This is one amazing post: Conservative going after Sean Hannity concerning Iraq and it's horrible consequences.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/tonso5.html

This is a longish article, can't believe I was lucky enough to see it at the site posted above...

I'll copy a little part of it here, it's an open letter for god's sake!

An Open Letter to Sean Hannity
by William R. Tonso

Dear Sean:
It really ticks me off royally when you and your allegedly conservative talk-radio colleagues dismiss all critics of the Iraq War as liberals who are interested in nothing more than winning back the presidency and/or who hate America....snip...

For several months, I’ve considered calling you to take you to task for misleading the listeners who consider you to be such a great American. ...snip...

So I decided to cope with my frustration through an open letter to you, as I once did with one to your pompous colleague, Rush Limbaugh. ...snip...

I’m not afraid to argue with you, because I don’t think you’re that sharp. ...snip...

George Will Quote
"The world is full of ordinary people who do not define freedom as we do, who do not value it as we do, who prefer piety, ethnic purity, religious solidarity, military glory, or the security of despotism. There are still all kinds of competing values in the world, and liberty has to be fought for and argued for and defined. It is a learned and acquired taste."...snip....

Pat Bucannan Quoted:
And in a recent issue of The American Conservative, he noted that if we buy Bush’s claim that we’re "fighting for the right of Islamic peoples ‘to speak, and worship, and live in liberty,’" we’re caught in a dilemma. "Devout Muslims in Islamic lands do not believe people should be free to blaspheme or insult the Prophet. They do not believe all religions are equal or should be treated equally. They do not believe Christians should be free to preach in their lands. The punishment for those who do, and for those who convert from Islam in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as well as Iran, is death." He goes on to note that wherever free elections have been held in the Middle East Islamists have won over Western secularism and asks: "Should U.S. soldiers die for democracy in the Islamic world, when democracy may produce victory for the political progeny of the Muslim Brotherhood? Is that worth the lives of America’s young?" ...snip...

Andrew J. Bacevich, USA Colonel Ret. a professor of international relations and director of Boston University’s Center of International Relations authored The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War.

In this book, Bacevich warns of a new and dangerous obsession that has taken hold of so many Americans, conservatives and liberals alike. It is the marriage of militarism to utopian ideology – of unprecedented military power wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values. ...snip...

The outspoken Colonel David Hackworth (USA deceased) believed that going to war with Iraq had nothing to do with combating terrorism and was a blunder. "So, fighting Iraq bears not the slightest resemblance to our triumphant World War II march across Europe. Almost the entire Arab world views us not as liberators occupying that bludgeoned country solely to pull Iraqis up by their sandal straps, but as Crusaders who’ve returned to finish the dirty work the Christian world started a thousand years ago. Deep in the hearts of most Arabs, we’re just the latest wave of infidels who are into violating their sacred land."

Are you beginning to see a pattern here, Sean? Are George Will, Pat Buchanan, Andrew Bacevich, and the late David Hackworth liberals and/or America haters because they’ve pointed out that other peoples aren’t like us and don’t appreciate the attempts by our government to make them like us? And is former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips a liberal for writing in his American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21 Century that while the attack on Iraq was "at bottom about access to oil and U.S. global supremacy," it also had other intentions. "One was to fold oil objectives into the global war against terror. A second was to cement the U.S. dollar’s hegemonic role in global oil sales – and thus in the world economy. A third was to keep the invasion’s purpose broad enough to allow the biblically minded Christian right to see it, at least partially, as a destruction of the new Babylon, on the road to Armageddon and redemption."

...snip... a lot....
The evil that America has brought to Iraq transcends the tens [more likely hundreds] of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and maimed in the conflict. The evil goes beyond the destruction of ancient historical artifacts and the civilian infrastructure of a secular state and the decimation of lives, careers, and families of millions of Iraqis. The violence and killing that Bush brought to Iraq has spread antagonism between Sunni and Shiite throughout the Middle East with potentially draconian consequences. Bush’s war has turned Muslim hearts and minds against America and made terrorism an acceptable means to resist American hegemony. With his mindless war, Bush has created more terrorism than the world has ever seen.
As far as the war and its disastrous impact on our Bill of Rights go, you and your talk-radio so-called conservatives are nothing but useful idiots for the establishment. You all uncritically support wars anyplace the neocons tell the bumbler in the White House to start them, and any police-state method implemented in the name of security, but then you all get upset with that same bumbler when he and many on the Hill, including liberals, refuse to clamp down on illegal immigration and to protect our national sovereignty. Do you ever stop to wonder how the guy you think is so right when it comes to war and measures impacting the rights of ordinary Americans can be so wrong when it comes to protecting our own borders and sovereignty? Might there be some connection between his foreign and domestic policies?

America is actually a carefully concealed oligarchy. A few thousand people, mostly in government, finance, and the military-industrial complex, run this country for their own purposes. By manipulating the two-party system, influencing the mainstream media, and controlling the flow of campaign finance money, this oligarchy works to secure the nomination of its preferred candidates (Democratic and Republican alike), thus giving a ‘choice’ between Puppet A and Marionette B.
...snip
Smedley Darlington Butler a military hero, and became the Corps’ youngest major general when he was 48, retiring at that rank in 1931.
In War is a Racket, his 1935 book, Butler wrote: "For a great many years as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket. Not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it." He defined a racket as "something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
In a 1935 magazine article, Butler wrote:
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service, and during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested....snip

As far as the war goes, you and your so-called conservative colleagues are nothing but useful idiots to our own establishment – no faction of which, left or right, could care less about protecting our national sovereignty or the original intent of our Constitution – and that establishment is a far greater threat to us and our remaining freedoms than any Middle Eastern religious/political movement.

Cheers!
William R. Tonso

August 25, 2007

My Frisbee Game, in Haiku format!

Created new game
Modified frisbee golfing
At a long thin park!

Keep it in the path
Throw it as far as you can
Keep it in the path

Frisbee AMAZING
Must visit football field
See how far I throw!

(My estimate: I threw one today 270 feet, pretty much where I expected it to go, a football field is 300)

The Bible itself espouses Atheism!

bible – Atheistic!
"No other gods before me."
I follow the creed

Proved Atheistic
"No other gods before me"
Says it all, my friend

Have taken to heart
This momentous expression
First...NO OTHER GODS

god's a jealous god
But also strangely humble
None comes before god.

Bushes Should Not Have Children!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070823/cx_tr_uc/tr20070823

Jenna's kid will be 40 just about the time the world's fisheries totally fail.

He'll make a great president...

Baptist fatwah?

A California minister who used church stationery and an Internet radio
program to endorse former Gov. Mike Huckabee for president is asking his
followers to pray for the deaths of those who filed a complaint against him
with the IRS.

The Rev. Wiley S. Drake of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park,
Calif., called for "imprecatory prayer" targeting Barry W. Lynn, Joe Conn
and Jeremy Leaming of Americans United for Separation of Church and State,
which had asked the IRS to investigate whether it was proper for Drake to
endorse Huckabee. Churches that endorse candidates are subject to losing
their tax-exempt status. 8.17.07
 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/17/politics/main3180892.shtml

Surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone

Frish sez: Human evolution cannot possibly keep up with our technology...love the editors (bottom line) comment...

"Warning satirical social commentary"...

From the North Denver News

Written by James Benfly

Wednesday, 08 August 2007

Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as "whittling."

"From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses," explains Martel. "Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of all the time I save by being able to use modern handhelds so much faster, I really think the surgery will pay for itself in ten to fifteen years. And what it's saving me in frustration - that's priceless."

"This is really, on the edge sort of stuff," explains Dr. Robert Fox Spars, who worked on developing the procedure. "We're turning plastic surgery from something that people use in service of vanity, to a real tool for improving workplace efficiency."

The procedure involved making a small incision into both thumbs and shaving down the bones, followed by careful muscular alteration and modification of the fingernails.

While Martel's new thumbs now appear small and effeminate in comparison to his otherwise very large hands, he says he can still lift "pretty much anything I could lift before the surgery - though opening spaghetti sauce jars has been a problem. That was a big surprise."

Chinese Communists to Control Reincarnation!

No Reincarnation without Permission from September 1st

In a move which would be comical if it were not so serious, the Atheist Chinese Communist Party has brought in new rules to apparently "Completely Control" Buddhism in Tibet and keep it under Communist control.The new rules which come into force on September the 1st state that "Lama's are no longer allowed to reincarnate with out first obtaining permission from the communist authorities".

Such permission might be hard to obtain from an atheist official in advance and no doubt what the rules really mean is that all official recognition of a particular incarnation can only be obtained from the communist party.

Obviously the CCP wishes to appoint it's own to every position of authority within Tibetan Buddhism, Just as it has tried to do in the case of the current Panchen Lama, who was abducted 12 years ago at the age of 6 and has not been heard from since.

The Communist Party has already announced that they will select the new Dalai Lama from inside Tibet. However His Holiness has stated on many occasions that his next incarnation will be born outside Tibet , in a free country unless an acceptable resolution to the Tibet Issue has been agreed.

The Web Site of the Chinese Communist Party said on Friday.."If there is any self-claimed Living Buddha without government and religious affairs department approval, this said reincarnation would be illegal and invalid,".

http://www.tibetcustom.com/article.php/20070803133532961

FREEDOM - BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

Shermer's SciAm article (he writes a skeptics column each month) is dead on the money with the philosophy to espouse.  That is:  Non-confrontational with Supers, show the good of brightism, don't attack their positions as much as make our positive assertions known...

Rational Atheism

An open letter to Messrs. Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens

By Michael Shermer

Since the turn of the millennium, a new militancy has arisen among religious skeptics in response to three threats to science and freedom: (1) attacks against evolution education and stem cell research; (2) breaks in the barrier separating church and state leading to political preferences for some faiths over others; and (3) fundamentalist terrorism here and abroad. Among many metrics available to track this skeptical movement is the ascension of four books to the august heights of the New York Times best-seller list—Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006), Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell (Viking, 2006), Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great (Hachette Book Group, 2007) and Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)—that together, in Dawkins's always poignant prose, "raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one. You can be an atheist who is happy, balanced, moral and intellectually fulfilled." Amen, brother.

1. Anti-something movements by themselves will fail. Atheists cannot simply define themselves by what they do not believe. As Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises warned his anti-Communist colleagues in the 1950s: "An anti-something movement displays a purely negative attitude. It has no chance whatever to succeed. Its passionate diatribes virtually advertise the program they attack. People must fight for something that they want to achieve, not simply reject an evil, however bad it may be."

2. Positive assertions are necessary. Champion science and reason, as Charles Darwin suggested: "It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follow[s] from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science."

3. Rational is as rational does. If it is our goal to raise people's consciousness to the wonders of science and the power of reason, then we must apply science and reason to our own actions. It is irrational to take a hostile or condescending attitude toward religion because by doing so we virtually guarantee that religious people will respond in kind. As Carl Sagan cautioned in "The Burden of Skepticism," a 1987 lecture, "You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it."

4. The golden rule is symmetrical. In the words of the greatest conscious­ness raiser of the 20th century, Mart­in Luther King, Jr., in his epic "I Have a Dream" speech: "In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrong­ful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline." If atheists do not want theists to prejudge them in a negative light, then they must not do unto theists the same.

5. Promote freedom of belief and disbelief. A higher moral principle that encompasses both science and religion is the freedom to think, believe and act as we choose, so long as our thoughts, beliefs and actions do not infringe on the equal freedom of others. As long as religion does not threaten science and freedom, we should be respectful and tolerant because our freedom to disbelieve is inextricably bound to the freedom of others to believe.

As King, in addition, noted: "The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom."

Rational atheism values the truths of science and the power of reason, but the principle of freedom stands above both science and religion.

"Intolerance is the primary virtue of those who would end the American dream."

James: I do truly appreciate what you wrote!I'm posting your column

 

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/religion/columns/070818a.shtml

 

onto my blog...where I cover items such as theocracy (and other crazy stuff!)

 

I am one of a great many folk who are in trepidation of "theocracy" or anything that attempts to impose such

a system.  

 

Your recognition of intolerance as what is most scary is exactly on target... I wrote to another columnist two weeks ago with the same admonition, see my-response-to-letter-in-modesto-bee on this blog...

 

James L. Evans
The virtue of tolerance and religious freedom

A reader in Montgomery took me to task recently regarding a column I wrote about Harry Potter. The gist of the piece was that Christians need not fear the influence of the Potter series. The Christian faith has stood the test of time and there is no reason for us to advance our ideas by eliminating or silencing other ideas.

Although I did not use the word tolerance, the reader responded in the Montgomery Advertiser by writing that the kind of tolerance I was advocating was dangerous to our society. She went on to suggest that tolerance was responsible for the "tragic, factual evidence of what's been truly happening in our society."

She closed her letter with a quote from someone she described as a "wise man." She quoted this unnamed purveyor of wisdom as saying, "The last virtue of a depraved nation is tolerance."

I became curious as to what sort of "wise man" would issue forth such nonsense. It didn't take long for Google to locate the source. The quote comes from D. James Kennedy, pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Coral Ridge Florida.

Kennedy is famous on several fronts. Years ago he developed "Evangelism Explosion," an aggressive tool designed to help Christians share their faith with non-Christians. Kennedy's resource provides a fully scripted way to present the plan of salvation and includes a handy reference for answering objections raised by those who resist conversion.

He is also well-known for his widely televised worship services. Kennedy, with his bright smile and royal blue clergy robe, delivers his message to thousands of homes each week via Christian television networks.

Kennedy is also known to Alabamians because he was the only "media" allowed to video Judge Roy Moore's dark of night installation of his 21/2 ton monument to the Ten Commandments in the state courthouse. Copies of the video were subsequently sold to benefit various Coral Ridge initiatives.

It is not without significance that Kennedy would be present at the installation of the Ten Commandments in a public building. He is a proponent of many of the tenets of Christian Reconstructionism. One of those ideas is the belief that America should be governed by the laws of the Old Testament. In fact, Kennedy believes that only born again Christians are fit to lead the country at all.

So when Kennedy tells us he despises tolerance, he is not kidding. If he had his way, the Constitution would be scrapped in favor of an Old Testament theocracy.

Of course, I wouldn't mind a theocracy, which literally means "rule by God," if God was in fact the one who ruled. But what usually happens in theocratic states is someone who claims to speak for God ends up running things, and normally not too well.

Getting back to tolerance, mere tolerance, in my opinion, does not go far enough. Simple toleration of someone or some idea is not the ideal expressed in our founding documents. In America we don't promote tolerance among religions; we practice "religious freedom."

In America, as far as the law is concerned, all human beings and their various religions are created equally. If we fail to protect this basic constitutional ideal, we will find ourselves on a path that leads to totalitarianism.

Intolerance is the primary virtue of those who would end the American dream.

James L. Evans, a syndicated columnist, also serves as pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church. He can be contacted at faithmatters@mindspring.com .

Cheers and thanks again!

How's the weather?

Heard about a hurricane...so I turned on the Puerto Rico Loop

http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=jua&product=N0R&overlay=01100001&loop=yes
 

I imagine that most of your weather (and the prevailing wind) is from the east.

If I imagine your mountain, is your slope essentially west facing?

I would think that is a good thing, from a survivability in a hurricane situation!

 

Here's a great site for hurricane forecasts and actuals...

 

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200704_flashtool.html?extraprod=flashtool#a_topad

 

Now, all you need is power so you can watch the action!

Even this Dean thingy will give you SIGNIFICANT wind "events".

 

Cheers,
Frish

Humor? You be the judge!

Okay, here's a break from ecological disasters, why we hate kids, kids in public places and parents out of control, how about those breeders, what about getting sterilized, why suicide is not our policy, etc. 

 

Are any of these funny?  Some are definitely "funny"...

 

Pregnancy Q &A & more!

Q: Should I have a baby after 35?

A: No, 35 children is enough.  > >

 

Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?

A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.> >

 

Q: What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?>

A: Childbirth.> >

 

Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.>

A: So what's your question?> >

 

Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?>

A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.> >

 

Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?>

A: Right after you find out you're pregnant.> >

 

Q: Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?>

A: Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you.> >

 

Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?>

A: Yes, pregnancy.> >

 

Q: Do I have to have a baby shower?>

A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.> >

 

Q: Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?

A: When the kids are in college

Cheers (sorry)
Frish
http://www.nonshoppingchannel.blogspot.com/ 

Mommy, Daddy, where did I come from?

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/pdf/PLOS_paper.pdf

If you can decipher this paper, you will understand the history of human development, as told through our very genes.

I'm reading it, again, and it is mostly intelligible, although fog factor of 42 and Dense!

My data are part of this paper...happy to contribute!

Many thanks and an (HYPER)affiliate marketing request

Dear Citrix gotocustomercare Two Topics:

1.  GREAT PRODUCT THANK YOU EVERYTHING YOU PROMISED EASY TO INSTALL AND USE FAST RESPONSE TIME JUST LIKE I WAS BACK AT THE RANCH AND NOW I CAN GET MY JOB DONE!

 

I am a print salesman.

 

Within a print territory, things can get quite busy.

 

In Los Angeles, the geography can reduce productivity (understatement of the century).  (I drove within 150 feet of a brush fire on the freeway today!  Within five miles of LAX!!!  The JAM was quite amazing actually...).

 

I hate not having access to my office email from home, but now it is critical to have that information at the end and beginning of each day...and I can't afford, nor do I need, a pocket PC or a PDA.

 

Signed up for the 30 day trial...

 

Spent a minute signing up (but then found I had signed up for the Pro not the individual, but with a little wait time on your 800 number I resolved and re-downloaded the proper product!)

 

Today's initial Gotomypc session lasted 60 minutes or so

    I got all my work organized  (I currently have 18 sales jobs in various stages of flight, from pre-sale to proofing to approval to press to bindery to delivery...to A.R.!  Just making the list was useful, and something I have no time for anymore!)

    I wrote emails to prospects, and kept my ACT! up to date...

    I realized I could write early in the morning too, so, to keep it fresh, I'll do more tomorrow AM~

   

This is going to make me 100% more productive, and I need every productivity tool I can obtain!

 

With gotomypc in the quiet and safety of my home office, at the time of my choosing, I can do what I can't get done during the day, since I'm busy calling on Los Angeles customers with proofs, and samples, and sales calls, during prime day time (IN MY CAR!).

 

Can I do a commercial for you?  They claim I have a voice for radio!

 

2.  Internet (HYPER) Affiliate Marketing Request

     I will be signing on as a marketing affiliate to promote your product online. 

     Having worked in online affiliate marketing (Director of Business Development for informercial.tv) your payment schedule seems very good...however, I noticed a website that offered a 45 day trial instead of a 30 day trial as on your site. Who can I speak with to be able to make a similar 45 day offer to others? 

 

Your product is good.

The statements in your radio ads and online are true.

The product works as promised.

It is easy to install.

It is easy to use.

It is easily worth the personal use price of $19.00, far more so than some features of my cell phone that are almost as much!

 

In any case, thanks for a great product.

 

Frish

Good luck in October

Dear Ted: Saw your call to action. Very stimulating and I'm with you all the way (in spirit) since you understand the actual immensity and immediacy of THE PROBLEM. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080807N.shtml

I've been environmentally aware since I was 8 years old, in 1962, when I decided I'd never have children. Back then, there were "starving kids in China" (as mom's would warn those of us reluctant-to-eat-our-vegies). I figured if there were starving kids, anywhere, I wouldn't want to add any of my own...and so far I have not.

There are few organizations as concerned with population, and where it is heading, in the way the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement is. Having children given all that you recognize in your article and a whole lot more (how about no fish in 2050?) is IMMORAL at best. Catrostrophe, apocalypse, disaster, die-off, whatever one wishes to call it, the number of actual people around at the time it will happen must be minimized.

Therefore, for the good of the rest of life on the planet, we choose not to have children.

http://www.vhemt.org/

Just an FYI and thanks for your service to humanity.

The likelihood of Congress standing up to oil/auto/coal/energy/whatever anytime in the next 10 years is zero. Too many special interests, too much money, too much money on the side of the status quo, which, as you so gently point out, is killing the very inhabitability of the planet. That is why my analysis below is somewhat gloomy, sorry, but I'm a scientist, optimist (salesman), and a realist. We cannot get out of our own way. Individually, humans are brilliant. In a group we cannot act with wisdom...

Here is my "secular prayer" : May we live long and die out.

You asked two questions: Can we do it? and... Is it too late?

Can we do it? Actually, we cannot, but we don't even recognize that yet. We've pushed the trolley so far off the rails that climate change will be careening out of control for many 100's of years, and NOTHING we can do in the short term can stop it at all! 300-400KM storms will strike, scrubbing everything down to the bedrock...trust me, the weather and nature don't care whether they are accomodating to human life or not...

Is it too late? Way too late to prevent a die off of humanity that will make the black plague look like the common cold.

--
Cheers,

Frish

Here's how to end the war in Iraq...and the war on terrorism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvI758l0TLM

"The ruckus produced by the enraged ulema was deafening."

Sounds clinical...anyway, found this terrific editorial letter from Pakistan and decided to share it here. Some of it is dense and or referencing things I have no clue about, but, I believe that within this letter is a glimmer of resolution to the "war on terror".

Education will kill radical Islam. The internet can win the war on terror.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C08%5C11%5Cstory_11-8-2007_pg3_1

Bush's man says draft worth a look! (SEE LAST LINE!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_war_adviser;_ylt=Arz4GX85pMQymERpsNx6235h24cA

Here's the article, don't want the archive to swallow it up...

Bush war adviser says draft worth a look
By RICHARD LARDNER Fri Aug 10, 7:06 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.

"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

"The president's position is that the all volunteer military meets the needs of the country and there is no discussion of a draft. General Lute made that point as well," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

In the interview, Lute also said that "Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well."

Still, he said the repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military.

"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."

The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re-established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.

Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington.

Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.


(READING BENEATH THE LINE: HE WAS ORDERED TO TAKE THE JOB SO HE'S PEEING ON THE PRESIDENT'S SHOES...GOTTA LOVE IT.)

My response to a letter in the Modesto Bee modbee.com

This is in response to KRISTOPHER S. PIERCE's article
"Acknowledge values that made us great"

last updated: August 07, 2007 03:41:38 AM

Dear Kristopher:I understand and totally agree with your statement:
"This is simply a debate concerning whether or not we will acknowledge and respect the Judeo-Christian traditions and moral values that built Western civilization and made this country great."

Here's a quick run down of some of those traditional values that made this country great:

tolerance for those that don't agree with you, don't look like you, don't speak the same language as you, etc.

freedom of thought, worship and association

government not influenced by corruption through the largess of corporations

free and fair elections without "dirty tricks" of disenfranchisement or electronic voting fraud

habeas corpus rights for prisoners under American authority

warrants being required so government cannot be dictatorial and all aspects of government
have oversight

not invading a non-threatening country unilaterally without provocation (pre-emptively!)

I couldn't agree more, a return to the traditional and high moral values not shared by our President and current administration is absolutely and positively mandatory and I hope the American people take your words to heart when they next vote.

Pranks By Boys: Glitter at the Pfannkuchen

Schultz and Cageman and I were on the way over to rescue Walleye from his parent’s house since Walleye was out of wheels. Seems he destroyed his oilpan when he took the Dodge Dart off-roading. Hit a large round rock. He sold it soon afterwards.

Walleye knew two girls, Itch and Scratch. This was in the early 1970’s, 20 years before the Simpsons! It sounded even funnier then! My remembrance of them includes stringy long hair in their faces, one was tall and the other short, and both had been heroin addicts. They met Walleye at recovery and all three of them hung around. The idea of any of the three of them naked, within miles of wherever I was, never ever crossed my mind.

Anyway, none of us lifted so much as a finger to assist Walleye as he stuffed the now dry and drained transmission case with sawdust, and jammed on the oilpan with the remaining bolts that were still straight enough to be tightened.

Itch and Scratch decided to put glitter on each other. Seemed like just the thing to me, so I asked if they’d glitter me too!

I lay down on the grass, watching Walleye under his car, and Itch gently stuck out her wet tongue on a portion of my face. Then, Scratch dribbled glitter just there. In 5 minutes they managed to paint the non-moving portions of my face with a glitter mask in red/silver and blue!

Schultz and Cageman decided to be similarly adorned, and by then, Walleye claimed to be finished.

Walleye wanted none of the glitter, Itch and Scratch both kissed him and wiped some of their glitter on him too…he didn’t mind too much.

Now that we looked like stoned freaks whom should we bum out?

We weren’t malicious. It was just that if Schultz went ANYWHERE he was certain to bum SOMEONE out! And dressed and adorned as we were, it would cause a stir wherever we went!

We piled into two cars and went about a mile to a new restaurant, “The Pfannkuchen” a place that served German Pancakes!

It was a pleasant enough place, an A-Frame building with real wooden shingles, unusual in Minnesota, but at such a steep pitch it had basically no snow load to worry about! Rather a “fall” motif going on inside, orange vinyl fabrics and brown plastic tables and brown metal chairs.

Well, besides being the only people there under 65 (it was early evening, perhaps 5:30), we also didn’t have the slight pink, blue or occasional orange tinge in our hair that would have made us fit right in...everything pretty much got silent as we waited for a table...

A slight dusting of glitter trailed us as we were shown to a large table gracing the middle of the room. Perfect. Everyone had a great view of us, and we had on large grins.

Some of the stares were harsh, many were non-committal, and a few approved of our “look”.

We were pretty quiet, a little self conscious, and didn’t want to do anything more than make our presence known, that was plenty by itself.

After 5 minutes no one even noticed us.

"One more baby means one more tomb!" China Changing Child Controls

China Bans Crude Birth Control Slogans August 5, 2007 - 5:10am

BEIJING (AP) - China's top family planning agency has cracked down on crude and insensitive slogans used by rural authorities to enforce the country's strict population limits, state media said Sunday.

Slogans such as 'Raise fewer babies but more piggies,' and 'One more baby means one more tomb,' have been forbidden and a list of 190 acceptable slogans issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Such slogans are often found painted on roadside buildings in rural areas.

China's 28-year-old family planning policy limits most urban couples to just one child and allows some families in the countryside to have a second child if their first is a girl. Critics say it has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs, which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of getting boys.

The Chinese government contends that the one-child policy has helped prevent at least 300 million births _ about the size of the U.S. population _ and aided China's recent, rapid economic development.

Xinhua said slogans such as "Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected," threatened to undermine China's efforts to keep the population under control.

Examples of authorized slogans include "Mother earth is too tired to sustain more children" and "Both boys and girls are parents' hearts," it said.

The commission said some slogans left the impression that the government was "simply forcing people to give up having more babies, causing misunderstanding (of) the policy and even tarnishing the image of the government," Xinhua reported.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

From the first sentence to the last, this one is a keeper!

Atlantic bird makes slow resurgence

By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 3, 1:12 PM ET

CHARLESTOWN, R.I. - The tiny Atlantic piping plover, a federally protected bird, has given beachgoers headaches for decades.

The species breeds on East Coast beaches during warm weather, which means entire stretches of shoreline can be put off limits just as people want to enjoy the coast.

But today, two decades after the plover was declared a threatened species, biologists are crediting the beach closures, twine barriers and other buffers between birds and humans for a 141 percent increase in the Atlantic piping plover population.

"Those birds have been earned the hard way," said Anne Hecht, who supervises the recovery effort for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The brown-and-white birds breed in tenuous dents of sand just above the high tide line, where their nests can be flooded by storms, targeted by predators and easily damaged by humans.

Once a fixture on the East Coast, the fist-sized piping plovers lingered as human development pushed them from their beachfront breeding grounds, especially after the seaside building frenzy following World War II.

Manmade threats were just half the problem. Susi von Oettingen, a federal endangered species biologist in Concord, N.H., paused for breath while reciting a long list of plover predators as large as coyotes and small as ants.

Sometimes drawn to the beach by human trash, those predators will find and eat plover nests and chicks. Ants swarm the eggs and eat them.

The birds' numbers dropped to just 722 mating pairs in 1985, prompting federal officials to require that property owners protect the birds.

They also began issuing recommendations that interfered with humans' beach life.

At a minimum, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted property owners to put up signs and fences marking a 50-foot barrier between people and plovers.

Since dogs chase plovers, they had to be kept on a leash or kept off the beach altogether.

Beach buggy enthusiasts were probably hit the hardest. Their off-road vehicles are banned from many plover beaches during nesting season because one stray tire can smoosh an entire brood.

The bans outraged beachgoers.

"It was awful," said von Oettingen, who remembers when the National Park Service closed its Cape Cod beaches to off-road vehicles. "They had death threats. ... They had parades of vehicles in the streets shouting it was not going to happen."

The backlash united unlikely groups of beachgoers.

While anglers protested the beach buggy restrictions, nudists in Rhode Island sued the federal government for severely curtailing access to their favorite beach.

In the end, a federal judge decided that nude sunbathing was not a constitutionally protected right.

Federal officials have since warned cat shelters not to release neutered felines near plover beaches, and the nests forced the cancellation of a fireworks display in Ogunquit, Maine.

Even now, federal agents investigate cases of suspected vandalism against plovers.
Partisans on both sides say tempers have cooled since the battles of the 1980s and 1990s.

George Cairns, president of the Massachusetts Beach Buggy Association, said the era of protest is over. He now describes his organization as a conservation group that wants the piping plovers to recover.

Since the population is growing, Cairns said it is time to rebalance the rules.

Rather than banning buggies, he proposes using a volunteer warden to wave buggies away from plover nests and sand-colored chicks. He's looking for a town willing to give the idea a trial run.

"People are part of the environment, too," he said.

(Frish adds: Who can truly claim that Neanderthals didn't interbreed with our ancestors!)

Coke-Booze combo results in most drug deaths!

The combination of cocaine and alcohol is especially potent and dangerous. When taken in combination, the body converts the two into cocaethylene, which has a longer duration of action in the brain and is more toxic than either drug alone. The combination of alcohol and cocaine is the most common two-drug combination that results in drug-related deaths.

from an article on the web...

http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/cocaine-and-crack-cocaine?utm_term=crack&utm_medium=mw&utm_campaign=article

Wow. The more they prayed, the sicker they got so they prayed more.

http://jesusdynasty.com/blog/2006/11/14/breaking-news-on-qumran/

As some of you know, I am a card carrying Archaeologist.

 

I read a story on the relatively recent discovery of the Essenes latrine in the Dead Sea and pondered the irony of it.

The Essenes fecal matter was loaded with deadly parasites. After pooping, but before returning to their homes, they were required to bathe in a communal pool so they could be "ritually clean in the eyes of the lord." The problem was the water was rarely changed in this pool and became a breeding ground and transfer point for the parasites. Ironically, it was this ritual bathing practice, combined with their extreme puritanical lifestyle, that may have caused the demise and extinction of the Essenes.

 

James Tabor's quote sums it up.

 

"As a group the men of Qumran were very unhealthy, but I think this would have been likely to have actually fed the Essenes' religious enthusiasm," said Tabor. "They would have seen their infirmities as punishment from God for their lack of purity and then have tried even harder to purify themselves further."

 

What is your favorite religious irony?

237 Reasons Why Humans Have Sex

Frish Note: I have not edited the list, it came from legitimate research.
see this link:http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/Homepage/Group/BussLAB/pdffiles/why%20humans%20have%20sex%202007.pdf
It is long, but it is surprising how many I answered as Yes, at one time or another (or maybe several why's at one time!) I had this reason for having sex...I placed some colors around a few that were particularly fascinating to me...I am certain each of us have their own "favorites"...


1 I was ‘‘in the heat of the moment.’’
2 It just happened.
3 I was bored.
4 It just seemed like ‘‘the thing to do.’’
5 Someone dared me.
6 I desired emotional closeness (i.e., intimacy).
7 I wanted to feel closer to God.
8 I wanted to gain acceptance from my friends.
9 It’s exciting, adventurous.
10 I wanted to make up after a fight.
11 I wanted to get rid of aggression.
12 I was under the influence of drugs.
13 I wanted to have something to tell my friends.
14 I wanted to express my love for the person.
15 I wanted to experience the physical pleasure.
16 I wanted to show my affection to the person.
17 I felt like I owed it to the person..
18 I was attracted to the person. .
19 I was sexually aroused and wanted the release.
20 My friends were having sex and I wanted to fit in.
21 It feels good. .
22 My partner kept insisting..
23 The person was famous and I wanted to be able to say I had sex with him/her.
24 I was physically forced to..
25 I was verbally coerced into it.
26 I wanted the person to love me.
27 I wanted to have a child.
28 I wanted to make someone else jealous.
29 I wanted to have more sex than my friends.
30 I was married and you’re supposed to.
31 I was tired of being a virgin.
32 I was ‘‘horny.’’
33 I wanted to feel loved.
34 I was feeling lonely..
35 Everyone else was having sex.
36 I wanted the attention.
37 It was easier to ‘‘go all the way’’ than to stop.
38 I wanted to ensure the relationship was ‘‘committed.’’
39 I was competing with someone else to ‘‘get the person.’’
40 I wanted to ‘‘gain control’’ of the person.
41 I was curious about what the person was like in bed.
42 I was curious about sex.
43 I wanted to feel attractive.
44 I wanted to please my partner.
45 I wanted to display submission.
46 I wanted to release anxiety/stress. .
47 I didn’t know how to say ‘‘no.’’
48 I felt like it was my duty.
49 I wanted to end the relationship.
50 My friends pressured me into it.
51 I wanted the adventure/excitement.
52 I wanted the experience.
53 I felt obligated to.
54 It’s fun.
55 I wanted to get even with someone (i.e., get revenge).
56 I wanted to be popular.
57 It would get me gifts.
58 I wanted to act out a fantasy.
59 I hadn’t had sex for a while.
60 The person was ‘‘available.’’
61 I didn’t want to ‘‘lose’’ the person.
62 I thought it would help ‘‘trap’’ a new partner.
63 I wanted to make someone else jealous.
64 I felt sorry for the person.
65 I wanted to feel powerful.
66 I wanted to ‘‘possess’’ the person.
67 I wanted to release tension.
68 I wanted to feel good about myself.
69 I was slumming.
70 I felt rebellious.
71 I wanted to intensify my relationship.
72 It seemed like the natural next step.
73 I wanted to be nice.
74 I wanted to feel connected to the person.
75 I wanted to feel young.
76 I wanted to manipulate him/her into doing something for me.
77 I wanted him/her to stop bugging me about sex.
78 I wanted to hurt/humiliate the person.
79 I wanted the person to feel good about himself/herself.
80 I didn’t want to disappoint the person.
81 I was trying to ‘‘get over’’ an earlier person/relationship.
82 I wanted to reaffirm my sexual orientation.
83 I wanted to try out new sexual techniques or positions.
84 I felt guilty.
85 My hormones were out of control.
86 It was the only way my partner would spend time with me.
87 It became a habit.
88 I wanted to keep my partner happy.
89 I had no selfcontrol.
90 I wanted to communicate at a deeper level.
91 I was afraid my partner would have an affair if I didn’t have sex with him/her.
92 I was curious about my sexual abilities.
93 I wanted a ‘‘spiritual’’ experience.
94 It was just part of the relationship ‘‘routine’’.
95 I wanted to lose my inhibitions.
96 I got ‘‘carried away.’’
97 I needed another ‘‘notch on my belt.’’
98 The person demanded that I have sex with him/her.
99 The opportunity presented itself.
100 I wanted to see what it would be like to have sex while stoned (e.g., on marijuana or some other drug).
101 It’s considered ‘‘taboo’’ by society.
102 I wanted to increase the number of sex partners I had experienced.
103 The person was too ‘‘hot’’ (sexy) to resist.
104 I thought it would relax me.
105 I thought it would make me feel healthy.
106 I wanted to experiment with new experiences.
107 I wanted to see what it would be like to have sex with another person.
108 I thought it would help me to fall asleep.
109 I could brag to other people about my sexual experience.
110 It would allow me to ‘‘get sex out of my system’’ so that I could focus on other things.
111 I wanted to decrease my partner’s desire to have sex with someone else.
112 It would damage my reputation if I said ‘‘no.’’
113 The person was too physically attractive to resist.
114 I wanted to celebrate something.
115 I was seduced.
117 I wanted to increase the emotional bond by having sex.
118 I wanted to see whether sex with a different partner would feel different or better.
119 I was mad at my partner, so I had sex with someone else.
120 I wanted to fulfill a previous promise to my partner.
121 It was expected of me.
122 I wanted to keep my partner from straying.
123 I wanted the pure pleasure.
124 I wanted to dominate the other person.
125 I wanted to make a conquest.
126 I’m addicted to sex.
127 It was a favor to someone.
128 I wanted to be used or degraded.
129 Someone offered me money to do it.
130 I was drunk.
131 It seemed like good exercise.
132 I was pressured into doing it.
133 The person offered to give me drugs for doing it.
134 I was frustrated and needed relief.
135 It was a romantic setting.
136 I felt insecure.
137 My regular partner is boring, so I had sex with someone else.
138 I was on the ‘‘rebound’’ from another relationship.
139 I wanted to boost my selfesteem.
140 I wanted to get my partner to stay with me.
141 Because of a bet.
142 It was a special occasion.
143 I wanted to get a special favor from someone.
144 I wanted to get back at my partner for having cheated on me.
145 I wanted to enhance my reputation.
146 I wanted to keep warm.
147 I wanted to punish myself.
148 I wanted to break up a rival’s relationship by having sex with his/her partner.
149 I wanted to stop my partners’ nagging.
150 I wanted to impress friends.
151 I wanted to achieve an orgasm.
152 I wanted to brag to my friends about my conquests.
153 I wanted to improve my sexual skills.
154 I wanted to get a job.
155 I wanted to get a raise..
156 I wanted to get a promotion..
157 I wanted to satisfy a compulsion.
158 I wanted to make money.
159 I wanted to keep my partner satisfied.
160 I wanted to change the topic of conversation.
161 I wanted to get out of doing something.
162 I wanted to test my compatibility with a new partner.
163 I wanted to get a partner to express love.
164 I wanted to put the passion back into my relationship.
165 I wanted to prevent a breakup.
166 I wanted to become one with another person.
167 I wanted to get a favor from someone.
168 I wanted to breakup my relationship.
169 I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease (e.g., herpes, AIDS).
170 I wanted to breakup another’s relationship.
171 I wanted to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
172 I wanted to make myself feel better about myself.
173 I wanted to get rid of a headache.
174 I was afraid to say ‘‘no’’ due to the possibility of physical harm.
175 I wanted to keep my partner from straying.
176 I wanted to burn calories.
177 I wanted to even the score with a cheating partner.
178 I wanted to hurt an enemy.
179 I wanted to feel older.
180 I wanted to raise my selfesteem.
181 It was an initiation rite to a club or organization.
182 I wanted to become more focused on work sexual thoughts are distracting.
183 I wanted to say ‘‘I’ve missed you.’’
184 I wanted to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or special occasion.
185 I wanted to say ‘‘I’m sorry.’’
186 I wanted to return a favor.
187 I wanted to say ‘‘Thank you.’’
188 I wanted to welcome someone home.
189 I wanted to say ‘‘goodbye.’’
190 I wanted to defy my parents.
191 I wanted to relieve menstrual cramps.
192 I wanted to relieve ‘‘blue balls.’’
193 I wanted to get the most out of life.
194 I wanted to feel feminine.
195 I wanted to feel masculine.
196 I am a sex addict.
197 I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.
198 I thought it would boost my social status.
199 The person had a lot of money.
200 The person’s physical appearance turned me on.
201 The person was a good dancer.
202 Someone had told me that this person was good in bed.
203 The person had beautiful eyes.
204 The person made me feel sexy.
205 An erotic movie had turned me on.
206 The person had taken me out for an expensive dinner.
207 The person was a good kisser.
208 The person had bought me jewelry.
209 The person had a great sense of humor.
210 The person seemed self confident.
211 The person really desired me.
212 The person was really desired by others.
213 I wanted to gain access to that person’s friend.
214 I felt jealous.
215 The person flattered me.
216 I wanted to see if I could get the other person into bed.
217 The person had a desirable body.
218 I had not had sex in a long time.
219 The person smelled nice.
220 The person had an attractive face.
221 I saw the person naked and could not resist.
222 I was turned on by the sexual conversation. .
223 The person was intelligent.
224 The person caressed me.
225 The person wore revealing clothes.
226 The person had too much to drink and I was able to take advantage of them..
227 I knew the person was usually ‘‘out of my league.’’
228 The person was mysterious.
229 I realized I was in love.
230 I wanted to forget about my problems.
231 I wanted to reproduce.
232 I wanted to feel loved.
233 I wanted my partner to notice me.
234 I wanted to help my partner forget about his/her problems.
235 I wanted to lift my partner’s spirits.
236 I wanted to submit to my partner.
237 I wanted to make my partner feel powerful.

Irony upon Irony, or "What's more Oxymoronic: A Patient Salesman or an Evangelistic Insurance Agent?" (Frish is the Patient Salesman!)

My letter to the editor of the LA Times was published recently...well, they published almost all of it...

http://nonshoppingchannel.blogspot.com/2007/07/is-term-bright-that-threatening.html

The letter, as it was published, was enthusiatically read by a gentleman in Riverside County, whose name shall remain anonymous, although I doubt he'd have a big problem with me giving him some free advertising. I believe I have discovered that he is an Insurance Agent...more on that later...

The reaction, upon reading my letter, by this person, was to call my home number, whereupon he received my cell phone, and he called me, and I gave him my home address...

He seemed just like what I thought he was...probably harmless.

He sent me, in an envelope just big enough for it, a pamphlet.

Here's the technical description (if I were going to get a quote from my estimator for this print job...):
48 pages plus cover
80# Cover 4/0
70# third sheet guts 1/1
8 x 3.5 or thereabouts, bound on the 8" side
Saddle Stitched

The Title of this article is:

The Beast The Dragon and The Woman, by Joe Crews

Published by:

Amazing Facts
P.O. Box 1058
Roseville, CA 95678-8058
ISBN 1-58019-022-7 (which google doesn't recognize!)

Did find this on the web:

Don Mackintosh BSN MDiv
Director
Amazing Facts Center Of Evangelism
916 209-7279
donm@amazingfacts.org

If any of you wish to write to Don, perhaps I'll send him a note to let him know I read the book.

Well, I read some of it.

Turns out, god, for some unknowable reason, will be destroying most of us soon.

I'm afraid that I don't share enough reality with my friend in Riverside, or with Don Mackintosh BSN MDiv to profit from a conversation about ANYTHING let alone the "end times" or existence or non-existence of god...

Anyway this pamphlet is a really great artifact of my misadventure with the editorial, so I'm glad I own it. It has about a third of the passages underlined, emphasis by my mentor in Riverside about what was important after all.

It has brought to light two extraordinarily and gigantic ironies.

Irony 1: There is a PRONOUNCEMENT/CONTENTION in the text:

"These are facts of history that can be verified by any authoritative historical source."

Too bad they were not referring to Jesus Christ, who by no means can be verified by any authoritative historical source!

Irony 2: The fellow who sent me the "screed" is AN INSURANCE AGENT

screed: noun
Etymology: Middle English screde fragment, alteration of Old English scrEade -- more at SHRED
1 a : a lengthy discourse
b : an informal piece of writing (as a personal letter)
2 : a strip (as of a plaster of the thickness planned for the coat) laid on as a guide
3 : a leveling device drawn over freshly poured concrete

Why is being AN INSURANCE AGENT an irony?

He's certain god is going to sent the beast down to Earth and those that follow the beast will die and go to hell, but he'll be going to Heaven...

What the hell is he selling insurance for then? LOL

Okay, there is a third or fourth irony too:

3. It is ironic that this fellow felt that my letter was in some way a cry for help on my part, as I am "seeking the truth". He felt compelled to share the truth as he knows it, for the sake of my very soul I'm sure.

Wow, when I think of all the time he spends, dwelling on the ridiculous and sublime within the old and new testaments (this pamphlet let me in on several secrets, like how to decode how many days are in a biblical year for example!).

Then I think of how little time his chemicals will exist on the Earth. And, (full credit to "Mr. T") I PITY THE FOOL.

His only lifetime, *THE OPERATIVE WORDS HERE ARE LIFE AND TIME this one, is being totally wasted with illusion, superstition, legend, and nothing but fantasy. In their world, Satan and Jesus are battling for souls.

In the real world, where the rest of us reside (and, where the "religious" do too, regardless of their incredible mirage induced psychosis), life remains meaning free.

That is why those who have a high tolerance for ambiguity lead happier lives.

Psycho Songs: Manic Depression (by Jimi Hendrix)

Manic Depression's touching my soul,
I know what I want,
but I just don't know how to
go about getting it.

Feeling, sweet feeling
drops from my finger, fingers
Manic Depression's captured my soul.

Woman so willing the sweet cause in vain,
you make love,
you break love,
it's-a all the same when it's...
when it's over.

Music sweet music,
I wish I could caress, caress, caress.
Manic Depression's a frustrating mess.
Well, I think I'll go turn
myself off an' go on down.

Really ain't no use me hanging around.
Oh, I gotta see you.

Toilets may be our environmental downfall

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070730/sc_livescience/studytoiletsneedradicalredesign

Corey Binns
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com Mon Jul 30, 9:15 AM ET

The Western World's dependence on flush toilets could be its environmental downfall.

Toilets that use less water, such as the "squat toilet" in which one squats over a hole in the ground, are prevalent in parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, but a new historical study suggests that after decades of flushing, it will take radical innovations for the mainstream West to adopt any new system.

"Most people can hardly imagine that other ways of handling human waste have ever existed," said study author Maj-Britt Quitzau, an environmental sociologist with the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark. "But actually, systems did exist prior to the flushing toilet where human waste was collected within the cities and re-used in farming areas."

Since the 1900s, scientists have known that flushing away human waste comes with environmental consequences , such as using precious, potable water.

Each year, a typical person will use almost 4,000 gallons of drinking water to flush away 75 pounds of feces and 130 gallons of urine, according to a 2001 study by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

While drinking-water shortages plague millions in such places as India and in some African nations, Westerners continue to oppose alternatives to the flushing toilet.

'Earth toilets'
To understand the West's preference for flushing toilets, Quitzau surveyed historical research on attitudes toward human excrement and the technological development of water and sewage systems. He then analyzed statistical data on current attempts to introduce alternative solutions.

His research suggests that in order to succeed, toilets designed to save water must hurdle our culture's long history of city planning and well-intentioned obsession with hygiene.

Westerners have not always been addicted to flushing toilets.

In the 1850s, for example, a recycling "earth toilet" was as American as apple pie. It consisted of a seat placed over a container filled with dry earth. After use, more dry earth was piled into the container. Instead of throwing away the waste in the container, farmers put it to use in agricultural fields as compost.

Convenience and city planners

However, with the introduction of sewer systems in major cities and new moral attitudes toward human waste products, the labor-intensive method lost out to the convenience of the flush, according to Quitzau's research, detailed in the August issue of the journal Technology in Society.

The flushing toilets required water and sewage system to facilitate easy and enclosed removal of waste.

Even with its added expense, Quitzau said, "city planners and health personnel became some of the principal spokesmen for flushing toilets. They were troubled about the problems that growing urbanization brought along in the Western cities at this time."

In the city of Stockholm alone, the number of water-flushing toilets rose from 127 to more than 80,000 between 1890 and 1925, according to a study reported in a Swedish Science Press journal.

At the same time, environmentally sound earth closets, considered less sanitary, went extinct.

Composting toilets

Although many Westerners would never consider turning in their flushing toilet for a night pot or a cesspool, some pioneers are thinking outside the bowl.

Composting toilets (which rely on bacteria to convert fecal matter into fertilized soil) require no water, and urine-separating toilets rely on a minimal amount of water to wash waste into one of two compartments in the bowl.

The technologies remain relatively unpopular because people in developed countries are programmed—and their houses and cities are built—to flush it all away.

"Perhaps sometime in the future," said Quitzau, "people in Western cities could accept the idea of using human urine and feces as resources instead of as wastes."Until then, the unsanitary stigma will haunt some of the modern replacements for water-flushing toilets.

Quitzau says composting toilets are unfavorable because, although much improved technologically, they still remind people of ancient, unappetizing waterless technologies, such as the earth closet or outhouses.

Vacuum toilet

Building flush-free toilets to satisfy the masses will not be simple and, unlike the composting toilet, may require mimicking toilets that flush and must be user-friendly, Quitzau said. "This is not something, which can be suddenly changed," he said. "Houses are built with respect to flushing toilets, not with respect to composting toilets requiring a collection chamber in the basement. Urban planners are taught about sewage systems and not sustainable toilet systems, where human urine and feces are collected and transported to farming areas."

Currently, toilet technologies are focused on convenience, comfort and design, rather than sustainability, Quitzau says.

However, the vacuum toilet—familiar to airplane passengers—is one technique that has some potential for appealing to Westerners stuck in their old flushing ways. The noisy vacuum toilet functions similarly to a flushing toilet. Yet the environmental costs of the energy-sucking suction may not be worth the tradeoff.

The most likely candidate to replace the flushing toilet will most likely incorporate the convenience of flushing toilets with the sustainability of composting toilets."The stability of flushing toilets is still strong, and it will take both technological advancements and changes in social and cultural patterns in order for more sustainable toilet solutions to gain a stronger foothold," Quitzau said.

Jazzy Singin' in the Rain and Frisbee!

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=696666&cache=1

Need some background music for your multi-media production?

http://mixonline.com/studios/business/audio_new_york_metro_65/index

That's an article about Guy Messenger, a creative and entreprenuerial aspirant.

If you need royalty free original music, Guy's just the fellow:

http://www.soundscapers.org/

I'd really like to be just a little safer from the War on Terror!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5002476.html

July 26, 2007, 1:59PMGame in bag prompts airport evacuation © 2007 The Associated Press

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A suspicious item in checked luggage that prompted the evacuation of a terminal at Long Beach Airport on Thursday turned out to be an electronic game, authorities said.
Several hundred people were evacuated from the terminal for about 90 minutes and five arriving aircraft were held on the tarmac until the all-clear was given.
Transportation Security Administration screeners spotted the suspicious item while X-raying a checked bag around 9:30 a.m., agency spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin said.
The item turned out to be a handheld electronic game board in a "raw form" that showed its wiring, she said.
The passenger worked for "some sort of game or toy company," she added.
Firefighters, police and a bomb squad were called to the airport, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

Great separation of Church and State article, from the UK

http://www.skandavale.org/

This Hindu Temple site from the U.K. is aghast that the government "put down" their sacred cow that was also suffering from TB!

Here was the "webcam" to keep track of Sambo, the cow in question.

http://www.skandavale.org.uk/webcam.htm

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070726-1333-britain-sacredbull.html

That's the article about the cow.

Here's an excerpt, in case it gets archived...

Police seized a sacred bull from a Hindu monastery in Wales on Thursday, cutting locked gates and dragging away protesters before taking the animal for slaughter because he had tested positive for tuberculosis.
The plight of Shambo the bull attracted worldwide attention after the diagnosis this spring and prompted the Skanda Vale monastery to create an Internet petition campaign to try to save him. Hindus revere cattle and say killing the bull violates their religious rights.

“This is about the freedom of human beings to express their religious values,” said a monk, known as Brother Alex. “We can't be party to the destruction of life.”

The monastery suggested it could isolate Shambo to prevent the TB from spreading or send him to a willing charity in India, but authorities nixed those ideas.

Some people in Britain supported the seizure. Keith Porteous Wood, director of the National Secular Society, claimed Shambo's supporters were “putting religious dogma before the welfare of the community.”

“This case represents another example of religious bodies trying to put themselves above the law,” he said.

Is the Term "BRIGHT" that threatening?

http://nonshoppingchannel.blogspot.com/2007/07/christianity-cult-continues.html

If you have read the above mentioned post, then you will know that I sent the following into the LA Times Editorial page.

As a Bright, (everything stems from nature not superstition), I was heartened to read about home-church-goers sincere in their desire to live moral and law abiding lives. If that form of worship helps them do that, I say excellent, how ironic their detractorsconsider them "non-biblical".There are already several hundred Christian sects, this is how they all started, it is a grand tradition. .....Even after 2000 years, It seems it is difficult to know what is truth!

WELL HOW FASCINATING. THE EDITOR LEFT OUT THIS PART!!!
"As a Bright, (everything stems from nature not superstition),"

So, my little poignant humor on the end of the letter (It seems it is difficult to know what is truth!) doesn't make sense (without the Bright part up front) in my humble and ego-bruised opinion!

Fourth letter (I think) since 2003 that I have had published by the LA Times, and this was the first one they changed materially.

Bush Flipped On Genocide

 

This is what I sent to the author and the editor of the L. A. Times of the article that appeared here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg24jul24,0,5797195.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

 

From: Frish

Date: Jul 25, 2007 10:33 PM
Subject: Bush Flipped On Genocide
To: jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com
Cc: Letters@latimes.com
 

JG:

If genocide was ever "flipped-on" it was when we invaded and occupied a country unilaterally without provocation or threat, destablizing and then not propping up whatever was left...what do unemployed former military and police do for a living?  They become gang members and "terrorists" in their own country, since we removed what amounted for law and order, however brutal it was.

 

Bloodbath has already been occuring, by us, there now.  It has to stop. 

 

We cannot be in the line of fire, since we fire back. 

 

And, we've destroyed what little there was of a country, perhaps the intent all along. 

 

Militarize (and privatize) the oil wells...

 

The vacuum of power when we leave is the inevitable outcome of an incredibly bad mistake by our President.

This article ranks worst dates for your kids: Muslim, Atheist, Mormon, etc....

http://wpherald.com/articles/5488/1/Racism-found-alive-well-in-US/Poll-points-to-not-in-my-back-yard-mentality.html

The article attempts to raise our awareness about what we really think about each other versus what we claim to think about each other.

However, it never points out that each of our prejudices, while mainly illogical, are part of an evolutionary advantage - fear of the stranger.

That's what helped keep us in groups, there was US and THEM.

No one today truly appreciates how valuable a toddler was in 10,000 b.c. to a marauder...slave material, works for food, already survived natality, infancy, and now is self mobile yet oh so facile mentally...so, you'd better not be too friendly to strangers, they really might abduct you!

Is that a genetic predisposition to disliking those who aren't like us? Not clear, but worthy of study.

The best part, for me, of the article concerns who is valid marriage material for one's children. Now that tells the tale of US and THEM.

By a wide margin, respondents believe Americans think Muslims are the most likely to engage in terrorism (83 percent). Forty-two percent think Americans would be most concerned about their child dating a Muslim, followed by an atheist (17 percent) and a Mormon (14 percent). A quarter blamed Protestants or other Christian affiliations for a prejudiced society, followed by Muslims (20 percent).

None of this article should astound or surprise. Racism in and of itself is the cause of group formation, therefore it is self replicating.

Christianity - The Cult Continues!

The Los Angeles Times newspaper ran an article today regarding home-churches, evangelical gatherings without a formal church building that occur in people's houses. I decided, as a Bright, to write a letter to the editor of the Times.

The letter I wrote is in RED below.

The parts I didn't send are in BLUE below.

As a Bright, (everything stems from nature not superstition), I was heartened to read about home-church-goers sincere in their desire to live moral and law abiding lives.

If that form of worship helps them do that, I say excellent, how ironic their detractorsconsider them "non-biblical".

There are already several hundred Christian sects, this is how they all started, it is a grand tradition.

.....Even after 2000 years, It seems it is difficult to know what is truth!

Alternative Ending instead of Even after...
....And while it threatens the status quo, it should not threaten others.

However, while these don't appear to be "American Madrassas" (yet...) the internet can magnify the influence of a cult leader, and quickly. These folk deserve to be observed and documented, to ensure they are not being "anti-social" in a large sense.

I'm staying with my non-deistic worldview, thanks!

Here's the article...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-housechurch23jul23,1,6106562.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true

Sin Pistola

My former wife and partner (for 29 years) was from Mexico...(Morelia, Michoacan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michoac%C3%A1n).

We were married (the first time) in a civil ceremony on a volley ball court at UC Santa Cruz, overlooking the ocean... there were nine of us in attendance, including several members of my brother’s commune. (June 1979)

We were married a second time (with her family) in a cathedral in Morelia.

The week before the wedding was filled with last minute preparations. About 40 of my family and friends were in town, so hosting such a crowd was interesting, not to mention a couple hundred of her relations and friends, but we also had to meet the priest, in order to make it “legal” from the church’s point of view.

After a long interview, translation both ways provided by my bride, the Priest wrote furiously in a very large book in very small handwriting. It was like the history of the parish, and I was fascinated by my inclusion. He had asked where I was born, where I had lived, what I did for a living, and he covered many other worthy topics. The whole process took over an hour!

Finally, the priest looked at me with great earnestness, and asked: "Sin Pistola?"

I was mildly taken aback, of course the Priest didn't know she and I had been living together for 4 years already and no, we weren't pregnant!

"Did he just ask what I think he asked?"

She nodded, and tried not to smile while suppressing her giggle.

I replied, "Si, Sin Pistola, todo libre!" (Without a pistol, everything free!)

That seemed to satisfy him. He asked me to raise my children Catholic (which, since I have none, I have done!).

After signing the paperwork, a Sister stood close by with an empty wooden dish. My wife prompted me to seal the deal with a donation, The Sister wobbled and almost dropped the tray when I dropped a twenty and a five dollar bill into her coffer!

Truly sealed the deal!

December 1979

Pranks By Boys: Shirtless at 57 degrees below zero

In the house, winter break, senior year in high school. It is really warm, and super dry, inside the house. STAtic electriCITY shedding at every opportunity, even the nail heads beneath the plaster could accept a discharge, making all of us thread the hallways carefully. Unfortunately the nylon carpeting…truly a static electricity power plant, if you will, made sparks and stings unavoidable.

My sister was home from college. She was already in San Diego at UC, and I had applied to San Diego State. Of course, my little brother was at home too…so we each had built in playmates right there at home. It must have been a Saturday, since I know I got up early to watch T.V. in the family room…a 3 stooges short, half an hour of bugs bunny and daffy, and various other choices (limited only by my inertia…no clickers back then, so I’d have to get up and PHYSICALLY CHANGE THE CHANNEL when I wanted to see another show.)

Outside it was remarkable. A day of absolute stillness and quiet, not a stir of a breeze, not a hint of a cloud, just a deep blue sky with the sun low on the horizon. What little moisture had been in the air the night before had delicately coated the existing snow with a light frosting. The sun, unimpeded, hit the new frost with sparkling effect. The roads were covered in compacted snow, but no one was driving.

The news band at the bottom of the TV screen that only occurred during a weather emergency was on all the broadcast channels I could receive from Minneapolis/St. Paul.
It told us over and over what we already knew, that the actual outside temperature was 57 degrees below zero, and could be deadly! Just being out when it’s that cold is dangerous.

We were still in the front family room when the mail truck putted by, the snow crunching and tire chains slipping and chirping. As the mail delivery proceeded, I reminisced about the 200 times I’d shoveled off the driveway over the prior 4 years. I had, during the last snowfall, ensured that the mailbox was accessible. A four foot mound of black snow piled up by the snowplow lined the street, but the ice took a break where I had carved out the mailbox.

I watched, and heard the clatter of the postal truck’s chains on the road when I got this crazy idea…to go get the mail!

The terrain was well known…the doorway, driveway and mailbox, then back up the driveway, and through the front door. About 75’ or so, one way… however, it was beyond just cold outside…it was 57 degrees below zero! Your lungs could freeze, (and definitely your nostrils) if you even took a breath that wasn’t sucked through a scarf or mask of some kind…

But I had this contingency well covered…I was a competitive swimmer at the time, ranked nationally top fifty, and knew how long I could hold my breath, even if I were doing work…so, of course, it seemed just the thing (to my 17 year old brain…). I had on pajama bottoms and no shirt, so…
Not disturbing my siblings, I went to the “mud room” and found some appropriate boots. These were nylon uppers with plastic soles that had lots of air to keep your feet away from the incredibly cold ground. The inside of the nylon upper had a serious piece of soft insulation that form fit your ankle and lower leg…they were rated to 90 below zero, just what I needed that day.

I grabbed a pair of wool stockings from the dryer and slipped on the boots. I knew that my head would lose heat fastest. So, somewhat reluctantly, I took my hat, really a combination hat and scarf, pulled it way down my face, curled up the edge to make it double thick almost all the way to the top of my head, then I took the rest of the 6’ length and wrapped it around my neck.

Now I was ready (enough!). Out of the mud room I strode quickly through the family room, to ensure my audience (big sis and lil bro) were aware and watching, flipped open the front door, closed the door loosely (didn’t latch it, but couldn’t leave it open, it was just too cold outside!), waved at my sibs as I marched past the window, down the driveway, to the mailbox, up the driveway, another wave, and then back inside…

I didn’t take a breath until I was back inside the house, and the door was firmly shut! My upper body was steaming while I was outside, the vapors continued to curl off my chest. I had exhaled just a little, before I came into the front door, and watched my breath SINK instead of rise, since the water vapor froze on contact with the air, and precipitated out as ice crystals!

After they stopped yelling at me, my sibs decided, once again, that I was absolutely crazy.

What holds the thoughts of God?

I see neither evidence nor any REASON for god. Therefore, I'm a strong atheist.

(I will capitalize REASON whenever possible...I mean this in many senses, and capitalization serves as emphais!)

There is no machinery behind the facade. What you see is what there is.

What you feel, well, that's not necessarily what there is.

Feelings are a result of evolution of personality, and are all about our social nature, since we evolved to live in groups...they are chemistry too, as are the thoughts you are having while reading this...but they are all contained within your ears.

The separation we all feel, of our thoughts separate from our bodies, is an illusion.

There is no separation from our bodies by our thoughts. Thoughts are TOTALLY contained in the chemistry within our bodies. The separation illusion allows us to do "rote" tasks (like breathing, or walking, or a myriad of other activities) while we are thinking of something entirely different.

It also gives rise to the idea that our minds are somehow separate entities that can survive on their own! NOT.

Your nervous system does not control anything outside of your body, not now, and not when you die.

There is no REASON to believe that we have a soul, distinct from our bodies and mind.

Very useful to be a thinking creature, and mankind has been quite successful (in both range and total population on the planet, we are as numerous as any other large land mammal has ever been!).

We know the thoughts within our minds are contained in the chemistry in our bodies...encoded somehow (some say holograms...whatever) in the neural network of our nervous system, brain and bodies.

No one claims a REASON on how thoughts could be separate from bodies, since that isn't our experience.

We by no means understand exactly what thoughts are or how they form or for how long they last with or without reinforcement and how reliable they are etc. etc. etc.

But no one argues that thoughts are somehow extra-corpular, don't we all agree that thoughts are electrical potential within our nervous systems that allow us to experience shared reality?

This leads me to the question...where is the information storage for god in the universe?

On what particle of matter does god exist?

If god is not at all material, on what basis is the information encoded?

What allows god to operate at greater than light speeds (being everywhere and knowing everything...)?

What holds the thoughts of god?

As I said above, humans are social creatures, and we evolved in groups. In the extended family that is the basic unit of human existence there was an alpha. That leader was to be obeyed (unless one was a teenage male attempting to upset the harem or whatever), THEIR VERY LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

So, obedience to a "father-figure" is "built-in", simply because of our social heritage, WE'VE EVOLVED IT as a means to keep the group under control. Therefore, evolutionary forces are at work, as the god belief is far more ingrained and widespread than simple indoctrination could explain. There is a place in our brain that accepts authority, the Chief's authority.

(The chief may not always have been a male by the way...in the really olden days...)

Having a concept such as "god" around is quite useful as a placeholder, something that we don't or can't know, and all of those things that are unknown are attributed to god.

Humans have evolved (SOCIALLY) to use a crutch like god to be more successful.

This happened a long time before agriculture and the current trend towards monotheism, which grew out of the fields!

The current idea of god as father figure (the traditional on a throne white bearded fellow) is only a recent rendition of god.

So, evolution of our social nature makes it easy to believe in god, a higher power, a boogey man for the kids, a catch-all bucket within which to put whatever is unknown...and by naming the unknown, we make it less scary and more under our control...even while "giving control to god".

The whole idea is childish actually and literally (somehow people actually think somehow the very idea of god is good for kids! I'm not much in favor of anything that doesn't help kids understand the REAL world.)

We're here because the universe, as it formed over time, brought what was needed to have life exist here, whenever and however it was created and formed.

No one argues (well, no cosmologist would argue) that the chemicals we find around us are made from elements that were fused within stars. We literally are made of star dust.

Whatever happened to float on by in this region of the galaxy was just what was needed to have life form.

I don't claim to have all the answers about how life formed or how evolution got us to what we observe today.

I know exactly how unlikely it was to have happened.

(This part of the Galaxy (not in the radiation filled center, where almost all the mass of the galaxy is!), on a rocky planet (not on a gas giant which are by far and away the mass of the solar system), that has a water cycle (not too common we're guessing, just the right distance from the star and just enough of whatever it took for life to form so that the oxygen and water cycles could ensue on the planet. Not too likely, any of it!)

The most obvious observation we're here, THEREFORE LIFE HAPPENED.

Although it may have happened in parallel multiple times until life "took" here on Earth...it only HAD to happen once.

I believe science will someday, given enough time and experimentation and observation, understand it all.

Why would an "intelligence" need to be behind any of it? I see no REASON.

If humans are around long enough…and, therein lies the rub… The universe selects against "intelligence" whatever that is...

We see no "Contrails of Advanced Civilizations" in the stars...we hear no telepathic chatter of disembodied highly evolved intelligences that float between the stars (I mean, we're already here 15 BILLION (BILLION IS A REALLY REALLY LONG TIME!) YEARS, SO WHERE ARE THEY?)

evolution selects against "intelligence"...

"NATURE" does what it does. Intelligence cannot avoid nature or stem Nature's twitch or shrug that will remove humanity from the Earth. There is no intelligence in the Universe, it cannot coexist with nature.

GAIA selects against intelligence... while using our culture and technology to follow our biological imperative to obtain energy from any possible ecological niche. Igloos and spears and ice saws, or poison darts to fell prey out of the rain forest, humanity is pretty good at exploiting a wide variety of ecological niches.

Our intelligence will wipe us out, long before we're star trekkers!

That's why there are no signs of extraterrestrials, since there aren't any, their intelligence wiped them out if they ever existed!

We (all life forms taken as a whole in this case) are simply fulfilling the GEOLOGIC PROCESSES of planet Earth.

The Solar System and Planet Earth formed with the potential for life.

It is simply part of the geology and chemistry of our planet and solar system and, as "luck" would have it, we're here.

We are no more than the sum of our chemical processes. The slaves of the biology and geology that reared us. We're much dependent on being Earth-Bound actually.

Some think bioforming or terraforming or genetic mutation will somehow allow humanity to exist for longer than geology and evolution would otherwise allow...

We encounter, ingest, and digest, and turn sugars and oxygen into heat and sound and motion and digestion and thoughts and "night soil" and sweat and whatever else our chemistry accomplishes, and then we no longer operate and so die.

Why is this so hard to believe? Seems evident. Seems obvious. It is what we see happening, nothing is not explained.

Life is Chemistry
Evolving into niches
Expend Energy