12/05/96
I am twelve years old and I am
home-schooled. I love the Lord with all my heart. My eyes have been
opened recently to the way the world controls the minds of
children.
This is how it works. The Holy Spirit is
continually trying to speak to children. The world thinks that
children are to be sent away from their homes to be taught. A strange
environment and the continual distraction of other schoolmates causes
their minds to be closed to the Holy Spirit. When they arrive home
after school, there are other distractions such as television, radio,
games and no one to supervise. Their eyes and minds are continually
drawn away from the Lord; the Lord who should be the only governor of
the mind.
Television is one of the more distracting
forces. Moving quickly and full of lies, it is designed to kill the
faith of children. I haven't had a lot of television in my life. My
mind thinks more clearly when my life is just reality.
Children's minds are led to horror stories
such as the "Goosebump" series, to novels such as Pony Club and
Babysitter's Club, and comics such as "Calvin and Hobbes," which all
include spirit-deadening lies. Lies are formed and pounded into kids'
heads of Santa Claus, ghosts, witches and worst of all, the so-called
"better" world of fantasy. Any faith that they may have is quenched
promptly by the world and the lies it teaches.
The truth of the matter is the world hates
children and all other humans. The government is leading all children
into its system of lies.
Aquinnah O'Keefe
11/23/96
Your article, World Bank Guilty of Genocide in Africa represents a very westernized point of view. Your author seems to think Africans are controlled by transnational corporations, the World Bank, and the IMF. This is a very racist viewpoint, I think. You're basically saying that Africans cannot control their own destiny; that they must subjugate themselves to the stronger economic powers. In my estimation, your supposed 'liberal' assessment of Africa couldn't be further from the truth. I spent three years living and working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya. From what I heard, read and saw it is the greed of Africa's leaders which is primarily responsible for Africa's troubles. Africans generally hate their leaders (unless they share the same tribe and get economic benefit from that association) and, unfortunately, they feel powerless to do anything about it. Articles such as yours perpetuate the myth of outsiders having control of Africa. The truth is Africans can stand up and take control whenever they want; they just need effective leadership to do this.
Charlie Ward
Editor's Response:
I fail to see how the conclusions of the article are racist, neither do I see how the article declares that Africans cannot control their own destiny, nor do I see how the article perpetuates the myth of outsiders having control of Africa. It seems to me the article only describes what IS happening and the effects of it. I would agree with the remainder of your letter. I think Africans should be able to stand up and take control of their own destiny, but it will only be when they are freed from some of the delusions that have been fed them. Perhaps after you have put on a few more years and looked a little more deeply into the matter, you will see that money has a lot more to do with things than you may think. While it is true that greed has a lot to do with the misery of the country, it is also true that greed has been developed into a science by the World Bank and exported to those nations who are unprepared for its sophistication.
11/23/96
I noted an excellent article carried on the WINDS news agency analyzing the economic roots of the crisis in Rwanda. (See World Bank Guilty of Genocide in Africa Ed.) It strikes me that if we subsitute "Haiti" for "Africa", "cheap labor" for "natural resources", and "privatization" for "certain reforms", we get a good picture of what is going on in Haiti. Although my specialty is not economics, it was clear to me that two of the precipitating factors of the coup d'etat which drove legitimately elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide from power were his insistence on raising the minimum wage, and his insistence on lowering the cost of education. When Preval came to power in the December 1995 elections, the international business community began clamoring for the "privatization" of state owned enterprises - if they couldn't control the enterprises through a corrupt puppet government, why then, would they just buy them outright! If memory serves, the World Bank and/or the International Monetary Fund made some economic so-called assistance contingent on a vote in favor of privatization by the Haitian legislature. In May, 1996 an anti-privatization demonstration was held in Port-au-Prince. The newly created Haitian National Police appeared in great numbers, carrying riot shields, batons, and guns, and wearing helmets. Although they did not commit any acts of violence, the mere sight of them frightened away many demonstrators, who were all too familiar with the old Haitian Army's habit of opening fire on public gatherings which did not please them. Then, when the turnout dwindled to about 800 people, critics of the demonstration said that the anti-privatization camp had "no support". But many legislators were warned by their constituencies that if they voted for privatization, "don't bother to come home to your district!" The International Monetary Fund is abbreviated FMI in French, and in Haiti is considered to stand for "Fond Misere Internationale", the International Misery Fund.
Haitian Consulting
haiconsul@aol.com
11/07/96
Your web site is awsome in every measure.
IAN GODDARD
09/27/96
I read only the top two stories before becoming too disgusted with your bleeding heart liberalism to continue. You scapegoat to the easy arguments about 500,000 children dying in Iraq, but never mention the harms of Iraq's policies to its people. The sad reality is that children will always suffer, but I believe that if we hadn't put the sanctions on Iraq, Saddam would have rebuilt his armies and tried for a round two which he keeps on talking about. This would have led to far more suffering. You have made the erroneous comparison of Saddam's actions against the Kurds to the US use of its National Guard. Do you only read the news that you print? Saddam has a past record of having test nerve gasses on the Kurds as well as other violations of a variety of international conventions. Kurdistan is in a state of full fledged war, something we have been lucky enough not to experience here in the US, even during the 60's. There is a lot more depth I would love to add to this argument, but you have asked for brevity, so I will stop my bitching now.
Ross Merritt <romerrit@du.edu>
Editor's Response:
The Winds is not a liberal news page, neither is it conservative. We do not wish to take sides, we just want to be truthful. It may be worth your consideration that your view may be formed by your institution and the news media. If you spent a little time in Iraq you may see a little different point of view. Our point is this, every nation has excuses for its murderous behavior. We are no different. Why should we use another nation's murders as an excuse for our own? A little point of history may interest you if you are open to it. Kuwait is considered by the Iraqis as part of Iraq. If outside forces split Texas off from the U.S., do you think we would consider it bad behavior to try and get it back? If a foreign power bombed our cities and starved our children to make us good, do you think we would take that without some resistance?
09/04/96
OUTSTANDING!
A joy to have found this page. It's nice to hear good sense presented sensibly. I found this site address out of the back of a booklet my daughter brought back from a recent visit to Spokane, WA. called Shillum. I'm still reading the booklet, but decided to look up the www references in the back.
I thank Yahweh for your presence. Please don't disappear! I will soon be putting up my home page and would like to link to your front page if that's cool with you.
I've found everything I've read here to be intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually stimulating; RARE.
Thanks Again!
Del
08/29/96
WAS HITLER BAD?
So Adolf Hitler was not a "bad" person? Good grief! If his example does not qualify, then whose does? Granting, that much myth exists about this person, one need not have met him to know _something_ at least of his deeds, as well as of his words. He, along with Stalin and Mao, commanded vast machines of murder and mayhem, and certainly his conduct cannot be defended. Or, is WINDS a neo-nazi front?
Paul Stoyke
stoykepk@caa.mrs.umn.ed
Editor's Response:
The purpose of the article FREE RESS OR PROPOGANDA MACHINE? is to make a point, why do we make heroes out of those who murder a president we consider bad? The same men for the same reasons would be considered evil if they planned to murder our leaders. Why is it okay for us to blow up a federal building in Iraq, Panama, or some other country, but wrong when someone does it in this country? Hitler was a cause of great suffering in the world, but how is that suffering different from the Indian massacres or the black slavery in our own country perpetrated by us? It is not just Hitler who was a bad man, it is we, today, as well.
There are many people starving to death today because of our world finance system that has been set up and enforced with armies. If Hitler had starved to death 500,000 people, is that different from our starving to death 500,000 Iraqi children through our U.N. sanctions? One may make a distinction between bad men, but God does not. Of course we have our reasons for creating the suffering we create around the world, but so did Hitler. So who qualifies for being a bad person? We just consider ourselves good so our atrocities largely go unnoticed. Propaganda is simply an engine for influencing the masses toward the point of view of the governing. If we would take our blinders off, it might cause a little humbling of us all.
Your other question, "Is the Winds a front for the Neo-Nazis?" No sir, it is not..
08/25/96
"The Winds" is a wonderful project. I hope that proper effort will go into keeping it current and not stale news. God bless your efforts. Out of curiosity, where did Shillum come from? I cannot find any reference to it in my dictionaries, Biblical or otherwise. I haven't read the entire document yet, but what I have read, I agree with and echo a resounding AMEN!
Yours Truly,
John Wells