1 out of 2 Americans are Poor!!!

Woody Guthrie-This Land Is Your Land - YouTube: ""

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Its a Mean Old World

THIS SHOULD ENCOURAGE THE POPULACE TO EMBRACE THE OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTEST.

Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income
-  HOPE YEN, Associated Press 


“If Americans ever allow banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless.”
- Thomas Jefferson


"One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute."
- William Feather

One in Two Americans are Poor

According to new supplemental data from the Census Bureau, nearly half of Americans have fallen under the poverty line or are classified as “low income” .

  

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Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press  

WASHINGTON (AP) — Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

'Stagflation':

Stagflation occurs when the economy isn't growing but prices are, which is not a good situation for a country to be in. This happened to a great extent during the 1970s, when world oil prices rose dramatically, fueling sharp inflation in developed countries. For these countries, including the U.S., stagnation increased the inflationary effects.
 
The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.
About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That's up by 4 million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.

*146.4 million people represents a huge number of votes.

A survey of 29 cities conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors released Thursday points to a gloomy outlook for those on the lower end of the income scale.

Many mayors cited the challenges of meeting increased demands for food assistance, expressing particular concern about possible cuts to federal programs such as food stamps and WIC, which assists low-income pregnant women and mothers. Unemployment led the list of causes of hunger in cities, followed by poverty, low wages and high housing costs.

 

Many people in the U.S. are in dire straights and with the cost of bank bailouts and two wars the government does not have much stored wealth to provide the 'safety nets' people need.

If you have shopped in Walmart lately, you know few goods are made in North America.  In order to ensure a steady stream of cheap consumer products, America has moved jobs overseas and the effects of that failed policy are beginning to show.  Stagflation, falling house prices and few well-paying jobs leaves one feeling hopeless.  Is this nearly the bottom in the economic cycle? Things always look thier worst at the lowest level of economic activity and begin to pick up from there.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press.  

Now is the Time

Be Present In Your Life.

.......................................................................

Look at this day, for it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all the realities and verities of existence, the bliss of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power.

For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today, well lived, makes every day a dream, a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day

- SANSKRIT PROVERB

Joe Louis Walker - Change my ways

Joe Louis Walker - Change my ways - YouTube: ""

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East Africa drought crisis still ‘huge’ — SOS Children

I just copied this to help get the word out.

East Africa drought crisis still ‘huge’ — SOS Children:



The size of the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa remains massive, says a British politician.Three months after famine was officially declared in Somalia, hundreds of people, mainly children, are still dying every day, said Britain’s International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

The drought and famine have forced thousands of people into refugee camps and left 12 million people in need of aid and 750,000 at risk of death in Somalia, according to the latest figures from the Famine Early Warning System FEWS.
Earlier this week it was revealed that British aid is feeding more than 2.4m people across the region and an appeal by the UK’s Disasters and Emergency Committee has raised £72m, but that is still not enough.

With the rainy season round the corner, people caught up in the crisis are now facing the risk of disease spreading across crowded refugee camps.
More than 400,000 children are still at risk of death, just in Somalia alone, Mr Mitchell notes. British aid pouring into the region has been concentrated on keeping people healthy. About 1.3m people have been given jabs against measles, for instance, and 400,000 doses of anti-malarial drugs are heading for Somalia.

Although the rains look likely to bring with them yet more misery and death, they can also play a part in the region’s recovery from the disaster. Funds raised by British people have helped buy seeds for more than 200,000 people, which they will be able to plant and grow when the weather improves. The biggest problem, however is still actually getting to people in need who are living inside the parts of Somalia worst affected by fighting. Famine was officially declared in the lawless country as far back as July. And because they can’t get aid if they stay put, the number of Somali refugees crossing into south-eastern Ethiopia is on the rise.

Announcing its appeal to help people hit by the crisis DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said earlier this week: "The incredibly generous support of the UK public for the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal has made the difference between life and death for many people in the region. But, he warned that "the situation remains grave however particularly in those areas of Somalia where access for most aid agencies remains severely restricted.” The appeal brought in the third highest amount in charity's 45-year history - only the Asian tsunami (£392m) and the Haiti earthquake (£107m) raised more.




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Dalai Lama - Mission Statement

“He frequently states that his life is guided by three major commitments: the promotion of basic human values or secular ethics in the interest of human happiness, the fostering of inter-religious harmony and the welfare of the Tibetan people, focusing on the survival of their identity, culture and religion.”

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Funny how this sentiment arises over and over but falls on deaf ears.


We can solve many problems in an appropriate way, without any difficulty, if we cultivate harmony, friendship and respect for one another.
Dalai Lama

Its a Mean Old World

WHERE DO WE START TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."

— Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

Wall Street Protests Are Growing

"Men., it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."

- Charles Mackay
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Three women’s rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize | The Raw Story

Three women’s rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize | The Raw Story:

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Optimism and Laughter

Positive Attitude Month :

Optimism and laughter, while enjoyable in their own right, bring benefits like health, longevity, and a decrease in stress. You may also know that a positive attitude can be cultivated, meaning even if you're not naturally prone to bright-side looking, you can actively change that.

October is Positive Attitude Month, which reminds you to make the effort to cultivate the attitude that can bring you greater health, happier relationships, and more luck in life. 

It's true that we are all born with a certain "set point" for some traits, such as openness, agreeableness, extroversion, conscientiousness, an neuroticism (known as "The Big Five" in the world of psychology), and these inborn personality tendencies influence our levels of optimism, positivity, and happiness. 

Positive Psychology research has found, we can alter our habitual thought patterns by actively changing the way we choose to see things. 

If we challenge negative thinking patterns, for example, and replace them with more positive patterns, the new, more positive patterns become our habit, and we can actually create a new set-point for happiness.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
~Plato

We are all fighting a great battle in our lives as we seek more happiness and avoid pain therefore, we need to adopt attitudes that buoy us in turbulent moments.  Having a positive outlook is a tool you can use to motivate yourself to find solutions.  Learned helplessness is an attitude to avoid because you are going face daily difficulties.  Deal with the problems as they arise and do not waste energy worrying about the future or regretting the past.  Life unfolds in moments and our power to act is in the now.    

I cannot think of a better way to counteract the pain and uncertainty of living with M.S. than to manage your attitude.  We can choose how we feel about our situation.  Feeling better about ourselves will give us the motivation to take better care of ourselves.  M.S. is a disease with no cause, no cure and no effective treatment which forces us to take some responsibility for our well-being.  Addressing areas of your lifestyle such as, diet can exert many benefits in dealing with chronic illness.  We are fighting a great battle and need a Warrior's attitude towards our enemy within.

Positive Attitude Resources From Elizabeth Scott: 

http://stress.about.com/b/2011/10/02/happy-positive-attitude-month.htm

If children are considered the future, why the smoking?

For Chinese Students, Smoking Isn’t All Bad - Businessweek:

"In dozens of rural villages in China’s western provinces, one of the first things primary school kids learn is what helps make their education possible: tobacco. The schools are sponsored by local units of China’s state-owned cigarette monopoly, China National Tobacco. “On the gates of these schools you’ll see slogans that say ‘Genius comes from hard work—tobacco helps you become talented,’” says Xu Guihua, secretary general of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, a privately funded lobbying group. “They are pinning their hopes on young people taking up smoking.”

Anti-tobacco groups say efforts in China to reduce sales... "


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Beginner's Mind

Sit down before facts like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion.  Follow humbly whatever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
- T.H. Huxley

Can't Kick The Habit

“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
(Kahlil Gibran - Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer, 1883 – 1931)








"You are the Veil"

“All these things have you said of beauty.
Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and your are the mirror.”
(Kahlil Gibran - Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)







“There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.”
(Swami Shivananda - Indian Yoga master, Physician, Monk and Founder of The Divine Life Society, 1887-1963)




“The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects.
We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it.”
(Charles Baudelaire - French poet, 1821-1867)








"Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones - the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically"
(Rabindranath Tagore - Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)










Out of the sky, the birds, the parrots, the bells, silk, cloth, and drums, out of Sundays dancing, children's words and love words, out of love for the little fists of children, I will build a world, my world with round shoulders.
(Aimé Césaire - French poet, author and politician, 19132008)

HOPE FUELS MOTIVATION

“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.”
(Samuel Smiles - Scottish author, 1812-1904)

Non Sequitur

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.


-Shaker Song

Om mani padme hum is the most important mantra in Buddhism. It is the six syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara.

Om Mani Padme Hum in Tibetan script.

Om Mani Padme Hum inscribed on a stone.

The Dalai Lama is said to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, so the mantra is especially revered by his devotees. Click here to hear the mantra chanted by a Tibetan refugee.

The basic English translation of Om mani padme hum is "Om Jewel in the Lotus Hum" or "Praise to the Jewel in the Lotus." However, the meaning and significance of the six Tibetan syllables have been interpreted in a variety of ways. One common interpretation is that each syllable corresponds to one of the six realms of existence and purifies the vice associated with that realm:

• Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods)
• Ma purifies jealousy and need for entertainment (realm of the jealous gods)
• Ni purifies passion and desire (human realm)
• Pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (animal realm)
• Me purifies poverty and possessiveness (realm of the hungry ghosts)
• Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm)

It has also been said that recitation of each of the syllables prevents rebirth in the corresponding realm.

The first known description of the mantra appears in the Karandavyuha Sutra, which is part of certain Mahayana canons such as the Tibetan canon. In this sutra, the Buddha says:

"This is the most beneficial mantra. Even I made this aspiration to all the million Buddhas and subsequently received this teaching from Buddha Amitabha."

In his book Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones, Gen Rinproche says of the mantra:

"The mantra Om Mani Pädme Hum is easy to say yet quite powerful, because it contains the essence of the entire teaching. When you say the first syllable Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity, Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience. Päd, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.

So in this way recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. The path of these six perfections is the path walked by all the Buddhas of the three times. What could then be more meaningful than to say the mantra and accomplish the six perfections?"

Sources

1. Meher McArthur, Reading Buddhist Art: An Illustrated Guide to Buddhist Signs and Symbols (Thames & Hudson, 2004), 156.
2. "Om Mani Padme Hum." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Keep Moving

“I know the path: it is straight and narrow
It is like the edge of a sword.
I rejoice to walk on it.
I weep when I slip.
God’s word is:
‘He who strives never perishes.’
I have implicit faith in that promise.
Though, therefore, from my weakness I fail athousand times.
I shall not lose faith.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Dear friends in Japan, 

As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died. The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body. An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us. Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you. 

By: Thich Nhat Hanh

Greed is a Universal Wrong

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
 - Epicurus

Bye Bye Bird - Sonny Boy Williamson - Live In Europe - HQ