May 28, 2015

There are things I like about Hillary and things I detest.

But I want Bernie as our candidate. I think he has a real
chance of an astonishing victory. Yesterday I saw a clip
of Blitzer talking to Bernie, and they showed a clip of
Hillary. She reminded me too much of Cheneys; her
smugness, and the way she looks away and down, rather than
directly at the person addressing her, was Cheneyesque.
And I do not mean to equate her in any regard with those
ghouls, except she reminded me of him and his demon offspring
in body and expression to such an extent that I was terrified
for the rest of the day.

May 16, 2015

great post, thought provoking, thank you!

From what we know of child development, there is every reason to imagine that children who grow up in a society that approves the killing of human beings will have lower inhibitions against killing than do children whose society teaches an absolute intolerance of killing.

Something is coming to mind, from Gibran, what he wrote about
crime and punishment.*

It has to do with the collective guilt and collective innocence of
us all.

Punishment, esp cruel punishment, rarely causes a person to look
within himself and examine his deeds.

Rehabilitation requires authentic remorse, and authentic understanding
of the crime. It requires feeling the pain and harm one has inflicted
on others. It also requires an opportunity for restitution.

These prisons offer none of that. They are mostly big black holes
swallowing up human lives.

*I'm still puzzling through the formless pigmy but the "god
self" I understand as the highest human potential -- not something
ethereal -- but the tangible, loving, compassionate human heart
and conscience. I also believe there are many 100% innocent
victims, but this is about the collective knowledge -- as you wrote
above. What the children grow up on: it affects the school, the
town, the state, the laws, the crime. It is absorbed through the
skin, through the food, through the sounds and smells.

Do you recall the forest which turns out to be a single tree,
although above ground it appears to be thousands of individual
trees? Underground, one root system.

Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said,
"Speak to us of Crime and Punishment."

And he answered saying:
It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded,
commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
And for that wrong committed must you knock
and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self;
It remains for ever undefiled.
And like the ether it lifts but the winged.

Even like the sun is your god-self;
It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.
But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.

Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,
But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist
searching for its own awakening.

And of the man in you would I now speak.
For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist,
that knows crime and the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong
as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you
and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise
beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower
than the lowest which is in you also.

And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge
of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.

Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.
You are the way and the wayfarers.
And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him,
a caution against the stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him,
who though faster and surer of foot,
yet removed not the stumbling stone.

And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.

The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,
And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer
for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust
and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun
even as the black thread and the white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look
into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.

If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife,
Let him also weigh the heart of her husband in scales,
and measure his soul with measurements.

And let him who would lash the offender
look unto the spirit of the offended.

And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness
and lay the ax unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad,
the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together
in the silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,
What judgment pronounce you upon him
who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh
yet is himself slain in the spirit?

And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,
Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?
And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already
greater than their misdeeds?

Is not remorse the justice which is administered by
that very law which you would fain serve?

Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent
nor lift it from the heart of the guilty.

Unbidden shall it call in the night,
that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.

And you who would understand justice,
how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen
are but one man standing in twilight
between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,

And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher
than the lowest stone in its foundation.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/prophet/prophet.htm#Crime

May 8, 2015

Big American News? Anybody familiar with this website?

http://bigamericannews.com/category/op-ed/

It reads like a rw National Enquirer but I don't know if it's a liberal joker.

Some articles from their op-ed

Bible Proves Hillary Clinton Can't be President

Obama Plans to Invade Texas, Kidnap George W. Bush and Create A New Kingdom of Liberal Darkness

OBAMA PLOTS TO BETRAY AMERICA, ISRAEL AND JESUS, FULFILLS NEW WORLD ORDER BIBLICAL PROPHESY

Proof: Chemtrails Being Used to Chemically Infect Men with Homosexuality

etc

April 24, 2015

I would do some serious research into cannabis oil.

There are remarkable stories coming out all the time,
from skin to lung to brain cancers being cured. Not
quackery; there will be studies.

Research, research, research, research. Learn as
much as you can, take heart every day you have.

If it's not your appointment time, there will be a way.

I wish you much strength and courage, I'm sure it is
terrifying; but be confident the strength and courage
are already there in you.

They'll be coming to your aid; they are your friends,
your own, inside of you; and they love you.
They will help you.

Not so helpful all the noisy neighbors in our heads;
but the ones in our hearts, seek out those friends.
Help and wisdom is there.

April 4, 2015

I think it should be "nopeacenojustice"

people have to have a certain measure of peace,
and be at peace with their own conscience, in order
to even SEE how to get there -- to Justice.

We project our own inner chaos onto every situation,
and everybody else does too. Nobody sees clearly,
AND nobody takes responsibility for generating their
own unhappiness.

It HAS to start there -- with each person, one at a time.
Get clear first, be in peace - then act. The peace will
not be a byproduct of actions. It is inside all of us,
already. It is such a power, such a strength, it needs to
be discovered, and used.

(sorry to interject.. resume thread)

February 22, 2015

I would bet any amount of money that Bernie is thinking all of this through VERY carefully.

There is a distinct absence of political delusion, arrogance,
egomaniacal ambition. He is being very careful with this
decision. It's not about whether the big money is going to
back him. He wants to know if the people want this message
and this kind of change. That will be his fuel. I doubt he
would be a spoiler, give the Republicans and Kochs any more
advantage.

February 12, 2015

New baby

I have lost two beloved cats in the past few months, it has left
me with kind of a big hole in my heart; I'm sure many of you know
and understand. It is probably too soon and I am utterly impractical
but but but today this happened. Well, it didn't just happen; but today
she came home with me to stay. She is supposedly nine weeks
but seems younger. Not yet named. Have been brainstorming.
She is so tiny.
thank you for your oohs and awws

February 3, 2015

I would like to give this post a thousand recs.

Without compassion, patience, a willingness to listen,
and the humility to learn something new -- for example,
that the other person is human -- the virulent anti-anti-vaxxers
will never progress in their quest to save humankind.

Not politically, medically, scientifically, spiritually, atheistically,
or otherwise. The arrogance in the end weighs them down.

January 28, 2015

John Boehner Destroyed By Forbes In Scathing Smack Down – A Legacy Of Disgrace

http://samuel-warde.com/2015/01/john-boehner-destroyed/

John Boehner Destroyed By Forbes In Scathing Smack Down – A Legacy Of Disgrace

The noted conservative website Forbes.com published a scathing indictment of Speaker John Boehner in the wake of the growing scandal surrounding his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak before Congress.

The article, entitled Bibi Netanyahu — aka ‘The Republican Senator From Israel’ — May Have Made A Fatal Political Mistake offers an in-depth analysis of fallout in Israel over the controversy, predicting the Netanyahu may very well lose his long-standing control of Israel as a result of the fallout from his diplomatic FUBAR.


The article begins by accusing Speaker Boehner of attempting “to create two conflicting foreign policies for the United States—one pursued by the President and the other pursued by the Congress.”

After explaining concerns for Netanyahu at home and the possibility that “Netanyahu’s desire to interfere with American policy while seeking to bolster his re-election campaign, may turn out to be the very political screw-up that will allow the joint ticket forged by the Labor-Hatnuah political parties to bring an end to Netanyahu’s long reign atop the Israeli government,” the article goes on to consider Boehner’s actions.

January 25, 2015

aha...

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thanks!

except...

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when I follow your instructions exactly it comes out
like this
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