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No longer should we rely on oil from countries that are not necessarily friendly or democratic.

quote by Cathy McMorris
Added by Lucian Velea
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Oil Replaces Gold Standard

(Essay)

“Oil is the new gold standard. As international community becomes more oil dependent the closer mankind moves to global fascism.”
ROTMS

Securing all known oil reserves is the goal/long term plan of the United States, Britain and other conspirators. This gives them control over extraction, distribution and pricing.

“Peak oil” is a myth created to instill fear and create panic. There’s enough oil in Alaska alone to furnish the needs of the United States for more than enough time to develop alternate energy. The exploration, mapping, drilling and capping of oil wells on Gull Island located in the waters of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska is well known. The by-product of the Alaskan oil wells is an abundance of natural gas, indeed enough to supply heating needs in the U.S. for a very long time. The current administration dare not open this vast oil/natural gas reserve, lest their long term plans be spoiled.

In order to accomplish a global monopoly the conspirators must eliminate rogue producer/competitors like Iran, Venezuela and Russia. To this end, Bush-Cheney are currently pressing hard to start a war with Iran, by any means including lies and false accusations. They’re acutely aware that Iranian oil production readies to sell their oil for currencies other than the U.S. dollar. This could dramatically lower the price of gas at the pump and devastate the U.S. economy.

You may ask why/how could lower prices be harmful to the U.S. economy.
The simple truth resides in the deals cut with Saudi Arabia and other world oil producers by the USA. Indeed, the written and unwritten agreements that guarantee producers fabulous wealth, as long as they sell oil for dollars. The principal reason why Bush invaded Iraq was to curtail Hussein’s threat to sell oil for Euros. He’d still be in power today had he played ball with U.S. handlers.

As the largest oil producer in the world Saudi Arabia represents a classic example of how “One hand washes the other”. Big oil companies develop the oil fields and supervise extraction, Wall Street banking middlemen set oil barrel prices for dollars and collect huge profits, then as agreed Saudis plow their profits into the U.S. to help pay off debt. Should this delicate balance be disturbed, U.S. economic collapse would ensue. Now plug this scenario into other world producers and the conspiracy is exposed.

As it stands today, high prices at the gas pump are servicing national debt by we the consumers. To make things worse, offshore hedge funds are manipulating oil futures by speculating on the rise and fall of price of a barrel of oil, thus adding to volatility.

Planning and common sense have been thrown out the window for global control and profit…what follows is global fascism and “New World Order”.

As a global citizens and consumers we must seek the truth of what is taking place and then unite through national protest and organization. Knowledge is our true power and way out of a messy situation created by a greedy few.

“The righteous many, shall reclaim power and freedom from an evil few”
ROTMS

poem by Ray Lucero
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Aint Necessarily So

(slow)
It aint necessarily so
No, it aint necessarily so
These things that youre liable,
To read in the bible.
No it aint necessarily so
(jammin)
You bet that you cant be wrong.
No place where you dont belong.
Theres nothin you dont know.
But it aint necessarily so
To you theres never no doubt.
Its either in or its out.
You sure put up quite a show.
But it aint necessarily so
I said hold, let your bad self go.
Hold on, caus you already know.
Its never maybe or might.
To you its black or its white.
If I say yes you say no.
But it anns necessarily so
Hold on, let your bad self go.
Hold on, cause you already know.
You think that you cant be wrong.
No place where you dont belong.
Theres nothing you dont know.
But it aint necessarily so
Aint necessarily so
Aint necessarily so
No no no no
No it aint necessarily so
No no no no
No no no no
No no no no
No it aint necessarily so.
No no no no
No it aint necessarily so.

song performed by Electric Light Orchestra
Added by Lucian Velea
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Rely On Me

Writers: leo sayer & alan tarney
Rely on me
Devil take tomorrow
Take these blues away
Too much pain and sorrow
All our yesterdays
Theres a world a waiting
Where you reap just what you sow
No good contemplating
So come with me and watch it grow
Rely on me
Rely on me
Rely on me
I will set you free
Ill break down the walls and set you free
Moon is bright in my sky
Nightingale sings sweet sweet
Youre the song in my heart
Put your faith in me
Lets not cool the spirit
Waste each others time
Its my world I want you in it
Trust in me and what were sure to find
Rely on me
Rely on me
Rely on me
I will set you free
Ill break down the walls and set you free
Rely on me
Rely on me
Rely on me
I will set you free
Ill break down the walls and set you free

song performed by Leo Sayer
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ill Oil Wells Love You

I met a man in texas
And oh, he was so fine
And I said to myself
Self, Im gonna make him mine
He owned a lot of oil wells and his bank roll sure was healthy
And I new if I married him Id suddenly be wealthy
Oh Ill oil wells love you
Ill oil wells care
Ill oil wells need you
I want you oil wells dear
Well I never had no money
Not a penny to my name
And I said Id find a rich man
And Id love my way to fame
So he took mt in his arms
And I cuddled up real near
The money bug then bit me and I wispered in his ear
Oh, Ill oil wells love you
Ill oil wells care
Ill oil wells need you
I want you oil wells dear
He looked in to my eyes and thought he saw a love light shine
Nearly did he know that that light was dollar signs
Now that we are married there aint nothin left to tell
Well live happily ever after because all is well that ends well
Oh, Ill oil wells love you
Ill oil wells care
Ill oil wells need you
I want you oil wells dear

song performed by Dolly Parton
Added by Lucian Velea
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Afghanistan: Unified Friendly Government Required?

Who will unravel twisted paths
on road to war what really
prompted invasion Afghanistan?

Let us review sly oiled palms crossed
on fascinating road to Afghani invasion?
Who are the players what plot timeline?

Oil Date 1991-1997
fat honey bee major U.S. oil companies
BP Amoco, Enron, ExxonMobil, Shell,
Texaco, Unocal and other players directly
invest billions cash bribing heads of state
in Kazakhstan to secure their equity rights...

what is up for steak prime cuts on table?
huge oil reserves in these regions sly oil
companies commit to direct investments
in Kazakhstan $35 billion more pending
but are not willing to pay exorbitant prices...

why pay Russia to use Russian pipelines?
major oil companies need control options
have no way to recoup their investments?

Oil Date December 4,1997
invited guests representatives of friendly
Taliban arrive at Texas Unocal headquarters
to negotiate pipeline support subsequent
reports indicate negotiation failure allegedly
greedy Taliban wanted too much money...

Oil Date December 4,1997 February 12,1998
later rising star to become favoured status
a shiny Special Ambassador to Afghanistan
Unocal Vice President John J. Maresca testifies
before House International Relations Committee
a single unified friendly government is required...

in place in Afghanistan before a trans-Afghani
pipeline tall order needed to monetize oil can
be built to liberate site vast Afghani oil reserves?

See No Evil Tell No Lies in 1998 the CIA ignores
warnings from Case Officer Robert Baer that Saudi
Arabia is harboring an al-Q'aeda cell led by known
terrorists two next a detailed list of known terrorists
August 2001 offered to Saudi intelligence is refused...

Oil Date April 1999

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
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GM Battle Earth Began In Eden

In Eden choices
between good evil
were desire made.

What fruit would you eat?
What choices will you make?
What life path decision walk?

Your actions carry implications
decisions have consequences
nature has laws as do societies;

when spoken written codes
of honour are foolish broken
fickle souls become cast outs.

Will you reap benefits
of your labour solid planted?
Will you curse this earth
despoil ground giving life?

Paradise waits in our hands
paradise is ours for taking.
Technology science wisdom frees
wise nations from animal labours.

Some corporations military nations
would rather dominate oil markets.
Spend waste their youth resources
seizing guarding oilfields pipelines.

General Motors Chevron greed lies
kills promise clean green electric cars;
to pump up huge greed oil profits
shredding technology enriching lives.

Japanese fuel economy hybrid cars
dominates resource saving efficiencies;
out distances American gas guzzling cars
while America reaps greenhouse storms.

Wise nations will embrace clean energies
while greed chokes on green house gases;
wind solar power rises eastern economies
China Japan Korea make wise electric cars.

Cry for American exploited poor stolen wages
oil companies sucked dry at life draining gas pumps;
weep blue American ice homes winter chill heat costs;
blessing stripped no free solar energy roof tiles.

[...] Read more

poem by Terence George Craddock
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It Ain't Necessarily So

Ain't necessarily so.
Ain't necessarily so.
Things you're liable
To read in a bible
Ain't necessarily so.
Little David he was small, alright,
Yeah, now David he was small alright,
Just like Goliath
Lay dying then he dieth,
Oh he was small, alright.
Little Moses he was found in a stream.
Yeah Moses now he was found in a stream
When that pharoah's sweet daughter
She came by and fished that boy out from the water,
Fished him, she said, from a stream.
Now Jonah now he lived in a whale.
Yeah Jonah he lived in a whale
Yet he made his home in that
Fish's abdomen.
Jonah he lived in a whale.
I said, ain't necessarily so.
No, ain't necessarily so.
The things you're liable
To read in a bible
Ain't necessarily so.
Ain't necessarily so.
No, it ain't necessarily so.

song performed by Moody Blues
Added by Lucian Velea
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Now Im A Farmer

Ive got a spade and a pick-axe
Ive got a spade and a pick-axe
And a hundred miles square of land to churn about
And a hundred miles square of land to churn about
My old horse is weary but sincerely
My old horse is weary but sincerely
I believe that he can pull a plough
I believe that he can pull a plough
Well Ive moved into the jungle of the agriculture rumble,
Well Ive moved into the jungle of the agriculture rumble,
To grow my own food
To grow my own food
And Ill dig and plough and scrape the weeds
And Ill dig and plough and scrape the weeds
Till I succeed in seeing cabbage growing through
Till I succeed in seeing cabbage growing through
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Its alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
Its alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
How calming and balming the effect of the air
How calming and balming the effect of the air
Well, I farmed for a year and grew a crop of corn
Well, I farmed for a year and grew a crop of corn
That stretched as far as the eye can see
That stretched as far as the eye can see
Thats a whole lot of cornflakes,
Thats a whole lot of cornflakes,
Near enough to feed new york till 1973
Near enough to feed new york till 1973
Cultivation is my station and the nation
Cultivation is my station and the nation
Buys my corn from me immediately
Buys my corn from me immediately
And holding sixty thousand bucks, I watch as dumper trucks
And holding sixty thousand bucks, I watch as dumper trucks
Tip new yorks corn flakes in the sea
Tip new yorks corn flakes in the sea
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now Im a farmer, and Im digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Its alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
Its alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
How calming and balming the effect of the air
How calming and balming the effect of the air
Now look here son
Now look here son

[...] Read more

song performed by Who
Added by Lucian Velea
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Rich Girl

Youre a rich girl, and youve gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
I ts a bitch girl but its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far
And dont you know, dont you know
That its wrong to take what is given you
So far gone, on your own
You can get along if you try to be strong
But youll never be strong
cause
Youre a rich girl, and youve gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Its a bitch girl and its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far
High and dry, out of the rain
Its so easy to hurt others when you cant feel pain
And dont you know that a love cant grow
cause theres too much to give, cause youd rather live
For the thrill of it all, oh
Youre a rich girl, and youve gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Its a bitch girl and its gone too far
cause you know it dont matter anyway
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Get you too far
And you say
You can rely on the old mans money
You can rely on the old mans money
Youre a rich girl, a rich girl
Oh, youre a rich rich girl yeah
Say money but it wont get you too far,
Oh, get ya too far

song performed by Hall & Oates
Added by Lucian Velea
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This Friendly World

R.E.M., Andy, Tony---This Friendly World
ANDY: Hi, Michael.
MICHAEL: Hi, Andy. Thanks for joining us. Do you
wanna ... you wanna sing a song together?
ANDY: Sure! Is it a sweet song?
MICHAEL: Yeah, it's real sweet.
ANDY: O.K.!
[They laugh.]
MICHAEL:
In this friendly, friendly world
With each day so full of joy
Why should any heart be lonely?
ANDY: My turn!
In this friendly, friendly world
With each night so full of dreams
Why should any heart be afraid?
The world is ...
MICHAEL ANDY:
... such a wonderful place
To wander through
When you've got someone you love
MICHAEL:
To wander along with you
ANDY: O.K., now take every second word! With ...
MICHAEL: ... the ...
ANDY: ... sky ...
MICHAEL: ... so ...
ANDY: ... full ...
MICHAEL: ... of ...
ANDY: ... stars
MICHAEL: And ...
ANDY: ... the ...
MICHAEL: ... river ...
ANDY: ... so ...
MICHAEL: ... full ...
ANDY: ... of ...
MICHAEL: ... song, Every ...
ANDY: ... heart ...
MICHAEL: ... should ...
ANDY: ... be ...
MICHAEL: ... so ...
ANDY: ... thankful
It's a friendly world! Don't you think so, Michael?
MICHAEL: Yup!
TONY: Oh yeah?! What's so friendly about it?!!
This is Tony Clifton, and, and I demand a part in
this song! I'm just as big a part of the movie as
these guys are! And, and I will not sit back while
some sought-after Colonel Kurtz wanna-be, uh, uh
has his day in the sun! I think he's enough

[...] Read more

song performed by REM
Added by Lucian Velea
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How Much Longer

I'm stuck
Inside
Can't get this done wish I could hide
This scene is really such a pain
I just
Can't see
How this is any use to me
This work is drivin' me insane
All I really want is to get away (can anybody tell me)
How much longer
Till I'm done
How much longer
Wanna feel the sun
How much longer
I can't wait
How much longer until I can play that game
It's on
My mind
I think I'm runnin out of time
This weight is more than I can take
That clock
Is slow
It's never gonna let me go
This time I need more than just a break
All I really want is to get away (can anybody tell me)
How much longer
Till I'm done
How much longer
Wanna feel the sun
How much longer
I can't wait
How much longer until I can play that game
How much longer
Till I'm done
How much longer
Wanna feel the sun
How much longer
I can't wait
How much longer until I can play that game
And here I go again (and here I go again)
Wondering when (when)
I can have my time to play
(Can anybody tell me)
(Can anybody, can anybody tell me)
How much longer
Till I'm done
How much longer
Wanna feel the sun
How much longer
I can't wait

[...] Read more

song performed by Yu-Gi-Oh
Added by Lucian Velea
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Oxymoron

Oxymoron:
fresh fish

*********

JBO:

'The beach at Sanibel... an Arlington Cemetery of shells.'
*
Every suffocated or strangled fish is first given
waterboarding sensations.
*
Fishes more frequently than
mammals or birds are cut open
alive, while their eyes watch
the knifing of others and their
gills struggle for absent air.

Fish cannot scream.
Greed for suffocated fish flesh causes seals to be clubbed in Canada, Norway, S Africa etc., dolphins to be knifed in Japan, whales to be murdered by
Norwegian Japanese Icelandic and American Inuit fishermen, bears
to be murdered in Alaska, untold thousands of fishermen to
be lost in tsunamis,700 Bangladesh fishermen lost in just 1 storm, Thai fishermen working for slave wages, tens of millions around
the world to die of stomach cancer, food poisoning etc.**

What's in fish? unreported Mad Fish
Disease, nuclear toxins a million
times more concentrated than in
sea water, AIDS from unprocessed
human waste dumped into
the oceans, hepatitis, anaphylactic shock, ecoli,
and other food poisoning,
throat, stomach and other cancers,
mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, pbb's, pcb's, thousands
of carcinogenic industrial waste products, and heavy metal sired
brain damage, pfiesteria (red tide) which poisons the fishes

FISH CAN'T SCREAM, FISH TOXINS, FISH STORIES

Are all anglers stranglers?

Dick Gregory: Eating fish liver oil is like eating the filter out of a car.

[...] Read more

poem by O. Anna Niemus
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Loverman

(originally recorded by nick cave and the bad seeds)
Theres a devil waiting outside your door (how much longer? )
Theres a devil waiting outside your door (how much longer? )
And hes bucking and braying and pawing at the floor (how much longer? )
And hes howling with pain, crawling up the walls (how much longer? )
Theres a devil waiting outside your door (how much longer? )
And hes weak with evil and broken by the world (how much longer? )
And hes shouting your name and asking for more (how much longer? )
Theres a devil waiting outside your door (how much longer? )
Loverman! since the world began
Forever, amen, till the end of time, yeah
Take off that dress, oh
Im coming down, yeah
Im your loverman, yeah
cause I am what I am what I am what I am what I am
L is for love, baby
O is for only you that I do
V is for loving virtually everything that you are
E is for loving almost everything that you do
R is for rape me
M is for murder me
A is for answering all of my prayers
N is for knowing your lovermans going to be the answer to all of yours
Loverman! till the bitter end
While the empires burn down
Forever and ever and ever, ever, amen
Im your loverman
So help me, baby
So help me, baby
cause I am what I am what I am what I am what I am
Im your loverman
Theres a devil crawling along your floor (how much longer? )
Theres a devil crawling along your floor (how much longer? )
With a trembling heart, hes coming through your door (how much longer? )
With his straining sex in his jumping paw (how much longer? )
Ooh, theres a devil crawling along your floor (how much longer? )
And hes old and hes stupid and hes hungry and hes sore
And hes blind and hes lame and hes dirty and hes poor
Gimme more, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more (how much longer? )
Theres a devil crawling along your floor
Loverman! haha! and here I stand
Forever, amen
cause I am what I am what I am what I am, hey
Forgive me, baby
My hands are tied
And I got no choice, no, no, no, no
I got no choice, no choice at all
Ill say it again
L is for love, baby
O is for oh yes I do

[...] Read more

song performed by Metallica
Added by Lucian Velea
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Fine

A lovers quarrel
Death by a shotgun barrel
With a cleaning solution the instruments are made sterile.
A hairy situation.
Like a plastic surgeon.
Rewriting the expression.
In both the date and time.

Now its fine
Now its fine.
Fine as fine can be.
I no longer need you and you no longer need me.
Can you hear the anger scream.
Reaching out for mercy in its desperate pleas.

Now its fine
Now its fine.
Fine as fine can be.
I no longer need you and you no longer need me.
Can you hear the anger scream.
Reaching out for mercy in its desperate pleas.

Changing my identity
Becoming that man I never use to be
With all niceties, and pleasantries wrapped in a little bow tie.
I don't even know how I survived.
Some thought I would have committed suicide.
But my drive just wouldn't let me.

Well, Now its fine
Now its fine.
Fine as fine can be.
I no longer need you and you no longer need me.
Can you hear the anger scream.
Reaching out for mercy in its desperate pleas.

Now its fine
Now its fine.
Fine as fine can be.
I no longer need you and you no longer need me.
Can you hear the anger scream.
Reaching out for mercy in its desperate pleas.

A murders escape.
A mind debates.
With shouts of hate.
How can you? Just how can you?
Emotional distress.
In all this I digest the worthiness
Worthless I've been called.

[...] Read more

poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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It Aint Necessarily So

Sportin life:
It aint necessarily so,
All:
It aint necessarily so.
Sportin life:
De tings dat yo lible
To read in de Bible -
It aint necessarily so.
Lil david was small, but oh my!
All:
Lil david was small, but oh my!
Sportin life:
He fought big goliath
Who lay down and dieth -
Lil david was small, but oh my!
Wadoo!
Ensemble:
Wadoo!
Sportin life:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Ensemble:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Sportin life:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Ensemble:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Sportin life:
Scatty way!
Ensemble:
Scatty wah!
Sportin life:
Yeah!
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale
All:
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale.
Sportin life:
Fo he made his home in
Dat fishs abdomen -
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale.
Lil moses was found in a stream
All:
Lil moses was found in a stream
Sportin life:
He floated on water
till ole pharaohs daughter
She fished him, she says from dat stream.
Wadoo!
Ensemble:
Wadoo!
Sportin life:

[...] Read more

song performed by Ella Fitzgerald
Added by Lucian Velea
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Allegany Camp

amazing grace circus camp
amazing grace day camp
amazing grace hallelujah jeremy camp
amazing grace jeremy camp
amazing love jeremy camp
amazing place chalet pigeon forge
amazing race church camp
amazing race games for camps
amazing race girl scout camp
amazon camp dutch lodge oven
amazon camp in sweetwater missouri
amazon cast iron dutch lodge camp
amazon dutch oven camp
amazon lodge dutch oven camp
ambassador camp at lake waccamaw nc
ambassador camp inc
ambassador chalet
ambassador chalet at doral
ambassador chalet wgc
amber bowers
amber camp lazlo
amber pow camp
amberg germany dp camp
ambition camp hockey pro
ambler baseball camp
ambleside scotland school camp
ambon pow camp
ambor island pow camp
ambor pow camp
ambulance bower
amc camp dodge
amc camp movie summer
amc camp summer theater
amc little lyford camps
amc movie camp
amc movie camps
amc north west camp bear mountain
amc pinkham notch camp
amc summer camp for s
amc summer camp for s 2007
amc summer camp movies
amc summer movie camp
amc summer movie camp 2007
amc summer movie camp 2008
amc summer movie camp arlington
amc summer movie camp ontario california
amc theater camp hill
amc theatres summer camp
amcmovie camps
amelia earhart in japanese war camp

[...] Read more

poem by Rwetewrt Erwtwer
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I Cant Rely On You

Im feeling my mind is
Blowing me out of place right now
I cannot deny it
So I wont and I keep defying
Those lies you toss, your fake loves a loss
Is why I cant rely and have no trust
In you - yes, its true, Im thru with you
Cause if I look back this aint straight out of the blue
Hah - you dont have a clue - but - whats up
With all of these times when you never stood by me
You never been with me, you never said once at all that youd miss me
I cant deny its true - I cant rely on you
Chorus:
Dont have no faith no more in you
I cant rely on you
Cant walk a mile no more with you
I cant rely on you
Youre full of lies and nothings true
I cant rely on you
I know its tough but true - I cant rely on you
I wonder have you once
Tried to walk the way I thought we could
Selfrighteous, all you stress
What was right, what was wrong, let me guess
The thing was never born guess
Ive been ripped and torn
Just to please your life but now I feel scorn
You fool - what do you think I am? - a tool?
I sure will forget your name
Cool, cause I cant stand or understand
Just how much for your sake,
Just how much I could take
When you were trying to break,
When you were trying to fake
The whole world I tried to save but now I just hate
I cant deny its true - I cant rely on you

song performed by H-BlockX
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Impact Of Poverty On Education

THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION

There are so many different tools that have been thought relevant in people’s developmental projects both at individual and societal levels. Education is one of such practical tools. Importantly to note, there are also various meanings that denote the broad term ‘education’. In this essay, however, we are mainly interested in defining formal education since our discussion will dwell much on it. According to Nwomonoh (1998) , formal education is the process of gaining knowledge, attitudes, information and skills during the course of life especially at school.

Though education is said to be so instrumental in human development but also in the revamping of world economies, it is very unfortunate that education systems, world wide, are being held to ransom all because of poverty at both governmental and household levels. According to Thibault (2009) , poverty means the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid the escape of poverty.

Problems in our society are interconnected in one way or the other, just like poverty and personal family problems affect a student’s capability to learn. Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students. Having in mind that education is basically responsible for the development of many countries including Malawi, as the back ground suggests, we cannot afford to bypass such a vital element without a mention. Considering also the fact that poverty is one of the forces that come in the way; blocking the success of education, we feel it rational to look at how the two realities, education and poverty, affect each other both positively and negatively. That is also why we are convinced that this topic is worth studying. Our awareness of this source, poverty, and its impact on education will enable us devise some proper measures of intervention with the hope of minimizing the negative impact of poverty on education. This point, in short, explains the purpose of our investigation and why we are so passionate in getting into this research. During the whole discussion we are being guided by two questions thus, ‘does poverty really affect education? And if it does, what points do we have on the positive and negative impacts of poverty on education? ’

METHODOLOGY

The study was basically qualitative in approach because of the nature of the issue that was being addressed. This was the case because the issue of how poverty affects education, both positively and negatively is particularly very difficult to predict the conclusions without penetrating into the core of the issue. For instance, one may unreasonably rush into concluding that poverty affects education negatively only and we cannot even dare to speak of poverty affecting education positively. The study was conducted in three schools namely; Mulunguzi, Masongola and Chirunga Private Secondary schools in Zomba district between 24th April and 3rd May. In this research we used both government and private funded schools to have a more balanced result on how poverty affects formal education in these different institutions. The information required for the study was collected through group interviews of form three students and individual interviews with teachers using semi-structured interview schedules. We opted to use these interviews in the first place because we felt books are more theoretical whereas a field research is practical and it involves real life experiences. Nevertheless, we still used desk research as a supplementary source of information and for clarity in some areas.

RESULTS

Positive impacts of poverty on education
To begin with, poverty encourages one to get educated and of course work hard in class. This is because the problems faced due to poverty are very serious and therefore students who are from poverty stricken families strive to end the problems and one of the best solutions is through education. That is to say, if a person, for instance, due to poverty, is taking just a meal in a day instead of three meals, and again if he/she is sometimes sleeping on an empty stomach, he/she will resort to education bearing in mind that if he/she gets educated they will secure formal employment and eventually be able to make ends meet for themselves as well as fending for their families.

Not only does poverty encourage one to get educated, but also it helped in the introduction of free primary education. In Malawi, for instance, when Bakili Muluzi became president, he introduced free primary education and he had eliminated the requirements for school uniform forthwith (Kadzamira & Rose,2001) . This had increased the access to education dramatically as those pupils who were coming from less privileged families were also given access to this free primary education. It should also be noted that the free primary education system was not only implemented to fulfill an electoral pledge but also bearing in mind that some families were not able to send their children to school due to poverty. Free primary education was there to deal with illiteracy by reducing families’ direct costs of education. Again due to the influx in the number of pupils in primary schools; there was a lack of teachers. Sonani (2002) , testifies that the Ministry of Education re-employed all retired teachers below the age of 65. This also meant that the once retired teachers got back to their source of income which helped them support their families as well as hauling the economy of the country. The implementation of free primary education system in Malawi forced the government to provide infrastructures so as to accommodate the large number of pupils in these schools. Simply put, poverty had led to the introduction of free primary education which means that more children are going to school, and again more teachers are being trained and getting employed and finally the construction of school blocks culminating into infrastructural development, all these branching from poverty.

We may also look at poverty from a positive angle bearing in mind that when a country is poor more funds and donations come into it. These funds and donations are also given to the education sector to build new infrastructures and in the maintenance of already existing ones in the sector. These privileged countries also provide learning materials to schools that are poor as a result students in these less privileged schools perform well in accordance with the amount and quality of the learning materials that they have been provided with. For instance, a United States based non governmental organization known as “Water for People” handed over 44 water toilets they built to Chimwankhunda primary school. The school toilet facilities had been vandalized 11 years ago but because of poverty the school could not renovate them (Gausi,2007) .

In addition, these funds and donations help more people to get educated. This is so because people can use funds as school fees, pocket money and buy stationery. The donations may include library books, chairs and writing materials. These can make a conducive environment for one to learn since there will be enough facilities at the school. For instance, with funding from the “United States Agency for International Development” (USAID) ,3,300 needy Malawian primary school girls are being funded. They are being provided with food, clothing, school supplies and hygienic products like soap and body lotion (Muhaliwa,2005) . Likewise,500 pupils at Katoto primary school in Mzuzu no longer sit on the floors during lessons courtesy of Southern Bottlers Limited and Lions Club of Limbe. Before these funds and donations, pupils used to sit on the floor due to scarcity of desks. These donations improved the pupils’ school attendance in such a way that pupils have started going to school regularly.

In the same line, a needy student can be given a scholarship to go further with his/her education. In this case the scholarship is given to the person just because he/she cannot manage to pay school fees on her own. This in turn benefits the needy person and the community at large. In this situation poverty has assisted in the development of education in an area by beckoning funds and donations from rich countries and organisations.

Further more; in most cases poverty facilitates one’s ambitions to attain formal education. It becomes easier for a poor child to put much of his concentration on education as compared to a rich child. This is because a poverty stricken student will have less destructive materials for entertainment. He/she will also have less or no money to indulge him/herself in activities that require spending a lot of money for instance, drinking beer. Sometimes even if the child can find money he/she can buy basic needs and not just spending it anyhow. Contrast to this a rich child may obtain things like ipods, mp3s, games for entertainment. These things in most cases destruct the concentration of students in their studies. As a result, one’s class performance is negatively affected since most of his/her time is being spent on entertainment.

Negative impacts of poverty on education

Just as a coin has got two sides, a head and a tail, poverty also, apart from having positive impacts on education, it does have negative impacts on the same. We have talked much about the positive face of poverty on education. We shall surely do ourselves injustice if we do not look at the negative part. In spite of the fact that poverty has an impact on education that is worth complimenting, we cannot afford in this discussion to overlook the point that so many students have been forced to leave the corridors of learning institutions due to the same poverty. One of the reasons that force some students leave the learning institutions prematurely is pregnancy, which in most cases, come because of poverty. It is almost common knowledge that a good number of students who come from poor families wish they could be sailing in the same boat with those who come from well to do families as far as luxurious life is concerned. The poor students constantly feel that there is something missing at the core psychologically. With this feeling in their minds, they tend to regard themselves as incomplete and not accepted socially. Consequently, they envy the rich students and squarely want to posses the things that are associated with the rich students. Very unfortunate that the poor students’ parents cannot afford to fulfill their children’s desires like what the rich parents would provide. Because the pull towards recognition is too strong for the poor students to resist, they end up in indulging themselves into prostitution in their search for money. Pity indeed that instead of recreating, as anticipated, their promiscuous behavior sees most of them getting pregnant and for some very unfortunate ones get even HIV and other STIs. From this discussion, commonsense convinces us that this school dropp out due to pregnancy is one of the negative impacts of poverty on education.

Adding more flesh to this discussion, we can also appreciate that hunger has been so instrumental in bringing down the standards of education world wide, in general, and Malawi, in particular. Frankly speaking, there are very few students if not none, who concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs. Food is one of the basic needs that every person is obliged to have if he/she is to survive. It is not surprising, therefore, to see some students performing miserably in class simply because they have not taken enough food or they have taken none altogether. The question of hunger finds its way into the education system because the government has failed to provide adequate food in most of its boarding schools. This is poverty at governmental level. There are also some students who are not boarders but still endure the hostile reality of hunger right in their homes. This is due to poverty at household level. It is sad that poverty, both at governmental and household level, has helped in engineering the deteriorating of education standards in Malawi.

Bearing in mind that it is only the eagle that can tell us the real whisper of a cloud, we visited Masongola Secondary school with the hope of getting first hand information from the students and their teachers since they are the ones who mostly benefit or get destructed by poverty. The Masongola secondary school students and their teacher, Mr. Enock Abraham, testified to us during an interview that government’s inability to provide extra food, apart from the usual beans that the institution offers, has seen many students developing ulcers. It would sound bizarre to reason that one can attend classes whilst he/she is on a hospital bed battling with ulcers. The Masongola students further testified that most poor students who have ulcers just bow down out of the race of learning because they cannot afford to buy extra food whenever the institution is serving the students beans.

This pitiful development goes beyond the boundaries of Masongola secondary school. Mulunguzi secondary school as Mr……the head teacher at the institution testifies, has not been spared from the scourge of school dropp outs simply because the school has not been able to provide extra or adequate food to students who cannot take what their friends take on health grounds. Needless to say this leaves the education standards in Malawi vacillating. It is a pity that though we have wrestled with this question of poverty a dozen times, we have not been successful in the battle. At one point in time, the government attempted to minimize the chances of school dropout in primary schools through its provision of porridge to pupils in the junior section. This attempt was in itself a good gesture but the government has failed to implement the initiative further in other schools that up to now have not benefited from the program.

It may not sound an exaggeration if we may say poverty has also forced a good number of students to give up their hopes of getting educated simply because they find it so difficult traveling to and from their respective schools. Lack of transport means, in short, has pushed them well towards the blink of despair as far as attaining formal education is concerned. This point speaks for itself how poverty can sometimes work on the education’s disadvantage.

As we go further with this discussion, we also appreciate the fact that the problem that mostly hinders a student’s success is inadequate resources that include; few teachers and learning materials. It must be highlighted that these problems are not only in developing countries but they may also find their way in reasonably developed countries like South Africa. In a developing country like Malawi, the education system encounters these problems because of the government’s failure to look into problems of infrastructure, capacity and availability of teaching and learning materials (Nkawike,2005) . The Muluzi government did a little if any; in as far as infrastructure is concerned. Lack of school blocks facilitated by a large number of pupils due to the introduction of the free primary education in 1994, forced pupils to have lessons under trees. In 2003, for example, lack of school blocks resulted in a tragedy at Nkomachi in Lilongwe when a tree fell onto an outdoor class, resulting in injury and deaths of pupils (Mvula & Chanika,2004) . This problem of learning materials continues till date, in all levels of the education system. According to Abraham (2009) , the school has always had shortage of learning blocks to an extent that the Physical Science and Biology laboratories are used as classrooms. There is also great shortage of books in all departments, and some departments like the technical department needs new equipment and current books which are very expensive. With this unfortunate situation we cannot anticipate good performance from Masongola secondary school.

In order to deal with these issues, the Muluzi government thought it wise to disregard the provision of learning materials in schools. Instead the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass mark was reduced to ensure the success of students in their examinations. Even the director of Basic Education, Nelson Kaperemera admitted that funds intended for learning materials were servicing the debts of government at the expense of improving quality education. Instead of reducing the pass mark, the government and other stake holders should strive to improve quality of education, improve teacher salaries, and provide adequate materials and train teachers properly (Malawi News,2006) .

In developing countries like Malawi, the schools are understaffed (teaching personnel) and they tend to be handling a large number of students for long hours. Furthermore, the teachers are subjected to meager salaries, which are even made late. The government does not seem to have the welfare of teachers at heart, for instance the education Manager for Phalombe, Enoch Ali says the district is facing a dire shortage of teachers, a situation that is contributing to low education standards. The teacher pupil ratio in Phalombe is 1: 120, whilst the recommended ratio is 1: 60 (The Nation,2006) . Due to low pay teachers resort to organizing part time classes, which demand an extra amount of money on top of the normal fees. These changes clearly affect those students who come from very poor families, as they do not receive adequate studies because of lack of money.
This does not only occur in secondary schools, but it also happens in universities. As the academic staff of the Universities go on strike because of the government’s reluctance to increase their salaries. One considers how this is supposed to retain staff in the University. As a result lecturers spend more time doing consultancies; instead of preparing lectures and doing University mandated research. If we are serious about fighting poverty, formal education is the hub of ideas to fight these problems by improving its standards (Kapasula,2008) .
Child labour is one of the major problems that contribute to school dropp out. The majority of child labour victims are children who are living in poverty. This is so because they lack basic needs, for this reason they are forced even against their will to do any kind of work in order to gain financial wealth. This, therefore, affects school attendance. Evidence of school dropp out due to child labour is found in central region where most children are being employed in estates. This region has high tobacco production. Since this crop demands a lot of work, children are at high demand because they do not claim high wages compared to adults. Research, therefore, showed that the percentage of children attending schools is lower compared to that of northern and southern region (Nyirongo,2004) . We have the case of two brothers aged between 12 and 15 who were forced to work at a tobacco farm at Mpherembe in Kasungu district, where they were receiving 150 kwacha a day due to poverty (Namangale,2005) . We can see that child labour has a great impact on education because through it, a lot of children are being deprived of their right to education as they spend most of their time working.

In addition to that, Chirwa (2003) found out that child labour is also taking place in people’s houses. In this case children are forced to dropp out of school either by parents or on their own, to work in neighbouring homes. Here one of the victims is a 12 year old girl Elizabeth Chalimba, who left school when she was in standard six to work as a nanny in order to support her siblings. Children from low income families are at risk because though school is their only hope for a better future, they dropp out because their parents are failing to provide them with basic needs. Apart from child labour, psychological problems due to poverty is also another cause of school dropp outs. Research shows that the impact of poverty is greater on children as opposed to adults. Firstly, the problem arises due to the environment in which these children are raised. These environments being impoverished, they are intellectually unstimulating, and lack of stimulation results in impaired intellectual development of a child. This in turn contributes to failure in class which can later on lead to school dropp out.

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poem by Innocent Masina Nkhonyo
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Let It All Burn

Riding the waves of premonitions.
Maybe your right, maybe your wrong.
I no longer care.
You gave up on me long ago.
And now I'm giving up on you.

The broken hearted are departing.
Setting sail for a new found trust.
I don't blame you, I've just had enough.
Trying to cross the divide.
Trying to see eye to eye.
But the flames just carry to high.
Their might be clearing in the sky but I can't find it.

And I can no longer afford to waste time.
Riding the waves of premonitions.
Maybe your right, maybe your wrong.
I no longer care.
You gave up on me long ago.
And now I'm giving up on you.

Being sucked down in the turmoil at the gates of hell.
I can still hear all those cross words.
As if I can make this work.
I've been down this road before.
I know where it leads.
I know what the seeds grow,
I know you will reap what I sew.
Oh no, no no no no.

And I can no longer afford to waste time.
Riding the waves of premonitions.
Maybe your right, maybe your wrong.
I no longer care.
You gave up on me long ago.
And now I'm giving up on you.

I was once an open door.
But now that is closed.
Can you feel the coldness of the frigid ice.
That's my heart.
It no long bleeds.
Not for you.
Not ever again.
With all the discontent as you keep trying.
Still I'm not moved.

And I can no longer afford to waste time.
Riding the waves of premonitions.
Maybe your right, maybe your wrong.

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poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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Two Birds Wished To Be Friendly

1 Two birds wished to be friendly

I was the messenger winged
Hither thither cuckoo and magpie
Two birds wished to be friendly

'Come here, o' dear, come here'
coo~~coo~~coo~~~in rising notes
Two birds wished to be friendly
I was the messenger winged

2 Hither thither cuckoo and magpie

Two birds wished to be friendly
I was the messenger winged
Hither thither cuckoo and magpie

Warbling, whistling, fluty trilling
Magpie just couldn't let me read
Hither thither cuckoo and magpie
Two birds wished to be friendly

3 Two birds wished to be friendly

I was the messenger plucked punished
Gloomed cuckoo, confused magpie
Two birds wished to be friendly

Reading failing, messaging failing
Loamy homey cuckoo angry with me
Two birds wished to be friendly
I was the messenger plucked punished

poem by Indira Renganathan
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