Taj Mahal, India

Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection at all to us helping out other countries, even though we’re in pretty dire straits ourselves here in the UK.  The thing that gets my goat is the fact that India have said they don’t want the money but the UK have insisted they take it!

The good, honest people of India, instead of grasping it with both hands, actually turned down the offer that had been foisted upon them and India’s finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee even went so far as to say it was “a peanut” that wasn’t needed as India’s economy was growing with some speed and would, in all likelihood, overtake our own in the not too distant future. 

Pranab Mukherjee

There are people here desperately trying to make ends meet; homes are being repossessed, our public services and our forces are being cut back, our government benefits are being “trimmed” which means that the less well off members of our society are suffering which, in turn, affects the disabled, lesser paid adults, particularly those with families to support, and the elderly. 

It’s also been revealed that this year we’ve set aside a budget of £8.1 billion for foreign aid in general and this is due to rise to an incredible £11.5 billion in 2015.  We’ve always been inclined to help out other countries in their hour of need but, with our coffers almost down to rock bottom, it’s utterly ludicrous to give part of this budget to a country that’s already said it doesn’t need it, thanks very much.

As you can imagine, the revelation has upset numerous MPs and, of course, us hard strapped tax payers.

By all accounts, the Indian economy is growing by 10% a year and, within the next 10 years will overtake that of the UK.  In fact, India has set up its own aid budget to help out struggling countries so presumably in a couple of years time India will be helping to dig the UK out of a financial hole!

The International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has said, in defence of the “donation” to India  “there are states the size of Britain where half the children suffer from malnutrition”.  That may well be true, but if the Indian government have stated they now have plenty of money in their bank vaults I’m assuming some of this will eventually find its way to support lesser well off people.  If that isn’t the case, then rather than pump more money into an obviously financially stable government, wouldn’t it be more sensible to filter some of the money through to charities such as the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, Age Concern, etc etc so that they can actually get the money direct to those people that need it most?

The newspaper questioned the wisdom of the teacher’s repeated negative remarks about the child. It went on to debate that the stress on children to perform by teachers and parents is responsible for such extreme steps by them. The disgust turned into anger and remorse. Not for the boy or the teacher who was at the receiving end of the student’s wrath…but for the way we are bringing up the next generation.

I remember my school days…not very long ago. We kept our teachers on a very high pedestal. They were next to god. We would do anything to be in the good books of a teacher. What was so different then? Were the teachers mild? Didn’t they scold us? Didn’t they cane us? Didn’t they complaint to our parents? Didn’t they express their displeasure or disappointment when we failed to come up to their expectations?

Hell!!! They did all of that!!! I have been an ‘outstanding’ student (meaning outside the classroom) many times. I remember how the naughty ones (me inclusive) adorned the four corners of the classroom or the top of the benches so very often. I have been caned for numerous wrongs I did. Similar punishments were meted out to all erring classmates. We were a naughty bunch. Well, most of us…… and we all got our share of rebukes. But why did not this idea of knifing the teacher or go seeking a rope to end our miseries strike our young minds?? Why didn’t we fall prey to drugs?

I could only get one answer…may be because we had a very strong set of values from a strong social set up. In India, teachers were equated with gods along with the parents. We had level headed parents who did not go running after the teacher’s throat for so much as scolding him for not doing his homework. They did not question the authority and wisdom of our teachers. They granted them the freedom to mold their children into responsible and mature human beings….which apparently they did. Perhaps the faith of parents in their ability and proficiency in grooming their children instilled in them this sense of great responsibility which they happily and proudly accepted. A child’s success was the teacher’s pride. I still go to meet my dear teachers when I go to my native place. They still remember each child and their eyes go moist when we take their blessings. Thus was our relation with our teachers. Not now L

I sincerely am so thankful to my parents and teachers who stopped me, rebuked me, scolded me and punished me…whenever and wherever I went wrong. It did pain at that moment…but it stopped me from repeating a wrong. It taught me to differentiate between a right and a wrong. It taught me the meaning of justice. It taught me the realities of life….

Today we overprotect our children. The child rights have never been more closely monitored and never before has a child dialed 911 to get protection against a grandparent who tried putting some sense into his grandchild. The child is a powerful entity. He is not to be scolded in the school…neither at home. He is not to be yelled at mind you, you may have to explain your actions in the court…And yet and yet we have more and more number of children having psychiatric problems….more and more children committing suicide…more and more children committing horrendous acts….more and more children turning out utter failures without being able to handle situations! Have you ever thought why??? Are we protecting them so much that when they face the world…the real world, they find themselves so damn helpless…. Are we making them weaklings?? Do ponder and let me know your view J

The news
A man named Michael William Nivens (37) woke his girlfriend up because he noticed that his steak tasted different from hers.  He ended up stabbing her with a steak knife after he approached her about the steak.  This is what his girlfriend Jennifer Elizabeth Wear (32) told the police.

According to Jennifer, Michael drank five beers the night before he stabbed her.  He had told her over and over that he loved her.  The next day, he stabbed her with his steak knife.

When Jennifer went to sleep, she woke up to Michael putting the knife to her and telling her that he loved her.  According to the police report, Michael asked Jennifer why she wanted him to die.  Then he wanted to know why his steak tasted different from hers.

He pulled her hair and stabbed her with the knife.  Jennifer has cuts on her forehead and the back of her neck.  He also stabbed her fingers.  Michael admitted to the police that he stabbed his girlfriend.

There is no word whether or not Michael was arrested and charged for stabbing Jennifer.

My thoughts
I was shocked to read something like this.  Michael must have issues with Jennifer.  Did Michael have too much to drink?  Did he think she was trying to poison him?  Maybe she tried something different on his steak.  Maybe she used a different sauce with his steak.  If she didn’t do something different with his steak, maybe she did it with hers.

In Michael’s defense, maybe Jennifer was trying to do something to his steak.  There must have been some reason why his steak tasted different from hers.  I noticed while I was reading the story that she never explained why the steak tasted different from his.

Michael didn’t have to stab Jennifer over food.  If he noticed something different, he never had to eat the steak.  He didn’t have to stab Jennifer just because he noticed something different about the steak.  Stabbing Jennifer was not the right decision.  Now he will most likely go to prison because he noticed something different about his steak.  I can only imagine what will happen to him in jail if the other prisoners find out why he was in jail.

What are your thoughts this man stabbing a woman over food?  Do you think he had reason to stab her?  Do you think he overreacted to the situation?

Last Wednesday, a bitterly cold, miserable day here in Norfolk, I went through my usual initial weekday routine – alarm goes off, drag myself out of bed, go through the usual ablutions, get dressed and head for the kitchen to have breakfast, feed the cats and then feed the wild birds.  The ground was solid, the grass was white with the sharp frost and, needless to say, I wasn’t feeling particularly joyous,  particularly as I had to work.

I climbed the stairs to my office to check my emails and see if any work had come in overnight and saw that I had an email from Hillside.  I instantly thought it was going to be horrible news – that they had some more poor animals that they wished to take in due to torture, abuse or abandonment, but was gladdened by the news that the dogs mentioned in my previous article http://socyberty.com/society/romanian-dog-rescue along with some others were now on their way to a new, more friendly home at the Sanctuary.

The dogs, at the time of the email, were just passing through Austria and Hillside understood that about 10 had been considered strong enough for the very long journey to foreign shores.  Among them were Sanni

Brick

and Petronel

These three little refugees were to arrive with a couple of new found buddies;

Lord

and Yura.

Hillside had sent a representative across to Romania the previous week to assess the situation out there and they had reported that, due to the extraordinary sub-zero temperatures currently affecting Eastern Europe, the rescuers who had been working hard to set up temporary shelters to house the dogs, were trying to compete with the ice and snow which had reached the top of the dogs 6 ft pens. 

On Friday morning I received another email from Hillside.  Apparently 14 dogs had arrived safely at the sanctuary the previous night.  I’ve attached some photographs of the dogs, looking a little bemused and wary, as they were “unloaded” and settled down in for the night.  Ten of them were to remain at Hillside for the time being but the other four were collected by local  foster carers.

Here’s a picture of the dogs as they arrived.

and a picture of a couple of the dogs as they were about to spend their first night on Norfolk soil in safe, warm and cosy beds!

Petronel has now been adopted and the adopters had waited for hours in the icy cold at the sanctuary to collect their little waif and stray and take him to a new safe, stable, non abusive life.  Here’s a picture of the now fit and healthy Petronel with his adopter.

A couple of the sanctuary workers are still out in Romania and are hoping to be able to organise another “shipment of refugees” to UK soil in the not too distant future.

            But, electronic media too has its consequences. It is often seen that in the urge of popularity, some electronic media agencies publish a telecast event which is actually fake, thereby spreading rumours and affecting the conscience and decision making of the people. Also due to competition among the electronic media agencies, they get into the matter which is not to be shown to the common man. One can take the example of 26/11 Mumbai attack few years ago. As the electronic media were capturing the movement of the armed force and security personals, the terrorists from the inside the building using the TV sets were able to see it and take necessary precautions to combat the armed forces. Thus, we observe that electronic media has had a great impact on the society in both positive and negative but one can say that it has done more good for the society.

Lesson number one, Mitt: Don’t do that.

Lesson number two: Ron Paul, with the exception of his foreign policy and his burning desire to undo everything from the last 40 years at once, is the best candidate we have, not you. 

Ron Paul used to be a Libertarian. These are the people who are truly for small government. They are the people who have espoused personal liberty and laissez-faire economics as the key to turning this train wreck economy around and back to greatness. 

This doesn’t (or shouldn’t) mean that we should immediately turn back to the gold standard, or lower taxes to the bare minimum right away, or even undo the bureaucratic engorging in Washington that has happened over the last half century. That won’t work, because you have to give an economy that’s in a delicate state like ours time to adapt. If we were to change everything overnight, it would crush us. So, take baby steps instead, like cutting spending first. Instead of cutting taxes first, why not focus on cutting some spending, then cutting taxes afterward. Maybe then we could see some real growth in the country. We need to create jobs again, and we need to bring back American jobs that were sent overseas.

I’m sure Ron Paul wants to do all of that and more, and when he drops out of the race, we’d all do well to pay attention to at least some of what he says. Also, I know that it’s a very little discussed topic, but I strongly feel that we need to begin a dialogue on cannabis reform. Foregoing the (potential) moral issues at hand for a moment, I’d like to again refer to what the Republicans want: smaller government, economic growth, and jobs. 

Other than the fact that there are those who believe that smoking pot is wrong, why is that it’s illegal? It’s never killed anyone. In fact, recent studies have shown that it’s impossible. Additionally, the Journal of the American Medical Association recently proclaimed that not only does marijuana not cause lung cancer, it actually has protective properties against it. It’s our nation’s largest cash crop, and we can’t come up with a reason to keep it illegal other than “it’s wrong” and “it’s addictive and harmful”. It is neither addictive nor harmful, and whether it’s wrong or not is up to us individually.’

Not so fun fact: Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, right up there with heroin. That’s the government’s way of telling us that they are going to control it as tightly as possible because the two substances are both dangerous, lethal, and highly addictive. So are cigarettes and alcohol, both are not nearly as controlled as marijuana. Cocaine is actually a step down the controlled substances ladder, as Schedule II. Really?!

It’s not the government’s business to invade our personal privacy in any regard when we are not a threat to ourselves or others. Our so-called “leaders” in Washington are busy condemning crackdowns on the people of other nations, such that they choose to ignore their own crackdown on We the People and our inalienable rights.  

The chancellor, Mr. Osborne, had promised to diminish the key rate of corporation tax to about 22% from the present 26% by 2014, the smallest rate in Group 7 of prime economies, pointed out in the last budget. A review by the experts economists on the other hand, argue that the authority should take a more radical loom, diminishing it to 20% in the current budget. It says that the reduction in the tax rate will be a quantum jump towards cheering the venture economy that the country requires. It will be an alarming call to trade both domestic and global. It will also be an important overview of the tax structure.

The CPS states that the reduction in tax rate is the single measure of practical financial revival since the family and persons are very obliged to expect customers to direct a save of the economy. Companies do have extra money, which can be aimed at the infrastructures and other scheme, but also require the assurance to spend. The review has added that the Britain is witnessing the prospect of a double dip crisis. Demand side is feeble in the economy and trade buoyancy is low. Politicians are looking for the ways to boost the financial condition and thus some strong steps must be brought to the light. Apply with text loans  and get cash needed by you instantly and settle all your debts pending with an ease.

The Treasury supposes the corporation tax to produce about 43 billion pound in revenues this year 2012. The CPS projects that lessening corporation tax to about 19% will witness the Treasury deficit by 4 billion pound in income, but the charge will be balanced by enhanced development. The economists state that the corporation tax was 52% in the year of 1982-83 and produced only 2% of GDP, matched with 2011-12 when 26% rate of taxation given up about 2.5% of GDP. If the rate was to be reduced to 10% as projected it will be among the smallest on recommendation in the global economy.

Jack cook is financial advisor and shares her best views on text loans @ http://www.textloansbysms.co.uk/., sms loans  and mini text loans

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I signed up moments ago, curious of how many (if any) donations I could receive from you, the kind people of the internet. If you’re at all interested in looking at my page and maybe donating a few hundred dollars, you’re more than welcome to visit here: http://www.gofundme.com/e8sv8. Although sceptical, I am hoping I can actually make some spare money from this website, which I would put towards the move discussed on my profile. 

Looking through the websites success stories reassures my faith in my fellow man, it is wonderful to see the amount of money people have selflessly donated on GoFundMe. I hope some of these good online Samaritans wander past my page. 

So check out the website and sign up if you’re hoping to raise some cash. If you’ve yet to commit a good deed today, or just feel like committing another, I suggest donating to my little cause. 

This supports the little tribe of peaceful contact with the outside world, but it is observed more frequently.

Survival International claims that the oil and gas projects as well as changes in the illegal logging, this tribe is forced to retreat to new lands.

Of the photographs seems to Mashco-Piro tribe as if trying to tell people that they would leave her alone.

“The recent increase in the number of conflicts and violence against foreign people to their ancestral land,” – “BBC News, said the organization’s spokeswoman Rebecca Spooner.

Members of the genus boats passing tourists shooting from bows. The recent boom without warning sharp tip was put into a Manu Park Rangers.

During the recent conflict between tribal deadly arrows killed Nicolas Flores, also known as “references for SHAC – another tribe member, and two decades of trying to establish formal contacts with Mashco-Piro.

This attack analyzed by anyone anthropologist Glenn Shepard said that the tribal behavior indicates that they fear contact with the outside world.

The above photographs of the Spanish archaeologist Diego Cortijo made ​​from a respectful distance of 120 m, made ​​use of a telescopic lens. This is the most detailed images ever captured these tribes no contact.

Mr Spooner said that the increase in violence can be reduced while preserving local traditional tribal lands.

“We ask the In Peru government to step up their efforts in preserving this land. It should be left to incontestable tribes “- she said.

MISS MARY’S RAMBLING NEWS

Hello my dear friends in news paper land. I hope all of you have had
better news than I have gotten this week. It seems a very dear lady at
the Senior Center has become very ill.
Her name is Isa Deaton. Please pray for her. She is an awesome Lady.

The other bad news I got was about my dear friend Mam over in Wales. It
seems she started to deteriorate and was sent back to the regular
hospital where they are trying to build up her strength. But she is very

frail. I know there are people out there who will pray for her. She too
is an awesome lady.

On Tuesday several Seniors brought bakery goods and home made candy to
the center and some of the workers took trays of it out to sell as part
of a fund raiser for the center. I guess finances are getting bad and we

must do some fund raisers.

We are selling chances on a beautiful Valentine basket from now till
February 13th. That way the winner can give it to their significant
other for Valentines day. The chances are one dollar each or six chances

for five dollars.

The Basket is filled with a Twenty Five dollar Visa gift card, Twenty
dollar dinner certificate for two at El Cancun, beautiful plush
Valentine Dog, bottle of Victoria’s Secret Perfume, Bottle of Sparkling
Grape juice with two Fancy Wine Glasses, Heart shaped box of Chocolates
plus lots of assorted small Valentine Candies, a Valentine DVD called
(P.S. I love you) , A candle Berry Candle, Heart shaped Figurine, Heart
Tart Burner, Valentine Plaque, Valentine Balloon and last but not least
a certificate from The Touch of Grace for a Half Dozen Roses. The
contents of this beautiful Basket amounts to a minimum total of One
Hundred Twenty Dollars.

It would make one great gift for a special lady or several smaller gifts

for other special girls in your life. Please buy some tickets or perhaps

talk your friends into buying some. We would appreciate it so very much.

We are having an indoor yard and bake sale the first week of April. If
anyone has anything they would like to donate please drop it off between

8am and 1pm Monday through Friday at the Senior Center behind the court
house. Large or small it will be welcome.

My little sister Laverne called me a couple of times this past week. She

really isn’t doing well. She has Heart problems, Pancreas problems and
something wrong with her arms. They swell up so bad she can not close
her hands. Just trying to open her door causes her such pain she can
hardly stand it. I worry so much about her. I am still asking for
prayers from all who wish to pray for her.

On Thursday we had music at the Center. It was the John and Ellis
singers. They consist of John Wireman and Ellis Linkous with their guest

Wanda Linkous, Who recently got a new Autoharp. Man can she ever play
that thing. Earl and Sonya Patton, Marjorie Baily, Viola Brewer and Bob
Peck. It was a great morning of music and singing. Followed by a
delicious lunch.  

On Friday we played candy bar bingo. There was a nice assortment of
candy bars not that we really need the candy but we all really enjoyed
playing bingo, and the candy was a nice treat. We also had two games of
rook going at one time after the bingo was over.

We got two nice size tables just for playing rook on. Plus we got a
beautiful wrought iron table and four matching chairs to go on our front

porch. They look great. We also got beautiful table cloths to cover all
our dining tables.

It was really nice to see Mr Ed Yager back at the center on Friday. He
was absent for several days and we were worried about him. He said he
had been sick but was feeling better today.

Pearly Stacy was finally back in the Center on Friday as well. She had
been absent for quite a while. She said she had been very sick. Then on
Monday she came in with a badly bruised and scratched face. Seems on
Sunday as she and her hubby were leaving home she fell in the drive way
right on her face.

Last week Haroletta came into the Center to see us. It was so funny
because all morning I kept calling Dena, Haroletta. She had her daughter

and the two little ones with her. It was so good to see all of them. We
love Dena but we still love Haroletta too. They are two wonderful young
ladies

Kenneth Hatton has been working on the exercise equipment we have at the

center. Dena hopes to get some exercise classes started. If any of you
have any equipment that you would like to donate we would be happy to
accept it.

Bob and I went to play bingo in Winchester Sunday. Of course we did not
win. But it was Bob’s 75th. birthday and we had fun. Bob got lots of
Cards, phone calls and best wishes. I hope we can do the same thing when

I turn 75.

It sure has been raining a lot for the past week. But that is so much
better than snow. Anytime the temp is above 40 degrees I am happy. At
least I don’t have to worry about sliding on the ice.

Everyone take care, Be safe and be happy till we meet again right here
next week. May God bless us all. Mary Peck 668-7907