can someone explain priorities to me?

"According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $14.3 trillion constitutes 23% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and almost 21% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP).[4] The largest national GDP in the world, it was about 4% less than the combined GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2007.[61] The country ranks eighth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and fourth in GDP per capita at PPP."

So can someone please explain to me why everyone is going crazy over the economy? perhaps they are all concerned about the well-being of others; they realize that it may have the possibility of making the nearly-destitute actually destitute, and those who are already so, dead. funny though, I haven't heard much about that side of it. Does it really deserve to be the number 1 issue for politicians to be discussing? REALLY?!!!


Worldwide Slavery
Number 15 Top Story in Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

Sources:
Sojourners, March 15, 2007
Title: “From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing”
Author: David Batstone

Twenty-seven million slaves exist in the world today, more than at any time in human history. Globalization, poverty, violence, and greed facilitate the growth of slavery, not only in the Third World, but in the most developed countries as well. Behind the façade in any major town or city in the world today, one is likely to find a thriving commerce in human beings.

As many as 800,000 are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 new victims are trafficked across US borders each year, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). More than 30,000 additional slaves are transported through the US on their ways to other international destinations. Attorneys from the DOJ have prosecuted ninety-one slave trade cases in cities across the United States and in nearly every state of the nation.

Commerce in human beings today rivals drug trafficking and the illegal arms trade for top criminal activity on the planet. The slave trade sits at number three on the list, but the gap is closing. According to the US State Department’s 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report, the FBI projects that the slave trade generates $9.5 billion in revenue each year. A report put out by the International Labor Office in 2005, titled “Global Alliance Against Forced Labor,” estimates that figure to be closer to $32 billion annually

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/project-censored-not-for-sale-featured-in-top-25-censored-stories-of-2009.html


"Slavery is not a horror safely consigned to the past; it continues to exist throughout the world, even in developed countries like France and the United States. Across the world slaves work and sweat and build and suffer. Slaves in Pakistan may have made the shoes you are wearing and the carpet you stand on. Slaves in the Caribbean may have put sugar in your kitchen and toys in the hands of you children. In India they may have sewn the shirt on your back and polished the ring on your finger. They are paid nothing."

"The brothels are incredibly lucrative. The girl who "cost" $150 can be sold for sex up to ten times a night and bring in $10,000 per month. The only expenses are payments to the police and a pittance for food. If a girl is a troublemaker, runs away, or gets sick, she is easy to get rid of and replace. Antonia Pinto described what happened to an eleven-year-old girl when she refused to have sex with a miner: "After decapitating her with his machete, the miner drove around in his speedboat, showing off her head to the other miners, who clapped and shouted their approval." ' -disposable people, kevin bales

Do we not like to hear this because it's ugly?? How dare something rock us out of our comfortable ignorant existence and demand of us some action. How loudly do their voices have to shout in agony before we hear them and make THEM a priority instead of our economy (which is probably a factor in why they are being enslaved.)

And that is only one problem.
In 2006 the U.S. spent 528 billion dollars in military expenditures. That's 46% of what the entire world spent . Not only that but the U.S. was the largest supplier of arms to developing countries totaling 36% percent of what the world supplied and adding up to 10.3 billion dollars in weapons sales. wow. Our country sure makes a killing (quite literally) on selling weapons to help further promote the violence in our world.
( http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/arms-sales-developing-nations.html )
"One man may not kill. If he kills a fellow-creature, he is a murderer. If two, ten, a hundred men do so, they, too, are murderers. But a government or a nation may kill as many men as it chooses, and that will not be murder but a great and noble action.Only gather the people together on a large scale, and a battle of ten thousand men becomes an innocent action. But precisely how many people must there be to make it so?-that is the question. One man cannot plunder and pillage, but a whole nation can. But precisely how many are needed to make it permissible? Why is it that one man, ten, a hundred, may not break the law of God, but a great number may?" -Adin Ballou (quoted in "the kingdom of God is within you" by leo tolstoy)

why do I not hear more of this being talked about? could it be that we have deceived ourselves into thinking we are supporting the idea of freedom and democracy in other countries.....that they too will learn how to defend our glorious rights? ...when really all we are doing is helping to kill each other, breed violence and fear....oh, and freedom of course, to follow the american gospel of prosperity.
Or maybe politicians don't want to talk about it because it isn't poplular, and then they wouldn't get elected if they decided to actually put other people before ourselves, if they promoted loving your enemies instead of hating them, if they in humility admitted that we are all a huge part of all the issues and problems that we are trying to do something about.....but, well, that wouldn't exactly get anyone elected, would it?
In fact, it tends to get people killed. Self-denial doesn't seem to be a message the masses want to hear. To be honest it isn't really a message I want to hear about 99% of the time.

But let me give you one last perspective on all this.
one that means the most to me.
maybe we should take heed of this:
"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it." -ezekiel 16:49-50

"Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
declares the LORD.
But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence." -Jeremiah 22:15-17

Do we really take Jesus seriously?

"blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted th prophets who were before you."- matthew 5:3-12

"you have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' but I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." -Matthew 5:38-48

And I am a huge part of all this.
God have mercy, for the shoes on my feet and the shirt on my back, for the money I pay in taxes that go to the government that supports our greed, and even worse, supports people dying. This is not the way I was meant to spread who You are.
Forgive us all for our ignorance, forgive me for my lack of action, and for my lack of words. I will not be silent any longer. I would rather cry out than forfeit that to the rocks and the very groaning of the earth. ....and I hope anyone who has endured this far won't remain silent either.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."



"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." -Jesus

my eyes feel swollen. I want so badly to live and breath a reality. I want to see. I want the heavens to rend....I want my heart to break. I ache for it with an with an indescribable ache. When I read these words I want them to be more than words. I want them to be a reality that I can dance about, one that the heavens shout, that the earth sings.....one that lends sight to us who are blind. One that shakes and only leaves that which cannot be shaken. I ache for their truth. I groan for my life to be more than a plastic castle. toys so easily thrown away. I want love. I want to see it with my own eyes, I want to know what God's footfall next to mine sounds like. I want to know what these words mean, in a way that makes me live the meaning. inescapable beauty.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you, and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
-Jesus.