Rethink your life

Atheismus

2009-05-19T19:08:00.004+02:00

"God does not exist; only the agent exists.

This is a very strange business.

Religion is the strangest business of all.

There is no boss, but there are mediators, the priest,

the bishop, the cardinal, the pope, the messiah,

the whole hierarchy - and on top there is nobody."

Religionen glauben also, dass die Menschheit von einem Gott geschaffen wurde. Aber macht uns das nicht zu einem Spielball? Zu einem Wesen, das keinen eigenen Willen verfolgen kann? Wenn wir nun also geschaffen wurden, heißt das, wir könnten jeden Moment wieder von der Bildfläche weggeschafft werden? Die Theorie ließe sich bestätigen, denn tagtäglich sterben Menschen. Aber warum? Weil eine höhere Macht dies beeinflusst? Reichlich unglaubwürdig, hält man sich an die schlichten Fakten. Ich möchte mich nicht von irgendeinem Strippenzieher einschränken lassen. Denn hat Gott tatsächlich diese Welt erschaffen, so muss er ein ziemlicher Tyrann sein, der Krieg, Gewalt und Armut über diese Welt gebracht hat. Wo bleibt da die Nächstenliebe?

Atheismus ist keine Ersatzreligion, wie es viele vielleicht gerne bezeichnen. Dennoch gibt es eine Reihe von Geboten für Atheisten, die teils mit einem Augenzwinkern teils ernst genommen werden.

Atheist Ten Commandments

1 -- Determine what is really moral by trusting your own mind.

2 -- It is time that the discrimination against humanist and atheist is eliminated.

3 -- Don't buy into any authoritarian belief.

4 -- Know that the more educated you are, the more likely you are a non-believer.

5 -- Rely on Studies and readily observable evidence and keep questioning everything.

6 -- Question if religious education improves morality.

7 -- Don't believe in anything that violates the laws of nature.

8 -- Question all books be they Bibles, history or science books!

9 -- Become as moral as possible and be concerned for the welfare of other now and in the future.

10 -- Read and understand the Atheist and Humanist Ten Commandments.

http://keine-angst-vorm-teufel.blogspot.com/

2009-05-19T18:55:00.006+02:00

Vom 20 bis zum 24. Mai findet in Bremen der Kirchentag statt. Aus aktuellem Anlass daher
ein paar Gedanken zu der Kirche, Religion und Gott.

Der deutsche Philosoph Rudolf von Delius hat einmal gesagt „Religion ist Feigheit vor dem Schicksal. Nichts weiter.“

Gläubiger aller Religion beten, um das von ihrer höheren Macht besiegelte Schicksal abzuwenden. Doch an wen wenden sie sich, wem Opfern sie sich und wen nehmen sie sich als Alibi? Sie nennen ihn Gott, Atheisten nennen ihn ein Hirngespinst, eine Fiktion oder eine nicht notwendige moralische Stütze.

Warum braucht der Mensch einen Gott, Gottesdienst oder die Kirche? Warum schafft der gläubige Mensch es nicht, an sich selber zu glauben und sich selbst für seine Taten verantwortlich zu machen?

Stattdessen werden unschuldige Kinder in den Vereinigten Staaten in die so genannten Jesus Camps geschickt.

Richard Dawkins, britischer Biologe und Autor von „Der Gotteswahn“ behauptete, dass das religiöse Unterrichten von Kindern, mit seinen Werten und Dogmen eine Form von Kindesmissbrauch darstellt, die die Kinder zu sehr beeinflusst und einschüchtert. Als Beispiel sei die Existenz der Hölle genannt.

Wo Richard Dawkins mit seiner These bei vielen ein empörtes Kopfschütteln hervorruft, erntet er bei vielen Atheisten ein zustimmendes Nicken.
Als Paradebeispiel für die Indoktrination gelten die so genannten Jesus Camps in den Vereinigten Staaten.

Ein Film, der dieses Thema aufgreift ist der im September 2006 veröffentliche Dokumentarfilm Jesus Camp von Rachel Grady und Heidi Ewing

Zu sehen gibt es die Dokumentation hier

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/jesus_camp.php (englisch)

Weitere Information bietet die offizielle Seite zum Film
http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/ (englisch)

In Gottes Namen
die Toten Hosen

Auf Kommando wird gejubelt
wenn er winkend vorüber geht.
Er liebt die Menge und den Trubel,
liebt sein Monumental-Schauspiel.
Auch wenn zwei Ecken weiter eine Strassenschlacht tobt,
er wird sein Programm durchziehn.

Hier kommt der Diktator,
wer ihm nicht folgt, der wird verbannt.
Er verlangt absoluten Gehorsam
von seiner kranken Anhängerschaft.

In Gottes Namen
hält er über euch Gericht.
In Gottes Namen
nimmt er sich das Recht,
dass er euch heilig ist.

Er verkündet die ewige Liebe
und lebt auf einem Kreuzzug.
Bei jedem seiner Siege
reicht er euch Wein und Brot.
Auf jeder Seite seiner Bibel
haftet eine Spur von Blut.

Ihr seid seine Schafe
und er ist euer Wolf.
Er sucht nach jedem Opfer,
dass ihm ohne zu zweifeln folgt.

In Gottes Namen
hält er über euch Gericht.
In Gottes Namen
nimmt er sich das Recht,
dass er euch schuldig spricht.

Jede Sünde ist bezahlbar
und Reue nur 'ne Frage von Geld.
Sein Ziel ist, dass du dich ein Leben lang
immer nur schuldig fühlst.

Er verurteilt alle Drogen
und ihr seid im unterworfenen Rausch.
Um euer Leben werdet ihr betrogen
und keinem fällt es auf.

In Gottes Namen
hält er über euch Gericht.
In Gottes Namen
nimmt er sich das Recht,
dass er euch schuldig spricht.

Culture Jamming

2009-05-16T13:57:00.006+02:00

"We consume all kinds of goods, services and entertainment only to find that there's no time left to really savor and enjoy our friends, family and life."

Culture Jamming by Kalle Lasn(book)

"Das Manifest der Anti-Werbung"

Culture Jamming ist eine Kunstform die es sich zu eigen gemacht hat, die Massenmedien mit ihren eigenen Waffen zu schlagen. Bekannte Werbungen werden übernommen, verfremdet oder karikiert. Culture Jamming ist eine Form des öffentlichen Aktivismus, welcher von Kalle Lasn geprägt wurde. Kalle Lasn gilt als Begründer der Adbusters Media Foundation, einer konsumkritischen Organisation, die 1989 ins Leben gerufen wurde. Er ist zudem Autor des Buches Culture Jamming (siehe oben).

Der Sinn des Culture Jam ist es einen Kontrast aufzuzeigen zwischen der dargestellten Welt in den Medien und der Realität außerhalb der Massenhysterie. Aufgezeigt werden sollen die negativen Impulse der Werbung, die Beeinflussung und Verschleierung. Culture jamming will wegführen von einer Markenhysterie, hin zu einem kritischen Umgang mit Marken und Unternehmen, die Ausbeuten, krank machen oder uns die Lebensqualität rauben.

Culture Jamming will den Blick schärfen für das wirklich wichtige im Leben. Nämlich unser Leben, das unserer Familie und Freunde. Culture Jamming will den Sinn für die Natur und das schöne in unserem Umfeld erwecken und uns den Sinn des Seins wieder vor Augen führen.

2009-05-16T13:50:00.008+02:00

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

-Plato

Culture jam

2008-09-17T14:03:00.001+02:00

"We consume all kinds of goods, services and entertainment only to find that there's no time left to really savor and enjoy our friends, family and life."

Culture Jamming by Kalle Lasn(book)

No logo by Naomi Klein(book)

Slow down week clip

Culture Jamming

Culture jamming is the act of transforming existing mass media to produce commentary about itself, using the original medium's communication method. It is a form of public activism which is generally in opposition to commercialism and the vectors of corporate image.

The aim of culture jamming is to create a contrast between corporate or mass media images and the realities or perceived negative side of the corporation or media.

It is based on the idea that advertising is little more than propaganda for established interests, and that there is a lack of an available means for alternative expression in industrialized nations.

Culture jamming is an intriguing form of political communication that has emerged in response to the commercial isolation of public life. Practitioners of culture jamming argue that culture, politics, and social values have been bent by saturated commercial environments, from corporate logos on sports facilities, to television content designed solely to deliver targeted audiences to producers and sponsors.

Did you know that every product pictured here is owned by Phillip Morris, the world's largest cigarette company? Chances are that you've been helping to promote Marlboro cigarettes without even knowing it.

Buy nothing day

Buy nothing day pig clip

Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Participants refrain from purchasing anything for 24 hours in a concentrated display of consumer power. The event is intended to raise awareness of what some see as the wasteful consumption habits of First world countries.

In the United States and Canada supporters demonstrate on the day after American Thanksgiving.

It's a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

Buy Nothing Day also exposes the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The developed countries - only 20% of the world population are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth.

http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/
http://www.rogerwendell.com/buynothingday.html

adbusters

www.adbusters.org

Adbusters Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn in Canada.

“We are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.”

More campaigns

TV Turnoff week
Media Charta
True Cost Economics

“Our mental environment is a common-property resource like the air or the water. We need to protect ourselves from unwanted incursions into it, much the same way we lobbied for nonsmoking areas ten years ago.”

— Kalle Lasn, in Culture Jam

"While 79% of university entrants in 1970 said their goal in life was to develop "a meaningful philosophy of life," by 2005, 75% defined their life's objective as "being very well off financially."

"we kill ourselves slowly, by eating too much or too little, becoming fat, or anorexic, or diabetic. physically and psychologically we whither away in our culture of collective self-absorption and material sloth. and our boundless, insatiable greed now threatens to drag the entire planet down with us."

Stupidity (2003)

2008-07-15T20:41:00.001+02:00

Albert Nerenberg asks one simple question: What is stupidity? It's much harder to answer than you might think, for, as Einstein theorized, the universe and stupidity are the only things that are infinite--and he had his doubts about the former. Amazingly, there has been no real academic study on stupidity, and there are only a handful of serious books on the topic, but that doesn't stop Nerenberg from blazing forward.
The result is a sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying look at the human race and the stupid things it has done over the course of time. One of the theories Stupidity puts forth is that people prefer the act of "resisting intelligence," as it makes them feel more comfortable. In other words, ignorance is bliss. Which would explain why this country is in so much trouble.
Thankfully, Nerenberg isn't content with simply pointing a finger and saying things like, "Bush is a moron." Instead, he offers some surprising theories, offering much intelligence behind the veneer of idiocy. Along with Super Size Me, Stupidity is one of the most important films to see this year.

Watch it here

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/stupidity.php

2008-05-20T14:08:00.001+02:00

http://www.droppingknowledge.org

Impressionen

2008-04-19T19:47:00.003+02:00

Smoking causes wasted potential and fatal regret

2008-04-19T14:42:00.002+02:00

Smoking kills more Americans than AIDS, drug abuse, car accidents and crime.

Did you know that 390,000 Americans die each year from cigarette smoking? Smoking tobacco causes 1 out of 6 deaths.

Lung cancer has caused more deaths in women than breast cancer. If a pregnant woman smokes, she has a greater chance of medical problems with her baby.

In U.S. alone, figures show that expectant mothers who smoke cause the deaths of over 600 boy babies and 400 baby girls each year

Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of cancer death in men. Male smokers over the age of 35 are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases like lung cancer.

Smoking is the most wide spread addiction. Statistics show that in 90 years there have been 1,1 billion smokers in the world, among them 47% men and 12% women out of the whole population.

Many smoking-related deaths are not 'quick deaths'. You can expect several years of illness and distressing symptoms before you die.

www.adbusters.org

The smoker is sick more often, explaining why he misses an average of 7½ work days per year, usually with a loss of pay, while the non-smoker will miss only 4½ days.

The time to recover from any specific ill, whether caused by smoking or not, is much longer for the smoker. Often, a non-smoker will survive a sickness from which he would have died had he smoked.

A UK survey shows the mean age for young people to try their first cigarette is 11 years old.

Myths of the 21st Century. Today: Death penalty

2008-04-12T12:18:00.000+02:00

1. Death Penalty results in reduced rates of murders and serious.

Fact: Many studies show that existence of the death penalty as a punishment is brutalizing society and making it more violent. There are several studies showing that there hasn't been any remarkable change, for example, in murder rates, after abolishing death penalty and also several studies go on to prove that threat of death penalty does not have preventive affect for people committing serious offences.
For example the western countries (USA, EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) have all abolished the death penalty, except USA, and still, for example, murder rates are much higher in USA than in any of these other, similar, countries.

2. It is cheaper to sentence a person to death than keep him a lifetime in prison.

Fact: It is established that the actual cost of one death penalty case is usually much higher than the cost incurred on an individual serving life imprisonment. This is because of higher pre-trial costs and costs incurred during the court process. In the death penalty cases, states need to guarantee all the possible requirements of the fair trial, much more investigation, much more time, more defence lawyers to protect accused, more prosecutor and more bureaucracy. This means, both, higher investigative costs and higher extra costs during the trial. Also, many times death penalty is ultimately changed to life imprisonment and this means also extra costs after the more costly trial.

3. Innocent people are not convicted in death penalty trials.

Fact: There is always a possibility of making mistakes and those mistakes have happened several times even during the last few years! Convictions of the people because of wrong or faulty grounds are not fiction. For example, according to some studies, only in the USA, around 100 people been released from a death row because they have afterwards found innocent.

Myths of the 21st Century. Today: Homosexuality

2008-04-10T19:03:00.000+02:00

1. Gay men are child molesters and recruit children into their life-style.

Fact: The majority of child molesters are heterosexual. Only 2% of molesters were gay.

2. Homosexuality is abnormal and sick.

Fact: According to the American Psychological Association, "It is no more abnormal or sick to be homosexual than to be left handed."

3. Gay couples cannot maintain long-term relationships.

Fact: The divorce rate is nearly the same. Heterosexuals had a 49 percent divorce rate in 1989, which suggests that there is nothing inherent in heterosexuality that maintains strong, long-term relationships. But Lesbian couples appeared to divorce at a slightly higher rate than gay male couples.

Myths of the 21st Century. Today: Atheism

2008-04-08T17:55:00.002+02:00

1. Atheists have no morals, since they don't believe in God.

Fact: Atheists don’t need to fear eternal damnation in order to do good. Atheists do good, not out of fear of reprisal, but because it's the right thing to do. While atheists make up 8-10% of the population at large, they only make up 1% of the population in prison. Just to give one example.

2. Atheists force all people to be atheists.

Fact: Atheists seek only the freedom for people to make their choice on their own. They seek the freedom not to support religion through taxes, forced participation, or special privileges of any kind.

3. Atheists cannot know there is no God, since you cannot prove he doesn't exist

Fact: Atheists don't need to prove the non-existence of God. Can theists prove God over any alternatives?

4. Atheists are so closed-minded, they can't see that miracles happen every day!

Fact: Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
~ Henry Miller

Anti-Discrimination Support Network

2008-03-20T20:04:00.000+01:00

Established in 1993, ADSN is a committee of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) which is a 501(c) 3 non-profit educational organization. ADSN receives, evaluates, and responds to reports of negative stereotyping of the Atheist/Humanist community.

http://www.fsgp.org/adsn.html

What is a freethinker?
A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists. No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah.

Do freethinkers have a basis for morality?
Most freethinkers are humanists, basing morality on human needs, not imagined "cosmic absolutes." This also embraces a respect for our planet, including the other animals, and principles of equality.
Freethinkers argue that religion promotes a dangerous and inadequate "morality" based on blind obedience and unexplained ultimatums. Freethinkers try to base actions on their consequences to real, living human beings.

Is atheism/humanism a religion?
No. Atheism is not abelief. It is the "lack of belief" in god(s). Lack of faith requires no faith. Atheism is indeed based on a commitment to rationality, but that hardly qualifies it as a religion. Freethinkers apply the term religion to belief systems, which include a supernatural realm, deity, faith in "holy" writings, and conformity to an absolute creed. Secular Humanism has no god, bible or savior. It is based on natural rational principles. It is flexible and relativistic - it is not a religion.

Why especially women need freedom from religion

There are more than 200 bible verses that specifically belittle and demean women. Here are just a few:

Genesis
Woman cursed: maternity a sin, marriage a bondage

Rape virgins instead of male angels

Exodus
Unfair rules for female servants, may be sex slaves

Leviticus
Women who have sons are unclean 7 days

Women who have daughters are unclean 14 days

Menstrual periods are unclean

If master has sex with engaged woman, she shall be scourged

Deuteronomy
Woman raped in city, she & her rapist both stoned to death

Woman must marry her rapist

I Corinthians
Women keep in silence, learn only from husbands

2008-03-05T19:04:00.001+01:00

Wir bringen uns langsam um. Weil wir zu viel oder zu wenig essen. Entweder wir sind fett oder Magersüchtig. Haben Diabetes, Bulimie, leiden am Boreout oder Burnout Syndrom.
Und wir ertrinken im Selbstmitleid.
Alles ist schlecht, den anderen geht es sowieso besser - und ändern? Nee das geht doch sowieso nicht. Da fristen wir lieber unser Dasein mit einer Portion Selbstmitleid und einer Tüte Chips vorm Fernseher.
Dabei können schon eine gesunde Ernährung und ausreichend Bewegung an der frischen Luft
zu einem neuen Lebensgefühl verhelfen. Wer beim Lesen dieser Zeilen schmunzeln sollte, dem sei gesagt: Ausprobieren und selber erleben. Der Körper wird’s einem danken.

75% der Männer und 59% der Frauen in Deutschaland sind mehr oder weniger übergewichtig.
100.000 Menschen leiden an Magersucht 600.000 an Bulimie.
Statistisch leidet eine Person aus rund 82 Millionen an der so genannten Alzheimer-Bulimie.
Es wird für uns Zeit, uns wenigstens körperlich von den Amerikanern zu unterscheiden.

Das was unser Bauch zuviel bekommt, bekommt unser Gehirn zu wenig. – Futter.
In erschreckend vielen Haushalten ist die einzig gedruckte EinBildungsquelle die Bildzeitung.
Unglaublich viele Menschen glauben, sie hätten aus diesem Blatt irgendeinen Nutzen ziehen können.
Einzig haben sie dadurch wieder ihre Naivität aufgezeigt, mit der sie sich durch die Welt bewegen. Manch einer der Nicht-Bild-Leser vermag noch nicht einmal das Datum dieses Boulevardblattes zu glauben.
Wo wir am Ende sind und doch irgendwie wieder am Anfang.
Unter anderem wirkt sich die Bildung direkt auf den Körperumfang aus: Je höher der Schulabschluss desto geringer das Gewichtsproblem. Rund 70 Prozent der Deutschen mit Hauptschulabschluss leiden unter Übergewicht oder Adipositas. Von den Abiturenten sind nur etwa halb so viele betroffen. Und von denen lesen besonders wenig die Bildzeitung.

Und die Moral von der Geschicht? Vielleicht lieber die Bildzeitung essen, als lesen? Das macht nicht dumm, aber auch nicht dicker.

Impressionen

2008-02-16T16:20:00.002+01:00

Samstag, 16. Februar 2008 08:15

Ein UFO? Nein - nur der Mond

2008-02-13T20:04:00.003+01:00

Animal Factories

85% of the fur industry’s skins come from animals living captive in fur factory farms.

The most commonly farmed fur-bearing animals are minks, followed by foxes. Chinchillas, lynxes, and even hamsters are also farmed for their fur.

73% of fur farms are in Europe, 12% are in North America, and the rest are dispersed throughout the world, in countries such as Argentina, China, and Russia.

The animals—who are housed in unbearably small cages—live with fear, stress, disease, parasites, and other physical and psychological hardships, all for the sake of an unnecessary global industry that makes billions of dollars annually.

Shearing and Mulesing Equal Sheep Abuse

With approximately 100 million sheep, Australia produces 25 percent of the world’s wool. In Australia, the most commonly raised sheep are merinos, who are specifically bred to have wrinkled skin, which means more wool per animal. This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles also collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive.

Bullfight

Each year, approximately 10,000 bulls die in bullfights, an inaccurate term for events in which there is very little competition between a nimble, sword-wielding matador (Spanish for “killer”) and a confused, maimed, psychologically tormented, and physically debilitated animal.

Circuses

Because circuses are constantly traveling from city to city, access to basic necessities such as food, water, and veterinary care is often inadequate. The animals, most of whom are quite large and naturally active, are forced to spend most of their lives in the small barren cages used to transport them, where they have only enough room to stand and turn around. Most are allowed out of their cages only during the short periods when they must perform. Other animals, like elephants, are kept in leg shackles that only allow them to lift one foot at a time.

2008-02-12T20:30:00.001+01:00

Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

Countries and territories which retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes

AFGHANISTAN, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, BAHAMAS, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BELIZE, BOTSWANA, BURUNDI, CAMEROON, CHAD, CHINA, COMOROS, CONGO (Democratic Republic), CUBA, DOMINICA, EGYPT, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, ERITREA, ETHIOPIA, GUATEMALA, GUINEA, GUYANA, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRAQ, JAMAICA, JAPAN, JORDAN, KAZAKSTAN, KOREA (North), KOREA (South), KUWAIT, LAOS, LEBANON, LESOTHO, LIBYA, MALAYSIA, MONGOLIA, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, QATAR, SAINT CHRISTOPHER & NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES, SAUDI ARABIA, SIERRA LEONE, SINGAPORE, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SYRIA, TAIWAN, TAJIKISTAN, TANZANIA, THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, UGANDA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, UZBEKISTAN, VIET NAM, YEMEN, ZIMBABWE

There are currently more than 3,500 people on death row -- more than at any time in U.S. history.

Since 1976, more than 580 people have been executed in the United States. Over 50% of those have been killed since 1992.

Texas Gov. George Bush has personally signed death warrants for 100 executions and counting.

President Clinton's 1994 crime bill added 58 more crimes that are punishable by death. And his "Anti-Terrorism" bill limits the number of federal appeals for death row prisoners to just one within one year of conviction.

Amnesty International's latest information shows that:

90 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes;
10 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes;
30 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions,
making a total of 130 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
67 other countries and territories retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

Executions cost more than life in prison.
$2 million per person vs. $500,000 (4x as much!).

The innocent may be wrongly executed.
Since the DP was reinstated in 1976, 82 inmates have been freed from Death Row. That's 1 Death Row inmate found to be wrongfully convicted for every 7 executed.

Is not a deterrent; crime rates have not gone down.
In fact, the murder rate in the US is 6 times that of Britain and 5 times that of Australia. Neither country has the DP. Texas has twice the murder rate of Wisconsin, a state that doesn't have the DP. Texas and Oklahoma have historically executed the most number of DR inmates, yet in 2003 their state murder rates increased, and both have murder rates higher than the national average.

Life in prison also guarantees no future crimes.

Violates international human rights laws.

No longer practiced in most sophisticated societies.

2008-02-07T19:01:00.001+01:00

Kids 8-18 spend 44.5 hours per week watching TV and playing video games. This is more time than they spend with their parents (17 hours) or at school (30 hours).

26% of kids 8-18 use more than one medium at a time.

63% of kids 8-18 live in homes where the TV is on during most meals.

36% of kids six and younger have a TV in their bedroom, compared to 68% of kids 8-18.

80% of the TV commercials that kids see each year are for fast food, candy, cereal and toys.

An average of one food commercial is shown every five minutes during Saturday morning cartoons.

On average, music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including 11 "hard core" scenes depicting behaviour such as intercourse and oral sex.

A preschooler's risk of obesity jumps 6% for every hour of TV watched per day, 31% if the TV is in their bedroom.

Impressionen

2008-01-22T19:00:00.001+01:00

Was ist das ?

Der Vollmond, fotografiert mit einer mittelmäßigen Digitalkamera

2007-12-30T18:49:00.000+01:00

There is a reason why god-believing adults rarely become scientists, and almost never become top scientists. Not only does theology and dogmatic religious assertions interfere with correct scientific thought, but, children of religious parents have on average, lower intelligence. This common-sense finding is not a one-off statistic, but part of an entire trend. The stricter the religious beliefs of the parent, the less the average intelligence of the child.

Religiosity, and belief in God, causes parents to have children with lower IQs. These children go on to be less interested in science, and hardly ever become top scientists. If this is true, then it must also be true that religious people in general, during their adult lives, remain less intelligent and less educated than those around them.

Only 3.3% of the Members of the Royal Society in the UK and 7% the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, believe in a personal God.

The children of highly religious parents suffer diminished IQs - averaging 7 to 10 points lower compared to their non-religious counterparts in similar socio-economic groups.

Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you.

World mapper

2007-12-14T17:19:00.001+01:00

http://www.worldmapper.org/

The land area of each territory is shown here

Child Labour
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide child work force (aged 10-14) that live there.

GDP Wealth
Territory size shows the proportion of worldwide wealth, that is Gross Domestic Product based on exchange rates with the US$, that is found there.

Underweight Children
Territory size shows the proportion of all underweight children in the world that live there.

War deaths 2002
Territory size shows the proportion of deaths worldwide directly attributed to war or conflict that happened there.

Don’t kill people who killed people to show that killing people is wrong!

2007-12-13T19:20:00.001+01:00

A UN resolution cleared by the controversial Human Rights Committee to ban the death penalty could soon go up for a vote in the General Assembly. But a roster of countries that include China, Iran, Syria and the US are opposing it.

It isn't the first time that a majority of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has voted against capital punishment, but each time brings renewed promise to opponents of the practice. On Thursday, after two days of heated debate, the committee passed a draft resolution calling for a worldwide end to the death penalty.

Ninety-nine of the committee's member states voted in favor of the resolution, 52 against. Strange bedfellows were made as the United States sided with countries like Syria and Iran in the pro-death penalty camp. Thirty three countries abstained.

The resolution expressed "deep concern" about the death penalty, contended that it violates human dignity and challenged the notion that capital punishment has a preventative impact on crime. It calls on countries practicing capital punishment to "establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty."

The draft resolution was co-sponsored by European Union states and 60 other countries. It must now be voted on by the entire 192-member General Assembly, which has rejected similar initiatives twice before, in 1994 and 1999. The first was defeated by eight votes, and the second was withdrawn at the last minute. If the General Assembly votes in favor this time, the resolution would be legally nonbinding, but would carry moral weight.

Robert Hagan, the US representative in the committee stated after the vote, "The United States recognizes that the supporters of this resolution have principled positions on the issue of the death penalty. But nonetheless it is important to recognize that international law does not prohibit capital punishment

Human rights groups celebrated the draft resolution, which Amnesty International called "a clear recognition of the growing international trend toward worldwide abolition of the death penalty." The human rights organization reports that more than 90 percent of all executions last year took place in China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and the US. The total number of recorded executions, however, has dropped from 2,148 in 2005 to 1,591 in 2006. One hundred and thirty countries have abolished capital punishment, including the 27-member European Union.

Executions have been carried out by the following methods since 2000:

- Beheading (in Saudi Arabia)
- Electrocution (in USA)
- Hanging (in Egypt, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Singapore and other countries)
- Lethal injection (in China, Guatemala, Thailand, USA)
- Shooting (in Belarus, China, Somalia, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam and other countries)
- Stoning (in Afghanistan, Iran)

Executions cost more than life in prison.
$2 million per person vs. $500,000 (4x as much!). Free counsel for defense, for appeals, maximum security on a separate death row wing.

World AIDS day December, 1st

2007-11-29T10:51:00.000+01:00

The spread of HIV and Aids in Africa should be tackled through fidelity and abstinence and not by condoms, Pope Benedict XVI has said.

Speaking to African bishops at the Vatican, the Pope described HIV/Aids in Africa as a "cruel epidemic".

But he told them: "The traditional teaching of the church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids."

More than 60% of the world's 40m people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa.

In South Africa alone, 600-1,000 people are thought to die every day because of Aids.

Pope Benedict, who was elected to succeed John Paul II in April, has already signalled that he will maintain a strictly traditional line on issues including abortion and homosexuality.

Before being elected pope, Benedict served as head of the Vatican's doctrinal office.

These were his first public comments on the issue of Aids/HIV and contraception since taking office

He was addressing bishops from South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho, who had travelled to the Vatican for a routine papal audience.

Some Catholic clergymen have argued that the use of condoms to stem the spread of the disease would be a "lesser of two evils".

The Pope warned that contraception was one of a host of trends contributing to a "breakdown in sexual morality", and church teachings should not be ignored.

"It is of great concern that the fabric of African life, its very source of hope and stability, is threatened by divorce, abortion, prostitution, human trafficking and a contraception mentality," he added.

The virus "seriously threatens the economic and social stability of the continent," the Pope said.

The UN estimates that without new initiatives and greater access to drugs, more than 80 million Africans may die from Aids by 2025 and HIV infections could reach 90 million, or 10% of the continent's population.

and the Pope still rejects condoms for Africa ?!

thank god I’m an atheist

Buy nothing day

2007-11-21T19:44:00.000+01:00

Buy nothing day

Every November‚ for 24 hours‚ we remember that no one was born to shop.

Saturday November 24th 2007 is Buy Nothing Day, It's a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to detox from shopping for 24 hours. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

Shop less – live more!

Only 20% of the world population are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage and unfair distribution of wealth.

- 100 million children around the world live on streets and you spend your money on luxury

- During Christmas we throw away an extra 270,00 tonnes of packaging

- The US and Canada, with 5.2% of the world’s population, are responsible for 31.5% of
consumption.

- Food in the UK travels 65% further than it did two decades ago

- Heinz ketchup eaten in California is made with California-grown tomatoes shipped to

Canada for processing and returned in bottles

- Europe is leading the way to ending the use of animals in cosmetic testing and banning the

sale of cosmetics and similar products tested on animals. There is no excuse for other

countries, including the United States, not to follow this compassionate example.

- Every year, more than 40 million fur-bearing animals are violently killed in the name of "fashion." Luxury vs necessity

Luxury vs necessity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_jpG6kv6Pw
http://www.adbusters.org/home/

2007-11-10T14:56:00.000+01:00

The US spends almost six times more on healthcare than other advanced countries, yet life expectancy is lower than in Europe and almost 47 million people are uninsured. Why do politicians insist on defending a broken system?

The catalog of the most commonly heard apologies for American health care, and the reasons they won't wash.

Excuse No. 1: No insurance, no problem.

"I mean, people have access to health care in America," said President Bush a few months ago. "After all, you just go to an emergency room." He was widely mocked for his cluelessness, yet many apologists for the health care system in the United States seem almost equally clueless.

We're told, for example, that there really aren't that many uninsured American citizens, because some of the uninsured are illegal immigrants, while some of the rest are actually entitled to Medicaid. This misses the point that the 47 million people in this country without insurance are an ever-changing group, so that the experience of being without insurance extends to a much broader group -- in fact, more than one in every three people in America under the age of 65 was uninsured at some point in 2006 or 2007.

Oh, and finding out that you're covered by Medicaid when you show up at an emergency room isn't at all the same thing as receiving regular medical care.

Beyond that, a large fraction of the population -- about one in four nonelderly Americans, according to a Consumer Reports survey -- is underinsured, with "coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs."

So, yes, lack of insurance is a very big problem, a problem that reaches deep into the middle class.

Excuse No. 2: It's the cheeseburgers.

Americans don't have a bad health system, say the apologists, they just have bad habits. Overeating and teenage sex, not the huge overhead of America's private health insurance companies ---the United States spends almost six times as much on health care administration as other advanced countries -- are the source of our problems.

There's a grain of truth to this claim: Bad habits may partially explain America's low life expectancy. But the big question isn't why we have lower life expectancy than Britain, Canada or France, it's why we spend far more on health care without getting better results. And lifestyle isn't the explanation: the most definitive estimates, such as those of the McKinsey Global Institute, say that diseases that are associated with obesity and other lifestyle-related problems play, at most, a minor role in high U.S. health care costs.

Excuse No. 3: 2007 is better than 1950.

This is an argument that baffles me, but you hear it all the time. When you point out that America spends far more on health care than other countries, but gets worse results, the apologists reply: "Sure, we spend a lot of money on health care, but medical care is a lot better than it was in 1950, so it's money well spent." Huh?

It's as if you went to a store to buy a DVD player, and the salesman told you not to worry about the fact that his prices are twice those of his competitors -- after all, the machines on offer at his store are a lot better than they were five years ago. It is, in other words, an argument that makes no sense at all, yet respectable economists make it with a straight face.

Excuse No. 4: Socialized medicine! Socialized medicine!

Rudy Giuliani's fake numbers on prostate cancer -- which, by the way, he still refuses to admit were wrong -- were the latest entry in a long, dishonorable tradition of peddling scare stories about the evils of "government run" health care.

The reality is that the best foreign health care systems, especially those of France and Germany, do as well or better than the U.S. system on every dimension, while costing far less money.

homosexuality a psychological disorder?

2007-11-07T18:08:00.000+01:00

The notion of human sexuality is no doubt as offensive to the Church as the idea that humans might be wired from birth to be straight or gay -- which is the assumption behind an Italian ad campaign protested recently by the Vatican. The regional government of Tuscany has planned to use a photo of a newborn child wearing a hospital bracelet with the word "homosexual" as part of a publicity push to combat homophobia. "Sexual orientation," reads the tag line, which will appear on billboards throughout Tuscany, "is not a choice."

Italy's political right, along with some Catholic groups, want the campaign to be withdrawn. The Church's declared position is that homosexuality is a psychological disorder, not exactly a sin -- although indulging in gay sex is a sin.

"Doing a publicity campaign like this is not a good idea," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State. "This is a bit strange. They shouldn't have gone that far."

The campaign has been alternately praised and condemned by Italian gay-rights activists. One group, Arcigay, said Tuscany was "at the forefront" of the Italian struggle for gay rights, while a prominent philosopher, Gianni Vattimo, who is openly gay, said the initiative was "in bad taste ... Of course for a homosexual it is natural to be gay, but I'm not too sure it is determined by genetics."

Virtual addiction

2007-11-06T20:15:00.000+01:00

If you turn on your television set and look away at a nearby wall, you will discover that the reflections produced by the light from the TV vary constantly in contrast and intensity. It’s obvious that the intensity of visual and audio contrast in our lives has increased through the years.

I am convinced that the passivity of the American public is related to this phenomenon. It is hard to believe, but a poll taken this summer indicated that two thirds of the American public could not name even one of the Democrats then running for president; meanwhile, three times as many Americans believe in Satan than in evolution. We have lost our sense of what is real and replaced it with an addiction to the virtual reality created by television, entertainment and advertising. The constant juxtaposition of images like that of a woman crying over a child lost in a fire and a commercial for Pampers amplifies this sense of meaninglessness and stupor.

One can make the case that we have lost the capacity for abstract thought. When we read, or listen to the radio, the mind forms images in response. The same can be said to occur when an illustration provokes the viewer to consider its symbolic relationship to reality. Abstraction encourages the mind to bridge the distance from suggestion to reality. There are certain tribes in Africa that do not distinguish between dream life and daily life. We find ourselves in a similar condition, but our virtual reality fails to serve our deepest needs.

In our world, reality has been replaced by forms of entertainment that require little mental activity and encourage inertia and apathy. How else can we explain the incredible indifference to their own lives and interests that characterizes the American people at this time? The misrepresentations of government, the outrageous dishonesty of business, the attacks on our civil rights, the collapse of our educational system and the failures of our social safety nets have produced almost no response or indignation from the American public. When Bush orders an aircraft carrier moved at a cost of $1 million so he can land on the deck without San Diego being visible in the background, he is aware that this manipulative misrepresentation will not affect his popularity, even after it is disclosed.

A Greek myth tells us that the first drawing came about as a woman traced her lover’s shadow in the sand as he was about to leave for war, where he might be killed and never seen again. The myth, of course, is not literally true. Tracing shadows, on the other hand, is an elegant way of describing the act of illustration. If illustration suggests illumination, then the shadow is central to its meaning.

All of us who create imagery know that the relationship of dark to light is unavoidable. Although Freud, like all true artists, offered us only one way to view the world, I’ve always been attracted to his notion of the struggle between Eros and Thanatos, the pull towards life versus the pull towards death that seems to occupy the human psyche. Eros is the mother of sex, love, feeling and the desire to make things. Thanatos embraces darkness, obscurity, evil and entropy. Although the dialogue between these two forces predates history, the anxiety of this moment in time convinces us that the balance has gone awry.

Nations controlled by the media

2007-10-25T13:25:00.000+02:00

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America
(and not only America)

There is a massive market for mass media products aimed at the low-attention-span trash culture types. Male-dominated trashy tabloids depict female nudes, fictional short stories of the most banal and stupid kind, advice columns designed to shock rather than educate, and news stories that are widely known to be entertaining rather than true.

In Japan, a report noted that the basic academic abilities of Japanese elementary and junior high school students in science have been declining over the past few years and found a connection between the amount of time spent watching television.

The average American home has the television on for over 8 hours every day

70% of day care centers use TV during a typical day

In the United States, a research study published in the journal Science found that American women would rather watch TV than take care of their children. "Women rated TV-watching high on the list, ahead of shopping and talking on the phone, and ranked taking care of children low, below cooking and not far above housework

The TV, the Gameboy, the Nintendo, the Xbox, the PSP aren't very good babysitters and they sure aren't very good at developing smart brains. Get off your own ass and kick your kids ass outside. Give him a book. Read to her. Play a game with him. Make time for your kids or they'll end up like one of those wise ass kids you see bitching with their parents in public over something stupid.

Futter fürs Gehirn

2007-10-15T19:38:00.000+02:00

Versuch einer Visualisierung meinerseits
http://www.youtube.com/billyjoelfan28

Pics of the Day - October, 13th

2007-10-13T19:01:00.001+02:00

6:15 pm

6:30 pm

6:45 pm

2007-10-11T15:08:00.001+02:00

„We kill ourselves slowly, by eating too much or too little, becoming fat, or anorexic, or diabetic”

Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.

Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.

8,000,000 or more people in the United States have an eating disorder.

90% are women.

Victims may be rich or poor.

Eating disorders usually start in the teens but may begin as early as age 8.

Increased consumption of more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats, combined with reduced physical activity, have led to obesity rates that have risen three-fold or more since 1980 in some areas of North America, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China. The obesity epidemic is not restricted to industrialized societies; this increase is often faster in developing countries than in the developed world.

Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The health consequences range from increased risk of premature death, to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life. Of especial concern is the increasing incidence of child obesity.

Currently more than 1 billion adults are overweight - and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. Current obesity levels range from below 5% in China, Japan and certain African nations, to over 75% in urban Samoa. But even in relatively low prevalence countries like China, rates are almost 20% in some cities.

Childhood obesity is already epidemic in some areas and on the rise in others. An estimated 22 million children under five are estimated to be overweight worldwide. According to the US Surgeon General, in the USA the number of overweight children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has trebled since 1980.

http://www.aperfectworld.org/fat_jokes.htm

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is a disorder in which preoccupation with dieting and thinness leads to excessive weight loss. The individual may not acknowledge that weight loss or restricted eating is a problem. One percent of teenage girls in the U.S. develop anorexia nervosa and up to 10 percent may die as a result.

Physical complications:

hair loss

gaunt, hollow facial features

shrunken breasts

dry skin

bruises

menstruation: hormone levels drop, alerting the body that it cannot support a fetus; menstruation becomes irregular or stops completely – can result in temporary or permanent infertility

Life is just a chance to grow a soul

2007-10-09T18:41:00.000+02:00

Did you know…

…that kids spend more time watching TV in a year than they spend in school?

…that a typical American spends about four hours each day watching television. By age 70, most Americans will have watched almost10 years of TV.

…half of all children aged four don’t know their own name – but two thirds of three year- olds can recognize the McDonald’s golden arches.

Interesting facts

In 1999, an estimated 61 percent of U.S. adults were overweight, along with 13 percent of children and adolescents.

Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5

Fifty-seven percent of television programs contain "psychologically harmful" violence

The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than a person from India.

The U.S., with only 4.7 per cent of the world’s population, consumes 25 per cent of the world’s resources and generates 25 to 30 per cent of the world’s waste.

On average, Americans shop six hours a week and spend 40 minutes playing with their children.

Rethink your life!

I saw earthlings

2007-08-29T19:53:00.001+02:00

please WATCH this documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhxKnys7Ryw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sRiH_Owq9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8U9dw-9U4E

for more information
http://www.isawearthlings.com/

Watch the trailer

Thank God I'm an atheist

2007-08-25T21:11:00.001+02:00

"God does not exist; only the agent exists.
This is a very strange business.
Religion is the strangest business of all.
There is no boss, but there are mediators, the priest,
the bishop, the cardinal, the pope, the messiah, the whole hierarchy
- and on top there is nobody."

Atheism is a non-prophet organization

All the religions believe that God created the world and also mankind.
But if you are created by someone, you are only a puppet, you don't have your own soul.
And if you are created by somebody, he can uncreate you any moment.
He neither asked you whether you wanted to be created, nor is he going to ask you: "Do you want to be uncreated?"

Man created God in his image : intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.

God is the greatest dictator, if you accept the fiction that he created the world and also created mankind. If God is a reality, then man is a slave, a puppet.
All the strings are in his hands, even your life. Then there is no question of any enlightenment. Then there is no question of there being any Gautam the Buddha, because there is no freedom at all. He pulls the strings, you dance; he pulls the strings, you cry; he pulls the strings, you start murders, suicide, war. You are just a puppet and he is the puppeteer.

Then there is no question of sin or virtue, no question of sinners and saints.
Nothing is good and nothing is bad, because you are only a puppet.
A puppet cannot be responsible for its actions.
Responsibility belongs to someone who has the freedom to act.

Either God can exist or freedom, both cannot exist together.

Atheist Ten Commandments

1 -- Determine what is really moral by trusting your own mind.

2 -- It is time that the discrimination against humanist and atheist is eliminated.

3 -- Don't buy into any authoritarian belief.

4 -- Know that the more educated you are, the more likely you are a non-believer.

5 -- Rely on Studies and readily observable evidence and keep questioning everything.

6 -- Question if religious education improves morality.

7 -- Don't believe in anything that violates the laws of nature.

8 -- Question all books be they Bibles, history or science books!

9 -- Become as moral as possible and be concerned for the welfare of other now and in the future.

10 -- Read and understand the Atheist and Humanist Ten Commandments.

Deaths in the Bible:
God - 2,270,365 not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers were given.
Satan – 10

Worldmapper

2007-08-11T18:12:00.000+02:00

Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.

http://www.worldmapper.org/

Land Area

The land area of each territory is shown here.

Poverty

Poverty is not just a financial state. Being poor affects life in many ways. The human poverty index uses indicators that capture non-financial elements of poverty, such as life expectancy, adult literacy, water quality, and children that are underweight. The 30 territories of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development use a different index which includes income and long-term unemployment; and not water quality or underweight children. This implies that the poor in richer territories are materially better off.

The highest human poverty index scores are in Central Africa, the lowest are in Japan.

Affected by Disasters

Disasters are events that overwhelm local capacity, causing destruction and suffering, and necessitating a request for outside help. Disasters include droughts, epidemics, volcanoes, storms, fires, and events caused by accidents or indirectly caused by wars. Being affected by a disaster here means requiring assistance to survive, for example shelter, water, sanitation, medication and food.

Of all people affected by disasters between 1975 and 2004, 43% live in Southern Asia, 41% live in Eastern Asia, and 5% live in Southeastern Africa.

Nuclear Weapons

In 2002, 8 territories were known to have or suspected of having strategic nuclear weapons. These territories were: the United States, the Russian Federation, France, China, the United Kingdom, Israel, India and Pakistan. If other territories do have strategic nuclear weapons, they probably have fewer than those listed above, so would not much alter this map. The United States, estimated to have the most nuclear weapons, has 240 times more than Pakistan, with the fewest.

International demonstrations

This map shows the distribution of the 15.9 million people worldwide who protested against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by troops from over 25 other territories, including from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Poland. There was an international response to this international war.

There were protests against the war recorded in 96 of the 200 mapped territories, and probably smaller protests in most others. The largest protests were in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States - which together account for 80% of protesters. In Rome 3 million people marched in the largest popular demonstration so far recorded.

Make poverty history

2007-05-30T22:12:00.002+02:00

“Wherever we lift one soul from a life of poverty, we are defending human rights. And whenever we fail in this mission, we are failing human rights”

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.“

Facts about poverty

- The official poverty rate in 2005 was 12.6 percent

- In 2005, 37.0 million people were in poverty

- Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day

- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names

- Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen

- 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods

- The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels

Watch the one campaign

Causes of poverty

Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their government? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development?

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs.

- Geographic factors, for example access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources.

- Historical factors, for example imperialism and colonialism

- Lacking free trade. For example, almost half of the budget of the European Union goes to agricultural subsidies, mainly to large farmers and agribusinesses, which form a powerful lobby

- Lack of freedom and social oppression

- Lack of education keeps children from obtaining jobs that would lift them and their families out of poverty. Often, children are kept from school because they are needed at home to support their family with additional income.

- Overpopulation, the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space, is closely associated with poverty.

“Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit”

On 6-8 June 2007, world leaders will meet at the G8 summit in Germany. The summit in 2007 is historic, because it marks the half-way point to the deadline of 2015 for halving poverty. However unless the rich nations take more decisive action, we will fail to meet the goals and fail those in poverty.

Days before the summit, we have a chance to hold the rich nations to account for their failure to deliver on their promises, and to get them to go much further.

In 2005, the G8 pledged $50 billion more aid, debt cancellation for up to 42 countries and access to affordable treatment for people with HIV/AIDS by 2010.

Yet the rich nations have failed to deliver increased aid and debt cancellation. Trade Justice is still denied to poor countries. Attempts to address the impending climate catastrophe are faltering.

„Remember the poor-it costs nothing"

Watch the make poverty history campaign

EDUCATION FOR ALL
Around the world, 104 million children do not go to grade school, because their parents cannot afford fees, books or uniforms for all their children.

CLEAN WATER & SANITATION
One person in seven has no access to clean water for drinking, cooking or washing.

TRADE JUSTICE
As much as people in poor countries appreciate development assistance, no one wants to rely on a handout -- they want to trade their way out of poverty -- but international rules make it difficult. A fair trade system would give people in poor countries the chance to earn their way out of poverty by participating in the world economy

DEBT CANCELLATION
Every year Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world, spends $14.5 billion dollars repaying debts to the world's richest countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Though we've made efforts to relieve them of these unpayable debts, many poor countries still spend more each year on debt than on health care or education.

CORRUPTION
While corruption is harmful to all governments, losing resources to corrupt leaders is particularly devastating in poor countries where every dollar lost results in one less child in school or one less well dug to provide clean water.

FOOD
Around the world, ONE person in seven goes to bed hungry each night. We need to address hunger not just by giving food, but helping farmers in poor countries grow better crops and helping countries build farm-to-market roads so farmers can supply distant cities.

“Society comprises two classes: those who have more food than appetite, and those who have more appetite than food.”

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org

http://www.one.org

Loneliness and technology

2007-05-30T22:04:00.001+02:00

Loneliness and technology

http://adbusters.org/the_magazine

How long have you been sitting there, staring at this screen? Are you spending more and more of your time clicking and typing, typing and clicking? Is there nothing else you'd rather do? Think carefully about the answers to these questions.

"Forty year old Joyce Vincent had been lying dead in her London apartment for two straight years before the badly decomposed body was discovered by her landlord in April 2006. The story, quietly tucked away in British newspapers, profoundly upset readers around the world who saw her isolation as a failing of modern communities. As one outraged blogger put it, “Two years. She lay there. Alone, dead, unnoticed, and unmissed. How is it possible that in a city of about seven million, not one person noticed that a neighbor, sister, cousin or friend was missing?”

"…The study found that the more time people spend on the Internet, the less time they spend communicating with other people. In particular, 27% of heavy Internet users report spending less time talking to friends and family."

For example, 13% of heavy Internet users reported spending less time attending events outside the house and 65% of the heavy Internet users reported spending less time watching television.

The number of people who have someone to talk to about matters that are important to them has declined dramatically. [Between 1985 and 2004]... we have gone from a quarter of the American population being isolated ... to almost half of the population falling into that category.

In themselves, email and cell phones are only a small part of the broader causes of loneliness in modern society. What these tools have done, however, is fundamentally change the nature of our communication with other people. While our new tools grant us the convenience of talking from a distance over a screen, they also exempt us from the intimacy that comes with face-to-face communication. The subtle nuances of facial expressions and body language are lost, and in return, we are spared the awkwardness and inconveniences of in-person meetings.

We're moving from a world in which you know all your neighbors, see all your friends, interact with lots of different people every day, to a functional world, where interaction takes place at a distance,

If you're not online, does anybody know you exist?