June 22, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Education Should Not Exclude Ethics

Meditating on ethics can bring peace to the world.

The recipe is to add positive energy to the negativity you find.

In Australia, there is a quiet revolution taking place in education. Quiet because I suspect that the government doesn’t want to have to explain its position on the fact that they are limiting information and the ability of free thinking. I am talking about the governments, I said ethics classes. So immoral and degenerate that they have raised the hackles of government officials. Australian newspapers are reporting on the sad state of affairs.
Ethics and free thinking seem to be something the government does not want its people to be doing. Yet this is, I believe, the basis of the corruption, hatred and spite in our world.

The government is informing parents of religious classes and only when parents decline having their child participate in religious education are they informed of the availability of ethics classes. In 2010, the right of school districts to offer ethics as well as religious class was made into law. I really don’t see why this is an issue which needed the government to pass a law.

In our world, morals and ethics have become something to be circumvented in many situations in life. Big business, Wall Street and officials of almost every country are demonstrating their aversion to ethical behavior. During my career, I have seen a lack of ethics even in the non-profit world. I also believe that we need to teach ethics to the young. They need an ethical compass because humans beings have demonstrated over and over how unethical we can be. How much devastation and pain we are capable of inflicting upon each other demonstrates our ability to act without scruples or ethics. I think we could add ethics classes in elementary schools. Children need to know how to make the right and ethical decision and parents have been shirking ethical training in many cases. To know how to decide how to make an ethical choice is an important part of growing up. There is a difference between doing what you have been told is the thing to do and making ethical decisions. I hope this trend in Australia does not spread to other countries in the world.

” Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness which links us with all humanity.”
——-Nancy Astor

Blue Ridge Mountain sunset. Photo and copyright by Barbara Mattio 2013

May 16, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Why I Care About Slavery

Here in Cleveland, three women who have been missing for 10 years and presumed dead have been found alive. A man kidnapped them a decade ago and has held them prisoner for all of these years. Shackled, tortured, raped, impregnated and forced to assist the man to give abortions to the unlucky one who was pregnant. They were all pregnant more than once. One young woman has a daughter that he did not abort and who now six years old. What were that little girl’s first six years of life like? We won’t know, however she will have to live with the nightmares for the rest of her life. The three young women, now in their 20’s, have to restart their lives. iPads, Facebook, MySpace, texting and a million other common place activities which we all use in 2013 must be learned. Relationships with families must be renewed. Trust in the people around them must be attempted. I think this will be a huge issue. This is what has pushed me into studying about trafficking and slavery.

We can’t just look away because it is unpleasant. We have to see it, grasp the meaning of this evil and balance it with beauty so we can face the fact that we might know some who is currently or had once been part of the culture of slavery.

We can save lives by looking around us and questioning what is happening.

Things that pull people into slavery are varied. Globally women are second class citizens. Many girls and women are not able to receive the education that is needed to obtain a good paying job. We all realize that flipping burgers at McDonald’s is just not a job that will enable people to have a living wage.

Globally, men, boys, girls,and women who exist in slavery are from all socioeconomic backgrounds. They come from every race, country and religion. They are all lost to us and to the world unless we can stop the buying and selling of human beings in this world.

Besides kids being sold as soldiers, they are also sold into the sex trade. The demand makes a huge supply necessary. Sweatshops around the world use women and children to increase the profit margin on the clothes they make. Cheap labor is needed around the world in agricultural regions. The thing about some of these areas is that paying a living wage increases the price people pay in the markets.

How to stop traffeting

Don’t look away, care, and help

Global unrest and abject poverty lead to refugees who have to leave their homes and possessions. They have no roof or food or medication. They do have desperation and hopelessness. People are often deceived about what they will have if they leave and go to another country. They are often offered education and jobs which never happen. You can help. If someone complains about Force, Fraud, or Coersion, call 911. If a person is 18 or younger, they need only ask for assistance under the Trafficking Victims Protection laws because they are completely protected by law. (For more information, visit the Department of State’s website on trafficking laws at http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/).

Slavery did not end with President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. It is happening in 2013 also.

May 15, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Slavery in 2013

Yes, there is slavery in America as well as in most other countries in the world. Why would people buy and sell other human beings? Greed, profit, gender discrimination, cheap labor force are some of the reasons.

In some parts of our country and other countries, a girl is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read. Every year, 60 million girls are sexually assaulted at or on their way to school. There is an estimated 800,000 people trafficked across national borders annually. Eighty per cent are girls and women.

Here in America, on any day in any month, someone may be sold into slavery. 100,000 to 300,000 people are trafficked annually. 83 % are being sold for sexual work. It is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.

Public Broadcasting Stats

Worldwide, most trafficked persons are Asians. Up to 800,000 people, men, women, boys and girls are Trafficked across international borders. They account for up to 32 billion dollars in revenue. Most trafficking has to do with labor, including sexual labor, and children being sold to armies as soldiers. Can you imagine knowing that every day for the rest of your life, you will work for someone who oppresses human beings? You will never see a penny of the fruits of your labor, and they can do with you whatever they wish, including raping you or sending you to kill or die in a battle you will never live long enough to understand.

Help stop trafficking — learn more at www.enditmovement.com

Slavery is still real

April 28, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Face of Domestic Violence in Ohio

The Wisdom of John Lennon

One in every four women will experience Domestic Violence in her lifetime. 84% of victims of abuse per year are female. Children who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they are adults.

Over 10,000 domestic violence victims receive shelter in Ohio annually. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), money is the biggest issue for each domestic violence member programs. One large area where money is sorely lacking is for children recovering from domestic violence.

The violence by intimate partners is physical, mental and emotional.

34,027 arrests were made under Ohio’s domestic violence statue in 2006, and 4485 domestic violence arrests were made under other sections of the penal code.

What do we want? We want the violence to stop

Funding is a large challenge faced by Ohio domestic violence service providers. Part of each domestic violence programs funding comes from a percentage of marriage license fees and are controlled by the counties. This is the formula followed in many states. Rural programs have no real financial programs for the support of local shelters.

The Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN) is a statewide coalition of DV programs. You can contact them at http://www.odvn.org.
Services provided include technical assistance, resources, information and training to those who are affected by DV. The mission is to educate people and make them aware the danger of abuse.

No matter where you live don’t be silent about battering.

April 26, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Women’s Rights in the Home

Don’t let DV into your house

Domestic Violence and the War on Women is continuing. There are some Federal laws which protect women and some are state laws. Evidence, sentencing, police involvement can differ from state to state. In Pennsylvania, for instance there are firm laws to protect the victim. However, in Norristown, Pa. victims are penalized for calling the police for help.

Yes, I said for asking for protection, they are breaking the law.

The cycle of violence

6% of victims are men

There are three strikes in Norristown, Pa. If you are abused and call for help three times. No matter how serious your abuse is. The police will send your landlord or mortgage holder a letter asking them to throw you out due to the Three Strikes Rule. Nope, you didn’t misunderstand. I call it, let’s jump on the victim whether female or male. Let us increase the suffering. The city ordinance specifically includes “domestic disturbances” as behavior that gets victims thrown out of their homes.

A woman recently feared losing her home so much that even when her abuser attacked her with a brick, she was too afraid to make a call to the police. He later stabbed her neck and she was still to frightened of being homeless to call. He would get the house. After a housing court refused to order an eviction, the ACLU stepped in to protect the victim. The city backed off. The city of Norristown does encourage the battering of its citizens with this type of laws.

Norristown is not the only city in the country have passed “nuisance ordinances” or crime. Milwaukee’s Domestic Nuisance Ordance showed violence was the third most common reason that police citation. This is far above drug crimes, property damage, or trespassing. Women of color in our country suffer the most from these bizzare citations.

My suggestion is to go to your local police department and ask what the laws are where you live. If there are these type of laws, get involved. Women working together can accomplish anything they put their minds to. So remember: YOU CAN’T BEAT A WOMAN.

Stop Domestic Violence

Purple is the color that represents Domestic Violence

April 11, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

A tale from Korea

Galveston Beach, Tx; Photo by Barbara Mattio Former Korean vet

Galveston Beach, Galveston Island, Tx; Photo by Barbara Mattio Of a former Korean vet

Today, our President gave a medal to Chaplin Kapaun, posthumously. This man was a hero in my eyes. He gallantly saved lives and kept up the spirits of the men who were captured. He gave them hope and reinforced their faiths. He really irritated their Korean captors who had the odious job of breaking the American men.

A decision was made to put him in a death block. It was a black, windowless square building where there was no plumbing, food or fluids. As the guards took him away, he blessed and forgave them, thus providing inspiration and hope for the captors and the captees.

Some of the soldiers he served with are still alive and were at the ceremony today at the White House. Each one is a brave and courageous man by the fact that they survived.

Heroes like Chaplain Kapaun do exist and are sorely needed in our world filled with pain, anger, hatred, judgement, and the urge to hurt others. This is the perfect time to remember that our society needs women and men to look up to. We need men and women to step up and speak out. Role models, mentors, and heroes will help to change our world. Their job would be to inspire, support, work hard and be educated; or as educated as each of us can be. We need to teach what we preach and we need to teach people how to think – not what to think, but how to think for themselves. It is important to think for ourselves and not to accept every bit of information that is fed to us.

We each need to do some soul searching. Are we doing enough? Should be doing more? I think I just might do more myself after my ankle heals.

I can dream, I can fly and I love everyone on this planet.

March 3, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

The Separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State

I am wondering if any of you have been gnashing your teeth, and shout at the TV whenever you watch the news. There are a lot of negative issues. For instance, the United States now educater fewer scientists each year, we import more high-tech products, many Americans think that the answer for teen pregnancy is not education on birth control and safe sex, but abstinance. Don’t get me wrong I, in theory, believe that abstinance should be taught but there is a gap between theory and reality. Teens with raging hormones don’t always understand what parents and schools are trying to tell them.

My biggest frustration, however, is the people who are talking and insisting on the idea that this country was formed as a Christian Country. So, I am going to explain what is really has happened.

” Those who won our independence believed…that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people,,,that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope, and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government…Fear cannot justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.” ——by Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis.

Thomas Jefferson on separation of church and state

God is claimed by both sides in a war, and the Bible is used to defend the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, slavery, lynching, apartheid, racism, povery, violence against women, homophobia and a score of other human tragedies. The three largest Christian-right organizations call for “Crusaders” to pray that certain U.S. Supreme Court justices whose voting records they dislike will die. Televangelist Pat Robertson blames talk show host, Ellen Deganeres for the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. He also intimidated that God had sent the Hurricane to punish people. Robertson also declares that the attack on America on 9-11, was also God punishing America.

Did you know?

The Air Force Academy, has developed a “strident evangelicalism”. There have been fifty-five complaints of religious discrimination filed in the past few years. The Academy has also become a test tube of sexual harrassment. Female cadets filed charges that were ignored or overlooked. Faith-based prisons are apparently making money by reaping in the profits of spreading the Gospel to convicts. As taxpayers, we pay for proselytizing prisons without ever giving permission or voting for our money to be used in this manner. Inmates receive special priveleges if they follow all-day, all-week, Christian agendas. Prision ministries have as much as $46 million budgets.

Kennedy quote re: Church and State

The Constitution of the United States of America does not contain even one reference to a diety — on purpose. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the Founding Fathers of our country and he said, the Founding Fathers were a hodgepodge of freethinkers, Deists, agnostics, Christians, and Freemansons. Above all they were radicals.

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god.” —Thomas Jefferson

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind.” –James Madison

“I doubt of Revelation itself.” –Benjamin Franklin

” My own mind is my church” –Thomas Paine

George W. Bush added, “so help me God.” to his presidential oath of office.

Pat Robertson claims that “In God We Trust” was on our currency and “Under God” was the U.S. motto from 1776. These were not added until 1950.

John Adams declared, ” The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1789, ” No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living genetation.”

We now take it for granted that churches, temples, mosques, and other religious institutions are tax exempt-but it was not always that way, nor was it the intent of the Founders. This policy was the fruit of a religious campaign.

So was “In God We Trust” getting stamped onto our coinage and the insertion of ” Under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance. The religious movement that we are living in is different. This time is the blatant political mobilization of extreme right religious forces, which seek to change the Constitutional mandate to keep Church and State separated. This mandate is why the Founding Fathers called their new country a Republic, not a Theocracy.

Ronald Reagan’s quote

I would like to be clear about one thing in this blog. I believe the Fathers built a wall between Church and State. I also believe in the Divinity of the Universe. I believe it dwells within each of us and all of life around us. The One wants us to love, support, accept, care for each other and all living things including our planet. He/she/It does not a government run. So think about what is really happening right now in our country.

Some excerpts taken from Fighting Words, by Robin Morgan

March 1, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

You’re Fired!

Introducing our Congress

Well, right here in the United States of America, land of the people, for the people, and by the people, we have experienced a slap across our collective faces. Our Congress is made up of men and women who have been duly elected to the House and Senate to protect and ensure our best interests as we see them.

The elected officials we put into office have walked out. They just got up and all went back to their homes. Congress is now closed. “Gone Fishing”.I don’t know about any of you but I am highly annoyed.

Our Founding Fathers did not make a Congress that would run away when things got tough.

When was the last time you have ever heard of anyone just walking away from their jobs and not performing their job descriptions? Have you ever done that and kept your job? Well this is what the man and women we elected to the House and Senate have done.

Someone in the press corps asked President Obama why he didn’t stop them and he said. he is not a distator, but a President. He couldn’t have the Secret Service block the doors.

Our Congress has hit a new low. They are speaking with their actions, which is stronger and truer than any words that might fall out of their selfish mouths.

I am disgusted with them and I feel we need to all speak up and let Congress know and each state has their House Representatives and Senators. Tell them to get off their bottoms and to get back to work. We pay their salaries and we are not happy. This may not be a major election year, but some Congressmen and Senators will be up for re-election in 2114. 2116 is coming and if they can not handle performing their job descriptions, they we will find true patriots and selfless Americans who will.

Grow up Congress. You are being paid big salaries, have the best health care in the country and your children go to school on our dime, while we have to struggle to put our children and grandchildren through college. You disgust me and should be ashamed of yourselves.

March 1, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

We Did It !!!! Don’t Hit a Woman, Now it is a Crime Once Again

This is the Cycle of Violence. Do you see someone you know in it?

Thank you Congress for keeping all women safe

It will now go to President Obama who will sign it into law.

Never let a man slap, kick, punch, push, verbally insult or demean you. Call the police. It is a crime!

] America, stop teaching that violence against women is allowed.

The Violence Against Women that Just passed the Senate and now the House will be signed into law by President Obama.

The Violence Against Women Act that Just passed the Senate and now the House will be signed into law by President Obama.

February 13, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Twenty two Republicans Voted Against the Violence Against Women Act

Sculpture at National Museum of Art; acrylic paints on stretched canvas; Painting by Barbara Mattio

Washington DC is a remarkable city. There are the politicians and Congress and the White House. I have gone there many times to see art museums. I love borrowed exhibits. I have also been in the mall more times than I can remember for protests and picketing for women’s and children’t rights.

Yesterday, Congress did pass the Violence Against Women Act. This is a wonderful victory for women. But don’t get too excited because there is still a war going on against women.And this piece of legislation must be ratified by Congress every five years.

We still must work to receive legal equality. We, the women of America, are the only citizens who do not have legal equality. This needs to be passed this year. There is still much discrimination against women and minorities.

Every republican voted against equal pay for equal worl

Every Republican voted against equal pay for equal work

There is a lack of respect for women in America

I suggest that everyone looks for the voting record of your Congress people. Look at who is voting against women and children. If you have one who has voted against legislation you believe in, it is time to vote againt the Congress person in the next election.

Magnolia, Oil pastels By Barbara Mattio

We can change women’s lives with our voices and our actions. We can use peaceful ways to debate and state the importance of respect for women, reproductive health concerns, education, equal pay and legal equality. Don’t leave it for someone else to stand up and tell the world our truth. We are sisters and need to stand up with and for the women of America.