Friends, family and those that read my blog who I am not yet acquainted with…I wanted to share a video about the place that I have spent the last two years working at. It is also the story of an important mission, bringing accurate and unbiased information to voters choosing the people who will lead our towns and cities, states and nation as a whole. It is a mission that I think our newsmedia have failed at recently but there are thousands of volunteers and a few hands full of staff who have dedicated themselves to picking up the slack. And our nation is better for them. Here is the video:
Archive for January, 2012
For this week’s ‘E’ archive, here is a view of ‘Evening’ here at the Great Divide Ranch in western Montana. Here is an entry from the archives of our photography contributor for Nascence, Linda Kuster. Also, please check out Frizz who founded this photo challenge.
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So I have made predictions for the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. All, unsurprisingly, have been completely wrong. =) Perhaps the fourth time is the charm? Here are my predictions for the Florida primary tonight:
Mitt Romney- 46%
Newt Gingrich- 31%
Rick Santorum- 13%
Ron Paul- 10%
I like to believe that all of us living are on our own unique pilgrimages. We know that it has an ending but know not of the final destination. And there is something awe-inspiring about the idea of seven billion pilgrims all on separate pilgrimages yet also making the journey together. For me at least it encapsulates the awful separateness of our individual existence which we at some time or another, successfully or not, overcome with that all too rare form of personal union we call love. I guess it is fitting that I would be thinking of things like a pilgrimage since I am about to begin another journey. The next few months are going to be packed with travel, academic obstacles (overcame hopefully), the joy of reacquainting with friends and family…and did I mention travel…with a couple of cats in tow? Starting in Montana in late February to Kentucky and then to Virginia in mid-March for an internship with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants then back to Kentucky and finally to Budapest.
For this auditory definition I chose Enya’s song entitled “Pilgrim”. I first started listening to Enya sometime ago. This song in particular is indeed comforting like much of her oeuvre but it also inspires one to take comfort in the journey itself and not to become stuck on a singular event. The song evokes a familiar sentiment that I have held close to me on this journey, ‘my life is my prayer’. I think our lives are one continuous song or prayer in the work we do, the people we love and the ideals we cherish and the pilgrimage we undertake once completed can be considered the greatest testimony to our innate dignity.
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Here some excellent folk music from Sweden for what I hope is a relaxing Sunday for you. =)
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Not sure who this luscious man is but he is definitely a dream guy.
Here is the latest selection for wordpress’s The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge. All the way from the collection of our photography contributor, Linda Kuster, is this entry covering the theme of HOPE. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. =)
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Question? Why is Viktor Orban trying to pull a Mugabe in Central Europe? Apparently power is not only corrupting but also stupifying…with stories like this continuing, I am seriously reconsidering my decision to teach English in Hungary and reviewing some of my other potential choices. Here is a snippet from the New York Times:
To some critics, the biggest problem with the Hungarian economy is Mr. Orban himself. “The fundamental numbers are good,” said Mr. Oszko, who now runs a venture capital fund. “If the government decided to become more credible and predictable, it would help a lot.”
Backed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, Mr. Orban has passed a flurry of laws that have concentrated power in his hands, weakened competing institutions like the central bank and alienated international lenders as well as an increasing number of Hungarians. One law nationalized private pensions in order to make the budget deficit look better. Such actions last week prompted the European Commission to threaten to take legal action against Hungary, a move many Hungarians regarded as long overdue.
Mr. Orban also faces pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which may be Hungary’s only hope to avoid defaulting on its national debt, much of which is also denominated in euros.
Faced with rising borrowing costs, the country could run out of money by May or sooner if bond investors become more skeptical. Yields on longer-term Hungarian bonds rose above 10 percent this month, a rate that bodes ill for the government as it seeks to sell more than $1 billion in debt through April, a large sum for a country of 10 million people.
Washington State appears to be next in line to legalize gay marriage. I am particularly happy about Washington because it is one of the states where I may someday settle. In a story on this development, New York Magazine’s Dan Amira makes a pithy quip on the common complaint by conservatives that gays marrying is an existential threat to the institution:
But what about the threat of gay marriage to the sanctity of Newt Gingrich’s ability to marry a woman, cheat on her, divorce her, marry his mistress, cheat on her, ask her for an open marriage, divorce her, and marry his second mistress? What about that?
This has to be one of the most succinct and devastating ownings on hypocrisy I’ve seen in some time. Nicely done.
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Rebecca Rosen over at The Atlantic presents a graphic which illustrates the climate crisis in worrying detail:
More from Rosen’s article:
Higher temperatures today are the result of higher concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. In 1880, when the study’s temperature record-keeping begins, the concentration of carbon dioxide was 285 parts per million. Today it is more than 390 parts per million and rapidly increasing. Many top climate scientists, including NASA’s James Hansen, have argued that a level not exceeding 350 parts per million is necessary “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted.”
The bold was added by me for emphasis as I believe that Mr. Hansen’s words are a succinctly stated warning for us all.
For this week’s ‘D’ archive, you will see an enchanting photo of Westminster Palace taken from Westminster Bridge of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. As a big fan of parliamentary democracy, Westminster for me is a symbol of democracy. Here is an entry from the archives of our photography contributor for Nascence, Linda Kuster. Also, please check out Frizz who founded this photo challenge.
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One of my great heroes is cited as the source for the quote below which articulates an article of faith that animates my efforts to defend human rights:
“All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family.”
We are taught this plain truth by the religions of our ancestors but how often does this ideal rise above the practical considerations of everyday life? How often in your daily life do you recognize the fact that you are a special part of a vast family of immense diversity and spectacular beauty?
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I am hoping to maintain an unblemished track record in failing to predict the race to the Republican presidential nomination…So here’s my prediction for the South Carolina GOP primary tonight:
Newt Gingrich- 37%
Mitt Romney- 29%
Ron Paul- 20%
Rick Santorum- 11%
Herman Cain- 3%
After the total inaccuracy of my previous two predictions, I will be shocked if even one of these numbers is spot on. =)
This was my favorite cartoon as a kid and today proved it still makes me belly laugh. =)
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Here is the latest selection from the photo library of Nascence photography contributor, Linda Kuster. This week’s theme is Simple.
Sometimes simplicity and humor in signs says it all…
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I had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist this week. And I now have a tentative diagnosis. He showed me the MRI and it may be weird but I was excited to see my internal images. It was really fascinating. My spine appears to be healthy…thick discs, smooth vertebrae… and he could see no structural degeneration. So, no autoimmune disease such as Ankylosing Spondylitis. He had me do some movements to test my range of motion and strength in my limbs and after a more detailed review of the notes and images from the MRI tentatively diagnosed sacroiliitis and muscle spasms. So, it seems to be an acute condition thankfully. Instructions? A month of physical therapy and scrip for the anti-inflammatory drug Mobic. Checkup in a month.
Comedian Todd Glass came out of the closet during a stand-up show recently. Here he explains why:
“I cannot listen to stories about kids killing themselves any longer without thinking [to myself], ‘When are you going to have a little blood on your shirt for not being honest about who you are?’”
We must come out of the shadows and teach those that fear to love life.
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I found this while perusing the blog FourFour. It appears to be one of the latest entries in the Sh*t______say meme and I am sure that I am guilty of at least a few of these because my friends know that I love my kittens.
For this week’s ‘C’ archive, you will see a glorious photo of a Parisian café on the corner of Avenue Kléber. Here is an entry from the archives of our photography contributor for Nascence, Linda Kuster. Also, please check out Frizz’s archive entry who founded this photo challenge.
