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The Men Behind the Curtain
[Note: Thanks to our friend, Joe Schickspack, for sharing his thoughts about the Men Behind the Curtain and the "war on terriss." Joe is a relatively new DCPer, and we're happy to have his contributions. I hear that Joe also knows a lot about music, so perhaps he'll do some writing about music and politics some time.--KB]
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In America there are words so true and powerful that the government thinks that we should not speak them aloud, lest our Security be Threatened.
Our Fearleader-in-Chief tells us that it is a "Shameful Thing" for a media outlet to have run a story that indicates that the Men Behind The Curtain may be breaking the law, illegally spying on American citizens, allegedly to keep us all safe.
The media report indicate that the intelligence services have been secretly set to the task of surveilling American citizens by casting a digital dragnet, broadly snooping through millions of innocent people's phone conversations and emails.
The Men Behind the Curtain say that they have enacted safeguards - it's not what it looks like, honest! Surely they wouldn't misuse a powerful tool to protect us from terrorism for crass political purposes. Pay no attention to the fact that we just learned that the Pentagon has been caught this week improperly running a domestic investigation into "terrorism" targeted against Quakers and other anti-war groups. According to the database, the Pentagon thinks that a college campus-gay-group- sponsored "kiss-in" is a "credible threat" of terrorism.
So, America's fate in the War on Terra as well as the fate of our civil liberties rests in the hands of a bunch of morons who think that gays kissing and Quakers peacefully demonstrating represents a credible threat of terrorism.
Comforting, huh?
Can there be any doubt now that American has been dragged to despotism's doorstep by this administration?
How different in attitude our Fearleader-in-Chief is from The Last Good Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower:
“If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads.”
We have been enjoined by our Fearleaders that all Americans, "need to watch what they say, watch what they do."
We must not say words that would imperil our efforts to git the Terriss; we are not even allowed to approach the subject with the critical mindset of a comedian. "This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is," said the Mouthpiece of the Men Behind the Curtain when a comedian had the nerve to challenge the Holy Propaganda that the Terriss were cowards, noting that it took some intestinal fortitude to go through with being a suicide bomber.
Back in the early days of The Catalyzing Event, the Fearleaders telegraphed to us the new terms of our rights to free speech and transparency in government. From an article published by the New York Times in October of 2001 there is this gem:
It is a sign of the times that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld stood at a Pentagon podium last month and cited Winston Churchill's famous words that "in wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." Mr. Rumsfeld, who has repeatedly said from the same podium that disclosing classified information is not only dangerous but against federal law, added that he did not "intend to" lie to the press about present and future military operations.
It is a more bizarre sign of the times that Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters three times as he uttered Churchill's words that he did not want to be quoted — as he was appearing live on CNN.
Was Don Rumsfeld's statement that he did not want to be quoted while speaking before a television audience a gaffe?
Probably not. It was more like a wink. Later in the same article:
Mr. Fleischer acknowledged that the officials were not always forthcoming, but said the public liked it that way.
"It's not what government officials are saying that's the issue," he said. "It's the type of questions that reporters are asking that's the issue. The press is asking a lot of questions that I suspect the American people would prefer not to be asked, or answered."
Wink, wink. The American people like being mushrooms. The American people like sausage but wish to be spared the infelicity of knowing how it's made.
Have these Bush operatives no shame?
Where the hell is Congress? Do they like being irrelevant?
Lawrence Wilkerson, formerly Colin Powell's chief of staff, said recently, "the people's representatives over on the Hill in that other branch of government have truly abandoned their oversight responsibilities [on national security] and have let things atrophy to the point that if we don't do something about it, it's going to get even more dangerous than it already is."
The article that I found that quote in compares the number of House Government Reform Committee subpoenas of the previous denizen of the Oral Office with our current Dear Leader; the score is 1052 to 3.
Where the hell are the Democrats? Don't they know that one of the roles of the opposition party is to, um, oppose?
If the Democrats, our slim reed of hope, won't do their job, where does that leave us?
It seems to me that these things happen in cycles. America has dangled over the abyss of a despotism several times before (Alien and Sedition acts of 1798, the Red Scares of the 20's, McCarthy, Nixon, Iran-Contra).
The unsettling thing about the process is that the despotic acts have often been popular and enthusiastically supported by large numbers of American citizens until a tipping point came in public opinion.
I think that we may be near one of those tipping points now, and that it may be more up to us as citizens and shapers of public opinion to get us out of this, rather than the spectacularly useless Democrats who have been neutralized by their fear of being labeled as "soft on terra." Surely some Democrats will have be prodded, kicked and dragged screaming into doing their jobs, but it's up to us to raise a ruckus and provide some cover for them and the few Republicans with principles who might stand up on their hind legs and defend America from creeping executive royalism.
We should also be notifying the useless Congressworms who will not stand up for freedom and civil liberties and against this administration's sham "War on Terra," that the grassroots gravy train is leaving the station without them and may even work to promote primary challengers from the democratic wing of the party. People like Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton among others need to be sent a clue.
Often in the past in the aftermath of an episode of governmental overreach, there is a high-profile public attempt to put things right, create legislation to limit the chance of BadThings(tm) being done again and restore public confidence in government. I think that at the moment that this current government is reined in, due to the vast scale of the criminality of this administration and the party apparatus around it, there will be an opportunity to correct quite a lot of things, restoring checks and balances, media reform (and preventing the government from using the media to disseminate disinformation), stopping government intrusion into privacy, lobbying reform and reform of the election system.
The stakes are high. I wonder if our Fearleaders will go down without a struggle or more Catalytic Events. Well, there's only one way to find out. Stay tuned.
"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad." -- James Madison
"Lead this people into war, and they'll forget there was ever such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of national life, infecting the Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street." -- Woodrow Wilson
“A preventive war, to my mind, is an impossibility. I don’t believe there is such a thing, and frankly I wouldn’t even listen to anyone seriously that came in and talked about such a thing.” -- Dwight Eisenhower
--Joe S.
Very good - we are reading the whole thing aloud here ..
This thread head is perfect for Christy's post on the previous thread:
Posted by: Christy at December 26, 2005 01:35
This is too funny. I wont even try to explain it.
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2005_12_25_patriotboy_archive.html#113550354713604817
In answer to your question OC..
I do not believe the actions of evolving molecules are random.
Ok I believe God created rules... MATHMATICAL RULES.
Take a hurricane for example. When certain MATHMATICAL conditions are met, a hurricane forms.
I believe NATURE is GODS MATHMATICS. Those Mathmatics are set into LAW.
The titanic sank because it was a MATHMATICAL CERTAINTY. What is mathmaticlly IMPOSSIBLE is simply not ALLOWED to happen.
I believe God created us to STRIVE for perfection.
It was an experiment yes. But as with ALL experiments, the basic principles of NATURE still applies. And life takes on funny nuances in the calculations.
I believe nature, is Gods will.
A will not nesscisarily excersized on us out of spite or vengence or mercy. But the law of the jungle... It applies to us as much as any lion or snake.
My lover too, he is athiest.. or agnostic, either way, BELIEF in God is a matter of faith.
But believe in HIM or not, you WILL live by the rules set forth.
I believe as CREATOR God DID write it all down. I believe he WANTED us to find His mathmatical instructions. He put it in a place that is but one pinprick away from each of us.
And if it is true, every tree, every dog, every flower has not only its own special page, but chapter.
Oh and one more note..
There MAY be things that appear to happen that are NOT mathmaticly viable.
Miracles,.. ghosts.. levitating objects.. whatever.. It SEEMS to be a mathmatical impossibility on its face... BUT..
Is it REALLY a mathmatical 'imposibility'..??
We went from Newtons math to Einstiens Math... But I still do not think we are as good at math yet as GOD may be.
Christy,
The study of randomness itself is scientifcally studied with the science of statistics. Randomness is fairly predictable.
The way that evolution works, only changes that improve survival or are neutral are saved.
What people call "God" differs semantically from person to person, so we may all be right, depending on how we define God.
I agree about nature and mathematics, so if you think mathematics is Godlike and pure, then it's a good argument. Mathematics as used by man is theoretical but when an algorithm has predictive value to the point that we can refer to a "law" in science (such as gravity), the mathematics gets pretty close to pure! Same could be said for aesthetics, but so much is subjective, but there may be some universal beauty which does not have to be learned and that again would be so pure as to be almost "godly." Perhaps.
If so, there would be no use for churches, mosques, temples, doctrines, holy books or holy persons. It would be the sort of thing that the more humans tried to capture in song, verse, painting or rule would disappear from them.
Christy
I agree about mathematics - it is still just human theory with some predictive powers but not pure. There may be a pure mathematics of nature and that is God. But I don't think humans have found it so they haven't found God either. If you have a belief or awareness of either or both and do not have to turn to rules, doctrines, holy places or holy men you may be ahead of the game.
& it also makes alot of what passes for religion & orthodoxy on this planet heretical, dangerous, blasphemous and hollow.
Religious fundamentalists who use modern devices such as cars, computers, telephones and so on are not following the literal teachings of the Bible. If the earth was created in 7 days and is less than 5000 years old and God had Noah put all existing animals in the ark 2x2, then there is no DNA, there are no molecules and there is certainly no reason to try to cure disease or treat cancer, and none of us exist. Viruses certainly can't mutate, because that would involve evolution!!
& as I asked the priest, if Adam and Eve had two sons, then did one son have to have sex with his mother to start a race? & if Noah put dyads on the ark then were did he put the dinosaurs, especially if some had already gone extinct? & what about 'germs' - how did he catch two of each? & what did Joseph think when Mary got pregnant but she was still a Virgin? Did she really buy her story?
Posted this on wrong thread...
The day my faith was.. cemented.. was the day I realized God could not possibly give a shit what I thought.
It was a very wierd moment. Relief flooded through me.
The guilt of every little 'dirty' or 'subversive' thought left me and so did my fear of how God would be so angry if He knew.
I thought of my own children in that moment. I realized if God does exist.. He is my father.
And as I feel about my own kids... I want them to live well, I want them to be safe, and play nice. I would die for them. But I also do not give a shit what they THINK. They are CHILDREN. MY children, but their opinions are absolutely beyond my control. And have absolutely NO MERIT in my decision making process.
Sometimes my kids hate me. Sometimes they fear me. Sometimes they even will say I do not love them. They may even tell their friends I am dead.
But it does not matter.
I gave them life. I gave them shelter. I love them every damn day but I do not give two bits about how they FEEL. They will get mad, they will be happy, they will deny or accept any comfort offered. At times they will be angry and say the most disturbing things, other times they will wilt my heart with loving eloquence.
If God is my Father. He knows already I am imperfect, and my imperfect opinion or inspiration will not make one bit of difference to a father who loves me.
It was a relief to know that life was not left in my imperfect hands. when I realized God was not worried about me, I quit worring about HIM.
I had the strangest sensation of ..leaving my body, as I accepted it that day. I have NO doubts any more. I do not interfere with my own religion.
I do not condem others faith or lack there of. I do not worry anymore about the 'Grand Schme' of things. I can not possibly understand the mind of God.I no longer try.
I think it is funny though, when I see people like my lover, or you. Mathmatical people astound me, you see the ... posibilities and somehow it cancels out Gods existance in your formulas...
Me though the mathmatics being there in the first place PROVES to me something wayyyyy more intelligent than we is involved.
Nature itself is PURE mathmatics. It COULD NOT have happened randomly.
Who created nature? I believe the advance of mathmatics will bring us ever closer to that answer.
Me though, I comfort myself with the belief I already know. I know it as I know my own soul. I can FEEL it.
It is the same ONE who made the trees. And like my own father, He lives inside of me. In my blood.
When I see the wind blowing through the trees, I always stop and think, that is HOW God loves us, like the wind in the trees.
And He used mathmatics to do it ALL.
so if you think mathematics is Godlike and pure, then it's a good argument.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 26, 2005 03:37 PM
I think mathmatics is the language of God, Himself.
Christy
Well I have that kind of religion also and I don't always refer to it as religion because "God" and "He" and "created" are thoughts of man. I agree with the sentiment and logic both though.
That is why I'm frequently offended by the banality and mental masturbation of Fallwell, Dobson, Phelps, Roberson and their counterparts in other pseudoreligions and their leagues of mindless followers.
Here is also an interesting website:
http://whydoesgodhateamputees.com/
Christy
I can agree, and it doesn't settle the theological argument about where we came from because it transcends it.
The socalled theories of "scientific creationism" and "intelligent design" have as their agenda the proof of Christian patriarchal pre-eminent universal "God" and they do not make the cut.
The God you are talking about transcends all religions and cultures and is conceived of by some of the wisest in the religions but when they try to preach & teach, they insert too much of mortal man and lose the essence every time.
something wayyyyy more intelligent than we is involved.
right
so why do we have the world's idiots trying to tell us what to do & infiltrating our government and saying it's in the name of God?
it doesn't settle the theological argument about where we came from because it transcends it.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 26, 2005 03:48 PM
EXACTLY...
The chicken or the egg, The question is more important than the answers we seek.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but to find it you must first BELIEVE that place exists.
I think churches do a very poor job of teaching religion. They are too greedy to be believed on ANY topic of.. altruisim.
as far as the story if Adam and Eve and the Virgin birth goes... my faith does not blind me. I don't really buy either story.
Moses either. Stone templates... Yeah ok.. Except all my life I studied PHAROHS and how thier SONS were raised and I just think it was all just so bloody convienant for Moses.
Maybe I will start my own church. Indy would make one hell of a preacher.
Posted by: DiAnne at December 26, 2005 03:54 PM
I think many of mankind becomes infected with an arrogance that is VERY specific...
They believe God gave THEM something He did not give the rest of US. They believe THEY somehow can know the mind of GOD and we are not 'worthy' to understand.
They do it for power. There is nothing more powerful than GOD.
Ok ... now that we've become a God blog.. Im going to watch a movie with my man.
Save me a seat. I'll be back.
Pepe Escobar | The Ultimate Quagmire
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605N.shtml
Pepe Escobar writes that Iraq is a giant, messy albatross hanging from President George W. Bush's neck. The faith-based American president believes that "we are winning the war in Iraq." The reality-based global public opinion - not to mention 59% of Americans, and counting - know this is not true.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cretin's administration is culpable on so MANY levels it's mind-boggling.... The above article deals with a few of the inconsistencies.
I hope that 2006 brings so much talk of impeachment and the crimes of the Bu$h Cabal that I actually get bored with it all. I must admit, though, that after five years of knowing about the crimes of The Cretin's administration that it would be difficult to bore me senseless with the litany of their criminal behavior blasted forth every evening on infotainment news, since there has been such an obvious lack of real news for five years.
I think my wish for 2006 will not be granted for the simple reason that corporate Lamestream Media is too entrenched in promoting propaganda; it's now an entrenched habit with them and I seriously doubt they know how to do any real investigative journalism or reporting. The bottom line for corporate media is still profit, not speaking the truth. They have too many talking heads who "justify" the actions of The Cretin and his administration. The no longer know how to speak the truth in a litany of actions and details without "interpretation" by some talking head or other who "justifies" the administration's criminal activities.
Still, I'll issue a challenge to Lamestream Media for 2006: Can you bore us all senseless with the crimes - and the LIES that cover those crimes - of the Bu$hCo administration every night on the news with incredibly long litanies of details of the crimes - and LIES - of the Bu$hCo administration? I want to be as bored with details of their murderous crimes - and LIES - as I was over the trivialities involved with Clinton's brief affair with the bimbo. Are you in Lamestream Media up to the task of doing any real reporting of genuine high crimes and misdemeanors - and LIES - of the Bu$hCo administration? Huh? Can you in Lamestream Media bore me senseless about the LIES and the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bu$hCo administration?!?!? I double-dog dare you to TRY!
Oh, and to Christy, writing about the disappearing blog entries:
Make copies of every blog entry off-line (date, time, when posted, and even add in the offline data a copyright notice). Print out at least one copy of what you've posted and put that in a notebook (including responses from other people). Then burn the info to at least two CDs (test them to make sure you've burned the CD properly - I lost info the first few times I burned a CD because I didn't eject them properly), and then keep at least one copy of a burned CD in a fireproof and damage-proof location, and don't tell anyone where that location is. At least you'll have a record of everything you've written, and in chronological order, even if it disappears off the blog.
Christy
Your religious beliefs as expressed make sense.
When it comes to practice, is I have to choose to label, I am more Buddhist than Christian. As for religion, spirituality, compassion, altruism, power - I agree with most of what you say & it is compatible. As a spiritual entity with which to identify, aspire to and feel within, I choose Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion, who would not enter heaven til all living creatures have done so first. I also have seen her spread through Asia & also into Spain & Portugal & I do believe that the Catholic chapel with the Christian Mary at the hospital where I work as well as the statue on the side of the hospital also represent Goddess Kwan Yin, but they just don't realize it. I do write things in the prayer book that probably kind of freak out some who may come across them, but they are well intentioned. I have statuary in my house & yard that some would consider idolatry but it causes me to make peaceful and compassionate reflections & I also associate them strongly with experiences I had in Thailand as well as here. Someone stole a Buddha that I had but before that, people at the bus stop would leave money offerings there.
If/when we godblog, it should be interesting, and should also contain gossip, such as why the FBI would take an interest in the wife of the head of the biggest church of America - did she really choose to leave the flight or was she kicked off for being a diva (at the least)? Or why did Michael Jackson choose to remain a Jehovah's Witness rather than changing to Scientology when married to Elvis' daughter & how does he reconcile his beliefs with his hosts in Bahrain, though I do not know their religion. Why did our politicians choose to be photographed in churches and videoconference with religious leaders but then do not practice the Golden Rule? Just some ideas ..
Christy
I am also more cynical - I believe the political leaders use & take advantage of the religious people & only pretend to be religious themselves. They never REALLY get rid of Roe v Wade, they never REALLY pass a federal defense of marriage amendment. They just get into office & then worship their read gods, the corporate CEOs who do not even pretend about religion, unless you consider the worship of money.
NonnyO
I don't save much - in fact, I'd just as soon get rid of as much as I can! I have suitcases full of pre-internet garbage that is embarrassing to read. There is a No Shame Night here in town though, where there is an "Open Mike" where people can read their most embarrassing past writings. That could be a fun alternative to karaoke.
My problem (Googling old caches now) is all the stuff that I wrote that I can't get off the internet!! LOL Maybe it's encouraging that it's still there!
Check out this funny old post by religious paranoid wingnut:
Kerry tied to 666:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41146
What a great thread header, and what a great thread!
Wow!
A hat tip to Joe Schickspack, our article author today. Great article! As I read it, I thought again about the gut feeling I have been sensing these past few months. And, the answer to your question, I fear, is an astounding YES. It is, I think, going to be up to US. WE THE PEOPLE.
The politicians won't do it. The honest one's will, but I think they are far and few between. Most have been, in my opinion, bought off far long ago.
WE THE PEOPLE.
We're all we have left. And, we don't have a choice. We have to do it. We must. If plan A doesn't work, we go to plan B. We have to have an
organized alphabet of plans. I can preach it, but I don't know how to get the whole job done.
But I'm in.
This passes for religion:
Texas Church Plans to Give Away a House
Monday December 26, 2005 9:17 PM
LA MARQUE, Texas (AP) - In a game show-style giveaway, a church plans to award a $120,000 three-bedroom house to one of its worshippers on New Year's Eve.
Since 2003, Abundant Life Christian Center has given away a car, a motorcycle and furniture.
``It encourages people to come to the service, and it helps keep people off the street with all that revelry going on,'' said pastor Walter Hallam.
During Saturday's service, 20 names will be selected at random and placed with 100 others chosen from services throughout the year. Twelve finalists - symbolizing the 12 apostles - will be selected.
Each of the finalists will receive a key, which they will try in a door on stage. The person whose key unlocks the door wins the home. Lightning, music, indoor fireworks and balloon drops will also be part of the festivities.
More than 2,000 people typically attend the church's New Year's Eve service.
Church member Richard Murillo, who owns Trinity Builders, charged the church $53,000 to cover the cost of materials to construct the house.
Here's how I feel about the whole religious evolution vs. intelligent design thing.
It is my opinion something, someone, created and put together all this mystery of life all around us.
Everything is intricate. The miracle of conception and birth, the way the body works, the way the atmosphere is set up so we can survive. Nature itself points to something greater than what we see.
I personally don't happen to think something so intricate, minutely detailed, programmed, and syncronized could be happenstance.
It doesn't matter to me how long it took to actually develop. I do give credence to someone greater than myself for doing it, although I don't care about the time table.
If you look at the birth and aging cycle of anything - any cell - it is just miraculous, in my opinion. I could wrack my brain for the next thirty years for naught.
If parts of the bible are parables, so be it. My spiritual journey has been tried and true, and the accuracy of any fables or parables matters not to me.
I'm just happy HAPPY to be a part of it all!!!
And I'm happy to be a part of it with you all, and everyone else I know!!!
Silent Night
By William Rivers Pitt
The first paragraph of the story reads, "An Ohio soldier was killed in Iraq on Christmas Eve when he was attacked by enemy forces, the Department of Defense announced Sunday." This lost soldier from Ohio is one of 2,168 who have died in Iraq. His death is no harder than all the others, no less wrenching for his family. Somehow, however, this death on Christmas Eve brought an extra twist of the knife for me, though I did not know the man, and now, never will.
I'm not sure why. Certainly I am thinking of his family, who found out the day before Christmas that a beloved son was gone. I cannot even begin to imagine their sorrow. They experienced, along with every other family of every soldier fighting over there, the fear of that knock on the door, or that phone call, or that telegram. On Christmas Eve, the terrible message came. Santa brought them a crisply folded American flag, and the thanks of a grateful nation. Christmas will never be the same for them, ever. There are no words for this. None.
Perhaps I am also thinking about the much-ballyhooed "War on Christmas" we have been hearing so much about of late. That foolishness may be over thanks to the rolling of calendar pages, but the rank idiocy of it all will linger for a while. Anyone who attempts to genuinely convince you that there is some sort of organized assault on Christmas is either astonishingly stupid, irrevocably deluded, trying to sell you something, or trying to distract your attention from something. As this is America in the waning days of 2005, it could very easily be all four.
In case you haven't noticed, Christmas is doing just fine. Leave aside the fact that Jesus-shouting hypocrites have managed to occupy every office of national significance and power. Leave aside the fact that these Jesus-shouting hypocrites are celebrating Christmas along with a majority of the country, said majority being comprised of entirely sane Christians who are wondering how these benighted yahoos managed to steal their religion. Leave aside all the Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, and advertisements for Christmas shopping opportunities that have bombarded anyone dumb enough to turn on a television since early November.
This whole thing was ginned up by a fantastically wretched fool on the Fox News Channel named John Gibson. He recently wrote a book titled - can you guess? - "The War on Christmas," and his network graciously agreed to beat the drum so he could sell his book.
Hmm.
The only war on Christmas happening in the last week was fought by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who are away from family and in harm's way, many for their second or third tours.
The war on Christmas this past week was fought by tens of thousands of soldiers who are learning how to face life without an arm, without a leg, without eyes, without a face, with permanent brain damage, and perhaps worst of all, with the prospect of diminished veterans benefits because those benefits were cut by an administration that needs money to pay for the production of more wounded soldiers.
The war on Christmas this past week was fought by tens of thousands of Iraqi families who have had friends and loved ones killed, maimed or tortured.
The war on Christmas this past week was fought by tens of thousands of American families who have friends and loved ones in harm's way, or in a hospital, or six feet under the ground.
On Saturday night, the war on Christmas was fought by a family in Ohio who will never see their beloved boy again.
On Sunday, the war on Christmas was fought by a friend of my mother named Frank, whose son has been deployed to Iraq for the last year. He has remained mercifully unharmed, and is scheduled to rotate home on Tuesday, December 27. For Frank, his wife, and their family, the war on Christmas is represented by the slow passage of seconds, the agonizing awareness of the gulf of time that stands between right now and his safety. Two days? An eternity. Just ask that family from Ohio.
Cindy Sheehan fought the war on Christmas, passing the holiday without her beloved son Casey, who was killed in Iraq. "Peace on Earth is not just a platitude to sing about or stick on Christmas cards," she wrote in an email that came on Christmas Eve. "It is a value worth giving everything for."
Take a silent moment tonight and offer a thought or prayer to that Ohio family. Take a silent moment to offer a thought or prayer for the safe return of Frank's son. Take a silent moment to offer a thought or prayer to all of the families for whom this Iraq occupation is more than fleeting images on the television.
Take a silent moment and consider what you will do in the New Year - what you will give - to bring about the peace on Earth that Cindy Sheehan spoke of.
Bush's new spin about illegal easedropping:
He's Listening to Americans.
Truth Shall Prevail
The whole thing is .. evolution isn't happenstance. Neither is any of science.
So I think those who make this into a religious argument beg the question.
It is in fact so wondrous and incomrehensible that none of us fully understand it, so the whole idea of "proving" falls flat.
Science can only measure & religion can only believe. Reality may always transcend everything humankind can say or think about it.
It seems arrogant and premature for this "argument" to even occur, and wrong to pit science against pseudoscience to answer a question that may never even be answered.
I believe it's all "wonder-full" but not that anyone is close to explaining how it came to be. Evolution has the fossil record, radiocarbon dating & predictive validity re how atoms split, chemicals combine & cells divide and mutate to back it up.
It does not and is not intended to explain the whole of existence of life and is not intended to be taught as a philosophy. That's where these curriculum revisers are completely missing the boat.
I studied university level science for 12 years and never once did a professor try to say that the theories we tested were anything other than what they were. We also did not have to learn competing pseudoscience, though we certainly did learn how to evaluate it when we run into it!
Here are a bunch of articles on Science & Religion, in case anyone wants to start any arguments around the dinner table:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/science/
Truth Shall Prevail
I did just reread your last entry.
I found it helpful - I wish more looked at it that way. I'm sure many do though.
Bush Hoping to Win More Battles in 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5504858,00.html
Good article for searching for clues for what we need to do next!
The Guardian article referenced in the preceding comment would be a sad commentary on the state of our country if so many life-and-death issues were not involved.
Here's what the Guardian says are the triumphs of Bush's legislative agenda in 2005:
DiAnne,
That's the whole thing!!! You are absolutely right!!! I completely agree with you.
Science doesn't necessarily rule out "intelligent design", and intelligent design doesn't necessarily rule out science, (unless of course, people are intent on making every single word of the bible a scientific contribution, and I don't think it could qualify, could it?)
It is a stupid and ridiculous argument, probably put out there by the likes of Karl Rove, who loves the wedge issues, manufactures some, and capitalizes on all of them. I never thought of it before, but he and his minions are probably behind alot of this argument.
I didn't study university level science 12 years, but I know science is based on as much fact as we can present and comprehend. I believe science is valid and vital and revealing and helpful and interesting.
There is a man who bases his faith in Christianity on scientific evidence, and he has written many books on the subject. His name is Josh McDowell. He set out to disprove Christianity through science, but converted after doing much of his research. His first book is titled: "Evidence That Demands a Verdict", and he has written many more.
One thing my level of enlightenment has done for me is make me hungry for more knowledge. I am in process of questioning people to find which books to read to find out the history of the bible, so I can inquire further. As I said, my "spirituality" (which has NOTHING to do with RELIGION) has been tried and true, but I would like to know the science of the bible, the facts about who wrote what when. I won't change my "religion" because my spirituality has come through the sources I had at my disposal, and it has been a beautiful thing. But, I would like to study the history of the bible, and the scientific evidence about it's conception and evolution.
Wasn't there a man named Josephus who was alive at the time of Christ, and knew Pontius Pilate's wife? He wrote a big book and it is still with us. Don't quote me scientifically about him being all those things, my husband told me he was, and he had his book. I think I have a copy of it stored away at my dad's too. I will find out about him, too, in my studies.
We have so many wonderful things ahead of us to do!
Well, anyway, DiAnne, I agree with you. We didn't create ourselves. We couldn't until recently clone anything, and even now that man can do that, he can provide the catalyst, but he is not the creator. He doesn't have the program down to create all he sees, and the ability to do it.
Now, take a look at this, it is pretty funny!! I saw it when I went into Patriot Boy to look at OnCall's post, and this may be a new one. Too funny!
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2005_12_25_patriotboy_archive.html#113550354713604817
It is this one: The story of the football game with the cytoblasts at the top of the page.
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2005_12_25_patriotboy_archive.html#113550354713604817
Posted by: dickbell at December 26, 2005 06:45 PM
Dick, you are right, and it is always such a treat when you post.
The problem I see is crooked politicians. If many on both sides of the aisle have been bought (you know where I am going here), then, as Joe Schickspack has said above also, it is up to US.
WE THE PEOPLE. And we desperately need to get organized. How? When? Where? WHEN?
In all reality, we should have been there by now.
We have ten (10) months.
And that is ALL and that is IT.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Because it bears repeating.
Christy's Holiday Poem to us all.
~
Once upon a wayward wind,
I reached into the dark.
I found a great fire within,
That only took a spark.
There I found the Truth Prevailed,
And Sparrows brought the drink.
Independence preached the blues.
We found so many links.
We found a Monkey who cheered us on.
In perfect butchered French.
The Coast Guard came, and did the same.
And we've been here ever since.
Like a dream the fire burned,
In each and every soul.
We stood as one, like we begun,
And refused to let it go.
The good doctor, always on call,
Provided a deep examination.
Without discussion, a hot White Russian,
Was Dianne's only explanation.
John told tales of great balloons.
And we all believed.
As darkened clouds shut out the moon,
Not one of us concede.
Bound together, for each our own.
As one we stand or fall.
We found a home, each alone.
A single dream unites us all.
A dream that burns within the breast,
And shows thine eyes the way.
Where visions topple tyrannies.
And mercy wins the day.
Yes, we say, Truth Shall Prevail.
And we will make it so.
High water is the only hell,
When there is no where left to go.
Soon the dark will open up,
New days sought with each other.
But tonight, we stand and fight,
As sisters and as brothers.
A simple dream of better days.
Has changed us all forever.
Simple dreams can change the world.
When we dream together.
Posted by: Christy at December 26, 2005 02:37 AM
Just sat down to learn that we are the God blog today. I must say a huge ditto to every entry that Christy has posted today, particulary the one about God loving us without any concern for whether we're perfect or not.
I do not think that God controls every event that happens to mankind- I refuse to believe that he had a thing in the world to do with my daughter getting breast cancer earlier in the year, nor in her recovery from it after surgery and chemo. To believe that would question why he allowed some young women to have breast cancer before the miraculous cures that have come about over the last 5 years, and why he allowed those young women to die, but not my precious daughter.
And I know, 100%, that God doesn't care a bit about that football player in the end zone raising his finger to the sky because he just scored a TD and made every player on the opposing team completely miserable.
And I certainly don't blame him for Hurricane Ivan or Katrina. They hit our area because that's what hurricanes do- they hit the Gulf Coast. And we still choose to live here, because at times, the sunset over the beach and the gulf is the most beautiful thing on earth to watch.
I attended a fundamentalist church for 52 years of my life, and only left after deciding that the control of those churches had gone to a group of people who had no idea what Christianity or the love of God was all about. Most of the arguments on here have been assaults on the leaders of those churches- and they go nowhere at all in disproving the existance of God.
God's existance does not depend on how people who say they follow him conduct their daily affairs. God help us all if it did.
I became convinced of God, as Christy did, when I became a parent and realized that, for once in my pitiful, selfish life, there was something that I cared about more than I did my own existance. I suddenly realized that, within me, and within mankind, there was something beyond comprehension- something called unconditional love, which has no explanation in any evolutionary scheme of existance. I don't care if my kids are doctors, or lawyers, or pizza delivery men, as my son actually is. I don't care if they succeed in life financially, and I certainly don't control anything they do in their lives. They're all over 18 now, and their free will is their own, not mine. I will love them for all of my lifetime, no matter what they do. And that realization taught me a lot about what God's love must be like. But what I do wish for my children is happiness, and I think that's what God wants for all of us. And if what I've taught them along the way helps them make good decisions in response to terrible circumstances, then I have succeeded. And I think that's what God wants from us. No one can control nature or what happens around us, and I'm fairly sure that God allows a lot of "shit to happen" without any effort to control it. But we can control our reactions to those circumstances, and religious teachings, no matter how much a lot of unbelievers want to doubt it, help us to make those good decisions- to react in a way that help us to survive and find peace no matter what happens around us. As long as I believe in that model of unconditional love, I can believe in the essential goodness of humanity. And I think that, if there is anything called salvation, it comes at the moment that you realize you aren't the do all and end all of creation. I'm very happy and content when I realize I do not have to know or explain the meaning of existance. But I do know, absolutely, that when unconditional love is realized, it's proof of God's existance. And it's enough for me.
Christy,
I'm commenting about your post on the prior thread.
My mind is blown, absolutely blown, by the implications in your post.
Are you SURE it's not a blogger.com error? Could you contact them and have all your archives sent to you?
And you said it happened on other people's sites too. I wonder if you posted any of the articles elsewhere that would help you locate the original stories.
Truth- I have Josh McDowell's book on my shelf. I bought it about 25 years ago when I was experiencing some doubts, and it is a marvelous defense of Faith. It's also helped me over the last many years to listen to the most off-beat character in the history of Religion- Dr Gene Scott- who is undeniably a genius, to explain the reasons for his faith.
And I'm very happy that the Narnia Chronicles is in the movie theatres right now, because CS Lewis was one of the major influences on my life. He really was against organized religion, and I'm pretty much getting to that point now myself. But his book "A Grief Remembered" is on my list of the 3 greatest pieces of literature in my memory. (Along with To Kill a Mockingbird and Angela's Ashes.)
I was surprised to see that someone else knew about Josh McDowell's book. Amazing isn't it?
In theory I agree with your statement dick:
"And at the top of the list should be a constant, steady, 24/7 drumbeat for the impeachment of the president and the vice-president."
From a political strategy perspective however I believe that could be conterproductive to our chances to recapture either the House or Senate next Nov. Saying that we want a check on an Imperial Presidency and repeating Robert Byrd's mantra that the US Constitution is our beacon makes more sense to me then harping on an improbable Impeachment. Saying elect Dems to Impeach Bush/Cheney may be a turn off to voters.Just my gut feeling.
There were 2 editorials I was impressed with thios weekend:
Scott Burns: Those with least give most. Households with adjusted gross incomes of $10-$15,000 gave $1,469 or 11.6% of their income to charity this year. Those with adjsuted gross incomes of $200-$500,000 made average contributions of $7,182 or only 2.5% So much for Bush's theory that tax cuts for the top 2% trickle down to the poor and charities.
The second editorial is by Neal Pierce who proposes a systme that will weed out bridges to nowhere so that we can find $1.6 trillion TO REBUILD AMERICA. He speaks of a 1.6 trillion dollar current infrastucture gap. Lets end prok barrel spending and ReBuild America's Infrastucture he suggests.
The message of Rebuilding America will connect after Bush's Brownie comments and remind voters of Bush's disasterous handling of Katrina,he suggest.
From my favorite Bible book comes this, one of the reasons I believe:
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Truth Shall Prevail..
I can answer your question on HOW...
BLACKADE THE WASHINGTON POST
THE NEW YORK TIMES
AND FOE NEWS
AND DO IT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
THEY WANT TO TREAD ON US...
LET US LAY IN THEIR PATH AND HOBBLE EVERY FOOT THAT STEPS WRONGLY !!!!!!!!!
THEY WANT A POLITE WAR...???
LET US GIVE THEM ONE.
As soon as it starts, they will be printing the truth within 10 days.
I would bet my own life on it.
I would bet yours too.
If I screamed it would they hear me?
Sparrow...
I have contacted blogger .com.. they either are refusing to answer my emails or my emails never get there and I am so not joking when I say bellsouth or SOMEBODY is TOTALLY fucking with my sending and recieving.
Yes every single word of it is true. Implications be damned I do not understand it I do not know if I NEED or WANT to understand it.
It just happened. I do not know WHY.
I do not know WHAT the implications are.
All I know is I can not stop it from rolling in my mind. It rolls so fast sometimes it literally makes me ...shaky.
I have told this story to several in here. DW was there the day I found them missing, she tried to help me find cached pages.
We were searching from three different continaints, simultainously.. using every search engine we could think of. Nothing. Not even the Boxer Challenge or the Inauguration day... The Iraqi election... ALL of it... just gone.
I was....I do not even have words for what I was going through. Rossi too. Oh Rossi was pissed.
They snatched hundreds and hundreds of hours of work. The just walked in and fucking erased it and not just that but MANIPULATED it...
That was two days before I started making up new free blogs for people.
Its all good... they won... whatever the fuck it is they won by doing that to Reb.. but I swear to God I will help 1000 more rise in my place.
THEY CAN NOT STOP ALL OF US.
I know it was two days cause I was literally sick for those two days. I felt like I had been beaten.
Christy
I wonder what would happen if more people did as I have done & boycotted television and its products in general for 15 years? I also don't listen to commercial radio.
I know that doing so has changed my life. I do not use prescription drugs, antibiotics or buy new vehicles. I do not know who some of the commentators even are, and I don't feel a bit deprived.
I did watch cable news when I was at my mom's for a few days and found that I could not find out what was going on by doing so. Alot of it was repetitious and obviously biased.
I don't miss the "entertainment" either - the only shows I watched in all that time were Simpsons, Beavis & Butthead and Pee Wee's Playhouse, all of which we now have the box sets of. Those have political content if watched carefully and subversively so.
As for newspapers, I see them mostly on the internet and read the gamut from left to middle to right and don't pay a dime. I do pay for my internet provider and more than I should have to (some other countries provide phone, internet and cable for less than I pay for broadband internet)
I send money to NPR, community radio, TruthOut because I use their services the most.
Christy
Contact the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Freedom Foundation?
http://www.eff.org (protecting your digital rights)
Christy,
Trying to help you...this is what I googled and found:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=november+archives+rebellenation.blogspot+
http://ftssoldier.blogspot.com/2005/08/finding-closure.html
There is another case that bears watching.
There was an outdoor music festival busted for no reason in Utah, just before Bush appeared there. Many thought it was feared that there would be political organizing going on there. Indeed, there was quite a protest, in a conservative place which has a liberal mayor too.
They are barking up the wrong tree, biting off their nose to spite their face, throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and embodying many other cliches with their official behavior of censorship in the name of "security"
Are emails supposed to arrive A WEEK after they are sent...???
See cause thats been happening alot to me. But atleast THOSE show up eventually.
Oh, and DW and John.. remember me sending war zone pics..???
I sent at 7:34 pm.. DW recieved hers at what 4 AM..??
John never recieved his at all.. how do I know that..?
BECAUSE % DAYS LATER I got an email telling me it was undeliverable.
5 days later even
Posted by: Linda Enterkin at December 26, 2005 07:51 PM
Linda, I had a long post all typed to you and my internet explorer shut down. Karl probably is on the watch tonight, LOL.
I agree that being a parent and experiencing the unconditional love for your child is an example of what God's unconditional love must be like.
I remember when my children were going through their teen years, and they turned into those (ever see the movie the Gremlins, where those cute little fuzzie lovable creatures turned into monsters when they got wet?) monsters. Anyone else would have killed them (literally), but I, (aside from tough love moments that hurt me worse than them) always believed in them, always forgave, and always threw my own coat on the mud puddles so the little princes did not get their feet dirtied. I can only hope God can be so loving and forgiving. I think I am sure that God is so much bigger than most people give Him credit for being.
Which brings me to another poignant moment, by the way, not exactly on topic, except it is something I feel I just learned, and it does have to do also with unconditional love.
My mother was human. She had her weaknesses and made mistakes, like all humans. But, being a perfectionist, I always wished she was perfect. She is now very ill, close to death, and during my last visit, we just hung on each other and cried. Neither of us said a word about expectations not being met on either side, (I am sure she had her moments of wishing I was perfect too), but at that moment it was all forgiven and forgotten. Our eyes told us so, each of us. I am so glad we had that moment before she goes, and I also learned a really big lesson from it.
It is:
When our children are little and young (and yes, teenagers) they need us alot, and require a lot from us. When our parents get old they may need us, but one thing I find I need most from my children, and the one thing I find my parents need most from me is: Forgiveness.
Forgiveness for being human.
I think God is well up to the task.
Those are all from 2005 in that google search
My site was started Nov 2004.
Christy
Considering I have had the same AOL e-mail addy for over ten years, I find that amazing. I have never heard that mail to me was undeliverable.
Behind the rhetoric of blame is a reality reflected in polls. Democrats and many independents see the rebuilding of New Orleans and reconstruction of the Gulf Coast region as an important or top priority. For Republicans, it is less clear-cut.
In some ways, the nation's response to Katrina is cleaving the public down partisan lines as a domestic issue, just as Iraq has on foreign policy. Both issues have become polarizing, rather than unifying, issues for the country, said Glen Bolger, a pollster for Hill Republicans.
According to a poll this month for the Hotline political newsletter, which asked whether Congress should tackle Iraq or the Katrina recovery first in 2006, Americans wanted the Gulf Coast rebuilt by 58 percent to 28 percent.
Democratic and independent voters generally agreed on addressing Katrina's problems, while self-identified Republicans chose Iraq, 46 percent to 37 percent. "No matter what the Bush administration does, the public is never going to believe they're doing everything they can in the Gulf," said Hotline editor Chuck Todd. "That's the box the administration is in."
The reconstruction fuses economic and domestic issues on which Democrats traditionally fare better than Republicans -- including jobs, education, health care and civil rights -- much as the GOP gains in debates over war and terrorism.
"This is the ultimate mommy party issue, if you believe that Democrats are the mommy party and Republicans are the daddy party," Todd said. Bush and the GOP have trouble dealing with the Katrina debate..
Bush's response to Katrina and his promises made to the people of N.O. in Jackson Square, are symbolic of the lies and failues of this administration.
Posted by: Christy at December 26, 2005 09:19 PM
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=november+28+2004+archives+rebellenation.blogspot+
Linda,
I also wanted to tell you that I went to see The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe yesterday.
I posted on last thread about a little of it, but without spoiling it for anyone I will just say I thought it was a magnificent production. It looks like they spent many millions of dollars to produce it.
I personally think the battle scenes may be too violent for small children, and also some of the beasts and creatures on screen may be a little scarey for small children.
But, it was the story of the batle of good and evil, and the Lion was said to have been Lewis's portrayal of Jesus Christ. A couple characters even quote scripture, but unless you know the scripture and know the Lion is Lewis's portrayal of Christ, it is just a lovely story of good vs. evil.
Spectacular scenery and special effects.
C.S. Lewis is also one of my favorite authors, and I think he was highly intelligent, and had a very keen mind that noticed details.
Did you ever see the movie "Shadowlands"? It is the story of how he met his wife, and stars Anthony Hopkins (one of my favorite actors ever) and Debra Winger.
He wrote "A Grief Observed" after he wrestled so with his faith after a deep loss.
As far as Josh McDowell, I was looking up his books on the internet a while back, and he has written very many!!! He indeed did start out to scientifically disprove Christianity and ended up converting to Christianity after he did some of his research.
I didn't mean this to be the God Blog today, it just kind of turned out that way. I didn't start the topic, it just sort of happened.
Hello to everyone of every religion out there, or not. We seldom discuss this anymore.
So hi to every one of every persuasion. We have discussed the right of everyone to be free to choose their own religion or path of spirituality, or not. We have Budhists, people of the Jewish faith, athiests, agnostics, Christians, and others of all kinds of faith and persuasion that come here and read and contribute. Today it just happens that Linda and I are sharing something because she and I are of the same religion. Other days others are discussing particulars about their beliefs, faith, or spirituality. It's part of life.
It's Democracy in Action. What we do here, we take with us out there.
John remember that night in chat when i said I had war zone pics that showed phosphorous chem injuries and death...???
Remember I asked for your addy and you gave it to me. I emailed the pics immediatly.
5 days later an email showed up and said undeliverable.
DW got hers... umm ATLEAST 5 hours AFTER I sent it.
I was gone for awhile working on a program for my wife. I didn't realize that the subject of belief in G-d was continuing on this thread. I have included my post from the end of the last thread. I too agree with many of the things that have been said, but I am apprehensive about attempting to explain those things that we don't understand as a direct evidence of G-d's existence. I am an agnostic in the sense that I believe that G-d is what is best in man and nature and not necessarily the "creator". I believe that G-d is the spirit of goodness that surrounds us and lives deep in our souls (is G-d our superego?). Funny how this conversation started as a question about the differences between how liberals and conservatives process information. But here is my post from the previous thread:
Math theory also encompasses chaos which also includes randomness. So, if G-d is responsible for math, then G-d is responsible for the random events that we can't explain. Hence that is what I consider "intelligent design". Nothing wrong with that imho.
I am glad for you that you find comfort in your faith and beliefs.
Yes - I remember. I though you mailed them and I would just pick them up in the morning. I never knew that they were returned as undeliverable.
Hmmm . . .
Christy,
Maybe they were considered a "national security" risk.
I find all of the comments people are making with respect to their beliefs well thought out & plausible & am not sensing that urgency some people have of "converting" others to their own beliefs. I think it's because we're dealing with some secure, together, original, thinking and feeling people here.
Also interesting - the wonderful comments about motherhood and then the observation about the "Mommy party" (& who can best take care of those harmed by Katrina, in Iraq vs those who find nurturing hard to relate to yet also don't know how to protect).
This blog is really a good thing.
I think (re. censorship) that we are probably in an era like during the anti-sedition laws and also during the Vietnam War and Cold War with all the FBI snooping. It's not so much about national security as about propping up the sagging reputation domestically and abroad of the US. Embarrassing information is as covered-up as potentially dangerous information. It all has to support the "spin" and if it's just gone, well so much the better, considering peoples' short attention spans and memories.
That's why it's so ironic to hear Condi going on about "history" - even a couple of days ago - and always accusing others of revising it.
Christy,
That is weird, but I do remember something about you saying you had those pictures......
I dont give a damn if they feel I threaten their security.
If they were living right they wouldn't have to live in fear.
And as I speak I am trying to open email now, But its just stalled and sitting there not progressing ... it does this ALL the damn time too.
In a minute it will time out all together.
Bell south swears it is not them and my account shows NO PROBLEMS.
Well thats freaking news to me.
Posted by: not my president at December 26, 2005 09:54 PM
Thank you!! I think we are too!!!
Dicks and Ira's posts suggest that neither of their approaches is mutally exclusive. While Bushco drags its feet coming to the aid of the Gulf Coast, their failures and criminal behavior can be highlighted as well.
Christy
Just to add a thought - you and I have exchanged e-mail in the past so your mail/pix would not have gone into my "spam" mailbox - your e-mail addy is recognized by my AOL account as allowed.
There is not a story here that does not involve a need for ethics in government- which matters whether the basis is religious or just plain human decency
Hundreds of Children Still Missing after Katrina
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605Q.shtml
FEMA reluctant to release info on evacuees
Indonesia: A Wave of Memories
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605R.shtml
167,000 people were killed in the area hit hardest by the tsunami = update
US Opposes Litany of Global Treaties in 2005
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605S.shtml
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Treaty Banning Antipersonnel Mines, Biological Weapons Convention, Antiballistic Missile Treaty, International Criminal Court Convention on Rights of the Child.
Seeking a Public Voice on China's 'Angry River'
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122605EA.shtml
Chinese officials want to begin building one of the biggest dam projects in the world and refuses public hearings.
Turbine Company Harnesses Wind Power
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122605EB.shtml
The Mag-Wind rooftop turbine, a new alternative energy invention from a Plano-based company, will install one of its first five pre-production models in Dallas, Texas.
Contempt Case for Shell over Gas
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122605EC.shtml
The oil multinational Shell is facing contempt of court proceedings in Nigeria over gas flaring.
Drug Companies Lack Vaccine Incentive
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122605HA.shtml
federal chief of AIDS research believes drug companies don't have incentive to create a vaccine for HIV, and likely to wait to profit til after government develops one.
Doctors' Delicate Balance in Keeping Hope Alive
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122605HB.shtml
The language of hope - whether, when and how to invoke it
Sent 7:34 Am
On Dec 2nd
Got this from DW on the 3rd
Hi Christy,
It came through at 1:04 am. Got hung up somewhere in the internet.
Thought you’d like to know.
dwahzon
I recieved this on the 6th from my original send to you ALSO on the 2nd within minutes of sending to DW
net 007: This e-mail message was undeliverable due to the
following reason:
.net 015: The destination mail system was not reachable withing the
allowed period.
Note: This error message is usually due to one of the following
network problems:
a. The recipient's mail system is turned off.
b. The destination mail system is not currently running.
Solution:
Attempt to resend, or contact the recipient by alternate means to
let them know about the issue.
Your message was not delivered within 4 days and 0 hours.
Host ol.com is not responding.
The following recipients did not receive this message:
Your email redacted
I tried to resend and on 7th recieved the SAME thing..
ok it was 4 days not 5.
As was discussed in the previous thread as well, it seems that the emotional issues are the ones that resonate most deeply with people. People have been ABANDONED by their leaders. That is sure to strike a chord.
At the same time the concept of empowerment is predicated on the fact that people have to be informed about why certain issues are unfolding the way they are. Therefore the intellectual aspect of constant reminders about the lies and misdeeds can help people to better understand why they need to work for change. With that understanding will come the emotional impact that Bushco could care less about somebody whose net worth is not in the millions.
However, I suspect that Bushco and the Rovians will invent a topic (does the "war on Christmas" come to mind?) that they believe will have a greater effect on people than a government that lies and spies. Whenever that topic-whatever it may be-is raised, that is when Gulf Coast negligence will need to be stressed.
Oh and Im sorry I sent at 7:34 PM not am
Truth- yes, I saw Shadowlands, and I'm a big Anthony Hopkins fan. There was a little BBC production prior to the American version though that starred Joss Ackland , and it was much superior to the Hopkins/Winger version. If you can find it somewhere, you should rent it. It goes far deeper into the emotional trials that Lewis faced after his wife's death, and is a lot closer to "A Grief Observed" than the American movie was.
What I remember most about the book was Lewis' assertion that even though we say, and we believe when we say it, that we would be willing to die for our children or loved ones, deep down, we know that that can never happen. He said that he loved Joy and was willing to die for her, but it was easy to say, because it could never be accomplished. Then he came to the realization that God's love was so much more, because he was willing to die for his children knowing full well that it could be accomplished. And then he did it. That was the beginning of Lewis' climb back into life after Joy died. And the final words of the book that describe Joy's death are some that I will always remember- he said that in her final moments "She smiled, but not at me." Just thinking about that book brings chills to me. It's only 80 or 90 pages long, but it's got to be one of the greatest works ever written.
Christy- your e-mails aren't disappearing- they're just being monitored. Congratulations are in order.
Your writings are a threat, and that's absolutely wonderful.
a. The recipient's mail system is turned off.
b. The destination mail system is not currently running.
Yea - like AOL was not accepting e-mail. Why don't I belive that?
IMHO Christy probably has been the victim of a terror attack by her own government. If what I said is true, then I sure hope that the missing blog pages are eventually found.
Yeah.. Linda ITS JUST WONDERFUL.. I'll fit right in at Gitmo.
OC...
I do not know wtf happened but I know if it comes down to my OWN memory..
If it is a choice in believing THEM or believing MYSELF...
Myself and MANY of my friends and even some relatives....
No, no... no.... At some point I decided whatever it was... I DO NOT BELIEVE THEM.
Where that leaves me...??
In a very troubled, dark place.
Most outrageous statements of 2005
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512230006
Posted by: oncall at December 26, 2005 10:24 PM
Oncall,
I can't find them by any investigation service.
Christy,
Did you post the articles on ANYONE elses blog?
To get my mind off some of it, I went bowling.
Seattle used to have 21 bowling alleys and now there are only 4 and this one is disappearing. It's called Leilani Lanes & the decor is Tiki - not trendy Tiki but original '50s Exotica Tiki.
I went with my son & it was just great! I noticed that violently powerful delivery of the ball vs gentle but deliberate aiming of the ball by various bowlers sometimes yielded exactly the same scores or the "light touch" would actually work better (ie. some engaged in overkill).
If you Google "Rebellenation November 2004" you get a query - "Did you mean "Revelation November 2004"
No, dammit - I would have said so!!
No Sparrow...
I may leave like links in the comments section of other blogs but me and Rossi.. I really remember not sleeping.. her either for DAYS right after it happened because we were LITERALLY monitoring EVERYTHING we could find. I stopped looking at the pics almost within the first day, focused on ONLY written reports.. We had Reb rolling so damn fast with fresh news I could barely keep up.
But see there was more too that we had been monitoring before and after too, the ohio election fraud... the Boxer challenge inauguration day we were VERY focused on the run up to the Iraqi elections, the elections were almost a relief to get away from the constant sadness of the tsunami.
It was a violent violent bloody time for iraq all that Jan.
My archives sitting there telling me they began on Jan. 30th... it MOCKS me.
I can not even get angry, because the confusion is just too much. They took SO MUCH HISTORY.. history we were furiously trying to archive.
We did a damn good job too.
Im still just sitting here shaking my head and I have no idea at what.
And I apologize to all on here who don't share my particular view of religion too. I think God has appeared to a lot of different civilizations in many different forms, and most likely, on every continent.
As Truth said- we're just sharing some stuff that we both agree on on here tonight, and maybe it's out of place. But we don't do it often.
I wouldn't want to worship any supreme being who wouldn't allow Gandhi into heaven because he wasn't a Christ worshipper.
It all really has to do with how you treat your fellow man, and any religion that teaches love for your fellow man teaches love for God as far as I'm concerned.
Which is why George W Bush is no Christian.
Linda - I agree.
GWB does not ACT like a Christian - at least no Christian I have ever known.
Amen.
I know yall remember watching the Ohio Election stories...
The Clint curtis story..
Boxer challenge updates ON Reb Nation....
HOW WERE YALL THERE IF IT DIDNT EXIST..??
Me and Rossi were literally going 30 to 50 posts a day some days.
WAIT WAIT WAIT...
I just realized what you posted Sparrow in that Google link..
WHY is TODAYS postings on Reb the ONLY November posting that shows up in their cached pages...???
OK AM I trippin...????
Center for Democracy and Technology
http://www.cdt.org/
Posted by: Linda Enterkin at December 26, 2005 10:17 PM
Linda, what I found so ironic about Lewis's life, was that the one thing he dreaded and feared the most was to love something again like he did his mother, and have it die and leave him, and have his grief to deal with.
He avoided it like the plague most of his life. And then it happened to him.
That was so ironic. Life is full of ironies like that. When I get to the place I believe we will no longer see through a glass darkly, but then we will know, face to face, I would like to ask questions about ironys that were in our lives.
http://www.echelonwatch.org/
Monitor this
Echelon is perhaps the most powerful intelligence gathering organization in the world. Several credible reports suggest that this global electronic communications surveillance system presents an extreme threat to the privacy of people all over the world. According to these reports, ECHELON attempts to capture staggering volumes of satellite, microwave, cellular and fiber-optic traffic, including communications to and from North America. This vast quantity of voice and data communications are then processed through sophisticated filtering technologies.
Posted by: Christy at December 26, 2005 10:49 PM
That's exactly what I wondered. AND if you put in 04 or 05, it doesn't matter. Perhaps, this is a glitch in blogger but maybe someone else could write them everyday til they respond.
Chrisrty did you post any references to rebelnation here on dcp?
Holy Shittoki Batman!!!
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON...???
ACLU Joins Fight Against Internet Surveillance
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1895253,00.asp
We need to be aware of this, as internet is a form of media, we need to preserve the lst Amendment & it fits with the stated mission of this website.
ACLU is using the Freedom of Information Act to try to find out what the FBI has been doing, & that is not counting what we recently found out about the NSA has been doing domestically without warrants when their purview is normally international (eg http://talkleft.com/new_archives/013422.html)
Remember when people like John Lennon had FBI files? But that was pre-internet.
No not on this blog. I rarely ever came to this blog in those days.. BUT Rossi may have.
I was here a few times I may have left links to Reb, Im certain I must have but was not here but a handful of times
http://www.rebellenation.blogspot.com/
Ok when I quit being sick one of the very first blogs i made as a gift was too Rossi..
Its her personal family blog.. can someone please try looking up HER cached pages and see what we find.. google is telling me they have no idea a site like that even exists,.. do i wanna try RUSSIAN retreat wtfever
Heres the addy
http://rossiannsretreat.blogspot.com/
Oh and drop in sometimes... you know she loves you guys.
The last sentence is the best:
The Saturday Profile
Ex-Powell Aide Moves From Insider to Apostate
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24wilkerson.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1135428275-CJXxbLC4MlERIW8qXBHpyQ
Posted by: Christy at December 26, 2005 11:02 PM
Christy,
I went through our archives in November and December of last year and I can only find one post of yours to "what really happened" (I think it was on the second or third thread of our existance and I think there were a few of Rossi's posts, but nothing about the other subjects you mentioned.
Folks,
I went through our archives from November or December last year. An