
"Congratulations to all those
who raised a magnificent £58 million for Comic Relief.
But let's not see this frittered away
on mosquito nets for children
when it could provide a decent pension for up to
four struggling bankers."
John Tatam of Richmond, Guardian Letters,
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need
but not for man's greed."
M. Ghandi
The USA Department of Labor Released
a List (Sept 10, 2009) of Slave-Made Goods.
This list is a huge boon for consumers who
want to choose slave-free products,
and for organizations working to
pressure companies and countries
to end the use of child labor.
We now have more power to end slavery than before.
Have we/will we use that power?
Download the report here.

Toby
Ord
“Ethics is the study of what is of
fundamental importance in the world,
and how this relates to how we should live.
At this stage I knew that I wanted to make a large positive difference
in the world and it seemed that studying ethics would help.”
Toby Ord
Research fellow in ethics, Oxford

music at 19a Edith Grove
Bringing music back to this endangered historical, magical
place: 19a Edith Grove, London, SW10
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A memorial celebration of the life of Christine Aldridge
choral, solo voice, piano, clarinet and readings
was held on Saturday, 15 December 2012 at
St Andrew’s Church, Finchley Road

Christine Aldridge
26 January 1961 - 5 November, 2012.
Christine will be sorely missed by everyone who knew and loved her
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"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself: I believe in the equality of man: I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavouring to make our fellow creatures happy."
Tom Paine
"If each of us made service to others a part of our lives, the
world would become an infinitely better place. From the beginning, Americans
have dedicated themselves to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.
But the happiness that was to be pursued was not the buzz of a sexual
escapade or a shopping spree, it was the happiness that comes from feeling
good by doing good. This moment in history demands that we stop waiting
on others. Now, more than ever, we must mine the most underutilised
resource available to us: ourselves."
Arianna Huffington
author and founder
of The Huffington Post
"We need broad public will."
"We also need rich country governments to be generous."
Bill Gates
Richard Dimbleby Lecture
29 January 2013
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"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow."
Thomas Paine
"If it is correct, as I believe it is, that a fundamental element of human nature is the need for creative work, for creative inquiry, for free creation without the arbitrary limit of effects of coercive institutions, then, of course, it will follow that a decent society should maximize the possibilities for this fundamental human characteristic to be realized. Now, a federated, decentralized system of free associations, incorporating economic as well as social institutions would be, what I refer to as anarchosyndicalism. And it seems to me that it is the appropriate form of social organization for an advanced technological society in which human beings do not have to be forced into positions as tools of cogs in a machine."
Noam Chomsky
There is hope for ordinary people, for real democracy, for the "exceptional people".
John Pilger's address in San Francisco, California, USA on the Fourth of July, 2009:

"Empire, Obama and America's Last Taboo "
By John Pilger
Pilger examines Obama's position as president of the US and puts it into perspective.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23301.htm
He quotes his friend, the journalist and war correspondent, Martha Gelbhorn, when he asks her what an "anti-American" is. He gives chapter and verse of the rise of the people and the hope for the future. John Pilger's entry on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pilger.htm
"Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates."
Benjam Franklin, Autobiography
"The confrontation that we are calling for with the apostate regimes does not know Socratic debate..., Platonic ideals..., nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine-gun."
The al-Qaeda training manual,
trans. US Department of Justice
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