Category: Inspiration

An Op-Ed in The Guardian by Actor and Activist Alec Baldwin and Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch

At a time when so many are protesting systemic racism, we’d like to highlight a different story of marginalized people speaking truth to power on behalf of their most basic human rights.

It’s the story of how “big oil” is using Harvey Weinstein-like destroy-the-accuser tactics to try to crush environmental defenders. It is also the story of how we can all help those defenders peacefully fight back.

In 2001, Chevron acquired Texaco, including all of its assets and a giant liability known as the “Amazon Chernobyl,” a 1,700-square-mile environmental disaster in Ecuador. Texaco admitted that it deliberately discharged billions of liters of toxic waste into the environment, which ended up in the local water supply, causing cancers and other chronic health problems. According to multiple Indigenous witnesses, the company actually claimed that the oil wastes were medicinal and “full of vitamins.”

Originally, the company attempted to walk away with impunity, but somehow David beat Goliath. After 18 years of court battles, a coalition of Indigenous peoples and local communities won $9.5 billion in damages.

But Goliath won’t pay up. In the words of one Chevron official: “We will fight this until hell freezes over, and then fight it out on the ice.” In 2011, the company filed a retaliatory civil RICO case in New York against the group’s US lawyer and all 47 Ecuadorian villagers who signed the lawsuit, claiming the case was a “racketeering conspiracy.”

Finish reading: https://amazonwatch.org/news/2020/0917-chevron-is-refusing-to-pay-for-the-amazon-chernobyl

(Tom: One very smart girl with her head on straight and her heart in the right place. Kudos to her!)

Hello fellow patriots!! I just love you all!!

My name is Lindsey and my story may be a little different. I was at Virginia Tech during the massacre that killed 32, locked in a classroom for six hours. I saw people running for their lives and experienced things I’ll never forget…

I was never political, but after the shooting (mostly due to pressure from family & society) I thought I was for gun reform. I wanted to be a part of the party that stood for “love”… but it’s all an illusion on the other side. Eventually I started to see right through the propaganda.

After tons of research, I now blame big pharma for much of our country’s mental illness and many of these shootings (prescriptions and anti depressants that can change behavior, as well as other pharma products that affect the gut and brain).

I now realize how important it is own a firearm and be properly trained in how to use one… The only reason the government would want to take our guns away is if they’re planning to do something we would shoot them for… so, I now stand for FREEDOM and the right to protect ourselves and our families. And I’ll keep my guns, thanks.

Love to you all! I’ve found my family.

Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife. – Kahlil Gibran

Music can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch. – Debasish Mridha

Music is a supernatural force on the earth. It has the power to transform the heart and mind. – Kathy McClary

There is SO much truth in this!

I was encouraging someone over the phone yesterday and I related the story of how many years ago a speaker making the point that you cannot let lack of confidence stop you from trying something new.

He asked us to recall when we were first learning to ride a bike and we told the person teaching us not to let go of the seat until we were ready.

He said you cannot have confidence until you aquire some competence and that only comes from doing.

So the sequence is as follows:

First you have to do. No competence. No confidence. Just the courage to do.
With repeated doing, failing, learning, changing your doing to improve it, you gain competence.
And as a result of gaining comptence to are now confident.

Look over any skill you have and I think you will see the truth in this.

I don’t fully agree with this.

While I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer I don’t feel unintelligent.

I have a great deal of certainty on what I know and I also am humble enough to admit when I have no data on something.

I try to speak my truth without being offensive but have no qualms about sharing true data to people who have false data on which they are operating. Most of them are wedded more to their opinion than they are truth so it often does little good but occasionally I make headway. Those times are the pay for the effort.

I don’t take a loss where I don’t succeed.

The better off is a person the easier they are to help and the greater the impact from helping them.

So I see a big part of my job is to help the able become more able.

If you would like to be more able, get in touch with me!