The Power Of Influence

Mas PAskah itu apa Sih?

2010-04-05T07:01:00.002-07:00

Banyak yang merayakan Paskah tapitidak tahu apa itu paskah!!!

Apakah Anda tahu tentang sejarah kata "Easter" (PASKAH)?
Easter merupakan kata bahasa Inggris yg berasal dari akar kata bahasa proto-Germanic yang memiliki arti "to rise" (atau bangkit). Dalam bahasa Jerman kontemporer kata "oest" dan dalam bahasa Inggris kata "east" -- keduanya memiliki arti Timur -- petunjuk arah saat matahari terbit (to rise -- bangkit dari kegelapan malam) di pagi hari; ini menjadi akar kata untuk "Easter".

Fakta ini tidak hanya menunjuk pada kebangkitan Yesus dari kematian, namun juga kenaikan-Nya (to rise) ke Surga dan nanti saat kita terangkat (to rise) ke surga bersama-sama dengan Yesus Kristus saat Dia datang kembali untuk menghakimi dunia.

Ada sebagian orang yang tidak percaya dan menganggap tidak benar bahwa kata "Easter" berasal dari "dewi Oestar" (Germanic) ataupun "dewi Ishtar"(Babilon). Kedua dewi ini merupakan simbol kesuburan yang
menunjukkan datangnya musim semi, kehidupan baru, dan pembaharuan. Penyimpangan kata "Ishtar" dapat dijumpai dalam Alkitab sebagai pahlawan wanita Yahudi yang bernama "Esther", yang mengabaikan keselamatan nyawanya sendiri demi kepentingan bangsanya.

Menurut sejarah, kebangkitan Yesus merupakan saatnya bersukacita, bergembira dan penuh perayaan. Banyak gereja menggunakan warna-warna cerah untuk menghias mimbar dan altar dan biasanya warna putih dan emas. Putih melambangkan kesucian dan kebangkitan, emas melambangkan kemenangan. Beberapa gereja juga mengadakan jamuan pesta jemaat, yang mengingatkan bahwa jamuan pernikahan Anak Domba hanya dapat terjadi karena kematian Tuhan Yesus dan kebangkitan-Nya. Kebanyakan gereja mengulangi pernyataan yang diambil dari Injil dan telah dibakukan oleh gereja di awal abad kedua:
Dia telah bangkit! Sesungguhnya Dia telah bangkit! (He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!)

Si Naga Merah Tang Bangun dari Tidurnya

2010-04-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Siapa yang tak kenal dengan si Naga Merah ini? Tahukah anda bahwa akan ada 300 juta orang Cina pedesaan pindah ke kota-kota di Cina dalam lima belas tahun mulai dari sekarang? Ini akan menjadi migrasi terbesar dalam sejarah manusia. Tahukah pula anda bahwa kini Cina telah menggeser Amerika sebagai konsumen terbesar dunia untuk berbagai produk pangan, komoditas industri, kehutanan, tambang, dan energi? Ya, raksasa yang sempat tertidur itu telah bangkit. Cina tumbuh cepat dan menantang dunia. Selama kurun 1985-2005, Produk Domestik Bruto (PDB) Cina tumbuh rata-rata 9,8%.

Label “Made in China” merajai pasar industri. Cina telah memproduksi pakaian, sepatu, dan mainan anak-anak lebih banyak daripada negara lain. Dalam bidang teknologi, negara itu juga telah menjelma produsen terbesar di dunia untuk barang-barang elektronik, menghasilkan lebih banyak TV, DVD player, dan telepon seluler daripada negara lain. Tak ada negara yang memainkan permainan ekonomi dunia lebih baik daripada Cina. Cina terus merangsek naik dan bergerak cepat sehingga menjadi ahli dalam biotek dan perakitan komputer. Cinalah yang membuat komponen Boeing 757 dan mengeksplorasi angkasa luar dengan roket buatan sendiri.

Di Shanghai, telah dibangun gedung-gedung perkantoran yang lebih luas daripada semua gedung perkantoran di New York City. Hingga tahun 2005, Shanghai telah memiliki 4.000 gedung pencakar langit, dua kali lipat dari jumlah yang ada di New York. Dan akan dibangun 1.000 pencakar langit lagi hingga akhir dekade ini. Richard Burdett, profesor arsitektur dan urbanisme dari London School of Economics, berkata, “Ini adalah langkah pembangunan yang paling cepat dalam abad ini.”

Kebangkitan ekonomi Cina ini adalah suatu fenomena yang sangat penting, harus ada buku yang memotret fenomena ini. Pada tahun 2005 yang baru lalu, Penerbit Scribner menerbitkan buku China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World karya Ted C. Fishman. Buku yang tebalnya 342 halaman ini menggambarkan bangunnya Raksasa Merah dan—dalam kecepatan yang mengejutkan—mengubah dirinya menjadi superpower berikutnya. Melalui bukunya ini, Fishman akan mengubah pandangan kita tidak hanya tentang posisi Cina di dunia, tetapi juga posisi AS yang selama ini menjadi adidaya tunggal.

Dalam China, Inc., Fishman menceritakan bagaimana negara besar yang dulunya terkungkung oleh kemiskinan dan ideologi komunisme itu menjelma pusat kekuatan kapitalisme global. Cina kini tumbuh tiga kali lebih cepat daripada AS. Hampir semua perusahaan besar dunia sekarang menjalankan operasi skala besar di Cina. Pertumbuhan Cina sebagai superpower industri ini telah mengakibatkan pergeseran besar dalam tata ekonomi global dan memengaruhi semua orang.

Menurut Fishman, dunia akan sangat terpengaruh oleh aktivitas ekonomi di Cina karena bisa jadi perusahaan-perusahaan akan meninggalkan Amerika, Eropa, dan tempat-tempat lain di dunia lalu beralih ke Cina. Ekonomi dunia juga akan terganggu jika Cina terus-menerus mampu memproduksi apa pun—komputer, mobil, jumbo jet, dan obat-obatan—dengan biaya yang lebih murah.

Untuk menulis buku ini, Fishman yang mantan wartawan itu mengunjungi langsung pabrik-pabrik, pasar, jalan-jalan, dan pertokoan di Cina tempat berlangsungnya semua aktivitas kapitalisme. Dari eksplorasinya, Fishman semakin yakin bahwa basis utama pertumbuhan ekonomi Cina yang pesat dalam kurun waktu 25 tahun ini adalah jumlah penduduknya yang sangat besar—mencapai 1,5 miliar orang. Di masa lalu, jumlah ini dipandang sebagai masalah. Sekarang seperlima penduduk dunia itu dipandang sebagai pasar yang paling besar: sebagai konsumen Citibank, Disney, Nokia, GE, Toyota, Microsoft, dan sebagainya.

Tidak seperti asumsi kebanyakan orang, Fishman menolak pernyataan bahwa Cina adalah tempat tenaga kerja termurah di dunia. Menurutnya, masih banyak negara-negara yang lebih miskin di Asia Tenggara atau Afrika yang para buruhnya bisa dibayar lebih murah. Namun, Fishman menyatakan bahwa Cina adalah lokasi industri yang paling disenangi di dunia karena wilayahnya yang relatif stabil dan menawarkan tenaga kerja industri yang dapat diandalkan, patuh, dan terampil. Semua itu membuat orang-orang Cina menjadi sumber daya alamiah yang sangat besar di muka bumi.

Buku terbaru yang memotret kebangkitan eknomi Cina adalah China Shakes The World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation karya James Kynge. James Kynge telah menjadi wartawan di Asia selama 19 tahun. Sempat menjabat sebagai Kepala Biro Cina untuk Financial Times, sekarang ia menjadi Kepala Perwakilan Pearson Group di Cina.

Buku China Shakes The World yang tebalnya 304 halaman ini tidak hanya mengungkapkan kebangkitan ekonomi Cina yang luar biasa, tetapi juga masa depan dunia akibat fenomena itu. Kynge mengatakan bahwa meskipun Cina telah menjadi kekuatan yang nyata di dunia ini, kebangkitannya sebenarnya baru saja dimulai. Dalam dekade yang akan datang kebutuhan Cina yang luar biasa akan bahan baku, energi, dan makanan akan mengubah perdagangan dunia, aliran modal, dan politik.

Dalam buku yang diterbitkan oleh Orion ini, Kynge juga menunjukkan kelemahan Cina—polusi lingkungannya, krisis kepercayaan sosial, sistem finansialnya yang lemah, dan institusi pemerintahannya yang goyah. Kelemahan ini berisiko pada kegagalan ekonomi Cina. Karena banyak perusahaan multinasional berinvestasi di Cina, kegagalan ekonomi Cina atau sekadar benturan ekonomi sesaat akibat ketergesa-gesaannya menuju modernitas akan dirasakan di seluruh dunia.

Ted C. Fishman dan James Kynge menunjukkan kepada kita potret Cina menuju superpower. Buku-buku tentang kebangkitan ekonomi Cina yang mereka tulis menyadarkan kita bahwa Sang Naga telah bangkit dan membuat kita waspada akan semburan apinya

Film yang Paling Menggemparkan Masa ini

2010-04-05T06:49:00.001-07:00

Film yang bercerita soal pertempuran dewa dalam mitologi Yunani, 'Clash of the Titans', meraih sukses besar. 'Clash of the Titans' berhasil menduduki peringkat pertama penjualan tiket bioskop di seluruh dunia.
Seperti yang dilansir oleh Reuters, Senin (5/4/2010), film yang disutradarai oleh Louis Leterrier itu meraup pendapatan sebesar US$ 64 juta atau sekitar Rp 579 miliar. Pendapatan sebanyak itu diperoleh 'Clash of the Titans' hanya di daratan Amerika Serikat (AS) dan Kanada saja sejak pertama kali diputar pada 2 April 2010 lalu.
Salah satu sebab yang membuat 'Clash of the Titans' laris di AS dan kanada karena pemutaran perdananya berdekatan dengan liburan Paskah. Film yang juga dirilis dalam format 3 dimensi (3D) tersebut juga mencetak pendapatan tinggi di 15 negara.
Seperti di Spanyol yang mencatat penjualan tiket sebesar US$ 8,6 juta (Rp 77 miliar) dalam waktu lima hari, lalu di Inggris sebanyak US$ 7,8 juta (Rp 70 miliar) dalam periode tiga hari saja dan di Korea Selatan US$ 6,8 juta (Rp 61 miliar) dalam jangka empat hari pemutaran.
Pendapatan sementara film yang dibintangi oleh Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson dan Ralph Fiennes itu mencapai US$ 108 juta (Rp 977 miliar). Angka ini akan terus naik karena 'Clash of the Titans' belum diputar di banyak negara.
Film dengan durasi sekitar 118 menit itu menghabiskan biaya pembuatan sebesar US$ 100 juta (Rp 905 miliar).
Di Indonesia 'Clash of the Titans' mulai diputar sejak 1 April 2010. Lalu sudahkah anda menyaksikan 'Clash of the Titans' di bioskop kesayangan anda? Jangan sampai terlewatkan.

Cara minum Yang Benar

2009-12-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ini pesan kesehatan, semoga bermanfaat :Semalam (01/11/06) saya ikut kajian kesehatan akupuntur yang diadakan salah satu ahli akupuntur. Ini dibuktikan dari segi kesehatan.Air yang masuk dengan cara duduk akan disaring oleh sfringer. Sfringer adalah suatu struktur maskuler (berotot) yang bisa membuka (sehingga air kemih bisa lewat) dan menutup. Setiap air yang kita minum akan disalurkan pada pos- pos penyaringan yang berada di ginjal. Nah Jika kita minum berdiri, Air yang kita minum tanpa disaring lagi.

Langsung menuju kandung kemih. Ketika langsung menuju kandung kemih, maka terjadi pengendapan disaluran ureter. Karena banyak limbah-limbah yang menyisa di ureter. Inilah yang bisa menyebabkan penyakit kristal ginjal. Salah satu penyakit ginjal yang berbahaya. Susah kencing itu penyebabnya..

Cara mengatasinya :
> 1. biasakan minum duduk.
> 2. banyak minum air putih.

Sekarang, apakah kita masih mau minum berdiri?.............

---------------------------------

KEKENTALAN DARAH DALAM TUBUH, MENGAPA TERJADI???

Ada satu pertanyaan yang masuk ke mailbox saya, yaitu

"Mengapa harus minum air putih banyak-banyak. .?"
Well, sebenarnya jawabannya cukup "mengerikan" tetapi karena sebuah pertanyaan jujur harus dijawab dengan jujur, maka topik tersebut bisa dijelaskan sbb:

Kira-kira 80% tubuh manusia terdiri dari air.
Malah ada beberapa bagian tubuh kita yang memiliki kadar air di atas 80%. Dua organ paling penting dengan kadar air di atas 80% adalah : Otak dan Darah. !!

Otak memiliki komponen air sebanyak 90%,
Sementara darah memiliki Komponen air 95%.

Jatah minum manusia normal sedikitnya adalah 2 liter sehari atau 8 gelas sehari. Jumlah di atas harus ditambah bila anda seorang perokok.

Air sebanyak itu diperlukan untuk mengganti cairan yang keluar dari tubuh kita lewat air seni, keringat, pernapasan, dan sekresi.
Apa yang terjadi bila kita mengkonsumsi kurang dari 2 liter sehari...?

Tentu tubuh akan menyeimbangkan diri. Caranya...?
Dengan jalan "menyedot" air dari komponen tubuh sendiri.Dari otak...?

Belum sampai segitunya (wihh...bayangkan otak kering gimana jadinya...), melainkan dari sumber terdekat : Darah. !!

Darah yang disedot airnya akan menjadi kental..
Akibat pengentalan darah ini, maka perjalanannya akan kurang lancar ketimbang yang encer.

Saat melewati ginjal (tempat menyaring racun dari darah)
Ginjal akan bekerja extra keras menyaring darah.
Dan karena saringan dalam ginjal halus, tidak jarang darah yang kental
bisa menyebabkan perobekan pada glomerulus ginjal.

Akibatnya, air seni anda berwarna kemerahan, tanda mulai bocornya saringan ginjal. Bila dibiarkan terus menerus, anda mungkin suatu saat harus menghabiskan 400.000 rupiah seminggu untuk cuci darah

Eh, tadi saya sudah bicara tentang otak ' kan ...?
Nah saat darah kental meng alir lewat otak, perjalanannya agak terhambat.. Otak tidak lagi "encer", dan karena sel-sel otak adalah yang paling boros mengkonsumsi makanan dan oksigen,

Lambatnya aliran darah ini bisa menyebabkan sel-sel otak cepat mati atau tidak berfungsi sebagaimana mestinya..(ya wajarlah namanya juga kurang makan...)

Bila ini ditambah dengan penyakit jantung (yang juga kerjanya tambah berat bila darah mengental... ),maka serangan stroke bisa lebih lekas datang.

Sekarang tinggal anda pilih: melakukan "investasi" dengan minum sedikitnya 8 gelas sehari- atau- "membayar bunga" lewat sakit ginjal atau stroke.

Anda yang pilih...!

2009-12-18T02:31:00.000-08:00

Beribu Manfaat dari PISANG untuk ANDA

2009-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hallo sobat Keripik Pisang Lidah Naga semua, selamat datang untuk Anda. Terimakasih Anda telah mau mencoba mencari tahu rahasia sebenarnya dari gizi yang diberikan PISANG kepada kita. Dan inilah informasi yang penting dan yang perlu Anda tahu saat ini.

Pernah membayangkan bagaimana rasanya menjadi William bersaudara, pemegang gelar juara berbagai pertandingan tenis putri dunia? Selain skill yang mumpuni, tentunya stamina tubuh yang prima adalah kunci utama bagi mereka untuk tetap unggul di lapangan. Bayangkan! Terkadang Williams bersaudara harus bertanding selama lebih dari 6 jam untuk memenangkan pertandingan! Jika anda cermat memperhatikan, asupan gizi yang menjadi favorit kebanyakan atlet tenis dunia adalah PISANG! Ya, pisang menjadi penyelamat bagi mereka. Pisang mempu dengan mudah diserap tubuh dan mengembalikan energi puncak mereka. Secara umum, kandungan gizi yang terdapat dalam setiap buah pisang matang adalah sebagai berikut: kalori 99 kalori, protein 1,2 gram, lemak 0,2 gram, karbohidrat 25,8 miligram (mg), serat 0,7 gram, kalsium 8 mg, fosfor 28 mg, besi 0,5 mg, vitamin A 44 RE, Vitamin B 0,08 mg, Vitamin C 3 mg dan air 72 gram.

Kandungan buah pisang sangat banyak, terdiri dari mineral, vitamin, karbohidrat, serat, protein, lemak, dan lain-lain, sehingga apabila orang hanya mengonsumsi buah pisang saja, sudah tercukupi secara minimal gizinya.

Pilih Pisang Berkualitas Terbaik!

Pilihlah pisang yang sudah matang, yang kulitnya hijau kekuning-kuningan dengan bercak coklat atau kuning, sebab ini akan mudah dicerna, dan gula buah diubah menjadi glukosa alami secara cepat diabsorbsi ke dalam peredaran darah, pisang yang mentah akan sulit dicerna.

Berbagai Manfaat Pisang:

Sumber Kekuatan Tenaga

Buah pisang dengan mudah dapat dicerna, gula yang terdapat di buah tersebut diubah menjadi sumber tenaga yang bagus secara cepat, dan itu bagus dalam pembentukan tubuh, untuk kerja otot, dan sangat bagus untuk menghilangkan rasa lelah.

Manfaat untuk Ibu Hamil

Pisang juga disarankan untuk dikonsumsi para wanita hamil karena mengandung asam folat, yang mudah diserap janin melalui rahim. Namun, jangan terlalu berlebihan, sebab satu buah pisang mengandung sekitar 85-100 kalori.

Manfaat bagi Penderita Anemia

Dua buah pisang yang dimakan oleh pasien anemia setiap hari sudah cukup, karena mengandung Fe (zat besi) tinggi.

Manfaat bagi Penyakit Usus dan Perut

Pisang yang dicampur susu cair (atau dimasukkan dalam segelas susu cair)dapat dihidangkan sebagai obat dalam kasus penyakit usus. Juga dapat direkomendasikan untuk pasien sakit perut dan cholik untuk menetralkan keasaman lambung. Sebuah pisang dihidangkan sebagai pertahanan terhadap inflamasi karena Vitamin C dapat secara cepat diproses. Ia mentransformasikan bacillus berbahaya menjadi bacillus yang bersahabat. Dengan demikian, keduanya akan tertolong. Pure pisang ataupun krim pisang (seperti untuk makanan bayi), dapat dikonsumsi oleh pasien yang menderita diare.

Manfaat bagi Penderita Lever

Penderita penyakit lever bagus mengonsumsi pisang dua buah ditambah satu sendok madu, akan menambah nafsu makan dan membuat kuat.

Manfaat bagi Luka Bakar

Daun pisang dapat digunakan untuk pengobatan kulit yang terbakar dengan cara dioles, campuran abu daun pisang ditambah minyak kelapa mempunyai pengaruh mendinginkan kulit.

Manfaat bagi Diabetes

Pada masyarakat Gorontalo (Sulawesi Utara), jenis pisang goroho yakni pisang khas daerah setempat, merupakan makanan tambahan/pokok bagi orang yang menderita penyakit gula/diabetes melitus, terutama buah pisang goroho yang belum matang, kemudian dikukus dan dicampur kelapa parut muda.

Pisang dan Kecantikan

Bubur pisang dicampur dengan sedikit susu dan madu, dioleskan pada wajah setiap hari secara teratur selama 30-40 menit. Basuh dengan air hangat kemudian bilas dengan air dingin atau es, diulang selama 15 hari, akan menghasilkan pengaruh yang menakjubkan pada kulit.

Pisang untuk Mengatur Bobot Badan

Pisang juga mempunyai peranan dalam penurunan berat badan seperti juga untuk menaikkan berat badan. Telah terbukti seseorang kehilangan berat badan dengan berdiet 4 (empat) buah pisang dan 4 (empat) gelas susu non fat atau susu cair per hari sedikitnya 3 hari dalam seminggu, jumlah kalori hanya 1250 dan menu tersebut cukup menyehatkan. Selain itu, diet tersebut membuat kulit wajah tidak berminyak dan bersih. Pada sisi yang lain, mengonsumsi satu gelas banana milk-shake dicampur madu, buah-buahan, kacang, dan mangga sesudah makan, akan menaikkan berat badan.

Perlindungan Kardiovaskuler

Pisang adalah salah satu sumber terbaik untuk potassium, yakni mineral penting yang menjaga tekanan darah normal dan fungsi hati. Rata-rata, pisang yang terdiri dari 467 mg potassium dan 1 mg sodium, dapat membantu pencegahan tekanan darah tinggi dan atherosclerosis. Sebuah studi yang dimuat di Archives of Internal Medicine mengungkapkan bahwa makanan dengan serat tinggi, seperti pisang, membantu penyakit hati. Penelitian sepanjang 19 tahun menunjukkan bahwa orang yang makan banyak serat, sekitar 21 gram per hari, memiliki 12% penyakit jantung koroner lebih sedikit, dan 11% penyakit kardiovaskuler lebih sedikit dibandingkan dengan yang memakan serat sedikit (5 gram per hari).

Menjaga Kesehatan Mata

Ketika kecil, orangtua Anda tentunya menyuruh untuk banyak makan wortel supaya matanya tetap bagus. Namun, sebagai orang dewasa, sepertinya buah-buahan lebih penting dalam menjaga kesehatan mata. Studi yang terdiri dari 100,000 orang partisipan yang diminta mengkonsumsi buah, sayuran, vitamin antioksidan A,C dan E, serta carotenoid untuk mengevaluasi pembentukan penyakit mata ARMD, menunjukkan bahwa konsumsi sayuran, vitamin antioksidan dan carotenoid tidak berkaitan dengan penyakit tersebut. Sementara itu, konsumsi buah-buahan (pisamg) menunjukkan perlindungan terhadap penyakit mata yang akut ini.

Memperbaiki Tulang

Mengkonsumsi pisang secara rutin akan membantu tubuh Anda menyerap kalsium secara lebih baik. Pisang mengandung banyak fruktooligosakarida, yang merupakan prebiotik atau bakteri yang baik bagi usus besar Anda. Bakteri ini memproduksi enzim serta vitamin yang meningkatkan kemampuan penyerapan nutrisi serta melindungi terhadap mikroorganisme jahat. Kemampuan tubuh untuk menyerap kalsium juga menjadi lebih baik, sehingga bagus untuk tulang. Selain itu, risiko kanker usus juga berkurang.

Menyehatkan Ginjal

Riset dari International Journal of Cancer menunjukkan bahwa konsumsi buah dan sayuran, terutama pisang, secara regular dan sedang dapat melindungi tubuh. Studi 13.4 tahun dengan populasi yang terdiri dari 61,000 wanita usia 40-76 menunjukkan bahwa wanita yang memakan lebih dari 75 buah dan sayuran per bulan (atau 2.5 per hari) memangkas risiko kanker ginjal sebanyak 40%. Diantara buah-buahan lainnya, pisanglah yang paling melindungi.

Khasiat Lainnya

Dalam “Medicinal Uses of Bananas” (www.banana.com,2002) menyebutkan, bahwa pisang mempunyai manfaat dalam penyembuhan anemia, menurunkan tekanan darah, tenaga untuk berpikir, kaya serat untuk membantu diet, kulit pisang dapat digunakan sebagai cream anti nyamuk, membantu sistem syaraf, dapat membantu perokok untuk menghilangkan pengaruh nikotin, stres, mencegah stroke, mengontrol temperatur badan terutama bagi ibu hamil, menetralkan keasaman lambung, dan sebagainya.

Tanaman pisang secara genetis dapat menghasilkan vaksin yang murah dan sebagai alternatif untuk pertahanan anak dari serangan penyakit. Para peneliti sedang mencoba dari pisang untuk memproduksi antigen untuk coating Virus Hepatitis B. Apabila vaksin Hepatitis B tersebut berhasil akan menjadi sangat murah. Peneliti lain mengembangkan pisang yang dapat membantu dalam melawan penyakit campak/cacar air, penyakit kuning, polio, dan dipteri. Saat ini, peneliti telah mencoba pada relawan, di mana diperlihatkan 10 persen tekanan darah turun dengan mengonsumsi dua buah pisang setiap hari.

Beberapa Tips :

• Makanlah pisang selagi buahnya benar-benar matang, karena semakin matang buahnya, maka level antioksidannya juga semakin tinggi. (Riset Universitas Innbruck Austria)

• Jika Anda ingin mempercepat proses matangnya, maka taruh pisang dalam sebuah paper bag atau bungkus dengan koran

• Selain dimakan biasa atau menjadi salad, sandwich atau crepes pisang dengan selai kacang dan madu juga merupakan hidangan yang lezat. Selain itu, Anda juga bisa menghidangkannya dengan cara dipotong-potong dan dimasukkan ke sarapan oatmeal Anda.

Sumber : Dechacare.com dan World Healthiest Foods

Ten Great Holiday Movies

2009-12-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

What movie is special in this year, here are many movies to be released this holiday season. Here are a few--from epics to animation--that are must-sees opening before Thanksgiving.

1. Australia, opens Nov 26 starring Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman. Australia is director Baz Lurhman's epic, historic drama set in 1940s northern Australia. Nicole Kidman is "Lady Sarah Ashley," an English aristocratic woman who leaves England with the intention of confronting her philandering husband in Australia but ends up making the journey of her life. On the way she inherits a cattle station and falls in love with a tough cattle drover played by Hugh Jackman as the Japanese are bombing the country. Already, many magazine movie critics are talking Oscars, including Nicole Kidman for Best Actress. People magazine, Time magazine and Entertainment Weekly have listed the movie in their fall movie previews as must-see.
2. Twilight, opens Nov. 21 starring Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson. This is the $37 million movie adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's best-selling novel that was shot in Portland, Oregon. Movie critics have noted the movie closely follows the book--a story about teenaged Bella who moves to a new town and falls in love with a vampire. Entertainment Weekly magazine reports, "Not since Harry Potter has a book-to-film journey inspired so much enthusiasm."
3. Quantum of Solace, opens Nov. 14 starring Daniel Craig. The 22nd installment of the James Bond series and the sequel to 2006's Casino Royale, Quantum Solace's action begins nearly an hour after the ending events of Casino Royale with a car crash and continues to follow Agent 007 who is after Dominic Greene a member of the Quantum organization who plans to stage a coup in Bolivia to take over the water supply. Entertainment Weekly magazine reports this sequel holds up the standards of previous Bond films: great action, sex appeal and sleek production.
4. The Road, opens Nov. 14 starring Viggo Mortensen. This is another movie adaptation of a book. This time author Cormac McCarthy's best-selling Pulitizer Prize-winning and Oprah Book Club tale of a man and his son surviving post-apocalyptic America gets the $30 million big screen treatment. Read more about this movie in magazines like Entertainment Weekly and O the Oprah magazine.
5. Bolt, opens Nov. 21 starring John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. This Walt Disney Animation Studios CGI animated feature is about Bolt, a white German shepherd dog who has lived all of his life on a television set and portrays a superhero dog. Bolt believes his superhero powers are real. When Bolt is mistakenly transported from Hollywood to the streets of New York City he finds himself dealing with real life and an identity crisis.
6. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, opens Nov. 7 stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer. The lovable beasts from 2005's Madagascar: The Escape are back for an African adventure. Read more about this movie in childrens magazines and entertainment magazines.
7. Soul Men, opens Nov. 14, stars Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac. Two former backup soul singers Louis and Floyd reunite after years of estrangement to travel cross country and perform a tribute concert in honor of their famous former band leader. The movie features both Jackson and Mac will do their own musical and dance performing and a cameo appearance by the late Isaac Hayes. Read more about this movie in magazines like Vibe, Jet and Essence.
8. Nothing Like the Holidays, opens Nov. 21 stars John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez and Debra Messing. Set in Chicago at Christmastime, this family-focused dramedy follows a Puerto Rican family's chaotic holiday get-together. Read more about this movie in magazines like Time magazine.
9. The Soloist, opens Nov. 21, stars Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener. This drama based on a true story, follows Nathaniel Ayers, an incredible musician who is homeless and living with schizophrenia and Steve Lopex, a newspaper writer who writes a story on Ayers' gift and tries to help him. Find more about this movie in entertainment magazines like Entertainment Weekly.
10. Four Christmases, opens Nov. 26 stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. When their exotic Christmas vacation plans are foiled by bad weather, young newlyweds Kate and Brad are forced to endure a day of family festivities--they intended to avoid; for both Kate's and Brad's parents are each divorced and so they are obligated to four family gatherings. Entertainment Weekly says of the movie, "In a genre that can be pretty ho-ho-hum, the oil-and- vinegar pairing of Witherspoon and Vaughn offers a little bite."

China and UE economy in 2010 trade and investment

2009-12-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

China and the European Union, in a joint statement issued Monday, vowed to step up efforts to promote trade and investment and increase effective market access.
The statement was issued on the sidelines of the 12th China-EU Summit held in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province in east China.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the meeting with President of the European Council and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The two sides shared the view that economic and trade ties between China and the EU were an important and integral part of the comprehensive strategic partnership, said the joint statement.
They agreed to step up efforts to promote trade and investment and increase effective market access in order to deal with the economic crisis. The European Union appreciated the efforts of China to undertake trade and investment promotion missions to Europe.
In the statement, leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED). China and the EU agreed on the importance of using all avenues to expand economic openness and reform in their relationship and in their respective economies to ensure an open, stable and predictable environment to create business opportunities.
The joint statement said China and the EU would seek to facilitate trade and investment among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and explore possibilities of cooperation in other areas, including trade finance and technology trade.
Both sides would work together to enhance trade and investment opportunities arising from the move towards a green economy. In this context, both sides welcomed the fifth China-EU Business Summit and its focus on the "Green Agenda: Sustaining Growth Beyond Recovery."
They agreed that efforts to stimulate demand should be based on transparency and non-discrimination. They recognized the importance of open and non-discriminatory government procurement policies and agreed to pursue efforts to increase exchanges in this field.
The EU expressed support for China's efforts to accede to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and encouraged China in its preparation of a revised offer, the joint statement said.
The two sides commended the important role of the previous three G20 Summits in tackling the global financial crisis, and supported G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation focusing on world economic, financial and development issues.
They agreed to work with other countries and regions to build a fair, just, inclusive, stable and resilient international financial system, and to support the sustainable growth of economies in their regions and the world at large, not least by fighting all forms of protectionism, keeping open and free trade and strengthening support for developing countries.
They agreed to further strengthen international financial regulation and intensify cooperation and coordination of their macroeconomic policies.
Leaders welcomed the discussions in Nanjing on Nov 29 between the representatives of the eurozone and the Chinese authorities on macroeconomic policy issues, the joint statement said.
The joint statement said leaders expressed their determination to work to conclude in 2010 the negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda and their commitment to an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced agreement.
Both sides believed that closure of the Doha Round should be consistent with its mandate and on the basis of progress already made, and called on all WTO members to work to close the Round in 2010.

Michael Jackson’s posh casket in the basement of Forest Lawn, he still life?

2009-12-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

And while that alone doesn’t prove the overwrought superstar faked his death – as many suspect – it is, at the very least, supportive of reports that claim he did, in fact, perpetrate a hoax … and one day might day come out of hiding.
“Make no mistake, Michael Jackson is not in the casket that bears his name,” Dr. Reiss told me exclusively.
“The coffin … his casket … his tomb, is empty. And he is not – repeat, he is not on the West Coast of the United States, not in Los Angeles, not in California, nowhere close.
“Is he alive? Is he dead? I have mixed intuitions about this.
“There are many reasons for him to have faked his death, several of which are unknown to the public.
“One that I feel very strongly to be true is that he was in deep despair over a series of shady investments and business dealings and a secret gambling addiction that had laid waste to his fortune.
“Had those investments and dealings and the gambling come to light, his reputation could have been permanently damaged.
“Faking his death would not only make sense under such a threat, you might argue that it was the best way to deal with the situation.
“The infusion of income from increased record sales generated by the renewed interest in his life, his music and his career could be used to ‘clean up’ the financial mess before anything was exposed.
“When the time is right, with the dirt swept under the rug, Michael could once again step forward without a dark cloud over his head and do what he did so well – entertain billions of women, children and men who appreciate his singing and dancing, and also love him as a human being.”
Dr. Reiss dropped three more bombshells based on his meditations over Jackson’s alleged death.
“It seems clear to me that in the year leading up to his disappearance, Michael had become romantically involved with a bisexual woman, possibly a man, but more likely a woman, who, like Michael, dressed and had mannerisms that would be considered both male and female, androgynous.
“I believe this relationship was good for Michael, and if he is still alive, which, as I have said, is quite possible, I sense that their relationship will only grow stronger. Interestingly, many of his fans have seen this very secretive person without realizing it. My sense is that this person impersonated Michael on numerous occasions at his request, not on stage or in a studio, but in public.
“There is a possibility, of course, that Michael is dead, and, even he isn’t, we all know that, being mortal, he one day will die.
“Regardless of the date of his death, I can tell you he will be reincarnated in the year 2065 as a woman. Her name? J. Michael – his name and initial backward.
“She will be a singer and achieve a good measure of success. But unlike Michael, she will be happy with her life and her looks. There will be no turmoil such as Michael suffered.
She will not have nose surgery and cosmetic difficulties. In the next life, Michael will find the contentment he so richly deserves, as a woman, and for all who love and respect him, that is good news.”

What They are say about Your Live

2009-11-30T07:18:00.000-08:00

This word is come from some people where they have experience with they words. And when they know what the purpose of they life. They make conclusion, about secret word of live. And this for you:

Heart

The “heart” of the problem is the problem of the heart.

Unknown

Reward For Righteousness

Henry C. Morrison, after serving for forty years on the African mission field, headed home by boat. On that same boat also rode Theodore Roosevelt. Morrison was quite dejected when, on entering New York harbor, President Roosevelt received a great fanfair as he arrived home. Morrison thought he should get some recognition for forty years in the Lord's service.

Then a small voice came to Morrison and said, "Henry - you're not home yet."

Brotherhood

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tongue

This past year, if someone had paid you ten dollars for every kind word you ever spoke about other people, and also collected five dollars for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?

The ancient philosopher Zeno once said, "We have two ears and one mouth, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak.

GIVING

IT has been said that " many littles make a muckle." A single bee does not collect more than one teaspoonful of honey in a season. Yet in a single hive there is often found as much as eighty pounds. We should not refuse to give for the cause of Christ became we cannot give large sums. The teaching of the bee is that every one should give. The united littles of God's poor ones will be enough to please Him. But don't forget that the bee gives its very life to do that little. " The Lord loveth a cheerful giver" {.

James Smith, Handfuls on Purpose, vol. 3, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman Publishing Co., 1971).

PLEASURES OF SIN

PLEASURES OF SIN. CONNECTED With the lotus tree, in North Africa, is the fable that if strangers eat of its fruit it will make them forget their home. The fruit of the lotus tree of sin has made many forget their heavenly home. As pilgrims and strangers on the earth, beware of this lotus tree. Moses refused to eat of its fruit.

James Smith, Handfuls on Purpose, vol. 1, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman Publishing Co.,

"Begin From Feed Your Brain"

2009-11-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

Home to your mind and personality, your brain houses your cherished memories and future hopes. If orchestrates the symphony of conciousness that gives you purpose and passion, motion and emotion.
The human brain can create enought electric train and has remarkable capacity when pushes to its limits, but it need a constant flow of oxygen and specific nutrients to keep it functioning properly throughout your lifetime.

A. Taking care of your brain
We eat carrots to give us stronger eyes, fiber to lower cholesterol and vitamins for general health, so why not take something for your brain? Focusing on the health of our brain may be increasingly important. Our brain's ability function will
significantly affect the quality not just of our present but of the years to come.

B. Which suplements are best?
They are many suplements out there, so it pay to your homework. The web has alot of information, which can be a challenge to sift through, but worth it to find the ideal product the sits you to a tee.

C. Function on all cylinders
Next time you are feeling sluggish, it may be time to look into taking suplements to benefit long-term mental well-being, rather than ordering a double espresso, which will only give you a short-term fix.

I hope this can useful for you are and begin to feed your brain now. Like as Daniel G Amen say "change your brain, Change your life".

Five Success Key!

2009-11-28T07:25:00.000-08:00

All of people want to be a success man in their job. Success is get what their goal. But how using the power of spiritual to build it beside your knowledge and your title. As a Spiritually Based Entrepreneur you already have the key elements of "real success." Do you know what they are?

Some of these keys were recently highlighted for me after an inspiring conversation I had with a new client. She called me because she was ready to step into the "bigger place" that is calling her.

Right away I was moved by the love and respect with which she talked about her own clients and colleagues, and the problem they overcame. This new client is planning to write a book about these individuals and others like them, and the solution to the problem they have moved beyond.

She, herself, is one of these people. She knows both sides by heart - the problem and a solution. She lived through the problem and she is living the solution.

When she spoke of "the bigger place" for her she remembered the moment when she knew what she was being called to do. "It came from a place deep inside me," she said.

She came ready to step into the bigger place that is calling her. I could "see" that her book is only the beginning. The size and possibilities of the vision unfolding from within her were palpable.

In the vein of what she shared in this initial conversation her "real success" is assured and she will be a positive force of change in many lives.
"Real success" nourishes the heart and soul. The motivations behind the actions flow from personal integrity, as do the actions themselves. Some key elements of her potential success follow.

5 "Real Success" Keys of the Spiritual Entrepreneur
1. Your message is authentic and you walk your talk. This client lived through the problem of which she is called to help others. And she is living the solution.

2. Ask for help. She knows that what she is saying "yes" to is bigger than her. She can't do it by herself.

3. Say "Yes" to the call. This client was called from "a place deep inside me." She realizes that she was called because there is no one to do this work but her. In the bigger sense of the word, no one can do what she does, the way she does it and have the impact that only she can have.

4. Know that you have one solution. This client knows that hers may not be the solution for everyone but there are plenty whose lives will be changed as a result. As she sharing her gifts and her message, the people who need to see and hear her message will find her.
5. Come from service first. Service is unconditional love in action. True service is joyful, it is of the heart. She spoke of her "people" with love and respect.

6. Her desire for them is simple and clear - that they heal and have healthier, happier lives.

"Real success" brings all manner of abundance - including money - because it is in spiritual alignment. Abundance is a principle of the Universe.
As you say "Yes" and step into the bigger place that is calling from deep inside you, as you share your gifts and your authentic message, as you live your message, as you become love in action and as you get the assistance you need so that you can do the previous things, you will be compensated in rich measure.

The richness of this measure comes from the abundance that lives inside your heart and soul - it is what is calling you forth. It is the source of "Real Success."

Step in Your Greatness!
And experience "Real Success"

How Influence People

2009-11-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

Some people be awesome when their find man where can influence another and them want to work with what her say. What power he have? But know I want to share with you. You can influence everybody with The Power of Influence. How to use, let’s look this!
We all have our own mentors - people who, in one way or another, has played a big role and influenced us in the way that we perceive things. At some point in your life, you will also find that what you have done or said has a way of influencing people. In these two cases, you will see that there is a way for you to influence people and it will benefit you if you know how to use this skill to your advantage.

There is actually no right or wrong way to influence people. The important thing when trying to influence people is that you are going for a positive result. Your success, as a leader or part of a group, as well as in life in general, will depend on your ability to influence people and affect their lives in a positive way. To have a deeper understanding of how you can influence people in a positive or productive manner, take a look at the following:

1. Get your message across.

Take a Manager for example. If an employee under his supervision is often late arriving to work, how can he influence this employee into improving his or her Performance at work? The first thing that the manager needs to do is set a good example. By showing up on time, you are sending the message that you may be the boss but you are not exempted from the company rules - even with something as simple as coming to work on time. This way, the manager can influence the employee by being a role model and setting a good example.

2. If a person is behaving inappropriately, dig deeper into the reason for such behavior.

Influencing people into your way thinking does not - and should not involve manipulating, bullying, punishing or harassing. There should be a motivation behind such behavior, and punishing them into submission will not give you the results that you want. Find out what the reason is behind all of it. Listen to their problem and have them explain the situation to you. Only then can you make an intelligent decision and take steps on how you can change their mind into your way of thinking.

3. Explain the results that you would like to see and get feedback.

If you are a leader in a sales company, for example, you all have a common goal to meet as a company. If your employees think that you are only in it for the Money with no deeper motivation, you may not influence them into thinking that they should work hard enough
to make the company profit. To influence them into meeting the goals that you have, explain the results that you would like to see. The process should not end here, because you also need to gain feedback to learn if the goals are realistic, or if the methods that you want them to use are at all feasible.

4. Learn how to listen and communicate effectively to influence people in a positive way.

Influencing people is not just limited to the workplace. Even as a parent, you can try to influence your children into living the kind of life that you would like them to have. As a friend, you may not
always agree with your friend's actions but you should always be there for them to support whatever decisions it is that they make. Listening and learning how to communicate effectively will make you influence other's lives because of a deeper understanding that you will have on what motivates them, which in turn will give
you an idea on how to deal with a particular situation.

With these in mind, you can learn how to yield positive results in the way that you influence people, so that you can be successful in reaching the goals that you have set for yourself and for others.

Startegy of Toyota

2009-11-26T07:05:00.000-08:00

Who don’t know Toyota Motor Corp? You know USA ever feel bad when Toyota be a competitor in American business. Toyota got Brand Equity now in customer mind now. What strategy Toyota using? Let’s find their secret.
The Toyota Motor Corp. is evidently one of the most successful companies in the business realm. The rise of the Japanese automaker is not new to everyone. But behind the significant success, the company’s workers in Kentucky plant are complaining about their health and safety benefits.

Analysts in the auto industry say that the corporate success story of the Japanese automaker depends heavily on the low-paid temporary workers. In addition, at the Georgetown, Kentucky plant, the automaker intends to slash wages and benefits.

In response to the said plan, the workers held a town hall forum called "The Human Cost of Toyota's Success" and this was held near Lexington. In the said forum, the workers voiced their clamor for the corporation to respect its workers and the community that made its Georgetown facility so successful. The Toyota handle work, as well as other auto parts integrated to the vehicles may not have the impact if not for these workers.

"Tim Unger",an 18-year veteran worker at the Kentucky plant, said, "I believe that as a company succeeds, the employees should also succeed.” Unger and other workers said that they see a need for a contract with the giant automaker. It is worth noting that Toyota has received $371 million in state and local government tax subsidies since 1986.

Unger added he has noticed that some longtime workers have "disappeared" from the plant - victims of Toyota's quest for improved efficiency. "Shoulders would wear out, wrists would require surgery and back and hands started to fail," he said. "It seemed as if the good people who contributed to the success of Toyota were being used up and disposed of like garbage."

Noel Christian Riddell, a 10-year veteran worker, said that things started out promising but later the veteran workers on the shop floor have been ignored. And the automaker hires low-wage temporary workers to preclude others from enjoying permanent employment with benefits.

"We executed model change activities faster than any other manufacturer. I truly felt my contributions played a role in the company's success," Riddell pointed out. "But something happened. After only a few years, training ceased. Suddenly I had no sick days. My raises became smaller. My benefits were cut. My group's manpower was slashed. And the number of temporary employees steadily grew."

Cornelia James, an 18-year Toyota worker, said that she has seen more jobs combined and others eliminated. But what is more disconcerting is an internal document that reveals the company's long range plans for wages and benefits. The document said that the corporation wants to "align" wages and benefits to other manufacturers in Kentucky. James quipped, "We have worked hard to make Toyota a success only to find out they have a secret plan for us. It's time for Toyota to sign a contract with us like everyone else they do business with."

UAW Vice President Terry Thurman, who participated in the forum, said the union is committed to providing "all the assistance we can" to Toyota workers. "This is all about Toyota workers - their concerns, their interests, and their hopes for the future," said Thurman. "They are hard-working auto workers and they've helped make this company a tremendous success - and they deserve respect and dignity on the job."

He added, “In cooperation with local community and civic organizations, and the national Jobs with Justice selling, the UAW is working to establish a Workers' Rights Board in Kentucky, which will be available to hear personal stories of Toyota workers and recommend appropriate remedies when necessary.”

Muslim World

2009-11-25T07:29:00.000-08:00

A phenomenon unlike any other has flourished extensively over the past decades, coagulating ever so rapidly in many parts of the world: general distaste towards the west. And as educated and thoughtful individuals, it is our absolute duty to investigate the cause of such a situation for treatment and prevention of its further cancer-like metastasis. Before any of that can be properly addressed, the root cause of the problem must be thoroughly investigated (although the full reasons need more than a few compendiums to be completely analyzed). To understand this horrid phenomenon, it is imperative to look at its state of being in the Islamic World, particularly the Middle East. Over many years, there has been an expanding, self-created ocean of hate towards the west, particularly the United States and Britain by many Muslims. Although many Neo-cons and their proxies would like the world to believe that this attitude came into being solely unprovoked, completely gratuitous in nature as they say, the reality is unfortunately the opposite. This feeling, shared by millions of individuals, was created by the political policies of the west, unjust, antagonizing and utterly contemptible. Now, this is neither a rationalization nor a defense for the atrocities committed by some extremists, whom it is a misnomer to call Muslims. On the other hand, this is an attempt to understand this serious problem, a political pathological view to a disease with a potentially terrible prognosis.

Britain, the imperialistic supremacist empire at the beginning of the 20th century, created the first ingredient for this rancid mixture of hateful emotions.

At first, it was the sending of Thomas Edward Lawrence, later popularized as Lawrence of Arabia, to internally destabilize the Ottoman Empire, inciting revolts in the Islamic world. While masquerading under a veneer of lies during WWI, Britain then occupied and oppressed the inhabitants of modern day Jordan, Palestine, Iraq as well as many non-Muslim countries, like India and China. Making agreements such as Sykes-Pico(Where the French were involved as well) after the fall of the Ottoman empire, the British then went on to make the atrociously unwarranted Balfour Declaration in 1917. This promise guaranteed members of the Jewish faith a homeland on the territory of others. It promised, out of some non-existent authority, a land where already Palestinians live to someone else. So disgustingly obsessed were the British with their power that they even considered offering the Jews Uganda or Argentina as an alternative homeland. This unwavering, self-given right over the land of others is what first led to a feeling of injustice and absolute betrayal by the Arab and Muslim people.

The second and most impacting reason for this hate is the evident, completely vociferous support of the west to the illegal and certainly criminal occupation of Palestinian lands. The unremitting backing of the west, namely the United States and Britain, to Israel in all its endeavors, no matter how unwarranted, led to the view held by most Muslims that the international community is against them. Of course, this can be analyzed historically. While Churchill was ringing his anaphoric speeches all over the world, his country backed the illegal declaration in 1948, almost twenty years after the Balfour Declaration, of Israel as a state. In fact, even Churchill himself, the epitomic example of the chauvinistic view towards Muslims, after being asked regarding the issue of Palestine, said “I don’t believe the dog has the right to the manger, no matter how long it’s lain there.” That was the mentality then and many might argue that countries, after almost seventy years, have recovered from the atrocities committed by the British and that enmity should no longer be prevalent.

Alas, that might be true had the British ceased to exercise their self-given, self professed, almost godly providence over the lands of others. In other words, the hold of the British, ostensibly removed after the abolition of the British Mandate, still persisted. They continued to supply arms, weaponry and financially and politically endorsed the augmenting amount of illegal settlements of Palestinian lands. Not only that, but the British, despite the presence of the UN council, also failed to react to the atrocities committed by the various Zionist gangs, including the Irgun, Hagana and many of Manachem Bagens genocidal organizations, operating under Theodore Herzl’s plan of separation and transfer of Palestinians, tantamount to the Nazi holocaust. The entire world has been properly educated about the repugnant acts of the holocaust, but none know about Deir Yaseen, Qana, Gineen, Sabra and Shatila. These were, just like the holocaust, acts of mass murder, only this time it was not Jews being killed, but Palestinians, slaughtered in cold-blood and forced to flee by the Israeli war machine.

The victim became the aggressor and all of these acts were neglected and blatantly condoned. Not only that, but the west continued to support its new ally in the Middle East. A prime example is when Israel, the UK and France attacked nearby Egypt in the Tripartite Aggression in 1959. This unconcealed and deliberate invasion, this breach of international law was yet another injustice against the Islamic world. One might mind, that after such acts of violence, no more would’ve followed. Yet still, the perverse desire for bloodshed, and the evident hostility of Israel and the west continued and in 1967, when Sinai was occupied. This Six-day war, as it came to be known, fashioned as some sort of self-defense, resulted in the occupation of the neighboring countries’ territories (Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights) to fulfill the Jewish dream of a state from the Nile to Euphrates. This invasion was backed by the US, which supplied continuous intelligence to the Israeli Generals, including the warmonger Ariel Sharon. Eventually, some territories were regained, in exchange for some Arab subservience promised by the marionette rulers of the time (such as Hafiz Al Asad and Sadat).

Indeed, the stage was now being set for yet another act of belligerence towards an already internally and externally oppressed Muslim world. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, once again hiding behind the repeated excuse of retaliation rather than clear aggression. Thousands were killed, Beirut reduced to ruble and concentration camp-like residences established for the many refugees and the victimized families. The reaction of the U.S. and Britain, if there was any, was extremely tepid, and the perpetual breach of Israeli-backed infringements of so-called international law continued.

The early and mid 20th century support of the west towards Israel continued and continues to this day. One prime example of the dog-like devotion of U.S. presidents towards Israel can be proven by the means by which they get elected. Living in the “democracy” they live in, any U.S. president desiring to reside in the White House must be the spaniel of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Bush Jr. and Sr. were tied to the leash, even Barrack Obama, vice president Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton and many more submit and continue to submit to the Israeli Lobby.

It is no wonder then, to hear President Bush referring to Israel as America’s closest ally and to witness his frequent visits to the lobby. And certainly, it is no surprise either that in every UN vote, the United States, represented by crazed conservatives like John Bolton, votes pro-Israel and vetoes any fair or just resolution towards Muslims. Indeed, apartheid has been and is being established in Israel, and the U.S., Britain and many others condone it. Whether it’s the building of the West Bank Wall to separate Palestinians from society, or the starving of innocent civilians in Gaza by the orders of current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his posies, the west remains silent. The uninhibitedly mild responses mean nothing and did nothing as this pandemonium of violence continues. Another example is the summer 2006 invasion, a 33 day war and a second invasion of Lebanon. In their usually cyclical manner, western governments declared the war to be an act of self-defense, asserting that the killing of hundreds of civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds was a totally justifiable reaction to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, who were illegally in Lebanese land at the time of their kidnapping. Qana, which was the place where the now almost-dead Ariel Sharon massacred hundreds, was once again a subject to Israeli genocide when a building, full of children and innocent families, was bombed.

And all we have are futile condemnations and suppression of international outcries. All of this injustice, committed over the decades we are so often encouraged to forget, is only one reason to the “swamp of hatred” as George Galloway put it, was created.

The United States further replenished the feeling of contempt by Muslims when it invaded Iraq in the 1990 Gulf War. Justifying it as some sort of American act of liberating generosity, the war on Iraq was in reality a callous attempt to control the financial resources of one of the richest states in the Muslim Arab world. In fact, Donald Rumsfeld, whom many consider as much as war criminal as the recently captured Karadzic, visited Saddam Hussein and supplied him with weapons and maps to invade Kuwait.

With this encouragement, Sadam invaded Kuwait and then the U.S. had succeeded in creating a rationalization for the invasion of Iraq. The Middle East. Having killed thousands of innocent Iraqis and plunged the country into an abyss of economic and humanitarian depression, the U.S. secured its economic gains and left only to be revisited by the moronic ignoramus George Bush Jr. a few years later. Using the emotionally charged world after the horrible, non-tolerable acts of 9/11, which no Muslim would ever support nor excuse, Bush and his doll Blair, despite international opposition to the war, invaded Iraq illegally once again.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died as a result, sectarian conflicts flourished, billions of dollars were looted and crimes like Abu Ghraib, where prisoners were tortured and humiliated for the perverse entertainment of soldiers and Falujah, where thousands of innocent civilians were killed, were committed. All of this was due to the fabrication of facts by Colin Powel and many more as well as the United States' refusal to listen to its own intelligence agencies that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and that it had as much ties with Al Qaeda as Mother Teresa did. But that was not enough to satisfy George Bushes abhorrent lust for blood. After invading Afghanistan, Mr. Bush then went on to create torture prisons like Guantanamo Bay where prisoners were taken, water boarded and starved to give information they did not even have about Bin Laden.

And who is Bin Laden? Is he not the man who was sent by the United States itself to combat the Soviet Union in the 1980s? Is he not the man who was supplied by the U.S. with weapons and money to do their dirty work in the region? Is he not the criminal the U.S. had created? All of this, and yet the question persists, why does the world, not only Muslims, hate the west?

So great is the negative and obscene influence of the west in the Muslim world that they have succeeded in recruiting every collaborator, every disloyal, unscrupulous individual to be their marionette ruler of the subdivided Muslim World. Recently, Omar Al Bashir, the president of Sudan was accused of crimes against humanity in the Darfour Region. Before, Sadam was accused of the same thing. Yet, it is impossible to find the same accusations lain rightfully against the late King Hussein of Jordan, his son King Abdullah, the kings of Saudi Arabia, Hafiz Al Asad of Syria or Mub Hussniarak, the “president” of Egypt. Is King Hussein, who bombed his own capital city in 1970 and installed his own son as King after his death and acted was a servant for the Israeli Mossad not a criminal? Is King Abdullah, who gambles with the public’s money and lives in a palace while his citizens starve from inflation and high oil price not a repugnant criminal? Is Hussni Mubarak, who has been president for over 20 years, somnolently squandering the country’s money not a criminal? Are the corrupt kings of the kleptomonarchy Saudi Arabia, uneducated and illiterate, enforcing laws of subjugation and oppression while presiding over the largest oil supply not criminals? In the eyes of western governments they are not because they economically sustain their country, yet in the eyes of every commonsensical, educated and humanitarian individual, they are.

When Muslims see King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia dancing with Bush while the American Armies kill Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and supply Israelis with Apaches and F-16s, what will they think? What should they think? Shackled and chained in a figurative prison, the Muslim world knows that all the corrupt leaders are politically supported by United States in return for economic gain. And this, this is what contributes to hatred.

Technology Never Waiting You

2009-11-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

Technology have fast-growing, it make us must have get much knowledge in no border Information. Who don’t know it can not survive. It will be horrible.

We expect most from fast-growing technology is probably a healthier world, but sometimes the opposite is true. History is vivid and a text for us. The major task of technology has been serving for wars, be it the hydrogen Bomb stored in many countries, sputniks launched into the orbit showing a country having the vehicle to carry the bombs, and even internet, hold names today, which emerged in America in 1968, being initially served for military strategy.

The result is astonishing. By the 1980s, the two countries, Soviet and American, alone had more than 50,000 nuclear weapons, now the figure having risen, which could kill the world people many times. Under such concept as weaker is sufferer, most of countries now to achieve the balance of terror. When people are endowed with great powers which render them to damage something easily, the only thing we rely on is the policymakers’ self-discipline and our vigilant consciousness, about which we peace-lovers always worry.

The technology oriented warfare purpose itself foretells its disastrous function on human’s mentality. Only observing the modern and contemporary periods, we may be familiar with the terms like the Lost Generation, the Beat Generation, and the Counter Culture. The progressive Anti-War Movement in the 1960s never pointed their fingers to the war back-supported technology.

Why so? The benefit we get from it makes us forget a murder helper it has been. Nowadays, few of us is able to resist or escape from the advantages brought about by technology.

First of all, technology promotes internationalization and globalization. The interrelated actions between technology and economy and its wide and profitable application, education, statistics, finance etc. invite vast money, resources and researchers to be invested in it. This makes a burdensome expenditure for any country to explore such a program separately, thus necessary for different countries to cooperate together in order to share complementary advantages, optimize resource allocation, decrease and divide the risks, and reduce unnecessarily repeated labor. The resulting achievements in updating technology are in turn further enhancing globalization, like what we get from IT technology.

In addition, technology has been promoting humanism and individualism. Those persons who enjoy a beautiful sound or a special athletic skill and who are lucky enough to become American Idol like David Cook or Kelly Clarkson would become a superstar overnight with assistance of television, internet or CD-video. Even more, technology allows us most common ones to have a voice in many stages. We could text a message to select the potential stars whom we love; we may cry our personal opinions on internet for a currently crucial topic that may be viewed by thousands of people; we may also publish a personalization-featured article in such a site as here. To show our personal identity, we can even wear newly invented rubber bracelets.

Such silicone wristbands, through the embossed letters on it, enable us to convey our inner voices and deep feelings. Many people like the silicone bracelet very much, for it works like a slogan or a logo can do for a group or a company. Indeed, this is a time everyone enjoys equality to express himself or herself. We do feel freer than ever for we can outcry our passions through so many outlets achieved by the development of technology, and be able to display what we are.
Someone argues that wars are able to speed up the development
of technology. The only thing worth mentioning is that it is technology that should serve for bettering our life and its objects are to beautify our living environment and not vice versa, i.e. that we serve for it. Remembering this we will be more sober and more selective about what we should explore from the wealth of technology and what use we should apply it to.

Hope we enjoy a bright future for all human beings.

Situations in Morality

2009-11-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

In 1966 American episcopal moral theologian Joseph Fletcher published a popular book titled, Situation Ethics: The New Morality. In the book he advocated a 'new' approach to Christian ethics and moral decision-making which occupied a middle way between the two extremes of legalism and antinomianism.

For Fletcher, this approach, labelled 'situationism,' was theologically valid and pragmatically essential to life (at least in the West) in the twentieth century; for Bishop John A.T. Robinson, author of the equally popular Honest to God, it was the only ethic for 'man come of age.' Fletcher's book, although not theoretically sophisticated and despite being peppered with explanatory anecdotes and illustrations, presents a clear and well structured account of situationism from a liberal Christian perspective.

Although he subtitled the work "the new morality," Fletcher was not advocating an entirely new ethic or morality; Situation Ethics was simply one concise and well publicised statement of a trend in Christian ethics that had been growing for decades.

In 1928 Durant Drake had published The New Morality against authoritarian and supernaturalist ethics in the name of pragmatic naturalism; in 1932 Emil Brunner published his Divine Imperative and Reinhold Niebuhr published his Moral Man and Immoral Society; in 1959 Fletcher himself published a seminal paper on situation ethics in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin; in 1963 H. Richard Niebuhr published The Responsible Self; in the same year Paul Lehmann's Ethics in a Christian Context and John Robinson's Honest to God were published.

Each of these made significant contributions to the development of an anti-supernaturalist Christian ethic or an ethic based on existential situations rather than prescriptive principles. Fletcher called his position situation ethics or situationism. Others have called this orientation toward the situational neocasuistry, existential ethics, consequentialism, ethical relativism and moral nihilism. The Roman Catholic Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office described it in 1952 as 'the new morality.

The Christian church has approached social and personal ethics from various perspectives through its history. Richard Longenecker provides a useful list of four ways in which special revelation has been used by Christian theologians and ethicists in determining ethical positions and in making decisions on practical moral issues. Reference to these four positions will place Fletcher's Situation Ethics in a theological and casuistic context and enable us to consider his propositions in a more enlightened sense than is possible through his writing alone.
The first of Longenecker's positions is legalistic: it takes scripture (specifically, for him, the New Testament) "as a book of laws or a summation of codes for human conduct. It argues that God has given prescriptive laws in the form of commandments and ordinances . . . (which) do not come to us as tactical suggestions." Two problems associated with this position are that such an approach cannot create moral beings, and that, since society and culture are in permanent transition, laws require accompanying interpretations to explicate and apply them in new situations.

The second position seeks to disclose universal principles underlying scriptural accounts of prescriptive ethical laws. Adolf Harnack exemplified this approach at the turn of the century with his religious humanism advocating the higher righteousness and the commandment of love. As Longenecker says, such an approach "provides a means for appreciating how biblical norms can be applied to changing situations."

The preeminence of love strikes a chord with the foundation of Christian situationism, but one must still deal with norms (unlike Fletcher's one law of love), the search for universal principles may turn biblical theology into philosophy, and Christian ethics may become a subcategory of natural law "with the moral imperative of life rooted in man himself (sic) and human reason viewed as the main guide for moral judgements."

The third position outlined by Longenecker stresses "God's free and sovereign encounter through his Spirit with a person as he or she reads scripture, and the ethical direction given for the particular moment in such an encounter." Flowing from a neo-orthodox understanding of revelation, this position is epitomised by Emil Brunner:
The Christian moralist and the extreme individualist are at one in their rejection of legalistic conduct . . . they are convinced that conduct which is regulated by abstract principles can never be good . . . There is no Good save obedient behaviour, save the obedient will. But this obedience is rendered not to a law or a principle which can be known beforehand, but only to the free, sovereign will of God. The Good consists in always doing what God wills at any particular moment.
As we shall see, this position accords rather well with Fletcher's entire ethical scheme, and in particular with his final proposition that love's decosions are made situationally (at the 'particular moment') and not prescriptively. Yet Fletcher's ethical theory privileges the individual agent in determining what the good is, whereas Brunner favours an existential moment in which God somehow reveals his will to the agent.

The final position outlined by Longenecker is that of Fletcher and his compatriots: that "Christians can determine what should be done in any particular case simply by getting the facts of the situation clearly in view, and then asking themselves, 'What is the loving thing to do in this case?' Such an approach, of course, does not rule out the prescriptive, for it accepts love as the one great principle for life." Biblical exhortations are not ignored in this ethic, but they are treated as tactical suggestions rather than prescriptive norms.
In a 'nut-shell,' this last position is situationism, or consequentialism. Writing critically of it shortly after Fletcher's first publication on the subject, Wolfgang Schrage noted that "[m]any believe that the totality and fulness of New Testament moral demands may be reduced to the commandment to love, or may be concentrated therein so that all single commandments of a concrete nature are superfluous." Secular ethicists and moral philosophers - who incidentally portray a total ignorance of Fletcher's work as well as that of most Christian ethicists - have taken much larger leaps from the old supernaturalism to naturalism (and, in some cases, into nihilism).

For example, William Provine holds that "no inherent moral or ethical laws exist, nor are there absolute guiding principles for human society. The universe cares nothing for us and we have no ultimate meaning in life." Similarly, prominent American moral philosopher Joseph Margolis, "there are no moral principles . . . just as there are no laws of nature or rules of thought . . . whatever we offer in the way of principles or laws or rules are artifactual posits formed within a changing praxis . . . 'Principles' . . . are the instruments of effective ideology."
Fletcher was unwilling to embrace pragmatism and relativism wholeheartedly and without reservation; he rejected both legalism and antinomianism, embracing ethical relativism with one condition: that one universal, prescriptive law remained - the law of love.

Fletcher's Situation Ethics possesses a simple structure: its polemic is based on four working principles and six propositions. The principles were pragmatism (after C.S. Pierce, William James and John Dewey's philosophical pragmatism), relativism (following Brunner and Niebuhr), positivism (theological positivism, as opposed to theological naturaliam, in which propositions are posited voluntaristically rather than rationalistically), and personalism (a concern for people rather than things, the subject rather than the object).
Fletcher's relativism was fundamental to his assurance that there was one moral absolute, since he held that genuine relativity necessarily rested on an absolute norm of some kind. The six propositions forming the framework of his ethical theory were as follows:
a. only one 'thing' is intrinsically good; namely, love: nothing else at all;
b. the ruling norm of Christian decisions is love: nothing else;
c. love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else;
d. love wills the neighbour's good whether we like him (sic) or not;
e. only the end justifies the means, nothing else; and
f. love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively.

Fletcher's first proposition, then, concerns the unitary and intrinsic good of love, and the parallel question of whether value is inherent or contingent. He holds that, for Christian situation ethics, "nothing is worth anything in and of itself. It gains or acquires its value only because it happens to help persons (thus being good) or to hurt persons (thus being bad) . . . Apart from the helping or hurting of people, ethical judgements or evaluations are meaningless." On the surface this proposition seems reasonable. However, in postulating this proposition, Fletcher reveals the humanist and positivist framework on which he hangs his moral theology, for he eliminates the word and will of God from his considerations.

For Fletcher, "Good and evil are extrinsic. Right and wrong depend on the situation." There literally is no intrinsic good apart from love. Here we revive the classical debate over the nature or source of the good: given the existence of a supreme being, does God love the good because it is good, or is it good because God loves it? Once God is removed from the ethical equation, anything is permissible, and the result is ethical nihilism.

Fletcher, of course, does not deny the existence of God, but in proposing that the abstract concept of love (albeit agape love) is the only intrinsic good, he negates the value of other prescribed commands in the New Testament and opens the door to relativism and subjectivism in Christian ethics. Regarding the choice of love as the sole moral criterion, Longenecker suggests that it is "an easily adjustable norm," capable of easy transfer from a theological context to a humanist or naturalistic context.

Further, Christian situationists have been accused of refusing to allow any predefinitions of the nature and content of love, and blithely assume that "individuals, given only encouragement, will usually act lovingly when they understand the various facets, ramifications and implications of the particular situation." Thus the situationist can say with Fletcher that an act contravening a moral principle other than love, if done with the motive of love, is not merely excusably evil but positively good. As John Robinson puts it,
[l]ove alone, because, as it were, it has a built-in moral compass, enabling it to 'home' intuitively upon the deepest need of the other, can allow itself to be directed completely by the situation. It alone can afford to be utterly open to the situation, or rather to the person in the situation, uniquely and for his (sic) own sake, without losing its direction or unconditionality.

For Fletcher, even human life is relative; as well as 'white lies', he justifies 'white' theft, fornication, killings, breakings of promises. Fletcher summarises his ethical position thus: "we ought to love people and use things ... the essence of immorality is to love things and to use people."

One of his opponents, Montgomery, questions the 'newness' and the morality of Fletcher's ethics, draws critical attention to Fletcher's use of terms (such as 'love') and slogans. Montgomery argues that the only ethic that could stand above human limitations and prejudices and establish "absolute human rights" is the one that derived from the realm of the transcendent and not from individual finite situations. He further lists four areas in which a revelatory ethic is superior to situationalism:
a. where love is defined in terms of God's nature and is justified in terms of his being;
b. where absolute moral principles are explicitly stated which inform love and guide its exercise;
c. where a final judgement of evil is assured ; and
d. where an effect remedy is provided for the root problem in the human ethical dilemma - man's sinfulness.
Fletcher's sixth proposition is the heart of his ethical theory: he states that, for the Christian situationist, "love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively." He eschews a "prefabricated, pretailored morality," urging those who subscribe to his ethic to "sin bravely" - to quote Luther somewhat out of context. In other words, as long as a moral agent respects the one law of love, she or he is free to determine their own morality in response to existential situations.
But as Max Hocutt suggests, "[t]he fundamental question of ethics is, who makes the rules? God or men? The theistic answer is that God makes them. The humanist answer is that man (sic) makes them. This distinction between theism and humanism is the fundamental division in moral theory." In my opinion, Fletcher appears more closely aligned with secular humanism than with orthodox Christian theology.

In addition, Fletcher seems to entertain a preoccupation with methodology at the expense of principle. Fletcher is apparently unconcerned at the loose way in which the term 'love' may be interpreted, and there is a fascination with the manner in which decisions are approached and ethical judgements rendered which leaves little room for moral reflection and reference to principle and precedent.
Fletcher explains that in situational moral decision-making the objective is always love, the purpose is for the honour of God, and the subject is other people (one's neighbour).
But other questions, such as 'When', 'Where', 'Which', and 'How,' can only be answered as each situation presents itself. Situation ethics is thus fundamentally neocausuistic; its operation and outcome depends wholly on individual cases, not on precedent or on principles. To quote Fletcher again:
The metaphysical moralist of the classic tradition, with his intrinsic values and moral universals and code apparatus, says in effect, "Do what is right and let the chips fall where they may." The situational decision maker says right back at his metaphysical rival: "Ha! Whether what you are doing is right or not depends precisely upon where the chips fall."