportunity to play offense (freedom is not a spectator sport, neither is peace). Do we choose a candidate for president who will play offense with patience, understanding, fraternity and unity or one who believes in carrying a big stick and sometimes using it? Do we choose a candidate for president who will melt down bells to make canons or a candidate who will melt down bells, nuclear weapons and WMD showing the world that we can lead in creating global unity, global peace? Ringing in world peace is the only course the human race has if we want to thrive and make the world a better place for not only the haves but the have not’s. We are now living on the critical edge with the ability for togetherness or destruction. Can we, each individual, take on some of the responsibility working our butts off to create a better world, create a pandemic for peace? Knowing that many hands, minds and spirits make for an easier task will you step up and help create the possibility that we may all make our dreams come true, we may all visit Disney?
