Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission - to be of service to them whenever they require it.

St. Francis of Assisi

Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life.

Marcus Aurelius Antonius

Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a breeze, a moment's glance—it is little that makes the best happiness.

~ Friedrich W. Nietzsche

The destiny of man is in his own soul.

Herodotus

The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself, in the service of others.

~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

Out of clutter, find simplicity.

Albert Einstein

Movie and Documentary Reviews for 2011 - Hidden Gems

A friend of mine just asked me for some movie suggestions - here are some of the outstanding movies that I have seen over the past year. I'm sort of a movie buff so none of these are either blockbusters or the latest greatest to get marketed incessantly. These are off the beaten path gems and all of them are available on net flix.

Secondhand Lions (Michael Cain Robert Duval - great family movie)
The Milagro Beanfield War (Robert Redford production – good fun)
Kick-Ass (another fun family movie)
Win Win (Paul Giamatti – good family movie)
Hesher (great cast a little more gritty r rated but excellent movie – big, big fans of Joseph Gordon Levitt and Natalie Portman)
Hard Eight (John C. Reilly – gritty has a few twists)
Cedar Rapids (under-rated comedy – big John Reilly fans)
The Yellow Handkerchief (family movie – early Kristen Stewart – Maria Bello and William Hurt – good ending stick with it)
Get Low (is great with Robert Duval)
Moon (Sam Rockwell – 2001 space odyssey vibe – mystery thriller will keep you guessing – surprisingly good)
Machete (over the top violence – better than any of the Quentin Tarantino stuff – action movie)
Runaway Jury (this is a good Hackman movie with John Cusack – it’s a drama mystery)
The Answer Man (Jeff Daniels – big fans of Jeff’s another eccentric character study but also a real pop cultural skewer – you’ll like it)
Your Highness ( a little T&A – pot movie – just good ol dumb entertainment – Not the Holy Grail but fun enough)

I totally got into Deadwood: and The Wire: both HBO television series – lots of cursing and gritty 1880’s reality, vulgar and that’s just deadwood – the Wire – lots of drugs, Baltimore street culture both raw unvarnished looks at life – needles, and heroin, and drive bys – not for children.

Must see documentaries for everyone
Food, Inc. (very important movie for all)
Vanishing of the Bees (very important movie for all – narrated by Ellen Page)
Inside Job (if you are investing in or have any money tied up in the stock market – you’ll be horrified and rightly so – everyone needs to see this)
Crude (Trans National Corporations at their unregulated best)
Wolves: A Legend Returns to Yellowstone
We Shall Remain: (Native American History from American Native point of view – history they didn't teach you in school)


Campy Classic B Horror Movies
Val Lewton: Isle of the Dead / Bedlam
I Walked with a Zombie / Body Snatcher

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"

William A. Ward

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

~ Albert Einstein

When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.

~ Vietnamese Proverb

A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children.

John James Audubon

Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him?

~ Pierre Troubetzkoy

Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him?

~ Pierre Troubetzkoy

Don't worry that children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you.

Robert Fulghum

This is a world of action, and not for moping and groaning in.

~ Charles Dickens

"He who plants a tree, plants a hope."
—Lucy Larcom

The new earth arises as more and more people discover that their main purpose in life is to bring the light of consciousness into this world and to use whatever they do as a vehicle for consciousness

Eckhart Tolle

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

~ Paul Klee

Panel finds EPA lowballing atrazine/cancer link | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/JCNfo

Today's big deficits were caused mainly by big tax cuts for the wealthy, two unpaid-for wars, a horrible recession caused by Wall Street greed, and an expensive prescription drug program rigged to favor pharmaceutical companies.

BBC News - Occupy Wall Street: Arrests at New York two-month rally http://ping.fm/ZzEr2

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

You should know by the kindness of uh dog the way uh human should be

Don Van Vliet

Crash Tax: Wall Street Should Pay Reparations to the 99% | | AlterNet http://www.alternet.org/story/153065/crash_tax%3A_wall_street_should_pay_reparations_to_the_99?akid=7851.135874.yaAgQ-&rd=1&t=18

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Admits 18 Cities Were Consulting on #Occupy Crackdowns - Digg http://ping.fm/LRiRW

Videos from the Raid: Beatings, Teargas, Tents Dismantled | AlterNet http://ping.fm/6qrkp

Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off -- costing billions of dollars a year -- is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate

From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous

Things are only impossible until they're not.

Jean-Luc Picard

People across the country have pledged to close more than 80,000 accounts at the big Wall Street banks

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The beauty of the band was you never knew what was going to come out next.

~ Jimmy Page

I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.

~ Groucho Marx (my man pots and pans!)

Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.

~ Joseph Wood Krutch

Let yourself be open and life will be easier.

Buddha

(1) Daily Kos: Ten stories of people moving their money, despite bank efforts to stop??them - Digg http://ping.fm/QKWcn

Since September 29, at least 700,000 Americans have moved their money out of big banks and into credit unions.

"There's nothing more attractive than a smart woman" Paul Burke

The ancient philosopher Anacharsis, maintained that laws were like cobwebs; strong enough to detain only the weak, and too weak to hold the strong

"You capitalize on dividing Americans, claiming people that disagree with you are unpatriotic socialists," they said to Bachmann as local police escorted the candidate from the stage.

Newt Gingrich was a lobbyist for FREDDIE MAC and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sponsored Jerry Sandusky for a 'Congressional Angels in Adoption' award. That's republican vision for you!

Socialism - believes that people working together for a common good can produce a greater benefit, both for society and for the individual, than can a society in which everyone is shrewdly seeking their own self-interest.

BBC News - US surfer Garret McNamara claims 'biggest wave' ride http://ping.fm/8sXgB

Dogway Melody (A Dogville Comedy) Part 1/2 - YouTube http://ping.fm/jyIm7

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-to-1 that Congress, acting under its power to regulate interstate commerce, had the authority to require individuals to carry health insurance or pay a penalty

Talking to voters in SC, one woman says she won't vote for Romney "because he's a Muslim" - this opinion brought to you by the underfunding of public education - go America!

At the dawn of the new century, after years of strong job growth, rising incomes, and declining debt, we abandoned a proven path to shared prosperity in favor of doubling down, once more, on antigovernment ideology. Now we're paying for it. - B. Clinton

We need government for security, to provide equal access to opportunity, assistance to those most vulnerable, advancing economic interests at the state and national level, oversight of financial markets, protections where the markets fail, and fostering large-scale investments.

ExxonMobil made $10.7 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2011 while paying an effective tax rate of 17.6%, lower than the average tax rate for individual Americans

"The greatest accomplishment of the anti-government Republicans was not to reduce the size of the federal government but to stop paying for it." Bill Clinton

Remember this as you go to the polls - 49 million Americans are living in poverty

Tell Congress to support the Wall Street Tax! http://bit.ly/v2ey6q #TheDream

Remember this at the polls today - Last week, Senate Republicans filibustered a critical infrastructure investment bill that would have put roughly 450,000 Americans back to work.

Union of Concerned Scientists: Cartoon November 2011 http://ping.fm/e4F6i

“You don’t find out about a man from what puts him down you find out about him by what he gets back up from.” Joe Frazier

Frazier: Working man's champion | Philadelphia Daily News | 11/08/2011 http://ping.fm/eXGCc

Today's Election Day - VOTE - especially if you are not a fringe voter, highly motivated fanatic, one issue zealot - those are the ones who actually show up and why our Nation is so whacked

The Dragon In My Garage http://ping.fm/7y5DQ

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Goethe

Many large corporations pay no taxes even while they enjoy massive profits. Tell them to pay up. http://bit.ly/rx00E8 @Roots_Action

Tell your Senator: Stop @SenRandPaul's attack on #cleanair http://bit.ly/rhk8in @CREDOMobile

As our Constitution says, the reason why we have a government is “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.”

A good government uses the tools of government, like public schools, public health, the police power, taxation and monetary policy, to promote the well-being of ordinary people. A bad government steals from them, and stuffs their money into the pockets of the influential.

Tell Pres. @BarackObama: Don't sell us out to Wall Street. #ows #p2 http://bit.ly/tHFLAI

Whiplist | Save the Internet http://ping.fm/qLqRq

BBC News - Dirty secrets: What's behind carbon's rise? http://ping.fm/Ktbua

BBC News - NoW placed hacking lawyers under surveillance http://ping.fm/CZB6N

BBC News - Syrian opposition urges Homs international protection http://ping.fm/WpNFO

BBC News - Light 'promising' in cancer fight http://ping.fm/WcMsY

"In the past month, more than 650,000 new accounts have been opened at credit unions alone, according to the Credit Union National Association, a trade group representing credit unions. That compares to 600,000 new accounts in all of 2010

Leave Your Bank Today! Help Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining | Planetsave http://ping.fm/CNNqc

Take Action: Tell Congress to Continue Critical Clean Energy Policies | CleanTechnica http://ping.fm/ignfZ

More than half of Americans (51%) would be more likely to buy a product if they knew it was made using solar energy.

A plurality (39%) would choose to prioritize solar if they were in charge of U.S. energy policy, more than natural gas (21%), wind (12%), nuclear (9%) or coal (3%).

Eight out of ten Americans (82%) believe that solar energy should receive the same level and type of support as fossil fuel industries have enjoyed for decades, and that the government should support solar manufacturing.

Solar energy is non-partisan: Independents (90%), Republicans (80%) and Democrats (94%) all agree that developing solar energy is important.

Nine out of ten respondents (89%) think it is important for the U.S. to develop and use solar power.

Breaking news: All Americans love the sun

According to a new independent poll, 9 out of 10 Americans think it’s important for the United States to develop and use solar energy, and that support remains strong across the entire political spectrum.

Peru fires top indigenous rights official after she blocks g... - Care2 News Network http://ping.fm/dnBCS

7 Billion and Counting http://ping.fm/Kf27S

Say no to Frankenfish! Keep genetically engineered salmon off the menu: http://bit.ly/tpWkLE via @foodandwater

Bill Moyers: Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano | | AlterNet http://ping.fm/Xl0Sj

INTERVIEW-Women urged to put their stamp on Arab Spring - TrustLaw http://ping.fm/9opyS

The Elephant Sanctuary : Hohenwald Tennessee http://ping.fm/SGwTY

BBC News - Syria: Homs military attacks continue, say activists http://ping.fm/t8K0h

France and Germany were in favour of a financial transactions tax and they hoped it would be implemented in 2012. Hello America anybody home?

Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano - Bill Moyers

What’s your beef (and why’s it coming from Tanzania?) | Pesticide Action Network http://ping.fm/ZLR67

450% increase in birth defects?! | Pesticide Action Network http://www.panna.org/blog/450-increase-birth-defects

The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the US Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming

What is reading but silent conversation?

~ Walter Savage Landor

Roughly 30 jobless protesters from D.C. neighborhoods occupied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office. They said they wanted to talk to him about jobs, but McConnell was busy at the Capitol Building, where he led Republicans in blocking a $60 billion infrastructure bill.

Drilling in ANWR Will Not Solve Our National Energy Crisis | Debate Club | US News Opinion http://ping.fm/W0J0Q

BBC News - Action urged on ships' carbon emissions http://ping.fm/Ag6PI

BBC News - US Occupy protesters clash with police at Oakland port http://ping.fm/RIyTI

BBC News - Syria unrest: activists say 20 killed in Homs http://ping.fm/gh3GU

Concentrating Solar Gets DOE (Sun)Shot | EarthTechling http://ping.fm/K3Z7x

Inspector General Finds 0.07 Percent Rate Of Fraud In Energy Stimulus Spending | ThinkProgress http://ping.fm/MpuYe

Courthouse News Service http://ping.fm/5hFLB

Solar Sandwich Uses Thin Film, Thermal | EarthTechling http://ping.fm/biUGJ

So who's interest do you think they are protecting? The only thing they fear is your vote - if you don't vote - enjoy being f'd up the a**

Members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25 percent increase over the 2008 total, according to a Roll Call analysis of Members' financial disclosure forms.

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Federal Court Upholds Salmon Protection From Pesticides | Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Federal Court Upholds Salmon Protection From Pesticides | Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Federal Court Upholds Salmon Protection From Pesticides | Defenders of Wildlife Blog http://ping.fm/tReB8