en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patricks_Day
I apologize for some of my posts in the last few weeks for their boredom and length. I was simply doing my yearly reading which I do between Crimson and Clover (Feb 14 - Mar 17) Valentines to St. Patricks. I have met a great many wonderful new people over this time and have gained more life karma than possibly the last 3 months prior. I always find that spring is the time for me to have my rebirth before Easter and I realize that when I answer the important questions: "what the hell am I doing on the planet?!", "Am I a good person?!" "Is it worth it?!" The answers are all answered in Crimson and Clover. In my Heart of Hearts I believe that I am a good person and that even though I have lost valuable people in my life and let people down or dissapointed I can look deep inside myself during Crimson and Clover and say: "I am loved, I have loved and I am truly Lucky!"
Indeed throught the Catharsis there is a Metamorphisis a change and evolution...The best changes are ones of positive spiritual and mental elevation. And in that new mental and emotional plane we connect not just to our innocence and inner child but to others and God.
So with that I want to remember and list those that I have met in the last two weeks, Indeed they may get forgotten but they have touched my heart. To Lisa, your heart is pure, courage over sadness my dear. To Linds, Gavin knows not friendship but in matters of the heart a mindfield is better trodden with deep care. To Sara, May your dreams broken by chance erupt again like the dormant flames of the Ring of Fire. To Dennis and Vince I thank you for your companionship, "to shoot the shit" is not a tiny thing at any time. To Michael, Indeed we as a nation are happy because you are here. Continue to be my hero with due dilligience. To Paula and Carol Ann may your heart open and find comfort from pain. To Belinda (Babs). Thank you for letting me let you smile. It is the greatest gift given to me by Heaven. To Farah, thank you for letting me teach you Buddhism. Indeed may you find the practice of purity become habit and remember that you light and warm the world's hearts with your kindness. Never let it extinguish and may your light that fire in others.
Remember your tears are not rain, it is your body releasing it's pain...It is the catharsis you have wanted. Just use it wisely. It's more than words it's the realization of perfection, grateful for life's complexity. Like the flower of your mind and heart...let it bloom with the rain.
| Canada  Overall score 2008: 5.4
Change since 2003: +0.2 (using 2008 methodology) Canada ranks 11th overall in 2008. Canada’s main contributions to the development of poor countries come through its strong support of technological innovation and dissemination, its low barriers against developing country exports, and its policies that promote productive investment in poor countries. But Canada’s positive impact is reduced by its large share of tied foreign aid, its small contributions to international peacekeeping efforts and its poor environmental record from the standpoint of developing countries.
Canada Scores 2003-2008 | |
| | Country Reports |
2008 ResultsAid | | What it measures | Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GNI adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively uncorrupt recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects. | Canada Overall | | Canada Strengths | - Large amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank by share of GDP: 4)
- Prevents project proliferation; large average project size (rank: 11)
| Canada Weaknesses | - Large share of tied or partially tied aid (31%; rank: 20)
| | | Trade | | | What it measures | International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries. | Canada Overall | | Canada Strengths | - Low tariffs on agricultural products (13.3% of the value of imports; rank: 4)
- Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to 11.1% tariff; rank: 5)
| Canada Weaknesses | - High barriers against textiles (10.5% of the value of imports; rank: 21)
- High barriers against apparel (13.6% of the value of imports; rank: 21)
| | | Investment | | | What it measures | Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries. | Canada Overall | | Canada Strengths | - Provides insurance against political risk for both domestic and foreign firms
- Employs tax-sparing arrangements to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
- Particularly active in the G-8 Anti-Corruption and Transparency Action Plan and in the Kimberley Initiative on blood diamonds
- Allows pension fund investments in emerging markets
| Canada Weaknesses | - Political risk insurance also given to inefficient, import-substituting projects
| | | Migration | | | What it measures | The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return home. | Canada Overall | | Canada Strengths | - Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Canada (rank by share of population: 6)
| Canada Weaknesses | - Only a small increase during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants from developing countries living in Canada (rank by share of population: 11)
- Tuition for foreign students higher than for nationals
| | | Environment | | What it measures | Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity. | Canada Overall | | Canada Weaknesses | - Low gas taxes ($0.26 per liter; rank: 21)
- High fishing subsidies ($2.50 per person; rank: 15)
- High greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (22.8 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 21)
| | | Security | | | What it measures | Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments. | Canada Overall | | Canada Weaknesses | - Small financial and personnel contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade (rank by share of GDP: 13)
| | | Technology | | | What it measures | Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries. | Canada Overall | | Canada Strengths | - No attempt to incorporate into bilateral free trade agreements “TRIPS-Plus” measures that would restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries
- High tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 3)
- Does not offer patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain
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Crimson and Clover
Now I don't hardly know her
But I think I could love her
Crimson and clover
Ah, well if she come walkin' over
Now I been waitin' to show her
Crimson and clover, over and over
Yeah, my, my, such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything
What a beautiful feeling
Crimson and clover, over and over
bouncy