Carl OrffS Philosophies In Music Education Essays - Cantatas

Carl OrffS Philosophies In Music Education Carl Orffs philosophies in Music Education While Carl Orff is a very seminal composer of the 20th century, his greatest success and influence has been in the field of Music Education. Born on July 10th in Munich, Germany in 1895, Orff refused to speak about his past almost as if he were ashamed of it. What we do know, however, is that Orff came from a Bavarian family who was very active in the German military. His father's regiment band would often play through some of the young Orff's first attempts at composing. Although Orff was adamant about the secrecy of his past, Moser's Musik Lexicon says that he studied in the Munich Academy of Music until 1914. Orff then served in the military in the first world war. After the war, he held various positions in the Mannheim and Darmstadt opera houses then returned home to Munich to further study music. In 1925, and for the rest of his life, Orff was the head of a department and co-founder of the Guenther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich where he worked with musical beginners. This is where he developed his Music Education theories. In 1937, Orff's Carmina Burana premiered in Frankfurt, Germany. Needless to say, it was a great success. With the success of Carmina Burana, Orff orphaned all of his previous works except for Catulli Carmina and the Entrata which were rewritten to be acceptable by Orff. One of Orff's most admired composers was Monteverdi. In fact, much of Orff's work was based on ancient material. Orff said: I am often asked why I nearly always select old material, fairy tales and legends for my stage works. I do not look upon them as old, but rather as valid material. The time element disappears, and only the spiritual power remains. My entire interest is in the expression of spiritual realities. I write for the theater in order to convey a spiritual attitude.1 What Orff is trying to say here is that he does not use old material, but material that is good enough to be used again. If one eliminates the fact that this material was written many years ago, then there is nothing to stop that material from being any less legitimate in recent times. Orff's work in Music Education has been astounding. In the early 1920's, Orff worked with Mary Wigman. Wigman was a pupil of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, another very influential name in Music Education. In fact, Orff's approach to music is very similar to Dalcroze's, but Orff focuses on education through percussion instruments. In 1924, Orff joined Dorthee Guenther and together they founded the Guenther School. The schools focus was coordinated teaching of gymnastics, dance, and music. Orff believed that music, movement, and speech are not separate entities in and of themselves, but that they form a unity that he called elemental music. When Orff refers to elemental music, he means the music, movement, or speech created by children that requires no special training, or in other words, the things that children do without really thinking about it. The basis for the Orff method is the belief that the historical development of music is reenacted in the life of every individual. This means that, when a child is young, he is similar to a primitive human being - at least musically - in that both are naive and rely primarily on natural rhythms and movement to make music. Although this theory has not been very widely accepted by most music educators, this is where the Orff method of teaching music begins. The Orff method was so impressive to the public that the Ministry of Culture recommended the adoption of the Guenther-Orff experiments in the elementary schools in Berlin. Unfortunately, the rise of Hitler and the outbreak of war stunted the growth of these plans. Finally, in 1948, the German broadcasting authorities urged Orff to resume his educational activities. The Orff approach, not unlike the Suzuki method, begins with the idea that music should be learned by a child the same way a language is learned. Suzuki calls this the mother tongue approach. A child learns to speak simply by listening

Jonathan Edwards - Colonial Clergyman of the Great Awakening

Jonathan Edwards - Colonial Clergyman of the Great Awakening   Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was an extremely important and influential clergyman in the New England colonial America. He has been given credit for beginning the Great Awakening and his writings provide insights into colonial thought.   Early Years Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut. His father was Reverend Timothy Edwards and his mother, Esther, was the daughter of another Puritan clergyman, Solomon Stoddard. He was sent to Yale College at the age of 13 where he was extremely interested in natural science while there and also read widely including works by John Locke and Sir Isaac Newton. John Lockes philosophy had a huge impact on his personal philosophy. After graduating from Yale at 17, he studied theology for two more years before becoming a licensed preacher in the Prsbyterian Church. In 1723, he earned his Master of Theology Degree. He served a New York congregation for two years before returning to Yale to serve as a tutor.   Personal Life In 1727, Edwards married Sarah Pierpoint. She was the granddaughter of the influential Puritan minister Thomas Hooker. He was the founder of the  Connecticut Colony following a dissent with the Puritan leaders in Massachusetts.Together they had eleven children.   Heading His First Congregation   In 1727, Edwards was given a position as the assistant minister under his grandfather on his mothers side, Solomon Stoddard in Northampton, Massachusetts. When Stoddard passed away in 1729, Edwards took over as the minister in charge of a congregation that included important political leaders and merchants. He was much more conservative than his grandfather.   Edwardseanism Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding had a huge impact on Edwards theology as he tried to grapple with mans free will combined with his own beliefs in predestination. He believed in the need for a personal experience of God. He believed that only after a personal conversion instituted by God could free will be turned away from human needs and towards morality. In other words, only Gods grace could give someone the ability to follow God.   In addition, Edwards also believed that the end times were near. He believed that with the coming of Christ, each person would have to give account of their lives on earth. His goal was a pure church filled with true believers. As such, he felt that it was his responsibility to ensure that his church members lived according to strict personal standards. He would only allow those he felt truly accepted Gods grace could partake of the sacrament of the Lords Supper in the church.   The Great Awakening As previously stated, Edwards believed in a personal religious experience. From 1734-1735, Edwards preached a number of sermons about justification of faith. This series led to a number of conversions among his congregation. Rumors about his preaching and sermons spread to surrounding areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Word spread even as far as Long Island Sound.   During this same period, traveling preachers had begun a series of evangelist meetings calling on individuals to turn away from sin throughout the New England colonies. This form of evangelism focused on personal salvation and a correct relationship with God. This era has been called the Great Awakening. The evangelists produced huge emotions. Many churches were disapproving of itinerant preachers. They felt that the charismatic preachers were often not sincere. They didnt like the lack of propriety in the meetings. In fact, there were laws passed in some communities to ban preachers the right to hold revivals unless they had been invited by a licensed minister. Edwards agreed with much of this but did not believe that the results of revivals should be discounted.   Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God   Probably Edwards most well-known sermon is called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He not only delivered this at his home parish but also in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1741. This fiery sermon discusses the pains of hell and the importance of devoting ones life to Christ to avoid this fiery pit. According to Edwards, There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. As Edwards says, All wicked mens  pains  and  contrivance  they use to escape  hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, dont secure em from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security....  But the foolish children of men do miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in their confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow.   However, as Edward says, there is hope for all men. And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners... As he summed up, Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come... [L]et everyone fly out of Sodom. Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed [Genesis 19:17].   Edwards sermon had a huge effect at the time in Enfield, Connecticut. In fact, an eyewitness named Stephen Davis wrote that people were crying out throughout the congregation during his sermon, asking how to avoid hell and be saved. In his today, reaction to Edwards was mixed. However, there is no denying his impact. His sermons are still read and referred to by theologians to this day.   Later Years Some members of Edwards church congregation were not happy with Edwards conservative orthodoxy. As previously stated, he enforced strict rules for his congregation to be considered part of those who could partake in the Lords Supper. In 1750, Edwards attempted to institute discipline on some of the children of prominent families who were caught looking at a midwives manual that was considered a bad book. Over 90% of the members of congregation voted to remove Edwards from his position as minister. He was 47 at the time and was assigned to minister to a mission church on the frontier in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He preached to this small group of Native Americans and at the same time spent the years writing many theological works including Freedom of the Will (1754), The Life of David Brainerd (1759), Original Sin (1758), and The Nature of True Virtue (1765). You can currently read any of Edwards works through the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. Further, one of the resid ential colleges at Yale University, Jonathan Edwards College, was named after him.    In 1758, Edwards was hired as the president of the College of New Jersey which is now called Princeton University. Unfortunately, he only served for two years in that position before he died after he had an adverse reaction to a smallpox vaccination. He died on March 22, 1758 and is buried in Princeton Cemetery.   Legacy Edwards is seen today as an example of revival preachers and an initiator of the Great Awakening. Many evangelists today still look to his example as a way to preach and create conversions. In addition, many descendants of Edwards went on to be prominent citizens. He was the grandfather of Aaron Burr and an ancestor of  Edith Kermit Carow who was Theodore Roosevelts second wife. In fact, according to George Marsden in Jonathan Edwards: A Life, his progeny included thirteen presidents of colleges and sixty-five professors.   Further Reference Ciment, James. Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. M. E. Sharpe: New York. 2006.

Analysis of Problems Facing PETRONAS Corporation Research Paper

Analysis of Problems Facing PETRONAS Corporation - Research Paper Example This essay aims at identifying and analyzing the challenges faced by organizations in the public sector. The specific challenge that will be discussed is the poor management of the Malaysian state-owned multinational corporation, PETRONAS. The current state of the organizations are also analyzed by the researcher in the essay after reviewing various resources on the organization selected. Recommendations are also provided by the researcher on the topic of how the organization can improve its performance and be effective in modern world. The public sector organization selected and analyzed in the essay is the Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) Corporation. In conclusion, the researcher sums up the study and states that government-owned organizations receive high consideration and support from the government to effectively operate and achieve their goals. Similarly, PETRONAS Corporation is a Malaysian government-owned corporation that receives support from the government and enables the corporation effectively to exploit oil and gas fields in Malaysia and in other countries. Although PETRONAS is a government-owned company, it is a profit-based entity owned by the Malaysian government rather than a public utility organization. Currently, the corporation is among the top five best companies producing Liquefied Natural Gas in the world. It is stated by the researcher of the essay that the success attained by the corporation is dependent on the support of the Malaysian government.

Activity 10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Activity 10 - Essay Example Apart from these procedures, the centre educates the people on the importance of fish health and the aquatic ecosystem. Through this, the people around these fisheries benefit from this service (Mudrak 1). The fisheries experiences challenge in maintaining the fish species. This is because of over fishing of a certain kind of specie, which results to extinction of that specie after a period. Another challenge is that, over the past years, there has been a reduction in number of fish available for the large number of anglers (Mudrak 1). The project has methods used to overcome these challenges. First, there is a ban on fishing of almost extinct species and reduction in the rate of fishing. The project controls the rate of production and consumption of fish in the southeast region. However, these measures will harm the occupation of those who rely on fishing as their income is controlled and reduced due to the safeguard measures. In order to reduce cost, the project should consider using the laid out anglers, as workers in the project. By so doing, they will not have to invest in guarding the fishery against illegal fishing (Mudrak

Public Relations Essay Example for Free

Public Relations Essay Public relations (known often as just PR) can be and is defined in a multitude of ways. A commonly heard statement in terms of public relations is ‘there is no such thing as bad press. ’ And while that statement may be true, in some cases to much PR can create a situation where a person/company becomes overexposed (and to be quite honest, seen as annoying because the public no longer cares to know about the person/company/situation but the media still is following. ) Media around the world reports the news but not just political, sports, and the like but things they feel will keep the population interested in their programming, magazines, and newspapers. In order for the media to succeed they will follow stories (the good and the bad) as long as the public is interested, when disaster strikes (a person, company, or government) they will be there and so will the public. In order for the person, company, or government to stay on the positive side of the public (of which they may need their support), the affected person/group must use the unwanted media coverage (in some cases, not in others) to their advantage. Edward Bernays (1961) felt public relations was, â€Å"†¦ information given to the public, persuasion directed at the public to modify attitudes and actions, and efforts to integrate attitudes and actions of an institution with its publics and publics with those of that institution. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (a group on individuals whose daily work focuses on the success of public relations) does not have an exact definition of public relations but instead a statement, â€Å"Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. (2007). One final definition of public relations is, â€Å"The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public. †(Free dictionary, 2007). Comparison and Contrast Each person/group’s view of public relations’ definition have similarities as well as differences. In all instances both the groups affected by the publicity and the public are affected. The public in general can and will affect any business or person and the affect can be completely based on the information the public receives from the media outlets. The advantage seems to be in the hands of the public but some can say the advantage also lies in the hands of the person/company because no matter how bad a situation may first present itself their relationship with the public (whether pre-existing, on-going (in most cases), or new) can turn the possible problem around (i. e. turning a negative into a positive). The Public Relations Society of America seems to have the most well balanced definition (while no one can find a right or wrong answer in the area of public relations) because the PRSA defines PR as a give and take situation so that they remain balanced with one another. Mr. Bernays definition comes across as how companies/people must spin (turn around) the news in order to make any information seen as a positive in the public eye. Why so many definitions? In an area the business world that is held to so many different interpretations it is not a wonder as to why there are so many definitions to public relations. Marketing ties in advertising and the media which creates the public relations but that is only a fraction of what establishes public relations. The most important thing to remember in public relations is that most of the media attention (in fact, almost all of it) is not wanted attention (ie solicited) but awareness that was brought to light for no gain for the person or company. The person/company must then decide how to proceed in the eye of the public (ie public relations) and keep themselves in a positive light. References: Bernays E. L. , Crystallizing Public Opinions, Liveright, New York 1961 Free Dictionary. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 from http://www. thefreedictionary. com/public+relations Public Relations Society of America. Retrieved on May 12, 2007 from www. prsa. org

How religion was affected by Industrialization Essay -- Essays Papers

How religion was affected by Industrialization The Communist Manifesto Great changes took place in the lives and work of people in several parts of the world, resulting from the development of the Industrial Revolution. Just before the outbreak of revolutionary violence in Paris due to the consequences of industrialization, Karl Marx wrote â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† He saw this revolutionary violence as â€Å"the opening episode of a worldwide communist revolution.†1 There was no such revolution, however the communist ideals had been brought about and had taken a toll on society. The relationship between economic development and Communist party strength is significant. Also the significance of religion during this period had changed in large part due to this communist â€Å"revolution.† Marx’s concentration to radical social change and atheism was spread during industrialization. Labor was of such demand that even priests were converted into paid wage-laborers. The â€Å"Communist Manifesto† states, à ¢â‚¬Å"All that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life.†2 Industrialization caused many great changes economically as well as socially. France was dramatically different in many aspects after this revolution. Industrialization caused the communist â€Å"revolution† which in turn caused religious issues in France. The Industrial Revolution was a time in western cultures when the production of goods became urbanized. Spreading from Great Britain, industrialization had become widespread in Western Europe by the mid-1800’s. France, in particular, progressed in the industrialization process from about 1830 to 1850. Industrialization created an enormous increase in th... ...vided by World Book Online, http://www.discoveryschool.com/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozhistory/i/27588.html (25 October 2001) 7. Peter N. Stearns, The Impact of the Industrial Revolution (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972) 126, 127, 92-4 8. John H. Kautsky, Communism and the Politics of Development (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1968) 10 9. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000) http://www.dictionary.com (25 October 2001) 10. John H. Kautsky, Communism and the Politics of Development (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1968) 185, 186 11. Lawrence J. Flockerzie and Dennis M. Doyle, â€Å"The Manifesto of the Communist Party† in Sources from the Humanities, trans. by Samuel Moore (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1989) 40

Abortion, Parenting, Animal Rights, Capitalism: Notes

Abortion: (See Abortion Murder, The Case Against Abortion in Highlights) Women are blessed with a miraculous reproductive system. They should be encouraged to honor and respect it. It should be used responsibly. We should not encourage women to abuse it because it is their body and thereby their right. Yes, there are circumstances where they have to make very tough decisions and choices because of rape or incest. But instead of encouraging abortion right from the start, they should be counseled on other solutions first and make abortion the very last absolutely tragic answer to their problem.Tell women they have a right to abort, it’s their body, and it’s their choice. No. Many will abuse that right and start using it as a method of birth control. I’d like to think this is not true but many will abuse that right and start using it as a method of birth control. I don’t ever want abortion to become fashionable or just another procedure. It should always be r egarded as the last possible option and only in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.American Atrocities (Domestic) : Also see International American Atrocities Rockefeller has Coal miners union organizers murdered. The Ludlow Massacre in 1914 by the National Guard. 11 Children, 2 Women. In 1847 Federal troops killed 30 workers, 100 woulded in the battle of the Viaduct in Chicago. In 1894 Federal troops killed 34 Pullman railroad union members. 1897, 19 coal miners killed, 36 wounded in PA. Animal Rights: The Illogic of Animal Rights by J. Neil Schulman The so-called â€Å"animal rights† movement is relying upon a logical fallacy which is based on mutually exclusive premises. Animal rights† premise #1: Human beings are no different from other animals, with no divine or elevated nature which makes us distinct; â€Å"Animal rights† premise #2: Human beings are ethically bound not to use other animals for their own selfish purposes. If human beings are no different from other animals, then like all other animals it is our nature to kill any other animal which serves the purposes of our survival and well-being, for that is the way of all nature.Therefore, aside from economic concerns such as making sure we don't kill so quickly that we destroy a species and deprive our descendants of prey, human animals can kill members of other animal species for their usefulness to us. It is only if we are not just another animal — if our nature is distinctly superior to other animals — that we become subject to ethics at all — and then those ethics must take into account our nature as masters of the lower animals. We may seek a balance of nature; but â€Å"balance† is a concept that only a species as intelligent as humankind could even contemplate.We may choose to temper the purposes to which we put lower animals with empathy and wisdom; but by virtue of our superior nature, we decide †¦ and if those decisions include the consumption of animals for human utilitarian or recreational purposes, then the limits on the uses we put the lower beasts are ones we set according to our individual human consciences. â€Å"Animal rights† do not exist in either case. Even though I personally believe we were created by God, unlike advocates of the Judeo-Christian tradition I do not rely upon the question of whether humans have a â€Å"soul† to distinguish humans from animals.Like secular rationalists, I'm content to resolve the issue of the nature of human beings, and the nature of animals, by scientific means — observation, experiment, and the debate of paradigms. Each of these criteria is simply a proof of intelligence and self-consciousness: 1) Being observed as producing or having produced technological artifacts unique to that species; 2) Being observed as able to communicate from one generation to the next by a recorded language unique to that species; 3) Being observed as basing action on abstract reasoning; ) Being observed as engaging in inductive and deductive reasoning processes; 5) Being observed as engaging in non-utilitarian artistic activity unique to that species. I'm sure there are other criteria we could use, but these are obvious ones that come to mind immediately. None of them speculates about the unobservable functioning of a neural network; all of them are based on observable effects of intelligence and self-consciousness. Conclusively, we are of a different nature than other animals we know. Neither cetaceans nor other higher mammals, including the higher apes, qualify as â€Å"human† under these criteria.We do not observe these significations of intelligence and self-consciousness in any other species we know, such criteria being neither necessarily anthropocentric nor even terracentric. By the â€Å"survival of the fittest† which is the law of raw nature, no animal has rights: only the tools to survive as best it can. The chicken has no right not to be eaten by the fox. The wildebeest has no ethical recourse against the lion. If we are merely animals, no other animal has any ethical standing to complain against the human animal for eating them or wearing their skins.But, if we are superior to other animals — if our nature is of a different kind than other animals — then why should we grant rights to species who can not talk, or compose symphonies, or induce mathematical equations, or build satellites which send back television pictures of other planets? Why shouldn't we humans simply regard lower animals as things which may become our property? We may be kind to animals if it is pleasing to us to do so, but we should not grant animals an equal stature that nature has not given them. Respect for nature requires a respect for the nature of what things are †¦ nd we are better, stronger, smarter, than the animals we hunt, ranch, farm, fish, trap, butcher, skin, bone, a nd eat. They certainly have no ethics about us, for they are just animals. Nor are any â€Å"animal rights† activists themselves merely animals. There is no organization called Porpoises for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It is People who make those demands of other People. Those who argue for animal rights argue that since animals are living and feel pain, that therefore nature gives them a right not to be treated cruelly.This is an argument that could only work on a being capable of empathy — and that requires an elevated consciousness. It is true that animals can feel pain, and that esthetically requires that we not be cruel in our treatment of them. But what is cruelty? Beating a horse that won't pull a wagon? Making animals fight each other for sport? That's no longer the issue, is it? The issue is ranching minks to skin them for fur; castrating and slaughtering steers to eat them; hunting and shooting deer, ducks, and elks; testing cosmetics on animals; doing medical experiments on animals to advance medical knowledge.Do we have a moral obligation not to use animals for human utilitarian purposes, which is another way of asking whether animals have the right not to be treated as objects to be exploited for their usefulness? The idea of a right means that which has rights may not be treated as a utilitarian object for the fulfillment of the purposes of others. Animal rights would mean animals would be immune from being used to fulfill any human purpose. PETA has it exactly correct. If animals have rights, then we may not ethically use them for our own selfish purposes, no matter how necessary we think that use or how humanely we assert we do it to them.This is, in fact, the logical conclusion of â€Å"animal rights. † If animals have rights then we need not make any distinction between an unnecessarily cruel use of animals (pick one: cock- fighting, animal testing for beauty products) or eating animals, because if animals have righ ts then we are not morally entitled to put them to utilitarian use, period. Let me make it clear: I am not questioning the humaneness or cruelty of any particular practice. My point is that the interests of those who assert that the lower animals have rights is not to protect animals against cruel treatment.That can be done merely by an appeal to our consciences. Those who assert that animals or even â€Å"habitats† have rights do so to destroy individual human rights to control what I term the anthroposphere: the human habitat. It is the individual human right to control our private spheres of action — our individual habitats — which they oppose. Some â€Å"animal rights† activists, basing their thinking on pantheism, equate humans with the rest of nature by saying that we are all share a divine consciousness.But equating humankind as no more divine than inanimate objects or other animals isn't raising nature but lowering humankind. Pantheists believe th at everything is sacred, including the inanimate. Yet, I don't notice them picketing Mount St. Helen's volcano for spewing its lava, burning trees and killing wildlife. It's only human action to which animal rights activists object. So where do we find ethics here? If we look to nature, we see only that the strong use the weak for their own purposes — and we are obviously the master of all other animals by that standard.If we look to the center of all human ethics, the Golden Rule, we are told to treat others as we would wish to be treated. But what others? Animals can't treat us as we wish to be treated because they don't have the wit to entertain ethics at all. Which leaves us esthetics, which exists only in individual humans. Since lower animals don't have rights, we humans need to make judgments on humane versus cruel treatment of lower animals not by treating animals as if they have rights but instead must rely on our esthetic values — our consciences.But, after s eeing tree-spikers, people throwing paint on fur coats, and Kentucky Fried Chicken being equated with Auschwitz, it's now apparent that the effect of trying to give animals the same ethical immunities as humans is that all esthetic distinction between cock-fighting and eating meat is lost. The effect of â€Å"all or nothing† in our uses of animals is to blunt our consciences, which makes us crueler to animals, not less cruel. Those people among us who would give lower animals human rights do not do it because they love other animals. They do it because they hate humankind.They hate the fact that their own superior nature as intellectual beings gives them superior challenges which they shrink from by attempting to deny the superiority of their human nature. â€Å"Animal rights† is just one more diabolic scheme for promoting government control over human lives by destroying our right to private property. It is the logical tactic of those who hate the individual creative ability and wish it replaced by the anti-human jackboots of collectivism. â€Å"Animal rights† activists use the tools of rationality which are uniquely available to the human species in order to deny the distinct nature of their own rational faculties.They raise up animals in an attempt to lower humankind. They may speak for themselves only, not for me. I know what I am. I know what animals are. And I will name what â€Å"animal rights† activists truly are: the Human Defamation League. And making us as oblivious to cruelty as are all other animals, if not the actual agenda of the Human Defamation League, is nonetheless the unintended consequence of their campaign. 7 Things You Didn't Know About PETA 1) According to government documents, PETA employees have killed more than 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens since 1998.This behavior continues despite PETA’s moralizing about the â€Å"unethical† treatment of animals by farmers, scientists, restaurant owners, circuses, hunters, fishermen, zookeepers, and countless other Americans. PETA puts to death over 90 percent of the animals it accepts from members of the public who expect the group to make a reasonable attempt to find them adoptive homes. PETA holds absolutely no open-adoption shelter hours at its Norfolk, VA headquarters, choosing instead to spend part of its $32 million nnual income on a contract with a crematory service to periodically empty hundreds of animal bodies from its large walk-in freezer. 2) PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has described her group’s overall goal as â€Å"total animal liberation. † This means the complete abolition of meat, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, zoos, aquariums, circuses, wool, leather, fur, silk, hunting, fishing, and pet ownership. In a 2003 profile of Newkirk in The New Yorker, author Michael Specter wrote that Newkirk has had at least one seeing-eye dog taken away from its blind owner.PETA is also against all m edical research that requires the use of animals, including research aimed at curing AIDS and cancer. 3) PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified â€Å"domestic terrorist† group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to Rodney Coronado, an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) serial arsonist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory.In his sentencing memorandum, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich has also told an animal rights convention that â€Å"blowing stuff up and smashing windows† is â€Å"a great way to bring about animal liberation,† adding, â€Å"Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it. † 4) PETA activists regularly target children as young as six years old with anti-meat and anti-milk propaganda, even waiting outside their schools to intercept them without notifying their parents.One piece of kid-targeted PETA literature tells small children: â€Å"Your Mommy Kills Animals! † PETA brags that its messages reach over 1. 2 million minor children, including 30,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 12, all contacted by e-mail without parental supervision. One PETA vice president told the Fox News Channel’s audience: â€Å"Our campaigns are always geared towards children, and they always will be. † 5) PETA’s president has said that â€Å"even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we would be against it. And PETA has repeatedly attacked research foundations like the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, solely because they support animal-based research aimed at curing life-threatening diseases and birth defects. A nd PETA helped to start and manage a quasi-medical front group, the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to attack medical research head-on. 6) PETA has compared Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust to farm animals and Jesus Christ to pigs. PETA’s religious campaigns include a website that claims—despite ample evidence to the contrary—that Jesus Christ was a vegetarian.PETA holds protests at houses of worship, even suing one church that tried to protect its members from Sunday-morning harassment. Its billboards taunt Christians with the message that hogs â€Å"died for their sins. † PETA insists, contrary to centuries of rabbinical teaching, that the Jewish ritual of kosher slaughter shouldn’t be allowed. And its infamous â€Å"Holocaust on Your Plate† campaign crassly compared the Jewish victims of Nazi genocide to farm animals. 7) PETA frequently looks the other way when its celebrity spokespersons don’t practice what it preaches.As gossip bloggers and Hollywood journalists have noted, Pamela Anderson’s Dodge Viper (auctioned to benefit PETA) had a â€Å"luxurious leather interior†; Jenna Jameson was photographed fishing, slurping oysters, and wearing a leather jacket just weeks after launching an anti-leather campaign for PETA; Morrissey got an official â€Å"okay† from PETA after eating at a steakhouse; Dita von Teese has written about her love of furs and foie gras; Steve-O built a career out of abusing small animals on film; the officially â€Å"anti-fur† Eva Mendes often wears fur anyway; and Charlize Theron’s celebrated October 2007 Vogue cover shoot featured several suede garments. In 2008, â€Å"Baby Phat† designer Kimora Lee Simmons became a PETA spokesmodel despite working with fur and leather, after making a $20,000 donation to the animal rights group. It’s always been hard for me to understand why relatively intelligent people hold meaningless discussions based on the writings of a primitive and superstitious desert culture and believe it all to be true because their parents told them so.Talking snake, sun and stars created after the earth, the sun placed in the sky after fruit trees already here, woman created after man, man swallowed by a fish, regurgitated and lives to talk about it, no rainbows till after Noah’s flood, all the world’s creatures on one big boat, sticks turned into serpents, woman turned to pillar of salt, little children killed on God’s orders because they had the wrong parents. Religion is merely a combination of beliefs and cult practices used throughout history as a form of oppression by the ruling class. Religion is the exploitation of human ignorance and credulity. It would literally take a â€Å"genius† not to see that. Bible, The: The Big Bang? : Life on earth could never exist were it not for a series of very fortunate â€Å"coincidences† such as: location, orbit, tilt, rotational speed and unusually large moon. Also a magnetic field and atmosphere that shields the planet. Not to mention cycles that, replenish and cleanse the air and water. Is it blind chance or intelligent design?Location: Ideal perfect location in the galaxy, too close to center would allow dangerous and lethal radiation, too far from center would prohibit the needed concentrations of chemical elements needed to support life. Accident? Orbit: About 93 million miles from the sun, is just about the perfect zone that is habitable because life neither freezes nor fries. Earth’s path is circular, keeping it the same distance from the sun year-round. Happenstance? Extraordinary Large Moon: The moon’s diameter is a little over a quarter of the earth’s diameter, unusually large compared to all the other moons. It causes ocean tides that play a vital role in earth’s ecology. It contributes to the earth’s perfect spin axis, which w ithout, the earth would wobble out of control. Blind chance?Perfect Tilt and Spin: Earth’s tilt of about 23. 4 degrees causes the annual cycle of seasons, moderates temperatures and allows for a wide range of climate zones. The length of day and night, a result of the earth’s spin, maintains a habitable temperature for life. If the speed of rotation were slower, days would be longer and the â€Å"sunny side† would bake while the other side would freeze. If the speed were faster, days would be shorter; earth’s rapid spin would cause relentless gale-force winds and other disastrous effects. Coincidence? Protective Shields: Earth seems to fly through a shooting gallery of lethal radiation and meteoroids with relative impunity.Our powerful magnetic field stretches far into space, which protects us from the solar winds, flares, and explosions, which blast billions of tons of matter into space. Our blanket of gases (stratosphere) keeps us breathing, by absorbin g 99 percent of incoming UV radiation through our ozone layer protecting all life on the earth. Amazingly this amount of atmospheric ozone gases is not fixed, it changes in intensity as the UV radiation rises. And yet it lets in the heat and light so essential to life. Dumb luck? Natural Cycles of Water and Air: Fresh water is recycled and redistributed around the planet in three stages: evaporation, condensation and precipitation. An amazing process called photosynthesis creates life-giving oxygen.Plants take in our exhausted carbon dioxide, energize it with sunlight and produce carbohydrates and oxygen. We complete the cycle when we breathe. All this production of vegetation and breathable air happens cleanly, efficiently and quietly. The same holds with organic matter, or the nitrogen cycle. 78 percent of our atmosphere is nitrogen, lightning converts nitrogen into compounds, which are absorbed by plants. Animals eat those plants, when plants and animals die, the nitrogen compoun ds are broken down by bacteria and their decay releases nitrogen back into the soil and atmosphere, completing the cycle. Perfect recycling, or just a matter of random incidences?The greatest accomplishment of the 20th Century is the discovery of human ignorance. We can no longer make up stories to explain the world. We no longer accept the Church providing both the questions and the answers. All theories and solutions must be confirmed and reconfirmed through experiment. 4. Capitalism: The economic system based on the fiction of the productivity of capital, justifiable once, is henceforth illegitimate. Its inefficacy and malfeasance have been exposed; it is the cause of all existing misery, the present mainstay of that old fiction of representative government which is the last form of tyranny among men. Proudhon, Interest and Principal -1849The capitalist system flourishes through the use of economic disparity, social inadequacies, manipulative financial practices, planned obsolesc ence, discriminative procedures, and predatory exploitation of the 99%. Our banknotes are forgeries. We live in a counterfeit economy. The dollar will soon become useless and we are all living on borrowed time. The corporately funded politicians who by controlling the press, the schools, and the churches, impose capitalism upon the masses under the attractive guise of loyal patriotism. How Capitalism Works by Bruce Morgan Under capitalism, only money has value. Other items have value only to the extent they can be converted to money or can generate money.This includes things such as labor, commodities and property. What cannot be converted to money has no value and is often eliminated. This can include people. Profits are more valuable than the ecosystem or worker safety. The purpose of capitalism is to move as much money to the top 0. 1% of society, from those who are not (and will never be) at or near the top. Wealthy individuals, with few exceptions, do not come by their fortune by their own productive labor. Instead, they appropriate as much as possible from other people's productive labor. Capitalists themselves believe that they are entitled to this wealth; even if they did little to earn it.Illegality for the elites is inconsequential. Even if something is technically illegal, if it is not prosecuted it becomes de facto legal. Governments work either for their people or for the rich, they cannot work for both. In virtually all Western societies, the ultra rich (individuals and corporations) have captured their governments, to a greater or lesser degree. For the U. S. federal government, this capture is virtually complete. Once the privileged class has control of the government, they can have whatever laws passed that they want, including those that make their crimes retroactively legal. There, in 241 words is the essence of capitalism as actually practiced.Once these points are understood, the machinations behind current events in the areas of economics , politics and foreign affairs become evident. This article was deliberately presented in black and white. Those who want gray can get it from the lame stream media. â€Å"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson. † –Franklin D Roosevelt Money is a drug if the right dosage can be found, creating just enough, not too much — it's like magic. As long as people keep buying things they don't need. As long as those in the business don't hoard too much.As long as the real resources don't dry up, the illusion of prosperity can be maintained with more and more IOUs. Like all stimulants, money steals from tomorrow. The quest for fame and fortune, when will it end? This tyranny of early rising and retiring late. Riding on mules they long for noble steeds. Already prime ministers, they seek to be kings. For food and raiment, they suffer stress and strain. Never fearful of Yama’s call to reckoning. Searching for wealth and power to give to grandsons. No one is willing ever to turn back. (The Journey to the West) 1582 5. Children, Parenting: It couldn't have been because half our children are being raised in broken homes.It couldn't have been because our children get to spend an average of 30 seconds in meaningful conversation with their parents each day. After all, we give our children quality time. It couldn't have been because we treat our children as pets and our pets as children. It couldn't have been because we place our children in day care centers where they learn their socialization skills among their peers under the law of the jungle while employees who have no vested interest in the children look on and make sure that no blood is spilled. It couldn't have been because we allow our children to watch, on the average, seven hours of television a day filled with the glorification of sex and violence that isn't fit for adu lt consumption.It couldn't have been because we allow our children to enter into virtual worlds in which, to win the game, one must kill as many opponents as possible in the most sadistic way possible. It couldn't have been because we have sterilized and contracepted our families down to sizes so small that the children we do have are so spoiled with material things that they come to equate the receiving of the material with love. It couldn't have been because our children, who historically have been seen as a blessing from God, are now being viewed as either a mistake created when contraception fails or inconveniences that parents try to raise in their spare time. It couldn't have been because we give two-year prison sentences to teenagers who kill their newborns.It couldn't have been because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolved out of some primordial soup of mud by teaching evolution as fact and by handing out condoms as i f they were candy. It couldn't have been because we teach our children that there are no laws of morality that transcend us, that everything is relative and that actions don't have consequences. What the heck, the president gets away with it. Colonization: Also See Third World Nations European explorers were responsible for the extermination of 70 million souls in the New World between the years 1533-1588. They were murdered for their women, gold, silver, natural resources and land. Million natives were murdered within 3 years according to Leah Trabich. Within 15 years, the Arawak tribe of 250,000 was completely wiped out. The population of the United States prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand. From 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. These atrocities are seen throughout Africa, New Zealand, New Guinea, East Timor Cultures Right and Wrong Beauty is in the MIND of the beholder. Some may look upon murder as senseless vicious evil; others may see it as necessary. You may look at grass and see green; someone else will see blue.What may be music to your ears may very well be appalling noise to others. Inuits may be very comfortable in zero degree weather while you are freezing. Vice, virtue, sounds, colors, taste, beauty, heat, cold are not qualities in objects but perceptions in the mind. –Hume. Some cultures kill the weak and elderly to insure the longevity of the village. It’s a matter of survival. Amazonian women are not only happy but also proud to share themselves among the entire village, for they realize this creates life and perpetuates their species and yet would kill their third child to save the rest of their family from marauding slave traders. What brings joy to some may bring sorrow and woe to others.Hawaii’s ruling family not only accepted royal incest but also encouraged it as an exclusive roy al privilege. Sibling or parent child incest was common in our 50th state before they were â€Å"annexed† to the US. Different societies and cultures have different systems of laws. The rules of one’s own society are not sacrosanct and cannot be used to judge, condemn or decide others’ moral standards. Fixed ideas and values should be eliminated; primitive, civilized, child, adult, perverted and normal are all shattered and put on a sliding scale when addressing other cultures and societies. When there are so many differences in the moral codes of different societies, how can we regard our own, or any other, as the normal or standard way of thinking?Depletion of Natural Resources: (See Problematic World Economy) Everyone is concerned about Oil but water is the real problem. Oil can be replace but there’s no substitute for fresh water. We are running out of clean water. Nations fighting over natural resources. Ever expanding and sophistication of technolog y. Increased poverty caused by huge migration from rural areas to large cities throughout the world. Traditional lifestyle of farming and ranching has vanished and more people are dependent on government support. Feeding the growing population on the planet has become a huge problem for governments. Medical technology has increased life expectancy allows people to live longer than ever before.Greed and corruption among the world’s nations is becoming more and more the norm. Fewer people control the economic wealth and military might than ever before since earth’s creation.. We’re all on borrowed time. Evolution and Discrimination (Racism): Charles Darwin’s book’s full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. As much as many seek to disavow, generally speaking, man is NOT a gentle creature that just wants to be loved and will, at most, defend himself when attacke d. Man has an instinctual, powerful measure of aggression and his neighbor is for him someone on whom he is tempted to satisfy his aggressiveness.He will exploit the capacity to have someone work without pay, use sexually without consent, cause others pain, torture or death. It seems that mankind abandons their bad habits only when catastrophe is close at hand. The intellect alone is not enough. Men must be shaken, almost shattered before changing. – Sigmund Freud Family: I’ve received a cease and desist order prohibiting me from discussing: sexual preferences, politics, religion, abortion, nuclear power, peak oil, climate change, the environment, food shortages, economic instability, international terrorism and the military industrial complex. Failure to comply will immediately result in the termination of all intimate marital favors and services.We’ve known each other since childhood. Our souls are mingled and connected in so universal a blending that they era se the seam that joins us together. She alone has the privilege of my true portrait and understands me for who I think I am. If I were to lose her, I would merely drag wearily on. Famine, Food and Population Control: Wild, man-made viruses released and vaccines created for profit and population control by the military, medical, petrol-chemical pharmaceutical cartel. Life is tough and for many it is short, brutal, filled with want and pain. It seems that the well being of some, is sustained on the troubles and elimination of others.Last year, 17. 2 million households in the United States were food insecure, the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17. 2 million households, 3. 9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to get enough to eat in the wake of the economic crisis: Memo to Bill, Oprah, Brad and Angelina: Not enough p oor and hungry people in the US? You don’t have to go to Haiti and Africa to feed and shelter the poor. They’re right here in Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia.Why don’t you start giving back to the country where you made your millions? Or are you all full of shit? Collectively, among every human, the cancer upon our Earth is the domination of our false-ego and our divorce from nature. Collectively, among every human, vanity leads to segregation and competition. Competition leads to fear and greed. Greed leads to deceit and immorality. And immorality is the breeding ground for illness, waging war on our Earth. Every act of hatred and destructiveness in our world begins with self-hate, and self-destructiveness. And that all begins with a breakdown on communication. Just remember that the false-ego has only one desire – to become greater and more powerful than the true self.