A Stray Cat's Prayer
Dear God, please send me somebody who'll care!
I'm so tired of running and sick with despair.
My body is aching and filled with such pain;
And dear God I pray, as I run in the rain
That someone will love me and give me a home,
A warm cozy bed, and food of my own.
My last owner left me alone in the yard...
Continue reading "Dear God Please Send Me Somebody Who Will Care: A Stray Cat's Prayer" »
The lovely vintage valentine, above, is what I've always thought vintage valentines were like. Sadly, not all were as sweet and romantic as I believed.
The truth is not only disappointing, but it provides shocking evidence of the pervasive racism in America, from the 1800's through the 1950's, and how it was an everyday, common experience. Hopefully, the following vintage valentine cards will remind us to be ever alert to the more subtle forms of racism alive today and the courage to fight it.
I know that I'll hear from someone about how I just don't have a sense of humor, you know, can't take a joke. Someone else will comment that this valentine card wasn't serious, "It doesn't mean hang the Negra literally." If the above description is what you plan on doing, forget it.
Forget about me and save yourself.
America's racism against the Chinese shouldn't be a surprise. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the only U.S. law to ever prevent immigration and naturalization on the basis of race. These laws brought additional suffering by preventing the reunion of the families of thousands of Chinese men living in the U.S. who had left China without their wives and children.
Native Americans have experienced discrimination and marginalization through wars, massacre, forced displacement (like the Trail of Tears), restriction of food rights and the imposition of treaties. Click here to read more about the American Indian.
The two valentines to follow aren't racist just very offensive and discriminatory. In the first, from good old Hallmark, the skunk illustrates what men have done to the women they abuse -- threaten to hurt themselves and others and blame it on the woman that they've abused and emotionally blackmailed.
The last valentine is offensive towards women, whom men believe they have a right to rape. In case you missed the clues, the doctor isn't wearing trousers and he's clucking his patient's chin. Both the woman and the dog are obviously frightened. But, hey, it's just a valentine card.
MORE POSTS ABOUT RACISM:
CLICK AND READ: "Bigots Scare Tactics Oppose Facts: More Immigration Linked to Less Crime"
CLICK AND READ: "Horrible Third-Grade Quiz Suggests Killing Illegal Immigrants"
CLICK AND READ: "Nuclear Racism: Black Employees Subjected to Excessive Radiation Exposure"
CLICK AND READ: "California Councilman's Hateful Rhetoric: I'm A Proud Racist"
CLICK AND READ: "Connecticut Mayor Shows Racial Bigotry While East Haven Police Officers Under Federal Indictment for Racial Hate Crimes"
Written by Sharon McEachern
Young people who smoke daily light up more cigarettes if they see other young people smoking. Surprise!
NEW RESEARCH ?
Most of us have known this fact for years. That's why parents don't want their kids to associate with kids who smoke. They are a bad influence. Afterall, most kids desperately want to be just like their peers. Being different is awful for them.
Yet, Zeena Harakeh, a social scientist from Utrecht University, Netherlands, recently researched the subject of what encourages young smokers to light a cigarette. Surprisingly, she came up with an unexpected finding.
WANNA CIGARETTE OR WATCH ME ?
Dr. Harakeh investigated what encourages smokers aged 16 to 24 to light up. You would think, intuitively, that young people would smoke more when they are offered a cigarette. But, you'd be wrong. They actually smoke more when in company of a smoking peer, even when no one offers them a cigarette.
Continue reading "Kids Smoke More When They See Other Kids Smoking Say Researchers" »
Let's hear it for a good 'chinwag' and a bit of 'tittle-tattle'! That's what the Brits call 'gossip.'
New research finds that gossip actually has some surprising health benefits.
More than senseless bad-mouthing, gossip can provide social cohesion and enhance feelings of well-being, reports the The Daily Telegraph (UK).
"Gossip isn't scandal and it's not merely malicious," said Pulitzer Prize Poet Phyllis McGinley. "It's chatter about the human race by lovers of the same."
Similarly, broadcast journalist Barbara Walters offered: "Show me someone who never gossips and I'll show you someone who isn't interested in people."
Continue reading "Gossip Should Be Guilt-Free: It Can Be Healthy and Boost Positive Hormones" »
Police mug shot of Jerome "Randy" Babbitt
The police mug shot is of a veteran pilot who flew 25 years for Eastern Airlines and is now the Federal Aviation Administration's administrator Jerome "Randy" Babbitt. Looks like a picture of pride and defiance to me. Can't see any guilt, or even embarrassment. Instead, I see an expression that looks like a kind of bravado, a "smug mug."
I bet that he figured he was so damn important that he would be let off, free to go, records expunged once they realized who he was. Instead, he was placed on a leave of absence.
THERE YESTERDAY, GONE TODAY
The police mug shot is not the picture that used to be on the FAA bio page for Babbitt -- the one with him in a suit and tie, with the American flag behind him. The key official for the FAA no longer has his bio on the FAA official website. Oh, it was there yesterday. But, it was gone today: "We're sorry, the page you requested could not be found."
Thankfully, the cops got him off the road before he killed.
Continue reading "FAA Boss Charged as Drunk Driver: Randy Babbitt Placed on Leave of Absence " »
Kids love to be scared on Halloween -- most of the time, kind of. Okay, not really! Just pretend.
FRIGHTEN THE LITTLE CHILDREN
Should they have to fear a church minister who has decided to scare the bejesus out of little children who just want to go trick or treating and get some Halloween candy?
That's stooping pretty low. Get religion children -- mine -- or you'll die. And here's some pictures of how you'll die. Sweet dreams!
No wonder more and more people are leaving the church. When a pastor doesn't even show common sense in how to treat and protect kids, you gotta wonder what his church is teaching in Sunday School.
The preacher is Rev. Kenny Cousar of the Northview Baptist Church (pictured below) in Hillsboro, Ohio.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is a picture of one billion dollars.
Tonight on 20/20, Barbara Walters interviews four billionaires who share their secrets to success. The billionaires are:
John Paul DeJoria (left), founder of Paul Mitchell hair products and owner of Patron Spirits;
Lynn Tilton (right) of Patriarch Partners;
Guy Laliberte (left), founder of Cirque du Soleil
and Tony Hsieh (right) of Zappos.
Below is a list of the "Billionaire's 20 Keys to Success," according to ABC News 20/20. I was surprised, really surprised, at how many of the 20 tips for success involve ethics. In fact, I think the four billionaires might agree that it is very difficult to become so rich without being an ethical person, whose business and personal behavior is both ethical and moral.
Continue reading "It Pays To Be Ethical: Billionaires Share Secrets to Success" »
Former Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed has waited 28 years, given birth to his two children and suffered through God-only-knows how many other women with whom KISS bassist and front man Gene Simmons has had sex.
Well, Simmons proudly claims to know, along with God, that he's had sex with some 4,600 women. That's what he told Terry Gross, in an interview on NPR's Fresh Air in 2002. That was 9 years ago. There's been lots of time for many more groupies to throw their underwear at Simmons on stage.
It's been a long wait for Shannon and one in which the world knows many of the intimate parts of her life. How much is one person suppose to bear? One hell of a lot in Tweed's case. The father of her children Nick, 22, and Sophie, 19, finds it hard to even tell his own mother that he loves her, Simmons admits, according to US Magazine.
In the past, Simmons said: "I refuse to stand up in front of a rabbi and my friends and the woman I love -- who I will tell you I can love with all my heart -- and promise she will be the only one I will ever have until the day I die. That's a lie."
OUCH! Here we go again. Parents are taking the fun out of their kids' baseball games. It was another brawl, with bloody fists flailing in the pine-pungent Rocky Mountain air.
When you cannot hide from awareness of the world's natural disasters, and then add to that knowledge of all the wars being fought in the world today...what do you do?
It's easy to put a few dollars in an envelope and send it off to a charity or two to help. It's harder to force yourself to try to not forget, taking the time and soul-energy to offer up a prayer or two. Both kinds of giving are sorely needed, along with acknowledgement of our great good fortune not to personally be in the middle of one of those natural disasters or wars, if you are so lucky.
For those not as fortunate as yourself, consider the following two prayers:
Prayer to Eradicate Misery
We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumphs over indifference,
that trust triumphs over contempt, and that truth triumphs over
falsehood.
Buddhist Prayer to Give Aid
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.
by Sharon McEachern
Artist & Blogger
