Wonderful Women Of The World
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 15th, 2012
Good morning!
For years I have written or posted articles about the Congo and the daily atrocities that happen to women there. Congo is one of the worst places for a woman to live; rape is used as a weapon of war.
Unfortunately for many people all over the world, we do not think nor consider how we are a part of this. Yet, those who need to have the latest and greatest, constantly upgrading their technology toys, greatly contributes to the heinous and unimaginable lives of the Congolese women.
One girl, Denise Siwatula, decided it was her calling to help by representing and supporting women in her country.
In a Globalized World, Every Conflict Is Ours
We live in a globalized world. Our neighbors are no longer only the people who live next door but include all of those whose lives are connected to our own. It’s almost impossible to go a day without using or eating something that doesn’t have parts or labor from a country or a person halfway across the world.
The challenge is that while the technology that connects us continues to advance, our understanding of the ethics and virtues that should guide our relationships with our global neighbors has not always kept up.
No place on earth exemplifies the failure of our ethics to keep up with our globalized relationships and technological growth than the Democratic Republic of Congo. Home of the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, over 5 million have died over the past dozen years and tens of thousands continue to die each month, according to a 2008 survey by the International Rescue Committee.
The stark ethical reality is that you and I have helped fund the criminals and armed militias that have been doing the killing.
Present in our cell phones, laptops and everyday electronics are minerals sold by warlords who use their profits to buy tools of death and destruction. The technology that allows me to call my son and check to make sure that he is safe is made from the same stuff that has been a death sentence for the sons of other fathers in the Congo.
Conflicts and wars in far off countries can often be invisible. The ongoing deaths rarely make the front page of our newspapers or lead on the nightly news. Still, there are stories of both tragedy and triumph that need to be told.
I Am Congo is a new video series released by the Enough Project that tells the stories of five everyday people, from the Congo, working to make their country a better and safer place. In these videos we see the strength and resilience of an artist, activist, community builder, conservationist and human rights lawyer who are re-building their nation from the bottom up.
As a Christian, I was especially inspired by the story of Denise. She is a human rights lawyer who helps victims of rape seek justice and recover from their injuries and trauma. She talks about her personal faith, and time at Church, as the moments when she is renewed and finds the hope to continue fighting. In spite of all the challenges, Denise refuses to give up. “If we just sat with crossed arms what would happen then?” she says in the video.
Faith matters in the lives and work of many of those living in the Congo. In the United States, the faith community has a powerful voice to raise awareness and build political will on issues that could otherwise be marginalized.
Inspired by this project from Enough, Sojourners has created a discussion guide, Faith Leads to Hope, that accompanies the videos for people of faith to think about and engage the questions of how we can all be better global neighbors.
The stories told in I Am Congo are a testament to the hope that still grows even in areas of conflict. They are an introduction to people that many of us may never meet but we are still connected to. It is through learning of the work that we are reminded of the great promise of faith, that a light still shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it.
Please share the videos and the hope that the light in these individuals lives bring.
Visit www.sojo.net/congo to watch the videos and download the Faith Leads to Hope material.
*H*O*P*E*
Readers: We know how we contribute – now, what part are you going to play? Will you continue to contribute to the horrific lives that these women are forced to live by giving in to your “wants”, or will you support these women and be conscious of the things you buy?
Women’s lives are are in our hands – what choices will you make?”
Peace & Love…
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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September 15th, 2012 at 9:30 am
I won’t lie I hate spiders. Learning that the introduction of snakes to Guam by the military has caused an epidemic of them here is driving me crazy.
============================
Snakes Invasive To Guam Have Wiped Out Bird Populations And Allowed Spiders To Reach Plague Proportions
http://planetsave.com/2012/09/15/snakes-invasive-to-guam-have-wiped-out-bird-populations-and-allowed-spiders-to-reach-plague-proportions/
==============================
I am sincerely hoping that something can be done. If anyone out there has a suggestion. Please send it.
Hafa Adai
Anna
September 15th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Romney says he is going to keep lying and see how it plays. He is aware that the press refuses to get into his face about the lies his campaign is putting. Most of that deference is because Romney is a white boy and the white controlled press refuses to allow a black man show a white boy for the weaker person and LSOP that he is.
So Romney is free to lie at will and the white press ignores and when forced to acknowledge one of his lies, they excuse themselves for not calling him on it by claiming that both sides do it.
This is the big lie that the Dems campaign really fume over. While the Dems may stretch the truth, they reframe from telling out right lies. They do not make up lies and use them as talking points for their campaign.
The white press knows that the republican campaign is dedicated to lying rather than face a challenge on any issue that could be negative to their winning the White House.
Alycedale
September 15th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
America was under attack, with four dead on foreign soil. And there was Romney, defiantly refusing to adopt a tone of sobriety, solemnity, or seriousness, instead attempting to score cheap political points, doubling down on his criticism from the night before that the Obama administration had been “disgraceful” for “sympathizing” with the attackers—criticism willfully ignoring the chronology of events, the source of the statement he was pillorying, the substance of the statement, and the circumstances under which it was made.
That the left heaped scorn on Romney’s gambit came as no surprise. But the right reacted almost as harshly—with former aides to John McCain, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan creating an on-the-record chorus of disapproval, while countless other Republican officials and operatives chimed in anonymously.
This was a deliberate and premeditated move to score political points, and it totally revealed Romney’s character.
It revealed him as completely craven and his candidacy as serving no higher purpose than his personal ambition.”
September 15th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Excuse me Michelle, if I take a page from Zen Lill[‘s book and point out the very unkind behavior of women towards women.
Laurence Pieau is a woman and editor of the magazine Closer who published the the naked pictures of Kate.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/14/kate-middleton-topless-photos-closer-magazine-editor-laurence-pieau_n_1883625.html?ref=topbar
—————
It shows that as Zen Lill has often pointed out women also will throw each under the bus of a man or a few dollars more.
Norman
September 15th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Franklin, The early bipartisan condemnation of Romney’s behavior would have been bad enough in itself, but its negative effects were amplified because it fed into a broader narrative emerging in the media across the ideological spectrum.
Most in the media and part of the campaign watchers are speculating that Romney is losing, knows he is losing, and is starting to panic.
This story line and general opinion of those acutely aware of the polls are, of course, rooted in reality, given that every available data point since the conventions suggests that Obama is indeed, for the first time, opening up a lead outside the margin of error nationally and in the battleground states.
So the press corps is now on the lookout for signs of desperation in Romney and is finding them aplenty—most vividly in his reaction to Libya, but even before that, in his post-convention appearance on Meet the Press, where he embraced some elements of Obamacare (only to have his campaign walk back his comments later the same day).
September 15th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
How to Invest in Stocks and Still Sleep at Night
After the investment world’s wild ride of the past several years, many investors are aching for more tranquility. Wall Street is addressing that yearning with a range of new exchange-traded funds (ETFs)* that are designed to smooth out the wild swings. More than a dozen of these low-volatility ETFs now are available.
And lower volatility doesn’t mean that you have to settle for lower returns. Over the past decade, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Low Volatility Index returned 7% annualized versus 4% for the S&P 500 stock index.
Here’s how low-volatility ETFs can be right for you…
HOW THEY WORK
By investing in low-volatility stocks, these ETFs can reduce the impact of the market’s jolts. Example: When the S&P 500 moves up or down by 1%, a low-volatility version of the index tends to move 0.7% in the same direction.
Major investment companies that offer low-volatility ETFs, such as Blackrock, Russell and Invesco, focus on several factors to choose the low-volatility stocks that make up the ETFs. These factors include…
How much the stocks swing up and down relative to their average long-term price
How much the stocks move relative to the larger index that they track
How correlated or uncorrelated they are to one other.
In response to these considerations, low-volatility ETFs often load up on stocks that are in stable sectors, such as household goods and utilities that consumers don’t eliminate even during difficult economic times. But even when various low-volatility ETFs seem similar, they are not simply clones of one another. They cover slightly different indexes…reevaluate their holdings at different intervals…and sometimes impose restrictions on how much they allocate to particular countries or sectors.
Important:
Despite their appeal as safer investments with possibly better returns, low-volatility ETFs are all-stock offerings, which means that they still will be significantly riskier than funds that include bonds or a mix of bonds and stocks in their portfolios.
Also, you are better off holding these ETFs in tax-deferred accounts, since most adjust their portfolios several times a year, which is likely to lead to higher turnover and more tax implications than many index funds.
Finally, if you invest in a low-volatility ETF, you probably will need to adjust your expectations downward in bull markets. While these ETFs can provide some protection and returns in down times, they are unlikely to keep pace with the overall market when stocks are rising sharply.
HOW TO USE THEM
Low-volatilty ETFs can be very useful tools to help you accomplish the following…
Reduce overall risk without getting out of stocks completely. During rough times, investing in low-volatility ETFs is a less drastic alternative than trying to time the market by shifting assets to cash or bonds.
Gain exposure to riskier asset classes that can boost your long-term returns. For example, if you are a retiree invested mostly in bonds but still need substantial growth in your portfolio, you may feel more comfortable adding a low-volatility foreign stock fund than a standard one.
Here are a variety of low-volatility ETFs for you to consider. They all are from reputable money-management firms that use a disciplined selection process…
LARGE-CAP
PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (SPLV). The largest of the low-volatility ETFs, it has attracted nearly $2 billion in assets. It consists of the 100 stocks from the S&P 500 with the lowest volatility over the past 12 months. Every three months, the portfolio is reevaluated and stocks are replaced if necessary. Recent share price: $28.11.
Russell 1000 Low Volatility ETF (LVOL) picks from the 1,000 largest US companies and can hold up to 200 stocks. It uses more complex criteria than the PowerShares ETF to choose stocks and keeps a tighter rein on volatility in both up and down markets. To ensure it remains focused on low-volatility stocks, the portfolio is reconstituted every month. Recent share price: $53.29.
SMALL-CAP
Russell 2000 Low Volatility ETF (SLVY) currently is the only small-cap ETF devoted to low-volatility stocks. It holds up to 400 of the least volatile stocks in the Russell 2000. The ETF has about 18% of its portfolio in real estate and utilities, and it is reconstituted every month. Recent share price: $57.57.
FOREIGN
iShares MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility Index (EFAV) tracks the MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility Index, which attempts to create the least volatile portfolio of up to 200 stocks from the MSCI EAFE Index.
That index includes developed nations in Europe, the Australia region and the Far East. The ETF reevaluates and reconstitutes its portfolio only twice a year.
In attempting to reduce the ETF’s volatility, it imposes certain constraints that its competitors don’t, such as limiting the percentage of assets that can go into any one sector or country. The ETF also has one of the lowest annual expense ratios of any low-volatility ETF, just 0.2%. Recent share price: $53.85.
PowerShares S&P International Developed Low Volatility Portfolio (IDLV). This ETF tracks the 200 stocks in the S&P Developed Ex.-US-Korea LargeMidCap Index** that have exhibited the lowest volatility over the past 12 months, with 16% of its portfolio currently devoted to Canadian firms.
The ETF is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly and is a more conservative offering than the iShares MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility Index ETF. (**Although South Korea sometimes is regarded as a developed country, it is not included in this index because of the high volatility of its stock market.) Recent share price: $27.77.
*ETFs are funds that typically track a particular investment index but can be bought and sold on an exchange like individual stocks. They tend to have lower annual expenses than comparable mutual funds.
Source: Tom Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments, Irvine, California, which manages more than $80 million of assets in all-ETF portfolios.
He is founder of ETFTrends.com and coauthor of iMoney: Profitable ETF Strategies for Every Investor (FT Press).
September 15th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Howie, Israel misses one of its favorite sons. I often catch the latest Michelle’s comment section before I go on watch.
I click find Howie and it is very disappointing not to see something by you.
I hope you are doing well.
אני אשמח לפגוש אותך. מקווה שתחזור לביתו יום אחד
Odeleya
September 15th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
To My Jewish and Israeli Friends:
I wish you all a Shanna Tova.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 5773.
From HOWIE (Dov)
September 15th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
The peril to Romney’s candidacy of being seen through the lens of desperation can’t be overstated. The paramount strategic objective of any campaign is to maintain control of the candidate’s public image—and if the media filter begins to view his every move through a dark or unflattering prism, things can quickly spin out of control, to a point where nothing he says or does is taken at face value.
“Romney is in a very bad place,” says another senior Republican strategist. “He’s got the Republican intelligentsia second-guessing him, publicly and privately.
The party base has never trusted him and thinks that everything bad it ever thought about him is being borne out now. And he’s got the media believing that he can’t win. He’s right on the edge of a self-fulfilling downward spiral.”
Whether Romney can resist that spiral in the two weeks between now and the first presidential debate is an open question—but there’s no doubt that the pressure on him to win that debate decisively is now almost overwhelming.
“If he doesn’t, you’ll see the whole thing start to unravel pretty quickly, à la Dole in 1996,” says a third GOP strategist, arguing that Romney’s fund-raising will dry up and the expected flood of money from conservative super-pacs will be reduced to a trickle.
September 15th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Netanyahu is betting on the republicans getting the White House. This will come back to haunt him because unless the republicans steal the election by nefarious means (and they could), Obama will win.
There is no paucity of evidence to suggest Netanyahu would much prefer Romney, whom he has known for years, to win. His warm embrace of the Republican nominee when he visited Israel in July, which was tantamount to an endorsement, was remarkable in its brazenness and nearly without precedent in the modern annals of presidential politics.
September 15th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Hafa adai, some may believe this is far fetched. And perhaps only Howie could really verify it, but there are rumors that members of the Japanese military are coming to Guam to learn how to deal with aliens who they suspect they will be confronting because they are dumping tons of radioactive waste and water into the ocean.
I will not say more because I do not want to give away my sources.
What say ye Howie?
Peter
September 15th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
I’m finnish but I see clearly that America is a racist state. What else would you attribute to a political party willing to sink their government and destroy the finances of its middle class to defeat a black man.
When we discuss the state of Finland, we shutter to think that one of our political parties would do what your republican party did.
They conspired to sabotage the financial recovery of the United States to sink Obama. Of course to do that it would also mean that they could end up sabotaging the financial structure of the rest of the world, including Finland.
It is so diabolical as to be unimaginable. But it has been admitted to and the facts show that 15 members of that party met on your presidents first day in office to do just that, obstruct anything he intended to do to right your economy.
The astonishing thing is when it was discovered that members of their electorate met to sabotage their government rather than impeach them, they were championed.
A close examination of those willing to accept that kind of treason showed that the majority of them where white men.
What other conclusion can objective outsiders arrive at but that in the name of race anything would be tolerated by the racist toward the black president.
Jaana
September 15th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Romney led the protest against the anti-war protesters at Stanford. But he does not go to Vietnam to support his convictions. Actually he was one of the few who could back the war knowing that he would never have to go because his mormon religion makes all its male members missionaries, thus making them exempt from military service.
To justify his cowardice he weaves a tale about how difficult he had it trying to convert the french to Mormonism. Notice he does this with a straight face as if the rest of us listening to his professions of difficulties converting the french could actually compare to his contemporaries who were drafted most against their wills to risk their lives for a war he supported but was not willing to risk his life for.
And to add insult to injury, he spins a tale of how he almost died in a car accident. Again as if to compare to the life and death struggles to those unfortunate men who were drafted to risk their lives in Vietnam to the danger of driving recklessly in a foreign country.
To the incredulousness of the us expecting news interviewer Gloria Borger, to ask the question how does that compare to the life and death struggle of the young men your support for the Vietnam war put them in, she never does. Rather she sat their as if transfixed by the “difficulties” this brave young man was under going in dangerous France.
She sat their and said nothing while Romney spun the tale that went like this:”France was a dangerous place for a 24 year old american at that time. There were no newspapers, no trains and no phones…”
So we, the listeners, are suppose to suspend our knowledge that while he is “suffering” so on his missionary mission in France, that young men just like him only poorer and non Mormon are dying by the thousands in Vietnam because of a war he supported in words only.
That is the benefit a white man gets from the news media when running against a black man. If he was running against a white man with that gutless tale of woe, he would have been called upon to answer why he didn’t go and defend his belief that a war needed to be waged in a place he refused to go to to back up that belief.
Totally sick, even for this Vietnam veteran who is white.
Douglas
September 15th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
The truly scary thing is that this man could get elected. Michelle, I hope you will do whatever you can to prevent that.
And if you could add coattails to that victory, it would be greatly appreciated by this white woman.
In the early 70′s the Mormon church came out heavily against ERA. Romney was a Bishop at that time.
Irene
September 15th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
After I found out about the plot by the republican members of he House of Congress to do whatever it took to prevent Obama from saving the economy or get any bill passed, I read this in huff post.
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Obama tells CBS he was angry over what he called “the willingness on the part of some House Republicans to potentially see the United States default on its obligations for the first time, which could have undone all the repair work that we had done coming out of the financial crisis.”
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I wondered how he would have felt if he knew that House Speaker John Boehner was just lying to him about working to cooperate with him because he had agreed with those 15 traitors to sabotage any efforts Obama made to improve the country’s position.
I agree with you Douglas, they should be impeached at the very least, preferably they should be arrested and tried as financial terrorists.
Gloria
September 15th, 2012 at 8:55 pm
Romney has no ideological position in politics. He will accept any principle that will get him elected.
Alycedale