Robert J Turner

I think this is definitely worth subscribing to, free Christian music…

Music Podcast : tan tan noodles - msg free since 2005

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | ‘Inequality rife’ for young girls
‘Inequality rife’ for young girls
Schoolgirls in Sri Lanka
Educating girls is vital to a country’s economy, Plan says
Girls are more likely than boys to be malnourished, suffer poverty, face violence and be refused an education, according to a new report.

Gender inequality and discrimination continues to be pervasive and widespread, Plan International says.

This inequality hinders governments’ ability to meet key development goals, the child-based aid organisation says.

The study collated statistics from around the world looking at the lives of girls under the age of 18.

Conception

“Girls and young women, who make up almost a quarter of the world’s population, probably face the greatest discrimination of any group of this size in the world,” the report says.

DISADVANTAGED
Some 121m children do not attend primary school - 54% of those are girls
82m girls in developing countries who are now aged 10-17 will be married before their 18th birthday
In some countries, most girls marry before their 18th birthday: India (50%), Nepal (60%) and Niger (76%)
Worldwide, some 14m 15-to-19-year-olds give birth each year
Girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those in their 20s
Source: Plan report
Because I am a girl [4.57MB]
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Girls risk discrimination from the moment they are conceived, Plan International says, facing a far higher chance of being aborted before birth and malnourished or mutilated afterwards in societies which value boys over girls.

Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco are cited as countries where there is a strong preference for baby boys over girls.

Plan cites estimates that put the number of girls and women who are “missing” - aborted due to their sex before birth - as high as 100 million, despite the biological trend for women to marginally outnumber men.

China alone accounts for 50 million “missing” women, it says.

Bearing fruit

Economically, the report argues, it makes no sense to neglect girls and young women who have a real and valuable contribution to make to lifting countries out of poverty.

An Indian girl cools herself under a water tap in Mumbai
Many societies value boys over girls, seen as a financial burden

Educating girls, Plan says, can transform a country’s economy.

“No country has yet emerged from poverty without investing in education, including in that of its girls. Investment in girls bears fruit,” the report says.

Education serves to change the lives of girls and young women for future generations too - educated girls are more likely, as mothers, to send their own girls to school.

Women also face health challenges linked to their gender - pregnancy is the leading cause of death for young women aged 15 to 19 and girls are infected by HIV/Aids in disproportionately high rates.

Early marriage in many part of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia means that many engage in intercourse even before they are teenagers and have limited choice over birth control.

Nearly 50% of sexual assaults worldwide are against girls aged 15 years or younger. Those living in the conflict zones are particularly at risk.

Plan International says that education remains the key to improving the situation for girls and young women and in changing acceptance of discriminatory practices within a society.

It also calls for women under the age of 18 to be listened to and their opinions used to inform policy and decision-making.

Plan says that the legal tools - such as international agreements and human rights charters - already exist but their principles must be followed.

Groups who encourage change, Plan says, should be supported, “to ensure that when a child is born she is not discriminated against simply because she is a girl”.

I wrote RevTim today…His podcast re life changing events/accidents

Hello Rev. Tim

This is Rob Turner from Sunny Victoria, BC and I wanted to tell you that minor accidents can temporarily change your direction, On Wednesday June 3rd I woke up tired but never the less ready for another working day, I was preparing myself and getting coffee ready and I spilled the coffee flavoring, not quite spilt milk, in fact worse and my old self came flooding back and the F word leaped from my lips as I had the stuff on my clothes and the floor and if you ever spill coffee flavoring, its the oddest stuff, its a combination of oil and stickiness, a real mess to clean.

Needless to say it changed my direction and over all outlook towards the coming day but after hearing your podcasts how major accidents change your life forever I realized my foolishness and the whole attitude to the day ahead was given to God and he disposed of it and I was compelled to write you.

Thanks,
It was my first time listening and now I have subscribed to the RSS feed, The Bored Again Christian and RevTim will bless my ears again.

Rob Turner
http://www.robertjturner.com

Can this really work…

Subject: Gas - Read this if you aren’t interested in paying $1.30 - $1.50 / liter this summer
This idea may actually work. Give it some thought.
“War On Gas”

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Haliburton. It’s worthy of our consideration.

Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $1.50 a liter by summer and it might possibly go higher! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the “don’t buy gas on a certain day” campaign that was going around earlier! T he oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn’t continue to “hurt” ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $.79/litre is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.10 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a liter of gas is CHEAP at $.79 - $.99, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace….. not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can’t just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here’s the idea:

Starting June 1 of 2007 DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the biggest Company in Canada . Petro Canada ! If they are not selling any gas, they will be very quickly inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. Think about this. Petro Canada has 1500 retail locations and the entire country consumes 68 million gallons a day. Yes per day. And Petro Canada is Canada ’s largest gasoline retailer, then doesn’t it make sense that the consumer can bring this giant to its knees and force them to lower their prices.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Petro Canada gas buyers. It’s really simple to do! Now, don’t wimp out at this point…. keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) … and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million pass it on to ten friends each, then 30 million people!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all.

(If you don’t understand how we can reach 30 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people….

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 30 MILLION people could conceivably see this within the next 8 days!!!

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from Petro Canada UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO A REASONABLE PRICE AND KEEP THEM DOWN

I got this in a spam, It had a virus infected attachment that I didn’t open but had to laugh at this:

The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping .
I am always doing things I can’t do, that’s how I get to do them.
When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
Age doesn’t matter, unless you’re cheese.
Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
When I dig another out of trouble, the hole from which I lift him is the
place where I bury my own.
I refuse to admit that I am more than 52, even if that makes my children illegitimate.
People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable.
A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.
Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the
greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!
Nothing is so perfectly amusing as a total change of ideas.
An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.
Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life.
If you want a trait, act as if you already have the trait.
How to trap an atheist: Serve him a fine meal, then ask him if he believes there is a cook.
A graceful and honorable old age is the childhood of immortality.
A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down.
The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.