Home Under Siege

Political science will never produce a “law.” One thing I’ve proposed, though, is that the world tends toward entropy. This may be the closest the we ever get. A few rungs down the ladder, however, might be the assertion that interventionism ultimately fails.

In an era when our “knowledge” and “wisdom” about the world falls short of translating into meaningful outcomes for international state-building and development efforts, the seeming prescription would be to embark upon as few ambitious projects as possible,  if any, given their history of backfiring whereby the results are the complete opposite of the intended effect.

A new, though unoriginal article from the U.K.’s Guardian notes that Karzai ‘would fall in weeks’ if NATO pulls out. WEEKS! We could easily dismiss this claim as David Miliband’s posturing for public support of his American ally. Prone to skepticism, though, we are still more inclined to believe this than we are inclined to dismiss it.

Indeed, this regime already fell when they not only failed to be swept out of office by Afghan voters, but were implicated in widespread, though unsurprising election fraud. In the same way that Americans would have been dismayed at the prospect of a third presidential term of George Bush, the failure of Afghans to sweep away the staleness and incompetence of the Karzai club for iota or semblance of hope is more powerfully disappointing and game-changing than anyone in a high post would be willing to admit. Even given this, it works in our favor insofar as we’ve already determined that we should be leaving. After having allowed the fruit of our earlier 2002/2003 success there to completely decay under the Bush administration’s mismanagement – and finally coming to the realization that it would probably would never be ripe for picking again short of growing an entirely new tree, the lack of a viable partner will aide us in justifying lowered benchmarks and the ultimate withdrawal.

Behind Karzai’s veneer of ‘presidency’ (and the power we associate with state leadership) is a weakness so perverse that any gains would be fleeting at best. Demands of this fight, by all estimates, require several times their GDP in funding.  Behind America’s veneer of potential control over the situation there is a social dynamic we don’t understand even remotely well enough to manipulate. The untapped power is that of the Afghan people, miserable and living in too much squalor to be overly ideological about who fixes the situation so long as it improves provides the only real long-term hope. Behind Taliban power rests dynamics which automatically play into their favor ranging from aerial bombardment to the existing cultural skepticism of centralized government and Talibanization which increases at an increasing rate with the passage of time in this conflict.

Putting myself at risk of sounding simplistic, I’ll invoke Vietnam here. Our efforts were largely in vain insofar as our last helicopters departed the embassy under threat of being shot down as we withdrew – losing to the communist scourge. If we indulge in gross over-simplification, it was only through grassroots efforts that Vietnam later democratized.

With our recent success (even withstanding the very recent failure at Fort Hood) at exposing large numbers of domestic terrorists, we seem better served in focusing our resources toward commanding  endogenous security factors than attempting to improve domestic security through dangerously ambitious exogenous ventures. Indeed, as we’ve seen, there are significant improvements which can be made to our internal security structures at small fractions of the cost of international war.

Jack Snyder’s prophesy detailing the dangers of over-expansive foreign policy include 3 critical elements that explain some of the most hazardous, though incessantly recurrent elements of intervention. His three most important claims are that

• states either mistakenly or purposefully (though falsely) apply the domino theory logic of cumulative gains and losses when attempting to justify war. Losing is such that negative effects, of terrorism or communism for example, will spread to other parts of the region. Likewise, domino theory asserts that gains are regionally contagious and that hard-power operations pay off in multiples because the positive effects spread, too.  This is more a device to condone our foreign policy actions than they are recurrent side-effects of foreign policy expansion. Further, non-state actors command a degree of fluidity that makes any gains difficult.
• states paint their foes as both “paper tigers” and existential threats. We somehow always tend to convince ourselves that we are able to “nip problems in the bud” in decisive manners though, often in the same breath, we paint these threats as potentially so existentially ominous as to disallow inaction. We are supposedly, dually able to defeat these threats through “shock and awe” campaigns as they are able to obliterate us from the face of earth if we aren’t smart enough to get them first.
• states over-expand foreign policy based on the concept of offensive or preventive advantage. Insofar as groups like al-Qaeda generate their ranks based on expansive foreign policy in the Middle East, it goes without saying that the conduct of war, short of the obliteration of their stock recruitment populations is nearly impossible.

In the post-Afghanistan world, though, I’ll be patiently waiting to see how soon it is before we embark upon another ambitious exogenous hard-power venture.

What lessons of history?

If you love dollie dresses, you’re gonna love these gifts from GPD and The Doll House.

GPD has the Web Maid (left) in the Midnight Mania board, so head on over, give it a poke, then take a look at the other great clothing GPD has to offer. Don’t forget to check out the lucky chairs, where I was lucky enough to pick up the Missy Dollie dress (right).

Right next door, on LVS drive, stop to see if the pumpkins are still out for the trick-or-treat hunt there. If you’re lucky, and they’re still out, The Doll House has the cute Ghost Treats dress (center) for you.

• GPD:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cassiopeia%20Harbor/99/128/23
• The Doll House:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/LVS%20Drive/112/228/22

I was in Leonardo’s the other day when my friend mentioned that I had missed a hippie convention while I was out of town for the weekend.

I’m glad I was gone. I hate it when people flock to town like it’s their own personal Woodstock. Which, for these people, it was. Which brings us to the story that broke yesterday. Here’s the set-up:

The big party this weekend was called Fest. For those of you who haven’t heard of it before, it’s kinda like a convention for garage bands and their groupies. A good excuse to listen to some music, knock back liberal amounts of alcohol, go crazy. That sort of thing.

The police, of course, are patrolling the streets.

As they’re doing this, they come upon a crowd dancing and partying in the street. There’s about 100, 200, maybe even 500. Stories differ.

The police didn’t try to shut down the party, or stop the show that was going on, but they did try and move people out of the street. Perfectly reasonable.

Some people were either too drunk or having too much of a good time to pay attention. Some guy dressed all in silver spandex refused to move after being politely informed to get out of the road. So Gainesville Police Officer Jones got out of the cruiser to arrest him.

Another man interfered with the arrest, and as he attacked the officer, he was quickly Tasered and slapped in handcuffs as well.

Witnesses from the scene dispute that the man attacked Jones, saying “We’re not going to tolerate police brutality in this town.”

But no one disputes that most of the “witnesses” present were not, in fact, slobbering drunk at that point. And no one disputes what happened next.

Mayhem broke loose as the drunken mob attacked the officers with “hands, fists, feet, cans, and bottles.”

This is disgusting.

The police in this town have a hard go of it. I’ve read the stories over my years here, and every time the police do anything, people complain. These are the men and women who, every day, protect the streets of this city, sometimes with their lives. Their lives!

And how do we treat them? Like ingrates.

The reaction of the police was swift. If they protect anyone the best, it is when they are coming to the aid of one of their own. That’s the kind of fierce devotion you would want of someone, were you in a tight spot.

More than 20 officers responded. Five people were arrested.

Currently, there 14 comments on the Alligator article that went up yesterday. One of them accuses police of using “cowardly methods” to arrest people, and that attacking a police officer from behind sounds like a good idea. What kind of an upside-down world are we living in, where people think it is fair to say these things?

A response to his comment went like this:

“Cowardly methods? How do you propose police do things? They have no idea if anyone is armed at any point and time. And hundreds give their lives every year for their community. If they took a risk every time and were not tactful more would die.

I am glad for all the officers do, it’s not an easy job I don’t think. I would have to put myself in their shoes.

Bottom line, people will always complain about police because it gives them something to talk about. People generally don’t like being told what to do and nobody likes to be arrested. So whether they are wrong or not, these subjects will be biased.”

Despite whatever the story is, these fools and ingrates only see what they want to see: excessive police force. What a stupid and pointless way to interpret the world around you. If you refuse to trust the people who are entrusted to protect you, where does that leave you?

Not the clothes, “Bad, bad” is the title of the piece she’s standing in front of. It’s more a performance piece, and the little bit of what you see behind her is part of the artwork that is the product of the performance piece.

After dealing with her a few times, most people would just shake their heads and mutter, “She’s a real work of art, that one is.”

She took it as a compliment.

She had her own sense of style, that much was certain, and if people wanted to refer to her as a work of art, that was their prerogative.

*TSM* Voodoo Hampster Hairsticks from Helena Stringer, of course. I mean, really, who else would have thought up Voodoo Hampster Hairsticks? Dress is an apple bobbing treat from GPD, and it’s absolutely Delish. Hair is an old gifty from Bishwear, and skin is a new gifty from Ruin.. but you’re gonna have to find it in the Stringer Halloween Hunt.

• The Stringer Mausoleum:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Aurora%20Vale/56/203/79
• GPD:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cassiopeia%20Harbor/108/127/548
• Bishwear:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/BishWear%20Island/94/169/21

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in its latest emerging markets update that “the worst appears to be over for Hungary”.

After several quarters of contraction “we see an improvement in the year-on-year GDP dynamics from Q3 2009 onwards and positive quarter-on-quarter growth from Q1 2010, driven by a rebound in manufacturing”.

It said it now forecasts a 0.2% real GDP growth in 2010 after a 6.6% decline in 2009, “with a more robust recovery prevented by a restrictive policy mix”.

A chart in the report shows that the City consensus still calls for a 0.7% GDP drop next year.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, Hungary’s economy should grow by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2010, with quarterly growth rates picking up to 4.7% by the end of next year, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch says.

It says its strategists see euro/forint in a downtrend ranging between 235 and 264 over the next 12-15 months, and that interest rates should decline to 3.5%-5.5% in 2010 if the forint remains unchanged or gets stronger.

The lagged effects of the massive negative output gap, around minus 8%, combined with the still weak domestic demand and forint appreciation, is likely to push the headline CPI to 1.5%-2% year-on-year in late 2010, below the MNB’s 3% target, the report adds.

Voor degenen die al hadden zitten bladeren in de Spectrum van vandaag: door allerlei opmaaktechnische onmogelijkheden en vakantieplanningen bij GPD (ingewikkeld…) komt er vandaag geen artikel in de serie Lilian Goes America. Dit wordt volgende week goed gemaakt. Het goede nieuws: alweer een week daarna komt de volgende aflevering.

The NY Times ran an op-ed piece today from a historian/political science (Eric Zencey) entitled “G.D.P. R.I.P.” where he made the argument that gross domestic product as the indicator in widest usage for taking the temperature of the economy is outmoded.

People have been saying this for decades and I’ve been saying it for at least half that time.

A good anecdote he used was that when someone gets into a car accident and repairs their vehicle, GDP goes up (though that person’s personal economy is negatively impacted).

He failed, however, to propose a different instrument with which we could measure a state’s economic developmental efficacy. I have.

The following instrument was brought to my attention in a sociology class (Social Inequality). It’s called a Gini Coefficient or a Gini Index. I’ve plagued every instructor of political economy topics I’ve ever had since I learned about it – and not a single one had ever heard of it before I brought it to their attention. (Kudos to Professor Regina Burres for disseminating this knowledge.)

The Gini Coefficient is a statistical dispersion plot of everyone’s income within an entire state where economic egalitarianism can be given a rankable quantity. Zero represents perfect equality of incomes (everyone in the state has the same) where 1 represents perfect inequality (where one person has all the income while others have none). This “coefficient” is often multiplied by 100 to make more sense.

Sweden, in 2005, had an index of 23 (0.23). Namibia had an index of 70.7 (0.707). Elite Namibians monopolized larger shares of their nation wealth than elite Swedes.

When we couple this measure of inequality with ΔGPD we can figure out the social sectors in which growth (or contraction) is happening. If, for instance, GDP grows and the Gini index shrinks, we know that the poorer sectors are prospering. If, though, GPD shrinks and the Gini index grows, the poor have then suffered the brunt of an economic contraction.

It’s not enough to ask whether growth has occurred in a state’s economy. We have to ask where the growth has occurred.

It ought to join buggy whips and VCRs on the dust-heap of history.

Though it’s not totally useless in the macroeconomic universe, these abstractions mean little in the realms of our daily lives – and to that end, I agree with Dr. Zencey.

Indeed, any economist would have gladly told him, though, that the rampant use of GDP as a measure of well-being, especially in the long-term is not the fault of economics/economists. This was probably more attributable to social scientists.

GDP is measure of short-run output and nothing more. In this sense, it never died as an index of well-being because it never really was. Insofar as it is useless for this purpose is more a testament to the stupidity of the people misusing it. GPD remains an important index for macroeconomic study.

To that end, Zencey’s analysis should join the “dust heap” because only people of his sort have lent GDP credence outside its intended realm of relevance.

DAMN: I love demolishing people’s (bad) work.

]]> http://escritorluiznazario.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/memorias-do-gpd/ Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:38:46 +0000 Luiz Nazario http://escritorluiznazario.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/memorias-do-gpd/

Fotomontagem de John Heartfeld: Como na Idade Média

Entre 1995 e 1998, coordenei, a convite de Rifka Berezin, o Grupo de Pesquisa da Discriminação (GPD), criado através de um convênio entre o Núcleo de Estudos da Violência (NEV) e o Centro de Estudos Judaicos (CEJ), no Departamento de Línguas Orientais da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Os pesquisadores Adélia Dimantas, Alcebíades Diniz Miguel, Alicia Salama, Elaine Mansano, Rachel Mizrahi, Suzana Santos e Túlio Kahn integravam a equipe.

O GPD mantinha um banco de dados amplo e sistemático sobre discriminação, intolerância, racismo, antissemitismo, extremismo e terrorismo no Brasil e no mundo. Cruzando e analisando informes sobre a discriminação contra minorias (negros, índios, judeus, homossexuais, travestis, ciganos, mulheres, idosos, crianças, loucos, intelectuais); monitorando as mídias de consumo (revistas, jornais e outros meios de comunicação de massa); montando um arquivo de recortes, panfletos, revistas e boletins de ocorrências, o GPD editou entre 1995 e 1998, para informar outros grupos de pesquisa, instituições e universidades, 16 boletins O Estado da Sociedade, com 04 páginas cada um e nos quais as informações coletadas eram colocadas em contexto mais amplo, retirando a ornamentação de neutralidade que o tratamento jornalístico dota as informações urgentes sobre intolerância.

O Conselho Editorial d’O Estado da Sociedade – título que refletia bem nossas pesquisas, e era ainda uma ironia comparativa com o Estado de S. Paulo, um dos gigantes da mídia, ante nossa completa ausência de recursos materiais – reunia alguns dos mais renomados doutores da USP: Anita Novinsky, Izidoro Blikstein, Jacó Guinsburg, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro e Rifka Berezin. No trajeto do GPD as reflexões foram férteis, não limitando os pesquisadores à coleta de materiais: ensaios, seminários e projetos de exposições estão entre suas realizações. Alguns desses projetos não puderam ser realizados.

Concebemos, por exemplo, o que seria um primeiro Museu do Holocausto no Brasil. Imaginamos a formação de um Arquivo de Documentação da Discriminação, com uma biblioteca contendo memórias, testemunhos, depoimentos orais e manuscritos, romances, novelas, contos e poemas de autores que sobreviveram ou sucumbiram ao Holocausto; histórias e análises do nacional-socialismo e dos campos de concentração; estudos sobre imigração judaica, totalitarismo, antissemitismo, racismo, sexismo, movimentos integralistas, fascistas e neonazistas no Brasil e no mundo; literatura de propaganda antissemita, racista, sexista; periódicos e hemeroteca especializados. Um arquivo eletrônico conteria um banco de dados informatizado, com acesso aos dados de outros centros no Brasil e no exterior e interface na Internet. A seção audiovisual abrigaria fototeca e videoteca com filmes de ficção e documentários nacional-socialistas e sobre o Holocausto; material gravado de televisões e instituições. O Arquivo editaria uma revista periódica sobre temas relacionados ao Holocausto, promovendo exposições informativas e artísticas em colaboração com o Museu Yad Vashem, o Museu do Holocausto de Washington e o Jewish Museum (o Museu da Shoah de Paris ainda não existia).

Outro projeto, concebido para um evento sobre Direitos Humanos em 1997, coordenado por Renato Janine Ribeiro, no Centro Universitário Maria Antonia da USP, que reabrira em 1993, foi planejado, mas não aprovado, e os motivos para essa censura discreta nunca foram explicados. Tratava-se de uma exposição intitulada As ruínas da modernidade. A montagem visava despertar uma reflexão crítica sobre a natureza totalitária do novo terrorismo e alertar para os perigos de sua crescente difusão através das novas tecnologias, como TV a cabo e a Internet, cuja implantação massiva tentava compensar, como pretensa panacéia universal, o fracasso das ideologias humanistas. A exposição consistiria num “panorama” (à maneira dos panoramas do século XIX, precursores do cinema), para evocar a destruição causada pelo terror moderno, deslocando o público para um mundo onde a segurança não existe mais.

A forma do “panorama” inspirava-se também no misterioso cromeleque de Stonehenge, formado por gigantescos monólitos de 1,5 a 6 metros de altura, pesando até 30 toneladas cada um, erigidos em estrutura circular quatro mil anos atrás, comportando ao centro a Pedra de Altar. A idéia era associar visualmente o novo terror (capaz de destruir edifícios inteiros, fazendo centenas de vítimas) às formas mais primitivas do culto ao sacrifício. A instalação consistiria de um círculo formado por 10 painéis de 1,80 metros de altura por 90 cm de comprimento, com imagens de edifícios, locais e veículos destruídos por atentados, plotadas de fotos de imprensa; intercalados a 10 painéis menores, de 55,5 cm X 34,5 cm, contendo textos sobre a essência do novo terror e a 10 monitores de TV transmitindo seqüências em looping de implosão de edifícios.

No centro se ergueria um Altar de Sacrifícios de 1,80 m por 1,80 m e com 65 cm de altura sobre um suporte de 1,90 m por 1,90 m, recoberto pela fotomontagem de John Heartfeld intitulada Como na Idade Média, onde um homem é martirizado numa suástica. A base do Altar seria “decorada” por centenas de manchetes de atentados cometidos nos últimos anos, a maioria deles em conexão com grupos de extrema-direita e de fundamentalistas islâmicos. O espaço circundante seria recoberto de latas, vidros, pedras e destroços de todo tipo, como se a própria sala tivesse sofrido um atentado a bomba.

O GPD foi também o primeiro Grupo de Estudo na Área de Ciências Humanas na USP a criar um sítio na Internet, estando suas páginas on line desde 1995, com apresentação e histórico do grupo; todos os números do boletim; interatividade para que os visitantes pudessem manifestar opiniões, registrar ocorrências documentadas de discriminação e obter dados para suas pesquisas. O sítio foi criado por Túlio Kahn, doutor em Ciências Políticas. A editoração gráfica estava a cargo de Alcebíades Diniz Miguel, com revisão de Elaine Mansano. Adélia Dimantas, Alicia Salama, Rachel Mizrahi e Suzana Santos coletavam matérias.

O GPD desenvolveu pesquisas de caráter histórico, sociológico e pedagógico abordando o racismo e a discriminação, objetivando incentivar a produção científica e ampliar o fórum de discussões nos meios acadêmicos e em instituições interessadas em debater temas como: Revisionismo, Negação do Holocausto; Terrorismo; Manipulação “Antissionista” nas Mídias; Fundamentalismo Islâmico; Neonazismo; Racismo na Internet – temas cuja discussão tornou-se hoje candente foram, assim, pioneiramente tratados nos boletins, ensaios e projetos do GPD.

Testemunhando decisivas mudanças históricas, esse material apresenta um approach original para assuntos que somente depois de 11 de setembro de 2001 passaram a ser objeto de discussão nas mídias de consumo. O Banco de Dados sobre discriminação, implantado em 1994, com mais de 300 registros sobre manifestações de intolerância, permitia uma troca de informações com centros semelhantes em todo o mundo, como o The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, que oferece suporte legal através de cópias de pareceres e sentenças de casos julgados no mundo inteiro; o The International Council Against Anti-Semitism (IPCAA), sediado em Londres; o CEJI, na Bélgica, que atua em instituições da Comunidade Européia. Hoje, sobretudo depois de 11 de setembro de 2001, inúmeros centros desenvolvem pesquisas semelhantes.

O acervo do GPD, montado por Túlio Kahn, e alimentado com material secundário, recuperava os principais incidentes raciais e discriminatórios ocorridos no país desde 1992. Podiam-se fazer buscas por local da ocorrência, tipo de vítima, tipo de causador, data, fonte, natureza do incidente e outras variáveis. Cada registro contava com um breve resumo do caso e referências para uma pesquisa mais completa. O sistema utilizava a linguagem Paradox.

A cobertura, limitada pelos nossos recursos pessoais, reduzia-se aos jornais Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, Notícias Populares, O Globo, Jornal do Brasil, Resenha Judaica, Jerusalem Post, Le Monde, La Nacion e Comunidades, às revistas Veja, Istoé, Manchete, A Hebraica, Conib, Shalom, Israel, Herança Judaica, além de outras fontes coletadas de forma não-sistemática. O GPD não tinha a intenção de atuar diretamente no âmbito judicial contra manifestações discriminatórias, mas de fornecer subsídios aos que militavam na área.

Na Europa, notificavam-se desde os anos de 1980 inúmeros atentados contra estrangeiros, numa violência crescente entre bandos juvenis. Nos Estados Unidos, os conflitos raciais intensificavam-se. Do Canadá ao Brasil, grupos neonazistas fortaleciam-se através das redes eletrônicas de comunicação. Fenômeno marginal – diziam os sociólogos e psicólogos que se ocupavam da delinqüência juvenil. Contudo, aquela marginalidade não desembocava numa revolta “esquerdista” contra o establishment; ela assumia a forma da violência contra o mais fraco. O jovem infeliz agregava-se a bandos para atacar os diferentes; a suástica transformava-se em “símbolo de protesto”, e seu significado, carregado de horror, tornava-se o ideal dos novos rebeldes.

Os modernos meios de comunicação e transporte transformavam a sociedade humana num conglomerado, onde o que acontecia num quadrante repercutia imediatamente nos outros – fatos, vírus, idéias, costumes, tudo passou a ser irradiado sob a forma de epidemias: atentados, modismos, tudo era imediatamente globalizado. A intimidade dos indivíduos, o mistério da sexualidade, a singularidade dos caracteres e a particularidade das culturas tendem a desaparecer sob o impacto dessa massificação sem paralelo. Engolfados no oceano de informações e incapazes de comunicar entre si, os homens enlouquecem de tanta solidão.

Sobretudo os jovens sentem-se perdidos, num mundo que lhes parece natural e sem História, funcionando no modo de um presente contínuo. Passam a sentir uma atração irresistível pelo crime, pelo mal, pela perversidade. Acostumados à degradação dos corpos pela publicidade, pela pornografia e pelo cinema, deixam-se tatuar e mutilar, cedendo a rituais primitivos de iniciação. Das chicotadas da Madonna e da Tiazinha aos monstros sedutores dos quadrinhos, o sadomasoquismo transbordava na cultura de massa. O Eros nazista foi assimilado pela sociedade de “bem-estar”, acrítica por excelência. O sadomasoquismo é uma fonte de energia em expansão, através da música “Oi”, da propaganda revisionista, dos atentados a bomba, celebrado pelas mídias “democráticas”, irradiado do centro mesmo do poder.

No International Seminar on Methods of Struggle Against Anti-Semitism, realizado em janeiro de 1995, na Universidade de Tel-Aviv, coordenado por Dina Porat, propôs-se que o antissemitismo não fosse mais tratado como manifestação entre outras do racismo, da xenofobia, do extremismo, mas entendido em sua singularidade e combatido com métodos e leis específicas, em cada país. É do interesse da comunidade judaica e da sociedade brasileira como um todo manterem-se informadas da escalada de antissemitismo, da propaganda revisionista, da vandalização dos monumentos judaicos e dos memoriais do Holocausto, do terrorismo de massa em todo o mundo, para agir adequadamente diante da formação e do crescimento de grupos extremistas e da propagação do antissemitismo.

A organização do GPD decorria, pois, da necessidade de se encontrar caminhos adequados ao combate das novas formas de propaganda de massa (games, vídeos, Internet) que disseminava e continua a disseminar, cada vez mais intensamente, a intolerância de maneira instantânea, em redes planetárias. A criação do fax 24 horas Hot Line (41-22-917-0092, à época), para reportar violações de direitos humanos em todo o mundo, por iniciativa de José Ayala Lassa, da Alta Comissão dos Direitos Humanos das Nações Unidas, em Genebra, era então um exemplo que nos inspirava.

A especificidade do antissemitismo ainda não foi plenamente contemplada pela ONU, deixando em aberto a questão da difusão das ideologias extremistas, freqüentemente disfarçadas de religiosidade, e permitidas pela legislação que garante a liberdade de expressão. É o caso dos CDs e vídeos nazistas comercializados pela Internet em sites nazistas localizados nos EUA. Coletar informações e dar encaminhamento a denúncias é uma decorrência do preceito de “pensamento global e ação local”, do qual compartilhamos. A discriminação baseia-se na generalização. Ela nasce quando se atribui a um indivíduo características supostamente pertencentes a um grupo, ou quando se estende a um grupo características negativas – ou mesmo positivas – de um integrante desse grupo. Não quer dizer que não existam características de grupo passíveis de serem atribuídas aos seus membros.

A discriminação opera, contudo, uma naturalização dessas características que são, quando reais, históricas e culturais. A discriminação emerge de frustrações e ressentimentos, independente da posição social dos que a praticam, e trabalha no atacado, simplificando violentamente o mundo: os fenômenos observados em sociedade são apreendidos como naturais, imutáveis, eternos. Ela funciona como compensação psicológica para a repressão das potencialidades do indivíduo. Aquele que discrimina inferioriza quem não pertence ao seu grupo. As características diferentes são consideradas “vícios” ou “defeitos”.

Num estágio extremo, a discriminação leva à formação de grupos de perseguição que, culpando o Outro por todos os males da sociedade, organizam caçadas e linchamentos e, no poder, instituem leis raciais, campos de concentração e extermínio. Para evitar esses extremos, devemos prestar atenção às formas embrionárias da discriminação. Como escreveu Hannah Arendt, “o racismo pode destruir não só o mundo ocidental, mas toda a civilização humana”. Denunciar e combater a discriminação, a intolerância e o racismo são condições imprescindíveis da convivência democrática. Vivendo plenamente, aceitando o Outro nos outros e em nós mesmos, talvez possamos melhorar o estado da sociedade.

Não se filiando a nenhum partido político, uma vez que a discriminação é um fenômeno que percorre todas as relações humanas e todos os grupos de interesse, o GPD pretendeu estudar as diversas formas de discriminação. Adotou os métodos mais modernos de análise da intertextualidade do discurso, identificando as expressões de intolerância, as imagens preconceituosas e as idéias segregacionistas nas tendências antidemocráticas que circulam nas mídias, nos grupos de pressão, nos movimentos políticos e sociais.

A proposta do GPD era mais abrangente que a de outros grupos, pois propunha denunciar o racismo e a discriminação em qualquer segmento da sociedade, contra qualquer grupo ou indivíduo. Assinalamos todos os fenômenos de exclusão social e intolerância, motivados por religião, orientação sexual, sexo, etnia, cor, cultura, assim como as manifestações preconceituosas que partem das próprias minorias discriminadas. Desse modo, procuramos manter a autonomia em relação a grupos de pressão, partidos políticos e militantes.

O GPD foi citado em diversas matérias pelo Jornal da USP e convidado pela EDUSP para divulgar O Estado da Sociedade na feira do livro de 1995 na Associação A Hebraica. Organizamos na B’nai B’rith um painel sobre Ameaças Globais aos Sistemas Democráticos. Enviamos cartas, boletins e press release para os principais jornais de São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro, organizações e publicações judaicas de todo o Brasil e para o jornal Comunidades, de Buenos Aires. Obtivemos a divulgação do GPD na Federação Israelita do Estado de São Paulo conforme ata da reunião do conselho deliberativo do dia 19 de março de 1996. Nesse ano, participamos do Seminário sobre Antissemitismo na América Latina, promovido pela CONIB, onde distribuímos O Estado da Sociedade aos líderes das comunidades judaicas das Américas.

A Biblioteca do Congresso de Washington solicitou o envio dos nossos boletins. E o The Project for Study of Anti-Semitism, do Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism, da Tel Aviv University, passou a utilizar os dados do GPD como fonte sobre o Brasil para a elaboração de seus relatórios anuais Anti-semitism Worldwide Report. O Grupo de Pesquisa da Discriminação foi, enfim, um laboratório precursor dos atuais laboratórios dedicados ao tema na USP: o Laboratório de Estudos da Intolerância (LEI) e o Laboratório de Estudos sobre Etnicidade, Racismo e Discriminação (LEER), constituindo uma referência básica para as reflexões sobre as mais diversas formas da discriminação e o estado da sociedade contemporânea.

Admitido em concurso na UFMG, em 1997, ainda tentei dar continuidade ao GPD e por alguns anos mantive reuniões com os membros do grupo em viagens a São Paulo, em agradáveis tertúlias em casa de Rachel Mizrahi ou no Café Viena do Conjunto Nacional, de três a quatro vezes por ano; mas nenhum dos pesquisadores do GPD conseguiu fazer carreira na USP e cada qual seguiu seu próprio caminho na luta pela sobrevivência, sem tempo para produzir novos boletins, que davam mesmo muito trabalho. Sem qualquer apoio, acabamos desistindo.

Pessoalmente, ainda mantenho um compromisso que herdei do GPD: a elaboração, em parceria com Graciela Ben-Dror, responsável pela América Latina, do relatório anual sobre o Brasil para o Anti-Semitism Worldwide Report, editado por Dina Porat e Roni Stauber, relatório que também, desde 2006, não é mais publicado em papel, e disponível agora apenas on line. Apesar dos inevitáveis lapsos de tradução nos meus informes (do português para o espanhol, do espanhol para o inglês, do inglês de volta para o português e assim por diante), este relatório permanece o mais acurado e completo banco de dados sobre o tema.

We see and hear a lot of reasons presented why we need to adopt a universal healthcare model in the United States.  The most frequently cited is that if we look at other developed nations, they have universal healthcare and spend less of their GDP on healthcare than we do; that if we adopt a model similar to theirs, our healthcare costs will be lowered and the delivery of healthcare will improve.

The Walker Report makes the case using the newly signed stimulus package as a cost comparison:

If we adopt any one of the health care systems used by the dozens of first world nations with universal health care, we would save the equivalent of one stimulus package a year.

The article above even goes so far as opining that if we could only be as efficient as Luxembourg or Finland, our healthcare system would be great…but that might not be an attainable goal, so maybe doing as well as  Germany, France, or Switzerland might be our best goal for now.

One thing I love about the internet is quick access to numbers and statistics.  While GDP serves as one measure, perhaps a better one is actual dollars spent per capita in US dollars?  That way we’re comparing real dollars to real dollars rather than an abstract percentage of gross-domestic-product.

Nation Master is a neat site that lets you define out statistics by category and includes the category “health” for the nations in its database.  When we do a search for across the board “health” and then  “total expenditure in US$” we are returned statistics that reveal that in 2004 (latest data available for all reporting countries) the following was spent, in US-dollars, by each country in the list, sourced from the World Development Indicators Database:

United States:  $6096 per person annually

Luxumborg:  $5904 per person annually

Finland:  $2664.30 per person annually

France:  $3464 per person annually

Germany:  $3521.4 per person annually

Switzerland:  $5571.90 per person annually

I’m left scratching my head about why Luxembourg is considered more efficient when they only spend $194 less per person each year?  I mean Finland is obviously spending less – with only $2664.30 per person each year, that’s $3,431.70 less spent per person each year.

How do they do it?

Well, another interesting statistic can be had on Nation Master – how often a population visits the doctor, and in the United States we average 8.9 consultations with physicians each year per person; in Finland they consult with a doctor just 4.3 times a year per person. 

So in Finland they use their system about half as often as we do across the population, thus spend about half as much as we do.  Interesting.

Are they really “efficient” as Walker Report thinks they are?

If we spend $6096 on average, for each person each year, and they see the doctor 8.9 times on average in a year, then we’re spending an average $684.94 per doctor visit (or whatever encounter you have – ER visit, hospitalization, etc.)….compare this to Finland, spending $2664.30 per year, per person for 4.3 doctor visits each year – or $619.60 per doctor visit…..now it’s only a difference of $65.33 per doctor visit – not significantly different or more efficient than the United States, huh?

Yet we won’t see these numbers in the media, nor will we hear them on the radio – but the numbers and statistics are out there if you want to find them!

No doubt our healthcare system can be improved – but let’s not rely on myths to reform the system. 

We need facts and data to be able to make good decisions, not myths!

so jerry walks into his sons room and said this really loud while the doctors are standing there thinking why jerrys son had lived but jerrys said “Thank you jesus he alive” and then his son saids thats my pa like a redneck cause jerrys think he still a redneck . Then jerry stardled that doctors. So his son is still not aware of whats going on yet. but his son is getting better.

I am going down to san jose today which is tuesday and will be back friday or on sat. Much needed prayer is going to be needed while i am down there. I dont know the way his son will act towards me. Jerry said his son would be nice to me cause he dont know me or whatever.

So just pray that i do gods will and hopefully change some lives if its ment to be. I going to jerrys son a bible if i get the chance to but jerry has one but doesnt know what he did with it.

I will keep you updated. I guess if my mom lets me take my laptop i can get wireless internet there to so if my mom doesnt let me take my laptop then i can text you all from my phone or you can call me i would texts updates and prayer requests to you guys and let you know how i am doing! Just lets hope i can take my laptop if not just hope i can use of the kids laptops to update you all!

I have to go pack but keep me and jerry and jerrys son and kids and wife in your prayers i am hoping i can change some lives around and have some fun while i am down there!!!

Rachel

P.S. I will keep you updated somehow. Maybe through the status thing on facebook. or wordpress.com. I will find a way. If you want my number to call or text let me know i will give it to you!
Got to go!

Dear Galveston, TX police. I hope you all get herpes in your eyeball and that your toenail fungus spreads to your nostrils and that all of your family realize that you are the most terrible sort of human (barely human) alive. If it were my 12 yr old daughter you beat up and stole from me, I would shove a shotgun up your a-hole and blast away, and I’d smile all the way to death row and write a book about my story and use the proceeds to hire bums and hobo’s to piss on your grave and flash your widow.

If you wanna know why I’m so pissed read the following:

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/12/18/another-isolated-incident-26/

Het lukt politie en justitie tot nu toe niet een voet tussen de deur te krijgen in kringen van gewelddadige dierenactivisten. Volgens een woordvoerder van het landelijk parket van het Openbaar Ministerie is deze wereld zo gesloten dat het niet is gelukt genoeg bewijs te verzamelen om personen voor de rechter te brengen. Hij reageerde hiermee zaterdag op berichtgeving in de GPD-kranten.

Bron: telegraaf  AvH  lees de rest..

Er is wel veel aandacht van de voor dierenrechtenactivisten, maar die heeft de afgelopen vier jaar nog niet tot rechtszaken geleid. “De harde praktijk laat een gesloten wereld zien waar politie en justitie moeilijk toegang toe krijgen”, aldus de zegsman. Het gaat om activisten die bijvoorbeeld auto’s in brand steken van werknemers van bedrijven die proefdieren gebruiken en hen thuis lastigvallen en bedreigen.

De activisten laten geen buitenstaanders toe en bespreken hun zaken niet over de telefoon, waardoor aftappen van telefoons door de politie niks oplevert. “Vaak gaat het bij dierenrechtenactivisten om cellen die van elkaar niet weten wat ze doen”, zegt de OM-woordvoerder.

Hoeveel gewelddadige incidenten zich de afgelopen jaren hebben voorgedaan, is niet bekend. Sinds 2004 is deze vorm van activisme een van de belangrijkste thema’s voor het OM. In april zei minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin van Justitie nog dat hij zou bekijken of de strafmaat voor radicale activisten opgeschroefd kan worden.

Een bekend voorbeeld van geweld door dierenactivisten in Nederland is Science Link in Venray. De aanleg van dit biotechnologische bedrijventerrein werd gestaakt na acties en intimidaties. Activisten bekladden woningen van personen die bij de aanleg betrokken waren en leverden een rouwkrans af. Dit omdat op Science Link volgens de voorvechters van dierenrechten gewerkt zou worden met proefdieren.

Bron: telegraaf  AvH  

A Virginia–based company has developed a system for universities that distinguishes a gunshot from other sounds that could raise alarm, such as a car backfire.

A new acoustic gunfire detection system called SECURES, which is able to discern gunfire from other loud noises like fireworks or car backfires, is being tested at Johns Hopkins University.

SECURES® is an acoustic Gunshot Detection System (GDS) that provides rapid localization of gunfire for quick response by law enforcement and other first responders. From the time of a gunshot incident to the localized display on a GIS map, the elapsed time is only 3-5 seconds. Localization is accomplished usually within ten feet and correlated with the closest street address provided by the GIS database. (photo courtesy of www.planningsystemsinc.com)

“It gives the staff and students a peace of mind,” said Tracey Reeves, John Hopkins spokeswoman.

About three to five seconds after gunfire is detected, law enforcement and other first response teams would be able to locate the event within 10 feet.

Planning Systems Inc., the company that developed SECURES, donated the equipment to the university, which will activate the system tonight, Reeves said.

The company hopes to extend its technology to larger schools around the country like UF, she said.

However, there have been no talks about implementing the system on UF’s 2,000–acre campus, said Steve Orlando, UF spokesman.

“But anything that could help campus safety isn’t a bad idea,” Orlando said.

The University Police Department receives gun scares from people who may have confused the noise with something similar in pitch, said Capt. Jeff Holcomb, UPD spokesman.

In the past two years, there were a few calls from people who saw what they thought was a weapon but may have been a toy gun, Holcomb said.

Even though a campus may receive notice of where the gunfire came from, the timing of the system may still not be quick enough, he said.

“We tell people that any time that they see something on campus to give us a call because UPD may be able to respond faster than the detection system,” he said.

Published on Nov. 20, 2008

Twee oud-werknemers van persdienst GPD zijn schuldig bevonden aan inbraak in de computer van hun voormalige werkgever. De rechtbank in Den Haag heeft de werknemers gisteren voorwaardelijke taakstraffen opgelegd van respectievelijk 100 en 150 uur.

Tegen twee voorlichters van het ministerie van Sociale Zaken, die vroeger bij de Geassocieerde Pers Diensten (GPD) werkten, heeft het OM werkstraffen geëist. De Officier van Justitie acht bewezen dat de twee zich toegang hebben verschaft tot de website van de GPD, zonder dat ze daar recht toe hadden. Ook twee collega’s hoorden werkstraffen tegen zich eisen.

La idea de este post es tener una seria de afirmaciones basicas sobre jBPM que ayuden a aclarar ciertas dudas a la hora de implementar o modelar procesos con jBPM. La siguiente no es una lista estatica, ni pretende tener la verdad absoluta, sino que se ira modificando con la experiencia. Espero que sirva de algo, aca les va:

• jBPM es un framework de desarrollo (recordemos que termina siendo un jar que contiene clases para conformar un BPMS  – Business Process Management System) y no un producto para usuarios finales. Por esto mismo no hay que caer en la mentira de que jBPM es una herramienta solo para analistas que dibujan procesos y estos ya funcionan.
• Cuando usamos el framework jBPM no hay ninguna instancia de servidor de jBPM corriendo. Pensar de esta manera lleva a conceptos erroneos sobre el framework. En el caso de que estemos usando jBPM con persistencia, en este caso si tenemos una instancia de Base de Datos con un schema propio de jBPM corriendo, con la cual el framework jBPM va a mantener conversaciones stateless.
• WebConsole es una aplicacion web que funciona out-of-the-box para probar los procesos que modelamos y ver si se comportan correctamente. Lamentablemente WebConsole no es una aplicacion que puede ser puesta en produccion debido a sus comportamientos erroneos, su falta de QA y su falta de seguridad (opinion personal y respaldada por lo que dicen los foros oficiales de jBPM)
• GPD (Graphic Process Designer, plugin para eclipse) ayuda pero esconde varias cosas y deja afuera a muchos usuarios de otros IDEs que no sean eclipse. Mejor aprendamos a escribir XML.
• Entre jbpm-jpdl.jar y jbpm-enterprise.ear, la diferencia es el empaquetado, las configuraciones (jbpm.cfg.xml, hibernate.cfg.xml) y algunas clases que van a ser fundamentales en entornos Java EE

Heute früh habe ich mir auf der Fahrt ins Büro die Podcast-Folge “PIMP MY BRAIN ZU GETTING THINGS DONE MIT OLIVER GASSNER” von Alex Wunschels Pimp my Brain Podcast angehört. Wenn Sie sich für neue Medien und Marketing interessieren, dann sind die Podcasts und Blogs von Alex Wunschel ein MUSS. Und wenn Sie sich für GTD interessieren, ist Oliver Gassner ein überaus kompetenter Ansprechpartner und vor allem Trainer.

Aber zurück zum Thema: Getting Things Done (kurz GTD) ist von David Allen entwickelte eine Selbst- und Zeitmanagementmethode, die sich seit einigen Jahren zunehmender Beliebtheit erfreut. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich mich noch nicht sehr intensiv damit beschäftigt habe, dass ich aber viele GTD-Prinzipien schon lange praktiziere. Ich habe mir aber vorgenommen, meine GTD Wissenslücken schnellstmöglich zu stopfen. Denn ich glaube, dass sich ein agiler PM Ansatz (wie beispielsweise SCRUM) hervorragend mit GTD Prinzipien ergänzen lässt. Nicht umsonst schreiben 37signals auf der Startseite ihrer PM Lösung Basecamp groß:

Aber nun endgültig zurück zum Thema. Wenn Sie sich für das Thema interessieren, empfehle ich die oben verlinkte Podcast Episode mit Alex und Oliver (Dauer: 30 Min.) oder auch diesen Slidecast von Oliver Gassner, den er vor einiger Zeit veröffentlicht hat (Dauer: 46 Min.):

Weiterführende Links:

Wikipedia-Artikel zu GTD (en)

imgriff.com Blog

Toolblog von Dr. List – Kategorie Selbstmanagement (GTD)

******************************************************************************************************

Wow! Talk about vindictive defensiveness and Eddie Summer’s Letter to All is a prime example. If this is the thinking of the majority of the membership of his organization we needn’t look far to discover the source of the problems the GPD has been and is having.

He  goes far out of his way to attack David Wray. I found this pathetic, unprofessional and plain old sour grapes.

He also claims more man power would solve all GPD’s problems. The Buracker on the other hand puts more man power about fourth on the list of must do’s. The B Report instead highly recommends looking closely at how the current man power is being used and when.  It also points out that more police officers are needed but this was secondary to the way they are currently beeing assigned and used.

The B Report shows in no uncertain terms with its graphs just how poorly the officers are assigned duty with an over load of experienced and upper level 0fficers scheduled for week days and with week ends off. Wray tried to FAIRLY alleviate this problem by going to a rotating shift which has been used by 24 hour operational companies and medical facilities and police departments for many decades to solve the problem of balancing the supervisory level officers and the experience and rookie officers on every shift while at the same time making sure no one person is stuck forever in a less desirable shifts and no one is favored with weekdays and week ends off.

Wray was also working on the promotions problem that got out of hand so much with the previous chief’s. The B Report places this problem at the very top. In fact during the report to City Council the Psychologist and Consultant accompanying Mr. Buracker stated emphatically that in all his years studying police departments he has never seen a system of promotion as bad as Greensboro’s GPD has been using. He went on to say that in fact Greensboro GPD had no promotional standards at all. Funny Officer Summers (if this is the letter writer) has no comments at all on this topic. 

I repeat: Wow! (etc.)  and Yuck!  BB

************************************************************************************************************

I personally did not expect a stinging indictment of the current City Manager,   or Police Chief, or  any naming of names concerning that 1% of the GPD that has caused all the problems, or  any conclusions regarding the Wray case.  This is not what a consultant does.  As Buracker said “the past administration is past history”  and his firms concern is the present and the future.  And all considered I felt the report was good  as given (I have not yet finished reading it but am also impressed with what I have read.  These people know their stuff and did an in depth study.  For those of you who want the indictments you need only read between the lines a bit and they are certainly there loud and clear in every area that needs corrections.  These are the very areas where problems that have upset most of us occurred.   However it was not the consultants place to judge individuals, only systems or groups, if you prefer.  That said I will repeat here a comment from Joe Guarino’’s blog that very much needs repeating and understanding by all of us and all of the City Council if they are ever to begin to crawl out of the mess the GPD is in as well as all of the city government of Greensboro.  If they do this they will fire Mitch Johnson and do a nationwide search for a specialized city manager trained and educated for the position.  BB

Repeat comment:
“Did the GPD get accredited during Wray’s Admin.?
Did the crime statistics shown show a decline during Wray’s Admin? Did Wray not change the officers’ schedules to provide for better coverage and put experienced officers on patrol with rookie officers…only to have the officers complain he was being unfair…senior officers preferred to work 9-5 and off weekends? Did not Buracker’s report show over staffing Mon-Fri, 8:30-4:30 and severe under-staffing Sat-Sun? Did not Wray request more police officers? Did not Wray, also, question off-duty employment and the need to control abuse of it? Did not Buracker indicate to Rakestraw that the time limit for paid administrative leave should be established by the Chief, or the City Manager, or even the City Council if necessary? I thought it was a good report…in fact, it could have been written by David Wray. But, it wasn’t, so now the City Council has an objective, outside opinion to use as a tool to resolve some of the problems in the GPD. Of course, it won’t be easy as the N&R quoted Assist.Chief Harold Scott, commander of the patrol bureau as saying, “No matter what his chart said, we can address community issues with the overlap we have,”…
My response to that is, as a citizen, I would like to have more than 14 to 18 officers on patrol on weekends covering the entire city and I would like them to have help to keep them safe as well.

Posted by: Andy | July 08, 2008 at 01:41 PM

Word Studies in the New Testament

Understanding Divine Knowledge from God–Part One

2Co 4:6

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(New King James Version)

_______________________________________

This verse begins with the word “for” which is translated from the Greek word hoti. One of the other English words for this Greek word is “because”.  Because God performed a certain divine act in the life of the believer, there was a manifested change in the mind of the believer.  The manifested change came in the form of divine revelation knowledge concerning the glory (doxa) of God.  Because God infused, (breathed into the spirit) of the believer, this came about.  This is the working of regeneration as a part of the salvation plan of God.  This regenerative act is a part of 2 Corinthians 5:17  speaks of the “newness” the believer. What was old has passed away, and replaced with all things new.  Our minds have been renewed through this divine act (Romans 12:2).  We have been made alive by God’s Spirit.  Old things–concepts and perceptions have been replaced with fresh spiritual enlightenment. This spiritual enlightenment is an ongoing process in the life of the believer. This renewal process began at the moment we accepted salvation.  Now we are responsible to walk in the light as He is in the light on daily basis.  This will help us to learn the new spiritual knowledge of Him through our growing relationship with Him. 

The action God performed came through a commandment.  The word “command” comes from the Greek word epo, which finds its root in a primary verb, which is used, only in the definite past tense.  The other tenses of this word are borrowed from the Greek word ereo which is translated into English as say 57 times, speak 7 times, tell 4 times and speak of 2 times for a total of 71 times in the King James Version.  It means to utter, to speak, or say.  The other alternate form of epo is rheo, which can be understood as a pouring forth.  In this divine act of God, He poured forth into the new life of the redeemed the knowledge of His glory. 

God broke the silence that had existed for 400 years.  All man had to go on was the laws and commandments that had been received by Moses on Mount Sinai.  Since then, many more man-made laws had been added making the total number of laws 613.  To break one of these laws was to break the whole law.  These inconsistencies were among the many things that Jesus pointed out to his disciples. It was time for humanity to hear and receive the revealed Truth of the One True living God.  It was time for them to come to the knowledge of truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ–God’s only begotten Son.  It was time to set the record straight.  It was time for humanity to get the true description of Who He was, and the love He had in His heart for them.

Since we have been given this knowledge, it should be understood that no man could successfully preach and be of much good if they do not have a working relationship with the Lord and His Written Word.  The individual mind cannot vacillate and hesitate concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ nor did the life that must lead.  When the mind is filled with doubts, there is no faith.  When there is timidity in doing the work of the Lord, then the boldness that is promised has not been received.  The individual who declares what he has no acquaintance with the Lord cannot be effective.  If there is no deep-felt conviction concerning the words written in the Bible, then how can this individual be effective for the kingdom of heaven?  There is a lack of understanding concerning what the individual affirms.  How can they stand by something that they do not understand? 

What then should be the standard by which to measure the effectiveness of a person’s words concerning Jesus and His gospel?  This lesson teaches that there must be God-given spiritual enlightenment.  The individual must be God-breathed upon in order to receive the right illumination.  There are illuminations that have their source in the rulers of darkness, and then there is the true Illuminator who shines through to the heart causing a change.  There must be a relationship developed through personal interaction and experience with Jesus Christ. 

Copyright©2008Pamela Ann Williams-Paige. All rights reserved