Animal activists

My kids are fans of Emily Deschanel. She and Jorja Fox are working with animal activist directors Synthian Sharp and Tim Gorski in How I Became an Elephant - the elephant documentary is due to be released on April 23rd. For anyone interested in animal rights and stopping the abuse of elephants, I really recommend seeing this one.

Elephant Documentary

I've been reading about the abuse of elephants in Asian tourism, and am pretty shocked about what happens to these poor elephants. Synthian Sharp and Tim Gorski directed an elephant documentary with 14-year-old Juliette West. You can read more about it at the elephant documentary synopsis for How I Became an Elephant.

14 year old girl changing the world

15-year-old activist, Juliette West was only 14 when she decided she wanted to save the elelphants. Directors Tim Gorski and Synthian Sharp talk about working with this young woman and their progress in getting the word out about the abuse of elephants in Thailand and India.

Responsibility by Synthian Sharp

This is a really interesting interview with "How I Became an Elephant" co-director, Synthian Sharp.

One my sons is very interested in philosophy. He read the Tao te Ching when he was 11. He's currently reading Machiavelli. He's read the holy books of several religions, and I think it's really important to feed the inclinations of the young when they discover an interest in learning about our philosophic history.

From Synthian Sharp's essay: I think Etho-craft is necessarily the science that will follow the science you currently hold, because at the far end of quantum mechanical exploration, we will eventually accept, that everything that made relativity fail as a unifying theory, was the fault of our thoughts, based only on our false assumptions, and then when we realize that we are creating the Tathata, the Ri, the Tao, the Ethos, (or any other title you assign to our faculty of conscious attention) we will immediately have, for the first time, an actual RESPONSIBILITY for our thoughts, and the way that we choose to make the universe grow, rather than maintaining the victim's outlook, in which the universe is indefinitely pushing us around.

Abuse of elephants - elephant painting travesty

I thought elephant paintings were cool and interesting and beautiful - until we saw a documentary directed by Tim Gorski and Synthian Sharp - How I Became an Elephant. These elephants, in order to be trained to make these paintings, are basically tortured at the age of 1 year - they are still babies then. They are caged and beaten to the point that they are so spiritually broken they can no longer even recognize their own mothers. In order to continue their training they are beaten with wooden sticks with metal hooks on the ends of them. In this documentary, Synthian Sharp and Tim Gorski's crew follow Juliette West as she explores the treatment of elephants in India. This is horrific. Before riding elephants, giving money to the zoo, or admiring these paintings, you need to know what you're paying for. More links: Synthian Sharp at SpectreWriter (vegetarianism).

Children growing up!

It's been a long time since I've posted!

Kids have been growing up - some have moved out. One embarked on his career in education, another an honors student in college. More soon will be on their way.

I love the changes, but it's hard to let them go. :) I'm very glad I have so many - it makes it easier to watch them grow up!

storm monsters

Well, our family lived through a tornado. It actually touched down in our neighbor's yard - tearing 25 trees out in their yard, and more in ours, including one that landed on top of our house!

It was a very frightening experience. We were all huddled in a walk-in closet, away from any windows, but we were on the side of the house where the tree landed. It was very loud - very scary.

Since then, whenever we have thunder, the littlest one (now 2), comes running to Mommy, complaining about "storm monsters".

Very cute, of course - but really sad that he is afraid of a natural phenomenon like thunder and lightning.

I used to find wild weather invigorating, and now - not so much. When I was very young I survived a tornado that ripped trees out of the ground and flung them onto the house - so hopefully this frightening experience will fade as well, and I'll love storms again. :)

Scientology Success

Scientology

The truth about Scientology - here is an interview on Nightline with David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center.

Discussing Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard

Education Quote

John Holt

What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out.

Funny guy!

One boy's version of Come Back to Texas by Bowling for Soup!

Halloween for Hunger

This Halloween, support your local food bank.

Trick-0r-treat for donations of canned goods, and deliver them to your local food bank as part of Halloween for Hunger!

slave-free chocolate

I've been reading about slave-free chocolate and other products, and have really decided that ethical consumerism is vital to creating a better world.

Read what others are doing to bring about change at this blog about a better world.

A better world

Just wanted to share this great blog that has a lot of different contributors - it makes for an interesting variety of topics:

http://towardspeace.blogspot.com

I found this post about chocolate and slavery to be particularly interesting!~

My son, on learning how to learn

One of my kids finished a course at our local Church of Scientology, called Learning How to Learn.

It was a great thing for him to do - he was most amazed when he found out that it worked - for himself. He was studying about condors, and suddenly got a stomach ache and his eyes hurt.

He knew what the problem was, though - as these are common problems associated with study, and the solution was covered in the Learning How to Learn Course.

Knowing that this was true - and the solution WORKED - just blew him away. He ended up resolving the stomach ache and sore eyes, and he brightened up considerably.

We have always taught Scientology principles to our children and in particular, the study technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard, but it's a real difference when the kids learn how to apply it themselves - that gives them a real stability in learning. And therefore, they know they can learn anything they want to learn - they have the tools to do it.

Volunteer Ministers needed in Peru

Volunteer ministers are needed in Peru. My son went to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina, as a Scientology Volunteer Minister, but as he does not speak Spanish, he won't be able to help in Peru right now.

If you are interested in helping the people of Peru, training is provided. If you speak Spanish, and are willing to learn the Scientology Volunteer Minister procedures, your help is needed!

http://whyihelp.blogspot.com/2007/08/help-needed-in-peru.html

Aren't they beautiful?

My darling daughters.. I love this picture, so I thought I'd share.

Label all sticks "Not a Sword"

This is one of the funniest Onion stories I've ever seen.

"The Department of Health and Human Services issued a series of guidelines Monday designed to help parents curtail their children's boundless imaginations, which child-safety advocates say have the potential to rival motor vehicle accidents and congenital diseases as a leading cause of disability and death among youths ages 3 to 14...

...Defuse the ticking time-bomb known as your child's imagination before it explodes and destroys her completely...New data shows a disturbing correlation between serious accidents and the ability of children to envision a world full of exciting possibility."

Prevention advice includes "Speak with your children about the absolute impossibility of time travel, magical powers, and animals and toys that talk when adults are not around...

..."Many of the suggestions are really quite simple, like breaking down cardboard boxes or sewing cushions to couches so they cannot be converted into forts or playhouses..Blank pieces of paper, which can inspire non-reality-based drawings, should be discarded unless they are used in one of our recommended diagonal folding and unfolding activities. And all loose sticks left lying in the yard should be carefully labeled 'Not a Sword.'"

The entire article was just too funny. I've got my Sharpie out and headed for the backyard, prepared to take on all the loose sticks.

Webkinz

Have you seen these things? They are very cute - plushie animals. My daughter got one as a gift, and she loves it. The kids get a log on for the website and can "play" with their pet on the website.

It's a great idea - the kids think they are so cute!

It's over!

Yay! I'm better, and it wasn't so bad at all.

It's so nice to get everything back to normal again. Unfortunately, though, the baby escaped the chicken pox. Not that I want him to go through it, but I don't feel the vaccination is the safest way to go, and not getting chicken pox until adulthood is definitely not the safest option!

But I guess I'd rather he be a few years older before getting it, though. One of his sisters only had something like 3 spots when she got it - a slight fever one day, then totally fine after that. Hopefully, when he gets it, it will be that minor. That would be nice!

Shingles... waiting... waiting

I'm learning more than I thought I'd ever need to know about Shingles.

Like - it can be weeks of pain before you get the rash.

The doctor at the ER told me to stay away from any adults who haven't had chicken pox, pregnant women, etc. So I've been home.

But then I read that you can only spread chicken pox from shingles if you have a rash, and someone comes into contact with the fluid from the pox. So until the rash arrives, one is not contagious.

But my coworker has never had chicken pox. So I don't think I want to risk spreading it to him under any circumstances. It's too scary.

So I'm just waiting. It doesn't hurt much anymore - some discomfort, certainly. t not too bad. The waiting is driving me a little batty, though. I'm still not sure about going out in public, so I've been cooped up. I would hate to give chicken pox to a pregnant woman, you know?

Chicken Pox

The baby is coming down with chicken pox. They have to go through it, I know, but I hate it.

I do think the illness is better than the vaccination, especially since the vaccination might not last very long, and it's much better to get the illness when young than to avoid it and catch it in adulthood! But it's no fun to see baby getting sick.

One of his sisters had something like 3 spots when she had chicken pox -I'm hoping he gets away with very few, like she did.

I may actually have Shingles, which so far has been pretty painful, but no rash as of yet. Apparently up to 15% of people who get shingles never get a rash. And 10 - 20% of people who have had chicken pox end up getting shingles.

After an entire night in the emergency room, getting every test known to mankind - or at least a bunch of tests, including CAT scans of my vital organs, the doctor said that it pretty much HAD to be shingles - nothing was left! And my symptoms coincide pretty much exactly to prodormal shingles.

I know a whole lot more about the subject today than I did last week. Oh, how I miss the ignorance.

Democrats for Ron Paul

Anyone else into Ron Paul? He seems to be the only candidate with a real handle on what's going on in the world - and what to do to bring about peace.

Kucinich is pro-peace - very much so - but I'm not so certain of all his politics. I like Kucinich - but I think Ron Paul is the better candidate.

Check out a video here - democrats for Ron Paul.

My kids had told me the "knock knock" joke that involved the interrupted cow before. That was pretty funny.

But when I saw one kid tell another kid this particular rendition of the joke - well - it WAS completely uncalled for! And a little funny, even a mother has to admit.

Truth about Scientology video

Shervin

Here's an interesting site by an interesting guy - Shervin

Take a look. He's got some patents, and done some really interesting work. And cute kids, too!

Rebecca Riley

If you have heard the tragic story of Rebecca Riley, you may be as frightened as I am about the direction our society is heading.

Rebecca, just four years old, was diagnosed as bipolar, and was given psychiatric drugs designed for adults.

Her parents administered the drugs liberally - giving her extra doses so she would sleep.

School personnel and family friends were concerned, as the child was zombie-like on the drugs.

She died December 13th, the result of an overdose. Her organs shut down, a slow, painful process.

Her story is really terrible. Her parents were surely abusive. Her doctor must have been crazy herself to drug this little child in this way, rather than prescribe some sort of parenting classes for her parents!!

But this is a larger story, unfortunately.

Four million children in the US are prescribed anti-psychotic medication and drugs for "hyperactivity" like Ritalin, every year.

FOUR MILLION.

Could anyone really believe that 4 million children are MENTALLY ILL???

I am simply dismayed.

A day in the life of a mom...

Communicate

affordable webhosting

If you are looking for affordable webhosting I created a great site that I love at Freewebs.

They have an easy to use website builder with lots of great web site templates as well.