Benedictine of Peace

This beautiful message that came to my beloved mentor Rev. Hope Gorman in midst of problems,problems, problems- which are so easy-if we let it- to consume us when the energy is moving as fast as it is! I hope you wrap it around you and feel the Truth and the Love in it as I did.


My child the law of love is perfect
the law of one is perfect
the law of oneness is perfect
and the law is at hand
and you are this perfect perfectness
so lay down your worries your doubts your fears
but most of all your uncertainties
and take away from your consciousness
any disturbanceness any ideas or problems whatsoever
do not hold them in your consciousness today
my love
you are the presence of a divine being
you are the presence of the bright light
you are peace not problems
you are peace
i shall bathe in this sunlight of truth
and I have now the opportunity within me
to consciously enter into the benedictan of peace
you can choose now in this moment of now
to consciously and intentionally
enter into the benedictine of peace

Do American commodities policies cause food riots in Mozambique?

Will Wilkinson: Do Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses cause food riots in Mozambique?



In recent months, demonstrations and riots have broken out all over the less-developed world in protest of the rising cost of the grains that make up the daily bread of so many. The recent run-up in prices is hitting the world's poor especially hard. But this mess is largely the aftermath of a perfect storm of American special-interest politics.

The supply of corn is at an all-time high, but those gains in production aren't going into peoples' bellies; they're going into American gas tanks. According to a new World Bank report, almost the entire increase in the global production in corn over the last three years went into biofuel production here in the U.S. Meanwhile, many farmers worldwide have switched their crops to corn to profit from surging biofuel-driven demand. This has pushed up the price of other grains, like wheat.

Back in 2003, John McCain noted that ethanol is a creation of government subsidies and "does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." And he was right. But in a speech in Iowa last August, a not-so-maverick McCain fell into line and touted the virtues of ethanol. Hillary Clinton flip-flopped, too.

Iowa's not really the problem, nor Big Agra, which just happened to benefit from a fluke of political history. The real problem is the nature of electoral politics, which encourages politicians to meddle in markets and pick winners as they cruise the campaign trail. This makes worries over global warming or energy independence more likely to result in a bonanza of special interest subsidies than in any real improvement.

Usually, it's taxpayer wallets that take the hit. This time around, it's hungry children. That's sad. But sadder still, voters may be helpless to put a stop to it -- much less keep it from happening again.

The 2012 Iowa caucus isn't that far away.



Napoli: Will Wilkinson is a research fellow at the Cato Institute. You can find a link to his blog and listen to the NPR interview at his site: www.marketplace.org

Silent Tsunami of Hunger

We tend to think ANY biofuel research is great but fact is the push to use corn and grain for ethanol and biofuel research is taking corn out of bellys and into cars and research labs and we're beginning to see the effects on prices and food shortages from pantrys in US to WFP that serves millions of poor people worldwide. 2 U.S. Presidential candidates- McCain and Clinton- used to address the downfalls of using corn for biofuels- it does not solve our dependency on oil, it burns through faster than oil, and worse- it still pollutes the air in addition to causing unreasonable subsidies that upset the world commodoties markets. Now both of the Candidates have flip flopped due to the failings of the electorate process of American elections as they bow to "Ethanol states" praising the benefits of Ethanol. The farm bill is about to pass and we all have a moral obligation to pay attention and speak up to ensure that the same more more aid is given where it is needed-with commodities and policy reform to stop giving million dollar (and up) farms government kick backs we can solve the problem fast without tax cuts but more importantly we can put food back in the hands of those who desperately need it and focus on more dramatic changes in green solutions that create jobs AND help Mother Earth without upsetting the worlds supply of food. This article illustrates the crisis before us now of how delicate this situation is- including the now growing affect of "unpredictable weather conditions"-- Jill

'Silent tsunami' of hunger threatens
Ration cards among solutions offered
By DAVID STRINGER, AP


LONDON -- Ration cards. Genetically modified crops. The end of pile-it-high, sell-it-cheap supermarkets.

These possible solutions to the first global food crisis since the Second World War -- which the World Food Program says already threatens 20 million of the poorest children -- are complex and controversial. And they may not even solve the problem as demand continues to soar.

A "silent tsunami" of hunger is sweeping the world's most desperate countries, said Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, speaking yesterday at a London summit on the crisis.

The skyrocketing cost of food staples, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and demand from India and China, has already sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

The price of rice has more than doubled in the last five weeks, she said. The World Bank estimates food prices have risen by 83 per cent in three years.

"What we are seeing now is affecting more people on every continent," Sheeran said.

Hosting talks with Sheeran, legislators and experts, British Prime Gordon Brown said the spiralling prices threaten to plunge millions back into poverty and reverse progress on alleviating misery in the developing world.

"Tackling hunger is a moral challenge to each of us and it is also a threat to the political and economic stability of nations," Brown said.

Malaysia's embattled prime minister is already under pressure over the price increases and has launched a major rice-growing project. Indonesia's government needed to revise its annual budget to respond.

Unrest over the food crisis has led to deaths in Cameroon and Haiti, cost Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis his job, and caused hungry textile workers to clash with police in Bangladesh.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said more protests in other developing countries appear likely. "We are going through a very serious crisis and we are going to see lots of food strikes and demonstrations," Annan said in Geneva.

Happy Earth Day!

A Perfect Dream

A perfect dream by Adam Westerholm- my 10 year old son


I have a dream that global warming will end. Our homes will be made eco friendly, and

we will find a way to put away our unrecyclable trash without harming the

environment. Everyone will conserve more water. They will never pollute the water.

Because I want to look outside the window and see no smoke coming from cars, power

plants, etc. I will only see hundreds of hybrid cars, eco-friendly houses andin the

distance, I will see a forest of thousands of trees. I know you know what that makes:

a perfect dream.

Mother Earth is rumbling

Swarm of earthquakes detected off Oregon By JEFF BARNARD
13 minutes ago


Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an
unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often
happens before a volcanic eruption — except there are no volcanoes in
the area.

Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they
could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized
earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State
University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin
150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and
two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported.

On the hydrophones, the quakes sound like low thunder and are unlike
anything scientists have heard in 17 years of listening, Dziak said.
Some of the quakes have also been detected by earthquake instruments
on land.

The hydrophones are left over from a network the Navy used to listen
for submarines during the Cold War. They routinely detect passing
ships, earthquakes on the ocean bottom and whales calling to one
another.

Scientists hope to send out an OSU research ship to take water
samples, looking for evidence that sediment has been stirred up and
chemicals that would indicate magma is moving up through the Juan de
Fuca Plate, Dziak said.

The quakes have not followed the typical pattern of a major shock
followed by a series of diminishing aftershocks, and few have been
strong enough to be felt on shore.

The Earth's crust is made up of plates that rest on molten rock,
which are rubbing together. When the molten rock, or magma, erupts
through the crust, it creates volcanoes.

That can happen in the middle of a plate. When the plates lurch
against each other, they create earthquakes along the edges.

In this case, the Juan de Fuca Plate is a small piece of crust being
crushed between the Pacific Plate and North America, Dziak said.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AP News

Plant your seeds of Spring

Great video message from my dear mentor Rev. Janice Gorman of the Hope Interfaith Center in Mankato, MN. serving not just Southwestern Minnesota including services in Minneapolis but now indeed the world with the help of webcam videos. We have had terrific Spring weather here and the Tulip greens have sprung only to be hit again and again by winter as well. With 2 inches of snow today! Making us ever more anxious for Spring to be here to stay. But is this time in the cusp of spring that is so sacred. Just before the buds burst off the trees. Just before the flowers suddenly appear. The energy of these living plants will carry forth in your fields as you to plant new seeds for this 1 year. (2008=10=1) Enjoy the beautifuly Hindu prayer that celebrates this time of year and the lesson on planting your seeds to burst forth:

http://www.hopeinterfaithcenter.com/Webcams/Kali.wmv

We are One