An Inclusive & Free America ? From Circles & Whispers to Measured Opinions..... ?




"Wealth is an offspring of Liberty and True Independence. Peace is a creation spawned by Freedom and Choice, it is a gift showered upon those that toil and strive away from the false tranquility of servitude." ~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan



                   
       It is easy to find out just why migrating to Europe never seems like such a bad idea to many. These are very interesting times indeed. A while ago, one would have never even entertained or considered such a thought. I understand why some people with vested interests and self inflicted dependencies get on their knees and bow down, and strive to serve, promote, mimic and emulate a communist China. By observation Marxism and Communism are still far away but a centrally controlled Socialist police state definitely seems to be in the works. And it looks like some very blessed people down south have had enough of watching this country change. Unfortunately all they need is to take themselves seriously. They seem resourceful enough to be serious about such a stance. Just as an observation I guess..perhaps, America has changed or begun the process of such an uncharacteristic step away from its defining values ..but it really does seem like some Americans haven't.


Measured opinions carry a lot of weight. One shouldn't have to retract them or apologize for having a voice. Opinions.....One can't help but study them.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/texas-judge-warns-possible-civil-war-president-obama-230545603.html


Judge Tom Head was on a local TV news show making his case for a tax increase, when he said hiring extra sheriff's deputies would especially be needed if Obama wins in November.

"He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N., and what is going to happen when that happens?," Head asked.
"I'm thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.
"Now what's going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He's going to send in U.N. troops. I don't want 'em in Lubbock County. OK. So I'm going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say 'you're not coming in here'.
"And the sheriff, I've already asked him, I said 'you gonna back me' he said, 'yeah, I'll back you'. Well, I don't want a bunch of rookies back there. I want trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me."


P.S ~ Just as a note it is important to understand that one person can never be solely responsible for works that require the efforts and minds of many. It is amazing how a Nation so Free could possibly relate to "Made with Communism" while cultivating needless dependencies that hurt its own people and their independence. 

Thoughts, Blessings & Best Regards,

Jai Krishna Ponnappan



Defend Wolves in Wyoming





                 The federal government—at any time—will abandon its protection of Wyoming wolves and allow them to be hunted relentlessly, according to published reports. Earthjustice is asking the Obama administration to prevent the slaughter, and will consider legal action if protections are removed.






                It is really sad, unfortunate and painful to see such a cruel, barbaric and inhumane act.. repeatedly threatening to happen in this day and age, right here across several places in America. This is shocking at a time when we are trying our best to teach children and young people about conservation, alternative green lifestyles and restoring ecological balance. If this is the way we treat a voiceless creature, what low standards of civility and sanity have we set for the rest of Humanity? We have learnt so little from the number of species that have been decimated by us in the past. This type of cruel and unfeeling attitude will come back and around to haunt those who are unwilling to evolve in their hearts and their heads. They ought to Respect, Love and Value Life if that is what they expect for themselves.....


      "Any decision to delist wolves must be based on science, not political whims. Until Wyoming has a management plan that will maintain a viable wolf population, Wyoming wolves should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act. Any plan that is not science-based will jeopardize wolf recovery in the entire Northern Rockies region.

     In fact, a dangerous loophole in Wyoming's proposal would make it legal to kill wolves in the state no matter how few remain.


     I support wolf restoration in the Northern Rockies. The federal government has spent 17 years and millions of dollars to return wolves to the West, but the Wyoming proposal combined with the delisting and hunting of wolves in Idaho and Montana threatens to undo the recovery that is under way. The US Fish and Wildlife Service originally opposed the Wyoming plan but then changed its mind; it was right the first time.

This devastating plan permits wolf hunting in important wildlife corridors and unregulated wolf killing throughout most of Wyoming.



Please help us keep this brutal proposal from ever seeing the light of day.
 Stand up for wolves today by opposing this deadly proposal.




           The federal government has spent 17 years and millions of dollars to restore wolves to the West. But Wyoming’s proposal now threatens the recovery that is under way—even including a dangerous loophole that would make it legal to kill wolves no matter how few remain.

         Wyoming’s wolves should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act until they have fully recovered and there are laws in place to ensure their survival. Tell the White House to stand up for wolf protections and oppose any plan that allows politics to decide the fate of an imperiled species."


Please Take Action & Help Stop The Slaughter Of Wyoming Wolves 



Thank You.

Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan


---X---



Update as of November 2012

DON'T LIKE WOLF HUNTS? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 
Stop The Extermination Of Wolves !


                 Wyoming has just 328 wolves, but it's now perfectly legal to shoot, trap and gas them throughout most of the state. More than 40 wolves have already been slaughtered, and the rest are essentially on death row.

         If this makes you upset, Wyoming needs to hear from you! We have an action set up for you to send a letter directly to Wyoming Governor Matt Mead. Tell him it's unacceptable that his state is allowing these animals to be slaughtered when we've spent so much time and effort rescuing them from the brink of extinction.

Here's the link to the action page: http://ow.ly/eWLPd It’ll take less than a minute. 

Please SHARE to get your friends to take action too – the remaining 200+ wolves are depending on you! 

https://secure.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1375&s_subsrc=121102_WYWolves




~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan 


You may also want to read more about Animal Rights and Activism here.


The Snow Lion is Rising ~ Tibet shall be Free!



This is a comment in response to,

http://www.dalailama.com/messages/middle-way-approach


"The Middle-Way Approach is proposed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet and to bring about stability and co-existence between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples based on equality and mutual co-operation. It is also a policy adopted democratically by the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people through a series of discussions held over a long time. This brief introduction to the Middle-Way policy and its history is intended for the Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet - and all those interested - to have a better understanding of the issues involved...

‎... The Tibetan people do not accept the present status of Tibet under the People's Republic of China. At the same time, they do not seek independence for Tibet, which is a historical fact. Treading a middle path in between these two lies the policy and means to achieve a genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet within the framework of the People's Republic of China. This is called the Middle-Way Approach..."




Please Help Put An End to the 
Systematic Genocide in Tibet

           Yes all of the above is very true, as it occurred and played out several decades ago. With time comes change as is stated here, "Unfortunately, the Chinese army unleashed a harsh military crackdown in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, and this convinced His Holiness the Dalai Lama that his hope for co-existence with the Chinese government was no longer possible. Under the circumstances, he had no other option but to seek refuge in India and work in exile for the freedom and happiness of all the Tibetan people." There is no Truth or promise in consistent deception, inhumane cruelty and betrayal. P.S ~ I understand that there is perhaps no means within such a path to gauge or read the minds, hearts, agendas and ambitions of the communist regime and its leadership, but when a nation has grown to an extent where such negotiations or consideration becomes trivial, irrelevant and obsolete, the cause of such an approach and its people fall far short of achieving Peace through non-violence, mutual benefit, unity of nationalities and social stability. During this time they have been systematically suppressed and eliminated. The people of Tibet know only too well that the reality today is the polar opposite of the Middle - Way Approach. It is admirable indeed and in many ways reminds us of Mahatma Gandhi. There is hope in that Lord Buddha has no spokesperson but Himself, and I pray may His blessings be with those who stay strong as they walk in His footsteps and persist with prayers and hopes for peace.








From The United Nations For a Free Tibet,
https://www.facebook.com/UNFFT/info


Fighting for Tibet with compassion against an ever increasingly violent China.

Every year, thousands flee Tibet. Those able to survive the dangerous journey over the Himalaya Mountains first make their way to Dharamsala, India, where their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, lives in exile. It is here, that the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile has been established.

Today, there are approximately 200,000 Tibetans living in exile worldwide (in 40 countries) while another 6,000,000 still struggle against oppression in their homeland; illegally occupied by China. Thousands have ‘disappeared’ and thousands more remain in prisons or forced labor camps.

The situation in Tibet is worsening as the Chinese Government continues to ravage Tibet by torturing, killing and denying Tibetans their basic human rights, as well as destroying the environment. Tibet’s culture, natural resources, wildlife and fragile ecosystem are facing extinction due to over 50 years of mismanagement and abuse under the People’s Republic of China.

Rich in the arts, Tibetan culture is one of the most ancient cultures on this planet. In our tumultuous world, much can be learned from the gentle and peaceful Tibetans; their Buddhist philosophy exemplifies, most importantly kindness and compassion.
Since it is vital that the world does not allow this unique and precious culture to perish, ALL NATIONS must STAND UNITED for a FREE TIBET…until the Tibetans have freedom in their own country, genuine autonomy, and a sincere chance to be heard to get their country back.


Without our Help, There will no Longer be a Tibet to Save.



We are: UNITED NATIONS FOR A FREE TIBET. Tibet shall be free!
***
General information: we are NOT like the SFT or RTYC, although we respect them 100% for the work they are doing and never shall use any words against them: in fact, many of us have financially supported them over the years.
We are a much more middle way and information group: we encourage everyone to learn about Tibet, to write letters, to sign petitions, to truly get involved, to boycott *made in China* and to support the Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. We support others and share their messages, their requests for demonstrations etc. We participate in many of those demonstrations and lobbying.
We are not a group which is climbing buildings and so forth: --we are more the ones doing work on the background..such as making sure Tibets message gets heard in front of the European Parliament.
Also, we have made sure that the petition hundreds of you signed the last few weeks, called *China: stop the genocide in Tibet and China* has been delivered to Pres Obama yesterday and to several Chinese Embassies as well.

Further, we are with 75 team members now in 38 countries who are building their own groups ..we are not so much in the USA at all, because the SFT and RTYC with thousands of Tibetans and supporters, are already around: we are on places no one is, like the United Arab Emirates.
We hope you understand our work and continue to support us...support us with your presence and help.

We are Volunteers, most of UNFFT's core team members are Buddhists and work with love and compassion in our hearts for Tibet.

Time is running out for the Dragon...the Snow Lion is rising.....♥

We must not be here in 10 years from now, not even in 5 years from now. Because by then, Tibet shall be free. And if not, we have failed* --

"The United Nations for a Free Tibet (UNFFT) was founded to raise awareness of gross human rights violations committed against Tibetans in their homeland by the Communist Chinese Regime (CCP) which has occupied Tibet for more than 60 years. UNFFT's mission is to educate the public and to advocate for an end to the oppression and atrocities brought by the brutal Chinese occupation. With over 50,000 members across the globe, we are a strong ally of Tibet. UNFFT is registered in the United States as a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and is run entirely by volunteers."




Wake Up World! Do Not Stay a Silent Witness.
Do Not turn Away from the Plight of the Defenseless and the Voiceless.
Please Help Put an End to the Killing





FLAME OF TRUTH --- Demanding Investigation into Human Rights Abuses in Tibet . 




Thoughts & Prayers for Freedom, Truth & Peace.

Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan


Peace is the Road to Peace


" Peace comes from being able to contribute to Peace. Peace is the way and the road that leads to Peace. Say NO to war, violence and bloodshed. Strive to pursue and stay committed to Peace from both within and without, and you'll find that an Eternity full of it eagerly awaits to greet You. " ~Jai Krishna Ponnappan


This is a comment in response to a post on congressman John Fleming's page,

https://www.facebook.com/RepJohnFleming


"Iran renews its vow to remove the "tumor" that is Israel. Will Obama be there to defend our most cherished middle-east ally?

http://news.yahoo.com/tumour-israel-soon-destroyed-ahmadinejad-091548418.html "


Response:
P.S ~ Both Iranian and Israeli people want Peace with each other! Do not confuse the govt. with the people! People matter.. and Hearts matter most. Peace is what they want and Peace is what they'll get. 



Ref. http://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran

U.S. Representative John Fleming : Jai, the people are not in control of the Iranian army or the development of nukes. Therein lies the problem.

Jai Krishna Ponnappan: Thank You for your reply, John. Looking back at the recent past there are strong and justified reasons why U.S intervention was restricted to being strictly diplomatic, steadily increasing pressure through sanctions and all other possible measures that involve dealing with countries engaged bilaterally with Iran. All other governments concerned are representative and are not authorized or warranted to destabilize the current fiscal or geo-political climate both in and out of the region. Both people and governments would have to be prepared to deal, counter and pay for the inevitable consequences of such interventions and commitments. Strategic, defense and intelligence analysts are already aware of where the West as a whole measures up with regards to the proxy war being lost in Syria. It is never too hard or difficult to simulate or assess the approximate costs or our capacity to deal with a situation or carry out an intervention especially when peace, tactfulness and diplomacy are what our leaders are expected to exhibit and exercise prior to spending from our existing dysfunctional budget and sending our men and women back out into the region to make needless sacrifices that could and should be avoided. The cost of War both Human and otherwise is burdensome and a threat to the long process of restoring this Nation's economic balance and Fiscal integrity. Above all let us not forget that this involves this country, its people, their voices and their immediate and pressing concerns.

Read more about our Fiscal Cliff here,
http://commentarybyjaikrishnaponnappan.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-steep-is-that-fiscal-cliff.html

Ref. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=417158588330735&set=a.346965922016669.75663.339035046143090&type=1&ref=nf


WAR IS NOT AN OPTION




Wishing You All 
Blessings of Peace, Love and Brotherhood.

Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan

How Steep is that Fiscal Cliff ?


This is a comment in response to a post on CNBC's page,
https://www.facebook.com/cnbc


" CNBC's Maria Bartiromo on the 'fiscal cliff': "Leave it to Washington to make the worst decision time and again. And we all pay the price."

Read her full commentary on the fiscal cliff & what Washington is doing to fix it: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48701543

Are you worried about the potential layoffs and economic impact that could come as a result of the 'fiscal cliff' at the end of the year? "


Are you worried ? 
Yes, unfortunately, this isn't a joke that ends with a trivial one word answer or an election result for that matter. 





                  Given the scale of this one can't help but wonder.. Is there anybody out there that really cares about America? Silence is a sad way to answer such a reality. It is high time this nation and its people learn and prepare to brace and cope with the effects and consequences of going down that steep cliff. To put it mildly, it is pathetic to even hear or read of this or the empty arguments, the lack of political will or urgency and the senseless indecision that defies all logic. This did not happen overnight, and no one has the clear means or basis to outline the scope, the effects and the impact it is going to have on the economy. Americans should thank their leaders for leading them down this path and should take personal responsibility for what they have to live with and what is in store in the coming future. Putting the budget on a sustainable path will require significant changes in spending policies, tax policies, or both and given the way things are this is not something that will materialize that easily. Looks like someone will have to magically enforce this action. 


       FYI: The cliff is a series of major policy changes that will happen automatically at the end of this year if Congress does nothing. The big players on the tax side are the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax cut. On the spending side, the automatic cuts included in last summer’s debt ceiling deal will take effect. But there’s a lot more, as you can see in this table from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:



        The combined effect will be a huge fiscal contraction, one which, according to conventional economic theory, could pose a real threat to the economic recovery. Here’s how the major provision break down by category, courtesy of the CBO:






         The biggest provision is the Bush tax cuts, followed by the payroll tax cut and the cost of indexing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) eligibility cutoff to inflation.

           The payroll tax break expires this December, and the Bush tax cuts expire Jan. 1, meaning that new, higher rates will take effect the following year. Since payroll taxes are deducted from wages every week, the effect there will be immediate, whereas the income tax rate increases only affect income starting in 2013. If employers adjust withholding, the effects could come sooner, but if there are logistical hurdles to that, the economic dent could be delayed.
The sequestration cuts will take effect starting in January too, meaning their impact, like the payroll tax cut’s expiration, will be more immediate. The cuts are evenly split, with $27 billion each in 2013 for defense and non-defense spending, plus $12 billion in cuts to Medicare.


Crunching Numbers & Running the Equivalent of a 
Simulated Economic Crash Test

      If Congress does nothing, the U.S. will almost certainly go into recession early next year, as the combo of spending cuts and tax hikes will wipe out nearly 4 percentage points of economic growth in the first half of 2013. Since most estimates project the economy will grow only about 3 percent next year, that puts the U.S. solidly in the red.

         The CBO estimates that the total effect of these provisions is a 3.9 percent reduction in the growth rate of GDP next year — enough to make the year’s total growth rate negative, plunging the country back into recession. What’s more, the mere anticipation of this change will reduce GDP growth by 0.5 percent this year. This change is not evenly distributed between the cliff’s components, as this chart from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows:



           Eliminating or reducing the fiscal restraint to be scheduled to occur next year without imposing comparable restraint in future years would have substantial economic costs over the longer run. However allowing the full measure of fiscal restraint now embodied in current law to take effect next year would have substantial economic costs in the short run.


What might policymakers do under these circumstances? 

                        One possibility is to leave current law in place, accepting the short-run economic costs of sharp fiscal restraint in order to put the federal budget on a sustainable longer run trajectory. Another possibility is to extend all current policies for a prolonged period, accepting the longer-run costs and risks of surging federal debt for some time. 

          An intermediate possibility is to extend some but not all current policies indefinitely (perhaps with some offsetting changes in other policies) or to extend or enact certain policies for a limited period. In particular, if policymakers wanted to minimize the short-run costs of narrowing the deficit very quickly while also minimizing the longer-run costs of allowing large deficits to persist, they could enact a combination of policies: changes in taxes and spending that would widen the deficit in 2013 relative to what would occur under current law but that would reduce deficits later in the decade relative to what would occur if current policies were extended for a prolonged period. 

Such a combination of policies would use fiscal policy to support demand for goods and services in the short run, while the unemployment rate is high and many factories and offices are underused, but would impose fiscal restraint to bolster the economy’s production over the longer run, when output and employment will probably be close to their potential. That approach to fiscal policy would work best if the future policy changes were sufficiently specific and widely supported so that households, businesses, state and local governments, and participants in the financial markets believed that the future fiscal restraint would truly take effect. If such policy changes were enacted soon, they would tend to boost output and employment in the next few years by holding down interest rates and by reducing uncertainty and enhancing business and consumer confidence. 

              Enacting policy changes soon would allow for implementing them gradually while still limiting further increases in federal debt and the corresponding negative consequences. Although there are trade-offs in choosing when policy changes to reduce future deficits should take effect, there are important benefits and few apparent costs from deciding quickly what those changes will be.


P.S ~ A surf-style song, by country artist Merle Hazard, about U.S. fiscal dysfunction.




Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan

Investing in Social Media ~ A very Special Cup of Tea




BREAKING: Facebook stock falls to a new intraday low of $19.76 on the day company insiders can sell up to 271 million shares. ~ CNNMoney
https://www.facebook.com/cnnmoney


                  Just goes to show you by measure exactly how naive and hopelessly uneducated some people are about the potential of things such as Social Media, monetization and the evolving commercial reach of the Internet in general. Every year their pockets keep getting deeper and bigger, that is the only thing they are gardening and investing in. Greed is predictable and idiotic, a flash in the pan the rest of the sane and stable world can live with out.   
P.S -> Do you guys remember this from not so long ago ?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/12/19/300-million-investment-from-saudi-prince-boosts-twitter/

       For curiosity's sake have you ever wondered what was the weighty thought process that defined such moves. Do you care if and when many more of the likes of these are to be initiated to oversee the impact of Social Media.


True Worth is Relative when it's Real



P.S ~ Around here some people live and think like it, but Unfortunately Growth and Greed are not the same word. Growth is kind of like your kid's GPA, something that clearly is not a conclusive definition of him/her, it is a very persuasive and compelling label, a measurable thing used as a psychological trigger to evoke or manipulate market sentiments and an instrument to make that pitch and appeal more effective where ever and however it may be legally permissible and possible. It is understandable that brushing aside the use of well researched parameters and variables and overly emphasizing and attributing importance to certain indicative figures is nothing but a carefully cultured and baseless habit and is never anything more than a kind of a dismal science dictated by a flood of pre-programmed and predictable responses.  




Appending another note/comment in response to,

"Facebook's 6.3% drop yesterday makes it the second-worst post-lock-up IPO performance since January 2011 | http://bloom.bg/RmVJ8k "


Ref.
http://tinyurl.com/9kmhvx6
as seen on  https://www.facebook.com/bloombergnews 


           Social Media is still well and truly in its infancy. Investors and people in general do not have a good understanding or grasp of its current global impact and its potential for future monetization and growth. Sustain this trend for a few more years and if there is a steady growth in the online user community you are guaranteed a global revolution in many areas including newer models for representative governance, media and commerce. 

           Social media opens up both conversation and creativity. Even from the initial excitement about the stock till this day it is a Mirror capturing not only your sentiments but also gauging your levels of awareness of its value. http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/18/study-twitter-sentiment-mirrored-facebooks-stock-price-today/

P.S ~ Creating and predicting the eventual start of the next long term bull market is real for anything that is fit enough to be deemed a technological breakthrough and a game changer.



A very insightful and well written take on the subject:


The Story of Twitter & the Saudi Prince

           The social media universe has been aghast this week after the revelation that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has invested $300 million in Twitter. The shock and awe seems to center around the notion that Twitter has been at least partly responsible for the Arab Spring uprisings that directly threaten the Saudi royal family's grip on power. On the surface, anyway, this seems like a contradiction.

Why would the king's nephew be investing in the medium of his family's enemy? Will he attempt to influence the development of the network or try to make it more susceptible to censorship in a regime-threatening emergency? And what of Twitter?

Will the participation of a major investor widely considered to be the beneficiary of one of the world's most exploitative dynasties tarnish the company's otherwise net-friendly brand image? Why would Twitter accept such an investor, and why would he court them in the first place?
The answer, most simply, is for the money.


Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is no doubt aware of Twitter and Facebook's tremendous influence in his own and neighboring countries, and may even be personally concerned about what a revolution might do to his own and his family's sovereign rule. But why should that stop him from positioning himself to become the wealthiest deposed royal he can be? It's a win-win.
For its part, Twitter, which isn't even a public company, is not actually selling shares to a Saudi Arabian prince. It's Twitter's early investors who are selling $300 million of their own shares to the Prince's investing group, "Kingdom Holding Company." Of course, Twitter benefited by selling those shares initially, and now benefits indirectly as the resale of these shares puts the company's total valuation up to $8.4 billion.

The dismay and disillusionment associated with this transaction seems overblown to me, or at least misplaced. In short, we are looking at the wrong medium. We are not witnessing Twitter operate against its central, democratizing premise. We are witnessing money operate in perfect accordance with its own, highly abstracting premise. Money, by its very nature, launders.

This is exactly what money and the corporation were invented 700 years ago to do: provide kings and other members of the aristocracy with a way to invest at arm's length in projects they may or may not want to be associated with. The corporation gives people a way to invest passively in companies whose operations they might not want to know about, much less be known for.
Likewise, generic, central currencies give people who have done Lord-knows-what the very same access to markets as those who have earned their money through sweat or innovation. Once it's money, it is as clean as anyone else's money.
Similarly, once you sell your business to shareholders, they can do what they like with the shares. That's what is meant by shareholding. In the simplest language possible, when you sell your business, you have sold your business. (Maybe that's why so many top people have been leaving Twitter lately. Their shares have vested and they are less restricted about what they can do with them once they quit.)

This is the beauty and horror of investment capital.

Just as a Saudi prince can invest in our revolution-inspiring Internet darlings, each of us is free to invest our own retirement savings in the likes of cigarette and liquor companies, weapons manufacturers, polluters, outsourcers and sweatshop exploiters. We can put our kids through college by investing in the very oil companies through which the Saudi royals made their money in the first place. Then, hopefully, our kids can go on to become peace workers, revolutionaries or even Twitter employees. Or not.


If we're truly concerned about the long arm of international investing, we might best reconsider how we invest ourselves. Instead of relying on the anonymity of outsourced investing to the stock market, why not look around for who or what needs money in our towns and communities?

The Obama administration is already in the process of curtailing the regulations that prevent nonmillionaire investors from putting money into one anothers' businesses. This means we can begin to depend on local money to start-up our own ventures, and on local ventures to build our own savings.






Revolutions that Begin in the Heart



            A comment in response to this post on,
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Forget-How-America-Got-Screwed-Up

You'll find the post at,
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=514324078581031&id=102702636451536






So here's A Warm Welcome to the Real World,

Ref. http://tinyurl.com/9rk3r3g

DIDN'T SEE YOU IN THE CROWDS..... 
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt


P.S ~ Revolutions revolve around real people and not around political puppets and those who exercise instability and uncertainty at the expense of the Nation's future. There are plenty of rich intelligent people who don't waste their precious time and energy to speak of politics and who will most certainly be boycotting the elections like they have always done because regardless of who you vote for, you will be voting for ??? You know who.. just as much as they do.


               >> If you truly care about people, be there.. when and where they and your immediate community needs you the most. If you love your version of politics, your opinions and your vanity about the same, try and change.. get practical and make attempts at questioning yourselves and being more realistic. Stop blindly believing in what you are told and get on with life. Focus on Changing your day..that is the only real revolution which is within every man's reach, everything else is an entertaining and sensational distraction designed for the willing sheep.


"The only people who deserve to be called ignorant are those that ignore others and their plight." 



~ Blessings & Best Regards,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan



What is Love? Baby Don't Hurt me.. No More...



This is a response to a message posted on one of my favorite pages and sites,
https://www.facebook.com/moveon


Here's the original message,


"And if you love this Hollywood liberal, you're gonna love this piece, too: http://j.mp/PHE3gd"


The link to it on fb, http://tinyurl.com/8jf6s7u


And the image/message that went with it,






Now this here response is for your serious, respectful and kind consideration


                There is a tradition in India with regards to the subject of marriage. Usually among Hindus they check to see if the horoscopes of the bride and the groom match and if they are compatible or not. Sometimes there are flaws or malefic signs such as a "Manglik Dosh" where in the planet Mars is badly positioned within the natal chart often portending the death or affliction of the other partner. So as a cure for this they have the person ceremonially marry a tree and then they ritually offer the tree as a sacrifice to avoid and do away with the ill that would have afflicted the other partner. Trees are quiet beautiful, some may really Love them, some have genders.. male and female like a banana tree or a peepal tree. May be it's possible to imagine the tree as a beautiful Woman filled with Life and Love. So would it be ok to fall in Love with a tree? Would it be alright to get married to a tree? Could you kindly legalize it if you think so. Such remedial rituals are ancient, purposeful and meaningful. It may seem really strange.... :)) Would it be ok if someone is capable of imagining and falling madly in Love with an inanimate object such as a stone and then get married to it. Again, It might seem a bit different, bizarre and strange but it is still Love, it is a question of companionship and marital bliss for the concerned person. Can we have a new law that permits these unions..... Again from the image and the quote above -> What You fall in Love with is entirely up to You. Does it make any difference to anyone else who is reading this ?



FYI: 

"If a Hindu bride has Manglik dosh (chevvai Dosham), the bride groom also should have it. Then the effect of one is cancelled by the other. This is a major problem in finding a suitable bride or bride groom. Several marriages are delayed because of this.

In Hindu tradition, if the broom doesn’t have the manglik dosh, in order to neutralize the influence of evil manglik dosh of the bride, she should marry a Sacred fig tree (Peepal / peepul / pippala / Arasa maram / Arayal) or a plantain tree (banana tree / vazhai maram / vaalai maram / waalai maram) before the broom ties the Mangal sutra. This is a cleansing ceremony. Alternatively, the bride marries a clay urn and breaks it soon after the nuptial ceremonies. This signifies that the bride has become a widow, and the manglik dosh (chevvai Dosham) problem has been solved."

ref.
http://hindumarriages.blogspot.com/2010/01/manglik-dosh-bride-to-marry-sacred-fig.html


Here's a real life example from Bollywood,

"Aishwarya Rai, who has been in the news lately because of her engagement to Abhishek Bachchan, has apparently been ritually married to not one but two trees before her real marriage (thanks, Antahkarana). The aim is to counter the astrological effects of being born a Manglik: ...."

ref. 

http://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2007/02/aishwarya-marries-trees-setback-for.html 

P.S ~ Hey, You know What... I happened to have a bit of that Manglik thing in my horoscope. I need to find me a tree for marriage... for the cleansing ceremony and stuff. I am an open and honest man, I always aim Straight and I promise to Love and thank Her(my tree) for being their for me as a sacrificial blessing. I know this is way too much to ask but for the sake of the Tree and my  Love for it can we consider legalizing this brief union ;) 


I know....Yes it's true.. apart from the 16 trillion dollar debt apparently this really IS anY extremely grave issue during election 2012 and we need to focus and work hard on it. 


Love is important. Human rights are important. Respect is important. Perhaps more than anything else..... with or with out an ounce of thought or feeling for this great country and for those who are helpless and obsolete before this growing, enslaving and staggering debt. And yes off course my tree is important to me and my bride to be. But for the sake of my own conscience I'll keep her (my tree and all the popularly practiced rituals of India) a personal secret for now :) It doesn't make a difference..does it ?


With Tons of Love to Absolutely All the minorities and All You people and Trees out there. I Wish You All without any discrimination what so ever the very best of Blessings :)


Sincerely,

Jai Krishna Ponnappan


Love & Have a lil Fun While You're at it ;)

Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty & Freedom


Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty & Freedom

This is a response to a post by www.independentvotersofamerica.org published here,
https://www.facebook.com/IndependentVotersofAmerica



"Unsubstantiated political attacks. Whether they come from the left or the right, they drive news headlines and media coverage away from the issues that really matter. Frank Bruni had a great take on this in yesterday's The New York Times:

"DO one tribe’s antics justify the other’s? Is this a road we really want to continue barreling down? We’re already on it, thanks in part to a presidential contest in which each candidate’s main pitch — I’m not half as awful as the other guy — points everything in a negative direction.




The new shape of the news-media universe doesn’t help. Balkanized into micro-niches where partisans can have their passions stoked and prejudices reinforced, it gives reckless allegations many places to land and even stick before they get a sober look. Those allegations are intended and tailored to rally the troops, who are believed to care more about truculence than truthfulness. The ends justify the Reid."



As written here, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/bruni-truculence-before-truth.html "FOR the dwindling few out there who still believe that big accusations require a little foundation and that truth — as opposed to conjecture — matters, here’s an update: "....



"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." ~ Patrick Henry


                       >>Unfortunately the NY times is no different. Try through any channel or proxy to confront them on their not so widely known media strategies and bias, and they'll ask you to go take a hike,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/kristof-blissfully-lost-in-the-woods.html ( If you care to focus on the root of things that matter the most or about the unbiased Truth this is what you'll get from the likes of them -> "A little advice for the overburdened and over connected. Go Take a hike." )


“May the Spirit of Truth & Freedom live on. May the alert and the watchful divinities guard thee, may he that sleeps not and nods not guard thee, may he that protects and is vigilant guard thee” ~ Atharva Veda



 P.S ~ They are all.. mostly sold out, well fed and corporate controlled by groups and financial entities, becoming mere instruments of manipulation and propaganda. I pity and feel sorry for the people who take them seriously and spend their lives, their precious time and energy getting distracted by what is put out there. When it comes to certain key issues there is very little in terms of news, Truth or journalistic ethics here. One may safely treat them as a source of entertainment and senseless intellectual junk. 

              I personally feel that given such a circumstance and trend a wise man follows the news in America only to mostly keep track of the tactics, agendas, strategies and games being played. Always try to do your own independent thinking and research, get to the source of all things and make it a habit to take a dig and question the absolute authenticity of anything you come across. The great advantage we have today is that unlike ever before social media presents unbreakable social circles and trusted networks for individuals... these and the chain reactions they generate seem to be posing a serious challenge. Social media, personal circles and word of mouth enables people to over ride and cut through all of the gibber and bs* faster than ever before.


In your pursuit of the Truth stay vigilant, raise your guard and learn the Art of letting the works of all things trivial and corrupt go through one ear and out the other.

Sincerely,


~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan

“Justice does not help those who slumber but helps only those who are vigilant.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi 

Fix the Nation's Health





                     I came across this picture that's been circulating on social media. I understand how critical and sensitive this topic is. The line that stands out the most is, "If they were their own country"... sadly we've heard this time and again, the voices only seem to be getting louder, clearer and more demanding in places. 


                             
               This could be considered as a great summation of how leadership can either unite or divide a nation on key issues. In an ideal world we would have imagined that the value of Life would be considered to be beyond comparison. And that people would naturally be compelled to collaborate and work together on a solution. 


In an ideal world what would be your attitude towards your fellow being and the very fragility of our Lives? The need for healthcare reform in this country is beyond doubt or debate. 


Quiet simply put, lives are at stake. Given the amount of resources and time that's been committed one would have definitely hoped that the means to achieving reform  would have been more amicable or at least some where along the middle ground. Insurance is definitely a great answer but is there no other road to reform ?  It is perfectly understandable why infringing upon the rights of an individual guaranteed under the constitution, and being bold enough to do it on multiple occasions is something that a lot of Americans would simply find unacceptable. 


Again, lives are at stake, being thoughtful is the least that can be asked. We can hope.. and we can pray, but there are people out there who are clearly responsible, answerable and expected to act. So, Is this the only answer to reform ? For the sake of those who are fighting to stay alive and  for those that are in their own rights unwilling to be insured could we decide to be more determined to work harder in tackling this absurd stalemate. We really need to make progress and move forward in achieving reform that's way beyond due.  The issue needs to be addressed effectively and with a sense of moral obligation and urgency. One can only hope that our leaders don't dodge or dismiss it. Sometimes we all have no choice but to accept the weight of the collective guilt and the pain that we live in a country where cars are safer and treated better than lives. We are still in desperate need of an answer that works..... Please put Lives first.


P.S ~ Being Humane should come naturally to us. Being Humane is the price you must pay in exchange for this gift called life. And No one is less worthy of it.


Blessings & Best Wishes,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan

Love Guides Humanity, and the Forsaken do not Know of Love



This is a comment to a post on my fb timeline,
https://www.facebook.com/Jai.Krishna.Ponnappan




"Espero que te guste el chiste!
Spanish for ~ I hope you like the joke

Advisory: Warning sexually explicit content on this link,
http://mejorhumor.com/hahah.1295.xD  "


( It's some stuff about Life, camels, nuns, priests, deserts and coitus)

To be very honest and frank, here's how I really feel,

                  Hey Rosa, Reminds me of the hundreds of occasions I've been flashed by girls in public, some of my friends say I'm horribly lucky, I think there is something horribly imbalanced and dysfunctional between the sexes here. "Welcome to LIFE", I guess..... ;)


A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love. ~ Max Muller
                
Just a little trivia and a not so sexual joke from my end,

For Your Kind Information: Probably you might have noticed my name is "Jai Krishna". In India they have always for millenniums had this complex system of ideas revolving around class, selective breeding, genetics and caste. Among the Warriors and Royal sects within Indian society, they have a very old hymn or ancient tenet that goes something like this-> " A distracted man is a dead man", followed by " When you engage in this battle called Life you do so fiercely and devotedly with all your Heart and all your Soul regardless of whether your limbs fail or they get slayed apart, you carry on fighting the good fight as long as your head is in its place.”  

               The union of a man and a woman, both physical and spiritual is brought to life and revered as something powerfully sacred. Some of the marriage rituals and ceremonies are just as complex, unnervingly real and spiritually engaging. These type of men and women share in a very strong bond that is emotional, spiritual and at the same time full of prescribed worldly duties, commitments, good faith and vows such as fidelity.


             
                     Let me give you two examples: Consider a man, regardless of what ever stage or circumstances he may be in within his life, if he can't control his senses, his mind, his thoughts, his actions, his behavior, he will eventually find himself in a personal struggle to harness, cope with or even try and discipline his character. Then given this circumstance such a person may lust after things in life, like the numerous men you perhaps see on a daily basis who gawk at a Woman's body. Can you imagine how easy it is to control and manipulate and enslave such a lustful person filled with such desires. You can smell desire with a pure heart from thousands of miles away especially when it is the lustful urge for things such as money, power and pleasure. On a spiritual level it is a very dehumanizing and disempowering thing that brings a man down to the level of the very base within nature and makes him more or less comparable to a brute, a beast or any other animal. Lust distracts, then it disarms a Soul and then it binds and consumes it. What difference does it make whether a chain is made of gold or iron? It simply ties one down and enslaves.
            
                      Another example is that of a King who hires weak minded and senseless soldiers. So when the enemies in the form of sensual objects, passions and pleasures attacks the body in the form of the palace they can distract the weakened and unguarded senses in the form of the lustful soldiers and enter, infiltrate and take out the Soul, that is the King. 


A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. 
~Thomas Carlyle


On a personal note I have rarely seen men in my caste and community or myself get remotely carried away or distracted or even perceive or look at women this way. The test is often a hopeless and miserable failure for cupid and his arrows; he has no choice but to give up even if it is in the dead pan heat of a desert. The idea is to find your partner or Soul mate, evolve in a reasonable, intelligent, purifying, fruitful and meaningful relationship and grow and cement that trust through vows of fidelity, sacred union and marriage. This is what I understand by Mankind, He or She who is capable and blessed with the ability to create and control His/Her destiny. I also understand the lesser-Kind of men and women, who are distracted, controlled and regulated by circumstances and the seasons and in turn at times are more or less dominated, harnessed and helped or herded by those who are a step closer to their higher Human Natures.


P.S ~ Unfortunately things such as bestiality and other unnatural, oppressive and exploitative sexual acts such as pedophilia and incest are not fictional subjects that belong just to jokes and pornography, it is very real, disgraceful, disturbing, violating and damaging to its victims and the rest of us who live in its presence.
It is strange how the only little skeletal forms of regulative principles, civility and humanity that remain here in the West are being attacked and eroded exposing children and the rest of the young and maturing to mindlessness and vicious circumstances and ideologies that promote their degradation and increase the likelihood of their abuse and victimization in one form or the other.  Good Luck, I pity the poor Souls, their lack of a Humane rather than a superficially Human family. May they find some hope in their dreams and some respite from this present desert in their sleep.

And Always Remember, those hymns those ancient Warriors carried close to their hearts during the heat of the battle,

 >> "A Distracted Man is a Dead Man....." << 


I have only ever shared this with male friends who I've felt have the promise and potential to better themselves. Otherwise people here mostly rely on what their collective taxes and law enforcement can afford them to call upon the services of real men who put their lives in the line for them. It is sad how the Role of Men, Character building, Social responsibilities and Self Improvement have become trivial options with such pervading immorality and this baffling attitude.

Blessings & Best Regards.
Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan




If it Makes Perfect Sense, No One Can Redefine Meaning


This is a comment in response to the below letter I read today,

" Jaikrishna,
Last August, I stood in a living room in Andover and talked about why our country faced a massive deficit and what it would take to move us forward as a nation.


I'm proud of what I said. I meant every single word of it. I said, "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own." I praised the people who did get rich. I said, "You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea, God Bless!" But I asked those who make it big to invest in the next generation of kids so they will have a chance too.





Nearly one million people have watched the video from that house party. If you haven't seen the full clip, you can watch it here. And If you've seen it, you can watch it again -- and share it with your friends. Let's show Scott Brown and Mitt Romney that we won't back down:

http://www.elizabethwarren.com/nobodyinthiscountry


We don't know who is going to have the next big idea in America.


But we're pretty sure they're going to need employees who can read and write. They're going to need power to keep the lights on and clean water and functioning sewers to keep going. They're going to need roads and bridges to move their goods to market or bring customers to their store. And they're going to need police officers and firefighters to keep their businesses safe.


That's what makes America great. We make the investments together -- to put the conditions in place so that businesses can flourish and create more opportunities for all of us. And it keeps going forward. When we make it, all of us have an obligation to invest in creating the conditions so the next kid can get ahead, and the kid after that, and the kid after that.


I believe in small businesses. My brother started a small business. My daughter started a small business. My aunt started a small business--and that's where I worked when I was a teenager. I've seen up close and personal how hard small business owners work and how much they risk to make their businesses succeed.


Right now, Washington's rigged for the big corporations who can afford armies of lobbyists and lawyers -- not America's small businesses. If Republicans like Scott Brown and Mitt Romney have their way, the system is going to stay rigged for the big guys.


The Republicans have their vision for the future. It says, "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own."


That's not the American Dream. That's not how we build a future for ourselves and our children. We build a future together.


Thank you for being a part of this,


Elizabeth"


------------------------X------------------------


P.S ~ I am very positive and sure that your supporters will always stay committed to you.

Heaven is blessed with perfect rest but the blessing of earth is toil. 
~ Henry van Dyke 


       Sometimes we fail to accept the fact that regardless of the times common sense always prevails. There is absolutely no substitute for hard work. One needs to stay determined and make the effort without being too obsessed, distracted by or worried about the outcome.  It is a matter of being loyal and strongly committed to lasting and worthy values. 


       Perhaps at some point in your lives I am sure that many of you know what it feels like to work at minimum wage or something in range of it. Now I want you to imagine that you live a different life, you work a lot less and get paid a lot more. Lets say you are one of those fancy upper management professionals at some of those banks that are potentially preparing or are poised to fail some time in the foreseeable future. It's important to understand that within an organization like that people often resort to several tactics when it comes to management, a lot of them involve plenty of bad karma. The work may be largely monotonous, far from creative and excessively well paid. Again there are brilliant and admirable managers who are exceptional role models and then there are others who are determined to climb as high as they can and make as much as is possible giving up as little effort in exchange for it. There are plenty of examples for such organizations that may portray a facade but in actuality only serve as great case studies for any one who is curious or interested to learn about the avoidable. Eventually with age or retirement they get decommissioned but that Master-Servant-Slave Driver mentality, lack of creativity and the lust and greed for amassing the easy way by pushing the rest of us as hard as possible is very hard to let go off. They group up, they take their capital and their tactics and they hunt for opportunities to manipulate and extract more capital. For them life isn't about investing in values, places or people it's about being and living inside those perpetual gambling casinos that are locked inside their heads. Again not every one is like this there are plenty of very good exceptions but this country would have definitely been very different without them. 


           This election, the campaign funds seem to be pouring in like magical invisible rain from nowhere. These people that I just referred to above and the rest of their kind from around the world care very little about taking political sides for genuine reasons, a vast majority of them are strictly neutral and in search of their next   political puppet. A lot of people actively wish well and sincerely support progressives. In the face of a daunting opposition It can be understandably hard sometimes  to stay non aligned. But It's always good to know that one is sincere about keeping their words. 


               As for fiscal health, this is the n' th hour and yes one would have to go to any length, work with all sorts of people and use every trick there is to commit to extracting ourselves from the pit. Parallely it isn't money alone but rather access to quality Education, Healthcare and opportunities that truly have what it takes to make the American Dream a reality for so many. There are many feasible paths to this but the biggest obstacle being endless debates and bickering and no action. 


             For example if one were concerned about monitoring and raising children within one's family and in this country, look at all of the unpleasant things around.. that you don't want polluting your child's mind. Think about how much money and time is being spent annually towards something that is causing a moral decay and an absolute and unfortunate disintegration of values and heritage. Could you imagine what a big difference it would make to so many if you could encourage, support and inspire in a way that would ensure that that money be spent on something more constructive and meaningful in lines with the things mentioned above. 


 Where there is no real Will there will be an equally obvious lack of outcome.
But Where there is a Will there is always a Way.


Sincerely,
Jai Krishna Ponnappan