How we live, impacts people around the world

One aspect of the building of community is living with an understanding that how I live, what I do, who I am, impacts people in other parts of the world.
As the saying goes hindsight is 20/20, here is an article that dramatically illustrates this principle in a sad, negative light. A rare metal, of which I have never heard, coltan, is used in certain electronics components such as some capacitors and the Congo is a major source for this metal. According to Toward Freedom, in the 2000 launch of the Sony PS2, high demand of this metal by Sony helped fuel the astronomical rise in price from $49/pound to $275/pound. And this sharp increase in price helped fuel conflict and slave labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Involved were players such as Rwandan government sponsored militias to western mining companies, all funded by a debt-based, consumer materialistic mindset in "rich" nations.
The demand for coltan has cooled but if we are shortsighted and motivated by personal gratification then there will always come another point of conflict over the supply of some other resource to meet the demand.
We have got to be aware of how our desire for the latest, greatest, fastest whatever might be affecting people in other parts of the world. Questions such as this come to mind - Can my brother in the Congo afford one of these? Can he afford to buy food for his family to eat while I enjoy my latest luxuries?
How many are giving their lives in conflicts to mine the raw materials necessary to make this thing?
This is why we must increase in our knowledge of the truth and have the wisdom and foresight to be led by internal principles of what is right not what is merely convenient or desirable, so that we can avoid this situation of looking back at what went wrong.

Who's your Daddy? - The raw milk issue.

I'll tell you who your Daddy is not. Your Daddy is not "Big Brother", the civil government that has gotten so big and powerful that it thinks it is our all-knowing benevolent father. And the real problem is that many, MANY people are quite content to look to civil government as their daddy. Some people are diligent and work hard to keep "Father" happy, others see civil government as their "Sugar Daddy" that will give them all they ever want or need but both generally believe everything "Daddy" says and when it comes right down to it, pretty much fall in line with what is expected of them. We must take personal responsibility to be informed and make decisions based upon Truth and the personal light and understanding we have. We must understand that God has given us responsibility for our own lives before Him and no one else. Part of this responsibility is to govern government not ignorantly submit to all the politicians and bureaucrats say but that is a rather deep subject, maybe a later post. But below is a case in point.
I saw this article about the controversy between raw and pasteurized milk and what some civil government agencies are doing to "protect" us from raw food and it rather inspired me. Here is one particular stirring quote that looks at the superficial panacea of pasteurization:

Around the time that Chicago passed the first pasteurization law in the United States, in 1908, many of the dairies supplying cities had themselves become urban. They were crowded, grassless, and filthy. Unscrupulous proprietors added chalk and plaster of paris to extend the milk. Consumptive workers coughed into their pails, spreading tuberculosis; children contracted diseases like scarlet fever from milk. Pasteurization was an easy solution. But pasteurization also gave farmers license to be unsanitary. They knew that if fecal bacteria got in the milk, the heating process would eventually take care of it. Customers didn’t notice, or pay less, when they drank the corpses of a few thousand pathogens. As a result, farmers who emphasized animal health and cleanliness were at a disadvantage to those who simply pushed for greater production.

It is amazing how all problems really go back to the root of lack of personal responsibility and love for others. And man looks for the easy superficial solution rather than having to address matters of the heart.

Florida trip - beautiful beaches

Last week I had a trip to Panama City, Florida for business training. Here are some pictures of my break to the beaches there. Beautiful white sand beaches -


I didn't expect to find Mexico Beach in Florida! ;)


I rented an economy car on the Internet and this is what I got!

(Not as economy as I would have liked, but it actually wasn't too bad, and it was fun ;-)

With beautiful beaches like this, I could be a beach bum! ;)
It is hard to believe that this is still the Gulf of Mexico - Galveston it is not!
This is probably the prettiest beaches I have seen - I haven't been to Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mauritius, etc, so I don't claim to be an expert! ;)



clear water with a beautiful blue reflection, it is hard to capture in one dimensional pictures

Whole Foods Market & Organic foods

I started reading this article because I have shopped at Whole Foods some but it gives a lot of info about eating organic and healthy in general:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/17/the-whole-story-about-whole-foods-market.aspx

I definitely advocate always reading the labels. It also emphasizes buying locally grown food, vegetables and meat, like grass-fed beef.
I tried some grass-fed beef raised just northeast of Dallas. There was very little fat, grease when I cooked it and it did have a nice clean flavor to it.

Electromagnetic radiation

Have you ever wondered about all the electromagnetic fields (EMF) with which we are surrounding ourselves more and more? Cell phones, microwaves, electrical power lines, cordless phones, Wi-fi computer networks, all of these transmit and/or emit varying types of electromagnetic signals. Our body also uses electromagnetic signals in our nervous system for the communication between our body and our brain. In fact, throughout our bodies, every biochemical process involves precisely choreographed movement of EMF-sensitive atoms, molecules, and ions. So, it seems logical that external EMF sources could disrupt our body's normal function. Consider that radiation used to kill cancer (and other cells which it contacts as well) is basically a high powered, focused EMF, should convince us that we must not take these things for granted - our health and very lives for the sake of our immediate need or convenience.
The evidence is inconclusive but some studies do indicate a possible link between EMF exposure and cancer, as I mentioned in a previous post:
http://brazosdedios-english.blogspot.com/2007/02/cell-phone-use-and-cancer.html
This is a site with more info and products to measure and shield against excessive EMF exposure:
EMF Safety Superstore

We must take personal responsibility for our lives and not assume that someone else or the civil government will always take care of us.

bankruptcy of the US

In 1913 when the Federal Reserve was created, the US began to borrow our national currency from this new corporation of international bankers and so begins to owe interest on our own money. A really bizarre twist!
The following refers to what happened next. I'm not sure how factual it is but it certainly makes sense and would explain a lot. It is an excerpt from http://www.nomoreserfs.com/notice_to_public_servants.htm :
From 1913 until 1933, the United States paid the “interest” with more and more gold. The structured inevitability soon transpired: the Treasury was empty, the debt was greater than ever, and the United States declared bankruptcy. In exchange for using notes belonging to bankers who create them out of nothing on our own credit, we are forced to repay in substance (labor, property, land, businesses, resources - life) in ever-increasing amounts. This may be the greatest heist and fraud of all time.

FIAT EMPIRE - Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution