Friday, December 10, 2010

To give Pleasure to a single heart by an act of kindness is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayers.

What is truer than truth ? The Story of Our Common Humanity

Love People, Period

Look at this film before reading this blog. http://blog.givemore.com/compassion/

Part of the problem is the eggshells.

We’ve laid them out around ourselves and become worried about stepping on those that others have laid around themselves.

Some of us (all of us at one time or another) have forgotten our interdependence and obligation to other people. We’ve put ourselves (our comfort, our hearts, our minds) at the center of our universe (our universe?).

I want to encourage you to Love Your People.

Who are your people? Everyone who’s important to you… your family… your friends… your colleagues… your customers, patients, team, students. These are your people (and you’re theirs).

And love? It’s care.

And care? It’s attention and contribution (what you give, what you do). It’s kindness, patience, generosity, and truth. It’s encouraging, apologetic, forgiving, and thankful.

We’ve let too much get between us (each other) and the reasons we’re here. We’ve allowed ourselves to slip into a state of busy distraction – seeking the complex instead of embracing the simple. It’s time to stop going through the motions with our days (hours, minutes). We need to give more and enjoy more.

“The meaning of love is not to be confused with some sentimental outpouring. Love is something much deeper than emotional bosh.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.
American civil rights leader

(http://blog.givemore.com/loveyourpeople/)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Shout Out to "The Angry Black Bitch"...U R Fantastic

Monday, December 06, 2010
You've got to be fucking kidding me...

Happy Monday, y'all!

A bitch is awake, drinking coffee and full of bitchitude.

Shall we?


Word has come down that the Obama Administration is getting their compromise on with the GOP again. This time it’s over the fuck up that keeps on fucking – President Bush II’s tax cuts for the rich. Word is that the Obama Administration is willing to extend those tax cuts for the richest among us in order to get tax cuts for the middle class and the extension of unemployment benefits that is currently being held hostage by a do-nothing lame duck for a reason Congress.


Now there are a lot of sharp angles here, so we’re going to navigate this shit carefully.


Am I the only one who sees that smug ass elephant sipping tea in the middle of the room?
A bitch has been screaming at the television with each news segment covering this shit.


And the chorus asks… “Why are you screaming, Shark-Fu?”


I’m glad you asked!


I’m screaming because no one is asking the question this bitch would ask if my ass got a chance to talk to these fools – what the fuck have the masses gotten out of tax cuts for the rich?


***cue crickets***


Have they created jobs?


Have they stabilized markets?


Have they calmed the business sector?


Have they stimulated anything other than the orgasmic greed of the rich?


***listen as crickets tune up their instruments***


Shit.


There’s a big assed smug as hell elephant sitting in the middle of the room sipping tea, people! Because the GOP is fixin' to pull one hell of a do-nothing while profiting few tax cut extension hustle…and it doesn’t have to happen.


It doesn’t!


Just once…just one fucking time…I’d like for people to challenge these assholes to break it down – how the hell are these tax cuts a necessary thing when we got into this fubar with the same fucking tax cuts in place and when they will do nothing to address anything other than rich people’s craven need to not participate equally in the capitalist machine?


Christ.


Moving forward…


Have we really come to this or is this where we’ve been all along?
Food and shelter for the unemployed masses are being held captive by politicians trying to figure out how to prevent rich people from feeling any of the economic horror facing the rest of us.


When we the people are presented the argument that fighting to extend tax cuts for the rich is worth delaying unemployment benefits for hard working average Americans…and that argument is entertained without a full public shaming of the GOP for having the unmitigated gall to articulated it given all that they’re economic policies have put the American people through…all while the present administration cowers whimpering in a political corner they created by inviting that vampire to dinner and discussions in the first fucking place…shit….


…when this is our new reality, we the people have been hoodwinked and bamboozled!


And yes, I’m looking at those that adore tea too – y’all got hustled, ‘cause this shit is politics as usual and you fucked it last night.


Ugh.


But I'm not holding out for a reckoning...not yet, anyway.
A bitch is watching this unfold like a train wreck in slow motion.


By extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, government will extend the status quo. The same status quo that ain’t working for shit. So in reality the Obama Administration is trading unemployment benefits for tax cuts so they can kick the ball down the road a year or two.


The sad thing is we’ve been here before. Or at least some of us have – I’m old enough to remember this trickle-down shit from the Reagan years and trust that it put a hurt on the nation for years.


Hell, I still have nightmares!


But here we are again…listening to the same tired ass promises from all sides and watching the same sorry ass play while these fiends raid out pockets in the coatroom.


I’m not holding out hope for a reckoning…not yet…not in an America where most are comfortable believing that the wages of poverty are hunger, want and need.


The masses are gleefully feasting on Soylent Green and far too many buy the idea that this is the way things need to be…


“Hush your mouth!” they caution.


“Massa gonna give us a slice of that bacon!”


Blink.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Law of Nature

Nature’s Laws
The first law of natures is organization. Power is organized effort. And everything must work in harmony. The struggle is between forces and desires of the mind and impulses of right and wrong. Each person has two distinct personalities and as many as six in one person. The forces must be harmonious if one is to achieve a given goal. Power grows out of organized knowledge through application and use. The master Mind is two or more minds coming together to achieve the purpose of success in an endeavor. A “Definite Chief Aim”. This is your Power Group.(Note:Read the “Science of Power” by Benjamin Kidd, the essay by Emerson “Compensation” and :Mind in the Making by Robinson). Remember you must have a singleness of purpose you cannot be a scatter brain. Have good posture and walk tall. Use your voice with good pitch and tone. Use word of trend, nature and quality.
What is your Definite Chief Aim? Are you auto suggesting?
Law # 1 Out of Allied Power comes Greater Power. Millions are concentrating on poverty and failure and getting an abundance of both “Before anything can become reality, it must first become a thought.” Self confidence is the quality with which the mind is recharged and made positive like a battery. “No man can become a great leader of men unless he has the milk of kindness in his heart and leads by suggestion and kindness rather than force.” “Compete with only the best men and women and you will gain strength and confidence.” All rivers and some men are crooked because they follow the path of least resistance.
1st: Know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Chief Aim. Therefore I demand of myself persistent aggressive and continuous action towards attainment.
2nd I realize that he dominating thoughts of my mind eventually reproduce themselves outwardly in bodily action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore I will concentrate my mind for thirty minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to be by creating a mental picture of this person and then transforming that picture into reality through practical service.
3rd I know that through the principle of auto suggestion any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of realizing it; therefore I shall devote ten minutes daily to demanding myself of the development of the factors named in the sixteen lesson of the Reading Course on the “Laws of Success”.
4th I have clearly mapped out and written down a description of my definite purpose in life, for the coming five years. I have set a price on my services for each of these five years; a price that I intend to receive through strict application of the principles of efficient, satisfactory service which I will render in advance.
5th I fully realize that no wealth can endure unless built on truth and justice. Therefore I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attracting to me the forces I wish to use and the cooperation of the people. I will induce other to serve me because I will first serve them. I will eliminate hatred a jealousy selfishness and cynicism by developing love for all humanity. Because I know that a negative attitude towards others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me because will believe in them and myself.. I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory and repeat it allowed once a day will full faith that it will gradually influence my entire life so that I will become a successful and happy worker in my chosen field of endeavor.

If you think you are beaten you are; If you think your dare not you don’t; If you like to win but you think you can’t , it’s almost certain you won’t.

”Day by day in every way I am becoming more successful”

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Golden Rule ..........#5 Your Character

Go a step further and render the other fellow an act of kindly, helpful service, and through the operation of this same law of retaliation he will render you a similar service. And, if he should fail to reciprocate your kindness - what then? You have profited, nevertheless, because of the effect of your act on your own sub-conscious mind! Thus by indulging in acts of kindness and applying, always, the Golden Rule philosophy, you are sure of benefit from one source and at the same time you have a pretty fair chance of profiting from another source. It might happen that you would base all of your acts toward others on the Golden Rule without enjoying any direct reciprocation for a long period of time, and it might so happen that those to whom you rendered those acts of kindness would never reciprocate, but meantime you have been adding vitality to your own character and sooner or later this positive character which you have been building will begin to assert itself and you will discover that you have been 28 receiving compound interest on compound interest in return for those acts of kindness which appeared to have been wasted on those who neither appreciated nor reciprocated them. Remember that your reputation is made by others, but your character is made by you! You want your reputation to be a favorable one, but you cannot be sure that it will be for the reason that it is something that exists outside of your own control, in the minds of others. It is what others believe you to be. With your character it is different. Your character is that which you are, as the results of your thoughts and deeds. You control it. You can make it weak, good or bad. When you are satisfied and know in your mind that your character is above reproach you need not worry about your reputation, for it is as impossible for your character to be destroyed or damaged by anyone except yourself as it is to destroy matter or energy. It was this truth that Emerson had in mind when he said: A political victory, a rise of rents, the recovery of your sick or the return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event raises your spirits, and you think your days are prepared for you. Do not believe it. It can never be so. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. One reason for being just toward others is the fact that such action may cause them to reciprocate, in kind, but a better reason is the fact that kindness and justice toward others develop positive character in all who indulge in these acts.

The Golden Rule..........#4 Compesation

There are people who believe that the Golden Rule philosophy is nothing more than a theory, and that it is in no way connected with an immutable law. They have arrived at this conclusion because of personal experience wherein they rendered service to others without enjoying the benefits of direct reciprocation. How many are there who have not rendered service to others that was neither reciprocated nor appreciated? I am sure that I have had such an experience, not once, but many times, and I am equally sure that I will have similar experiences in the future, nor will I discontinue rendering service to others merely because they neither reciprocate nor appreciate my efforts. YOU have not fulfilled every duty unless you have fulfilled that of being pleasant. Charles Buxton. And here is the reason: When I render service to another, or indulge in an act of kindness, I store away in my sub-conscious mind the effect of my efforts, which may be likened to the charging of an electric battery. By and by, if I indulge in a sufficient number of such acts I will have developed a positive, dynamic character that will attract to me people who harmonize with or resemble my own character. Those whom I attract to me will reciprocate the acts of kindness and the service that I have rendered others, thus the Law of Compensation will have balanced the scales of justice for me, bringing back from one source the results of service that I rendered through an entirely different source. his wares he will arouse a corresponding interest in the minds of others. You can comprehend this law quite easily by regarding yourself as a sort of human magnet that attracts those whose characters harmonize with your own. In thus regarding yourself as a magnet that attracts to you all who harmonize with your dominating characteristics and repels all who do not so harmonize, you should keep in mind, also, the fact that you are the builder of that magnet; also, that you may change its nature so that it will correspond to any ideal that you may wish to set up and follow. And, most important of all, you should keep in mind the fact that this entire process of change takes place through thought!

The Golden Rule .........#3 My Code Of Ethics

Every act and every thought you release modifies your own character in exact conformity with the nature of the act or thought, and your character is a sort of center of magnetic attraction which attracts to you the people and conditions that harmonize with it. You cannot indulge in an act toward another person without having first created the nature of that act in your own thought, and you cannot release a thought without planting the sum and substance and nature of it in your own sub-conscious mind, there to become a part and parcel of your own character.
THERE is no defeat except from within. There is really no insurmountable barrier save your own inherent weakness of purpose. Emerson. Grasp this simple principle and you will understand why you cannot afford to hate or envy another person. You will also understand why you cannot afford to strike back, in kind, at those who do you an injustice. Likewise, you will understand the injunction, Return good for evil. Understand the law upon which the Golden Rule injunction is based and you will understand, also, the law that eternally binds all mankind in a single bond of fellowship and renders it impossible for you to injure another person, by thought or deed, without injuring yourself; and, likewise, adds to your own character the results of every kind thought and deed in which you indulge. Understand this law and you will then know, beyond room for the slightest doubt, that you are constantly punishing yourself for every wrong you commit and rewarding yourself for every act of constructive conduct in which you indulge. MY CODE OF ETHICS I. I believe in the Golden Rule as the basis of all human conduct; therefore, I will never do to another person that which I would not be willing for that person to do to me if our positions were reversed. II. I will be honest, even to the slightest detail, in all my transactions with others, not alone because of my desire to be fair with them, but because of my desire to impress the idea of honesty on my own subconscious mind, thereby weaving this essential quality into my own character. III. I will forgive those who are unjust toward me, with no thought as to whether they deserve it or not, because I understand the law through which forgiveness of others strengthens my own character and wipes out the effects of my own transgressions, in my subconscious mind. IV. I will be just, generous and fair with others always, even though I know that these acts will go unnoticed and unrecorded, in the ordinary terms of reward, because I understand and intend to apply the law through the aid of which ones own character is but the sum total of ones own acts and deeds. V. Whatever time I may have to devote to the discovery and exposure of the weaknesses and faults of others I will devote, more profitably, to the discovery and correction of my own. VI. I will slander no person, no matter how much I may believe another person may deserve it, because I wish to plant no destructive suggestions in my own sub-conscious mind. VII. I recognize the power of Thought as being an inlet leading into my brain from the universal ocean of life; therefore, I will set no 23 destructive thoughts afloat upon that ocean lest they pollute the minds of others. VIII. I will conquer the common human tendency toward hatred, and envy, and selfishness, and jealousy, and malice, and pessimism, and doubt, and fear; for I believe these to be the seed from which the world harvests most of its troubles. IX. When my mind is not occupied with thoughts that tend toward the attainment of my definite chief aim in life, I will voluntarily keep it filled with thoughts of courage, and self-confidence, and good-will toward others, and faith, and kindness, and loyalty, and love for truth, and justice, for I believe these to be the seed from which the world reaps its harvest of progressive growth. X. I understand that a mere passive belief in the soundness of the Golden Rule philosophy is of no value whatsoever, either to myself or to others; therefore, I will actively put into operation this universal rule for good in all my transactions with others. XI. I understand the law through the operation of which my own character is developed from my own acts and thoughts; therefore, I will guard with care all that goes into its development. XII. Realizing that enduring happiness comes only through helping others find it; that no act of kindness is without its reward, even though it may never be directly repaid, I will do my best to assist others when and where the opportunity appears. You have noticed frequent reference to Emerson throughout this course. Every student of the course should own a copy of Emerson's Essays, and the essay on Compensation should be read and studied at least every three months. Observe, as you read this essay, that it deals with the same law as that upon which the Golden Rule is based.

The Golden Rule..........#2 Thought

Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society. On the most profitable lie the course of events presently lays a destructive tax; whilst frankness proves to be the best tactics, for it invites frankness, puts the parties on a convenient footing and makes their business a friendship. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great, though they make an exception in your favor to all their rules of trade. The Golden Rule philosophy is based upon a law, which no man can circumvent. This law is the same law that is described in the Law of Accurate Thought, through the operation of which ones thoughts are transformed into reality corresponding exactly to the nature of the thoughts.
This law is the same law that is described in Lesson Eleven, on Accurate Thought, through the operation of which ones thoughts are transformed into reality corresponding exactly to the nature of the thoughts. Once granted the creative power of our thought and there is an end of struggling for our own way, and an end of gaining it at some one else's expense; for, since by the terms of the hypothesis we can create what we like, the simplest way of getting what we want is, not to snatch it from somebody else, but to make it for ourselves; and, since there is no limit to thought there can be no need for straining, and for everyone to have his own way in this manner, would be to banish all strife, want, sickness, and sorrow from the earth. Now, it is precisely on this assumption of the creative power of our thought that the whole Bible rests. If not, what is the meaning of being saved by Faith? 14 Faith is essentially thought; and, therefore, every call to have faith in God is a call to trust in the power of our own thought about God. According to your faith be it unto you, says the Old Testament. The entire book is nothing but one continuous statement of the creative power of Thought. (THE LAW OF SUCCESS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS by Napoleon Hill Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is Built. PUBLISHED BY The RALSTON UNIVERSITY PRESS MERIDEN, CONN. COPYRIGHT 1928, BY NAPOLEON HILL )

The Golden Rule............#1

If you demand positive proof of the soundness of the “Law of the Golden Rule”, If you demand more substantial and authoritative evidence than my own, then I am privileged to refer you to the teachings and philosophy of Christ, Plato, Socrates, Epictetus, Confucius, Emerson and two of the more modern philosophers, James and Munsterberg, from whose works I have appropriated all that constitutes the more important fundamentals of this lesson, with the exception of that which I have gathered from my own limited experience. For more than four thousand years men have been preaching the Golden Rule as a suitable rule of conduct among men, but unfortunately the world has accepted the letter while totally missing the spirit of this Universal Injunction. We have accepted the Golden Rule philosophy merely as a sound rule of ethical conduct but we have failed to understand the law upon which it is based. I have heard the Golden Rule quoted scores of times, but I do not recall having ever heard an explanation of the law upon which it is based, and not until recent years did I understand that law, from which I am led to believe that those who quoted it did not understand it. The Golden Rule means, substantially, to do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you if your positions were reversed. But why? What is the real reason for this kindly consideration of others? The real reason is this: There is an eternal law through the operation of which we reap that which we sow. When you select the rule of conduct by which you guide yourself in your transactions with others, you will be fair and just, very likely, if you know that you are setting into motion, by that selection, a power that will run its course for weal or woe in the lives of others, returning, finally, to help or to hinder you, according to its nature. 5 Whatsoever a man soweth that shall be also reap! It is your privilege to deal unjustly with others, but, if you understand the law upon which the Golden Rule is based, you must know that your unjust dealings will come home to roost. You cannot pervert or change the course of this law, but you can adapt yourself to its nature and thereby use it as an irresistible power that will carry you to heights of achievement, which could not be attained without its aid. This law does not stop by merely flinging back upon you your acts of injustice and unkindness toward others; it goes further than this - much further - and returns to you the results of every thought that you release. Therefore, not alone is it advisable to do unto others as you wish them to do unto you, but to avail yourself fully of the benefits of this great Universal Law you must think of others as you wish them to think of you. The law upon which the Golden Rule is based begins affecting you, either for good or evil, the moment you release a thought. It has amounted almost to a worldwide tragedy that people have not generally understood this law. Despite the simplicity of the law it is practically all there is to be learned that is of enduring value to man, for it is the medium through which we become the masters of our own destiny. Understand this law and you understand all that the Bible has to unfold to you, for the Bible presents one unbroken chain of evidence in support of the fact that man is the maker of his own destiny; and, that his thoughts and acts are the tools with which he does the making. During ages of less enlightenment and tolerance than that of the present, some of the greatest thinkers the world has ever produced 6 have paid with their lives for daring to uncover this Universal Law so that it might be understood by all. In the light of the past history of the world, it is an encouraging bit of evidence, in support of the fact that men are gradually throwing off the veil of ignorance and intolerance, to note that I stand in no danger of bodily harm for writing that which would have cost me my life a few centuries ago. While this course deals with the highest laws of the universe, which man is capable of interpreting, the aim, nevertheless, has been to show how these laws may be used in the practical affairs of life. With this object of practical application in mind, let us now proceed to analyze the effect of the Golden Rule through the following incident. EVERY man takes care that his neighbor does not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market cart into a chariot of the sun. Here’s a story:
No, said the lawyer, I shan't press your claim against that man; you can get someone else to take the case, or you can withdraw it; just as you please. Think there isn't any money in it? 7 There probably would be some little money in it, but it would come from the sale of the little house that the man occupies and calls his home! But I don't want to meddle with the matter, anyhow. Got frightened out of it, eh? Not at all. I suppose likely the fellow begged hard to be let off? Well, yes, he did. And you caved in, likely? Yes. What in creation did you do? I believe I shed a few tears. And the old fellow begged you hard, you say? No, I didn't say so; he didn't speak a word to me. Well, may I respectfully inquire whom he did address in your hearing? God Almighty. Ah, he took to praying, did he? Not for my benefit, in the least. You see, I found the little house easily enough and knocked on the outer door, which stood ajar; but nobody heard me, so I stepped into the little hall and saw through the crack of a door a cozy sitting-room, and there on the bed, with her silver head high on the pillows, was an old lady who looked for all the world just like my mother did the last time I ever saw her on earth. Well, I was on the point of knocking, when she said: Come, father, now begin; I'm all ready. And down on his knees by her side went an 8 old, white-haired man, still older than his wife, I should judge, and I couldn't have knocked then, for the life of me. Well, he began. First, he reminded God they were still His submissive children, mother and he, and no matter what He saw fit to bring upon them they shouldn't rebel at His will. Of course twas going to be very hard for them to go out homeless in their old age, especially with poor mother so sick and helpless, and, oh! how different it all might have been if only one of the boys had been spared. Then his voice kind of broke, and a white hand stole from under the coverlet and moved softly over his snowy hair. Then he went on to repeat that nothing could be so sharp again as the parting with those three sons - unless mother and he should be separated. But, at last, he fell to comforting himself with the fact that the dear Lord knew that it was through no fault of his own that mother and he were threatened with the loss of their dear little home, which meant beggary and the alms-house - a place they prayed to be delivered from entering if it should be consistent with Gods will. And then he quoted a multitude of promises concerning the safety of those who put their trust in the Lord. In fact, it was the most thrilling plea to which I ever listened. And at last, he prayed for Gods blessing on those who were about to demand justice. The lawyer then continued, more lowly than ever: And I believe - I'd rather go to the poor-house myself tonight than to stain my heart and hands with the blood of such a prosecution as that.

Little afraid to defeat the old man's prayer, eh? Bless your soul, man, you couldn't defeat it! said the lawyer. I tell you he left it all subject to the will of God; but he claimed that we were told to make known our desires unto God; but of all the pleadings I ever heard that beat all. You see, I was taught that kind of thing myself in my childhood. Anyway, why was I sent to bear that prayer? I am sure I dont know, but I hand the case over. I wish, said the client, twisting uneasily, you hadn't told me about the old man's prayer. Why so? Well, because I want the money the place would bring; but I was taught the Bible straight enough when I was a youngster and Id hate to run counter to what you tell about. I wish you hadn't heard a word about it, and, another time, I wouldn't listen to petitions not intended for my ears. The lawyer smiled. My dear fellow, he said, you're wrong again. It was intended for my ears, and yours, too; and God Almighty intended it. My old mother used to sing about God's moving in a mysterious way, as I remember it. Well, my mother used to sing it, too, said the claimant, as he twisted the claim-papers in his fingers. You can call in the morning, if you like, and tell mother and him the claim has been met. In a mysterious way, added the lawyer, smiling. Neither this lesson nor the course of which it is a part is based upon an appeal to maudling sentiment, but there can be no escape from the truth that success, in its highest and noblest form, brings one, finally, to view all human relationships with a feeling of deep emotion such as that which this lawyer felt when he overheard the old mans prayer. It may be an old-fashioned idea, but somehow I can't get away from the belief that no man can attain success in its highest form without the aid of earnest prayer! Prayer is the key with which one may open the secret doorway .

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tolerance: The Most Important Thing

When the dawn of Intelligence shall have spread its wings over the eastern horizon of progress, and Ignorance and Superstition shall have left their last footprints on the sands of Time, it will be recorded in the book of mans crimes and mistakes that his most grievous sin was that of Intolerance! The bitterest Intolerance grows out of racial and religious differences of opinion, as the result of early childhood training. How long, 0 Master of Human Destinies, until we poor mortals will understand the folly of trying to destroy one another because of dogmas and creeds and other superficial matters over which we do not agree? Our allotted time on this earth is but a fleeting moment, at most! Like a candle, we are lighted, shine for a moment and flicker out! Why can we not so live during this short earthly sojourn that when the Great Caravan called Death draws up and announces this visit about finished we will be ready to fold our tents, and, like the Arabs of the Desert, silently follow the Caravan out into the Darkness of the Unknown without fear and trembling? I am hoping that I will find no Jews or Gentiles, Catholics or Protestants, Germans or Englishmen, Frenchmen or Russians, Blacks or Whites, Reds or Yellows, when I shall have crossed the Bar to the Other Side. I am hoping I will find there only human Souls, Brothers and Sisters all, unmarked by race, creed or color, far I shall want to be done with Intolerance so I may lie down and rest an ~on or two, undisturbed by the strife, ignorance, superstition and petty misunderstandings which mark with chaos and grief this earthly existence. IF a man has built a sound character it makes but little difference what people say about him, because, he will win in the end.

Opportunity

They do me wrong who say I come no more. When once I knock and fail to find you in; For every day I stand outside your door, And bid you wake, and rise to fight and win. Wail not for precious chances passed away; Weep not for golden ages on the wane; Each night I burn the records of the day; At sunrise every soul is born again. Laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped, To vanished joys be blind and deaf and dumb; My judgments seal the dead past with its dead, But never bind a moment yet to come. Though deep in mire wring not your hands and weep, I lend my arm to all who say, I can! No shamefaced outcast ever sank so deep But yet might rise and be again a man! Dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast? Dost reel from righteous retribution's blow? Then turn from blotted archives of the past And find the future's pages white as snow. Art thou a mourner? Rouse thee from thy spell; 40 Art thou a sinner? Sin may be forgiven; Each morning gives thee wings to flee from hell, Each night a star to guide thy feet to heaven. STRIVE not to banish pain and doubt, In pleasures noisy din; The peace thou seekest from without, Is only found within. (Walter Malone)1 of 22
THE LAW OF SUCCESS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS by Napoleon Hill Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is Built. PUBLISHED BY The RALSTON UNIVERSITY PRESS MERIDEN, CONN. COPYRIGHT 1928, BY NAPOLEON HILL

A History Lesson

Who ne'er has suffered, he has lived but half, Who never failed, he never strove or sought, Who never wept is stranger to a laugh, And he who never doubted never thought. As I near the end of this, my favorite lesson of this course, I close my eyes for a moment and see before me a great army of men and women whose faces show the lines of care and despair. Some are in rags, having reached the last stage of that long, long trail which men call failure! Others are in better circumstances, but the fear of starvation shows plainly on their faces; the smile of courage has left their lips; and they, too, seem to have given up the battle. The scene shifts! I look again and I am carried backward into the history of mans struggle for a place in the sun, and there I see, also, the failures of the past - failures that have meant more to the human race than all the so-called successes recorded in the history of the world. I see the homely face of Socrates as he stood at the very end of that trail called failure, waiting, with upturned eyes, through those moments which must have seemed like an eternity, just before he drank the cup of hemlock that was forced upon him by his tormentors. I see, also, Christopher Columbus, a prisoner in chains, which was the tribute paid him for his sacrifice in having set sail on an unknown and uncharted sea, to discover an unknown continent. I see, also, the face of Thomas Paine, the man whom the English sought to capture and put to death as the real instigator of the American Revolution. I see him lying in a filthy prison, in France, as he waited calmly, under the shadow of the guillotine, for the death, which he expected, would be meted out to him for his part in behalf of humanity. And I see, also, the face of the Man of Galilee, as he suffered on the cross of Calvary - the reward he received for his efforts in behalf of suffering human Failures, all! Oh, to be such a failure. Oh, to go down in history, as these men did, as one who was brave enough to place humanity above the individual and principle above pecuniary gain. On such failures rest the hopes of the world. Oh, men, who are labeled failures - up, rise up! again and do! Somewhere in the world of action is room; there is room for you. No failure was eer recorded, in the annals of truthful men, Except of the craven-hearted who fails, nor attempts again. The glory is in the doing, and not in the trophy won; The walls that are laid in darkness may laugh to the kiss of the sun. Oh, weary and worn and stricken, oh, child of fates cruel gales! I sing - that it haply may cheer him - I sing to the man who fails. Be thankful for the defeat which men call failure, because if you can survive it and keep on trying it gives you a chance to prove your ability to rise to the heights of achievement in your chosen field of endeavor. No one has the right to brand you as a failure except yourself. If, in a moment of despair, you should feel inclined to brand yourself as a failure, just remember those words of the wealthy philosopher, Croesus, who was advisor to Cyrus, king of the Persians: I am reminded, O king, and take this lesson to heart, that there is a wheel on which the affairs of men revolve and its mechanism is such that it prevents any man from being always fortunate. What a wonderful lesson is wrapped up in those words - a lesson of hope and courage and promise. (Napolean Hill 1920 The Law of Failure)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Self Confidence Formula
First: I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose. Therefore I demand of myself persistent aggressive and continuous action toward attainment.
Second: I realize that the dominating thoughts of my mind eventually reproduce themselves outward bodily action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality. Therefore I will concentrate my mind for thirty minutes daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to be creating a mental picture of this person and then transforming that picture of this person into reality for practical service.
Third: I know that through principle of auto suggestion and desire that I persistently hold on my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of realizing it. Therefore I shall devote ten minutes daily to demanding myself of the development of the factors named in the sixteen lessons of this Reading Course in the Law of Success.
Fourth: I have clearly mapped out and written down a description of my definite purpose in life for the coming five years. I have set a price on my services for each of these five years. A price that I intend to earn and receive through strict application of the principles, of efficient, satisfactory service which will render in advance.
Fifth: I fully realize that no wealth can endure unless built on truth and justice therefore I will engage in no transaction, which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attracting to me the forces I wish to use and the cooperation of the people. I will induce others to service me because I will first service them. I will eliminate hatred, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude towards others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me because I will believe in them and myself. I will cause others to believe in me because I will believe in them, and myself. I will sign my name to this formula commit it to memory and repeat it aloud once a day with full faith that it will gradually influence my entire life so that I will become a successful and happy worker in my chosen field of endeavor.(1 of 22
THE LAW OF SUCCESS IN SIXTEEN LESSONS by Napoleon Hill Teaching, for the First Time in the History of the World, the True Philosophy upon which all Personal Success is Built. PUBLISHED BY The RALSTON UNIVERSITY PRESS MERIDEN, CONN. COPYRIGHT 1928, BY NAPOLEON HILL )





Napolean Hill

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Sex, Drugs, and Rock Roll

What happened to the time when politicians and the leaders of our great country had law degrees. These days we wonder if America is seeing it's last glimpse of the sunlight as the world leader. The wisdom that comes from education, experience and common sense starting with the founding fathers of this great nation. Today, we do not have deep thinkers, people who sit, contemplate and act on those great thought popular or no. As Gen. George Washington sat on the shores of the Potomac River facing a lack of funding from congress for the revolutionary war his been without shoes or food becoming meager and popular thought saying surrender all in the Snow of the northern states of winter. But Gen Washington having thou hgt it through and knew the outcome would be victorious. Thus creating a new country of freedom of its people from Britain, sailed across the Potomac River with his men with courage and commitment.

Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, are learned men of deep contemplative thoughts of the future of these United States and it's constituents. The framework of the United States seems to be something that as time goes by needs someone (out politicians to pay attention to) is not a living document, it is static, it is not dynamic. hard choices hae to be made, truth has to be victorious, and courage has to be possessed by the leaders of this great country. Over the past one hundred years there has been only several courageous leaders who stood with conviction of their thoughts of staying on the side of righteousness, thoughtfulness, love, morality, and integrity. John F. Kennedy, Martin L. King, Lyndon B. Johnson, Malcom Shabazz, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama are examples of great leaders and thinkers.

The Tea Party has good intentions, but it seems there is not a a well read person or anyone of great thinking abilities among the top brass which does not lend to good leadership.

In 1974 there was a oil shortage in the United States. Gas was not available in the needed quantities or so we were told. The prices escalated. To have order legislation was [passed in California, the number "3" state in public education and a booming economy, mad provision for cars with the licence number ending in an even number to purchase gas only on even days Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. And cars with licences ending in odd numbers purchasing gas on odd days Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. However, because of the nature of America we did not seek to pursue aggressively an alternative fuel or means of transportation that was not make us a slave to another country. A group of Arab OPEC countries which now provides terrorist with the religious and financial backing to attack America and the world to like communism make the whole world Islamic. Hopefully like Communism it will not succeed in doing. But what is America's nature? Is our culture the same as out nature?

After long conversations with some people, I have come to the conclusion that America's nature is held in it's people. In out society we want more now. More materialistic things, the bigger the better, from houses to our fast food sandwiches. Which brings me to the second point we want it fast and easy. Everything microwavable. So it doesn't surprise the world that eh population in America is the most obese country in the world. In America we coined the phrase couch potato and the 12 ounce curl as an exercise. Lifting a beer to to your mouth is not an exercises. Americans are LAZY. Which leads me to the question "Are our freshman politicians stupid caused by their laziness a reflection of the country? A population that is told what to think by pundits. Are we so lazy that we won't think a thing through to completion. Or do we know how? Are there no more thinkers? Not to mention great thinkers. Let us return to reading, thinking and exercising your brain. Turn off ther idiot box. Here is a word for you today atrophy. "Without reading atrophy of the brain begins."

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I Create My Universe With My Thoughts

"My Happy Place"
I can smell the salty air, hear the sea gulls, and feel the sand between my toes. The waves are crashing and the mist them feels nice. I can her Julie screaming for ther dog Singer to wake up. I want to run to her and warn her but I can't. I am sitting in my bed reading a book, "The Guardian". I have created my own universe with my thoughts while reading my book, it feels like I'm there.
One of my favorite escapes is reading a book especially when I am down and need a break from the real world. A mypopic amount of real people don't like to read but they don't know how great it is when you can escape by reading. It is also possible by imaginig any place you want to be and anyone you want to be.
Life is stressful and crazy sometimes. Everyone needs a way to relax and get away from there stressors. Imagining and reading are the perfect ways of creating another universe where your real problems don't exist. Mary Beth McIntyre Class of 2011

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Before It Can Become A Reality It Must First Be a Thought

The quote "Before it can become a real it must first begin as a thought." There are several reasons I chose this quote to write an essay on; first is because once you read this quote then you start questioning yourself and what it means. I feel that if people didn't think then we wouldn't have food, government, homes, clothes or maybe we wouldn't be here. If no one would have thought about houses, then everyone would be living on the streets. The clothes and shoes that you have on were thought of by someone. If we didn't have thoughts we wouldn't have a world. Thinking about things is the only way it is going to become a reality. Many people may think the things that they have today fell out of the sky, but they are wrong. It went through someone's mind as a thought and out as a realtiy. Once you have read this quote tell me what it made you think about. did you know that the new 2011 Air Jordan's are designed by a woman. Class of 2013 Deneasha Armour

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What Does It Mean To Want Something?

A serious question only you can answer. To want is something that most people think should be given to them. They think of it as dreams that magically become reality. I think to want something is to work your hardest at getting it.
I always thought things were supposed to be handed to me. It's a little obvious that I was wrong. I couldn't figure out why I was never successfull at anything, I never studied, practiced nor did I ever give 100% effort. I was basically known as wasted talent. I now believe maturity is a big factor in life when it comes to wanting something. As I hae matured I now realize that a starting spot will not be handed to me because of my last name or a 100% on a test will not be given due to the fact that I have potential. The main things I have to do to recieve the things I want is to work hard, think bigger than my dreams, and strive everday until I earn it. So to answer my question, "What do mean to want something?". It means the choice is left up to you and what you are gooing to do to recieve it. Austin McCant Class of 2013

Friday, September 24, 2010

A Great Leader

What does it take to become a Great Leader? Some people might think they are a great leader because they have followers. That's not true in most cases. A Great Leader will do the right thing, be a teammate, and have great preparation. The little things can make you a great leader.
In order to become a Great Leader you'll have to do things the right way. Whether in sports or in life there will always be two groups of people, those who do the right things, and those who don't. You'll need to be able to find out who is in what group. And when you do you find out, place yourself in the right crowd. If there is not a good group then you'll need to separate yourself. One of the greatest leaders King David, was separated from every one. You have to know what right and stick to it. Even if some people try to pressure you to do wrong, just have the courage to do the right thing.
Also Great Leaders help others out. In order to be a Great Leader you have to be humble. You can't go around showing off or bragging because people will not want to follow that. You have to learn that you are not better than the guy next to you, whether you are a senior or a boss. You will also have to be willing to help out your peers. it could be a play, a math problem, or issues at the house, a Great Leader will take his personal time to help someone in need out.
Finally a Great Leader will do what it takes to be prepared. Everything from a huge football game to a important speech needs great preparation for great results. In order to have great preparation you will need to block out anything that has nothing to do with whatever you are preparing for. You have to stay focused when you are preparing don't let outside things get in your way. Another thing that will help is go the extra mile,run an extra lap, hit twenty extra balls, or get more in depth with your research. you can never have to much preparation.
If you follow these things and stick with them you'll be the best leader you could be. You just have to keep your head on straight and do the right things. Also help out the man or woman next to you. and finally prepare like your life depends on it. Follow this and people will watch and follow you. This essay written by Marquis Smith of Class of 2013

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Average Republican ...Did Obama Cause This

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/politician-phil-davison-freaks-out-during-speech-11600742


After looking at the numbers for the month there is a net loss of jobs of 67,000. We talk about this administration and the discouragement of growth of business. Now the people are being given the popular opinion that the President is doing a terrible job as President. But they forgot that when he came in to office there was a net job loss every month of 750,000. Three quarters of a million jobs a month lost, down the drain. So would you rather loose $750.00 a month or $67.00. It is the same thing, the money is just something that is small enough to make is sinmple enough to understand. Republicans want the office of President so bad and hate so bad that Black American man is the most powerful man in the world and ouit snookered them. Don't forget the American Black is the most hated person in America. So the have the third richest man in Amercia who is also own the company with that is give off the third largest amount of pollution sin the United States. With all opf his money I believe 35 billion dollars to try and dethrone President Obama. So if that man is trying to get President Obama de-elected next 2012 election, Obama must really be good for the country. The same thing was done to President Clinton. We must stand up and not be dismayed my the rhetoric that is spewed over and over again. A lie if told long enough can it become the truth? Let us spread the truth and change public opinion to the real truth "that the economy is getting better". America has been partying since the end of world war 2. The beginning of the baby boom was the start of the party over 60 years. If you had been drinking for 60 years do how long do you think it will take you to gt clean and sober and into you right mind at least 60. so that is what we are up against. It is going to take a while to clean up. Obama is starting the process of cleaning up America. America should have started cleaning up after the first oil embargo in 1974. We should have at that point started having some sort of oil diet and started weening ourselves and the economy off oil. Instead what do we do give lip service and watch and copmplain that oil is going up so high even $148.00 a barrell which was $4.00 a gallon. Politicians let big business rape the small helpless man. The two political parties are not Democrat and Republican, but Corporatons vs Consumers, big business against small people. Lehaman brothers $140,000 toilet in the CEO's office, WTF and the average 3 bedroom 2bath home is $140,000. What did this toilet do? America was built on the backs of the poor, the immigrant, the most hated the black man of Amercia.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

How the Stimulus Is Changing America

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama's $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that's how it's been judged. The White House says it has saved or created about 3 million jobs, helping avoid a depression and end a recession. Republicans mock it as a Big Government boondoggle that has failed to prevent rampant unemployment despite a massive expansion of the deficit. Liberals complain that it wasn't massive enough.
It's an interesting debate. Politically, it's awkward to argue that things would have been even worse without the stimulus, even though that's what most nonpartisan economists believe. But the battle over the Recovery Act's short-term rescue has obscured its more enduring mission: a long-term push to change the country. It was about jobs, sure, but also about fighting oil addiction and global warming, transforming health care and education, and building a competitive 21st century economy. Some Republicans have called it an under-the-radar scramble to advance Obama's agenda — and they've got a point. (See TIME's special report "The Green Design 100.")
Yes, the stimulus has cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, bailed out every state, hustled record amounts of unemployment benefits and other aid to struggling families and funded more than 100,000 projects to upgrade roads, subways, schools, airports, military bases and much more. But in the words of Vice President Joe Biden, Obama's effusive Recovery Act point man, "Now the fun stuff starts!" The "fun stuff," about one-sixth of the total cost, is an all-out effort to exploit the crisis to make green energy, green building and green transportation real; launch green manufacturing industries; computerize a pen-and-paper health system; promote data-driven school reforms; and ramp up the research of the future. "This is a chance to do something big, man!" Biden said during a 90-minute interview with TIME.
For starters, the Recovery Act is the most ambitious energy legislation in history, converting the Energy Department into the world's largest venture-capital fund. It's pouring $90 billion into clean energy, including unprecedented investments in a smart grid; energy efficiency; electric cars; renewable power from the sun, wind and earth; cleaner coal; advanced biofuels; and factories to manufacture green stuff in the U.S. The act will also triple the number of smart electric meters in our homes, quadruple the number of hybrids in the federal auto fleet and finance far-out energy research through a new government incubator modeled after the Pentagon agency that fathered the Internet. (See TIME's special report "After One Year, A Stimulus Report Card.")
The only stimulus energy program that's gotten much attention so far — chiefly because it got off to a slow start — is a $5 billion effort to weatherize homes. But the Recovery Act's line items represent the first steps to a low-carbon economy. "It will leverage a very different energy future," says Kristin Mayes, the Republican chair of Arizona's utility commission. "It really moves us toward a tipping point." (Watch the video "TIME Polls America: Spend or Cut?")
The stimulus is also stocked with nonenergy game changers, like a tenfold increase in funding to expand access to broadband and an effort to sequence more than 2,300 complete human genomes — when only 34 were sequenced with all previous aid. There's $8 billion for a high-speed passenger rail network, the boldest federal transportation initiative since the interstate highways. There's $4.35 billion in Race to the Top grants to promote accountability in public schools, perhaps the most significant federal education initiative ever — it's already prompted 35 states and the District of Columbia to adopt reforms to qualify for the cash. There's $20 billion to move health records into the digital age, which should reduce redundant tests, dangerous drug interactions and errors caused by doctors with chicken-scratch handwriting. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calls that initiative the foundation for Obama's health care reform and "maybe the single biggest component in improving quality and lowering costs." (Comment on this story.)
Any of those programs would have been a revolution in its own right. "We've seen more reform in the last year than we've seen in decades, and we haven't spent a dime yet," says Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "It's staggering how the Recovery Act is driving change." (See where employment will rebound in the U.S.)
That was the point. Critics have complained that while the New Deal left behind iconic monuments — courthouses, parks, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Grand Coulee Dam — this New New Deal will leave a mundane legacy of sewage plants, repaved roads, bus repairs and caulked windows. In fact, it will create new icons too: solar arrays, zero-energy border stations, an eco-friendly Coast Guard headquarters, an "advanced synchrotron light source" in a New York lab. But its main legacy will be change. The stimulus passed just a month after Obama's inauguration, but it may be his signature effort to reshape America — as well as its government. (See pictures of Barack Obama behind the scenes on Inauguration Day.)
"Let's Just Go Build It!"
After Obama's election, Depression scholar Christina Romer delivered a freak-out briefing to his transition team, warning that to avoid a 1930s-style collapse, Washington needed to pump at least $800 billion into the frozen economy — and fast. "We were in a tailspin," recalls Romer, who is about to step down as chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. "I was completely sympathetic to the idea that we shouldn't just dig ditches and fill them in. But saving the economy had to be paramount." Obama's economists argued for tax cuts and income transfers to get cash circulating quickly, emergency aid to states to prevent layoffs of cops and teachers and off-the-shelf highway projects to put people to work. They wanted a textbook Keynesian response to an economy in cardiac arrest: adding money to existing programs via existing formulas or handing it to governors, seniors and first-time home buyers. They weren't keen to reinvent the wheel.
But Obama and Biden also saw a golden opportunity to address priorities; they emphasized shovel-worthy as well as shovel-ready. Biden recalls brainstorming with Obama about an all-in push for a smarter electrical grid that would reduce blackouts, promote renewables and give families more control over their energy diet: "We said, 'God, wouldn't it be wonderful? Why don't we invest $100 billion? Let's just go build it!' "


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It wasn't that easy. Utilities control the grid, and new wires create thorny not-in-my-backyard zoning issues; there wasn't $100 billion worth of remotely shovel-ready grid projects. It's hard to transform on a timeline, and some congressional Democrats were less interested in transforming government than growing it. For instance, after securing $100 billion for traditional education programs, House Appropriations Committee chairman Dave Obey tried to stop any of it from going to Race to the Top, which is unpopular with teachers' unions.
Ultimately, even Obama's speed focused economists agreed that stimulus spending shouldn't dry up in 2010. And some Democrats were serious about investing wisely, not just spending more. So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on $17 billion for research. House Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller fought to save Race to the Top. And while the grid didn't get a $100 billion reinvention, it did get $11 billion after decades of neglect, which could shape trillions of dollars in future utility investments. (See 10 big recession surprises.)
It takes time to set up new programs, but now money is flowing to deliver high-speed Internet to rural areas, spread successful quit-smoking programs and design the first high-speed rail link from Tampa to Orlando. And deep in the Energy Department's basement — in a room dubbed the dungeon — a former McKinsey & Co. partner named Matt Rogers has created a government version of Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road, blasting billions of dollars into clean-energy projects through a slew of oversubscribed grant programs. "The idea is to transform the entire energy sector," Rogers says. "What's exciting is the way it fits all together."
"They Won't All Succeed"
The green industrial revolution begins with gee-whiz companies like A123 Systems of Watertown, Mass. Founded in 2001 by MIT nanotechnology geeks who landed a $100,000 federal grant, A123 grew into a global player in the lithium-ion battery market, with 1,800 employees and five factories in China. It has won $249 million to build two plants in Michigan, where it will help supply the first generation of mass-market electric cars. At least four of A123's suppliers received stimulus money too. The Administration is also financing three of the world's first electric-car plants, including a $529 million loan to help Fisker Automotive reopen a shuttered General Motors factory in Delaware (Biden's home state) to build sedans powered by A123 batteries. Another A123 customer, Navistar, got cash to build electric trucks in Indiana. And since electric vehicles need juice, the stimulus will also boost the number of U.S. battery-charging stations by 3,200%.
"Without government, there's no way we would've done this in the U.S.," A123 chief technology officer Bart Riley told TIME. "But now you're going to see the industry reach critical mass here."
The Recovery Act's clean-energy push is designed not only to reduce our old economy dependence on fossil fuels that broil the planet, blacken the Gulf and strengthen foreign petro-thugs but also to avoid replacing it with a new economy that is just as dependent on foreign countries for technology and manufacturing. Last year, exactly two U.S. factories made advanced batteries for electric vehicles. The stimulus will create 30 new ones, expanding U.S. production capacity from 1% of the global market to 20%, supporting half a million plug-ins and hybrids. The idea is as old as land-grant colleges: to use tax dollars as an engine of innovation. It rejects free-market purism but also the old industrial-policy approach of dumping cash into a few favored firms. Instead, the Recovery Act floods the zone, targeting a variety of energy problems and providing seed money for firms with a variety of potential solutions. The winners must attract private capital to match public dollars — A123 held an IPO to raise the required cash — and after competing for grants, they still must compete in the marketplace. "They won't all succeed," Rogers says. "But some will, and they'll change the world." (Watch TIME's video "Google's Energy Initiatives Director Talks Clean Power.")
The investments extend all along the food chain. A brave new world of electric cars powered by coal plants could be dirtier than the oil-soaked status quo, so the stimulus includes an unheard-of $3.4 billion for clean-coal projects aiming to sequester or reuse carbon. There are also lucrative loan guarantees for constructing the first American nuclear plants in three decades. And after the credit crunch froze financing for green energy, stimulus cash has fueled a comeback, putting the U.S. on track to exceed Obama's goal of doubling renewable power by 2012. The wind industry added a record 10,000 megawatts in 2009. The stimulus is also supporting the nation's largest photovoltaic solar plant, in Florida, and what will be the world's two largest solar thermal plants, in Arizona and California, plus thousands of solar installations on homes and buildings.
The stimulus is helping scores of manufacturers of wind turbines and solar products expand as well, but today's grid can only handle so much wind and solar. A key problem is connecting remote wind farms to population centers, so there are billions of dollars for new transmission lines. Then there is the need to find storage capacity for when it isn't windy or sunny outside. The current grid is like a phone system without voice mail, a just-in-time network where power is wasted if it doesn't reach a user the moment it's generated. That's why the Recovery Act is funding dozens of smart-grid approaches. For instance, A123 is providing truckloads of batteries for a grid-storage project in California and recycled electric-car batteries for a similar effort in Detroit. "If we can show the utilities this stuff works," says Riley, "it will take off on its own."
Today, grid-scale storage, solar energy and many other green technologies are too costly to compete without subsidies. That's why the stimulus launched the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a blue-sky fund inspired by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the incubator for GPS and the M-16 rifle as well as the Internet. Located in an office building a block from the rest of the Energy Department, ARPA-E will finance energy research too risky for private funders, focusing on speculative technologies that might dramatically cut the cost of, say, carbon capture — or not. "We're taking chances, because that's how you put a man on the moon," says director Arun Majumdar, a materials scientist from the University of California, Berkeley. "Our idea is it's O.K. to fail. You think America's pioneers never failed?"
ARPA-E is funding the new pioneers — mad scientists and engineers with ideas for wind turbines based on jet engines, bacteria to convert carbon dioxide into gasoline, and tiny molten-metal batteries to provide cheap high-voltage storage. That last idea is the brainchild of MIT's Donald Sadoway, who already has a prototype fuel cell the size of a shot glass. The stimulus will help him create a kind of reverse aluminum smelter to make prototypes the size of a hockey puck and a pizza box. The ultimate goal is a commercial scale battery the size of a tractor trailer that could power an entire neighborhood. "We need radical breakthroughs, so we need radical experiments," Sadoway says. "These projects send chills down the spine of the carbon world. If a few of them work, [Venezuela's Hugo] Chávez and [Iran's Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad are out of power."
Then again, the easiest way to blow up the energy world would be to stop wasting so much. That's the final link in the chain, a full-throttle push to make energy efficiency a national norm. The Recovery Act is weatherizing 250,000 homes this year. It gave homeowners rebates for energy-efficient appliances, much as the Cash for Clunkers program subsidized fuel-efficient cars. It's retrofitting juice-sucking server farms, factories and power plants; financing research into superefficient lighting, windows and machinery; and funneling billions into state and local efficiency efforts. (See TIME's special report "Obama's Agenda: Get America Back on Track.")
It will also retrofit 3 in 4 federal buildings. The U.S. government is the nation's largest energy consumer, so this will save big money while boosting demand for geothermal heat pumps, LED lighting and other energy-saving products. "We're so huge, we make markets," says Bob Peck, the General Services Administration's public-buildings commissioner. GSA's 93-year-old headquarters, now featuring clunky window air conditioners and wires duct-taped to ceilings, will get energy optimized heating, cooling and lighting systems, glass facades with solar membranes and a green roof; the makeover should cut its energy use 55%. It might even beta-test stimulus-funded windows that harvest sunlight. "We'll be the proving ground for innovation in the building industry," Peck says. "It all starts with renovating the government."
The New Venture Capitalists
The stimulus really is starting to change Washington — and not just the buildings. Every contract and lobbying contact is posted at Recovery.gov, with quarterly data detailing where the money went. A Recovery Board was created to scrutinize every dollar, with help from every major agency's independent watchdog. And Biden has promised state and local officials answers to all stimulus questions within 24 hours. It's a test-drive for a new approach to government: more transparent, more focused on results than compliance, not just bigger but better. Biden himself always saw the Recovery Act as a test — not only of the new Administration but of federal spending itself. He knew high-profile screwups could be fatal, stoking antigovernment anger about bureaucrats and two-car funerals. So he spends hours checking in, buttering up and banging heads to keep the stimulus on track, harassing Cabinet secretaries, governors and mayors about unspent broadband funds, weatherization delays and fishy projects. He has blocked some 260 skate parks, picnic tables and highway beautifications that flunked his what-would-your-mom-think test. "Imagine they could have proved we wasted a billion dollars," Biden says. "Gone, man. Gone!"
So far, despite furor over cash it supposedly funneled to contraception (deleted from the bill) and phantom congressional districts (simply typos), the earmark-free Recovery Act has produced surprisingly few scandals. Prosecutors are investigating a few fraud allegations, and critics have found some goofy expenditures, like $51,500 for water-safety-mascot costumes or a $50,000 arts grant to a kinky-film house. But those are minor warts, given that unprecedented scrutiny. Biden knows it's early — "I ain't saying mission accomplished!" — but he calls waste and fraud "the dogs that haven't barked." (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis.)
The Recovery Act's deeper reform has been its focus on intense competition for grants instead of everybody-wins formulas, forcing public officials to consider not only whether applicants have submitted the required traffic studies and small-business hiring plans but also whether their projects make sense. Already staffed by top technologists from MIT, Duke and Intel, ARPA-E recruited 4,500 outside experts to winnow 3,700 applications down to 37 first-round grants. "We've taken the best and brightest from the tech world and created a venture fund — except we're looking for returns for the country," Majumdar says. These change agents didn't uproot their lives to fill out forms in triplicate and shovel money by formula. They want to reinvent the economy, not just stimulate it. Sadoway, the MIT battery scientist, is tired of reporting how many jobs he's created in his lab: "If this works, I'll create a million jobs!"
Obama has spent most of his first term trying to clean up messes — in the Gulf of Mexico, Iraq and Afghanistan, on Wall Street and Main Street — but the details in the stimulus plan are his real down payment on change. The question is which changes will last. Will electric cars disappear after the subsidies disappear? Will advanced battery factories migrate back to China? Will bullet trains ever get built? The President wants to extend transformative programs like ARPA-E. But would they be substitutes for the status quo or just additions to tack onto the deficit? And would they survive a Republican Congress?
Polls suggest the actual contents of the Recovery Act are popular. But the idea of the stimulus itself remains toxic — and probably will as long as the recovery remains tepid. "Today, it's judged by jobs," Rogers says of the act. "But in 10 years, it'll be judged by whether it transformed our economy."

(TimeMagazine.com August 26,2010)

The Want to Win Is Nothing Without the Dedication to Work

"The Want to Win Is Nothing Without the Dedication to Work" to me that means you can have a goal or dream, but if your are not putting toward the effort to achieve, it doesn't matter. You can't hope you'll have a big house, a nice car, or be wealthy if you're on the couch all day. To achieve something you must be dedicated to doing whatever to reach that goal. I understood that it is not often that someone becomes successful by doing nothing. Those who put in effort are th ones who reach thir goals. Those who don't value the time they have will always be in the same position. I personally have goals and dreams and I'm willing to strive for them. It is not a day go by I don't think and try to improve my plan to reach success. I also have have more than one plan to becoming wealthy. The reason for that is in case one plan doesn't work I have a back up. The inspiration behind that is I was told to
"Hope for the best and prepare for the worst" a quote by Benjamin Franklin. What also keeps me going is those I hang with. The reason I say that is for instance if your hang with some who isn't about anything themself "9" out "10" times you are just the same. Ilike to aroun preople who got something for going for themselves becaue I'm about the something they are about. Quinton Whitehead 10th grade student at Class of 2013

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Want to Win Is Nothing Without the Dedication to Work For It

If you want somethng you have to the drive to and heart to go for it. You have to show that you can do anything and that you can get it and you aren't going to stop until you get it. You don't back down from anyone who wants to stop you and say your can't do it. If anyone wants to stand up and push you down and make you lose your dediaton you stand up and show what you can be and are made of and that you won't take no for an answer. You will show whoever, what you are made of and that you can do anything you set your mind to. Even if you do get knocked down you get right back up nd fight back. Don't ever Give Up!!! No matter what the cost you show what you are made of and what will power and courage and determination you have. God will always help you through the rough spots. He will always be there to bring you strength when you're weak. He will guide you when you think you can't find your way. He will push you to make the right choice or when you think yiou are making the right choice he helps you to understand why or why not. God is there for you always and he will help you win aht yout you re fighting for. If you really want it go for it, go for it and use that drive that you have for yourself and push it until you get it!! The way I am is "I'm not going to stop and I'm going to hit the ground runnig and be able to set the goal and get what I am looKing for." Renee Smith 11th grade Class of 2012

Excuses Are the Tools of The Mediocre

I picked this one because if you make an excuse for everything you can't accomplish or can't complete you will be a failure. I know I do not want to be mediocre. So I try my hardest at whatever I am attempting. Fill life's toolbox with traits and techniques you learn from failure. When I read this it makes me think of a poor loser, like something they would say just to get out of doing the work to make themselves better.when life knocks you down the most respectable thing to do is get back up and not ask why. Patience is another tool that is vital for victory. Like in wrestling you re patient to wait for the right time to strike. you don't ask your opponent why he beat you, you learn from it. You also strive harder and harder to be the best. . I believe that the best quote for wrestling would be "No excuses". When your opponent beats you in a match the most respectable thing you could do is pick yourself up and shake their hand. This is how I relate this quote to my life. I live my life by no Excuses / I fo everything for a reason and I stand by my reasones. I will not make up an excuse just because one of the things I do doesn't please someone else. I will apologize but I will not make an excuse. After I read the book "No Excuses" by Kyle Mazard, it changed my perspective on life. Kyle is a congenital amputee who learned with no excused to accomplish whatever he wanted in life. I hope to be like Kyle to have no excuses in life. John Davis 11th grade Wrestling Team, Class of 2012

"To Get What You Want You Have to do What Other People Dont"

This slogan speaks to me. It tells me different things when I put a lot of thought into it. The first thing I think when I see this slogan is not to follow the crowd. If you follow th crowed that is doing the wrong thing and not doing what they are supposed to do then you are headed down the wrong path and will never get anywhere in life or get where you what you want. Also when I think about this slogan it screams do the right thing!!! Don't do drugs they will not get you anywhere. That kind of falls in ths same category as don't follow th crowd but, they are kind of different to me. Drugs are what your deicde to do on your own. You have your own mind and no one else should get in your head and make you do anything that you know isn't right. When you follow the crowd you could skip class that will look bad on you just as much as the people who talked you into it. On the other hand drugs and gang banging I frown upon, that is where this slogan played a big role where it says to get what you want you got to do what other don't. Bsically to sum this up if you do drugs and skip class, gang violence or illegal or bad things your setting y ourself up for failure. To get what you want don't do what other people do, if you want to get somewhere. Taylor Cannady 1lth grade at class of 2012.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse

Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse

“Good Morning Vietnam” was the greeting Robin Williams gave every morning on the move he played in as a American soldier radio jock in Vietnam. I am starting this article out with these words of greeting because in the next 25 years we may be in a environmental resource war. I am near completing testing to become a first year high school biology teacher. As I study, one of the topics I should become proficient on to be taught to students in biology in ecology and ecosystems.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there are five families that lived in a large grocery warehouse store. Let’s call the store Wal-Mike. These families are free to use any of the items in the store and all of the facilities in the store. As the years go by the families have kids and they multiply. Now the only thing I forgot to tell you about the store is that there are no future shipments to come to the store. Once all the items in the store are used then the families will die of starvation from a lack of food and water. (The human body can go many days without food abut only several without drinking water.) But that way in the future let’s see how long these families can survive. Will they divide the store into parts geographically? Will they start a barter system? Will theses families create a monetary system? Will some one try to become rich? Will they use things in the store to create and store energy that will not kill them? In the winters will set fires to keep warm? What will they do about the pollution from the smoke and garbage and OMG the rodents? Will they create some form of energy. As the families multiply and the store becomes more populated the resources and food and toilet paper and gardening tools and soil and water are depleted, what will they do? Will they have a moratorium on the amount of children born? Will they conserve the food? Will they conserve, consume and reuse?

Density dependence is the ability of an organism or species to reproduce in number according to the space. Carrying Capacity is the environments ability due to space and resources to maintain the maximum number a organism or species. Exponential growth is the ability of a organism or species to grow in vastness according to the amount of food. Aggregation is the destruction of the environment due to the multiplicity of the organism or species and the environment. Rape and plunder of the environment with no thought of tomorrow. The environment is used and mismanaged until destruction of the environment. To bring this home this is what cancer does to the human body, it multiplies until the body can no longer support the growth of the cells.
Take a look at any rodent population or roach or rat. The more food the faster they multiply. And I do mean multiply 2, then 4, then 8, then 64, the128, then 256 and so on. If we don’t take care of the resources on our planet and stop looking to acquire creature comforts with no thought or conscious, I can see Armageddon coming as we kill each other looking for water and food.
This is the story of the planet earth. I think I have painted a good enough picture for you to get it. Our fossil fuels are becoming depleted by 2015 we will be on the down stroke of the known supply. Economics tells us that more of the amount of a product that is consumed by the public the more valuable it becomes and the less the supply the more prices increases. We can see that the price of crude oil be 250.00 per barrel maybe 7 or 8 dollars per gallon at the pump. Then what, think about your travel expense, the amount of money you will have for food and clothing.

Tell our young people to go to school become thinkers and engineers and save our planet form ourselves, the time is short we have only a few years to turn back and slow down and save our planet and all of our lives and the lives of the babies coming into this mess that has been created by men who craved wealth and infected us with greed. Can you think of something that can Reduced, Recycled, and Reused?

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

"The Gettysburg Address" by President Lincoln ; November 19, 1863

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

BP Oil Company, the State of Louisiana &The Gulf of Mexico Disaster

Off of the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum Oil Company (BP) has drilled 5280 feet; one mile below the surface of the ocean to drill for oil. During the exploration for oil, there has been a catastrophe. The oil line broke and approximately 200,000 gallons of oil is leaking everyday according to BP. However according to the mathematical estimates of some mechanical engineers approximately 300,000 gallons are escaping daily contrary to BP estimates. The investment of oil exploration is very expensive and costly, perhaps in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We are a country of people who are so stuck on oil that we are allowing this company to pollute the most beautiful waters in our region. Now it has been predicted that by the middle of hurricane season that is just a couple months away that this oil will have circled the state of Florida on it way up the eastern seaboard. Now what exactly does this mean, let us take a closer look. First of all the oil is killing all of the sea life and birds in the gulf.
The people of Louisiana who rely on the gulf to provide food and income from fishing are going to be wiped out. Ask anyone who lives in Alaska who prior to the Valdese oil spill was fishing the Alaskan coast line what the spill did for the future revenue of that area. Ten years later the area is ruined. Now let’s move forward to the next hurricane season 2010 as the water current changes, carrying the oil down the west coast of Florida lucklily the beaches or St. Peters burg, Tampa, Napleswill be spaired. The loop current in th gulf caring the oil circling the Florida Keys , the coral reefs that were once white will be brown and oily, the sand that was white will be oily and brown, the seafood will be deplete because of suffocation. The Miami / Ft. Lauderdale coastline will be ruined, the aqua blue water will be ruined for generations .The beaches that were the jewels of the south will lose their brilliance. Oh yeah you can go to beach on a hot day get in the water jus bring some “Dawn” liquid detergent to cut the grease when you shower. From a economical stand point how much will be lost in revenues from the fishing industry, the restaurant, the hotels, and tourism? How many lives ruined? How many species of fish will become extinct?
In Russia the USSR a major oil supplier to the world has offered a solution after a few similar experience in the gulfs of Russia. What they do is to just drop a strong enough explosion at the mouth of the leak to close it. And if necessary they drop nuclear bombs in the ocean. This is something that is proven to work time and time again. What is the problem with this solution? I will tell what it is the BP will lose 100% of their investment and the privilege of drilling in that area again. The word for today is Aggregation. And since this is a biological issue let us use the biological definition of the word. The definition “A population in a relatively small geographic area can have a detrimental effect on the environment.” The next thing to think about is the population rate and growth in the world and its’s effect on the environment. “Does China have the right idea in implementing population control?”

Monday, May 17, 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

You Can't Sneak up on Nobody With Nikes on

How many times have you bought a pair of Nikes or know someone with a pair of Nikes that squeak? That is bullshit. People we must stop buying Nike shoes period. It is a shoe of inferior quality that is overpriced. The Nike tennis shoe I believe are now made and marketed to the children of poor folks whose only means of self esteem is the tennis that they wear. I get Nikes from China for a fraction of the cost. I am not going to pay another 40 dollars for same shoe that squeaks, has no arch suppport, and leaves me with a fallen arch, limping in pain. You get the same shoes from Champs, Athletic Attic and other stores in the malls across America for $90.00 to $160.00 a pair, yes you do.


Nike shoes in the 80's did not squeak and had an arch support. I remember I had a pair of "Legends" they were real leather like "Adidas" today. Legends were the grandfather of the Nike "Air Forces" and "Air Jordans". Back then they cost $65.00 which today is around $130.00 in todays inflated money. These Legends were such a good shoe that when they wore out I got them resoled. I bet you can't do that today with a pair of Jordans. Stacy Adams and any other shoe that cost that much can be resoled. Nike are like cigarette disposable lighters and not even a "Bic" disposables.


My opinion Nike wants to make more money even though Nike makes more money in one minute than you or I make in a year. (Nike earned world wide 4.4 billion dollars year 2009, 50 million in 90 days, and 376,000 dollars per minute.)
The way they plan on making more money is to skimp on cost by not putting in arch supports at the cost of 0.5 pennies and the foam or glue with the enough quality not to sqeak to save another 0.5 pennies. Now multiply 2 pennies by the pairs of of tennis shoes Nike sells in a month around the world. That is a lot of $$cheese$$. Stop buying Nikes and having bad feet. Get some New Balances, Etonic, Adidas, Reeboks, or as we used o say back in the day " Don't get the shoes that slip ans slid get the ones with the star on the side "Converse". Seriously F Nike !!! "Forget" about Nike see you thought I meant F Nike.

ISRAEL TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICA

Yesterday afternoon was something to be remembered, geez! On my way to the school this morning I was thinking about the crazy thoughts that people have about some things. I was also thinking about how sometimes if you don't get out of the way, sometimes the shit that others are going through will get on you. (Remind me to tell you about goats sometimes).But that is another story. David Duke is a former resident of Louisiana, As amatter of fact he was a member of the of Louisiana House of Reprensatives. He was also the Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. Now he is a professor oversees giving lectures at local universities. I was looking at some comments on a article about 3 gitmo detainees 2 sent to Spain and one sent to another country. There was comment from a guy I believe from his name and picture wasfrom Trinidad. and thereasonI say this is that as a resident of south Florida you become well acquanited with Island people of the Carribean. Now his cmment were that he was tringto get a visa into Spain and they would not let him even though he was a retired businessmen with no criminal past. My esponse was that as a man of color your were not welcomed Spain like Portugal is not colored man friendly. Back toDavid Duke, look at his film on youtube.com/ISRAEL TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICA and tell me what your belief is after seeing this film. Mine thought is that I believe him and question the common sense of American policy to give money to a terrorist country. My next thought is what is the strangle hold that Israel has on this corporation called America. Why do we support, defend and finance a terrorist country that attacks us and we have to intention of retribution after the loss of military lives in the hundreds and the destruction of a clearly marked battle ship. A people who call people of color "schwarts" behind closed doors. A people who do the most dastardly things against people of color even today. If you don't believe me ask the Palastines. Do yourself a favor and look at the discovey/history channel on military strategic genius, and look up Moses, who was a great military genius and leader of a people, but a man who was absolutely ruthless. Learn the history of a people. Not just what is on the surface.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Funny thing happened to me on the way to work today. I usually just wash and press them myself, but the other day when I was at the cleaners to get some slacks out. I asked the owner of the dry cleaners about the special and he told me that if I asked for it I could get my shirts starched and pressed for 1 dollar as a way of saying thanks for the patronage. So this morning I went to the dry cleaners to take some shirts to be laundered, but it was closed until 8am. I thought to myself, "Damn what kind of shit is this a cleaners that is not open early enough for working people to go to on their way to work in the mornings." So interesting that today when I got to school one of my favorite students had a head cold and was going to the bathroom to get toilet tissue and would come back with bundles of balled up tissue of which he would blow his nose once and throw this bundle in the garbage. Thoughtfully and pissed off about the waste I then showed him how to get tissue off the roll is an organized way with a simple continous fold of the tissue. Later we started talking about the waste of the world's resources, the rain forest, zinc, tantalum, titanium, Bill Gates and why he feels obligated to give back to Africa(Read the blog on he 3T's). I then went on the internet and pulled up a article about the deforestaion of rainforest on this planet and the causes. Below I dared to share it with you, please read and share with others. The worlds resources are not infinite and have a limited supply and usage. I have a question; if a person from and industrialized country uses sixty times as much of a resource than a person from a third world country what does he do with it. The answer is "waste it." Example: when you brush your teeth and turn on the cold water do you turn it off after you wet your toothbrush or just let it run while you brush and your teeth. If you let it run where does the water that is running go? Please let us stop wasting.


Causes of Rainforest Destruction Underlying Causes (http://www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_015.htm)

More Than Just Poverty and Overpopulation
Poverty and overpopulation are believed to be the main causes of forest loss, according to the international agencies such as the FAO and intergovernmental bodies. They believe they can solve the problem by encouraging development and trying to reduce population growth. However, the World Rainforest Movement and many other non-governmental organisations hold unrestrained development and the excessive consumption habits of rich industrialised countries directly responsible for most forest loss.
1 Development and Overconsumption: the Basic Causes
The World Rainforest Movement's Emergency Call to Action for the Forests and Their Peoples asserts that "deforestation is the inevitable result of the current social and economic policies being carried out in the name development". It is the push for development which gives rise to commercial logging, cash crops, cattle ranching, large dams, colonisation schemes, the dispossession of peasants and indigenous people and the promotion of tourism. Harrison Ngau, an indigenous tribesman from Sarawak, Malaysia and winner of the Goldman Environment Award in 1990, has this to say about why tropical forests are being destroyed:
The roots of the problem of deforestation and waste of resources are located in the industrialised countries, where most of our resources, such as tropical timber end up. The rich nations with one quarter of the world's population consume four fifth of the world's resources. It is the throw away culture of the industrialised countries, now advertised in and forced on to the Third World countries that is leading to the throwing away of the world. Such so-called progress leads to destruction and despair![World Rainforest Movement]

2 Colonialism
Tropical rainforests are found mainly in the Third World countries, Australia and Hawaii being the only exceptions. All of these countries have indigenous populations who had their own system of land management and/or ownership in place for thousand of years before the intervention of colonists from rich industrialised nations. The colonial powers (Britain, France, Spain and Portugal), whilst exploiting the resources of many of these countries, attempted to destroy indigenous peoples' rights to remain on their land. Colonialism turned previously self-sufficient economies into zones of agriculture export production (Colchester and Lohmann). This process continues today and the situation is worsening.
3 Exploitation by Industrialised Countries
Wealthy countries have been consuming so much of their own resources that they are no longer sustaining their growing populations and increasingly, they are turning to the resources of the financially poorer countries. "Twenty per cent of the world's population is using 80 % of the world's resources" (Orams & McQuire).
Currently, although many indigenous people are claiming their culture and rights, they face stubborn opposition, as the governments in their own countries have often 'adopted the same growth-syndrome as their Western neighbours, with the emphasis on maximising exports, revenues and exploiting resources for short-term gain. Corruption in government, the military and economic powers is well known' (Orams & McQuire).
The problem is made worse by the low price for most Third World exports on the international market. The United States has been accused of manipulating prices for agricultural commodities for its own benefit at the expense of tropical countries
(WRR).

4 The Debt Burden
The governments of the financially poorer countries feel they need to make money in order to repay their huge international debts. In the 1970's and 80's, they borrowed vast sums of money from development agencies in industrialised countries in order to improve their own economies. Most are still battling to make repayments due to escalating interest rates (Orams & McQuire).
Since 1987, the flow of debt repayments from Third World countries to rich countries has exceeded the flow of aid money going to Third World countries (RIC). Poor countries feel compelled to exploit their natural resources, including their forests, partly to earn foreign exchange for servicing their debts. Non-government organisations in Third World countries have for many years been pointing out that there is no chance of stopping impoverishment and destruction of nature without a solution to the debt crisis.
For example, in some countries in South-East Asia, the construction of roads for logging operations was funded by Japanese aid. Later, the forests were exploited by Japanese timber companies. The timber companies made the profits and the South-East Asian countries were left owing Japan money for the construction of the roads (Orams & Maquire).

5 The Role of Poverty and Overpopulation
Poverty, while undeniably responsible for much of the damage to rainforests, has to a large extent been brought about by the greed of the rich industrialised nations and the Third World elites who seek to emulate them. Development, which is often seen as the solution to world poverty, seldom helps those whose need is greatest. It is often the cause rather than the cure for poverty.The claim that overpopulation is the cause of deforestation is used by many governments and aid agencies as an excuse for inaction. In tropical countries, pressure from human settlement comes about more from inequitable land distribution that from population pressure. In general, most of the land is owned by a small but powerful elite which displaces poor farmers into rainforest areas. So long as these elites maintain their grip on power, lasting land reform will be difficult to achieve.
Overpopulation is not a problem exclusive to Third World countries. An individual in an industrialised country is likely to consume in the order of sixty times as much of the world's resources as a person in a poor country. The growing populations in rich industrialised nations are therefore responsible for much of the exploitation of the earth, and there is a clear link between the overconsumption in rich countries and deforestation in the tropical forests.