John Burkholder

I have decided to take on the Unicef Live Below The Line challenge.  Live Below the Line is challenging individuals and communities to see how much change you can make out of $1.50. By living off just $1.50 per day for food for 5 days, you will be bringing to life the direct experiences of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty and helping to make real change. The challenge is set at $1.50 a day, because this is the current equivalent of the accepted global figure used to define extreme poverty. This was set by the World bank as US$1.25 per day in 2005. Basically, if you live on less than that every day, you’re recognized internationally as living in extreme poverty. Want the full detail? Check it out below. "It's not that bad," you might say - "$1.50 goes a lot further in developing countries". Unfortunately not. The $1.50 figure represents the amount someone living in extreme poverty in the U.S. would have to live on. And for peo

I rarely will write a blog entry about anything political, sexual, or religious... but all of that is about to change right now. For a government to tell the "free citizens" of America who or who they cannot marry because of their sexual orientation based on religious beliefs is wrong. There isn't a gray area in this discussion, no matter how it is argued, it is wrong. Right now we have the supreme court trying to determine if Proposition 8 in California is breaking our Federal government practices and in my opinion, not only does it enflame the prejudices of homosexuality, but it creates a segregation. That's right... I said segregation. When black people were segregated, they were not allowed to marry each other in the name of the government. Believe or not, in 1967 the supreme court had another decision to make on whether it was legal for interracial couples to marry in 16 other states including Virginia...which a white man and 1/2 African American / 1/2 Native A