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	<title>Big Bureaucracy</title>
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		<title>Happy Labor Day!</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1667</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1667#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:51:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Photo Meme]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labor day]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Celebrating Labor Day with leisure day at Jordan Lake, NC]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/jordan-lake.jpg" alt="" title="jordan lake" width="315" height="236" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1668" /><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sand-and-water.jpg" alt="" title="sand and water" width="315" height="236" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1669" /></p>
<p>Celebrating Labor Day with leisure day at Jordan Lake, NC</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Beware of catchy phrases</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1663</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1663#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:17:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[catchy phrases]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kill the bill]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1663</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[During election years politicians and strategists like to come up with catchy phrases that repeated often inspire the votes. Most of them are like Rorschach inkblots – they can mean anything you want to see in them. Unfortunately what voters believe those words mean is not always what politicians actually meant when campaigning. Below is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/kill-bill.jpg" alt="" title="kill bill" width="315" height="369" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1340" /><br />
During election years politicians and strategists like to come up with catchy phrases that repeated often inspire the votes. Most of them are like Rorschach inkblots – they can mean anything you want to see in them. Unfortunately what voters believe those words mean is not always what politicians actually meant when campaigning.</p>
<p>Below is a glossary of some popular election year phrases:</p>
<p><strong>Health care for everybody</strong> – buy health insurance or pay penalty at the IRS;</p>
<p><strong>Stimulus Package</strong> – free condoms for studying the behavior of drunken college kids and other useful projects for $800, 000, 000, 000;</p>
<p><strong>Sustainable Medicare and Medicaid</strong> – cut $ 500 billion from the programs and tax $ 500 billion for the programs.</p>
<p><strong>Hope</strong> – throw your coins and donations of $5 or more in my wishing well;</p>
<p><strong>Expect miracles</strong> – flock of geese fly-over or double rainbow;</p>
<p><strong>Tax-cut for the working class</strong> – tax-rebate even if you did not pay taxes;</p>
<p><strong>Tax-cut for the wealthy</strong> – at some point you’ve made enough money; the point is determined by the President;</p>
<p><strong>Personal responsibility</strong> – you are on your own;</p>
<p><strong>Change</strong> – fundamental transformation;</p>
<p><strong>Charity</strong> – help each other because the government spent the money on screwing eco-friendly light bulbs;</p>
<p><strong>Tea Party</strong> – not a party, not about tea;</p>
<p><strong>Kill the Bill</strong> – violence free attempt to repeal the ObamaCare;</p>
<p><strong>Dead Line</strong> – date on which the Taliban hope to reclaim Afghanistan;</p>
<p><strong>Energy Independence</strong> – ‘cap-and-tax, baby, cap-and-tax’ or ‘drill, baby, drill’;</p>
<p><strong>Border Security</strong> – warning signs that keep Arizonians safely away from American lands occupied by foreign drug-mafia;</p>
<p><strong>BP Oil Spill </strong>– the biggest environmental disaster in American history that miraculously disappeared;</p>
<p><strong>Midterm Elections</strong> – energize the base by class warfare, race-baiting, religion-baiting, gender-baiting, bigotry, name-calling, smearing, twitting, facebooking, myspacing and campaign money-bombing.</p>
<p>To all of you who participate in the election circus mud fight: good luck!</p>
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		<title>Rabbi Daniel Lapin: atheists are parasites</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1658</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1658#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:26:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[atheists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daniel lapin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parasites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1658</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just when I thought that I’ve heard every possible insult in the political realm this year Rabbi Daniel Lapin added his two cents. On the Glenn Beck program he said he views the atheists as parasites who without putting any energy into it benefit from America created by the faithful people. The Rabbi is entitled [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/adam.jpg" alt="" title="adam" width="310" height="355" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1633" />Just when I thought that I’ve heard every possible insult in the political realm this year Rabbi Daniel Lapin added his two cents. On the Glenn Beck program he said he views the atheists as parasites who without putting any energy into it benefit from America created by the faithful people.</p>
<p>The Rabbi is entitled of his opinion and is free to call me parasite. However, I urge his friends to help him, because he may need advice from psychiatrist. </p>
<p>Just two days ago a fellow who was calling people parasites strapped himself with bombs to make a point on Discovery channel. He wanted to inform the world that people are parasites.</p>
<p>Here with the Rabbi we have a ‘parasites’ alert. Please, if you know Mr. Lapin, check on his psychological condition before he harms himself, other people and his cause.</p>
<p>Insult after insult is coming at me from the TV talking heads. Some idiots called me a cracker for being white, bigot for being against illegal immigration, racist for being for small government, parasite for having children and now double parasite for being atheist.</p>
<p>Have we run out of decency in this country? Can we stop insulting people with stereotypes? With this entire campaign for personal responsibility can we judge people individually by their deeds instead of stuffing them in groups that wave fists to each other?</p>
<p>Seriously, Mr. Lapin needs help!</p>
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		<title>Earth Charters and the reducing of the world population</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1654</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1654#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:52:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1654</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What a wonderful picture: Wangari Muta Maathai – the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and Senator then Barack Obama – soon to be the first African American US President and future Nobel Peace Prize winner. There is nothing to this photo, but today I am reposting my exercise in “conspiracy theory” [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1048" title="Maathai obama2" src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Maathai-obama2.jpg" alt="" width="310" height="256" /><br />
What a wonderful picture: Wangari Muta Maathai – the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and Senator then Barack Obama – soon to be the first African American US President and future Nobel Peace Prize winner. There is nothing to this photo, but today I am reposting my exercise in “conspiracy theory” about the green guru Maurice Strong. It is just a rhetorical exercise – so lighten up!</p>
<p>Back to Obama and Maatai walking together in Nairobi, Kenya in 2006 where the headquarters of the United Nations Environmental protection agency is located. Maurice Strong was the first UNEP President and was serving together with Maathai and Mikhail Gorbachev on the Earth Charters Commission. It is always fun to place Obama and Gorbachev in the same circle of friends.</p>
<p>All folks mentioned above are saving the Earth. The crazy guy who attacked the Discovery Chanel also was on a quest to save the planet. Only the crazy guy really believed in it. The Gorbachev/Strong/Earth crowd is just establishing connections that give them access to power and money – tax-payer money.</p>
<p>Meet the club of the champions of non-government organizations of “philanthropist” funded by the tax-payer money provided by the governments for humanitarian purposes.  Social networking is the key for success there – it has always been with the socialist/Marxist/Popper thinking crowd.  Maurice Strong never cared about ecology – his main strength was connections – person who knows how to make connections with people in power and people with money. His talent made him perfect to organize the first international summit on environment in Stockholm ‘72. Among the sponsors of the event was the Rockefeller Fund. Steven Rockefeller served with Strong and Gorbachev in the Earth Charter Commission later.</p>
<p>After the summit the UN created UNEP and Strong with his connections became organization’s first president. They put the headquarters in Nairobi Kenya, where Maurice Strong began his carrier in the oil company CalTex.</p>
<p>To add a royal touch to the movement Strong recruited Prince Charles .You remember Prince Charles with the frog on his shoulder – if he would have kissed that frog it would have turned into Al Gore.</p>
<p>The UN conference in Rio in ’92 became the major forum establishing the Earth Charters.<br />
<span id="more-1654"></span><br />
To understand the Gorbachev/Strong gang you need to research the term “sustainable development”. The idea is that the industrialized nations are using too much natural resources and there must be a policy of de-growth them to save the planet.</p>
<p>The goals are set – they are public – no conspiracy here. To illustrate them I will use the 2001 article titled<br />
<a href="http://www.sibran.ru/psb/phsb/papers/13KOPT.pdf" target="_blank">“Siberia – problems of ecological politics and sustainable development”</a>. You have to agree – there is a special feeling when Russians talk about policy being implemented in Siberia.  According to the author V.A.Koptyug the first goal is to stop the increase of the population of the planet. The second goal is creating inventory of all the natural resources and the third goal “ecologization” (Russians just like to make up terms) of all economic activity including agriculture, energy, manufacturing etc.</p>
<p>In Siberia they have very advanced experience in reducing the population of the planet. However the Earth Charter syndicate means it more in the terms of Planned Parenthood. One of the co-chairs of the commission at the time when Maurice Strong was in it is Federico Mayor – former UNESCO president. He deeply cares about children of the world – at least about those children that were not killed in the abortion clinics of the world.</p>
<p>President Obama is investing big time in the Inventory of the natural resources – even CIA is on the task following the climate change data. Really? How much tax-payer money is needed to count every grain of sand and every drop of water on the planet? Sounds like a project that will keep on flowing those dollars into the pockets of philanthropists saving the world.</p>
<p>Another member of the Gorbachev/Strong commission is <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1070" target="_blank">Pierre Calame</a> who is a champion of the solidarity economy.</p>
<p>Below is advertising for one of the projects connected to the solidarity economy movement in Philippines. The dream includes fair housing, burgers and a funeral home coming your way. Not that there is something wrong with that. We all are going to die one day. It is convenient to have funeral home nearby I guess.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1655" title="philipines" src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/philipines.jpg" alt="" width="637" height="322" /></p>
<p>Solidarity economy!</p>
<p>Solidarity used to inspire people. Folks in Poland still remember the Solidarity movement. What is creepy about it is that it was funded in part and supported by George Soros – another champion of the Earth. It is pure coincidence that Soros suddenly became very rich during the collapse of the USSR. It is pure coincidence that Soros became even richer in ’97 when Mandela took the presidency in South Africa while Soros established his Open Society project in SA and … Zimbabwe. There is no conspiracy here – he is just a philanthropists – he fought against apartheid and communism and imperialism and all kind of isms and against George W Bush who refused to sign… the Kyoto Protocol.</p>
<p>Check also <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1063" target="_blank">the Environmentalist toolkit</a> prepared by the Earth saviors.</p>
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		<title>Waiting for Earl, Middle East peace and Godot</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1646</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1646#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:13:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[earl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[godot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[middle east peace]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1646</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While checking the batteries and waiting for hurricane Earl to hit me and fellow North Carolinians, I heard Secretary Hillary Clinton talking about the Middle East peace: I fervently believe that the two men sitting on either side of me, that you are the leaders. You can make this long cherished dream a reality and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/earl.jpg" alt="" title="earl" width="288" height="250" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1647" /><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sync.jpg" alt="" title="sync" width="354" height="249" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1648" /></p>
<p>While checking the batteries and waiting for hurricane Earl to hit me and fellow North Carolinians, I heard  Secretary Hillary Clinton talking about  the Middle East peace:</p>
<blockquote><p>I fervently believe that the two men sitting on either side of me, that you are the leaders. You can make this long cherished dream a reality and we will do everything possible to help you… </p>
<p>Today as ever people have to rally for the cause of peace. And peace needs champions on every street corner and around every kitchen table. I understand very well the disappointments of the past. I share them. But I also know we have it in our power today to move forward into a different kind of future and we cannot do that without you. </p></blockquote>
<p>Sounds a bit like my favorite quote from the Theater of Absurd: </p>
<blockquote><p>Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!</p>
<p>-	Samuel Beckett, ‘ Waiting for Godot’.</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Obama: after Iraq, time for education reform. Really?</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1641</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1641#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President Obama plugged-in for the economy in his Oval Office Address on the War in Iraq which we are asked to believe is over. He said the word ‘economy’ three times, ‘debt’ &#8211; zero times, ‘deficits’ &#8211; one, ‘jobs’ – two and ‘education’ three times. Wow, what’s up with the education? For too long, we [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-425" title="Obama teleprompter" src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Obama-teleprompter.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="167" /><br />
President Obama plugged-in for the economy in his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/31/remarks-president-address-nation-end-combat-operations-iraq" target="_blank">Oval Office Address</a> on the War in Iraq which we are asked to believe is over. He said the word ‘economy’ three times, ‘debt’ &#8211; zero times, ‘deficits’ &#8211; one, ‘jobs’ – two and ‘education’ three times. Wow, what’s up with the education?</p>
<blockquote><p>For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform&#8230;</p>
<p>To strengthen our middle class, we must give all our children the education they deserve, and all our workers the skills that they need to compete in a global economy&#8230;</p></blockquote>
<p>As always President Obama’s words sound beautifully, but lack details. Unlike the due dates for withdrawal from Afghanistan that are cut in stone by the Commander-in-Chief, the details about what ‘education reform’ means and how we are getting energy independence,  jobs and reduce debt and deficits are missing.</p>
<p>Those who fell once for the vague ‘hope and change’ slogan are determined not to get burned twice.</p>
<p>What does ‘education reform’ mean? Judging by President’s actions so far it means <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=420">pouring billions of dollars</a> in our education system, mostly to save union jobs during the severe recession.</p>
<p>If Obama drops down the Community Organizer Guide that is covering his view he may see that our education system is becoming obsolete. We have the technology to reform the mass education into individual education through virtual schools.</p>
<p>Instead of funding bureaucracies, buildings, transportation and lunches we can provide each kid with a lap-top or personal education portal, where the kid can access the knowledge through programs that provide the curriculum, test and assess each kid’s progress. We have technologies to accommodate special needs. We have biometrics that can verify who is behind the keyboard. Advisers and tutors can help on-line.</p>
<p>The Defense Department just opened their <a href="http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=60634" target="_blank">virtual school</a> to assist the kids of military families across the globe. On-line college education has gathered plenty of experience. States are developing on-line materials for families that do at-home schooling.</p>
<p>Why do we keep pouring money in same old inner-city hell-holes, when the same kids can access quality education that can be available to everybody on-line?</p>
<p>If a kid is failing the alarm will go off pointing to the exact spot where the failure occurs so tutors and social workers can address the situation.</p>
<p><span id="more-1641"></span><br />
If the goal is education – let’s educate.</p>
<p>Currently the public schools provide tax-payer subsidized day-care.  If we are talking about day-care and union jobs – let’s talk about day-care and union jobs. Let’s not pretend it is about education.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s not forget that it is not the federal government&#8217;s job to reform education.</p>
<p>The States run education in this country and it is their choice. If the Feds have money for education that means they are taking too much taxes from us and they should give us tax-cuts so we can spend money in our own states, who provide education to our kids. Thank you.</p>
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		<title>What do US State Department, Russian spies and Bulgarian mosque have in common? Ecotourism!</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1636</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1636#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:20:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bulgaria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chapman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kushchenko]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mosque]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1636</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[American tax-payers learned recently that the US State Department is funding mosques all around the globe, including one in my native Bulgaria: To support the restoration of the Kurshum Mosque in Silistra. Although it is located in the center of town, damage has been caused by centuries of neglect and earthquakes. The mosque was built [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/kurshumlu.jpg" alt="" title="kurshumlu" width="320" height="215" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1637" /><br />
American tax-payers learned recently that the US State Department is funding mosques all around the globe, including one in my native <a href="http://eca.state.gov/culprop/afcp/project_listings/afcp_detail.cfm?autoID=192" target="_blank">Bulgaria</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>To support the restoration of the Kurshum Mosque in Silistra. Although it is located in the center of town, damage has been caused by centuries of neglect and earthquakes. The mosque was built in the 17th century when Silistra was an important port city on the Danube River ruled by the Ottoman Empire.</p></blockquote>
<p>Research shows that it has nothing to do with Islam, but with ecotourism. According to a <a href="http://www.silistra.bg/~silis7ra/file/Strategy%20for%20tourism%20development.pdf" target="_blank">local report</a> the restoration of the mosque and other cultural monuments are part of the city tourism strategy: which is eco tourism.</p>
<p>It is not about Islam, but about the environmental mafia of NGOs sucking tax-funds for green projects.</p>
<p>The whole thing is happening in 2004. Big Bureaucracy reported that at the same time the USAID was funding eco-tourism activities in Russia through the ‘4 Vlast’ firm for which the Russian spy Anna Chapman and her dad Vasily Kushchenko worked. You can <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1366" target="_blank">read the research here</a>.</p>
<p>In 2004 Chapman was <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1314" target="_blank">the London contact</a> person for the 4Vlast firm, Kushchenko was running their tourism firm and worked for the 4 Vlast <a href="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1331" target="_blank">Mrs. World pageant</a> brand.</p>
<p>Below is a screen shot of a Google search for the names of the company 4Vlast and Soros. The result is an article that cannot be accessed any longer. The title is:</p>
<p><strong>Countryside tourism: The Americans are paying for the agro-tourism in Russia.</strong><br />
There is a mention of the <a href="http://www.smalltowns.ru/ " target="_blank">Soros’s fund ‘Small towns’</a></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1368" title="kush14" src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/kush14.jpg" alt="" width="624" height="169" /></p>
<p>The web-site is down. Domain however belongs to the same 4 Vlast company where Chapman and Kushchenko worked at the time.</p>
<p>Ironically the project left traces in the Internet. There is an <a href="http://10.911-job.ru/dcv.php?JS=c44b73c742ce9bc5322811a26231faa4&amp;ID=144749&amp;_ll=1" target="_blank">on-line CV</a> for a person named Sergei Isakov who claims he was working for 4 Vlast company and selotour. ru in 2004 while being an expert on the project named “Help for local government for encouraging agro- and eco-tourism as strategic direction of development of the small and middle size towns in Russia”.</p>
<p>Isakov goes on to say that the project was financed by Eurasia Foundation and The US Agency for International development (USAID).</p>
<p><span id="more-1636"></span><br />
So America was funding the eco-tourism branch of a firm for which Kushchenko organized sky-diving over Kilimanjaro. That is not in the city near you – it is in the continent near you! That close!</p>
<p>Why do Americans pay for agro-tourism in Russia? Or eco-tourism mosque in Bulgaria? Anybody?</p>
<p>As you can see from the sign on the Kurshum Mosque (which means the Bullet Mosque because the dome is covered in lead) it is supported by the local Committee on the Protection of the Population in the Cases of Disasters and Accidents.</p>
<p>How is the mosque protecting Bulgaria from Disasters? The environmentalist thinking is that if you do your tourism locally, then less global warming caused disasters will hit ya.</p>
<p>Good luck with the local tourism to my Bulgarian and Russian friends, while they stay local Al Gore is flying private jets and the ex-KGB is sky-diving in Tanzania.</p>
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		<title>The Glenn Beck solution: turn to God. It is not so easy.</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1632</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1632#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glenn Beck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[god]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1632</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Do you believe in God? Every time I answer the question honestly I lose friends. Still I tell the truth: I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in the evolution either. I just believe we don’t have enough knowledge to know the world yet. If you are still reading, I appreciate your tolerance. Glenn [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/adam.jpg" alt="" title="adam" width="310" height="355" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1633" /><br />
Do you believe in God? Every time I answer the question honestly I lose friends. Still I tell the truth: I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in the evolution either. I just believe we don’t have enough knowledge to know the world yet.</p>
<p>If you are still reading, I appreciate your tolerance.</p>
<p>Glenn Beck’s answer to America’s troubles is turning to God. Where does it leave us: the non believers? Beck’s solution reminds me of my godmother, who is a nun in an Eastern Orthodox Monastery on the Balkans.</p>
<p>When I visited her she answered every question I had with: you have to believe, you have to have faith, and you have to pray. That was the only answer to everything. She and Glenn Beck could be soul-mates.</p>
<p>She sensed it is hard for me to believe so she tried to teach me something simple: Just try to be good and keep praying ‘Lord forgive my sins’. That was kind of a ‘safety net’ advice she came-up with while trying to save my lost soul.</p>
<p>I think this is the answer: just be good. Do not lie, do not cheat, do not envy, do not steal, do not kill,  respect your parents, do not idolize people, repent your sins and try to be good.</p>
<p>Does it really have to be in the name of God? Or just for goodness sake.</p>
<p>Mike Huckabee often says that if we agree on 7-8 things out of 10 – we still can be friends. Can God be one of the things we disagree on?</p>
<p>Half of the Americans don’t even agree on ‘do not kill’ and support abortions. How hard is it to make us agree on 7-8 things for our own good and the good of the nation?</p>
<p>As a kid in the communist Eastern Europe I was thought in school that the religion is opium for the masses. Much like President Obama said: those bitter people who cling to their religion.</p>
<p>I learned the story of the Creation from a Russian edition of the caricatures of Jean Effel. Those were hilarious, but not exactly the original source.</p>
<p>Although my parents were not religious they did everything possible to educate me and my sister and gave us a broad view on the world. The Orthodox Church had a crucial role in preserving the Bulgarian culture during the hundreds of years of Ottoman enslavement. We grew up with respect for religion as a cultural phenomenon.</p>
<p>I was 13 when I was baptized by accident.</p>
<p><span id="more-1632"></span><br />
Mom and dad took me and my sister on vacation to the mountains. There in the heart of the Balkans is the Troyan Monastery. At the time people were able to rent rooms in the monastery for vacations. We had great time hiking the hills, swimming in the river, eating shish kebab in the nearby restaurants and observing the paintings of the 17th century church.</p>
<p>Nuns and monks from all over Bulgaria gathered at the monastery for the day of Holy Mother of God.  A young nun met my sister and when she figured it out that the kid is not baptized she asked my parents for permission to do it. Mom and dad thought it is a good idea and that summer my sister and I were baptized. The nun became our godmother.</p>
<p>She sent us the New Testament first. It was interesting. Jesus was a fascinating (to quote President Obama) ‘historical person’, I thought. Greek mythology however was much more fun to read.</p>
<p>If you are still here: I am trying to be honest.</p>
<p>Many people of faith gave it a try to help me believe in God. From my orthodox nun godmother to Jehovah Witnesses recruiter, to Baptist bible study with coffee and muffins group, to yoga class pamphlets, to Muslim friends. Many evolution teachers failed to convince me either.</p>
<p>So how do stubborn non-believing folks like me can help America? I would go with ‘decency, honesty, charity’. That might work…</p>
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		<title>Restoring Honor</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1628</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1628#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:32:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[picture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rally]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/beck-rally.jpg" alt="" title="beck rally" width="645" height="410" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1629" /></p>
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		<title>Restoring Honor</title>
		<link>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1624</link>
		<comments>http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1624#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:49:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ellie Velinska</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rally]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restoring honor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/?p=1624</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Restoring Honor rally will be held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 28, 2010 Come as you are!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.bigbureaucracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/lincoln-memorial2.jpg" alt="" title="lincoln memorial2" width="645" height="389" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1625" /></p>
<p>Restoring Honor rally will be held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>10 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 28, 2010</p>
<p>Come as you are!</p>
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