Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Final Inch gets Oscar nomination

Through PolioPlus, Rotary has spearheaded the private sector initiative to eradicate polio worldwide. The Final Inch, which chronicles the efforts of polio immunization volunteers, was nominated for an Oscar. It will air on HBO on April 1.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Wrong Message

Two men were shot - one dead, the other critical - for no known reason at a Cleveland bar Sunday morning. Police told the Plain Dealer that the shootings were among the "most vicious, violent and ferocious crimes" they had ever investigated.

According to Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, "This sends the wrong message."

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Government arrogance

For a perfect example of government arrogance, how about the Chinese legislation that remains in effect even in the afterlife. Sad thing is, if our federal government enacted similar legislation - and don't put it passed them - half the population would consider it binding.

Here's an idea for the socialists: Acknowledge a divine power, then you can put a tax on creation.

China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation
By Matthew Philips
Newsweek

Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation." But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

At 72, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, is beginning to plan his succession, saying that he refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control. Assuming he's able to master the feat of controlling his rebirth, as Dalai Lamas supposedly have for the last 600 years, the situation is shaping up in which there could be two Dalai Lamas: one picked by the Chinese government, the other by Buddhist monks. "It will be a very hot issue," says Paul Harrison, a Buddhism scholar at Stanford. "The Dalai Lama has been the prime symbol of unity and national identity in Tibet, and so it's quite likely the battle for his incarnation will be a lot more important than the others."

So where in the world will the next Dalai Lama be born? Harrison and other Buddhism scholars agree that it will likely be from within the 130,000 Tibetan exiles spread throughout India, Europe and North America. With an estimated 8,000 Tibetans living in the United States, could the next Dalai Lama be American-born? "You'll have to ask him," says Harrison. If so, he'll likely be welcomed into a culture that has increasingly embraced reincarnation over the years. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, 20 percent of all U.S. adults believe in reincarnation. Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace it as their favored end-of-life view. A non-Tibetan Dalai Lama, experts say, is probably out of the question.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Updated Web

We've updated our main Web site at www.recycle.cc. We cleaned up the appearance a little, but also have switched off the Verio servers. Thanks to Rich Micko and Clipper Computer Consulting, Strongsville, Ohio, for implementing that switch. That should solve the periodic problems we and some of our customers have been having with slow uploads and downloads and email issues.

Shortly we're going to get to work on The Paper Stock Report, Recycled Paper News and Waste Reduction Tips sites.

Some of our Web pages are informational and free. Paper Recycling Online has free content, but is subscriber based for current news, scrap paper market prices and industry databases.

Let us know about any problems navigating our Web sites.