I want this book for Christmas...

Deepak Chopra - author of many books on spirituality and holistic medicine has now written a novel "Jesus - the Story of Enlightenment" . This book is based on his own research into the mythology, legends and actual eastern scholarly writings and thoughts on the 'lost years' of Jesus. This book follows his 2007 book "Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment".

This past summer I read "The Third Jesus" and I found Deepak Chopra to be an easy to understand read. I found he is a very inspiring spiritualist who's words totally make me search deeper within my heart and my bible than I have ever done before. Please plan ahead and set aside the 14 minutes needed to listen to this Larry King live interview with Deepak Chopra.

And then buy me the book, please, John :)



later man, jan

Playing For Change: Song Around the World

This song says no matter who you are...

No matter where you go in life...

You're gonna need someone to Stand By You.

love it !!
later man, jan

Burma (aka Myanmar) Please Take Action.

Comedian Zarganar handed 45-year prison term
by Nem Davies
Friday, 21 November 2008 22:46
New Delhi – Famous comedian and film director Zarganar, held in Insein prison, was sentenced to 45 years in jail today by the prison court.

The court held the trial inside Insein prison and sentenced him on three counts under the Electronic Law to 45 years in prison today for 'disaffection towards state and government' by using the internet.

"I am proud of my elder brother-in-law. He was arrested because of his relief effort among Cyclone Nargis victims. The government's action is arbitrary. My brother cracked a joke when the judge pronounced his judgment. 'I was given 45 years prison term on an 'I' case. I was sent to Insein prison when I used Internet to study IT (Information Technology)', "Ma Nyein, his sister-in-law quoted him as saying.

His family members had to wait at the main entrance of the prison as they were not allowed to attend the court proceeding. Only his defence counsel Khin Htay Kywe was allowed to enter the courtroom. She served as defence lawyer in this case along with lawyers Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein.

The court fixed November 27 to hear five remaining cases against him.

His family and defence lawyer have not yet decided to go for an appeal. They will discuss the need for an appeal against today's judgment with him when they visit him in prison on Sunday.

Similarly the same Insein prison court sentenced sport columnist Zaw Thet Htwe and his co-accused Thant Zin Aung today to 15 years in prison each and gave 29 years prison term to another accused Tin Maung Aye a.k.a. Gadone for their rescue and relief operation for cyclone Nargis victims.

The authorities arrested Zarganar at his residence while he was into Cyclone Nargis rescue and relief operations for the victims.

The comedian joined the pro-democracy movement actively and he was arrested time and again for cracking political jokes and also barred from performing in public and in films.

Canada based 'PEN' (Canada) awarded him 'One Humanity Award' for 2008 for his bravery and integrity in his struggle for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

----------------------
TAKE ACTION
Please send an email to the UN Security Council urging Ban Ki-moon to visit Burma and make the release of political prisoners his top priority.

The UN must act. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to visit Burma in December, but there are fears he may back out of the visit because of the difficulties in negotiating with the regime. These sentences make it all the more important that Ban Ki-moon goes ahead with his visit. We have had 37 visits to Burma by UN envoys, but things have only got worse. We need his personal engagement on Burma.

TAKE ACTION
Send an email to the UN Security Council urging Ban Ki-moon to visit Burma and make the release of political prisoners his top priority.

This message was sent by The Burma Campaign UK.

Click to find out more about Aung San Suu Kyi

All of the above has been taken from...
The Burma Campaign UK: Free Burma's Political Prisoners!

thanx Geoff, later man, jan

I have a Friend... A Kiva Friend...

I have a Kiva Friend. I have a lot of Kiva Friends from Germany and England and Australia and even here in Canada. A lot of my Kiva Friends live in the US and one of them goes by the name of Wood Fairy Glenda - at least - that's what she calls herself on my favourite forum KivaFriends.org.
She just shared with us a link to a newsletter published by a group she belongs to called Wisconsin Trails. The article Giving Big on the Micro Scale tells the story of micro-credit with Kiva and has some wonderful interviews with 4 ordinary people who are making this a better world to live in.

"Thirty-eight-year-old single mother, Jessica Wisdom, wants nothing more than to teach her four-year-old son that the world is far larger than their Watertown backyard."

"Glenda Denniston, 68-year-old Madison widow is relentless in her pursuit of world experience, of volunteerism. She is not rich, but she travels the globe on service trips every chance she gets—often more than once a year. As you read these words, Denniston is building latrines in Nicaragua through El Porvenir (an organization similar to Habitat for Humanity)."

"Stewart Bass, age 14,... for then-12-year-old Stewart Bass, it all began with the movie Pay it Forward in Sunday school. After the viewing, the teacher gave each of his students $20 with the caveat that they pass the money on to strangers, no strings attached.
“I didn’t know who to give it to,” says Stewart. “That’s when my dad told me about Kiva.”"

Huron Smith. age 65... says "“I’m a citizen of the world,” he continues. “I’m a human being. We’re divided by national boundaries, of course, but why not pick some other division? Why not say, well, why would you loan to a woman, you should just loan to men? The thing is, we’re all in this together. Their pain is my pain, just as if it were in my own country.”"

Please read the whole article. These excerpts do not tell the whole story.

I too am very concious of the fact that I lucked out in the birth lottery - that I could have been born in Africa, or Afghanistan, or Cambodia, or Indonesia, or Guatemala, or Peru or, or, or...

Give Thanks, and lend through Kiva to share your good fortune...
later man, jan

edit: Glenda says it is a shame they cropped her photo because it doesn't show her holding her Kiva piggybank.

Social Safety Net...

What would we do if we had no social safety net? Who would you turn to in a time of critical need? How would we deal with our lives being turned upside down and inside out?

A volunteer with Kiva (Milena Arciszewski) has put together this amateur documentary video to document what she found while visiting Kiva clients in the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She says in her blog...

"In 2004, the International Criminal Tribunal ruled unanimously that the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in 1995 was genocide.

I visited Srebrenica last week. I put together a video with a little history, photographs, and an interview with a Kiva Borrower whose husband was killed in the war and whose life has never fully recovered. I hate to sound cliche, but the entire experience broke my heart." (read more on her blog...)



later man, jan

Universal Declaration of Human Rights animation

Last May I posted about the Every Human Has Rights Campaign. Only with many individual voices behind them can The Elders and others make a substantial call on governments to deliver on their commitments to protect and uphold our human rights.

Today I saw this cool animated video that brings all 30 articles to life using different techniques, from pen and ink to digital animation. It takes 20 minutes to read the whole declaration - you might as well be entertained while you read :)

And if you haven't already, please, make your personal pledge by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today.

later man, jan

Is There Safety Anywhere Amongst Humans?

I need to pass along this cartoon by someone I have never met but have come to respect in so many ways since I started following his blog. David Hayward says he "is an artist trapped inside an pastor’s body".

He says "This cartoon was inspired in part by this interview of Ray Boltz. Plus I have friends."

later man, jan

Social Edge .org

Microfinance has been around for a long time and the results are finally becoming news in the developed world. There are more and more opportunities for us to share our good fortune with those in the world not quite as lucky.

This is a 4 minute video interview with Vikram Akula who is CEO of SKS Microfinance, an MFI serving 1.5 million clients in India. He tells Global X that his passion for changing the world started when as a young boy, he realized that something as simple as 12 grains of rice could make a difference for a family.

add Social Edge to your reader today...

later man, jan

Every Day Should be Thanksgiving...

What are you doing with your Saturday? Did you sleep in late like me? Did you go out to buy good food to cook and plan to sit around and play cards or watch some cartoons with your family?

We take so much for granted every day. I'm sitting here thinking about those people pulling their dead and injured children out of that school in Haiti. Sitting here thinking about the Cuban people waiting to be hit with Hurricane Paloma. Sitting here thinking about refugees running for their lives in the Congo. Sitting here thinking about 'internally displaced' people living in camps because they have no home to go to. Sitting here thinking about women who need to mend their children's clothes and do it by hand in the dark because they have no electricity.

I am thankful that CBC journalist Mellissa Fung has been released into the custody of Canadian officials in Kabul, four weeks after she was abducted. I am thankful that my grandchildren can come and eat a warm meal and visit in our home with no fear or want. I don't want to wonder why me? Why am I lucky and these other people aren't. I don't want to feel guilty - but somehow I do!

I am thankful.
later man, jan

Build your own Travel Map of the World...

Show people where you have visited ...

Or use it to see how many people in how many countries you have helped. You can come visit our Kiva Lender Page anytime - lending with Kiva gives so much personal satisfaction and the money is coming back in now so I can lend it again.

This is only the small version - you can make a medium or large one - but it went right off the edge of this page :) Was fun tho...
later man, jan