Guess who is the biggest government spender in world history....
According to Forbes:
The U.S. has never before had a President who thinks so little of the American people that he imagines he can win re-election running on the opposite of reality. But that is the reality of President Obama today.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY.
At this point of time, I am sure many of you out there would rather be singing the oldie Guantanamera (which means 'Woman from Guantanamo') than to be thinking of Guantanamo, thanks to certain notes made public as reported HERE. Apparently, there was a legal dispute over the rightful composer of 'Guantanamera'. After a long battle, the Supreme Court of Cuba credited José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández as the sole composer of the music in 1993. (CLICK HERE for Celia Cruz's video.)
Ironically, the lyrics to the song relate to a woman from Guantánamo (the easternmost province of Cuba. Its capital is also called Guantánamo.), with whom Fernández had a romantic relationship, and who eventually left him. The alleged real story behind these lyrics (or at least one of many versions of the song's origin that Fernández suggested during his lifetime) is that she did not have a romantic interest in him, but merely a platonic one. If the details are to be believed, she had brought him a steak sandwich one day as a present to the radio station where he worked. He stared at some other woman (and attempted to flirt with her) while eating the sandwich, and his friend yanked it out of his hands in disgust, cursed him and left. He never saw her again. These words are rarely sung today. (Source: HERE)
What about Guantanamo, to be more exact - Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp?
According to THIS LINK:
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a controversial detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq.
It is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) of the United States government in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which is on the shore of Guantánamo Bay.[1] The detainment areas consist of three camps: Camp Delta (which includes Camp Echo), Camp Iguana, and Camp X-Ray, the last of which has been closed. The facility is often referred to as Guantánamo, G-Bay or GTMO, after the military abbreviation for the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
After the US Department of Justice advised that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could be considered outside U.S. legal jurisdiction, the first twenty captives arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002. After the Bush administration asserted that detainees were not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on June 29, 2006, that they were entitled to the minimal protections listed under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
Following this, on July 7, 2006, the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that prisoners would in the future be entitled to protection under Common Article 3. Susan J. Crawford, who was appointed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to review practices used at Guantanamo Bay, told Bob Woodward of the Washington Post in an interview in January 2009 that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured while being held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, making her the first Bush administration official to concede that torture occurred there. MORE AT THIS LINK.
If you want to know what goes on there, CLICK THIS LINK that will lead you to lots of information.
Other recommended readings:
Huffington Post's article which has 4, 288 comments!!! (must read, must watch!!!)
Sesame Street - Songs of War by Christopher Cerf,who has won two Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards for his music.
Al-Jazeera's Report on Songs of War
Music in Psychological Operations
The Daily Mail's article
The Guardian's article
Can't is the worst word that's written or spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with it many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
And robs us of courage we need through the day:
It rings in our ears like a timely sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.
Can't is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and halfhearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.
Can't is a word none should speak without blushing;
To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
It blights a man's purpose and shortens his aim.
Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
Arm against it as a creature ot terror,
And all that you dream of you someday shall gain.
Can't is the word that is for to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
and answer this demon by saying: "I can."
~Edgar A. Guest~
Here's a list of thought-provoking statements that I collected at random. I hope at least a few may tug at your heart's strings. :-) Take care and have a restful evening.
1 - The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
2 - Spend more time trying to make something of yourself and do not worry about how to impress people.
3 - Sometimes you gotta quit thinking so much. If it feels right, it probably is. So just go with it.
4 - The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.
5 - Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely.
6 - The past can hurt. You can either run from it or learn from it.
7 - Once in a lifetime, you meet a person who takes your breath away; not because you want them to, but because they're meant to.
8 - Memories are strange things. Some are so incredibly clear, probably because you've thought about them a thousand times.
9 - Just because you're right for each other, doesn't mean you're right for each other right now.
10 - Once in a lifetime, right in the middle of an ordinary life, we get a chance at a fairytale.
11 - Let your guard down; take a fall you'll never know if you're loved unless you give it your all.
12 - Don't gain the world and lose your soul. Wisdom is better than silver and gold.
13 - I know its wrong, but I believe in getting even.
14 - Just once I want my heart to lead me somewhere where there's a chance of a happy ending.
15 - You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.
16 - So you failed. You want to be really great? Have the courage to fail big and stick around.
Make them wonder why you're still smiling.
17 - Nobody knows your limits better than you do, but every once in a while somebody will question all you know and they will push you for the better.
18 - If you're going to go through hell, I suggest you come back learning something.
19 - Distance between two hearts is not an obstacle, rather a great reminder of just how strong true love can be.
20 - The beautiful thing about memories is that they are yours; whether they are good, bad, or indifferent. They belong to you, and no matter where life takes you, your memories tie you to where you've been, and to where you are now.
21 - Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
22 - Instead of telling our young people to plan ahead, we should tell them to plan to be surprised.
23 - Goodbye is like putting a period to a sentence. There will be no more words to be added after the period. Unless if you make another new sentence.
24 - You know you really love some one when you can not hate them for breaking your heart.
25 - It all comes down to that one person you always think about before you fall asleep at night.
-Author Unknown-
The world was made
to be beautiful--
but sometimes we get caught up in
everyday actions
completely forgetting about this
completely forgetting about that
what is truly important
are the simple, basic things in life--
honest, pure emotions
surrounded by the majestic beauty
of nature
We need to concentrate on the
freeness and peacefulness of nature and
not on the driven material aspects of life
We need to smell the clear air
after the rainfall
and appreciate the good in things
Each of us must be responsible
and do our part
in order to help preserve a
beautiful world--
the waterfalls, the oceans, the mountains
the large gray boulders
the large green farms
the fluffy pink clouds
the sunrise and sunsets, ladybugs
rainbows, dew, hummingbirds
butterflies, dandelions
We need to remember that
we are here for a short time
and that every day
should count for something
and that every day
we should be thankful
for all the natural beauty
The world is a wonderful place
and we are so lucky to be a part of it.
-Written by Susan Polis Schultz-
An attitude of gratitude leads to positive thinking. Attitude is absolutely vital for greater achievement in life; maximized motivation for success and peaceful content in life. Truly, it perspective shapes our reality and future. Each of us has the ability to shape our thought processes and the course of action. All it takes is attitude.
Having appreciation for what we have, who and where we are will help us to improve, achieve more and strive for the highest. To do this, positive thinking is really vital.
And it needs an attitude of gratitude. We have to be careful not to be grateful only during a crisis but to be thankful all the time.
Realign Your Focus!
Dwell on..........
...Forgiveness instead of anger.
...Others instead of yourself.
...Opportunities instead of problems.
...Gratitude instead of envy.
...Abundance instead of scarcity.
...Today instead of yesterday.
...Building up instead of breaking down.
...Humor instead of drama.
...Controllable things instead of uncontrollable things.
...Giving instead of taking.
Keep a Count Your Blessing list handy and refer to it. Constant reference to this list will help us to have an attitude of gratitude.
-Author Unknown-
Have a great day!
