http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-david-wolpe/why-everyone-should-study_b_827597.html

I follow a different, more unstructured path to find the meaning to life. I certainly do not claim to know the truth, although, I have seen and felt numerous examples that could help me exemplify my belief structure to my meaning of life. There is no one that can claim to “know” the truth, alien or otherwise. That is the beauty of the myth. It can never be broken and is self perpetuating. It changes over the years, however, I do feel that there is some inherent truth, and perhaps we will all know that one day.

I also feel that there are some who choose atheism to simply be different. Some choose it because they are lazy and don’t want to think thinks through. Some choose it because they are afraid of what they might find if they decide to search past the nothingness. Some choose it because that was the examples that had as a child and they choose to follow in their live

What most people don’t see, is that no matter what people think or feel about their religious stance, they have made a conscious choice at that point in their lives of the issue. There has been thought put to it in order to take a stand one way or the other. The choice of atheism or agnostic is the same as continued pondering or even having accepted religion and having a prescription of blue pills.

The funny thing of the idea of taking or not taking the blue pills can be discussed on any side of the fence one sits as based on their own belief systems for themselves. Again, this is the beauty of the myth, as well as, the danger of it. As the belief of the myth, and the manipulation of it by the learned and monied, to the poor huddled masses in any society it creates a herd like following of whatever can be good, as well as, bad within the belief structure. As various factions or wayward teachers in any belief system, albeit religion or politics, find a means or an angle to deviate the flock for their own benefits it becomes a danger to the overall society as a whole. Simply because a religion, or political structure is the biggest, or presumably the correct or best, does not make it right. Just because Christianity, or Islam are each so widely viewed in various ways throughout the world, makes neither one right…or wrong. Just because Capitalism and Democracy are so widely followed does not make it the only means to create a civil society, however, due to the nature of the depth of the belief structure to the systems on a global scale, to think otherwise, is blasphemy or insane.

There is a reason why it is stated in the bible that Jesus called his followers his flock…The signs are all there, for people to see, they simply must open their eyes. Their truth is always right in front of them.

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Guam Now One of the Shark-Friendliest Places on Earth
Posted by KRISTA MAHR Friday, February 25, 2011 at 1:33 am

If you’re a shark, the Pacific Islands are not a bad place to be these days. Yesterday, the Senate of Guam followed Hawaii’s lead and became the third region to move to ban the sale, possession and distribution of shark products in the U.S. territory.

Hawaii was the first U.S. state to make the move last year, followed by the Mariana Islands north of Guam. Palau, the Maldives and Honduras all also prohibit all commercial fishing of sharks in their waters.

How did this swath of the ocean become the epicenter of shark conservation? Partly because, in the long run, a live shark is worth more than a dead shark.

All of these island economies rely on the tourists who come to ogle their ocean life – and sharks are usually at the top of their list. After supporting the U.S. military defense industry, tourism is Guam’s biggest moneymaker.

But Matt Rand, the director of the Pew Environment Group’s Global Shark Conservation program, says there’s more to this growing trend than the bottom line.

“My observation is that Pacific Islanders understand that there is a balance that needs to be struck out there in ocean,” Rand says. “When you overexploit it, you throw it out of whack.”

Guam, a long-time fishing port, had seen a severe decline in its shark population over the years as shark fishing became more and more aggressive to meet the growing demand for shark fin in Asian cuisine. (Here’s an article I wrote about shark fin soup if you want to know more.)

After the U.S. passed the first iteration of its law that bans shark finning – the practice of catching sharks, cutting their valuable fins off, and throwing the animal carcass back in the water – Guam noticed that its shark population began to recover.

(Read my earlier post about the passage of the new Shark Conservation Act of 2009, first introduced by Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, here.)

Whether the governor of Guam signs this full ban into law in time to save the sharks in the area is another question.

“The hope is that some of these populations will come back,” says Rand. “We have to wait and see. In a lot of places, once sharks have been depleted, it’s a very slow recovery.”

Every year, up to 73 million sharks are culled every year to support the shark fin trade, despite the fact that 30% of all shark species are threatened with extinction.

Sharks grow slowly, and they don’t reach sexual maturity until later in life. When they do, they have comparatively few offspring at a time, unlike, say, big tunas, which release millions of eggs when they spawn.

As a result, the sharks that are netted are either adolescents that have not had a chance to reproduce or are among the few adults capable of adding new pups to the mix — and never will. Says Rand: “They may be fierce predators, but they are actually very vulnerable.”

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I am delighted with this news.

Hafa Adai

Anna