Something to think about …. “First they came … “!!

~~December 8, 2015~~ 

SILENCE MAKES YOU AN ACCOMPLICE

Where’s our Martin Niemöller?

This graph, presents a poem, which been shared plenty of times in the blogosphere. Please, allow me the opportunity to present it again.

I want to apply it to our present time.

I’ve seen it many times.

Every time it makes me think.

More so now, in view of the ugly turn in the road where American politics seem to be headed.

To me, the bottom line is that if you don’t speak up for others who are somehow persecuted, eventually your turn will come and there will be no one to stand up for your when you are persecuted.

It’s time to stand up and hold your ground.

~MARTIN NIEMOLLER~

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

The quotation stems from Niemöller’s lectures during the early postwar period. Different versions of the quotation exist. These can be attributed to the fact that Niemöller spoke extemporaneously and in a number of settings.

Much controversy surrounds the content of the poem as it has been printed in varying forms, referring to diverse groups such as Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Trade Unionists, or Communists depending upon the version. Nonetheless his point was that Germans – in particular, he believed, the leaders of the Protestant churches – had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392

~~GRAPHIC SOURCE~~

Google Images

First he came for the Mexicans, then he came for the war heroes, then he came for African Americans, then he came for the immigrants, then he came for the Jews, then he came for the “gays” …. now he’s coming for the Muslims. Maybe you can add someone else or he will continue adding groups.

Is anyone going to stand up to him?

HortyRex©

#SomethingToThinkAbout #MartinNiemoller #ProminentProtestantPastor #OutspokenPublicFoe #AdolfHitler #NaziRule #ConcentrationCamps #Catholics #JehovahsWitnesses #Jews, #TradeUnionists #Communists #DependingUponVersion #Germans #ComplicitThroughSilence #NaziImprisonment #Persecution #Murder #MillionsOfPeople #StandUp #HoldYourGround

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

We ALL are ONE!! 

To start the day …. “Climate Change: Open Letter to World Leaders”!!

~~December 7, 2015~~ 

OPEN LETTER TO WORLD LEADERS

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 is being held in Le Bourget, Paris, from November 30 to December 11.

It is the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The conference objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference

2498 academics from 75 countries signed this Open Letter calling for world leaders meeting in Paris to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Prominent signatories include Noam Chomsky, Naomi Oreskes, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michael E. Mann, Ursula Oswald Spring, Bill McKibben, David Suzuki, and Peter Singer.

Open Letter from Academics to World Leaders ahead of the Paris Climate Conference 2015

Some issues are of such ethical magnitude that being on the correct side of history becomes a signifier of moral character for generations to come. Global warming is such an issue.

Indigenous peoples and the developing world are least responsible for climate change, least able to adapt to it, and most vulnerable to its impacts. As the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris approaches, the leaders of the industrialized world shoulder a grave responsibility for the consequences of our current and past carbon emissions.

Yet it looks unlikely that the international community will mandate even the greenhouse gas reductions necessary to give us a two thirds chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. At the moment, even if countries meet their current non-binding pledges to reduce carbon emissions, we will still be on course to reach 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

This is profoundly shocking, given that any sacrifice involved in making those reductions is far overshadowed by the catastrophes we are likely to face if we do not: more extinctions of species and loss of ecosystems; increasing vulnerability to storm surges; more heatwaves; more intense precipitation; more climate related deaths and disease; more climate refugees; slower poverty reduction; less food security; and more conflicts worsened by these factors.

Given such high stakes, our leaders ought to be mustering planet-wide mobilization, at all societal levels, to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~ 

Google Images

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We undersigned concerned academics, researchers and scientists from around the world recognize the seriousness of our environmental situation and the special responsibility we owe our communities, future generations, and our fellow species.

We will strive to meet that responsibility in our educational and communicative endeavors.

We call upon our leaders to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. With just as much urgency, we call upon our fellow citizens to hold their leaders responsible for vigorously addressing global warming.

For the full list of signatories please see below.

“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”

http://globalclimatechangeweek.com/open-letter/

~~SOURCES~~ 

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/

https://twitter.com/ClimateReality

https://www.facebook.com/ClimateReality?_rdr=p

https://www.instagram.com/ClimateReality/

#ToStartTheDay #ClimateChange #OpenLetter #WorldLeaders #UnitedNationsClimateChangeConference #COP21 #CMP11 #UnitedNationsFrameworkConvention #EthicalMagnitude #CorrectSideHistory #MoralCharacter #GenerationsToCome #GlobalWarming #PlanetWideMobilization

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #hrexachwordpress

~Open Letter to World Leaders~

~Published on Sep 24, 2015~

Around the world, people from all walks of life are standing together to demand a strong climate agreement in Paris and a healthy future for the planet. When the world speaks with one voice, our leaders have to listen.

So we’ve put together this Open Letter with one very clear message: DEAR WORLD LEADERS: TAKE CLIMATE ACTION NOW.

People from around the world are affected by climate change today – right now. And they’re calling out to world leaders to demand real action this year at the UN climate talks in Paris.

We ALL are ONE!! 

 

At the end of the day …. “GMA: P!nk’s big announcement”!!

~~November 30, 2015~~ 

UNICEF AMBASSADOR

‘The fire was lit because I’m a mama!’

Pink reveals her new role as a UNICEF ambassador on Good Morning America

Pink has been appointed a UNICEF ambassador.

And the proud pop star appeared on Good Morning America on Monday to share her big news.

The 36-year-old singer – who shares three-year-old daughter, Willow with husband Carey Hart – will focus on children’s health initiatives, including fighting global malnutrition, which impacts 159 million children.

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~ 

Google Images

Getty Images

Facebook Timelime 

https://www.facebook.com/TroyPinkJunkies/?pnref=story

~~GALLERY~~ 

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She will also join in the campaign to inspire youngsters to lead healthier lives in the US, saying: ‘The fire was lit, obviously, because I’m a mama.

‘Statistically, one in four kids in the U.S. are inactive. And I’m all about fitness and health and positivity.’

The proud star took to Twitter to share the news with her 27.3 million followers saying:

‘I’m on @GMA today and officially a @UNICEFUSA Ambassador! Proud to put #childrenfirst & be part of the #UNICEFKidPower Team’

“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3339723/Pink-reveals-new-role-UNICEF-ambassador-Good-Morning-America.html#ixzz3t1bgYSSi

#AtTheEndOfTheDay #GoodMorningAmerica #GMA #PknksBigAnnouncement #UNICEFAmbassador #UNICEF #Ambassador #ThreeYearOldDaughter #Willow #HusbandCareyHart #ChildrensHealthInitiatives #FightingGlobalMalnutrition #ImpactsMillionsChildren #UNICEFKidPowerTeam #ChildrenFirst

#WeAlllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

~P!nk’s big announcement on Good Morning America~

~Published on Nov 30, 2015~

Good Morning America: Robin Roberts and P!NK

We ALL are connected through HUMANITY!! 

Generated by IJG JPEG Library

We ALL are ONE!! 

To start the day …. “Carl Sagan: Best Speech Ever about Humanity”!!

~~November 30, 2015~~ 

THE PALE BLUE DOT

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest.

But for us, it’s different. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.

The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience.

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~ 

Google Images 

Facebook Timeline

~~GALLERY~~ 

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There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.

To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”

http://noconnectivity.deviantart.com/

#ToStartTheDay #CarlSagen #BestSpeechEver #AboutHumanity #ThePaleBlueDot #PlanetEarth #OurHome #JoyAndSuffering #ConfidentReligions #Ideologies #EconomicDoctrines #HuntersAndForagers #HeroAndCoward #CreatorAndDestroyer #Civilization #KingAndPeasant #FollyHumanConceits #Responsibility #DealMoreKindly #PreserveAndCherish #OnlyHome #EverKnown #Music #TheEarthPrelude #LudovicoEinaudi #AntonioLeofreddi #LauraRiccardi #MarcoDecimo

#WeAlllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

~Best Speech about Humanity~

Carl Sagan

~Published on Apr 11, 2014~

Carl Sagan gives the best speech ever about humanity and how foolish we behave. Pale Blue Dot is one of the most important and reflective speeches about the human condition and our place in the Universe. The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometers from Earth, as part of the solar system Family Portrait series of images.

Music
“The Earth Prelude” by Ludovico Einaudi, Antonio Leofreddi, Laura Riccardi & Marco Decimo

We ALL are connected through HUMANITY!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

Thoughts for today, #291 .… “The irony …. this year”!!

~~November 23, 2015~~ 

NO PLACE FOR THEM

This Thanksgiving, No Place for Refugees at the American Table
Posted on Nov 18, 2015
By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan

In the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, there has been a crushing backlash against refugees from the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. As Americans prepare for one of the most popular national holidays, Thanksgiving, which commemorates the support and nourishment provided by the indigenous people to English refugees seeking a better life free from religious persecution, a wave of xenophobia is sweeping the country.

In the U.S. Congress, no less than six separate bills have been put forward to block any federal funding to resettle refugees from Syria or Iraq and to empower states to deny entry into their “territory.” 

Imagine if all of a sudden we had 50 “statelets” creating their own border checkpoints, stopping all travelers, looking for anyone suspicious, i.e., any and all Syrians.

So far, 31 state governors have essentially demanded this.

Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order forbidding any agency of state government from cooperating in any way with Syrian refugee support efforts. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have called for a pause in the Syrian refugee program, with the support of Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.

(all so called Chrstians)

It has been almost 400 years since that first, fateful Thanksgiving feast in Massachusetts.

Xenophobic policies like those threatening to shut out refugees from these wars, if allowed to stand, should serve as a shameful centerpiece at every Thanksgiving table this year.

“As it appears in …. full read/full credit”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_thanksgiving_no_place_for_refugees_at_the_american_table_20151118

~~GRAPHIC SOURCE~~ 

Facebook Timeline

#ThoughtsForToday #291 #TheIrony #Thanksgiving #Holiday #NoPlacForRefugees #AmericanTable #AmyGoodman #DenisMoynihan #HorrificAttacks #Paris #CrushingBacklash #AgainstRefugees #Wars #Syria #Iraq #Afghanistan #BetterLife #FreeFromReligiousPersecution #WaveOfXenophobia #SweepingCountry #USCongress #USGovernors #Almost400Years #FirstFatefulThanksgivingFeast #Massachusetts #ShamefulCenterpiece #EveryTable

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #hrexachwordpress

We ALL are ONE!! 

Something to think about …. “Innocence Lost …. Sad”!!

~~November 19, 2015~ 

WAR CHILD

Little girl, trying to sleep in your bed
don’t listen to the sound of the bombs nearby
just close your eyes and try not to cry
and let your brother sing you a lullaby.
And don’t listen to the noise of the guns
as the bullets flash by your door, don’t cry
just think of the peace found in sleep
while your brother sings you a lullaby.
Little girl, as you sleep in your bed
when you dream, try not to dream of the day
when soldiers came with their guns
and took your father away.
And when you wake up to a new day
looking for the sun, through the dust and smoke
try to find some hope in that terrible place
as you and your brother strive to cope.
Little girl, war is the world of grown ups
and there is nothing you can do
even if you tell them of your fear and sorrow
no one will listen to you.
But when the war is over and done
and you no longer hear an exploding shell
maybe your young life will be a better place
more like Heaven and less like Hell.

© TIM KITCHEN

http://allpoetry.com/

~~GRAPHIC SOURCE~~ 

Facebook Timeline

#SomethingToThinkAbout #InnocenceLost #Sad #PhotoJournalist #Camera #LookedLigeGun #RaisedArms #Surrender #LittleGirl #Syria #SoldiersCame #NoiseOfGuns #TookFatherAway #WarIsOver #BetterPlace #DareWeHope#WarChild #Poetry #Poem #Poet #TimKitchen #PowerWrittenWord #PowerOfPhotography #AllPoetry

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. “Boat Person: Vietnamese Refugees Look Back”!!

~~October 2, 2015~~ 

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

Let’s go back in history and take a trip down “memory lane”.

The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975 with the Fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army and the evacuation of more than 130,000 Vietnamese closely associated with the United States or the South Vietnamese regime.

Vietnamese boat people refers to refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but continuing until the early 1990’s. The term is also often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975 and 1995. This article uses “boat people” to apply only to those who fled Vietnam by boat.

The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995. Many of the refugees failed to survive the passage, facing danger and hardship from pirates, over-crowded boats, and storms. The boat people’s first destinations were the Southeast Asian countries of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The mass flight of hundreds of thousands of boat people from Vietnam in 1978 and 1979 caused an international humanitarian crisis with the Southeast Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept more boat people on their shores. After negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit the flow of people leaving the country, the Southeast Asian countries agreed to admit the boat people temporarily, and the rest of the world, especially the developed countries, agreed to assume most of the costs of caring for the boat people and to resettle them in their countries.

From refugee camps in Southeast Asia, the great majority of boat people were resettled in developed countries, more than one-half in the United States and most of the remainder in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Several tens of thousands were repatriated to Vietnam, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Programs and facilities to carry out resettlement included the Orderly Departure Program, the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, and the Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people

~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~ 

Google Images 

AP Photo/Nick Ut

AP Photo/Eddie Adams

~~GALLERY~~ 

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These people were displaced as a direct consequence of the Vietnam war.

Ideologies, beliefs, convictions, policies, intervention in an unknown region were applied to this country.

“The invaders” lacked knowledge about the country that was invaded.

The role of the United States in the Vietnam War began after the Second World War and escalated into full commitment during what is termed the Vietnam War from 1959 to 1975.

This historical fact can be brought to our present times and applied to the massive exodus that is occurring in the Middle East as a consequence of the war in Syria.

The common factor: human beings fleeing areas of conflict, danger, oppression, violence and death.

Looking and hoping for a better future for their families.

It seems seems to me that history is repeating itself.

As humans, this race hasn’t learned any life lessons.

The powers that be continue to impose destruction,conflict and chaos in areas were they don’t belong.

Will we ever learn to live in peace?

Can we be compassionate with those that are leaving their homes behind?

I wonder.

HortyRex©

#AtTheEndOfTheDay #BoatPerson #VietnameseRefugees #LookBack #VietnamWar #FallOfSaigon #NorthVietnameseArmy #InternationalHumanitarianCrisis #PowersThatBe #HistoryRepeatsItself #LifeLessons #LessonsLearned #Conflict #Danger #Oppression #Violence #Death #SyrianCivilWar #RefugeeCrisis #Europe

#WeAlllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

~I Was A Boat Person: Vietnamese Refugees Look Back~

~Published on Oct 1, 2015~

Decades ago, Vietnamese refugees made boat journeys just as dangerous as those facing Syrians today.

This is their story.

We ALL are ONE!! 

Something to think about …. “Syrian Refugees: Go back to What?”!!

~~September 14, 2015~~ 

SYRIAN REFUGEES

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War, widely referred to as the Syrian refugees, are Syrian nationals, who have fled Syria with the escalation of the Syrian Civil War.

To escape the violence, more than four million Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, while thousands also ended up in more distant countries of the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf, North Africa and Europe. As of February 2015, Turkey has become the world’s biggest refugee hosting country with 2.1 million Syrian refugees and had spent more than US$6 billion on direct assistance to refugees.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War

~~GRAPHIC SOURCE~~ 

https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98?fref=ts

#SomethingToThinkAbout #SyrianRefugees #BackToWhat #WhatIsLeft #Destruction #Desolation #Despair #TheOther98 #SyrianCivilWar #Syriannationals #Turkey #Lebanon, #Jordan #Iraq #CrossingMediterraneanSea #MajorCrisis #HumanitarianCrisis #EconomicCrisis

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #HortyRex #hrexachwordpress

We ALL are ONE!!