Rule of Law

Move Away Cases – Move Away Madness in Child Custody Proceedings

When a custodial parent in a child custody proceeding requests a move away order from the court allowing him/her to move away a significant distance such that it would interfere with the noncustodial parent’s visitation and his/her contact with the children, this is commonly referred to as a move away case. A move away case is one of the most difficult cases for the family courts to hear because the request by the custodial parent to move away with his/her children often has a negative impact on the amount of time and frequent and continuous contact the children will have with the noncustodial parent. Some jurisdictions are permissive in how they rule on move away cases and other jurisdictions are more restrictive.

States in which the statutory language and case law pertaining to move away cases is more permissive may result in having more permissive rulings on move away cases. In such states, there may be a strong presumption that the parent that has primary physical custody of the children has the right to move away with the children and the burden to prevent the move away rests squarely on the noncustodial parent to make a showing that the move away is done in bad-faith or the move away would be detrimental to the welfare of the children. Further, states that are more permissive in how they rule on move away cases may not require the custodial parent to show that the move is expedient to the child’s welfare or even necessary. In other words, if the move away is good for the custodial parent, then the move away is presumed to automatically be good for the children. As a result of such a high burden being placed on the noncustodial parent to prevent the move away, affecting a move away case has become the perfect battleground for some custodial parents to alienate the noncustodial parent from his/her children.

In other jurisdictions, the statutory language and case law pertaining to move away cases may be more restrictive and a higher burden is placed on the custodial parent seeking a move away order to demonstrate that the move away is in good-faith, necessary, expedient to the welfare of the children, and/or in the best interest of the children. In such states, rulings regarding move away cases may result in more restrictive move away decisions.

Overall, move away cases often have an all or nothing feel to them, especially for the noncustodial or left-behind parent. A move away case can change a child’s relationship with the left behind parent and it may never be the same as a result of a move away. A move away case is not about whether or not the parent can move away, it is about whether or not the parent can move away with his/her children. If you are seeking a move away order or trying to prevent a move away order you would be wise to consult an attorney to find out if your jurisdiction is more permissive or restrictive in how they rule on move away cases.

© 2007 Child Custody Coach

Child Custody Coach supplies information, online materials, and coaching services to parents in the field of child custody, namely, divorce, child custody and visitation, child custody evaluations, 730 evaluations, parenting, and all issues related to child custody and divorce. “How to Win Child Custody – Proven Strategies that can Win You Custody and Save You Thousands in Attorney Cost!” is a unique child custody strategy guide written by The Custody Coach and made available by Child Custody Coach in an easy to read, understand, and apply E-Book format. Custody Match is an online consumer and family law attorney matching service to help you in your search for the right attorney for your divorce or child custody case. Custody Match can help you find the right family law attorney, divorce lawyer, or child custody attorney in your area.

Steven Carlson
http://www.articlesbase.com/divorce-articles/move-away-cases-move-away-madness-in-child-custody-proceedings-95767.html

Upa’s High Risk National Drift Helping Terrorism: Bjp

New Delhi: Emboldened by the perceptible success achieved by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Police forces and Home Ministry’s apparent failure in producing fresh evidences against SIMI before a Delhi Tribunal in August, the BJP has once again accused the UPA government of soft pedalling on the issue of terrorism. The party has alleged that the Congress party and it allies are extending direct and indirect patronage to terrorists by ‘words and actions or absence of these’.

In a written statement issued by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also being projected as the next generation leader-in-lead, the party said, “This (soft pedalling) high-risk national drift of the ruling UPA is, in fact helping the terrorism. It is (Congress’) decision to repeal POTA and delaying the decision on Afzal Guru’s death sentence has sent a message that the Congress is not concerned even for a concerted and well planned attack on the country’s Parliament.”

Citing Centre’s failure to present the adequate evidences required to substantiate the involvement of SIMI in different terror activities, the BJP asked, “Why on three occasions the ban of SIMI could be endorsed by the Tribunal but on this fourth occasion under the UPA rule the Tribunal found the evidence against SIMI to be inadequate”. It also accused the Congress-led central government of following a dual policy while dealing with the states on the issue of terror. “While there is a stringent law against organised crime in Congress-ruled state of Maharashtra, the centre has declined to give presidential assent to similar laws for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,” the party said.

The BJP has also put forth its demands and urged the government to take immediate and effective steps to redeem the situation. According to the party, the Congress must accept that SIMI and such other terror organisations are a grave threat to national security and apologise for its failure to contain and counter it. It demanded to re-enact POTA and take a decision on Afzal Guru’s death sentence without any further delay. It also asked the centre to take appropriate measures to choke the channels of terrorist funding and weapons, stop training camps of the terrorists in different parts of the country and manage the borders to control infiltration effectively.

WHITE PAPER:

The BJP also demanded that the Centre should publish ‘white-paper’ on SIMI, revelaing all the facts and details, it has about the organisation as this would help in exposing the politicians and leaders who have been extending their support to SIMI.

Prabhash Dutta
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/upas-high-risk-national-drift-helping-terrorism-bjp-549943.html

Did the African Union Get Ghana’s Message?

The recent elections in Ghana have been hailed as a successful African story. The praises, admirations and messages of commendations coming from all corners of the globe is an indication that the world is hoping for a change in Africa. It is also an indication that the world is expecting something different, different from the way things are done all the time on the continent.

Having experienced political instabilities for most of her modern existence Africa has often been described as a failed continent – a continent where everything is depressing. So it came as a surprise when Ghana managed to conduct one of the best successful elections on the continent. The successful elections in Ghana have indeed opened a different chapter for the continent. It has shown the rest of countries on the continent that there is the need for democracy to be given a chance in Africa. The elections have sent a powerful message to the continent that democracy as a form of government should be widely adopted and practiced by all the countries so that there will always be peaceful means of electing leaders and transferring power from one administration to the other.

I strongly believe that Ghana’s elections are sending the following message to the African Union and its members.

That the constitutions of the various African states should stipulate the number of years and number of terms one could occupy the office of president or prime minister. To alleviate the continent from political diarrhoea, poverty and economic melancholy the governments must as a matter of urgency embark on democratic reforms. The years where leaders rule till they die or are chased out of office should be a thing of the past. The leaders should allow free and fair elections to be held every 4 or 5 years depending on what the constitution says. Elected leaders must have fixed term of office and on no account should they try to manipulate the system in order to remain in power.   The elections in Ghana which attracted a lot of international commendations around the world are indicating to the rest of Africa that the people want something different. Our image as a continent can improve considerably if we allow democracy to flourish, if we allow rule of law to work, if we embark on a new path-a path where it is possible for the incumbent to lose elections and hell does not break loose, a path where judges are free to dispense justice without fear or favour, a path where members of the opposition are not seen as enemy combatants but as contributors of our democracy and development, and a  path where policies and ideas dominate political discussions and elections instead of the whipping of tribal and ethnic sentiments.

The leaders on the continent must realize that the existence of a vibrant democracy is in the best interest of the people and the continent as a whole. The politicians must know that vibrant democracy is a necessary condition if Africa is to come out of her current political and economic misery.

More often than not, lack or absence of democracy, corruption and abuse of power has often been cited by coup plotters as reasons for overthrowing governments in power. To prevent such incursions by the army political accountability on the continent must be nurtured strengthened. That means the three organs of government namely the executive, legislature and the judiciary must first be independent of each other and secondly they should powers that checks and balances each other so as to prevent one arm from amassing too much power.  History has shown that a situation where one arm of government amasses power only breeds envy and instabilities. The Judiciary should be given enough powers to investigate allegations of corruption so as to prevent the repetition of corrupt practices that fuelled the wars on the continent.

Additionally, the fourth arm of government that is the media should be enshrined in the constitution and the AU Charter. The mushrooming of public and private media on the continent especially electronic media should be seen as an encouraging development and governments should be encouraged to allow such private stations to be established unconditionally. The freedom of the press must be safeguarded so as to prevent unscrupulous politicians from attacking them and subjecting them to all sorts of negative tactics. The media should be allowed to play its role as the watchdog of the state and every law that will intimidate them and undermine their ability to work should be repealed.

The various institutions of government such as police, military and the ministries should work to promote democracy and development. Rule of Law should be employed by the state. Everyone should be equal before the law. Instances where there are two separate laws for the rulers and the ruled is not only affront to rule of law but affront to democracy and justice. The office of the Ombudsman and other independent bodies should be established to protect the citizens from the state.

That brings us to one of the most important institutions of democracy .i.e. electoral commission. The role of the electoral commission must also be enshrined in the constitution. This office must be independent of the executive branch of government. It must be well resourced so that it can organise elections without any difficulties. The role played by Dr. Afari Gyan in conducting Ghana’s election can only be described as excellent. The electoral commission must be impartial so as to prevent the electoral disputes that characterised the elections in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. 

The constitutions of the various countries should guarantee the existence of opposition parties. This will prevent the one party state found in most countries from gaining root. Absence of official opposition not only prevents the people from having a choice but also discredit any advantage democracy or elections may have. Therefore, constitutional and electoral courts should be established in member countries so that matters of political and electoral disputes could be settled amicably.  Corruption should be punished severely and every effort should be made track down every penny stolen from the countries.

The AU

The African Union as a continental body has a lot to learn from Ghana’s elections.

The AU Charter should be reformed, strengthened and implemented to the letter. All regional bodies such as ECOWAS, SADC and the rest should be streamlined to work within the broader framework of the AU. The AU must not be a talking shop anymore. It must not be a gathering of corrupt, despotic and kleptocratic rulers but rather a gathering of true democrats. The AU must be a platform of action and concrete decision making, a platform where issues affecting the people are addressed. This will require strong, determined and visionary leadership. A leadership who share the thoughts and ideas of Nkrumah, Lumumba, Seketuri and Nasser and who are committed to fighting poverty and improving the lots of the people. The AU must have a full time foreign policy chief who will be the mouthpiece of the continent and who will articulate the needs and concerns of the people to the outside world. The AU should establish special bodies of experts who will serve as advisory bodies to the AU. The complete silence exhibited by the AU during the current global financial crisis necessitates for the establishment of such bodies of experts. These bodies may include health, economics, environment, resource, science and technology.

Each country should strengthen her intelligence capabilities so as to ward off the undesirables of the cold war tactics where Africa was destabilised by the west using their intelligence branches and the various African countries should share vital information about what the west is up to. Every effort should be made to prevent arm struggles either within the countries or between the countries.

The days where suspensions are used as a form of punishment for coup plotters should be things of the past. Instead there should be a strong, well funded standing army (Africa High Command) ready to be deployed to any country where the army will try to cease power. Such an army should also be used to crash any arm insurgence that will show it ugly head onto the Africa political scene.

The Pan African Parliament should be strengthened and its decisions binding on all member countries. An African Court of Justice should be established to settle disputes between nations and within nations and its decisions must be binding on all members as well. This court must be the highest court on the continent. It must be modelled in line with European Court of Justice. Individuals could take their case to this court for dispensation of justice. These democratic and constitutional measures will definitely help to reduce conflicts and human rights’ abuse which is rife on the continent. 

Africans must unite and form a common front so as to make their voices heard on the international stage. We must unite against all forms of propaganda from the rest the world. The positive effect that Aljazeera is having on the world is an indication of what positive thinking could bring to the world. Aljazeera has done well in shaping the world opinion about Islam, Arabs and issues affecting Muslims, Arabs and people of the developing world. To counter the growing influence of Aljazeera, BBC for example has had to close down some programmes in order to launch an Arabic version of the BBC. Africans must know that our coming together will be interpreted differently by many who do not share our interests. As a result every effort would be made to thwart these laudable efforts in order to maintain the status quo of having a north –south divide. We must also know that our effort to change our predicament would meet several challenges among them the huge financial requirement, the human and material resources needed and many others. But we must put ourselves together and start doing something now because a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.

Finally it is time for the old guard of African politics to leave the scene and give way to the younger generation. There are a lot of Barak Obamas on the continent but they have been prevented by the old guard from making any economic, social and political contribution towards Africa’s development. It is very sad that even in this 21st Century these old guards still think they only hold the key to wisdom. Some of these old guards have been in power for more than 3 decades yet they still want to continue to rule. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 31 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon 26 years, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda 22 years, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan 19 years, Iddriss Derby of Chad 17 years, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia 14 years, and the list goes on unending. Recently the president of Tunisia has decided to make himself a life president of the country. The presence of such dictators is not only harmful to the image and the development of the continent but a major factor why impoverishment and underdevelopment is prevalent on the continent. Every effort should be made by the AU and the regional bodies to discourage such blatant abuse of power. It is against this background that Ghana should be commended again and again for conducting one of the freest elections on the continent.

Ghana’s elections are a straight message to the African Union and its members that democratic reform needed on the continent is long overdue and that the African Union should take notice of it. Let this 21st Century be a century of hope, a century of development, a century of prosperity and a century of peace for Africans and the world.

Lord Aikins Adusei
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/did-the-african-union-get-ghanas-message-726487.html

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History Of Murano Glass

The Origins
The origins of glassmaking in Venice go back to the times of the Roman Empire when molded glass was used for illumination in bathhouses. Blending Roman experience with the skills learned from the Byzantine Empire and trade with the Orient, Venice emerged as a prominent glass-manufacturing center as early as the 8th century. One of the earliest furnaces for glass on a Venetian island, dating from the 8th century, was discovered by archaeologists in 1960.

By the late 1200s, the production of glass objects of the finest quality was the city’s major industry as confirmed by the establishment of the Glassmakers Guild that laid out rules and regulations for the craftsmen. The purpose of the guild was to safeguard the secrets of the trade and ensure the profitability of the industry. In line with these objectives, a 1271 law prohibited the importation of foreign glass or the employment of foreign glassworkers.

An even more radical law was passed in 1291 that laid the ground for the establishment of Murano as a premier glass-manufacturing center. This law required that all furnaces used for glassmaking be moved from Venice to Murano to avoid the risk of fire from the furnaces spreading onto the largely wooden structures of overpopulated Venice. Many historians agree that the true motive for this law was to isolate the glass craftsmen to a location where they wouldn’t be able to disclose trade secrets. A subsequent law passed in 1295 forbidding the glassmakers from leaving the city confirms this theory.

Artisans working in the glass trade were well rewarded for their efforts. They had a privileged social status, and their daughters were allowed to marry into the wealthiest and noblest of Venetian families. By applying this clever approach, Venetian government ensured that the glassmakers encouraged their offspring to carry on the trade, and that trade secrets stayed in the families and fueled creative processes leading to innovation and further success. This, along with Venice’s convenient location at the crossroads of trade between East and West, gave Venice monopoly power in manufacturing and selling quality glass throughout Europe that lasted for centuries.

15th and 16th Centuries and the Full Bloom of Glass Making
Venetian glass reached the peak of its popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 15th century, master Angelo Barovier discovered the process for producing clear glass – (cristallo) – that allowed Murano glassmakers to become the only producers of mirrors in Europe. In addition, the popularity of Chinese porcelain among European nobility fueled discovery and production of the white glass mimicking porcelain (lattimo).

Other types of glassmaking techniques became popular such as enamelling and gilding glass, which originated in the Middle East, filigrana glass which is made using glass rods with inner threads of white, golden or colored glass that are twisted or intersecting, and ice glass which appears finely crackled. Variety of shapes and colors increased, and glassware became more sophisticated though the beauty was still viewed as the simplicity of shapes and ornaments.

17th Century and the Slow Decline of Venetian Glass
Starting from the 17th century, Murano glass entered the period of gradual decline. As Venetian power grip on trade routes and its importance as a major center of commerce began to vanish, so did its monopoly power in glassmaking. New centers of the craft emerged in Bohemia, England, and France. Yet 17th century still saw innovation in Murano glass as new techniques continued to emerge driven by strong baroque trends that spread through European architecture, painting, interior decoration, and other art and craft forms.

Brightly colored, intricate glass decorations with floral and animal motives became popular. New glass techniques included avventurina (metal flecks embedded in glass for a sparkly look) and calcedonio (illusion of semiprecious stones), raised decorations on glass, and millefiori beads. These new techniques were so successful that even royal courts ordered glassware from Murano artisans. One example is King Frederick IV of Denmark who in early 17th century purchased a glass collection that is currently on display at the Rosenborg Palace in Copenhagen.

18th and19th Centuries – The Fall and the Rise
In the 18th century, the decline continued and was aggravated by worsening political climate and increased competition from the glassmakers in Bohemia and France. Some new techniques were introduced, such as engraving on glassware and mirrors, but they did not make visible impact. The industry shrunk drastically with Napoleon’s conquest of Venice in 1797 and his abolishment of all of Venice’s guilds, including the Glassmakers.

In 1814, the transfer of Venice from France to the Habsburg Empire spelled the ultimate death sentence to Murano glassmaking as Habsburg rulers preferred their native glassmaking center in Bohemia and passed laws making it prohibitively expensive to bring necessary raw materials into Murano and export the final product. As a result, almost half of the 24 furnaces that existed in Murano in 1800 shut down by 1820, and only 5 furnaces continued to produce blown glass. However, against all odds, the industry didn’t die completely ? it was kept alive by the artisans’ personal dedication to their centuries-old craft and their father’s hard work that once made Murano glass world famous.

The breakthrough came in 1854 when six Toso Brothers opened the firm Fratelli Toso that initially produced household glass items and window panes but then switched to reviving forgotten techniques of the past. Five years later, Antonio Salviati came to Venice from Vicenza where he practiced law to open a factory dedicated to production of traditional Murano glass. He saw an opportunity to revive the craft by producing tiles that could be used to restore old Venetian mosaics, and he hired the best Murano masters to work in his factory. One of his glassblowers, Lorenzo Radi, spent much time during Austrian rule rediscovering the old methods and techniques that were used to create old Venetian mosaics.

Salviati’s plan worked, and Venetian authorities soon signed a fifteen-year contract with his firm for restoration of the mosaics in St.Mark’s basilica. At around the same time, in 1861, Venice mayor Antonio Colleoni and abbot Vincenzo Zanetti decided to compile an archive dedicated to the history of Venice containing not only various writings but also objects of art produced in the city. Gathering of the objects for the archive caused renewed interest in Venice’s history, its past glory, and its famous crafts including glassmaking. This in turn prompted officials to set up a school for glassmakers where they were able to learn again the forgotten techniques and secrets of the craft.

The culminating event in reviving Murano glassblowing was the exhibition set up by the Archive in 1864 to display all the recent glass works and reignite competitive spirit among the craftsmen. On the heels of that exhibition were other international shows, such as the highly successful Universal Exposition in Paris in 1867 where Salviati exhibited over 500 works made by his firm and received international acclaim and multiple medals. This success and publicity led to complete revival of Murano, which once again became a booming economic center, employing 3,500 people by 1869, and a famous destination.

20th Century – New Identity and the Art of Murano Glass
In the beginning of the 20th century, the master glassmakers of Murano were still enamored with reproducing classical styles and rediscovering ancient techniques, which was evident at Murano and Venice Exhibition of Choice Glass and Glass Objects staged in 1895 inside Murano City Hall. The rules of the exhibition dictated that the works showcased be reproductions of antique glassware. This important event was well attended by international collectors and glass admirers who greatly appreciated the works rooted in unique Murano tradition.

The best works of Murano artists were on display; many were a product of an important glassmaking technique called Murrino (mosaic), which was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century by Vittorio Zuffi while working for Fratelli Toso. This technique originally emerged in the 16th century in an effort to imitate ancient Roman vases. Murano’s famous firm Artisti Barovier received the Honorary Diploma and the Gold Medal. Other artists enjoying popularity in Murano at the time were Salviati, Testolini, and The Toso Brothers (Fratelli Toso).

The year 1895 was also the time of the first Venice Biennial exhibition where new works of art in avant-garde and art nouveau styles were showcased. This highlighted the gap between the modern trends gaining strength in Europe at the time and the works of Murano artisans who were deeply attached to the styles and methods of the past. This gap became even more obvious at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900, followed by Expositions of Decorative Arts in Turin in 1902 and Milan in 1906. Some Murano artisans, like Vittorio Toso Borella, became receptive to the new winds blowing on the art scene and started to produce works in art nouveaustyle. Though he originally got mixed reviews for the works he exhibited at Ca’ Pesaro in 1909, Vittorio went on to produce masterpieces that later became universally appreciated. Ca’ Pesaro, unlike Venice Biennial, became an exhibition embracing new artistic trends and showcasing many works in art vouveau style by young artists such as Gino Rossi, Arturo Martini, and Guido Marussig. One of the artists, Vittorio Zecchin, collaborated extensively with Artisti Barovier to create designs for their famous glassware.

In the 1920s, art nouveau slowly got replaced by more modern styles with simpler, cleaner, and more functional designs. Art deco took the center stage and with it came less decorated objects with softer lines and more focus on glassware as part of interior design, not a piece of art in and of itself. A new company, Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Capellin Venini, founded in 1921 under Vittorio Zecchin as its head designer became the champion of this style.

A little later, in the late 1920s to early 1930s, another important trend arose in Murano led by Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Capellin & Co. and Vetreria Artistica Barovier. The trend was glass animals, which remain popular even today. Other important innovations championed in 1930s and continued in early 1940s were production of glass statues of female nudes and classical figures of boxers and gods, engraving on glass, modern lighting fixtures, perfectly proportioned transparent glass tableware, and the invention of vetro sommerso ? a technique allowing to produce thick glassware with one color on the outside and another on the inside.

During World War II the industry did not thrive, but as soon as the war was over the glass masters of Murano returned to their art and created pieces deeply rooted in interior design trends of that time with focus on minimalism, functionality, and simplicity. To support these trends Murano artists and artisans returned to techniques of the past such as filigree, murrino, and lattimo. From that point onwards Murano saw continued exploration of styles and techniques striving to find a happy medium between the technical mastery and the outline, color, and decoration.

The resulting continuous innovation led to a rise in popularity and to multiple prizes at various international art exhibitions. Thanks to such prominent artists as Archimede Seguso, Ludovico and Laura De Santillana, Tobia Scarpa, Ercole Barovier, Fulvio Bianconi, Toni Zuccheri, Romano Chrivi, Giampaolo Martinuzzi, and Alfredo Barbini, Murano again became known as the glassblowing capital of the world. Murano now created the art trends as opposed to following them in the years past. 
 
For more information about Murano Glass or to find a product check out: GlassOfVenicehttp://www.GlassOfVenice.com

glassofvenice
http://www.articlesbase.com/fashion-articles/history-of-murano-glass-723655.html

What is Wrong With Black People? – Post-slave Psychology, Afrocentricity, Colonialism and Black Africa’s Cultural Integrity

The “Karma” is a spiritual concept that is mostly taught in Buddhism and Hinduism. It is defined as the sum of a person’s actions, especially intentional actions, regarded as determining that parson’s future states of existence. But, the Jainists, in India, have also used this term to designate some type of subtle physical matter that binds a person’s soul to earthly tribulations as a result of bad actions. In fact, the ‘Karma’ is seen as the mechanism that underlie a person’s fate or destiny, either physically or spiritually, as effect from cause. It is what most mystics refer to as a “cosmic law of compensation.”

The particularity of this law is that it only, or most essentially, affects what is known as the “superior animal kingdom” or the “kingdom of highly conscious animals”, meaning “humans”. The law presupposes that for man’s every action that has an effect – positive or negative – on another man, there is a boomerang effect with equivalent consequences on the perpetrator. In other words, “he that shall kill by the sword must be killed by the sword,” as voiced in Apocalypse 13:10; which means that if you kill a man in a certain way, you must get killed pretty much exactly the same sort of way. If you insult someone, you shall be insulted pretty much exactly the same sort of way. Anything you do to anyone shall be done to you in return exactly the same sort of way.

However, this law remains in considerable disrepute and is almost controversial because it seems to pose some serious problems to our understanding of divine mysteries. If the Karma really exists, why is it that some people who have killed or who have ordered killings by fire guns end up dying of a heart attack or a long illness? (Think of Slobodan Milosevic or Joseph Mobutu). Where is the Karma in these cases?

To this question, the most common answer that we are given by those who know a few things about divine mysteries is that “you don’t have to get your compensation in the same incarnation in which you caused pain or death to others. You may well die of natural causes to that incarnation (if the mechanisms of the cosmic laws don’t precipitate your compensation in the same incarnation); but you will then have to be born again (to be reincarnated), when you will eventually get killed the same sort of way.

This is, in my appreciation, a very understandable answer (if we are willing to believe in reincarnation). In fact, we are held to believe in it if we are to understand the reason why some killers don’t die the same sort of way in which they had killed other people. However, there is another problem of procedure that comes up at this level. What happens if you kill 300 people in one incarnation?

In the knowledge of some spiritual teachers, it is taught that, on principle, you may have to reincarnate 300 times to get killed 300 times, exactly the same way in which you killed your 300 victims, one by one. And if you keep killing more people during these successive compensatory incarnations, the bill will only get bigger and longer to pay over more and more reincarnations.

Well, it seems that there is ground to take on board this explanation too. Indeed, it sounds pretty logical. Killing is not like the rest of sins. Killing ends life. If you cause a man to lose an eye, and cause another man to lose an arm, you may well get both compensations in one incarnation and end up like Francisco Franco. Or else, if you cause two men to lose both their arms each, since you only have two arms, you might have to lose both your arms in two different incarnations; in the meantime you can still receive many other compensations in the same incarnations in addition to the loss of your arms. But if you kill, you have to get killed, and once you die you cannot take any more compensations.

The problem that we are facing here is that people like Paul Pot, who killed millions, may have to reincarnate millions of times; which may take thousands and thousands of years for the cosmic law to settle the account of only one single sinner. What is the end of this?

To answer this question, the teachers say that, in this sort of situation, the law of the Karma has to call upon a section or segment of itself known as the “law of consolidation”. It means that the numerous killings that you may have perpetrated may be consolidated into one, making it possible for you to get killed only once the same sort of way. This mostly happens if the people that you killed or whose death you ordered died the same sort of way. In Christian mysticism, it is known that it was this law that descended upon John the Baptist – if you see what I mean –; think of Elijah and the 150 priests of Baal (Kings 18:40), and then refer to Matthew’s testimony of Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 11:14) to find out whose reincarnation Jesus informs us that John the Baptist was) – I hope that you already know how John died; so you can understand what I am saying.

We are back to square one, almost, if we consider the question as to what happens if you kill or order the killing of three million people in different deadly conditions and circumstances. To settle this issue too, what the teachers say is that the “law of consolidation” will still consolidate your three million different types of killings into one, and make you die only once the average kind of death between them all. This means that the Cosmic Law has to make use of a mathematical principle – take all the different three million ways and levels of feeling the fear, anguish, sorrow and pain leading to death as endured by each victim, sum them up, and divide them by the number of victims, to get the average death experience that the killer has to endured, only once.

From this point, it seems pretty clear, in a nutshell, that the Karma is the cosmic law under which one gets inflicted the same type of pain that one has inflicted to other people, either in the same incarnation or in a future incarnation, with the option to consolidate several deadly inflictions into one average kind of compensation.

Now, despite the clarity of the explanations that are brought forward to alleviate some of the technical controversies found over this special cosmic law, a lot of people still refuse to believe in it mostly for moral reasons. The most important one of those moral reasons is that the law of the Karma seems to presuppose that evil will never end on earth. It even seems to presuppose that God is stuck in a vicious circle, even in the light of the law of consolidation, since those who are put into motion to kill former killers have to get killed too. The number of times they have to get killed does not matter in this issue. The thing is that they will have to get killed at least once by someone who will also have to get killed at least once, and so on; which makes sinning and re-sinning an eternal activity on earth, not just because of evil, but because of God’s own law. Is this how it is meant to be? Where is the sinless Kingdom of Heaven that has to come?

To appease those who refuse to believe in the law of the Karma on these grounds, there is a very straightforward answer to the question. In fact, it is said that the spirit of the Karma has to invoke another three laws from its own bosom at this level to remedy the situation. The first one is known as the “law of balance.” This law stipulates that if you do exactly or approximately as much good as evil (like, say, you kill someone to save someone else’s live, like warriors who kill a group of people with the intention to protect another group of people – Milosevic might fall into this category), then your own good deeds will engulf your wrongdoings automatically. This means that you will never have to get killed for your killings, since those that you saved and protected by killing others justify your actions. What this law does, eventually, is to reduce the number of compensation executors considerably, decreasing the circle of killings on earth to a great extent. At the end of the day, most people who do evil things don’t just do evil things all the time. They do an awful lot of good things too.

The second law that comes into play is the “law of innocence.” In fact, what constitutes a sin in the eyes of the Cosmic Law is the intention, not the action. We commonly call it ‘premeditation’ in human law. By contrast, a child that plays with a charged gun, with no intention whatsoever to kill its father but ends up killing him accidentally for his bad Karma, such a child will have no compensation to collect from such innocent killing. The child will remain pure as if it had never done anything evil at all, and therefore will need no compensation executor at any point in its live or successive lives.

The third law that intervenes here is the ‘law of passive execution’. It is a process by which a compensation execution is taken charge of by an element other than an independent human being. It comprises not only compensations executed in the form of self-harm, including suicide, but also those carried out by ferocious animals, venomous reptiles, dangerous machines etc. etc. – any elements, both natural and artificial, that are likely to cause harm or death. Lethal snakebites, fatal car crashes, deadly viruses and the rest of such tragic occurrences in the absence of a human executor fall into this category.

Mathematically, we get another considerable decrease in the number of compensation executors through the ‘law of passive execution’ as we do through the ‘law of innocence’ and the ‘law of balance’. This means that the more wrong doings we get through the “law of balance” and the “law of innocence”, the less people will be needed to kill former killers, or to do harm to former wrongdoers. It also means that the more suicides, crashes and incurable diseases we get, the less humans will be needed for Karmic executions. In the end, thus, the number of intentional wrongdoings will near zero towards infinity – like in an inverse mathematical function – and humanity will become purer and purer, sinless. This way the vicious circle will eventually be broken, making it possible for the Kingdom of Salvation to settle among us.

This is how the whole thing is explained. And I hope that we understand all of it. In fact, the law of the Karma is a very practical law; even more practical than human justice; and is too intelligent to get stuck in any kind of endless cycle.

Meanwhile, there is one thing that I need to point out before we part. It is even for this reason that I chose to preface this book by invoking the law of the Karma. I have personally been struggling with this law for quite some time. And the one single reason why I have been struggling with it is historical. If the Karma truly presupposes that man ‘B’ has to get inflicted the same sort of pain as the one that he inflicted to man ‘A’ by man ‘C’, I have, however, been struggling to imagine a human race that the law of the Karma is going to charge with the duty to treat White people exactly the same sort of way in which White people have treated Black people over the past five hundred years.

What is this race that is going to be created, or perhaps that already exists, and that is going to be so powerful as to take around ten million White men, women and children away to a virgin land or a conquered land where they are going to be starved, beaten to death, thrown into the sea, put to work on plantations like machines round the clock; where they are going to be whipped and flogged all day-and-night long every day-and-night, and where they are going to be burned alive, cast away like dirty animals, deprived of the most basic human entitlements, raped, humiliated, discriminated etc. etc.?

Five hundred years have gone, with a substantial number of generations and therefore a great number of reincarnations in the White race, and we are still waiting. When is this going to happen?

This is my only problem with the law of the Karma. And perhaps you may need to pay some particular attention to what I am trying to say here; because not only is it possible to find it ridiculous to put the issue this way, it also makes me sound like a blood-thirsty, resentful, vindictive, rotten Black demon, desperate to see White people in trouble, in compensation for what they did to Black people. There are even people who are now more likely to accuse Black people of being incapable to “get over it!”

First of all, I do not see any good reason why they should be asked to get over it. The Jews are still very sensational about what happen to them in Germany 60 years ago (their European spiritual brothers even join in with them to commemorate the ‘Holocaust Day’ every so and so). They are even still very passionate about what happened to them in Egypt over 3,000 years ago (their Christian sympathisers all over the word can’t help implanting their terrible story into the heads of their proselytes). Why should Black people be summoned to get over what happened to them in the Americas and the Caribbeans? Secondly, I am not interested in vengeance. I am only talking in terms of the technicalities related to the law of the Karma as explained by the teachers. My only passionless and technical point is that if the law of the Karma really exists, there has to be a group of approximately ten million White men, women and children who have to suffer under some other human race exactly the same sort of way in which White people made a group of approximately ten million Black men, women and children suffer, not because I want to see it, but because it has to happen, at least, for the law of the Karma to prove itself.

So, why are we not getting approximately ten million White people enslaved exactly the same sort of way in which White people enslaved approximately ten million Black people? Where is the Karma?

I recently visited a very wise man with great knowledge on divine mysteries and to whom I put this question; because I really needed an answer. The man laughed and laughed and laughed, at the end of which he turned to me to tell me that I was just missing the point by putting the matter that way. According to his knowledge of divine mysteries, there is another law, within the Karma’s bundle of laws, which is called upon by the spirit of the Karma in certain situations. That law is very similar to the “law of consolidation”; but it is rather known as the “law of harmonisation”. By that law, people from different races, nations, affiliations and so on, who have committed similar types of sins can be forced to reincarnate in one common place where they are all meant to be hit by one common harmonised type of compensation, making cosmic justice easier to carry out.

In the light of this explanation, it seems that there were Arabs, Chinese, Persians, Malaysians, Russians, Maya, Spanish, Zulu, Sinhala, Norwegians, Luba, English, Wolof, Italians etc. etc. who might have ill-treated their servants in their previous lives and whose souls may have been commanded by this Law to be reincarnated in West Africa where they were all going to be hit by the slave trade for a joint compensation.

It sounds like a fairy tale. But it might not be one. And if you think about it very carefully, you will surely find that this explanation is pretty meaningful in the sense that it seems to be telling us that the slave trade was not necessarily an evil, racist enterprise aiming to brutalise Black people for being Black, but rather a cosmic compensation aiming to punish people from all races in the world who had behaved very badly in their previous lives but who had to be reincarnated in one common geographical point that was going to be hit by the slave trade; but a geographical point that was just randomly inhabited by Black people. Hence they happened to be Black.

If you think about this seriously, don’t be surprised if you finally come to the realisation that what we are actually being taught here is that all the cruelties that took place during the transatlantic trade were not aimed at Black people, but rather at bad people who just happened to be Black due to the “cosmic law of harmonisation”.

The implications of this deduction are quite huge, particularly in the sense that we are led to attain to an instance of our conscience where we tend to be spared of the energy that we spend to feel for the victims of the slave trade; since they were only bad people paying for their own inequities. This deduction is particularly meaningful in the sense that we are equally spared of another amount of energy that we spend trying to fight against those that we hold responsible for the cruelties of the slave trade, since they were only executing a cosmic law. In fact, we tend to realise that nothing bad really happened. It was only a cosmic law doing its job – cosmic justice.

We may really need to make some effort to put ourselves in the shoes of those who believe in these things if we are to make any sense of the point to be made here. We may even have to put ourselves in God’s own shoes if we accept that this law is most certainly a divine law; because what is happening here is quite serious. We are in a very disappointing stalemate. Some people have brutalised others very badly; and we are trying to count on a divine law that is supposed to bounce back to them; but it seems that this law makes allowances and compromises in a way that may even now result in the full cancellation of the expected compensation; and, on top of all that, we now seem to be learning that the victims of these cruelties did actually deserve their plight; it does even sound as if they might have been serious criminals who might only have had to be castigated for their own crimes. This is very serious.

Remember: the reason why I said that I personally did not believe in the Karma was because I could not see how the law of the Karma would get ten million White people enslaved in exactly the same sort of way in which White people had enslaved ten million Black people during the slave trade. It is true that nothing is impossible to the Divine Law; but all things that are possible to God are possible because they are propitious to His Law, not simply because anything is possible to Him. The idea of ten million White people being treated the same sort of way as ten million Black people in the Americas and the Caribbeans during and after the slave trade is very hard to visualise, not because science fiction specialists would not be able to make such a movie, but rather because it is simply not happening.

Therefore, either the law of the Karma does not exist, or the perpetrators of the cruelties of the slave trade were all innocent executors of the Law, put into motion by the Law Itself to punish bad people who just happened to be Black.

From here, we may have to take on board the assumption that the souls of such innocent torturers – the White slavers of the Americas and the Caribbeans – will never have to reincarnate to go through similar plight as those ten million bad men in black skin. So, we are quit.

And, trust me; I myself was absolutely certain, on the basis of this conclusion, that we were finally quit, until something else made me think again. In fact, the issues that we are dealing with in this exploration is really not just about ten million very bad people from all around the world who just happened to be Black from West Africa where they were meant to be hit by innocent torturers for cosmic compensation four-hundred years ago. Actually, it would be too naïve to believe that this is the whole issue. It is not. The problem is that most people look at the matter through historical lenses. But this is not the main angle. If you look at it through sociological lenses you will not fail to observe that the torture of Black people goes far beyond the slave trade. It is not a matter of one historical event, in one specific geographical point, in one determined period of time. No. It is now – if it has not always been so – rather a universal [spaceless and timeless] rule.

If the Karma really exists, it seems that we are living in a period of the sovereign time when all people from all races and nations and affiliations who have committed and keep committing any type of cruelties have to be reincarnated as Black to collect their compensation. The Black race now appears to be, in God’s own mind, as far as I can see it, the most appropriate race for all people in the whole world who have to pay for their sins to be born in. It seems to have become an established spaceless and timeless cosmic rule that you have to be born Black if you have to be brutalised for your sins.

Natural calamities and tragic incidents of all types, including military conflicts, happen in all places around the world, and considerable numbers of people suffer and die in these instances (they are all most certain inscribed in the mechanics of the law of the Karma). But none of them is about suffering inflicted to men by other men on a daily basis on the grounds of their distaste for the way they look. This kind of Karma is quite difficult to discern.

If you have an attentive eye and a sensitive heart to receive what is going on over the five inhabited continents of our planet, you will surely devote at least a few minutes once in a while to cry over what you see happening to people of black skin. It is very hard to watch. It makes me explode in tears quite often. And this is the problem that I am trying to bring to your attention here. If it is truly for Karmic reasons that this is happening, what is it that, in God’s understanding of human evolution, makes Black people so appropriate for torture to the point of turning an entire human section into a Karmic target?

On the other hand, if it is possible to emit the hypothesis that the reason for this to happen may not have much to do with the law of the Karma, and therefore that the law itself might not exist at all, what is it, then, that, in human psychology, makes a Black man so good to torture?

When we get to a question with no answer such as this one, most of us turn to superstition. I have met some people who have told me that the whole thing must be due to the fact that our world is dominated by evil. So, the people who have been torturing Black people on a daily basis over the past four-hundred years are simply evil people.

But there is, then, a question that needs answering in this case. What kind of evil is conditioned by skin colour? What is wrong with evil always tending to choose Black? What is the link between evil and Black? Why does evil love Black so much? – To be clear, the actual question, here, as the author has so well put it on the front cover of this book, is: what is wrong with Black people?

I have finally come to the surprising conclusion that the law of the Karma does actually exist. Yes, it does!

But, just one thing is to be noted. The law of the Karma is not just a simplistic kill-to-kill law as a compensation rule for people’s mortal sins. It is even much deeper than the notion of sin itself. In fact, it goes beyond good and evil. In much clearer terms, the Black people who get brutalised every day in the world today are not necessarily former sinners who have to be hit by daily brutality to pay for their sins. No. They are something else; and they are paying for something else. All I can say here is that “What is Wrong with Black People?” (ISBN 978-1-84799-323-6), is the only book that can help us understand what is actually going on; because the book simply personifies a totally different type of intuition, where the most unsuspected – yet, the most damning – causes of the suffering and the struggles of Africans in today’s world are not only laid open with courage, but also resolved with vision

Joe Mintsa