I hope I am not dating myself here with the above title, but it is what the following articles reminded me of, seemingly silly and outdated, not necessary to say the least, as long as you are being above board and totally honest. Twitter, Face Book and other media is flooding the news with “not new” FTC laws that everyone needs to follow. Now, by everyone who do I mean? Anyone who advertises, promotes a product, service or company, to another by means of any form of media, including by not limited to Twitter, Face Book and yes, blogging.

I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of “a few bad apples” spoiling everything for everyone else. For Pete’s sake folks, come on. Just be honest, disclose everything and you will be ok, Big Brother will leave you alone.

After taking time to read the FTC guidelines, I found there was one common point through out the article, “just disclose the truth” and you will be left alone by the FTC. So, do you get it? I certainly did and only to find out that none of this law is new, no it is already and has already been in place. So, why the frenzy? Hmmm, maybe there are companies out there promoting new products to get your hard earned dollars by scaring you into thinking that you need what they offer? Now, isn’t that a concept? Make sales by deceiving the consumer…well now, maybe they should have read the FTC law themselves?

Ok, enough, here is a report and a video, done by 60 Minutes that will help you see through all of the smoke, I did.

http://bit.ly/7wJCF3

Why?

Allah Akbar!

Why is the American media pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people? Why is the government lying to us about the motives? There are so many questions which are running inside my head it is making me dizzy. What happened last week at Fort Hood is most obviously an attack on America and American values. The perpetrator, who has been referred to as the ‘alleged attacker’, most obviously subscribed to a religious belief which glorifies violent struggle with what they perceive as the Great Satan.

WHY!

Why do the ‘journalists’ like Gerlado Rivera constantly make excuses for terrorists? To compare this attack with Columbine is completely insane. The struggle of Jihad is most obvious if a person opens his eyes around the world and asks who is killing the innocent people. Virtually the entire world is feeling the scourge of Islam. Even if there is only a ’small’ percentage of Muslims who believe the Saudi brand of radical Wahabbism there are Billions of muslims, meaning that there are many Millions of radicalized muslims.

WHY?!?

“G-d is Great” the terrorist cries out as he kills his victims. To these crazed religious animals this is the ultimate glory before their vision of G-d. To me, as a religious Jew, it is the most vile form of desecration of the holiness of life. At the point they are killing others they are prepared to take their own lives. This Fort Hood attacker had no intention of living through his attack. He had given away many of his possessions ( . http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2009/11/us-military-base-shooting-suspect-gave.html ).

Why did the government have surveillance on the attacker? It is known at this time that they were monitoring his communications. It is known that he had made contact with a lunatic exiled Al Queda Imam who is living in Yemen now. It is also known that he purchased an automatic weapon at a local gun shop over the summer. Why!? Why!? Why was he walking around the base wearing his islamic prayer robes? Did this not make anyone wonder why? It was not Halloween!

ALLAH AKBAR!

WHY was the safety of the poor victims not taken into consideration? Those poor victims whose loved ones will also wonder WHY!?!? What is wrong with our American government? Something is rotten in the core of our government and our media is going along with glee.

Every news article which appears on the internet shows a smiling face of the shooter. He could be the boy next door and he is a damn handsome ‘Palestinian’ soldier boy. How could anyone hold his murderous rampage against him? He had PTSD even though he had never served a day in combat. They are making excuses for this vile example of a human and he has refused to talk and will only talk with his ‘lawyer’.

Will the American people go like sheep to the slaughter? Those who know what is happening know that the goal of Islam is the creation of a global caliphate which will establish sharia law. And we know the status the ‘Infidel’ and the ‘Jew’ have in an Islamic world. Listen to the Imams spewing their hatred from the pulpit. There is genuine hatred in every Friday sermon in the middle east. Do we sit around waiting for them to lay the blade against our outstretched throats? We also learn from history that Hitler {y’s} made it clear that he hated Jews and wanted to remove them from the world. Yet everyone just sat around waiting for them to build the ovens and the gas chambers.

Now the Iranians are sporting to build some nuclear weapons. They have achieved a political position now where the world is almost resigned to a nuclear Iran. The repercussions of such a thing will be huge. Iran has a history of supplying weapons and terrorists to major organizations around the world. Iran will threaten the world once it has the ability to launch long range nuclear missiles. And we know that MAD {Mutual Assured Destruction} will not be a deterrent. Because Islam believes that there is glory in death, and they want to bring on the war to end the world.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Mahdi#Significance_of_the_Twelfth_Imam ).

“Shi’as believe that Imam al-Mahdi will reappear when the world has fallen into chaos and civil war emerges between the human race for no reason. At this time, it is believed, half of the true believers will ride from Yemen carrying white flags to Mecca, while the other half will ride from Karbala, in Iraq, carrying black flags to Mecca. At this time, Imam al-Mahdi will come wielding G-d’s Sword, the Blade of Evil’s Bane, Zulfiqar (), the Double-Bladed Sword.”

WHY!? Why is the world sitting back and waiting? The enemy of America has risen its head and it sees that we are weak. They have no fear of America and this is why they have infiltrated our most intimate of agencies. In the desire for America to be a ‘melting-pot’ as it has been historically it has allowed a generation of arabs into our schools and our offices in the hopes they would assimilate. Many do assimilate but it also seems that second or third generation arabs have a desire to embrace their inner islam, and jihad is very exciting.

The business of Jihad is hot these days with many opinions from various Imams. Look at the indoctrination which occurs in Aza in Israel. The arabs are taught while still in the cradle to be suicide bombers and to hate Jews and the west with a passion. Just watch some of the stuff they say @ http://www.memri.org/ . These ‘people’ are taught that the Holocaust never happened and that Jews drink the blood of arab children. These ‘poor’ childrens minds are twisted from such an early age that it would take 2 generations before the propaganda they have been indoctrinated with will be forgotten.

I try to remain calm as I watch the world which I grew up with slowly destroyed. Why! I scream out late in night under my covers. My eyes tear up when I think that my brother was a victim of these twisted demons. I ask myself why my fellow Americans have pulled the wool over their eyes and they pretend that there is nothing wrong. Political Correctness can be downright deadly at times.

The wake up call occurred eight years ago and yet America is still in a deep denial. I am trying my hardest to get the world to see that Islam is not the religion of peace which it calls itself. It is a very dangerous ideology which can easily be twisted to be ‘exciting’ and ‘dangerous’ and ‘glorious’ by the Imams to accomplish the goal of Sharia. And we will all be dead or living as Dhimmis.

WHY! Why! why?

Terrorist wearing ceremonial Islamic garb

Baby Terrorist

Child Terrorist

Wow, just watched this movie trailer and what a wake up call. You’ve got to watch this and pass it on to everyone you know…America it is time.

Wow, just watched this movie trailer and what a wake up call. You’ve got to watch this and pass it on to everyone you know…America it is time. http://www.foodincmovie.com

PENEGAKKAN DAULAH ISLAMIYYAH YANG HAKIKI:
PERJUANGAN INTELEKTUAL TANPA SENJATA

Assalamualaikum wbt….
Alhamdulillah…final da setel…hehe insya’Allah pada 20-22hb.11.2009 nie ade program bg sesiapa yg berminat di sekitar kuala lumpur…ia akan membincangkan topik2 yg sgt2 penting dalam Islam..makan dan tambang atau minyk transport disponsor..nti akan diberi ruangan utk claim tambang…khusus kpd muslimin sahaja…bg yg berminat boleh hubungi 013-7172320 – zulkhairi…

Insya’Allah ana ingin berkongi sedikit perkara berkaitan Metodologi Dakwah Rasulullah…
Jika dikaji, Rasulullah tidak pernah berperang sebelum Madinah menjadi Negara Islam. Raulullah juga tidak pernah berkongsi kuasa dgn pihak kufar dalam perihal pemerintahan. Namun, sungguh agung step2 dakwah intelektual tanpa sejata yang dilakukan Rasulullah. Mengapa tidak kita mencontohi Baginda?

JANGAN TERPEDAYA DAN LEKA?!!

Sahabat sekalian, beberapa post telah ana publish utk renungan kita bersama…kita maklum akan peristiwa Keruntuhan Islam Di Turki Uthmaniyah. Kita juga nampak akan kesan2 drpd keruntuhan Khilafah Turki Uthmaniyah dan kecelakaan sekularisme…utk rujukan,sila rujuk di…

1) KERUNTUHAN DAULAH TURKI UTHMANIYAH
2) BAYI ADE,MAK BAPAK TAK ADE?!
3) SEMALAM,HARI INI,MUNGKINKAH ESOK?
4) BAJET : DIMANAKAH LETAKNYA ISLAM?
5) Sistem Sekular Menindas Wanita

Kemuliaan Islam benar2 dicabar setelah kejatuhan Islam. Umat Islam dihina, dibunuh, ditindas… Sang Kapitalis kini yang menetukan baik buruk umat Islam dlm pelbagai aspek tmsuk ekonomi..umat Islam kini hanya mengikut walaupun telah jelas ekonomi Islam yg berbeza dri ekonomi kapitalis..lbih hebat lg, ada yg trus memperjuangkan ideology sesat ini.
Jadi, adakah kita redha akan semua ini? Jgn pernah sesekali redha akan perkara2 yg merendahkan martabat Islam!!!

Ikhwan sekalian…

Usaha-usaha kearah mengembalikan martabat Islam sedang perlangung di seluruh penjuru dunia. Jangan kita tergolong dari mereka2 yg leka, tp bersamalah kita bsama2 menaikkan martabat Islam. Contohilah metode dakwah Rasulullah….

Marhalah Dakwah Rasulullah

Pemuka-pemuka dari Aus dan Khazraj ini telah melakar satu detik bersejarah dalam rentetan perjuangan gerakan Islam terulung di dunia…mereka telah mengisi sebuah perjuangan yang tidak ada tolok bandingnya dalam marhalah kedua dakwah Rasulullah SAW.
Perjuangan Rasulullah boleh diringkaskan seperti berikut….

1. Marhalah Tasqif – tahap pembinaan dan pengkaderan untuk melahirkan individu2 yang meyakini pemikiran (fikrah) dan metod (thariqah) parti politik guna membentuk kerangka gerakan.

2. Kedua: Marhalah Tafa’ul ma’al Ummah – tahap berinteraksi dengan umat agar umat turut sama memikul kewajiban dakwah Islam, sehingga umat akan menjadikan Islam sebagai masalah utama dalam hidupnya serta berusaha untuk menerapkannya dalam kehidupan bernegara dan bermasyarakat.

3. Ketiga: Marhalah Istilamil Hukmi – tahap pengambilalihan kekuasaan, dan penerapan Islam secara utuh serta menyeluruh, lalu mengembangkannya sebagai risalah ke seluruh penjuru dunia.

Selesai marhalah pertama di rumah Arqam bin Abi Arqam, dan melangkah ke fasa kedua dalam perjuangan suci Baginda SAW membawa risalah ke seluruh penjuru bumi Arab, anggota gerakan Islam ini mula disiksa, ditindas, dimaki hamun; malah ada pengikutnya dibunuh dan ditimpa berbagai bentuk penyiksaan yang sekelumit sahaja dapat dicoret oleh tinta, berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul. Tanpa mengenal penat lelah Baginda SAW memohon pertolongan kepada beberapa kabilah untuk melindungi gerakan Islam ini namun hasilnya amat mendukacitakan. Di Thaif kekasih Allah ini dibaling dengan batu, sedangkan binatangpun tidak layak diperlakukan demikian. Kalau adapun kabilah yang mahu membantu, mereka meletakkan pelbagai syarat berbau perkauman namun ternyata Junjungan Mulia SAW menolak, sehingga datangnya jemaah Haji dari Madinah yang sanggup memberikan Nusrah (bantuan dan janji setia) kepada perjuangan Baginda.

Thalabun Nusrah adalah detik bersejarah yang dapat dinukil didalam kitab sirah dan merupakan satu aktiviti penting dalam marhalah kedua perjuang Rasulullah. Lestari atau tidaknya dakwah ditentukan olehnya kerana keberlangsungan dakwah memerlukan dua aspek penting,
Pertama, untuk mendapatkan perlindungan (himayah) sehingga tetap dapat melakukan aktiviti dakwah dalam keadaan aman dan terlindung.
Kedua, untuk mencapai tampuk pemerintahan dalam rangka menegakkan Negara Islam dan menerapkan hokum-hukum berdasarkan apa yang telah diturunkan Allah SWT dalam kehidupan bernegara dan bermasyarakat.

Ternyata setelah Rasulullah SAW melakukan hijrah ke Madinah, sebagai detik yang dinantinatikan oleh penduduk Yathrib, Kaum Ansar bersedia untuk mempertahankan Baginda SAW dengan kemampuan semaksima mungkin dan tampuk pemerintahan diserahkan kepada Rasulullah SAW dimana Negara yang diasaskan oleh Baginda SAW kemudian menjadi Kuasa Besar di dunia dan diperintah dengan hukum-hakam yang diredhai oleh Allah SWT.

Mahasiwa-mahasiswa yg akan menyambut seruan Ilahi sekalian…

Inilah perjuangan intelektual tanpa senjata yg perlu kita contohi…
“(Dan) Hendaklah ada di antara kamu segolongan umat yang menyeru kepada Al Khair (Islam), menyuruh kepada yang ma’ruf dan mencegah dari perbuatan yang mungkar, dan merekalah orang-orang yang beruntung.” (Ali Imran 104).

“Ya Nabiyullah. Dahulu, tatkala kami masih musyrik, kami dimuliakan. Tetapi tatkala kami telah beriman, kami dihinakan”. Rasulullah saw menjawab:
“Aku telah diperintahkan untuk menjadi orang pemaaf. Oleh kerana itu, janganlah kalian memerangi mereka (Quraisy)”. (HR An Nasa’i)

“Tidakkah kamu perhatikan orang-orang yang dikatakan kepada mereka: ‘Tahanlah tanganmu (dari berperang), dan dirikanlah salat’” (An Nisa 77).

This past weekend Richard and I along with his brother and girlfriend went to see the Star Wars concert in Charlotte. Richard has been a Star Wars fan pretty much his whole life. We walked around and when he saw a character or a certain costume he wanted to have his picture with them. I laughed because I felt like I was chasing around Rebekah or Rachel at Disney.  He sat there with a smile on his face throughout the evening.  At times he would tell me childhood memories or the year he went to see each movie when they came out.   I thought about how Jesus wants our faith to be that as of a child. He wants our dependency to be totally on Him. Just like a child reaches up to be held, I want to hold my arms up to be held by my heavenly Father. I have realized so much lately about how the absence of my father growing up played such a huge part of who I was growing up and all through school.  I made many bad decisions that led to heartache and even feeling more empty than I was before.   This morning around 4am I woke up and it was one of those can’t go back to sleep wake up calls from God!  I sat there in the bed and began praying to Him.  I remembered Psalm 5:3 where it says bring my request and lay them down and wait with expectancy. So as I prayed I pictured bringing my request and laying them at Jesus feet.  Certain people came to my mind, UNBOUND, our student ministry, my future, my desire and calling to speak, along with some more things…I mean it was flooding my mind. I realized that I had so much I was carrying and that God was asking me to bring it to Him.  I have brought it to Him time after time…..but this time I decided to leave it!

Psalm 5:3  3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
       in the morning I lay my requests before you
       and wait in expectation.

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A while back, my young daughter went to her friend’s birthday party. It was at an ice skating rink and my wife Sabrina accompanied her there, since my daughter doesn’t drive yet (as of this writing, she doesn’t make coffee yet either but we’re working on that).

My daughter had only skated once before with me last year and Sabrina hasn’t skated for years. My daughter was initially nervous about going because she was afraid that everyone else would be better skaters than her and therefore, wouldn’t skate with her, leaving her alone (although Sabrina would be there, moms and dads don’t count in those situations.) But we encouraged her to just do her best and offered her all of the other so-called wisdom that parents tell their young kids to get them to try things.

Later that day, when they arrived home, I asked my daughter how the party was and she quickly and triumphantly declared that “It was GREAT!”

I probed further, asking if the other girls skated with her. She gave me an emphatic “YES!” She explained that after she fell down a few times, she started to get better and, by the end, she was skating faster than a lot of the other kids. I gave her a big hug.

Then I asked her how her mommy did and she laughed. She said, “Mommy skated so funny!” When I asked her what she meant, she continued, “…because she was afraid to fall down! So mommy skated the whole time trying not to fall down, and I told her, ‘Mommy, just fall down. It doesn’t hurt!’ But mommy didn’t want to fall down so she kept skating really funny and looked all bent over like this, and I was skating so much faster than her and……”

Lesson learned: It’s OK to Fall Down!
**

In last month’s column I shared with you my 9/11 story and how I had taken a small step (a 20 minute breakfast with my family) that ultimately saved my life.

Yes – that is how fast it can happen. That is how unexpectedly it can come.  We don’t have endless tomorrows.

Yet…I cannot spend any more time looking back and saying “Why?”, “Why did that happen?”, “Why me?”, “Why them?” No. I am here. I am alive. I have a beautiful family, great friends and a meaningful mission. I have to look forward and say “What now?” “What will I do with this opportunity – with this gift that I’ve been given?”

You have been given that same chance! Today is your gift!

Rewrite Your Tomorrow

Are you going to spend more time wishing your life was different in some way or hoping to make changes one day – after the kids get older, or once things at work settle down, or next month, or next year, or some day…?

As my friend Tom Bruein  says, “There is no such place as ‘Someday Isle’!” (aka: Someday I’ll…)

You have great intentions, safe intentions. However, I have bad news for most of you. That day, some day, is never going to come. Stop kidding yourself.

That’s just your excuse machine working on overdrive. If you keep doing that, you’re going to wake up 5 years from now and look back and wish you started 5 years earlier (are you already doing that?).

Look past those excuses. You have a chance to rewrite your future…now! It takes getting out of your comfort zone – having an insight or breakthrough that makes a huge difference in your perspective. That is what changes the way you view the world. That is what creates new relationships with the things and the people in your lives.

Or…are you using your’need for perfection’ as a beautiful excuse?

When I was first starting out as a coach I was always trying to be so perfect.

However, that need for perfection (really a disguised fear) was holding me back terribly. I was afraid to take chances and let my natural abilities flow because I didn’t want to do anything wrong. It was completely suffocating me.

It was then that Fern Gorin, the Founder and Director of the Life Purpose Institute, told my class something that I will never forget. She said that people wait to do things until they have confidence. They say things like “As soon as I get better at this, I will do it” or “I’m not ready to try it yet.”

But the reality is that experience creates confidence, not the other way around! In other words, waiting for something to be perfect is just an excuse for not getting started.

Think about that.

How many things are you waiting to do, to try or to experience because you don’t have the confidence or feel that you’re ‘good enough?’ What if you were allowed to be bad? Further, what if making a mistake was not only ok, but it was actually encouraged?

I’m not referring to being reckless here. Your responsibilities still stand. However, by giving yourself a little room to stretch and reach and fall down and get up and fall down again and get up again, you will grow! That’s the way it works.

It is so easy to look around and see only the problem, the shortcoming, or the gap. And once you place your focus there, you become blind to the substance and good that is there as well. We can get stuck focusing on what’s missing or what didn’t go right and end up either beating ourselves up, blaming someone or something for our situation, or worse – creating a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness.

Do this enough and you start anticipating negative outcomes, bad experiences and poor results, trapping you into this mindset.  There is a significant cost to this type of thinking. We are disempowering ourselves!  We put our own sense of vitality, joy and ease into the control of other people, things, events and measurements. We are not taking accountability and responsibility for our lives and our sense of well-being and happiness. We are in that moment choosing to give it up so we can stand in our circle of self-pity and righteousness.

Is it worth it?

By continuing to appreciate the positive things using consistent effort and presence, you will see your life change, and even completely transform, bringing you more freedom and a lot more control.

***
Often we stop ourselves because we are afraid we won’t be perfect. Sometimes we don’t attempt certain things because we’re afraid of falling down. Make this the year you get in action. This is your time to create the life you’ve always desired. After all, you have nothing to lose but that same pattern that you’re trying to break free from.

What are you being a little hesitant about declaring because it would make it too real or it might actually put yourself on the hook for it?  Look around. Really look. What are the signs you have been missing?

Life is a gift and every single day counts! We think and we act like we have endless tomorrows, but we do not! You can’t afford to waste your time or energy looking back and asking “Why?” You need to look forward and say “What now? Where do I want to go! What shall I do with this gift I’ve been given!”

What is it time for you to put out to the world?

What is it time for you to see?

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

Excerpted from Mike Jaffe’s popular eBook “Wake Up! Your Life is Waiting for You!”

Many of you have read about Holly, well her sister Rose has also struggled for years to get her health and weight under control.

Last year Rose had a mild heart attack. 

That was her wake up call to make her health a priority.

I am happy to share with you all that Saturday morning Rose made her goal weight.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Halloween brings a special treat to Rose

Perseverance eventually ~ wins

Today, Rose is 30 pounds lighter and works out. 

She feels great.

She looks wonderful and is living an active healthy life.

Way to Go Rose!

Eleven months ago,  a girl met this guy.  They went for coffee and spent time getting to know each other.  She thought at first that he didn’t really like her because at the end of the date, he didn’t even walk her to her car. Turned out that he was nervous and thought that she didn’t really like him, too. 

She sent him a thank you email and with that, he asked her out again.  And the second date was followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth,  and like they say, the rest is history.

Fast forward to six months later, everything blew up in her face.  Broken and rejected, she tried to pick up the pieces of what’s left of her.  Obsessively dissecting what went wrong, what she could’ve done that would’ve made a difference…. shoulda, coulda, woulda. But you see the thing was,  there was no fixing it. Not when the other has already decided that it wasn’t working for him. Not when he has already made up his mind. Not when he has already given up.  How can you fight against that?

A friend of hers once asked, ” Do you think he’s the ONE? “  and for a moment she was rendered speechless because she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know! How could that be???  Weren’t you supposed to know especially if you’ve been spending time together? Whatever happened to soulmates and that sort of stuff?  That should’ve been her first clue… but blinded as she was, she pushed that doubt in the back of her mind.

Fast forward to present-day…. after all the dramas and after some of her friends threatened to disown her (they can only take too much LOL )…. she thinks she’s finally getting over him.  Getting over — and not just getting by. They were right, just when you thought you’ll never get over that one person, the one with all the almosts… you do — a couple of  months and some powdered donuts  later LOL. Not that she had donuts….

To borrow a quote, ” I remember the boy, but I don’t remember the feelings anymore.”

xoxo

I don’t like generalities, but I am going to use some now. If a person is familiar with the Bible, they will know what I am saying is true. If you are not familiar with the Bible, please email me and I will send you all the scripture references to back up what I am about to share with you.

The fear of death is the prison that keeps human beings in bondage. While people scurry around to build careers or make a name for themselves, they know they are racing against time. What a horrible way to live.

When a person is young, death is not so real. Young people feel invincible and believe the world has something to offer them, for which reason they run after it.

Whether it’s pleasure or sex or money or fame, everyone’s running after something. The Bible refers to this trap as seduction, something the builders of civilization had in mind from the beginning of Time.

If human beings had lived naturally in the self-sustaining eco system God created from the beginning, civilization would not exist. But it does exist and now we are faced with its allure and its problems. (Ironically, human beings are now trying to “go green” which is what God gave us in the beginning! A beautiful green planet that we have destroyed.)

As people get older, they realize time is simply running out. They also realize that death is very real. As relatives and friends pass away, each time, they must look death in the face. For a short while, the world loses its charm and the emptiness of the human soul rises to the surface.

People were devastated and shocked when Michael Jackson died. Why? I heard many different reasons, but the thing that troubled me is how people reacted to a man they did not even know! I’m sorry, but do you think buying his music or watching his videos or attending his concerts made you his friend? You were a fan and a consumer, period.

One thing I know for certain: Michael Jackson now knows the truth. If he could make his way back from the grave, he probably wouldn’t be singing – he’d be warning his fans that the “other side” is very real, and that everything the Bible teaches is very real.

We came into this world naked; we will leave this world naked.

We brought nothing into this world; we will carry nothing out of it.

What does it profit a person to gain the world and lose his soul?

The truth is, Time is not on our side. Time is our enemy. Time is our taskmaster. Time is our curse.

Death keeps reminding human beings of this reality, but human beings are stubborn. Human beings are excellent at rationalizing their thinking and behavior, for which reason God made sure the Bible survived. It is the one book we can rely upon to tell us the truth and help us live our lives in a way that has purpose and meaning. (I’m not talking about religion – I’m talking about wisdom.) Short of this, human beings are chasing their tails if they think this world has something to offer them.

So how do we break through the limitations of time?

By placing the value of a human soul higher than human achievement.

By recognizing that your soul is the only thing you came in here with and the only thing you will leave here with.

By cherishing life in its purest, most raw form in spite of the obstacles and disappointments.

If you need a teacher, look to the animals. They are doing it right – living in the moment and pressing forward in spite of the trouble imposed upon them by human beings.

If death and Michael Jackson have taught me anything, it’s to live in the present moment with gratitude and thankfulness that I am alive at all, because I cannot thank God from the grave.

I do not take my achievements to the grave; I take my soul.

If I love others well, I live well, because the quality of one’s life is bound up in love, not things.

To life,

~Jo

Go to now, you that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

For that you ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

~James 4:13-16

Why Now? Why am I alive at this point in history?

I catch myself contemplating this question.
Not so much the meaning of life, that too, but more often questioning why I am living on this earth at this point in time. In this era.. what is my purpose at this time in society.

When I was young my purpose seemed quite simple- score as many goals for Ipplepen under 12’s as possible so that Newcastle United would come and sign me…Looks like they missed their chance.

So now what? I find myself surrounded by individuals with similar values, beliefs and ideas for our future- Individuals who feel passionate about creating a better, fairer, kinder, greener, safer and more socially positive world to live in.

Society has proved time and time again it can overcome huge challenges- whether its the abolition of the slave trade, fighting the Apartheid or standing up against dictatorship, when global society feels passionate, motivated and inspired about an issue, the unimaginable can manifest- huge walls can be knocked down, society can take the true form of its real meaning- ” friendly coexistence”

Society finds itself at a crossroads. We still have choices, we still have options and possibilities….for now.
Globally, especially here at YIP, Climate Change and Global Warming appears to have become the major problem to work towards healing.
Coming from a Transition Town growing up the country side, being educated at a Waldorf school and considering myself a global citizen , Climate Change has always been a personal issue- be never more that right now in my life.

How can we expect to keep destroying,depleting and over using our planets resources at a unsustainable rate? how can we continue to live with infinite irresponsibility in a finite world?
We can’t.    We need to radically redirect our course- in the last fifty years human kind has manged to reshape, restructure, redefine and change the face of the earth in the most harmful way more than all other previous generations of humanity.

The answers are there. The possibilities are present, but we are running out of time if we hope to continue our “friendly coexistence” with the planet.

Here at YIP we have already participated in global efforts to get world leaders and the rest of Society to ‘wake-up’ to climate change.
Our first action came with the “Global Wake Up Call” flash mob events. Thousands of flash mob events happened all over the globe, on the same day at the same time- urging world leaders to sign up to a fair and binding climate treaty in Copenhagen this December.
Here is a video of our event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sREUgpsvoFs

Another Climate Action event is planned this October 24th. Again there are over 2,000 of these events occurring worldwide. The event known as “350 action day” , is again urging leaders to Attend the COP15 Climate conference, but in their treaty commit to achieving a  measurment of 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere- this is considered to be the safer upper limit of carbon our atmosphere can cope with. We currently stand at 390ppm and 200 years ago this number was only  at 270.
We are clearly harming our planet and if we dont stop before we reach the tipping point- a point where Scientist expect Methane from permafrost to be released- we risk loosing “Life on Earth” as we know it.

Am I a tree hugger? An Environmentalist? A Greeny? A Hippie? An Eco Warrior? An Idealist?
Quite possibly….but most importantly I am a global citizen committed to coexisting with this planet in a sustainable and healthy way- committed to handing on a healthy and abundant planet to future generations…

/ / / / / WAKE-UP CALL

「 The Beginning of The Twist ϟ The Futureheads 」.2008
「 The Beginning of The Twist ϟ The Futureheads 」.2008

[2:57] [LOOK,] I CAN FEEL IT, I CAN FEEL IT-T-T-T!!!

Filing this one under Wake Up Call because it’s just so immediate. It’s “The Beginning of The Twist” from one of my favorite bands of the millennial era The Futureheads and it’s from their most recent album This Is Not The World (released last year). I remember waking up everyday to this track and it just motivating me. I forgot how much I used to LOVE this song. I’ve made it the Wake Up Call track of the day and I’m just featuring it again because it’s still tops.

Hoping the boys make more music like this SOON x

THE FUTUREHEADS can be found on twitter

The founder of the Galleon Group, a big New York hedge fund, was charged on Friday with insider trading in the stocks of several companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Clearwire and Akamai, earning about $20 million in the process.

Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York accused Raj Rajaratnam, 51, with illegally obtaining and trading on information on these companies, which also included Polycom, Hilton Hotels, Google and People Support. He was charged with four counts of conspiracy and nine counts of securities fraud. (Read the complaints after the jump.)

The prosecutors’ case is built on both statements from an unnamed cooperating witness, who has agreed to plead guilty, and from the recording of four conversations between the witness and Mr. Rajaratnam. The unnamed witness began conversations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2007, which led to the phone taps.

At a press conference Friday afternoon, law enforcement officials described the case as a sign that the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission were stepping up their efforts against white-collar crime. Preet Bahara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, compared the investigation to those used against the Mafia and drug cartels.

“This case should serve as a wake-up call to Wall Street and to every hedge fund manager,” Mr. Bahara said. “These people were privy to inside information, but they didn’t know one secret, that we were listening.”

Others charged by prosecutors include Mark Kurland, the president of New Castle Partners, another large money manager; Danielle Chiesi, a former Bear Stearns executive who now works at New Castle; Rajiv Goel, an executive at Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel; Anil Kumar, an executive at McKinsey & Company; and Robert Moffatt, an executive at I.B.M.

All six were arrested Friday morning. Five of the six are set to be arraigned in federal court in Manhattan Friday afternoon. Mr. Goel is set to be arraigned in California.

According to the complaint, the witness first approached Mr. Rajaratnam in mid-2005 about divulging nonpublic information. That led to a scheme that ran from January 2006 through July 2007 involving insider information about three companies — Polycom, Hilton and Google — in which the hedge fund executive garnered about $12.7 million in profit. Mr. Rajaratnam reciprocated by supplying inside information about other technology companies.

Mr. Rajaratnam partnered with the likes of Mr. Goel and Mr. Kumar, who supplied information about their portfolio companies or clients, and in turn made profitable trades for these associates. The unnamed cooperating witness is alleged by prosecutors to have also obtained insider information, including from an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service covering Hilton (and who was paid $10,000) and an unnamed employee at Market Street Partners, an investor relations firm working for Google.

Mr. Rajaratnam, a native of Sri Lanka, is listed as No. 551 on Forbes’s 2009 list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion.

Law-enforcement officials on Friday said that Mr. Rajaratnam’s success appeared built not on “genius trading strategies,” but on his insider-trading connections.

“He is not a master of the universe,” said Robert Khuzami, the S.E.C.’s director of enforcement. “He is a master of the Rolodex.”

A spokesman for Galleon said in a statement: “Galleon was shocked to learn today that Raj Rajaratnam was arrested this morning at his apartment. We had no knowledge of the investigation before it was made public and we intend to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities. Galleon continues to operate and is highly liquid.”

A spokesman for Moody’s said in a statement: “Moody’s has strict policies against divulging confidential information, and the alleged wrongdoing by an individual at Moody’s would be an egregious violation of Moody’s policies and values. Moody’s fully supports the government’s prosecution of insider trading and will provide every assistance in its investigation of this matter.”

A representative for Market Street Partners declined to comment.

Representatives for McKinsey and Intel Capital and lawyers for the defendants were not immediately available for comment.