Blast hits Damascus as Turkey sends troops to border

BEIRUT/ISKENDERUN, Turkey (Reuters) - Rebel forces attacked Syria's main court in central Damascus on Thursday, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

There was a loud explosion and a column of black smoke rose over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed largely beyond the reach of rebels. State television described it as a "terrorist" blast.

Dozens of wrecked and burning cars were strewn over a car park used by lawyers and judges. State news agency SANA said three people were wounded by the bomb hidden in one of the cars.

The guerrilla attack in Damascus coincided with a Turkish military buildup on its border to the north and a growing sense of urgency in Western- and Arab-backed diplomatic efforts to forge a unity government and end 16 months of bloodshed.

Turkish military convoys moved slowly towards the Syrian frontier, reacting to Syria's shooting down of a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean on Friday. A Turkish official said they were reinforcing air defenses.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, speaking after Friday's incident, ordered his troops to treat any Syrian military element approaching the border as a military target.

He gave no details, but this could cover Syrian forces pursuing rebels towards the border, or patrolling helicopters or warplanes. Syria said at the weekend that it had killed several "terrorists" infiltrating from Turkey.

A first substantial convoy of about 30 military vehicles, including trucks loaded with anti-aircraft missile batteries dispatched from Turkey's coastal town of Iskenderun, was moving slowly towards the Syrian border 50 km (30 miles) away.

A Reuters reporter near the town of Antakya saw the convoy moving out of the hills and through small towns on a narrow highway escorted by police.

Early on Thursday, another convoy left a base at Gaziantep and headed for Kilis province, the site of a large camp for Syrian refugees. Video from the DHA agency showed the convoy, of about 12 trucks and transporters, filing through the gates of the base past the hanging Turkish red flag with white crescent moon and star.

David Hartwell, Middle East analyst at IHS Jane's called the Turkish action a 'pragmatic, rational response' after the shooting down of the Turkish aircraft, that Syria insists was flying low and fast in Syrian air space. "Damascus has been warned once. I doubt there will be a second warning."

Turkey, in the front line of Western efforts to press Assad from power, hosts over 33,000 Syrian refugees on its southeastern border as well as units of the rebel Free Syria Army (FSA).

REGIONAL FEARS

"I can confirm there are troops being deployed along the border in Hatay province. Turkey is taking precautions after its jet was shot down," a Turkish official said on condition of anonymity.

He said he did not know how many troops or vehicles were being moved but they were being stationed in the Yayladagi, Altinozu and Reyhanli border areas. He said anti-aircraft guns were being stationed along the border.

At a fortified Turkish border outpost near Reyhanli, a low building with red tile roof perched on a hilltop, troops stood on an observation platform looking across into Syria; but there was no sign of any unusual activity.

Members of the FSA, talking close to the border, told Reuters they did not believe the Turkish deployments were on a large scale or aimed at any crossborder intervention.

"The Turks know that any large scale military action would need international support," a senior FSA commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Turkey has in the past spoken of opening a humanitarian corridor on Syrian soil, if the refugee flow grew unmanageable or if the violence and killing became intolerable.

Wary of igniting a regional sectarian conflagration, it has always insisted this would be possible only with United Nations backing. Western- and Arab-backed efforts to forge a joint diplomatic approach with Russia have so far failed.

The FSA has stepped up pressure on Damascus in recent weeks, Thursday's attack marking a new stage in the campaign.

On Wednesday, rebels stormed a pro-Assad Syrian television channel and militants have targeted police and security personnel barracks. In April militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the Central Bank building.

A senior opposition official said Syrian opposition groups would reject a political transition plan proposed by peace envoy Kofi Annan unless it explicitly required Assad to step down before a unity government is formed.

Diplomatic sources at the United Nations said Annan's proposal did not stipulate Assad's resignation although it does say the unity government could not include figures who jeopardize stability.

"The proposal is still murky to us but I can tell you that if it does not clearly state that Assad must step down, it will be unacceptable to us," said Samir Nashar, an executive member of the international Syrian National Council.

DIPLOMATIC STALEMATE

Annan's transition proposal is one of the main topics that Russia, the other four permanent U.N. Security Council members and key players in the Middle East will discuss at a meeting in Geneva on Saturday, according to United Nations diplomats.

Rebel fighters locked in the war to topple Assad said there was no part of the plan they could accept, and they had lost patience with U.N. envoy Annan's peace-making efforts.

"This is just a new labyrinth. It is new silliness for us to get lost in and haggle over who can participate and who can't," said Ahmed, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighter in Homs, epicenter of the revolt against four decades of Assad family rule in which the more than 10,000 people have been killed, by a U.N. count.

A member of the rebel group in Damascus suburb was also dismissive.

"I'll be direct. The FSA is doing its work, and it is not looking to the outside world. We don't want a transitional government unless it is the one formed by rebel military councils. The world is conspiring against the Syrian revolution," he said.

In April, Annan tried to implement a ceasefire to quell violence before embarking on peace talks. But the truce failed to take hold.

Diplomatic sources at the United Nations said the plan Annan will now pitch on Saturday aims to start the political process without waiting for a ceasefire. (Reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut; Jonathon Burch and Jonathan Hemming in Ankara; writing by Ralph Boulton, editing by Janet McBride)

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Treasure Coast Real Estate | Tequesta Pines Homes For Sale June ...

by starfish on June 27, 2012

Find Tequesta Pines Homes For Sale and Tequesta Pines Home Values. We also have information on mortgages, insurance, movers and other Treasure Coast Real Estate Services for anyone looking to sell or buy a home in beautiful Palm Beach COUNTY Florida.

Paul Kitchen and Starfish Team provide clients, family and close friends with professional, honest and dependable service. A resident of Treasure Coast, Paul is extremely familiar with the local neighborhoods including Tequesta Pines, school districts and the Treasure Coast Real Estate market in this beautiful Florida town.

Paul Kitchen
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Treasure Coast Real Estate Blog

Tagged as: Tequesta Pines, Treasure Coast Real Estate

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Programme Officer ? Advocacy and Communications (P3), WSSCC ...

The purpose of this post is to support the corporate- and programmatic communications activities of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council?s (WSSCC), and to contribute to communications for development (C4D) work, including behaviour change communications, within the organization.

Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment
Contract level: P3
Contract duration: One year initially, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and funding availability

Duty station: Geneva, Switzerland

Requirements?include:

• Advanced university degree (Masters Degree or equivalent) in relevant field or a?Bachelors Degree plus training, professional qualifications and extensive experience
• Five (or, for a Bachelor?s degree, seven) years? experience in developing and implementing advocacy and communications work
• Fluency in written and spoken English and French

Deadline: 02 July 2012

For?full details and to apply?go to:
https://gprs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=628

Please do not send requests fro information or applications to the WASH Vacancies blog.

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This entry was posted in UN, Europe and tagged sanitation, advocacy, communications, WSSCC. Bookmark the permalink.

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Katy Perry Planning Special Performance For 'Part Of Me' Premiere

Singer will perform on Hollywood Boulevard before hitting red carpet and answering your questions.
By Christina Garibaldi

Katy Perry
Photo:

Katy Perry is finally set to close the final chapter of Teenage Dream with the release of her upcoming film, "Part of Me." The 3-D documentary follows the singer over the course of 2011 as she experiences both highs and lows in her career and personal life.

On Tuesday, June 26, Katy will be hitting the red carpet at Los Angeles' Grauman's Chinese Theatre to premiere "Part of Me," and MTV News will be there to talk to the star. But before Perry walks the carpet, she is treating fans to a special live performance on the famed Hollywood Boulevard.

We want you to get in on the action as well via Twitter, by using the @mtvnews handle and hashtag #askkaty to get your questions answered by Perry herself.

Perry's flick gives fans a rare glimpse into the life of a pop star. For those who couldn't make her California Dreams Tour, the film gives a front-row seat to her concert and shows us what life is really like on the road. Perry also shows an extremely vulnerable side in the film. We get to witness early footage of the star, showing her dealing with her parents' strictness. We also see peeks of her relationship with ex-husband Russell Brand and get an idea of her tireless work schedule.

Perry recently premiered the video for "Wide Awake," a song she wrote for the movie, during her "MTV First," and it was there that she opened up about the film, saying that even though she may be one of the biggest pop stars in the world, she deals with real issues like any other woman.

"There's some scenes that I know people will screenshot and be like, 'Oh, she looks like a fat cow with zits.' But I put those in there because that's a part of me, that's reality, and I'm OK with that now," Perry told MTV News' Sway Calloway. "It's been a process of learning it's OK, and I'm accepting of my own skin, but I think it's important for young kids to see that you don't have to be perfect in order to achieve your dreams, because I think that the world has this strange, skewed perception of successful people, that they're just so perfectly made up, and they have all these possessions that make them who they are, and that's not at all how I got here; I came from nothing. I didn't have anything."

"Katy Perry: Part of Me" hits theaters July 5.

Check out everything we've got on "Katy Perry: Part of Me."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Related Videos

• MTV First: Katy Perry's 'Wide Awake'

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Netdoclub: Normal Treatment for your Common Existing condition ...

For many the term arthritis is linked to senior years, but that isn't the truth. Arthritis is really a fancy word intended for joint inflammation and may affect someone any kind involving time age group. The most prevalent word to go into detail arthritis symptoms is usually rheumatism.

Chiropractic treatment method for arthritis depends upon what form of chiropractor, regardless of whether she or he is an aligned chiropractic doctor or perhaps a mixed chiropractic doctor. Straight doctors of chiropractic manipulate the backbone to take care of the subluxation together with some other imbalances. Merged chiropractors normally take care of the problem which has a spinal adjustment along with using other treatments like acupressure.

Medical doctor Lynn Kelly, Deb. Chemical. has discovered the improperly transferring joints due to misalignments with the bones as being the top reason behind arthritis. Vertebral manipulations will forever involve requirements from the our bones "popping". Needs is definitely the knees and other joints relieving tiny gasoline pockets (mostly regarding nitrogen) because of the adjustment from the backbone.

Doctors of chiropractic are conditioned to know whenever a condition is outside their scope regarding practice. In times similar to this, the person is known somebody who can properly cure the situation, like a pain management medical doctor. Movement is important and highly useful to the upkeep regarding arthritic bones. This assists stimulate cartilage health and fitness, creation, and elimination of destruction. Preventative actions might be assessed for rheumatoid arthritis starting when young.

? To prevent future handicap, ensure that any injuries for the joints are handled at the earliest opportunity to let proper curing.

? Any individual who works with a place that will require standing or strolling for a long time should wear correct and cozy shoes or boots.

? An effective as well while healthy body weight loss will slow up the level of pressure which is positioned on the knees and other joints.

? Joint parts maintain well being through natural mineral deposits, antioxidants as well as nutritional vitamins.

Even though direct source of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms is unidentified, immune program seems to be dictate the problem. In most cases, the afflicted joints of rheumatoid arthritis will be the fingers and arms, foot, shoulder blades, and hips. Numerous individuals with arthritis recognize in the event the weather will probably change because their very own joints start harming. This is your opportunity a typical symptom related to arthritis; firm joints the next day which are worsened by movements.

According to the severity with the problem, chiropractic aligners primarily a way to help patients using arthritis since they're educated to tackle the actual source of the condition. As opposed to offering medications in which temporarily mask this specific, chiropractic therapy extends to the core with the condition causing osteoarthritis, or soreness within the joints. Chiropractor Mesa AZ

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Ryan's future: In Romney White House or US House?

JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) ? There are plenty of reasons for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to choose Rep. Paul Ryan as a running mate.

The whip-smart Wisconsin congressman is from a battleground state. He's the GOP's leading voice on the nation's budget and is the rare member of the Republican establishment who's loved by the tea party.

"If that bridge ever came, I would consider crossing it," Ryan told The Associated Press in an interview this month. He added: "I really don't have tremendous political ambition. I have policy ambition."

Yes, that's the typical humble-speak of someone who's a potential vice presidential candidate. But it's also true that Ryan has let political opportunities pass before, choosing to focus on taming what he calls a "big, dysfunctional government" beset by unsustainable spending.

Those who know Ryan say that means that while Romney ponders whether to ask, Ryan is deciding whether accepting a political promotion is the best way to achieve his "policy ambition."

"He does have more force and authority than he would have in the vice presidency. I think he clearly knows that," said Vin Weber, a former Minnesota congressman and Ryan's supervisor when the two were at a Washington think tank in the 1990s. "So the question becomes, Would that be worth sacrificing to put yourself clearly in line to be the nominee after Romney?"

Romney planned to appear with Ryan on Monday during a visit to a fabric mill in the congressman's hometown of Janesville, a blue-collar city along the Rock River still coping with the mothballing of a GM assembly plant a few years ago.

The ascent has been swift for Ryan, who was voted prom king and the "Biggest Brown-Noser" of his 1988 high school class before leaving for college in Ohio. He maintained his ties to home through summer internships for Republican Sen. Robert Kasten, who later hired Ryan full time. The former senator remembers him as "bright and inquisitive and very consumed" with complex tax policy.

Ryan went on to flourish at a conservative policy institute founded by Republican Jack Kemp. A congressman, a member of the George H.W. Bush administration and GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole's running mate in 1996, Kemp championed tax cuts as the primary tool for promoting economic growth. Ryan considers Kemp, who died in 2009, his mentor.

By 28, Ryan was back in Janesville winning election to Congress. At 42, he is among the breed of congressmen who sleep in the office rather than put down roots in Washington.

Heavy with both factories and farms, Ryan's district in southern Wisconsin is typically carried by Democratic presidential candidates. His opponents note that part of his success lies in the overtures he makes across the aisle, from party-bucking votes against weakening prevailing wage laws to simpler gestures, like his recent attendance at a wake for the father of a local Democratic stalwart.

Prone to speaking in bar graphs as he warns of "a gathering storm" of debt that will challenge America's way of life, Ryan has also mastered the ability to hang a smile on ideas that generations of politicians have found treacherous.

He casts his push to scale back food stamps and other welfare assistance as empowerment for the downtrodden now lulled into complacency. Opening Medicare to more private competition, he argues, is about preventing an all-out program collapse that would devastate future retirees.

"He's a master politician," said former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke. "I don't have a mean thought in my body about Paul. I just fundamentally disagree with his policies. He puts on a good face for some pretty awful policies."

The global economic crisis and the rise of the tea party, with its focused attention on government spending and debt, have made Ryan's budget plans something of a GOP litmus test. In March, Romney was quick to praise Ryan's latest proposal to slice trillions from the federal budget. Ryan reciprocated soon after with an endorsement of Romney's White House bid.

Picking Ryan as his running mate would be read as a full embrace of his budget ideas. But that assumes Ryan would return Romney's interest.

During President George W. Bush's second term, Ryan pulled his name from consideration for the White House budget director post. He says he didn't think there was the will, particularly in Congress, to address the structural budget changes he believes are needed to avert a crippling debt crisis.

"There were no followers," he said.

More recently, Ryan resisted a call to chase an open Senate seat in Wisconsin. "I didn't want to walk away from the conversation I started and the fight I'm in," he said. By remaining in the House, Ryan can keep an intense focus as budget chairman on his signature issue ? something he might not be able to do in a Romney administration.

There's no guarantee that Republicans will retain House control in November or that even with Romney in the White House, Ryan could help accomplish an overhaul of venerable but politically sensitive programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

It's a gamble either way.

"I think I'm in a really big spot right now," he said.

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More Big Wildfires May Be Future Norm for US

Link Information - Click to View

More Big Wildfires May Be Future Norm for US
An international team of scientists discovered that climate change will disrupt fire patterns across over 80 percent of the globe by the end of the century, possibly making massive wild fires like the one this month in Colorado more frequent in North America.

Source: Wired
Posted on: Wednesday, Jun 13, 2012, 8:48am
Views: 9

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How To Fight Acne Scars? ? Beauty, Health and Fitness

9 Jun 2012 o 11:01 | Skin care
Autor: admin |

Benefits of a healthy skin enhancer go much beyond the ones mentioned on its packaging, especially for those who have been struggling with ugly acne scars. Acne is painful physically, and emotionally. More than the physical pain, it is an emotional trauma for most people. What makes it more torturous is the fact that it leaves behind ugly scars. These scars look like ugly spots that are quite tough to get rid of, though can be treated.

?There are a number of creams that can easily conceal and fade them. Anyways, these scars tend to grow lighter with time. A good skin care regime will automatically reduce them. In absence of proper skin care and nourishment, these scars turn darker with time, and cannot be eliminated completely.

?Scar lightening options

?Acne leaves behind sensitive skin. Even the best skin cream brands might not be gentle enough. For fresh scars, pick creams that are extremely gentle and have a cooling effect on the skin. For older ones, a healthy skin enhancer is the best product to use. It conceals skin imperfections, such as acne scars, dark spots, pigmentation and blotches, and even fine lines and wrinkles. Besides being an effective substitute for blemish balm creams, it also works on lightening the scars and dark spots.

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Yellen argues for more Fed easing amid Europe risk

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's second-highest official on Wednesday laid out the case for the U.S. central bank to provide more support to a fragile economy as financial turmoil in Europe mounts.

Janet Yellen, the vice chair of the Fed, cited risks from ongoing housing problems, a weak jobs market and worsening financial conditions in a speech in Boston. Her views carry great weight with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and her comments suggest that the Fed may be close to easing policy again.

Yellen said the U.S. economy is growing at around a 2 percent rate and said the labor market seems to have stalled - and that is before the scheduled year-end expiration of various tax cuts that she said would be another "huge drag" on growth.

"There are a number of significant downside risks to the economic outlook, and hence it may well be appropriate to insure against adverse shocks that could push the economy into territory where self-reinforcing downward spiral of economic weakness would be difficult to arrest," she said.

Her remarks before the Boston Economic Club come a day ahead of congressional testimony by Bernanke, who would be unlikely to take a widely different stance from his respected deputy.

Yellen, who is known as favoring aggressive Fed moves to support growth, laid out a thorough argument on why the economic outlook is darkening and were delivered the same day that several centrist Fed policymakers also expressed mounting concerns.

Yellen said the Fed could buy more bonds to keep rates low or push even further out the date it has given for when to expect the central bank's first interest rate increase. The Fed, which has kept rates near zero percent since December 2008, has already pledged conditionally to keep rates ultra low until at least late 2014.

Fed policymakers at their next meeting, on June 19-20, will assess the effects of recent labor market reports and financial developments on the economic outlook, Yellen said.

"I am convinced that scope remains for the (Fed) to provide further policy accommodation either through its forward guidance or through additional balance-sheet actions," she said.

While both communications tools and bond purchases have limitations and costs, the looming risks make a strong case for the Fed to take precautionary steps to safeguard the economic recovery, Yellen said.

She described recent data as "pretty disappointing" and said the challenge going forward is to make progress on bringing the economy back to full employment. While the average pace of job creation so far this year is consistent with a modest expansion, the disappointing 69,000 new jobs added in May and a rise in the jobless rate highlight the risks, Yellen said.

"Recent labor market reports and financial developments serve as a reminder that the economy remains vulnerable to setbacks," she said.

Asset purchases could take the form either of a fresh round of bond purchases or an extension of the current program exchanging shorter-term securities for longer-term ones, which pushes down longer-term interest rates, she added.

Her comments marked a contrast with the European Central Bank, which dashed hopes on Wednesday it would take immediate action despite a euro zone economy that is under increasing threat.

Tensions in financial markets have risen sharply over the past month after elections in Greece ended in political stalemate and as European leaders struggle to help Spain shore up its banks and rein in its budget deficit. Money has flooded into safe assets, tightening financial conditions and weighing on U.S. growth prospects.

At the same time, recent economic data in the United States, particularly the May jobs report, has been disappointingly weak. Before these latest strains had emerged, Fed policymakers had seemed on track to stay the course.

In making a case for monetary policy insurance, Yellen cited risks that the European sovereign debt crisis could spin out of control.

"The deterioration of financial conditions in Europe of late, coupled with notable declines in global equity markets, also serve as a reminder that highly destabilizing outcomes cannot be ruled out," she said.

U.S. stock index and Treasury futures edged higher in Asian trading and the dollar dipped against a basket of currencies on the prospect of a third round of Fed bond buying, known as quantitative easing.

"This is more dovish than I was expecting," said Adam Button, a currency analyst at Forexlive.com in Montreal. "Yellen has certainly taken a step toward QE3. Yellen's comments are much bolder than those we heard earlier today."

SOFTER TONE

Also on Wednesday, Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed, and John Williams, head of the San Francisco Fed, pointed to Europe's brewing crisis as a main threat to the United States.

"Should it become clear that something resembling my baseline scenario of continued, though modest, growth is no longer realistic, further monetary actions to support the recovery will certainly need to be considered," Lockhart said in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Williams, who like Lockhart has a vote this year on the central bank's policy-setting panel, warned in a speech in Bellevue, Washington, that Europe's debt crisis as well as tighter U.S. fiscal policies are "wild cards" for the domestic economy.

"We must also stand ready to do even more if needed to best achieve our statutory goals of maximum employment and price stability," he said.

In addition to maintaining low interest rates, the Fed already has bought $2.3 trillion in long-term securities to stimulate the U.S. economy.

(Writing by Mark Felsenthal and Stella Dawson in Washington and Jonathan Spicer in New York; Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Bill Rigby in Bellevue, Wash., and Cecile Lefort in Sydney, Australia; Editing by Leslie Adler and Eric Walsh)

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Your Pet?s Name vs. Where You Met Your Spouse

Your father?s middle name. That might not be the hardest question for a hacker to guess, but according to researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University it has the advantage of being: 1) easy to remember for months or years; 2) relatively hard to find on the Internet; and 3) difficult for automated guessing programs to suss out. In 2009, the computer scientists tested these qualities in the password-recovery questions used by four leading webmail services (AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!). ?What is your father?s middle name?? performed well in the study, but wouldn't be so useful for celebrities like Palin and Romney, whose parents? full names are widely available online. (Romney?s father?s middle name was Wilcken, and Palin?s father?s middle name is Richard.) The other top questions were:? ?What was your first phone number?,? ?Who was your favorite teacher,? and ?Who is your favorite singer??

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Are Relationships With Men Beneficial for Women 06/03 by Ms ...

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Pondering in my search for wisdom ? The daily meanderings of a ...

Bird Droppings May 31, 2012

Pondering my search for wisdom

?

??????????? I started my day a bit later than normal being out from school and trying to get over a summer cold and my plans include yard work, writing and a finishing up several pieces of my graduate portfolio later today so I was lazy. I ran by my second most favorite store Quick Trip to grab a morning grapefruit cranberry drink and newspaper. I had planned on picking up a few parts to work on my old Isuzu at the auto parts store and shock of all shocks it was closed as I pulled in which is unheard of at seven o?clock in the morning. I forget not all people live by my sunrise to sunset standard. So I went on about the day but somehow ended up at one of my favorite stores Kroger to pick up things for dinner so I would not have to travel out and could get serious about paper work.

On the front page of today?s paper the lead story was how high school graduates are not ready for college and right next to it was an article on an assistant principal who is being investigated in Atlanta?s school system cheating scandal claiming she did not know they were cheating only cleaning up eraser marks so testing machines would not err. One comment was essentially in Georgia twenty five percent of the graduates have to take remedial courses in college. As I thought about this pondering as I do I recalled I too took a remedial language arts course my freshmen year in college. Actually took it twice since the first time I did not go to class very often.

??????????? Why did I have to take a remedial college course and yet I was accepted into all three colleges I applied too. My SAT was a few points too low for the school I applied too on the verbal portion and yet today it would be more than enough to get into any college without remedial classes. As I think to my days in High School Literature with the exception of maybe one or two years I hated it and could not understand why we needed to listen to a teachers opinion on why Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick. As I think back I really did not like Math classes, Spanish classes and all but one science class. Considering we had math, literature and science all four years of High School I really did not like high school and perhaps my GPA reflected this. Even though my SAT scores were what got me into college and conversely in a remedial class, my saving grace in education was standardized tests which I seemed to always do well on. My first set of SAT scores were in today?s terms over 1300 for verbal and Math which really would get me into most undergraduate schools shy of Ivy League today.? The second time I took SAT I decided I would see how fast I could actually take the test and in twenty three minutes had completed the SAT and scored only a few points lower than my previous test.

??????????? So where am I wandering today. My conclusion that I came to after reflecting on my own High School experience and many kids I talk with in High School today is that we are teaching subjects that many consider irrelevant to them, even kids going to college. Some students will strive and get high grades acquiring the content that is provided so they take End of Course Tests and do great. But as I look at High school subject matter and even the photo used in explaining how deficient students today are in Math I looked at the problem on the board behind the teacher being interviewed and in real life shy of being in physics or math as a job you will never see that material.? Learning is what is missing from education today. It is about that desire to learn and making it relevant to students who more than likely do not even want to be in that class. So how do we get teachers on board that have been brought up in the same system?

?The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results; all his selfish desires have been consumed in the fire of knowledge. The wise, ever satisfied, have abandoned all external supports. Their security is unaffected by the results of their action; even while acting, they really do nothing at all. Free from expectations and from all sense of possession, with mind and body firmly controlled by the Self, they do not incur sin by the performance of physical action.? Bhagavad Gita 4:19-21

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??????????? I can easily substitute learning and wisdom as I read through this ancient passage from a Hindu holy text. It is a matter of who you are with and when and how you have been told is this learning? But as I read this passage many years old a person is wise when what you do is done without anxiety about results. You are not concerned about your grade or what college or who has the highest GPA. We sadly live in a competitive world where being number one is even a marketing tool for advertisers. I often wonder if politicians get stressed out, other than around elections over what they do. I always thought of my grandmother as wise for her understanding of life. As a small child perhaps I saw only that her knowledge was what she needed to know to raise her children justly and correctly and how to make really good chocolate chip cookies. As I grew up there was a different understanding on my part of her deep faith and wisdom maybe one day I can possible come close too?

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?This we can all bear witness to, living as we do plagued by unremitting anxiety?.It becomes more and more imperative that the life of the spirit be avowed as the only firm basis upon which to establish happiness and peace.? The Dalai Lama

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As a society we seem to encourage anxiety and stress often at the expense of our children and grandchildren. Our previous elected government pushed to spread democracy through numerous wars and our current government has continued and added a war or two to the pot which has caused a tension and insecurity in our children according to Progressive Curriculum Theorist Henry Giroux. Is it turning to a deeper meaning a spiritual center as ?the only firm base? as The Dalai Lama states.

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?If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate well, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.? Alex Noble

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How many of us take this approach to life I use often the term of being a searcher in that I am always searching. When walking in the forest I have the urge to check under rocks could be the unrelenting herpetologist in me searching for a snake or lizard. As I sit or stand in the hallway at school observing, searching faces, listening, empathizing and trying to understand.

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?To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.? Dietrich Bonheoffer

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I used a statement several weeks back about seeing the bubble in a thousand clear oceans. Bonheoffer addresses that same issue here. In education it is about context not content, that is being able to apply what knowledge we have and that can be more significant than an encyclopedia of information.

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?I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.? Helen Keller

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Many the times, I will sit and think about people I would like to meet. My biological grandfather on my mother?s side is one, Gandhi another and Ralph Waldo Emerson but if I was allowed another it would be Helen Keller. There are few people who have overcome such insurmountable odds and then accomplish what she did. The title to the book about her life does not do justice to the real life situation, The Miracle Worker.

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?It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.? Henry David Thoreau

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I need to be more cautious as I write, yesterday Thoreau was searching for clam rather than calm, spell check does not read minds as of yet. But Thoreau eludes back to that thousand plus year old statement from the Bhagavad Gita,?when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results?. Being wise is being in tune so to say with all around and to borrow another word perhaps harmony could be used.

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?Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.? Immanuel Kant

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In education there are in The Georgia Performance Standards points of reference in each subject to attain or to have knowledge of. Georgia had a system in place of Quality Core Curriculum which literally was each and every aspect of what the educational committee thought was important in that subject. Teachers were teaching to QCC?s and it was almost purely content. There was excitement as standards came out and the school curriculum people got hold and unpacked and now we have curriculum maps and curriculum pacing and what was to be wonderful has become a monster. The heart and soul has been stripped out and in its place organizational overload.

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?Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.? Lin Yutang

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I have several times used my example of a liter bottle and having three gallons to put in it, how do we do it? A funnel still only fills to a liter and the rest spills out. I use this illustration in educating special needs kids and I believe it applies to all children and adults. It has been a few months since my last trip to Mountain City and the Foxfire property. I am heading up in a week or so. If you are in Mountain City Georgia take a look it is well worth the drive up the mountain. The museum will provide a guide to take you around. I recall the late Robert Murray and numerous walks with him around the property, here and there he would pick a plant leave or three or four telling about what they could do and what they can be used for.

As he would go building to building explaining mountain life he eventually gets to a shed with a large copper coil sort of device and asks ?So what is it? and answers run the gambit? Finally laughing he explains it is a condenser for making moonshine. If you have watched the miniseries Hatfield and McCoy?s you will know. So how do we fill a liter bottle? We condense and we synthesize and much like making cane syrup we boil the cane juice down to get the good stuff. Wisdom is knowing what is the good stuff and being able to transcend the frills and extras.

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?The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.? Mark Twain

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Make that number five on my list of people who I would like to meet somehow Mark Twain could always have the right words and thoughts. As I meander about today searching for books and ideas, tilling in my garden and planting plants I will end with a line from a founding father and one maybe our current in power folks should read.

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?I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.? Thomas Jefferson

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I hope we will listen to Jefferson please keep all in harm?s way on your mind and in your hearts and be sure to always give thanks.

namaste

bird

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