"Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones, like the one pictured above, and placed where people can see them." source: http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm

IS MY CHOCOLATE SLAVE FREE?
CLICK TO SEE A FULL LIST OF CHOCOLATE COMPANIES RATED

The Icelandic Horse straight from  http://www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/nature-environment/vegitation-wildlife/icelandic-horse/

"The Icelandic horse is a small breed of horse that has evolved in isolation in Iceland. Archaeological finds in Norway, where the Icelandic horse is descended from, have revealed that the Icelandic horse belongs to an ancient race that died out in other parts in Europe but survived in Iceland for 1100 years without crossbreeding. It has gradually developed into several strains. The most important of these are the Svaðastaðir strain and the Hornafjörður strain. Horses from Svaðastaðir are considered to have a more attractive gait and to be more dainty and frisky; while those from Hornafjörður are larger, and have greater endurance and courage.

The Icelandic horse is small, weighing between 330 and 380 kilograms (730 and 840 lb) and standing an average of 132 to 142 cm (52 to 56 inches) high. It has a spirited temperament and a large personality. It comes in a wide variety of colors, and the Icelandic language includes more than 100 names for various colors and color patterns of the Icelandic horse. 

The Icelandic, as it is commonly called, is known for its sure-footedness and ability to cross rough terrain. It displays two gaits in addition to the typical walk, trot, and canter/gallop commonly displayed by other breeds. The first additional gait is a four-beat lateral ambling gait known as the tölt. This is known for its explosive acceleration and speed; it is also comfortable and ground-covering. The breed also performs a pace called a skeið, "flying pace". It is used in pacing races, and is fast and smooth, with some horses able to reach up to 50 km/h (30 mph). It is not a gait for long-distance travel. 

The Icelandic horse is long-lived and hardy and has become very popular internationally. A sizable population exists in Europe and North America. In their native country they have few diseases; and as a result Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return." Source: http://www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/nature-environment/vegitation-wildlife/icelandic-horse/

LONDON -- In life, Pall Arason was an attention-seeker. In death, the 95-year-old Icelander's pickled penis will be the main attraction at one of the world's most bizarre museums.

Sigurdur Hjartarson, who runs the Phallological Museum in the tiny Icelandic fishing town of Husavik, says Arason's organ will help complete his extensive collection of whale, seal, bear, and other mammalian members.

The museum has been open since 1997 but Hjartarson has long waited for a human specimen to round out his display.

Hjartarson says that Arason, a friend, agreed to help by having his penis donated after his death.

The medical director of Akureyri Hospital said Tuesday that the operation was carried out in January under the supervision of a doctor at a local morgue. Source: Wikipedia

Here's an excerpt of the interview with Saudi Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel in Forbes: 
In September of 2011, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah ruled that the nation’s women would be allowed, for the first time, to vote and run in local elections beginning in 2015. However, Saudi women are still denied the basic rights to drive and to leave the country without permission.

In a rare interview with the U.S. media, Saudi Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel sat down with me on Thursday to discuss the status of women in her country. As the wife of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, King Abdullah’s nephew and the world’s 26th richest person—the largest individual shareholder of Citigroup—the 28-year-old royal doesn’t just sit on the sidelines. She is the vice chair of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation and an outspoken advocate for Saudi women’s rights. READ MORE

Impressive!

 Press Release7 December 2011 
Tribunal verdict vs. 6 agrochemical TNCs hailed, 
urgent action on recommendations urged 

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) International hailed the verdict of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) against the world’s six largest agrochemical companies Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow Chemical, DuPont and BASF after a historic four-day session that culminated in Bangalore, India yesterday.

Victims and survivors of the pesticide industry from all over the world, represented by PAN International, testified before a distinguished international jury to indict the “Big 6” for human rights violations. Based on evidence presented before it, the Tribunal found the Defendant agrochemical TNCs “responsible for gross, widespread and systematic violations of the right to health and life, economic, social and cultural rights, as well as of civil and political rights, and women and children’s rights.” (see the verdict here)

The Tribunal also found agrochemical TNCs responsible for violation of indigenous peoples’ human rights, and further found that “their systematic acts of corporate governance have caused avoidable catastrophic risks, increasing the prospects of extinction of biodiversity, including species whose continued existence is necessary for reproduction of human life.”

Sarojeni Rengam, PAN Asia Pacific Executive Director, said that the Tribunal’s verdict is a victory for peoples who have been most affected by the Big 6’s control over food and agriculture. “We are elated with the verdict. It affirms what people all over the world already know and are experiencing: that the pesticide industry is to blame and should be held accountable for the systematic poisoning of human health and the environment, loss of food sovereignty and self-determination, and increased world hunger and poverty,” she said.

The PPT, founded in 1979 in Italy, is an international opinion tribunal that looks into complaints of human rights violations. Borne out of the tribunals on the Vietnam War and Latin American dictatorships, the PPT has held 37 sessions so far using the rigorous conventional court format. While its verdicts are not legally binding, these can set precedent for future legal actions against Defendants, and can pressure governments and institutions.

Jurors for the PPT Session on Agrochemical TNCs are Indian legal scholar Upendra Baxi, British scientist Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher, African environmental lawyer Ibrahima Ly, German economist Elmar Altvater, Italian professor Paolo Ramazotti, and PPT Secretary General Dr. Gianni Tognoni.(see profile of jury here)

The Tribunal said that the home States of the Big 6 (US, Switzerland, and Germany), have “failed to comply with their internationally accepted responsibility to promote and protect human rights,” by not adequately regulating, monitoring and disciplining these corporations. The Tribunal further said that these States have “unjustifiably promoted a double standard approach prohibiting the production of hazardous chemicals at home while allowing their own TNCs unrestrained license for these enterprises in other States, especially of the Global South.” 

The Tribunal also found host States responsible for failure to protect the human rights of its citizens by offering “magic carpet type hospitality” to agrochemical TNCs and therefore not adequately protecting social movement activists or independent scientists from harassment, not limiting the “global corporate ownership of knowledge production in universities and related research sites,” “not recognizing the value of indigenous knowledge and social relationships they create and sustain,” and “not fully pursuing alternative and less hazardous forms of agricultural production without having learnt the full lessons from the First Green Revolution.”

The Tribunal also found that the policies of World Trade Organization in relation to Intellectual Property Rights are “not balanced with any sincere regard for the grave long-term hazards to humans and nature already posed by the activities of agribusiness and agrochemical industries.” International financial institutions, named in the indictment as the International Monetary Fund-World Bank, do not follow “a strict regime of human rights conditionalities” and “have yet to develop policies concerning their support for hazardous manufacture, application or process,” said the Tribunal.

The Tribunal recommended that national governments should “prosecute the Defendant agrochemical companies in terms of criminal liability rather than civil liability.” It also urged governments to take action to “restructure international law” to ensure the accountability of transnational corporations, to “accept a less heavy burden of proof on the victims and to fully commit to and legislate for the precautionary principle,” and “to prevent TNCs from directly or indirectly harassing and intimidating scientists, farmers and human rights and environmental defenders.”

It also urged international organizations and intergovernmental institutions to uphold human rights and the welfare of populations, and protect of biodiversity and ecosystems by subordinating the interests of corporations pursuing patents. 

“The Tribunal’s recommendations must immediately be acted upon, for they echo what civil society and people’s organizations have been demanding for a very long time. The prosecution of the Big 6 must be started to bring justice to fruition for the thousands of victims and survivors of the pesticide industry. The precautionary principle must be put into place and the patent regime abolished, as recommended by the Tribunal. That is the only way to stop these human rights violations, which continue every day without impunity,” said Rengam.

Rengam further added that the Tribunal just marks the beginning of an escalated international people’s movement against agrochemical TNCs, which is now armed with a powerful verdict that can be used in every part of the world. “The next step towards justice and liberation from the Big 6’s control will be determined by the people’s unity, strength, and determination to stand up against corporate greed and aggression, just as was shown in this victorious PPT Session,” she concluded.

"The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole...Their secret is that they have annexed from governments, monarchies, and republics the power to create the world's money..." THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure that rules our nation and the world today. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money. The development of fractional reserve banking practices in the 17th century brought to a cunning sophistication the secret techniques initially used by goldsmiths fraudulently to accumulate wealth. With the formation of the privately-owned Bank of England in 1694, the yoke of economic slaver...all »

A CRITICALLY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTARY ON 
THE USE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS PRESCRIBED FOR CHILDREN

"In the absence of any objective medical tests to determine who has ADD or ADHD, doctors rely in part on standardized assessments and the impressions of teachers and guardians while the they administer leave little room for other causes or aggravating factors, such as diet, or environment. Hence, diagnosing a child or adolescent with ADD or ADHD is often the outcome, although no organic basis for either disease has yet to be clinically proven. Psychiatrists may then prescribe psychotropic drugs for the children without first without making it clear to parents that these medications can have severe side-effects including insomnia, loss of appetite, headaches, psychotic symptoms and even potentially fatal adverse reactions, such as cardiac arrhythmia. And yet, despite these dangers, many school systems actually work with government agencies to force parents to drug their children, threatening those who refuse with the prospect of having their children taken from the home unless they cooperate."

Here's an excerpt of an article I posted in July of 2011 about young girls in Madagascar panning gold:

"Nearly every day a group of five girls, all related and aged 8-15, wake at dawn to begin a two-hour brisk walk up steep goat tracks to one of the many tributaries of the River Manambolo. As they draw closer to their destination their numbers swell to about 20 people, as parents with young children and other groups of girls, some appearing to be as young as five, join them." 

Since that blog, I've noticed through my website tracker that people around the world are searching for Internet links about sex with young girls in Madagascar.  Sex tourism in this beautiful place is sadly on the rise and sex trafficking is a serious problem.

I did a little research this morning and found a blog where young girls are speaking out against the sex tourism in their country that targets their young girls. Here's a letter pleading for the sex tourist to leave them alone.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Open Letter To Tourists: Sexual Tourists

Dear Tourists,

Hi, my name is Julda. I am from the country of Madagascar. I wrote
this letter for all of you because sexual tourism has become well
known in Madagascar—especially in Diego Suarez which is my town. You
are the tourists but you have made something bad with us and in our
country and it may change our reputation in the future. I am against
sexual tourism and I will illustrate why.

First of all, some of you come to Madagascar with the purpose of
relaxing and escaping your problems. This is no problem at all. This
is good. But a few of you come here just to have sex with us. As a
Malagasy woman I did not accept this path because it would have
destroyed my future and also harmed my culture. Some of the victims
of sexual tourism are young girls ages 10-18. In addition, you have
sex with them without protection. As a result, the number of diseases
has increased more and more—such as AIDS and syphilis. If nothing
else, you should use a condom.

Second, I want you to understand the perspective of the prostitute.
She did not refuse to have sex with you because she wns money and she
also wants to marry you. In this case, you should not take advantage
of her weakness. Think about her situation and if you were in her
place—what would you do? We are humans—do not treat these women and
girls as animals. Every person is the same. We are not machines.
Recently, most of the girls who become prostitutes (ages 12-18)
neglect their studies and leave them. They become a prostitute and
only have Vazaha (foreigner) to share their lives.

Third, sexual tourism gives a bad reputation to the Malagasy people.
It may destroy our people and our customs. When other tourists hear
that Madagascar has many prostitutes—they don't want to come here. So
you have to change your mentality before you come here. When you
come, please, be seriously and give us the love and respect we
deserve.

To end my letter, I thank you for listening and I think you will
follow my instruction.

Julda

Click here or on the image below to learn more about the country from the blog above.

SEX TRAFFICKING IN MADAGASCAR

"Most child trafficking occurs with the involvement of family members, but friends, transport operators,tour guides, and hotel workers also facilitate the enslavement of children."  (http://www.antananarivo.usembassy.gov)

SOURCE for the following: http://www.antananarivo.usembassy.gov

An estimated 7,000 Malagasy women are currently employed as domestic workers in Lebanon, with a smaller number in Kuwait. Many of these women are single mothers, come from rural areas, and are illiterate or poorly educated, making them more vulnerable to deception and abuse at the hands of recruitment agencies and employers. Numerous trafficking victims returning to Madagascar from Lebanon reported rape, psychological abuse, physical torture and violence, sexual harassment and assault, harsh working conditions, confinement to the home, confiscation of travel documents, and withholding of salaries. 

At least 11 deaths were reported among this population in 2010. Of the 777 Malagasy returnees since 2009, 85 percent ended their contracts early because of mistreatment.  Children, mostly from rural areas, are subjected to domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor in mining, fishing, and agriculture within the country. Most child trafficking occurs with the involvement of family members, but friends, transport operators, tour guides, and hotel workers also facilitate the enslavement of children." READ MORE on this report or click below to go to the website.

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