Archive for January 24th, 2010

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Healthy people have it so dang lucky. Not only to their bodies look good due to all of their healthy habits, but their hair also tends to look great. Healthy good looking hair is just another side effect of good clean living.

A healthy hair follicle (singular) grows about one centimeter per month and continues to grow for two to six years. This is called the anagen or growth phase. Ninety percent of the hairs on your noggin are in this phrase at the moment. The other ten percent are in the catagen, or transition phase. These hairs hang around for a few weeks before the follicle shrinks and the hair is shred. The follicle then goes through a Telogen, or resting phrase before the cycle starts anew. Hopefully.

As we all know, for some people, their hairs tend to get stuck in this resting phrase for the rest of their adult life.  This loss of hair is known as alopecia, or baldness.

Here are some facts that you should know about hair loss:

It is perfectly normal to lose around 50 to 100 hairs from your head per day. Too much washing will not lead to hair loss. Hats do not make you “go bald”, neither do wigs for that matter. If you want to spend an hour giving your hair 100 brush strokes daily, go ahead. It will not hurt you, and might even help improve blood circulation to your follicles. There are no products out there that will really make your hair grow faster or thicker, no matter what the cosmetic company’s commercials say.

Here are some of the main causes of hair loss:

Genetics is one of the biggest causes of hair loss. Androgen alopecia, or male pattern baldness, affects 70 percent of all men sometime in their life.  Women also are known to suffer from pattern baldness, but in a much smaller percentage. Hormonal imbalance is said to be the biggest factor in genetic hair loss. In men: the male hormone androgen binds with an enzyme in the hair follicle, creating DHT, which keeps the follicle from restarting the growth phase. The female hormone, estrogen, can also cause hair loss and many women can suffer significant hair loss when using birth control pill. Many women also suffer from hair loss after giving birth. This is caused by the caused by the hormonal changes occurring within the body of the new mother and is only temporary. Stress can cause a lot of bodily problems, hair loss being one of them. While hair loss caused by stress is only temporary, it can be the trigger for the onset of permanent, genetically based hair loss. An unhealthy diet can also cause hair loss, especially a diet that is high in saturated fat and lacking in hair friendly vitamins and minerals. A healthy hair follicle needs thins like iron, zinc, protein, and vitamin B6 in order to stay healthy. Drinking too much coffee, tea or alcohol, or eating too many processed, fried, spicy, greasy or sour foods can reduce the amount of nutrients that a hair follicle is getting. Certain drugs, medication, or treatments like chemotherapy can cause hair loss. These are usually temporary and your hair grows back once you stop taking the drugs or getting the treatment. Some fungal infections like ringworm or the STD: Treponema pallidum can cause hair loss. Dandruff, however, does not. Hair loss could be a symptom of an underlying disease such as diabetes, or lupus. Getting old is another way to suffer from hair loss. Losing hair is a side effect of the ageing process.

Treating hair loss is dependent upon the cause. Simply switching medications, or ending treatments can treat a lot of hair loss cases. Diagnosing and treating the ailment can cure hair loss caused by infection or disease. Time and patience will usually take care of hair loss caused by stress or giving birth and switching birth control pills might help woman suffering hair loss caused by hormonal imbalance. Genetic hair loss however, is a little bit harder of a problem to tackle

Here are some possible treatments for genetically based hair loss:

Proper diet and exercise will help keep your hormones in check and stave off androgen alopecia. Choosing a good barber or hair stylist might help you hide your thinning hair from your peers. Just stay away from Donald Trump’s hair dresser. Hair transplants have come a long way as have wigs and weaving methods. Minoxidil, the stuff found in Rogaine and Provillus, is the only substance approved by the FDA to regrow hair. The catch is that you need to continue using it if you want to keep your hair.

Tips for healthy hair:

A clean scalp is essential for healthy looking hair. Lemon juice, gently rubbed on and then left in for 15-20 minutes will give super clean, dandruff free hair. Get you daily dose of calcium. Along with dairy, sesame seeds and figs are high in calcium. A shampoo made from equal parts alma juice and lime juice as said to stimulate hair growth and prevent loss.  Alma is also said to help with graying hair as well as promote thick, luxurious black hair. Avoid corrosive, chemically laden shampoos and harsh weather as much as possible. Polysaturated (sunflower) oils and foods rich in vitamin B (brown rice, bananas) will help with dry hair. Henna and Mehendi are excellent natural hair conditioners

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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Healthy people have it so dang lucky. Not only to their bodies look good due to all of their healthy habits, but their hair also tends to look great. Healthy good looking hair is just another side effect of good clean living.

A healthy hair follicle (singular) grows about one centimeter per month and continues to grow for two to six years. This is called the anagen or growth phase. Ninety percent of the hairs on your noggin are in this phrase at the moment. The other ten percent are in the catagen, or transition phase. These hairs hang around for a few weeks before the follicle shrinks and the hair is shred. The follicle then goes through a Telogen, or resting phrase before the cycle starts anew. Hopefully.

As we all know, for some people, their hairs tend to get stuck in this resting phrase for the rest of their adult life.  This loss of hair is known as alopecia, or baldness.

Here are some facts that you should know about hair loss:

It is perfectly normal to lose around 50 to 100 hairs from your head per day. Too much washing will not lead to hair loss. Hats do not make you “go bald”, neither do wigs for that matter. If you want to spend an hour giving your hair 100 brush strokes daily, go ahead. It will not hurt you, and might even help improve blood circulation to your follicles. There are no products out there that will really make your hair grow faster or thicker, no matter what the cosmetic company’s commercials say.

Here are some of the main causes of hair loss:

Genetics is one of the biggest causes of hair loss. Androgen alopecia, or male pattern baldness, affects 70 percent of all men sometime in their life.  Women also are known to suffer from pattern baldness, but in a much smaller percentage. Hormonal imbalance is said to be the biggest factor in genetic hair loss. In men: the male hormone androgen binds with an enzyme in the hair follicle, creating DHT, which keeps the follicle from restarting the growth phase. The female hormone, estrogen, can also cause hair loss and many women can suffer significant hair loss when using birth control pill. Many women also suffer from hair loss after giving birth. This is caused by the caused by the hormonal changes occurring within the body of the new mother and is only temporary. Stress can cause a lot of bodily problems, hair loss being one of them. While hair loss caused by stress is only temporary, it can be the trigger for the onset of permanent, genetically based hair loss. An unhealthy diet can also cause hair loss, especially a diet that is high in saturated fat and lacking in hair friendly vitamins and minerals. A healthy hair follicle needs thins like iron, zinc, protein, and vitamin B6 in order to stay healthy. Drinking too much coffee, tea or alcohol, or eating too many processed, fried, spicy, greasy or sour foods can reduce the amount of nutrients that a hair follicle is getting. Certain drugs, medication, or treatments like chemotherapy can cause hair loss. These are usually temporary and your hair grows back once you stop taking the drugs or getting the treatment. Some fungal infections like ringworm or the STD: Treponema pallidum can cause hair loss. Dandruff, however, does not. Hair loss could be a symptom of an underlying disease such as diabetes, or lupus. Getting old is another way to suffer from hair loss. Losing hair is a side effect of the ageing process.

Treating hair loss is dependent upon the cause. Simply switching medications, or ending treatments can treat a lot of hair loss cases. Diagnosing and treating the ailment can cure hair loss caused by infection or disease. Time and patience will usually take care of hair loss caused by stress or giving birth and switching birth control pills might help woman suffering hair loss caused by hormonal imbalance. Genetic hair loss however, is a little bit harder of a problem to tackle

Here are some possible treatments for genetically based hair loss:

Proper diet and exercise will help keep your hormones in check and stave off androgen alopecia. Choosing a good barber or hair stylist might help you hide your thinning hair from your peers. Just stay away from Donald Trump’s hair dresser. Hair transplants have come a long way as have wigs and weaving methods. Minoxidil, the stuff found in Rogaine and Provillus, is the only substance approved by the FDA to regrow hair. The catch is that you need to continue using it if you want to keep your hair.

Tips for healthy hair:

A clean scalp is essential for healthy looking hair. Lemon juice, gently rubbed on and then left in for 15-20 minutes will give super clean, dandruff free hair. Get you daily dose of calcium. Along with dairy, sesame seeds and figs are high in calcium. A shampoo made from equal parts alma juice and lime juice as said to stimulate hair growth and prevent loss.  Alma is also said to help with graying hair as well as promote thick, luxurious black hair. Avoid corrosive, chemically laden shampoos and harsh weather as much as possible. Polysaturated (sunflower) oils and foods rich in vitamin B (brown rice, bananas) will help with dry hair. Henna and Mehendi are excellent natural hair conditioners

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Food Allergy and Eczema- What is the Connection?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Eczema is a kind of skin ailment usually associated with skin thickening, scaling and itching. Usually, eczema occurs on arms, elbows, knees and face.

When eczema affects children, especially ones with clear skin, parents often are unable to distinguish its cause.

Many parents perceive that their child’s eczema is caused due to food allergies. However, many experts find such belief to be false. Instead, it is recommended that parents do not limit their child’s diet without consultation with a pediatrician.

One example of food allergy causing eczema is the case of a 5 month old infant who suffered from severe eczema.

This baby’s mother claimed that the baby suffered from lactose intolerance from earlier on. The baby was not able to accustom even to foods which were lactose free. So she shifted to soy.

Although the soy showed some temporary relief on the baby’s skin, after a while, the eczema reappeared.

Suppose you are the mother; would you proceed to think that even the soy is causing the eczema to occur? Would you be ready to use the lactose free formula again?

As has been mentioned previously, eczema is a condition that appears and disappears just as suddenly, giving the child clear skin for more weeks to come. This is the reason it becomes very hard to determine the exact trigger factor that is causing the eczema.

This is what happened to the 5 month old baby.

Although there is truth in the fact that food allergies can trigger eczema, there is no reason to believe that the baby’s eczema might be caused by the lactose free formula

Experts believe that the baby might have caught the allergy due to milk proteins or even from soy proteins. But it is not possible that the allergy could be caused due to lactose, which is a sugar.

The mother has the option of shifting the diet to include lactose free formula. However, experts claim that lactose does not include any formula that can cure the eczema. Even if this does happen, it can only be a coincidence.

Lactose usually develops symptoms such as diarrhea, gas and instant fussiness.

If you find that you are in the same situation, the best thing for you to do would be to take your baby to a pediatrician. Medical expertise is always more reliable than hearsay. Be sure to let your pediatrician know that you have reason to suspect that the baby is allergic to milk based soy formula.

Your pediatrician should be able to let you know whether these formulas actually do worsen the eczema. Alomentum, Nutramigen and other Hypoallergic formula may be prescribed.

Allergy test is one test your pediatrician may advice you on. Allergy test is done through the process of blood testing.

If you have positively identified certain food or drinks on consumption of which your baby’s eczema has worsened, it is best to avoid them. However, before taking any action, be sure to talk to pediatrician about it. He will know best what action to take.

There are some children who suffer both from food allergy and eczema. These two conditions, however, do not affect one another.

Knowing treatments for eczema is a good move to make. Always follow the pediatrician’s prescription and you will not go wrong. Following a professional’s advice will ensure that you are following the right medication.

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More Tamil Tiger Terrorist prison cells uncovered 01-03-2009

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


. … sri lanka srilanka lankan srilankan air force army navy police attack planes mission kilinochchi COLOMBO PKG TAMIL Eelam LTTE Tigers Tamil Nadu India France Asia CNN BBC Gtv Ttn Sibernews Puthinam Sankathi Nitharsanam Nerudal Pathivu Ntt Europe Bomb Bombing Boy Civilians Dead Death Destruction Displaced Doctor Family Father Force GENOCIDE Girl Hospital Human Humanitarian IDP Injured Internally Killing Man Mother Nations NGO Organization Refugee Rehabilitation Rights SiberNetwork …

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GOD’S GRACE

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

BAHA ‘I WRITING –“All calamities and afflictions have been created for man so that he may spurn this mortal world — a world to which he is much attached. When he experienceth severe trials and hardships, then his nature will recoil and he will desire the eternal realm that is free of afflictions and calamities.”

BAHA ‘I WRITING –“As long as there is life on earth, there will also be suffering; only the degree varies. / Suffering is both a reminder and a guide. It stimulates us better to adapt ourselves to our environmental conditions, and thus leads the way to self-improvement.”

BAHA ‘I WRITING –“Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardener yields the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit…/ A soldier is no good as a General, until he has been in the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds.”   

BAHA ‘I WRITING –“Suffering seems to be the portion of man in this world. Even the Beloved ones, the Prophets of God, have never been exempt from the ills that are to be found in our world, whether natural or man-made — they seem to be part of the polish God employs to make us finer, and enable us to reflect more of His attributes.”

BAHA ‘I WRITING –“Tests are benefits from God, for which we should thank Him. Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance; the Divine Mercy for l sends them to us our own perfecting. While a man is happy, he may forget his God; but when grief comes and sorrows overwhelm him, then he will remember his Father…”  

BAHA ‘U ‘LLAH –“That seeker must at all times put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. If anyone revile you, or trouble touch you, in the path of God, be patient, and put your trust in Him Who heareth, Who seeth. He, in truth, witnesseth, and perceiveth, and doeth what He pleaseth, through the power of His sovereignty.”   

BAHA U’LLAH –“All friends should fix their gaze on the supreme horizon, and cling to that which has been revealed by God. Avoid sedition and refrain from treading the path of dissension and strife. Sow not the seeds of dissension among men and contend not with your neighbour. Dissension and strife have always been, and shall remain, rejected by God.”

BAHA ‘U’LLAH –“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth… The earth is but One country and mankind its citizens.” 

BAHA’U’LLAH- “O son of man! I love thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.”

BAHA’I WRITINGS –“The ideal Herald will dawn as the true morn from the Divine City with spiritual glad tidings, and awaken the heart, soul and spirit from the sleep of negligence with the trumpet of knowledge. 0 Son of fhe Supreme! I made death for thee as glad tidings: why art thou in despair at its approach? I made light for thee a splendour: why dost thou hide from it? In His Name who shines forth from the Horizon of Might! Verily, the Tongue of the Ancient gives glad tidings to those who are in the world concerning the appearance of the Greatest Name, and who takes His Covenant among the nations. In the divine Holy Books there are unmistakable prophecies giving the Glad Tidings of a certain Day in which the promised One of all the Books would appear, a radiant Dispensation be established, the banner of the Most Great Peace and reconciliation be hoisted, and the oneness of the world of humanity proclaimed. The Prophets of God were in the utmost love for all. Each one announced the glad tidings of His successor and each subsequent one confirmed the teachings and prophecies of the former. There was no discord or variance in the reality of their teachings and mission.” 

BAHAL WRITINGS –“He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on. Spiritual Guide Just as there are laws governing our physical lives, requiring that we must supply our bodies with certain foods, maintain them within a certain range of temperatures, and so forth, if we wish to avoid physical disabilities, so also there are laws governing our spiritual lives. These laws are revealed to mankind in each age by the manifestation of God, and obedience to them is of vital importance if each human being, and mankind in general, is to develop properly and harmoniously Moreover, these various aspects are interdependent. If an individual violates the spiritual laws for his own development, he will cause injury not only to himself but to the society in which he lives. Similarly the condition of society has a direct effect on the individuals who must live within it.” 

BAHA’U'LLAH –“Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday.”   

BAHA’ULLAH –“Our hope is that the world’s religious leaders and the rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation, administer to a diseased and sorely-afflicted world the remedy it recfuireth… Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein… The purpose of religion…is to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it not the cause of dissension and strife.”         

BAHA’U'LLAH –“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.”  

BAHA’U'LLAH –“Some have regarded it as lawful to infringe on the integrity of the substance of their neighbour, and have made light of the injunction of God as prescribed in His Book.”   

BAHA’U'LLAH –“There can be no doubt that; whatever the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, they derive their inspiration from one heavenly source and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed.”    

BHABAVAD GITA –“The steady-minded, undeluded knower of Brahmn, being well-established in Brahmn, neither rejoices on receiving the pleasant nor grieves on receiving the unpleasant.”   

BHAGAT SINGH_ “Organized religion in the prop of a man who has not found his self/good within.”

BHAGAUAD GITA –“0 Dhananjaya, there is naught else (existing) higher than I. Like pearls on a thread, all this (universe) is strung in Me.”    

BHAGAUAD GITA –“0 Partha, when a man is satisfied in the Self by Self-alone and has completely cast out all desires from the mind, then he is said to be of steady wisdom… When he completely withdraws his senses from sense objects as the tortoise withdraws its limbs, then his wisdom becomes well established.”     

BHAGAUAD GITA –“Be aware of me always, adore me, make every act an offering to me, and you shall come to me; this I (Krishna) promise, for you are dear to me. Abandon all supports and look to me for protection. I shall purify you from the sins of the past; do not grieve.”        

BHAGAUAD GITA –“He who hates no single being, is friendly and compassionate, free from self-regard and vanity, the same in good and evil, patient; Contented, ever devout, subdued in soul, firm in purpose, fixed on Me in heart and mind, and who worships Me, is dear to Me.”    

BHAGAUAD GITA –“He who shirks action does not attain freedom; no one can gain perfection by abstaining from work. Indeed, there is no one who rests even for an instant; every creature is driven to action by his own nature.”        

BHAGAUAD GITA –“I am impartial to all the created beings. I have neither friend nor foe.” 

BHAGAUAD GITA –“Know that knowledge to be Sattvica, by which is seen in all beings the One Immutable, inseparate in the separate. But the knowledge, which sees in all beings the distinct entities of diverse kind as different from one another, knows that knowledge to be Rajasica. While that knowledge which is confined to one single effect, as if it were the whole, without reason, not founded on truth, and trivial, that is declared to be Tamasica.”

BHAGAUAD GITA –“Remembering me, you shall overcome all difficulties through my grace. But if you will not heed me in your self-will, nothing will avail you.” 

BHAGAVAD GEETA –“But if he born again and again, and again and again he were to die, even then, victorious man do not grieve.”

BHAGAVAD GITA  -“For he who has no tranquility there is no concentration.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA  -“I am Father, Mother and Grandfather of the world.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA – “I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear. But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them.”

BHAGAVAD GITA – “The state of severance of union with sorrow is known by the name of yoga.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“ He who is satisfied with wisdom and direct vision of Truth, who has conquered the senses and is ever undisturbed, to whom a lump of earth, a stone arid gold are the same, that Yogi is said to be a Yukta, a saint of established wisdom.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“ That disciplined man with joy and light within, becomes one with God and reaches the freedom that is God’s.”  

BHAGAVAD GITA –“0 Janardana, although these, men, their hearts overtaken by greed, see no fault in killing one’s family or quarrelling with friends, why should we, who can see the crime in destroying a family, engage in these acts of sin?”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“A man does not attain to freedom from action by non-performance of action, nor does he attain to perfection merely by giving up action. No one can ever rest even for an instant without performing action, for all are impelled by the gunas, born of Prakriti, to act incessantly.” 

BHAGAVAD GITA –“A man of faith, absorbed in faith, his senses controlled, attains knowledge, and knowledge attained, quickly finds supreme peace. But the ignorant man, who is without faith, goes doubting to destruction. For the doubting self there is neither this world, nor the next, nor joy.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“A person has the self as friend when he has conquered himself, But if he rejects his own reality, the self will war against him.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“A portion of Myself has become the living Soul in the world of life from time without beginning From Me alone comes memory, wisdom, and also their loss, I am that which is known in all the Vedas. Verily I am the Author of Vedanta and the knower of the Vedas is.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Abandon all supports and look to me for protection. I shall purify you from the sins of the past; do not grieve.”         

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Action is the product of the Qualities inherent in Nature.” 

BHAGAVAD GITA –“All creatures enter into my nature at the end of an aeon. In another beginning I send them forth again. Nature gives birth to all things, moving and unmoving. I supervise. That is how the world keeps turning.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“All mankind is born for perfection, and each shall attain it, will he but follow his nature’s duty.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“All sorrows are destroyed upon attainment of tranquility. The intellect of such a tranquil person soon becomes completely steady.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“And even if thou wert the greatest of sinners, with the help of the vessel of wisdom thou shalt cross the sea of evil. Even as a burning fire burns all fuel into ashes, the fire of eternal wisdom burns into ashes all works.”      

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Approach someone who has realised the purpose of life and question him with reverence and devotion; he will instruct you in this wisdom. Once you attain it, you will never be deluded. You will see all creatures in the Self, and all in Me.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Arjuna: Of those steadfast devotees who love you and those who seek you as the eternal formless Reality, who are the more established in yoga? Krishna: Those who set their hearts on me and worship me with unfailing devotion and faith are more established in yoga.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“As a man shedding worn-out garments takes other new ones, likewise, the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“As a man shedding worn-out garments takes other new ones, likewise, the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“As flame is enveloped by smoke, mirror by dirt, and embryo by the amnion, so knowledge is enveloped by desire and wrath.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“As rivers flow into the ocean but cannot make the vast ocean overflow, so flow the streams of the sense-world into the sea of peace that is the sage.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“As the heat of a fire reduces wood to ashes, the fire of knowledge burns to ashes all karma. Nothing in this world purifies like spiritual wisdom. It is the perfection achieved in time through the path of yoga, the path which leads to the Self within.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“At the be ginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. “Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires” this is the promise of the Creator… Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal in life. Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind. It was by such work that Janaka attained perfection; others, too, have followed this path…  What the outstanding person does, others will try to do. The standards such people set will be followed by the whole world… The ignorant work for their own profit. The wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought to themselves. By abstaining from work you will confuse the ignorant, who are engrossed in their actions. Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Austerity of speech consists in speaking truthfully and beneficially and in avoiding speech that offends.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Be humble, be harmless,/ Have no pretension,/ Be upright, forbearing;/Serve your teacher in true-obedience,/ Keeping the mind and body clean,/ Tranquil, steadfast, master of ego,/ Standing apart from the things of the senses,/ Free from self;/ Aware of the weakness in mortal nature.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Because it is right to give, without thought of return, at a favour or of getting something in return, is selfish giving.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“But if he born again and again, and again and again he were to die, even then, victorious man do not grieve.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“But those who worship me, surrendering all actions to me, regarding me as the supreme goal, meditating on me with single-pointed yoga. Those whose minds are set on me, 0 Partha, I rescue before long from the ocean of deathbound existence. Fix your mind on me alone, place your intellect in me, then you shall, no doubt, live in me alone.”        

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Concerned alone with the upholding of the world. You should act. Whatever the best man does, others do that also. The world follows the standard he sets for himself.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Constant devotion to spiritual knowledge, realisation of the essence of Truth, this is declared to be wisdom; what is opposed to this is ignorance.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Destroyed is my delusion and recognition has been gained by me through Thy grace, 0 Krishna. I stand firm with my doubts dispelled. I shall act according to Thy word.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Even if you were the most sinful of sinners, Arjuna, you could cross beyond all sin by the raft of spiritual wisdom.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Even those men, who, with a steady and devout mind, always follow My doctrine, are freed from the binding effect of all actions.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Foods that promote longevity virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy are juicy, smooth, substantial and agreeable to the stomach.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“For the protection of good, for the destruction of evil and for the establishment of dharma, I am born from age to age.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“For the protection of the virtuous, for the. destruction of evil-doers, and for establishing Dharma on a firm footing, I am born from age to age.”          

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Giving up all unanimous (righteous and unrighteous actions), come unto me alone for refuge.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He alone who renounces the fruit of actions is called a man of renunciation.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He alone who renounces the fruit of actions is called a man of renunciation.”        

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated by the world, and who is free from joy, anger, fear and worry— he is dear to Me.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated by the world, which is freed from joy, envy, fear and anxiety —he is dear to me. He who is free from wants, pure, expert, unconcerned, and untroubled, renouncing all undertakings or commencements — he who is thus devoted to me, is dear to me.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He gains knowledge who is possessed of faith, is active of purpose and has subdued the senses. Having gained knowledge, swiftly he comes to the supreme peace. But the man who is without knowledge, without faith and of a doubting nature, perishes. For the doubting mind there is neither this world nor another nor any happiness.”      

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who avoids extremes, in feed and fast, In sleep and waking, and in work and play, He winneth yoga, balance, peace and joy.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who has no ill will to any being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from  egoism and self-sense, even-minded in pain and, pleasure and patient, who is ever content, self controlled, unshakeable in determination with mind and understanding  given up to Me he is dear to me.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who is satisfied with wisdom ‘and direct vision of Truth, who has conquered the and is ever undisturbed, to whom a lump of earth a stone and gold are the same, that Yogi is said to be a Yukta, a saint of established wisdom.”   

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who performs his duty without depending on the fruits of his actions — he is a sanyasi and a yogi, not he who is without fire and without activity.. No one becomes a yogi who has not renounced thoughts, scheming or planning.”        

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who sees that the Lord of all is ever the same in all that is — immortal in the field of mortality — he sees the truth. And when a man sees that the God in himself is the same God in all that is, he hurts not himself by hurting others. Then he goes, indeed, to the highest path.” 

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He who shirks action does not attain freedom; no one can gain perfection by abstaining from work. Indeed, there is no one who rests even for an instant; every creature is driven to action by his own nature.”  

BHAGAVAD GITA –“He whose undertakings are all free from desire and thoughts of the world, and whose factions are burnt up by the fire of wisdom, him even the wise call a sage. He, who, having totally given up attachment to actions and their fruits, has got over the dependence on the world, and is ever satisfied, does nothing at all, though he may be ever engaged in action. i He, who has subdued his mind and body, has given up all objects of enjoyment and has no craving, performing ‘ sheer bodily action, “such a person does not incur sin.”      

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Him the sages call wise whose undertakings are devoid of desire for results and of plans, whose actions are burned by the fire of wisdom.” 

BHAGAVAD GITA –“I am Father and Mother of the world.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“I am the Self, 0 Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“I look upon all creatures equally, none are less dear to me and none more dear. But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“If Thou thinkest that it can Be seen by me, 0 Lord, Prince of mystic power, then do Thou to me Reveal Thine immortal Self. The Blessed One said: Behold My forms, son of Prtha, By hundreds and by thousands, Of various sorts, marvellous, Of various colours and shapes. But thou canst not see me with this same eye of thine own; I give thee a supernatural eye: behold my mystic power, as God!”        

BHAGAVAD GITA –“If you put the federal, government in charged of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand. Stillness itself is inertia Action itself is discord when stillness and action equalize Then is the highest cosmic union, yoga. Lo! Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind such is the likeness of the Yogi’s mind Freed from sense storms and burning bright to Heaven When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont When Self contemplates Self and in itself Hath comfort!”

BHAGAVAD GITA -“In every age I come back, to deliver the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinners to establish righteousness.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“It is desire, it is anger, born of Rajo-Guna(quality of passion): of unappeasable craving and of great sin; know this as the foe in this world. As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the womb, so is this (Self) covered by that.” 

BHAGAVAD GITA –“It stretches its branches upward and downward. The states of all things nurture the young shoots. The young shoots are the nourishment of our senses. And below, the roots go far into the world of men; they are the sequences of actions. This understanding of the trees shape its end and its beginning, and its ground is not open to the ordinary world. The roots of that pipal tree have spread far. With the strong axe of detachment a man should cut that tree.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Just as fire is enveloped by smoke, just as a mirror is covered by dust, just as an embryo is covered by the womb, so is this (Atman) covered by it (desire).”    

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Know that knowledge to be sattvica, by which is seen in all beings the One Immutable, in separate in the separate. But the knowledge which sees in all beings the distinct entities of diverse kinds as different from one another, know that knowledge to be rajasica. While that knowledge which is confined to one single effect, as if it were the whole, without reason, not founded on truth, and trivial, that is declared to be tamasica.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Let the disciplined man ever discipline himself, abiding in a secret place, solitary, restraining his thoughts and soul, free from aspirations and without possessions.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Man attains perfection, being engaged in his own duty. Hear now how one engaged in his own duty attains perfection. He from whom is the evolution of all beings, by which all this is pervaded; by worshipping him with his own duty man attains perfection. Better is one’s own duty, although imperfect, than that of another well performed. He who does the duty born of his own nature incurs no sin. 0 son of Kunti, one should not relinquish the duty to which he is born, though it is defective, for all undertakings are surrounded by evil as fire by smoke.”

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Man is bound by his own action except when it is performed for the sake of sacrifice. Therefore, Arjuna, do you efficiently perform your duty free from attachment, for the sake of sacrifice alone.”         

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Man is bound by his own action except when it is performed for the sake of sacrifice. Therefore, do efficiently perform your duty free from attachment, for the sake of sacrifice alone. In this world that real soul has no use whatsoever for things done nor for things not done; nor has he selfish dependence of any kind on any creature. Therefore, go on efficiently doing your duty without attachment…”      

BHAGAVAD GITA –“Man is made up of faith; as is his faith, so is he. The faith of all men conforms to their mental constitution. Without faith, whatever offering or gift is made or work done or penance performed, it is reckoned as “non-being” both in the now and hereafter. A man of faith, absorbed in faith,

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The Steve Wilkos Show: Mom Your Boyfriend Raped Me

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


19-year-old Hailey is here to confront her mother Tami, who she alleges let her get raped by one of the countless men that Tami dated and brought home. Five years have gone by since the alleged incident, and Tami still denies any wrongdoing or believes the rape actually happened. To this day, Hailey has social problems, no self-confidence and an empty spot in her heart that she’s desperate for her mother to fill. Will Steve be able to get through to this monster mother or will she turn her …

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What are Main Reasons for Not Getting Pregnant? 7 Common Problems for Not Getting Pregnant

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

The frustration and unease a woman faces when she is not getting pregnant can be easily understood by anyone. It is very hard for any woman to go through this situation. They live in depression and many of them do not share their inner feelings with others that make them sad.  There are millions of women who face trouble getting pregnant after trying much effort.

There are many different reasons that are responsible for this condition in a woman.

7 common problems for not getting pregnant

1. Overall Health – The overall health and physical condition are very important for a woman who wants to get pregnant. Many women are overweight and they do not eat the right amount of nutrition in their diet that is vital for conception. You need to eat a good healthy diet like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. Keep your weight in ideal proportion and eat healthy, it will help for regular menstrual cycles that are required for ovulation and conception.

Click here to view all natural ways to get pregnant fast naturally.

2. Ovulation Time – Another thing that creates trouble getting pregnant is having intercourse at the time when you are not ovulating. If you take time to learning about your ovulation cycles, then it will help you decide perfect time for intercourse. You can use an Ovulation Kit or Basal body temperature that will help you determine your ovulation time, so that you can plan intercourse.

3. Stress – A lot of women put stress on their mind and body. They keep worrying about their situation and that result in depression sometime. And, when there is too much stress, it leads to affect many things like the menstrual and ovulation cycles. So, do not worry as that is not a solution. Always think positive and be happy.

4. Addiction – A lot of women drink and smoke. Expecting pregnancy with these things is really like praying for something impossible. Alcohol and tobacco makes the situation worse for a woman who wants to get pregnant. So, stay away from these things if you really want to get pregnancy.

5. PCOS – Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is an endocrine disorder. Nearly 5% of all women are affected of it. I can affect a woman during their reproductive age of 12-45years old. It is one of the major infertility causes. So, visit a Doctor and determine if you may have PCOS.

6. Partner – Many women do not know that there may also be something wrong with their male partner. Your partner may be affected with low sperm count that creates problems for you to get pregnant. Ask him to see a Doctor.

7. Caffeine – You may not know that even caffeine is an element that can affect your fertility to some extent. Coffee and chocolate are two common sources of this element. If you cannot leave drinking coffee, then try to reduce the number of cups you drink daily.

So, there were the common problems that create barriers for you to become a mother. Natural ways are best and effective treatment of infertility causes by any reasons given above. Pregnancy Miracle guide have all natural ways which will help your body to become more fertile by using yoga, breathing techniques, Meal plan, in life style what to do and what not etc.  Know more about pregnancy miracle guide here and get pregnant fast in 8 weeks.

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Infant yeast infection: Causes and Cure

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Infant yeast infection is a commonly known disease. It commonly occurs in the vagina or in the rectal area of infants in form of diaper rash or hemorrhoids. Yeast infection occurs in children especially, when they are sick and are taking antibiotics. The causes of infant and toddler yeast infections are different to those of adults. Mouth and genital areas are moist places, which is an ideal place for the yeast to grow. Antibiotics are the most common culprit for the yeast infections in young children.

Causes of infant yeast infection

Unlike adults, causes of infant yeast infection are different in nature. When infants develop yeast infections, it is considered an uncommon malady.
I.    Right at the time, a child comes in this world, can get affected by this disease, and transferred to him by his mother, who is already infected. During delivery, the infection gets in the mouth of the baby and ultimately, an infant can develop a yeast infection post-natal.
II.    Negligence of the mother in keeping her infant’s vaginal area clean and dry creates an opportunity for the Candida to grow. Candida is known as a fungus of ‘opportunity’.
III.    Inappropriate bathing of infants can also cause yeast infection. Harsh soaps can be the cause of this infection. A first-time mother may not understand that, harsh soaps for infants can irritate the child’s vagina.
IV.    Giving antibiotics to your children, when they are sick, increases the chance of yeast infection. These antibiotics kill bad and good bacteria at the same time. The absence of good bacteria causes yeast infections because there is no check on the balance of yeast inside an infant’s body.
V.    Children taking high level of sugar in their diet like, sweets, artificially sweetened fruit drinks etc are at a risk of getting infected. Increased sugar becomes a good food for the yeast to grow on.
VI.    Sexual abuse is the shocking cause of this disease. If an infected male attempts to insert his penis by force into a female infant’s vagina, the child has of course, contracted yeast infection.

Care and cure for infant yeast infection

In order to protect a child from yeast infection, a mother must be careful and she needs to change her parenting behavior. Following are some points which will help a mother, cure the infant’s yeast infection and protect the child from the recurring infection;

I.    Mothers should clean the genital areas of the infants.

II.    Keep your infant dry and clean, by changing the diapers on time.

III.    Use mild infant soaps which are not harmful for your babies.
IV.    Bring down the sugar level in the diet of your infants. Give them a high fiber diet. Try to use natural remedies to cure the yeast infection, especially lactobacillus, acidophilus and bifidus. Add green vegetables in their diet. They are good energy boosters.
V.    Make sure that your infant is wearing loose and dry underpants. They allow air to pass through, leaving the skin dry and moisture free.

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Sagip Kapamilya : Team Taytay, Rizal. September 30, 2009. “An interview, kplz?”

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


by donating through cash or in-kind donations, you can drop them off at Examiner street, Quezon City (it’s close to ABSCBN) and their ELJ building at Mother Ignacia. Other forms of donation can be found here: www.abs-cbnfoundation.com Just a note: Cash donations are used in case of relief supply shortages; otherwise, they’ll be funds for the rehabilitation of the affected areas. Also a note: I’m just a volunteer!! D: I don’t know that much stuff, so… don’t hurt me! DX … Sagip Kapamilya ABS …

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The Steve Wilkos Show: Yes Sir, I Hit My Pregnant Wife

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


, Diana would like nothing more than her husband to love and protect her. But instead, shes trapped in a nightmare where husband Demetrius abuses her and puts their unborn childs life in danger. Demetrius admits to being abusive, but he claims hes here for help and ready to make a change. Steves met his share of abusers, and if this is just an act, hes going to figure it out! … steve wilkos show pedophile child abuse dad mom drug addict molester confront love rehab jail police officer marine …

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Pieces Of the Heart

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

‘A Million Little Pieces’ by James Frey is a rather graphic novel about drug addiction, alcoholism and one mans transformation in a treatment center.


Oh—kay! so your thinking…what’s new in this?


I suggest you pick up the book and read it. There are countless debates on the World Wide Web on the actual authenticity of some of the details mentioned and your two bits would be most welcome (the world is an opinionated lot).


But- let’s face facts—no one (and it would have never made Oprahs Book club if it were otherwise) wants to read a book that is not overtly dramatic. The shock quotient is pretty high now days.


Nothing shocks.

Nothing Scandalizes.


So it’s quite imperative to make up some real gory fibs along the way (laughing to the bank while doing so!). Oh incase your wondering Mr. Frey is a multi-millionaire now. He’s thinking ‘who cares!’


Since this is a book review I shall move on…


The book opens on 23 years old Frey who doesn’t know how he got on a plane and where the plane is taking him. All we know is the man even in his present condition is craving for more alcohol. Frey as we see him now is obstinate and is ready to throw in the towel. It is definitely not a pretty sight, as the narrative speaks “My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut”. His clothes are covered in blood, sweat, vomit, urine, spit and when his parent come to pick him up and they are shocked at his condition (this is putting it mildly).


His parents had no idea that the situation had become so bad. They were aware of his drinking and drugging ways—but they were not prepared to face the fact that another sip of alcohol could reserve his place in the local mortuary.


You see glimpses of a poignant boy who is lonely and sad. “More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel like I wasn’t alone,” says Frey. Your heart goes out to that boy especially when he goes to the extend of renting a tux, buying a corsage and going to his high school prom, only to sit outside the gym and watch the other kids have a blast. After that he heads to his favorite hangout ‘The ghetto’ and uses the money his mother gives him to buy drugs.


We see two shades of the protagonist – one is the bitter and angry side of him and the other is this lonely boy who cannot and will not show his weaknesses (but we can read between the lines).


“I don’t give a f@#$ what they think of me. I’m going to try to write the best book of my generation and I’m going to try to be the best writer,” Frey says in an interview with the ‘New York Observer’.


His attitude comes across rather blatantly in the book (rather too nonchalantly)—but for someone who understands real addiction the book can be quite a revelation. For someone who has never had to deal with any kind of addiction– it is quite difficult to digest that excruciating need that literally takes over every fiber of your being – wanting you to have just one drag- one sip- one glass-!

No – it is difficult for us to understand.


But we do.

Or we want to.

Because we like Frey are looking for that flicker of hope, that semblance of reason which makes us a believer. And we as human being have got to believe. What else is there?


“A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down…in the most delightful way” says Mary Poppins.


Suggestion: keep a whole jar of sugar with you…this book is a bitter pill to swallow!


To know more about literature log on to http://www.abouttexts.com

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The Steve Wilkos Show: Where’s That Fight For Your Son?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


bills or provide food. Patrick claims these circumstances prevented him from being in his son’s life, but Colleen doesn’t buy it and wants him out of Dalton’s life permanently. It’s up to Steve to convince Patrick to either get seriously involved, or remove himself from the situation. … steve wilkos show pedophile child abuse dad mom drug addict molester confront love rehab jail police officer marine loud mouth moron free television lie setector bell rubber family help racist prostitute law …

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Acne Resaca, Severe Acne-Bridal Beauty Tips For Your Wedding Day

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

 

 

Perpetually in consideration of evening took that initially sample of the globe, the creature compete has been obsessed with glamour.

 

The fidelity is we create the grow old way merely as soon as we pop out of the empty space. Regularly of our lives our human being affords off and redevelop modern germ. The hustle at which that way takes place as we are very young person is very much assorted as we find grown-up.

 

Regularly you are assaulted every day with advertisement communication and glamour suggest that work out to attract you into trust that the majority modern wonderful medication is immediately what you requirement to fight off the destroy of Mother Creation.

 

We are existing extended in space as a totality. Abnormally, that can be a hateful or a blessing, depending on your viewpoint.

The greatest address to natural glamour and in good condition skin is to share be bothered of what you have. Loudness straightforward, doesn’t it? The devotion is that your skin takes a bang from the milieu each initial time. Here are selected of our main glamour suggest for keeping your skin new and in good condition:

 

1: Stay hydrated and perform it with ample of stream! That does not mean cold drink, caffeine or a few additional way of fluid, similar if it is little cal. Beverage (even abstinence from food soda) has an area of high pressure concentration of sodium. Sodium hold on to physically liquid. You requirement liquid that will hydrate and flat your figure open of virus. Generate certainly you are drinking at smallest amount 8 glasses a time!

 

2: Safeguard your skin from hurtful ultra bluish-purple (UV) emission. We all feel affection for the sun. We affection being in it and we affection having a appealing light brown. The certainty is you can poison by hand with too much bright. UV emission basis skin disease and if that isn’t awful sufficient it purpose your skin to stage quicker than it ought to, accord to dull wrinkles. If you duty tease in the sun, promote to particular you are applying an tolerable sun hide. Don’t leave home exclusive of it!

 

3: Manage your skin bright. Work a flexible cheerful fabric. Skin does not need washing. You will sort out added injury than profit if you look after.

 

4: The top restore to health for wrinkles is to never have them in the original place! If you are alike the majority of us, you didn’t eavesdrop to your Mom when she reliable to instruct you to wait in the dimness, aim up toward right and break off look askance!

 

5: Eat in good condition. Experienced how and what to have, can get on to a vast dissimilarity in how you touch. Inadequate intake way of life cans basis abasement, weight secure, disease and an overall sluggishness.

 

Weight secures purpose your skin to expanse. While you get grown-up, it be defeated it’s flexibility and you’re missing with slumped skin.

The most excellent resolution to this is to take care of a mannerly power.

 

A management of suggestion for intake way of life is…Doing have further calories than you use up. Don’t operate lone initial time lacking liability entity spare and real for at smallest amount 30 minutes per day. This can be three ten minute run. Or 30 minutes of dynamic dance workout, or 12 minutes of weight arise and 18 minutes of walking.

 

6: Don’t discomfort, be pleased. A pleased direction, seem to cause to happen the relief of endorphins. Endorphins feel at ease the cardiovascular scheme and cytokines which signal the invulnerable practice to shell out concentration in disclosing abnormalities alike disease germ. Listen in anxiously to manually. If you have place by hand below in consideration of period of being young, on duration, unconstructive concerning the mind communication can take their damage by revolving you into a worrier. Squander single week literature below the phrases you make use of in your self conference’s likelihood are you will uncover that you recap a dozen or so phrases over and over afresh that strengthen that pessimistic representation. If you understand information about them, you can transform them. Outer glamour and private joyfulness operate supply in hand over.

 

At this time are a small amount of quick suggest for adding charm, wish and anticipation that will operate no subject what your stage:

 

Succeed a file of at smallest amount 50 terrific idea that go on to you each time.

 

Laugh a lot. You’ll recover your figure and your memory.

 

Catch a recent dispute all month.

 

Attempt contemplates for recently five minutes all time.

 

7: Sexual category like 50 Ha! How countless of you jumped to come to this area?

 

The value of material confidence truly be contingent on the pair. An alarming amount of men consume to position on sexual characteristics after 60 and countless women consume to touch that their sexual characteristics life finished with end of menstrual cycle. Admiringly, that is no longer the set of circumstances.

 

Sexual characteristics at internal stage can really be converted into more excellent and new fulfilling than ever ahead of. Adulthood gives a pair extra knowledge in sexual activity. The very young person is habitually adult and missing home. The physical force of constructed dwelling a future and daily person’s experiences are commonly minus distressing than in immature years.

 

Is glamour actually skin abstract?

 

The reaction is yes and no.  It’s a contradiction, isn’t it? Right glamour start from the in the middle out. Don’t you hope there was roughly meted to wriggle your nose and reach again that flexible skin you had as a newborn? Well, just before someone comes up with the confirmed source of boyhood we are puzzled with what we have.

 

Emphatically keep in mind that getting grown-up doesn’t have to mean getting aged.

 

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Ishmael Beah’s Memoirs of Sierra Leone War – A Long Way From The Truth

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Ishmael Beah’s Memoirs of Sierra Leone War

– A Long Way From The Truth

By Muctaru Wurie

He may be well known in the western world for a book that portrayed the ruthless war in Sierra Leone from the view of a child soldier, but Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, is known very little here at home.

Before I write this piece I did a random check of university scholars and literature students and journalists across the country, only two people acknowledged they have read his work. Many said they have read about it in reviews in the western media, but have not actually seen the book, let alone read it. Quite a handful said they have not even heard about Ishmael or his work at all.

When you look at the impact of this book, which did not only received rave reviews from New York Times, Washington Post to The Guardian UK and many other mainstream western media, but also reportedly grossed millions of dollars and drew a lot notice. It is ironical that Sierra Leone, a country that has very vibrant media and universities which have a predisposition for literature misses out on this.

The book also catapulted Ishmael to prominence and he has spoken at the UN and according to Wikipedia he has met with leaders including Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela.

Beah currently works for the Human Rights Watch Children’s Division Advisory Committee, he has served as the keynote speaker for several events, including the Global Young Leaders Conference 2007 (July 15-26 session), Oberlin College’s 175th convocation ceremony.

Review

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, brings a tragic reminder of what happened in a peaceful and relatively orderly society which Sierra Leone was.

The story started ominously with what was the case then, refugees running away from danger for their safety and passing through towns and villages, they come with harrowing stories, some of which many at the time found difficult to believe.

But like the majority of Sierra Leonean, the bestial veracity of the war was never far away from the doorstep. And for many, the madness and brutality of the war reached their towns and villages with little or no notice. This was exactly the case for Ishmael, his brother and a friend who left their village for Mattru Jong to participate in a talent show. They left never to return as their village was attacked and their whole area plunged into chaos by marauding rebels who knew no language but that of pandemonium and destruction.

Ishmael and co made a futile attempt to return back to their family, it was clear they were not going to reach their village as many were already running away from there with horrible account and in the end they were forced to make a u-turn.

Since then Ishmael and other groups of boys were desperately wandering aimlessly in search of safety, many were afraid of them as they pass from village to village they were shunned, detained and intimidated by many who thought they were rebels.

Every aspect of life turned upside down, children who were warmly welcome before the war became an object of fear and misgiving as many were used to wreck havoc and do atrocious things. A society that once loves kids suddenly turned into one that fears any unknown kid.

The book which is written in a free flow commanding, heartbreaking and even enchanting way does not only contain the horrors of a war in Ishmael’s native land, it also exhibited another side of Sierra Leone; the Mende story telling culture and Ishmael and indeed many other kids in Sierra Leone at the time love of hip hop rap and Jamaican reggae music.

But for Ishmael and many others it was reality check, they were in the midst of the war. It seems as if it was the end of the world for Ishmael after he was captured by rebels who almost got him summarily executed. As they were about to coerced Ishmael’s friends to kill him and others, the rebels were attacked, that created an escape opportunity for Ishmael and others.

Like the majority of people caught in the war in Sierra Leone; Ishmael was emotionally unsettled with a bleak vision of not knowing actually when or where their misery was going to end. Because they were moving through forests and bypasses clinging on hope which sometimes look very implausible as the war was escalating and it impact being felt far and wide.

Their ordeal was not helped when Ishmael’s friend, Saidu who was wandering with them died. Saidu was apparently overwhelmed after undergoing the miserable ordeal of having seen from a roof hideout whilst rebels raped his three sisters over and over right in front of their mother and father, the latter who was hit by the rebels as he tried to stop them. Saidu’s (who had kept quiet in most of their journey) death came as a shock to Ishmael and his friends.

Unfortunately for Ishmael and his friends as they were about to make a reunion with their family whom they had not seen for months, the reunion was abruptly altered by a staccato outburst of gunfire which signalled a rebel attack in the village in which Ishmael was been guided by a former neighbour whom they accidentally tripled upon to meet his family. His family had been living there, and his elder brother had even gone out fruitlessly to look for him. It was never to be, the whole village was slaughtered by rebels who later boasted that no one survived their surprise assault there.

Despair was briefly replaced by a brief sense of hope at the town of Yele where Ishmael like many other orphan children found refuge. Suddenly Ishmael was thrusted into the war. Unlike many other children in Sierra Leone, Ishmael was not recruited by the RUF rebels. Had he, his story could have been much worse. He was recruited by the Sierra Leone army in Yele, because after coming under an all out siege and losing many of his men, Army commander, Lieutenant Jabati had no option but to mobilise civilian men and boys to defend the town. With a charismatic speech aided by the bodies of a man and his son killed by rebels after they tried to escape, Ishmael and other boys were inspired to fight alongside the Army.

Ishmael story during his time as a child soldier in the book was synonymous to many others, drug infatuation, killing, mass pillage and arson was the order of the day. Positively for Ishmael his romance for bloodshed and drugs was suddenly interrupted by the intervention of UNICEF who rescued him and 14 others from their squadron. This was treachery to Ishmael who saw his commander as a betrayer for handing him over to civilians. He planned escape back to the warfront, but was prevented from doing so by the many checkpoints along the way to Freetown.

Upon arrival in Freetown, another war took place in the war children’s home that they were brought; there was a confrontation between the RUF children and Ishmael’s group from the Army that leads to six deaths and injuries.

As a result of this they were separated and taken to Approved School, Kissy.

Ishmael underwent a painstaking rehabilitation process with the help of workers at the Home in Kissy, and particularly Nurse Esther who personally aided his psychotherapy by continually showing compassion, handing gifts to him and assuring him it was not his faults and all would be well.

As luck may have it, Ishmael came into contact with his uncle and for a very long time in his life, he had an opportunity to have a feeling that after all he had undergone, he has a family. At last someone referred to him as a son, he had the dejavu of experiencing a family as he settled with his uncle’s poor but very loving family.

Further blessing was to come for Ishmael; to his uncle disbelief he had a relishing experience in New York City where he was afforded the opportunity to attend a UN conference on children issues.

That experience was to be the catalyst for a benignant escape from war torn Freetown. After he returned back, thereafter, there was a devastating setback for Ishmael; there was a coup that turned everything upside down. There was a bloody standoff in Freetown as anarchy descended; this forced Ishmael to look elsewhere as he lost his very loving uncle who died in the midst of the mayhem in natural circumstance. He was already saving money that was being sent to him by Laura Simms (A woman he had met in New York) – with the aid of that money Ishmael fled to Guinea where he was able to return back to New York.

Shortcomings of a Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

When one who has a true sense of the war in Sierra Leone looks at A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, the story of Ishmael’s experience as a child combatant is not strange neither too horrible by the standards of what happened here during the war. There are stories worst than his (See the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, TRC Report, go to www.trcsierraleone.org); truth is that kids who fought with the RUF have a more barbaric story to tell. From the way his war experience was told, it could have been genuinely coming from a child combatant. I say this because most of the interest in the book stemmed from Ishmael’s experience as a boy who lost his family, hooked up with friends to find safety and ended up fighting and expediting terror as child.

Ishmael’s Claims of Being Forcefully Conscripted by the Military

As long as you were in the war zones in the provinces there was a great chance that you would be captured by one of the fighting forces and conscripted. I see no problem with Ishmael’s account of his fighting description and the horror he witnessed (even if you don’t, it would be very hard to counter). But his claim that he was conscripted after Yele was heavily besieged by the national army together with some other kids in the town has been ruled out as a forged by some military people, TRC people and observers on the ground. A military officer (prefers to be anonymous because he is still in the army and not permitted to talk) who was deployed around the Yele area from 94-96 period, said it was very odd for the army during those period to make organised recruitment of children under their command post as was described by Ishmael in his book. “No matter how besieged we were, we would prefer to do a tactical withdrawal or call for reinforcement or back-up from nearby regiments. It was something that was seen as very dangerous to do at the time for various reasons,” he said. Also, Lieutenant Jabati (Commander at Yele who conscripted Ishmael and other children) described in the book is not known to him. “I still remember my former army officer colleagues even those that are dead or retired from the military now.” The information that offensively upset the officer was that of Ishmael’s assertion that; “We also attacked civilian villages to capture recruits and whatever else we could find.” Reacting to that, the military officer said, “That is the most terrible accusation I have heard about the role of the army in the war. I will tell you that the army never attacked civilian villages to capture recruits. Go to the provinces now and ask people who witnessed the war, they will tell you that we did this and that but we never captured civilians for recruitments purpose. We use to capture rebel suspect or informants and send them to Freetown for interrogation, but to say we coercively conscript civilians and kids openly in front of other members of the community just to defend a town is ridiculous. It makes me think this boy (Ishmael) has another agenda,” said the officer. He however acknowledged that it was after 1996 that he started seeing some signs of child combatants fighting alongside the military, which was eventually exacerbated as the military temporarily fused with the RUF and later Civil Defence Forces (made up of Kamajors, Kapras, etc), two forces that used a lot of child fighters during the war. However, Mamud Mansaray, a business man who was risking his life during the war by selling goods across villages in the south of Sierra Leone said that the army sometimes attack villages but that was mainly for looting when they sometimes ran out of food supplies, on the contrary he said he’s never witnessed or heard of reports of the army attacking villages to capture civilian recruits. “That was very strange then; it was after the Johnny Paul coup that we started seeing the national army fighting alongside children or men in civilian outfits,” said Mamud, who was captured several times and accused by the army and Kamajors of selling goods to rebels and acting as an informant for them.

Another soldier, Patrick Mambu, now retired said he wished Ishmael would have been precise on his date as he was stationed in Yele around that period twice when it came under sustained attack from rebels. “There were refugees in the town from elsewhere, but we never thought of recruiting children to fight alongside us at that time. The other important thing was that most of the refugees that passed by don’t stay for long, many prefer to move ahead, I’m surprised to hear children were recruited at Yele around that time, also, the thing that would make it very hard for us to recruit children and others indiscriminately is that weapons were not even enough for us. If you can recall during the war you would be aware that there was shortage of weapons, so how could we just go out and recruit people like that? What would they fight with? Any claim that we openly conscript children at Yele just to defend the town is a complete trash,” said Patrick.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Ishmael’s claims came from Alhaji Samura, who was a transcriber for the TRC, “I have read reviews of A Long Way Gone, and from what I see it appears as if the whole book is a fictional. “I don’t recall a time when anybody gave a testimony that they saw the national army recruiting children openly in a town to fight alongside them before 1997, there were plenty of instances relating to organised and mass child recruitment involving the RUF, Kamajors, Kapras and others but definitely not the military, there were obviously some serious accusation against the military but not that one,” said Alhaji.

Another former TRC staff, Emmanuel Koivaya Amara, who was a TRC Researcher, said that at the beginning of the war the military was caught by surprise, so there was what he referred to as ‘indiscriminate recruiting’ nationwide. But he said these were done in a structured manner and there was no record of a deliberate forceful recruitment before 1997. “All of the recruitments were done voluntarily in huge numbers, and a lot of unemployed youths turned out, but there was not an instance of a deliberate attempt by the military to attack villages deliberately to capture recruits or forcefully conscript people under their command posts,” said Emmanuel.

Confusion with Dates

There is definitely a problem with the dates on the book; there is a big misgiving about Ishmael’s assertion that his troubles started in 1993 when his village and surrounding areas was attacked and plunged into chaos by rebels. Mohamed Koroma who was living at Mattru Jong but left after 1995 with his father said that there were intermittent attacks by rebels in that area from 1993 upwards, but was very doubtful that there was any mass movement of people from that area in 1993. “More so, attacks by 1993 were very rare and not always successful. Even if someone whose village was attacked around that time got displaced. I don’t think they would have moved up to Yele, because there was no need for that when other main areas were safe. It was in 1995 that we saw real mayhem around that area which even forced thousands others and my father who was a businessman to run away for our lives,” said Mohamed.

Although this can be seen as a big miscalculation on the part of Ishmael, I wouldn’t want to delve into that too much because I can recall that as a boy myself growing up during the heat of the war, there were times in which I don’t even bother to know the dates. Because there was no schooling at some time, and the main concern then was life and death, that said, Ishmael should at least know when the whole chaos erupted because he was going to school then. And the time gap of two years exposed Ishmael and raised serious doubt about his account. There is another part that that exposes Ishmael’s date problem in his account, since he was already in Freetown where it was easier to know how time passes; I expect there would be no excuse on this. Ishmael said soon after he witnessed the student demonstration that gunshots continued constantly in the city for the next five months. And according to his account he left for Guinea on October 31st, whereas the actual student demo took place on 17th August. So if his five month assertion was anything to go by, he left January.

Another statement that showed Ishmael inaccuracy with time is that of his statement which he claimed that he saw a dead rebel boy wearing a Tupac Shakur t-shirt with the “All eyes on me” inscription on it. As a youth growing up in those days with Tupac obsession I knew that those Tupac t-shirts which were particularly popular with RUF rebels hadn’t hit the stalls yet by the time Ishmael mentioned that incident because Ishmael himself said that he left for Freetown January 1996 which means that he saw that Tupac t-shirt before it reached Sierra Leone. Med Bangs, a garments seller at Victoria Park told me that those Tupac “All eyes on me” t-shirt actually came to Sierra Leone mid 1996, “People use to come from the provinces and purchase a lot of these t-shirts from us, which made them very expensive at the time. But it was later that we discovered that RUF rebels particularly cherished the Tupac t-shirts, they were never in the market in Sierra Leone around January 1996, I would challenge anybody who says those t-shirts were here by even January 1996,” said Med Bangs. Another man, Kashoe, who is still called Tupac by some of his old friends because of his love for the rapper said that he was an ardent follower of Tupac. “I use to save all my money then just to buy Tupac’s latest cassettes, t-shirts and even his favourite bandanas. And I can tell you that All Eyez on Me album was released on February 1996, I still have the magazine and a complete Tupac biography. And for the All Eyes on Me t-shirt they came to Sierra Leone around June 1996, I was one of the first to get one and I would never forgot that I bought one for Le 15, 000. It was a huge pride to put on one by then,” said a smiling Kashoe.

View of Freetown After the May 25 Coup

Ishmael also painted a very wide of the mark scene in Freetown in the aftermath of the May 25 coup; he created a far more chaotic condition in Freetown that wasn’t actually the case, as he writes: “For the first three weeks people were so afraid that they didn’t dare leave their houses.” This was a clear amplification, the coup happened on Sunday and me along with my brother and thousands of other Freetownians went to the centre of town the next day to survey the ruins of the treasury building in the centre of town and a partially burnt Bank of Sierra Leone top floor. Andrew Fatoma who was an O’level student taking his exams then said he’s shocked by that claims; “I was taking my exams then, I use to leave all the way from Kissy to Kingtom to take my papers, it was the Monday, June 2, 1997 fighting incident at Mammy Yoko Hotel that forced the authorities to cancel our exams. Even then we use to go out and take strolls,” said Andrew.

The Corporal Gborie Coup Announcement

At the early hours of Sunday 25th May, it was the crooked and disjointed blend of Krio and English voice that we heard of the late Corporal Tamba Gborie, a junior army recruit that announced the coup, but Ishmael stated in his book that it was Johnny Paul Koroma who came on air and announced that Tejan Kabbah had been overthrown, Ishmael points out that Johnny Paul’s English was as bad as the reasons he gave for the coup, clearly everyone who was here at that time knew that what has been referred to as the most embarrassing coup broadcast of all time was delivered by the late Corporal Gborie, who was later convicted of treason and shot by firing squad. Sheik Daud Fofanah, a reporter for Kalleone Radio, who has actually read the book, said he is shocked at the way Ishmael wrote his story. “The whole book is a false make-up, look at this one, it was Gborie that announced the coup, but Ishmael claimed it was Johnny Paul. I really don’t know where he got his tales from,” said Sheik.

Freetown’s Secret Food Market

Ishmael also painted a situation as if food was not available and extremely inadequate, yes there was scarcity but not like the one he presented indicating there was a secret market where food was sold to civilians secretly for fear of armed men interrupting the sales in broad-day light. Mabinty Koroma, a trader who used to sell goods for some Indians during the ‘Revo’ period says; “Prices went up, and some shops were closed during that period, but it was not that dire and chaotic. There were also incidents when armed men would sometimes harass us for money but they never robbed us in broad day light or create pandemonium whilst we sell our goods” said Mabinty.

Also there were instances when civilians were attacked, murdered or robbed at night. But broad daylight instances of such incidence were not so prevalent. Infact there were even marriages and other social events during what was referred to as the ‘Revo’ (period covering the May 25, 1997 coup to the liberation of Freetown on February 1998). That said, the city was not safe, and many don’t venture too far away from their homes, and those who did, make sure they returned before dark.

Five Months Non-stop Firing

In Chapter 21, page 204, Ishmael presented a case where armed men ran after and fired at a crowd of people in broad daylight. In page 206, he writes, “In the morning, families (In Freetown) sat on their verandas and held their children close, staring at the city streets where gunmen roamed in groups, looting, raping, and killing people at will… Sometimes during the day there were several plumes of smoke rising from houses that had been set on fire by gunmen.” This scene is more fitted for January 6 1999, not for the period under which the much loathed AFRC/RUF regime were trying to convince a resolute public that they had brought ‘peace’ and they were ‘fit to rule’. Also contrary to what Ishmael pointed out, gunshots never continued constantly in Freetown for the next five months after the student demo. There was a lull that halted during the October ship bombing incident in which many believed that the rebels went up the mountain and rained rockets down the city on the pretext that it was ECOMOG’s missile attempt to stop one sanction-breaking ship from violating the UN embargo that was passed on the Junta. The other major firing incident before the liberation of the city on February 1998 was when a military plane secretly scaled the city’s airspace one night. “That was the most ferocious non stop firing incident in the city many witnessed as we fired from all angle in Freetown towards the air, many civilians were caught by stray bullets that night, I emptied over fifteen case of bullets that night,” recalled Mark, a.k.a. Makanaky who was then a child combatant with the RUF but now runs a poda-poda (mini bus) as a driver in Freetown.

Family Slaughter at New England Ville

Also, there are other incidents presented in the book that never happened. Ishmael correctly mentioned in his book several times the dominance of the BBC as a reliable news channel Sierra Leoneans trusted. Apart from the BBC African Service which comprehensively covered Sierra Leone during the heat of the war, there was a pluralistic and vibrant print media in the country that covered variety of event from different angles and interests. There were certain events that would never go unreported, especially those that happened in Freetown (Even during the ‘Revo’, most newspapers boldly and defiantly continue to publish). Furthermore the boisterous underground Radio Democracy, FM 98.1 which was being fed by mainly journalists in the country gave daily update about events across the country, especially the ones that showed the mass defiance on the part of the majority of Sierra Leoneans to accept the AFRC/RUF regime of Major Johnny Paul Koroma. So therefore one incident mentioned by Ishmael that never happened was this: “One evening, a neighbour who lived a few doors down my uncle’s house (At New England Ville, Freetown) was listening to a pirate radio station that accused the new government of committing crimes against civilians. A few minutes later, a truck full of soldier stopped in front of the man’s house dragged him, his wife, and his two older sons outside, shot them and kicked their bodies into the nearby gutter.”

The incident that actually happened (but not mentioned in Ishmael’s book) and caught the attention of the public and international media was the one concerning the woman at Kissy who was listening to FM 98.1 and later confronted by a soldier whom she defiantly challenged before she was shot. It was the talk of the town and several people flocked to see the dead woman lying dead on the ground and bleeding profusely. So an incident which saw a whole family being massacred would have raised more public notice. To ascertain this I called former minister of information, Dr Julius Spencer who was the then head of FM 98.1, he told me quite clearly that there was not a time he recalled anything like that happened. Spencer who also happens to be one of the leading literature scholars in the country said he has not read the book, but from the reviews he had read, he doubt it very much whether Ishmael depicted the truth in his work.

Shoot-out at a Mysterious Freetown Children’s Home

Moreover, an incident that Beah also highlighted in the children’s home where he claimed that six people lost their lives after they (army child combatants) clashed with RUF kids on their arrival on January 1996 never occurred. I checked newspapers clippings at the renowned Fourah Bay College Sierra Leone section library and spoke to many journalists and NGO workers at the time who said that they have no doubt that event never occurred. The fact that Ishmael wilfully omitted the name or location of the said centre in Freetown raised further doubts about an event no one here seems to recall.

Sierratel Lines Down

There are several other issues that were clearly wrong such as his assertions that that the Sierratel phones weren’t working anymore by October 1997, a journalists who prefers to be anonymous because of his links with the present government says, “I use to send information for the clandestine FM 98.1 radio station using Sierratel lines, so I’m surprise to hear from someone that their lines were off. There were times when the lines would go down, but repairs were promptly done. Surprisingly we also had more electricity supply more than usual because the illegal junta regime was trying to woo the defiant majority. There was even electricity supply on the eve of ECOMOG invasion of the city; when the Nigerian ECOMOG troops triumphantly entered the city many people came out serving them very cold water from their freezers.”

All Hospitals and Pharmacies Closed

Another obvious fabrication was his claims that when his uncle fell ill during the ‘Revo’, all the hospitals and pharmacies were closed. Ishmael claimed most of the doctors and nurses had left the country and those who were still around fear that if they left their homes they would not be able to return back to their families. I put that to Dr S Kamara who was practising then, he was shocked to hear that and couldn’t believe until I showed him a copy of the excerpt in the book. He agreed that there were times that they feared and couldn’t get to work, but that the main hospitals in the city were always opened throughout the ‘Revo’ period. “People use to come to my house and go to the hospitals, clinics and other places for treatment, but to say all the hospitals and pharmacies were closed during the ‘Revo’ and that we feared to leave our houses, that is a huge fabrication. I cannot purchase this book for a dime,” he said. According to Patricia Collier, who was a nurse at the PCM Hospital, some of the doctors made a lot of sacrifice at that time, pointing out to Dr Nicol who was very regular, sometimes working overtime. “Because most of us saw it as a crisis period we gave our deep commitment and worked under hard circumstances, it would interest you to know that I was at the hospital working when the ECOMOG liberation of Freetown started in February 1998. Most of us however, left for our homes for our safety then,” said Patricia.

Questionable Landmarks

Even some of Ishmael’s account of streets and landmarks like ‘sitting at the jetty in the wharf at the end of Rawdon Street’ showed that he really got things mixed up, because there is the well known bus station building at the end of Rawdon Street and when you go behind the bus station there are other buildings, and you will need to walk down a long step and meet a fenced naval base that the public is barred from.

Le 300 – Two Months Average Wage

He also erroneously claimed that Immigration officers on his way to Guinea demanded Le 300 which was according to him around two months salary in Sierra Leone at the time. The fact is that the average monthly salary was far above that, and that Le 300 could only get you a pint of soft drink then, by then a single US dollar cost around Le 800. Head of the Mass Communications Department FBC, Isaac Massaqoi told me that at that time he was earning around Le 145, 000 a month at the SLBS. Isaac who has also not read the book was stunned by some of the claims he made in the book and said even the average monthly wage was far above Le 300.

Less Precision

Ishmael also tactfully avoided being clear-cut or detailed in some of his statements, for a person that witnessed the war here, one should have expected more. For instance, he never stated the exact place he put up at New England Ville and he said he attended St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown, the only explanation he offered about the school was that other pupils distanced them on their first day of schooling, that explanation quickly diverted backwards to his experience in his village.

Another aspect of exaggeration was when Ishmael went to the US embassy and was asked for his account, Ishmael (aged 16 then) said no one his age in Sierra Leone has a bank account, which is an exaggeration because there were few out there that does have an account. There are several other weak links in Ishmael’s work, but I thought that these are just some of the ones that one should focus on.

Questions not answered

I felt disappointed I could not get the view of Ishmael or his publishers on so many of the contentious and distorted information on the book, it appears as if they were just not ready to answer the critical points I was about to test them with. I did all my best to contact Ishmael through his publishers Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (FSG) whom I mailed three times and called twice, they promised to get back to me and I waited in vain. I would have loved to talk to Ishmael personally in Krio. I would have loved to ask him many things including, where in New England Ville was he living and why he got so many things wrong in his work. According to The Post Standard Ishmael gets back to Sierra Leone at least twice a year and he told the paper that he feels safer in Sierra Leone than in Brooklyn. I would have enquired why there was no attempt on his part during his visits to personally promote his book in Sierra Leone?

Surprise

For the publishers, I would have asked them whether they do not have any system in place to cross-check a writer’s story in a book that was marked as a non-fiction.

After I had spoken to most Sierra Leonean, the feeling I get is that the more many Sierra Leoneans know about this book, the more they grow stunned or incensed that someone who claims to be a native of the country and also participated in the war could have got it so wrong on so many very easier aspect that should be so easy to recall. I got the feeling during my investigation that had so many Sierra Leoneans known about this book which was marked as non-fiction at the time of publishing there would have been a mass criticism of it at home.

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CONTEST(WATCH VIDEO AND READ DESCRIPTION)!!!!!!

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


This is some of the things I need in the next chapter.You DON’T need to have all of it!Just a snippet of each event will be fine but it MUST be in a chapter form.The was I write my chapter would be nice also!You know like hoe I do the semi-colons” : ” and not the dash” – “.Ok so this is what I previously wrote in Chapter 11 Part 4:1 month later… Kevin talked to April and her mother and Diane(April’s mom)and Kevin thought it was best if April went to rehab.Of course she disagreed with it, …

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The Steve Wilkos Show: Where’s That Fight For Your Son?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


bills or provide food. Patrick claims these circumstances prevented him from being in his son’s life, but Colleen doesn’t buy it and wants him out of Dalton’s life permanently. It’s up to Steve to convince Patrick to either get seriously involved, or remove himself from the situation. … steve wilkos show pedophile child abuse dad mom drug addict molester confront love rehab jail police officer marine loud mouth moron free television lie setector bell rubber family help racist prostitute law …

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The Rise of the Mohawk Part III

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Although the Kahnawake, have lived peaceably among the other Mohawks for many years, they developed more social issues as they integrated with outside cultures. Not all of the results that have arisen due to cross-cultural interaction have been bad: many Native Americans the territory are now attending schools of higher education and are bringing back tremendous amounts of knowledge to their communities; but along with good changes have come some detrimental ones.

One of the first major epidemics to strike Native American communities all over North America was alcoholism. According to the Department of Health and Community Services at California State University of Chico, “The physiological theories generally suggest significant differences in alcohol absorption and metabolism rates between Native Americans and Caucasians. A wide variety of social factors appear to be implicated in Native American drinking problems.”Many also became involved in drug trafficking, namely moving around large quantities of marijuana. The climate around the Mohawk territory is ideal for marijuana growing and some of the residents have taken to the risky business of cultivating this plant. Most of the problems created by marijuana stem from the issues it created with law enforcement as opposed to causing detrimental community problems. Now the biggest issue has become crack and cocaine abuse, which have had a great impact on residents throughout the territory.

These drugs have made a swift and profound impact on the Kahnawake population. Ten years ago people had barely heard of such substances, and words like “crystal meth” and “crack” were not widespread. Alcohol was a big problem but it at least was something familiar and there were treatments available. Nobody knew how to react to the influx of harder drugs into the community. Most people simply shrugged it off as something that didn’t involve them and those who started using claimed that they were under control.

Nowadays the biggest problem is not so much that these drugs have found their way to the territory, it is the fact that children are getting access to these drugs at an astonishingly young age. What is even more saddening is the manner in which they acquire these drugs: now girls as young as thirteen have begun to resort to prostitution in order to feed their addictions and have been reported of stealing from their own families in order to have enough money to buy crack. Such activities are tearing the community apart, but how can one fight a problem that is so engrained in the lifestyle of community members from the very young to the older and respected members of the community?

One woman commented on The Eastern Door – a community based newspaper serving the Mohawks of Kahnawake – a saying her ex-husband, a crack addict, told her that he saw, “Peacekeepers, executives, a hockey coach and many young teenagers doing these drugs together.”

She continued by sharing a more personal story that perfectly demonstrates the severity of this situation that The Eastern Door published in a recent article:

“Her daughter began using cocaine when she was 12 years old. Her daughter has told her that there are many young girls who are using this drug, but do not have the money to fuel this habit. Instead of paying for the drug these girls are selling their bodies in exchange for cocaine. And the guys that give these young girls cocaine in exchange for sex are old enough to be their fathers. She said all these girls need to do is sleep with five or six of these guys and they’ll have enough cocaine for the night. Her daughter also told her that one of her older male friends, who’s now 15, would take care of her when they were using cocaine. She asked what she meant by that. Her answer was that he makes sure that she doesn’t take any bad cocaine. “I asked her how he would know the difference between good cocaine and bad,” she said. “She answered ‘Well, he gets it from his mother.’”

Having parents in the community who allow kids to use cocaine at the house is what has caused many children to accept this drug as something that is “not a big deal.” How can these children be blamed when some of the most influential members of the community are notorious drug users? Although any addicted children should certainly be treated as soon as possible and helped in any way possible, nothing will ever change if the older generation does not lead by example.

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission’s responsibility to the tribe only increases daily as the revenues continue to pour in. Going from a state of relative poverty to a sudden influx of extreme wealth can often spell danger and the signs have been around for some time in the Mohawk territory. Drugs have ruined many families’ lives already and the situation will only deteriorate unless something is done. More money for drug awareness programs as well as programs for parents to detect when their kids are addicted are necessary to ensure that the problem doesn’t get even more out of hand.

All of this wealth is either going to become the greatest blessing the Kahnawake Community has ever received, or it may very well just be the devil in disguise. The future is in the hands of the Chief and Council, because the entire community will be depending on them to take the right actions to fight this situation.

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Are our vernaculars getting crushed?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Does India need a single national language that badly? Or does it even want one? A national language is a symbol of territorial integrity and cultural consensus, it ought to be more than just a language on paper, and it must be grown from a tender seedling to a fertile crop.

In today’s scenario I would really like to question out India’s stand as a linguistic majority. It is English that has become the solved immobile face Rubik cube that is preventing any other faces of the cube from free rotation. English is an elite language and have in built limits to growth or of losing their exclusiveness. It is no longer a duplicate code to use with foreigners. In India English is more of a social prize and it cannot be learned quickly and dispassionately. English is studied of its commercial and so called political value. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage. The benefits of English medium culture are clear to all, but it is not available outside the small elite.  Where does that leave Hindi or other vernaculars? Though much more available and widely known, our vernaculars have little appeal as the language of the future. They have just become like our Indian cows sacred but undernourished and ill adapted.

I know several instances where husbands are sorry because their wives cannot speak to them or their friends in English. I know families in which English has been made the mother tongue. Where are our early days when we used to contend with friends for knowing greater number of languages, in comparison to the present context where the accented English is conceived to be a highly posh entity?

It is unbearable that all the other vernaculars should be crushed and starved the way they have been. Being immaculate in one’s national language or one’s own maternal tongue not only removes superfluous strain on the English language but it also blows a beautiful breeze of linguistic pride.

India is mosaic of so many variegate languages then I ask as to why should it be stuffed and walled on all sides by a single language that is neither obtainable to all sections of society nor is it easily accessible .

Looking into the present premiss I am afraid we’ll have to rehabilitate many sick cows i.e. languages of poetry, languages of the past and help them grow through an interface between technology and power and help them grow into languages of the future. We have to start to think about everything in them and use them for more than just trivial purposes. We must not let them succumb to the growing grandness of the English language. it would be a revolution if we have our youth with literary tastes to learn as much English and other world languages as they like and expect them to give the benefits of their learning to India say like a Bose, a Roy or a Tagore, because only then will there be an occasion wherein creative non elites like artisans, craftsmen would be transformed into true perfectionists of the society and in to more competitive and efficient workers.

Let not a single Indian forget, neglect or be ashamed of his or her mother tongue or feel that he or she cannot express the best of thoughts in his or her vernacular. For ours is not a language of the prison house, but a proof against insolence, pride of race, religion or color.

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Surrogacy and Gestational Carrier

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Most gestational carriers are chosen by couples who are experiencing fertility issues. Depending on the issues experienced by the couple, the gestational carrier may carry an baby made from eggs and sperm donated by the couple, or outside donations of eggs and sperm may be used. Couples commonly turn to a gestational carrier when a woman experiences repeated miscarriages, suggesting that she may not be able to carry a baby to term, or when a woman’s health would be endangered by carrying a baby.

Laws about gestational surrogacy vary from place to place. In many areas, it is not legal to pay a gestational surrogate, although the couple which hires her may pay for her healthcare and compensate her for expenses related to the pregnancy. The legal status of the baby also varies. In some cases, a gestational carrier may decide she doesn’t want to give the baby up, for example, requiring clear laws which outline what to do in complex situations involving gestational carriers.

As a general rule, a gestational surrogate is chosen on the basis of her general health, and many parents like to seek a gestational carrier who has already had at least one child, indicating that she is capable of carrying a baby safely to term. In many countries, fertility consultants offer listings of women who have volunteered to be gestational carriers, and some women may ask family members to carry children for them.

Once a family has selected a gestational carrier, fertility treatments for the carrier and the mother can begin. After eggs are harvested from the mother or a third party donor, donated sperm from the father or another donor can be introduced to the eggs, creating a zygote which can be implanted in the surrogate. Because this process is expensive, time consuming, and painful, surrogates are often offered substantial fees in compensation for their important contribution.

During the pregnancy, a surrogate may be asked to follow certain health guidelines, such as not smoking, drinking, or using drugs. She is also required to attend regular prenatal checkups and to observe basic precautions to protect the health of the developing fetus. Depending on the terms of her contract, a gestational carrier may visit with the parents who have contracted her services to keep them updated on the pregnancy, or she may maintain minimal contact.

The relationship a family has with a gestational carrier varies, and it is usually clearly spelled out in a contract agreed to by all parties before the pregnancy commences. In some cases, for example, a gestational carrier may give up all rights to the resulting child, while in other instances the gestational carrier may be invited to play a role in the child’s life, which might range from seeing the child occasionally to actively participating in childrearing. Parents and potential surrogates should think about these issues carefully before making an agreement, and they should take the time to discuss expectations before deciding on a gestational carrier.

Author of the article is an IVF Fertility infertility specialist and runs fertility centre provides the best affordable quality infertility,fertility treatments with advanced reproductive technologies like IVF,ART, GIFT, ZIFT, TET, ICSI,donor egg,surrogate and surrogacy services for all nationalities.

Rotunda-The Center for Human Reproduction
http://www.iwannagetpregnant.com
iwannagetpregnant9@gmail.com

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Feb 14 Walk:: Genocide against Tamil Peace Walk Part 1

Sunday, January 24th, 2010


communities is looking your helps so please help us. … Genocide against Tamils sri lanka war air force army shelling killing death dead bombing bomb vanni tamils rehabilitation organization LTTE civilians girl boy man woman family IDP internally displaced refugee human rights india humanitarian united nations NGO destruction GENOCIDE mother father doctor hospital injured Tamil nadu obama help save SLA singalish magintha BBC News civilistion american ghost phoenix rapping diddy music rap …

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