Lightning in a Jar

[Note to reader: The following came to me as a PowerPoint slideshow attachment forwarded by my pal Darcey Bellington. The slideshow features some haunting background music, and some gorgeous graphics. Since I am PowerPoint-illiterate, I have chosen to re-type the powerful message so that I can share it with a wide audience. If you would like to get the slideshow, send me an email or a private message, and I will forward it to you.]

If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people, maintaining the proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would consist of:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (North, Central and South)
8 Africans

There would be

52 women
48 men
30 Caucasians
70 non-Caucasians
30 Christians
70 non-Christians
89 heterosexuals
11 homosexuals

Six people would possess 59% of the wealth, and they would all come from the USA.

80 would live in poverty
70 would be illiterate
50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 would have a university degree

If we looked at the world this way, the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious. But consider again the following:

If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than one million people, who won't live through the week.

If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, or were not close to death from starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people.

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion people.

If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world's population.

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet, and a few coins in your purse, you are one of 8 of the privileged few amongst the 100 people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married, you are a rare individual.

If someone sent you this message, you're extremely lucky, because someone is thinking of you, and because you don't comprise one of those 2 billion people who cannot read.


And so?


Work like you don't need the money.

Love like nobody has ever hurt you.

Dance like nobody is watching.

Sing like nobody is listening.

Live as if this was paradise on Earth.


Send this message to your friends.

Bypass those who are determined to see the worst in the world, no matter what.

If you don't send it, nothing will happen.

If you do send it, someone might smile while they are reading it, and that will be a positive.

Apart from that, simply have a nice day.




-- Author unknown, circa June 15, 2010.

Rand Paul attacking us

It’s the favorite tactic of the right-wing, find a popular figure with progressive leaning and claim they are attacking you, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. Thursday, Rand Paul used this tactic with me.

"I've never really favored any change in the Civil Rights Act," Paul said. "They seem to have unleashed some of the loony left (liberals) on me." Laura Ingraham’s Radio Show.

Well, Rand I write for the blog “Lefty Loony Liberals” which you claim was unleashed on you. It’s true that I’ve written about the how the Rightwing has been taken over by crybabies and whiners so I can see how you would think that was about you, but get over yourself in the Kentucky Primaries you came in third as far the amount of votes received. You came in lower in vote count than Lt. Dan who in his attempt to explain the importance of family values told everyone that he and his 18-year-old girlfriend had been in a committed relationship “for years”.

Yes, Rand you lost in the vote count to an admitted pedophile. So I can see how you think you’re only shot at election is to claim that you are being oppressed by me and that I make you look stupid, but trust me I can claim no credit for that.

What makes you look stupid is your views on government. That a private company can do what ever the hell it feels like, Discriminate against people, poison their customers, release billions of tons of oil into the gulf, kill their employees all that is fine and the government should stay out of it.

After your dismal showing in the polls clearly showed you were out of touch with Kentucky voters, I was willing to stand aside and watch you crash and burn in your campaign. Quite frankly you weren’t worth my time. But when you go on a national radio show (that until the national media picked up on because you mentioned the site “Lefty Loony Liberals” most people thought had been canceled) and use the name of a site I write for to get airtime I have to get involved.

So since you have gone on the national media clearly asking for my opinion I will give it to you. When you first started running I thought you were a loon, but at least a loon with principles. I thought that at least you would stick to guns and not bow to pressure like every other politician. But instead when you said something bone-headed, not only did you bow to pressure you immediately blamed me for your caving in.

I can see if you are sent to Washington you will immediately abandon your principles and blame whatever person your paranoid fantasies come up with. This time it was me that you thought was to blame for your bone-head statements, who knows who it will be next.

Kentucky is looking replace the Senator that thinks that, “little green doctors” are after him. We don’t need to replace him with a Senator who will abandon any principle because in his paranoid fantasies he thinks a real person has been unleashed on him.

So say anything you want about me, my readers, unlike your 10 followers who try to disrupt demonstrations, know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Darrell B. Nelson proud contributor to “Lefty Loony Liberals”