The height of Western Civilization: Economic chaos, climate disaster, pedophilia & drones?

Remember all the wonders of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and ancient Rome, those amazing cradles of Western Civilization? Remember Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Newton, Copernicus and Einstein -- fathers of modern science, culture and art? Do the names Thomas Jefferson, Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr ring a bell -- men who gave birth to our modern ideals regarding justice?

And what about Western Civilization's many miraculous offspring -- such as life-saving medicine, outstanding universities, electricity, the telephone, moving pictures, human beings landing on the moon, the airplane and central heating?

While babysitting my three-year-old granddaughter Mena the other day, I was suddenly overwhelmed by her wonderfulness. "I'm thinking that what you have produced here is probably the height of Western Civilization!" I exclaimed to my son Joe when he came to pick her up later. "Mena is smart, kind, positive, curious and creative. She's perfect."

And then I looked over at my son, who is the prime example of a perfect loving and caring father. "Oh hell, Joe, you are the height of Western Civilization too!"

I'm so proud to be a member of a society that can produce such outstanding, high-quality youth as these ones.

Sadly, however, what Western Civilization is really going to be the most remembered for among future historians -- if there will be any left, that is -- is going to be climate disaster, planet-wide radioactivity, an economic crisis of epic proportion, greedy and grubby leadership, grand-scale human subjugation, pedophilia and pornography, waterboarding, voting-machine fraud and the bloody and anonymous disfigurement and death of hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children by monstrous drones, gristly cluster bombs and nightmare-quality uranium-enhanced weaponry that maim and kill indiscriminately. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/uk-backs-bid-to-overturn-ban-on-cluster-bombs-6259139.html

Is it too late to change?

PS: When my daughter Ashley was in first grade back in 1994, I wrote a book that her class could read in preparation for their big spring camping trip up to Tilden Park. The moral of its story was that people learn by doing -- and that we are NOT stuck in our set ways forever but truly are able to change. (And also, perhaps, that if civilization as we know it is destroyed by our greedy and inept leaders, there's still a slim chance that we might still be able to survive by living off the land?) Anyway, here's my tale (illustrations are included below, free of charge):

Ms. Brown's First Grade Class and the Great Outdoors

Let's explore some of the facts we might know and the feelings we might have about city life. Let's then compare them with the facts we might know and the feelings we might have about the Great Outdoors.

Here's a fact: All the first graders in Ms. Brown's class know pretty much everything they need to know regarding the rules of city life. You all know how to flush a toilet, buckle a seat belt, brush your teeth, turn on a television, get dressed, get on and off a school bus, bicycle to the corner and turn on and off the kitchen light.

You know how to make a bowl of cereal. You know how to answer the telephone, how to open the door and how to eat your vegetables. You know when bedtime is. You know when to get up. You know where to put your boots away. You know where to find the ice cream section when you go to the grocery store.

You know who to tell when you see a bad guy. You know who to ask for help with your homework. You know what to do when you are at school. You know what to do when you are at home.

You know a lot about city life.

But what about feelings? Most of you feel at home in the city. Most of you feel pretty familiar and comfortable with the rules and ways of city life. Right? Right.

Here's a fact: There are no televisions, cars, lights, telephones, toilets, refrigerators, houses, bicycles, schools, streets or video games in the Great Outdoors. They don't even have Barney!

Life in the Great Outdoors is very different from life in the city.

There are a lot of fun things to do in the Great Outdoors, but they are fun in a different way than the fun things you find in a city. There is dirt in the Great Outdoors. Lots and lots of dirt. There are trees. There are creeks and rivers. There are bushes, plants and grass. There is lots and lots of fresh air.

There are almost no people. There is lots of room to run around in. There is a lot of silence and a lot of interesting sounds. There are animals and birds in the Great Outdoors. And the Great Outdoors has a whole new set of rules that are completely different from the rules of city life.

But what about feelings? You might not feel familiar with this new set of rules. You might wonder how you are going to learn all the new rules of the Great Outdoors. You might feel doubtful. You might feel scared. You might feel curious. You might even feel EXCITED by the chance to learn about a new way to survive successfully in a whole new place, to go to and beat a whole new level in the game of life!

Here's a fact: If you spend time learning about the Great Outdoors, you can learn a lot.

But what about feelings? Even if you only spend an hour or two a week learning about the Great Outdoors, sooner than you think you can learn enough to feel comfortable there -- to feel as much at home in the Great Outdoors as you do in the city.

(This book is dedicated to the memory of Ms. Denise Brown, teacher extraordinaire, the best teacher ev-ah)






























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I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

"Some things never change": Student protests at UC Berkeley

On tonight's news, they featured various jam tangan kw murah segments covering protests at Occupy Oakland, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Denver, Occupy Seattle, Occupy New York, Occupy Austin, Occupy Chicago, etc. And tonight I was also a part of "Occupy Cal". And the university police charged into a mass of student demonstrators like they were going after bank robbers or bad guys instead of just students protesting HUGE tuition hikes. And the students stood their ground on Sproul Plaza against great odds.

The police seized tents and banners from the students -- and what do you know? The students seized them right back! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=buovLQ9qyWQ

And, later, when there was a lull in between various attacks on students, I had a chance to talk to some of the cops. "Are other local jam tangan kw murah police forces involved in this operation -- or is it only the U.C. police?"

"Just the university police, ma'am. jam tangan kw Not the city police. But the chancellor stated that he would not allow tents to be erected on campus." And so the chancellor apparently chose to give an order to take the tents down.

Bad choice.

"I used to protest here at this very same spot back in the 1960s," I then told the boys in blue.

"Some things never change," one cop replied. Well, guess what? Things had pretty damn well better change -- or else!

Or else what?

Or else there will be a hit-and-run type of protest movement from the rest of us 99% -- that will go on and on and on at different places daily all over America until things DO start to change. The corporatists don't have the money or the manpower to control all of us everywhere. A non-violent hit-and-run guerrilla protest movement? Yay.

And I just heard that U.C. Santa Cruz students have also gone out on strike.

And will a plaza or university or town square or bank near you be next?

PS: U.C. students in Berkeley are very well-represented by their district's councilperson, Kriss Worthington, who was also on Sproul Plaza, backing his young constituents up. Here's what he told the Berkeley Daily Planet tonight:
"At the home of the Free Speech Movement, the UCPD appears to have suppressed Free Speech again! Please join us in questioning this behavior and challenge the UCPD to respect the Free Speech Rights of Occupy Cal."
Worthington then went on to admonish Chancellor Birgeneau and UC police chief Calaya for their violent actions against non-violent protestors. "I wanted to bring to your attention that banners with Free Speech content appear to have been seized by UCPD in front of Sproul Plaza. ...It is hard to imagine that such an act could occur at the exact location in Berkeley where the Free Speech Movement began." Worthington nailed it exactly.
"You can imagine that the sense of irony will not be lost on the public, that the UCPD violated the Free Speech rights of protesters at this particular location. ...These students have made a firm commitment to no violence and no vandalism. The University should be commending the thousands of students that are participating. For many, this could be their very first political protest of their life. They are protesting specifically for additional financing for the University of California. The University should support this enthusiasm and help encourage this to be an effective protest that helps the University and our country."
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011-11-09/article/38766?headline=Open-Letter-to-Chancellor-Birgenau-and-Chief-Celaya-re-Free-Speech-on-Berkeley-Campus--By-Councimember-Kriss-Worthington

PPS: Of course it is unacceptable that police are violently shutting down jam tangan KW freedom of speech at the very spot where the Berkeley Free Speech Movement was born. But even more unacceptable is the fact that free speech movements all over the United States are also being shut down -- here in America, in the Land of the Free.

I mean, seriously. jam tangan kw With Veterans Day almost upon us, we can only speculate why our heroic troops fought and died in foreign wars -- if the very Freedom that they fought so hard for abroad is being violently shut down right here at home.

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I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge jam tangan kw  travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.
I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2
****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this jam tangan kw logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, jam tangan kw truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Occupy Berkeley: Urban homeless folk on the move

One surprising result of the new 99% movement has been that it has exposed, revealed and uncovered America's vast homeless population. "I've heard that in New York City, police are now instructing junkies, derelicts and the homeless to go down and live at Zuccotti Park," someone recently wrote on my FaceBook page wall.

Hell, these poor homeless slobs have to go somewhere.

Before the Occupy Wall Street movement came along, most of the destitute and homeless of America had been hidden away, living in invisible places where they wouldn't be noticed, hassled or jailed -- but now, suddenly, with the rise of OWS, it's now becoming cool to camp out.

As a result, we are now seeing America's homeless emerge out into OWS encampments, out from their secret hovels and hidey-holes and cardboard boxes under the freeways -- like rats coming out of a drain. America's rats. America's drains.

America's dark little secrets.

At Occupy Berkeley the other day, I counted 40 tents, 15 spiked-haired young runaways, 10 homeless veterans, eight toothless dopers and ten homeless dogs.

The Occupy America movement is making America's downtrodden underbelly of castoffs and misfits and detritus suddenly visible -- suddenly caught in the spotlight provided by free camping space.

Back in the 1960s, we had only one (1) homeless person -- living up on Telegraph Avenue during the daytime and in People's Park at night. Just one. Back then, Frankie was an anomaly, even for Berkeley. But now, as our schools, jobs, economy, infrastructure, healthcare system, Veterans Administration, senior programs, community networks, etc. all collapse around us as the money that used to fund them stops, changes direction and floods into the coffers of the rich instead, America will be creating more and more and more of this homeless jetsam and flotsam in years to come.

More and more of these socially-disposable prototypes are being created each day as schools fail to teach, jobs fly overseas, militias point the finger of blame on everyone but the banksters, lobbyists and war profiteers responsible, healthcare becomes unavailable to the working class, large numbers of returning vets suffer from untreated PTSD, the "War on Drugs" creates more and more criminals, gouging your neighbor becomes a way of life, Social Security and MediCare are threatened and the One Percent concentrates on creating World Domination for them instead of democracy for us.

More and more urban homeless folk are being created every single day -- and more and more of them are now on the move.

Will the next one be you?

PS: The dramatic new trend toward the militarization of America's police is turning out to be a war profiteer's wet dream. No longer do weapons manufacturers have to trudge off to far-away places on the other side of the globe in order to start wars and kill people so that they can sell their products. If they play their cards right, weapons manufacturers will now be able to start wars and kill people right here at home!

Or they can do both.

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*********************************************************

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Black Bloc -- or Black Water?

The so-called Black Bloc that tried to disrupt Occupy Oakland on November 2, 2011, might not have been an anarchist group after all. After carefully studying a CBS News video of the Black Bloc's attack on Whole Foods http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6413167-team-coverage-occupy-protesters-march-on-port-of-oakland/, there is one conclusion that is very easy to reach.

The Black Bloc looks and acts like a SWAT team.

The only question that remains is, "Whose SWAT team is it?" Hint: Not ours.

Perhaps "Black Bloc" is only a partially correct name for this group. Perhaps "Black Water" might be an even better moniker for them.

According to Global Research http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19928, this wouldn't be the first time that agent provocateurs have been used at citizen protests against the nefarious One Percent. ''A union leader called out a group of 'black bloc anarchists' who were picking up rocks [at a Canadian demonstration in June 2010]. The real black bloc protesters were shouting 'POLICIER! POLICIER', the would-be-rock throwers got up and cozy with the cops in the hats and bats, and quickly got themselves 'arrested' (and treated very gently by the police I might add.' Turns out they were wearing the same brand of boot that the riot cops were wearing.''

"But, Jane, you're just being paranoid," you might say. Nah. We already know that these One Percent dudes are capable of doing ANYTHING to win. Fix elections, bomb countries, support dictators, steal from the Middle Class, plunder pensions, assassinate democratic heads of state, rig the stock market.... Why would they bother to start playing by the rules now?

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*********************************************************

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Visiting Vancouver: Asian fusion & marijuana dispensaries

My granddaughter Mena is a sixth-generation Undocumented American. Her great-great-great grandfather came over to California from China for the gold rush and stayed on to help build the transcontinental railroad. But then, back in the 19th century, EVERYBODY in California was an Undocumented American. And, today in Vancouver, I also learned about documented and undocumented Canadians as well. And also about documented and undocumented marijuana users.

Vancouver is a magnificent "Jewel of the Pacific" type of city in the grand old tradition of Shanghai, Valparaiso, San Francisco and Sydney -- built overlooking water, it has an interesting history, a cosmopolitan population and lots of trees. Vancouver is a beautiful city -- with an element of Asian-fusion to it that also makes it interesting, exotic and chic.

At Vancouver's exquisite Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden, I learned a lot about ancient China. First I learned that scholars were highly regarded there back in the day.

"The most highly-honored class of people in ancient China were its scholars," commented a museum docent. "And next in order were its farmers." Did I hear that right? Somebody actually honored farmers way back when? They must have been referring to some ancient Chinese agribusiness CEOs. Nobody I know of has ever honored mere farmers, the people who feed us each day.

"The third category to be honored were the artisans." Apparently arts and crafts were really big in old-school China. And apparently the last, least important category of importance in bygone China days were the corporatists.

In ancient China, however, this four-tier categorization obviously didn't work out so well over the long run -- but at least they tried. Here in America, a country that is supposed to be a democracy, corporatists are obviously kings -- and 99% of us know how badly that arrangement is working out.

Next, I learned that every Chinese scholar's garden must have four basic ingredients -- a building, a plum tree, a pine tree and some bamboo. "But what about Feng Shui," I asked the docent. The four principles essential to having good Feng Shui (usually translated as "harmony") in one's life are safety, beauty, organization and comfort. "This scholar's garden is certainly beautiful and safe and definitely organized -- but is it comfortable?" I asked. Would I just want to flop down, kick off my shoes and watch television here? Not.

"The comfort that scholars got from their garden was in its beauty," replied the docent. Oh.

I also learned that in modern-day Vancouver, 25% of its population is between the ages of 18 and 25 -- because students from all over Asia come here to study English. "And just before Hong Kong was taken over by mainland China in 1997, many Hong Kong residents moved here and bought condos in downtown Vancouver," There is also a large Japanese and Tibetan presence here, giving this city a real feeling of Asian-fusion, cultural diversity and Pacific Rim internationalism.

Next I went off to Vancouver's large Granville Island farmers' market to honor some farmers by buying a peach.

By now I've been traveling for over 2,200 miles and my knees and right ankle were really hurting, forcing me to forgo visiting the famous Capilano suspension bridge's cliff walk and tree house. "Why don't you try some medical marijuana to ease the pain?" someone then suggested. Medical marijuana is legal in Vancouver? They don't have drug cartels and drug lords running it up from Mexico with AK-47s like they do in the States?

"Of course it's legal here. We are a civilized nation." Except, perhaps, for Steven Harper -- Canada's answer to folks like Bush and Reagan and Obama and Blair.

So off I went to a doctor and showed him a medical report on my knees and ankle, and also showed him my nifty blue handicap sticker which I love so much that I'm thinking of having it tattooed on my arm. Then the doctor asked me a few questions like, "How did you get injured?" So I told him about falling down some stairs in the Peace Corps in South Africa back in 2007. And then, after asking me about how easy it would be for older people to join the Peace Corps (pretty easy), he signed a paper saying I needed marijuana to ease the pain, and I was good to go.

Next on my tourist agenda is going to be a trip to a marijuana dispensary. Should I do this? Will it help? Is medical marijuana expensive? Will it make a good souvenir? I'm about to find out!

PS: Speaking of Feng Shui, I just gotta mention that the corporatists who currently control both the government and the economy back in the States have not created any beauty or comfort or safety or organization in America (nor any democracy either). American corporatists have bad Feng Shui!

Let's do something about that.

Perhaps we also need to occupy Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court as well as Wall Street -- in order to bring good Feng Shui back into our lives.

What a great slogan to chant that would be. "Beauty! Comfort! Organization! Safety!"

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*********************************************************

I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

****

Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

****

"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters