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That I am at one with the great being that made me and brought me here
that formed the galaxies and the universes, et cetera--

How did that get taken out of religion? ..wasn't it hard?

Most of the problems that religion and various philosophical movements down through the centuries have produced
have been errors because that's where they're started--

That God is a distinct, separate being from us...

to whom I must offer worship, to whom I must cultivate humor,
please and hope to attain a reward from at the very end of my life.

That is not what God is.
That is a blasphemy.

God is such a broad thing--most of the parts of which that are associated with organized religion... are something that I sort of recoil at.

It's something I think has done a lot of harm to the world,

done harm to women...
done harm to oppressed peoples,
done harm to the World Trade Center.

People fall into line very readily when they're threatened...
by these cosmic sentences of everlasting punishment.

But this is not how God is.

God must be greater than the greatest of human weaknesses...
and indeed the greatness of human skill.

That God must even transcend our most remarkable...
to emulate nature in its absolute splendor.

How can any man or woman sin against such a greatness of mind?

How can any one little carbon unit...
on Earth in the backwaters of the Milky Way,the boondocks...
betray God Almighty?
That is impossible.


The height of arrogance is the height of control...
of those who create God in their own image
[FONT=arial][SIZE=2]
-Michael Ledwith[/SIZE][/FONT]


[video=youtube;gB46o1kDjZA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB46o1kDjZA[/video]

Just saw the much touted movie, " Grey" a raw, survivalist, encounter of man vs.beast in the genre of Jaws, The Edge , The Frozen, amongst others. When I was a teen, I read a book & saw the movie titled, " Sands of the Kalahari, " a story of airplane crash victims attempting to survive that brutal desert environment. Very interesting similarities between the vicious baboons of the Kalahari & the wolves in Alaska ; Both are social & territorial animals.Also interesting in both movies was that the alpha-male of the human species eventually confronts the alpha-male of the animal species & the ending leaves one in limbo, wondering just who prevails.

[QUOTE] Cite: [url]http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/15/munro-obama-ignores-questions-about-controversial-de-facto-amnesty-decision/[/url]

1. "President Barack Obama declined to take any questions from
reporters about his controversial and significant decision to offer
a de facto amnesty to at least 800,000 foreigners aged 15 to 30.

The president turned and walked away from reporters at the end of an
early afternoon address in the White House’s Rose Garden, even though
two reporters called out questions about his decision."

2. "Obama justified his immigration decision by saying it is supported by
business lobbies."

3. "The selected reporters did not ask about the controversial impact on
American workers."
[/QUOTE]

1. It has been suggested we look at what politicians do instead of
what they say. Our current POTUS walks away from redress of
grievances. In walking away from valid questions, refusing them,
the current POTUS says in their actions they are above the law and
the people.

2. Of course, it is supported by business lobbies. If they can further
degrade America we will submit to lower wages, fewer benefits and
worsening occupational environs. Business wins in furthering the
agenda of ensnaring slavery. Ultimately, it returns to the song
which remains the same. "The rich keep getting richer and the poor
are left to starve."

3. The media takes orders from business. Media is business. Business
no longer gives a damn about American workers. They will have the
cheapest labor force they can muster regardless of dignity, laws,
justice.


Like many others, I have been seeing and aware of this for quite a
while now. I have also voiced strong objections to it. some of
denounced my opinions on the issue as simply whining, or self pity.

Are you awake now?

This is only one of the key reasons I can no longer function in a work place environ. Another stems from what I perceive as obvious stupidity in others not grasping this fact of business. Co-workers are lovely in their capacity to act as professional psychologists and deem you bat shit insane for positing the truth of reality, and then wonder why you become enraged.

Worked for a company whom over extended as they say. They bought up all the smaller national companies providing the same product. Unfortunately, in so buying everyone else up to avoid competition they reserved no operating capital. This left them unable to purchase desperately needed new equipment for any production units.

They told us the product was in surplus as the market had bottomed out. We still ran ungodly amounts of product through the lines. We were still pushed, coerced to "do not stop the line." In fact at the production unit I worked at we ran double our rating for a few weeks.

That means this, say your production unit can using its equipment run 25,000 units of product a shift. To double that would mean the unit was forced to run 50,000 units. In turn this adds more strain on already dire equipment, equipment which needed replacing a decade ago, more break downs, more product errors.

Meanwhile, the company declares chapter 11 bankruptcy. This means as the company is so massive, the Feds step in to help offset payroll. If the company defaults on payroll, economic travesty ensues, people no longer work. Which would be bad because roughly 98% of the employee base was either illegal immigrants, or those working on visas. And yes, the company resides in the U.S..

So basically, when I say "hey, we're all fucked", it is not merely whining or self pity. It is simply a statement of fact. This is business. This is what business does, ensures those whom have money and power keep it, whilst raping the rest of us. Yes, I'm well aware life is unfair. Is there something wrong in hoping to make it more fair, in asking for changes to attain that?

Also, apologies for obviously misreading, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It seems business and the elites deem themselves well above and beyond equality.

I'm tired of being angry regarding all of this. I have a choice. I choose to no longer be angry. I choose giving my dollar to companies whom are making efforts to be socially, environmentally sustaining. Run the bastards out of business by not doing business with them. That's a lot saner than facing down a riot squad I think.

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There was a man who sat each day looking out through a narrow vertical opening where a single board had been removed from a tall wooden fence. Each day a wild ass of the desert passed outside the fence and across the narrow opening—first the nose, then the head, the forelegs, the long brown back, the hindlegs, and lastly the tail. One day, the man leaped to his feet with the light of discovery in his eyes and he shouted for ...

I was slightly taken aback this morning, but then again..I've had many experiences like this. I was scanning the obits in the daily paper with my morning coffee when I noticed a former co-worker 12 years my junior who had passed during this past week-end. It startled me. Then, my mind really started cranking because I had had an unexpected dream this past week which had featured said co-worker, one of those dreams, vivid upon awakening, which makes one question..." why am I dreaming of that person all of a sudden?" Anyway, within the scenario of the dream, I found myself back at that job with said co-worker walking by my side. I tried to engage him in conversation but he stubbornly ignored me, physically pulled away and then steadfastly walked away into a darkness. I remembered the dream that day; it lingered within my mind like some dreams do; Today, after reading the obit, it came bursting forth. It made me wonder, given the vast expanse of the unconscious mind ....did I get a glimpse ? We were,after all, within the dream, walking in the same direction,up to a certain point. Don't mean to come across as morbid here but I'm Inclined to perceive this as a spiritual, meaningful experience.

I’m communicating to share with you my thoughts and opinions on the Fan Club aspect of this site. If something in this communication rings true for you file it away for further consideration. If you disagree with one of my ideas or opinions that’s fine.

Dismiss it as the humble musing of a misguided person. You may want to take what rings true and disregard the rest. I am here to invite you to consider what I have to say. You decide whether you will consume it whole or spit some of it out.

In as much as I respect your choice, please offer the same courtesy to others. Constructive criticism may be directed to me privately. I will consider your critique earnestly as it merits. Thank you in advance for your critique. Enjoy the communication and may you have a good one.

Now, onto discussing thoughts and opinion about the Fan Club aspect of the site. I will first start presenting the positive aspects. Often, it is better to promote the good than merely smear the bad. Besides, I like the idea of keeping honest.

I really like some portions of the design in the site overall. The basic navigation structure appears well thought and aesthetically pleasing. Maintaining a system which establishes only a few clicks to access content is often difficult. A job well done lies in the navigation.

The ability to post blog articles is also nice. One can feel more ease expressing longer pieces than on the forums, in chat. Blogs also grant further ability to grow social links. Here too, a job well done.

Adding a more stable chat environment, with further enhancements was a good idea. It is quite nice to be able to link more readily outside of the site to pictures, videos, animations. The lack of incessant server rebooting at four in the morning is also pleasing.

Now, let us wander into a neutral area. Here I wish to not exactly spew buckets of negativity. Rather, I prefer to offer suggestions to address issues that seem problematic.

One area of concern lies in user titles. Prior to altering the site and by extension, switching to semi-paid membership option, user could customize their titles per desire. Now, the titles are chosen arbitrarily. For a site about diversity and self identification this seems quite contradictory.

Another concern lies in a lack of adequate incentive/s for paid users to continue or begin paying. Many of us have been frequenters of the site for a long time. That same group has often lamented the lacking of some key elements often found in other sites, free or for pay. Content is one thing which lacks. Another is moderation of users and content.

Limits on views of profile pictures also seems to be cutting off a nose to spite a face. I understand there are concerns over paying for bandwidth. The site having patrons in effect, ought to accordingly have ability to sustain itself. People enjoy content, and obviously knowing other people. That seems the crux of this site, a community. We see others. Limiting that is silly at best.

Summarizing, I will suggest a few thoughts more. Perhaps, some of the detracting elements illustrated could be addressed as perks for paying members. If members do pay, they expect the site to not have many adversities. No one or no thing is perfect, but when one expresses monetary gratitude for a thing or service then, expectations are evaluated.

Apologies if this communication has seemed unbalanced or unfair. I took up vigil to tempt remaining objective. It is however a bit of opinion. Thank you for reading.

[URL="http://goo.gl/72d1t"]Interesting [/URL]article regarding meritocracy and inequality. What I come away from it with is that people are fairly well stuck in place. If poor, you remain poor. The article points out ...

[QUOTE] ... the Principle of Difference, which holds that there is vast differentiation among people in their ability and that we should embrace this natural hierarchy and set ourselves the challenge of matching the hardest-working and most talented to the most difficult, important and remunerative tasks. [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] ... eventually the inequality produced by a meritocratic system will grow large enough to subvert the mechanisms of mobility. Unequal outcomes make equal opportunity impossible. The Principle of Difference will come to overwhelm the Principle of Mobility. Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or to selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies and kin to scramble up. In other words: “Who says meritocracy says oligarchy.” [/QUOTE]

This winds up meaning those whom are able to afford education, get perks. You afford education by being smart according to the article. Though from personal experience, fail to see how being smart alone helps one survive.

In order to buy things like food, medical care, school tuition one requires money. If you have no money from the starting gate, you work. It does not matter what the work is, it provides money, that provides sustenance. By the time you work to gain food, medical care you are too tired, too beyond caring to seek education.

You work each week and watch prices for everything climb the next week. So, you have to keep earning more and more money just to survive. Never mind any thoughts of family life. That implies further need to earn more money, you have to help provide for family. Why? Because when you do not have, likely family does not either, and family looks after its own. It is an instilled value of the poor as we don't have the grand trappings money brings.

So, education finds itself taking a wallop because it costs something to attain. And once attained it can make life the more worse. To have jobs of the educated, one needs to move away. Returning home with an education marks you as a danger to the local smart folks whom are jockeyed into positions as managers, supervisors, human resources. You are politely called "over-qualified" and denied employment.

Meanwhile, while striving for money you've gained experience as unskilled labor. You have gotten to the point that local smarties consider you a good cog in the machine of production, if not a machine. You learn to do repetitive tasks with accelerated efficiency, more produced means more work, means more money. Sadly, the smarties do not follow that metric. You can produce two hundred widgets to another person's fifty and still earn the same wage.

There is no reward for more widgets produced to supply incentive. You just get more work yet remain paid the exact same. Meanwhile, those prices keep climbing ever upward. The smarties figure if they can get people like you to do the work of three for the price of one, it is a good deal. They are correct, I concur. That does not mean I agree that such a system is fair, balanced.

Ultimately, what I am left seeing is if you do not start with money you can forget ever having it. And it is becoming harder to merely survive without money. That is not saying it can not be done, only that it is harder. It also says that not everyone is born affluent as measured by currency and that is not their fault.

The model of getting one one unskilled laborer to do the work of three has existed for at least thirty years. It is getting tougher because now the model doubles that, meaning one laborer does for six. And competition for even these meager scrap jobs from the wealthy tables is exceedingly high. Watch out if you compete against family, against imported or exported labor which is cheaper.

Prices keep on climbing, education becomes something of a long ago heard of myth. Dreams die until there are no more dreamers. Why bother dreaming when cold certainty slaps you awake on a factory line? Welcome to America, land of opportunity.

Woke up this morning late... not that unusual after a night out, but a bit later than usual.. for a Sunday even, the house is unusually quiet... one kid is at her dad's the other at her best m8's.. and Kate, bless her soul is down south with work.. it's been nice, even if it is a bit grey out.. got some stuff done for tomorrow and now am feet up lazing.. no one to bother and just have meself to cater for.. kids won't b back till early evening and will have stuffed their faces... be glad to see them tho.. and Naggy tomoz when she gets home.. Christ.. imagine courses being run over a weekend? Employers have no sense of propriety whatsoever...

Asked me m8 2 come over and have lunch.. busy.. asked another m8.. out with bf.. and another.. it went on.. they all had summat goin on... sed I'd pop over me sister's.. "Don't u fucking dare, Frankie.. I'm busy".. well the tone in the voice told me what "busy" meant... *sigh* Asked mum 2 dinner.. even she turned me down.. wot sauce.. me brother is in Glasgow today visiting in-laws so its pointless even trying him... only person I've spoken to 2day was the girl in the Newsagent's... "Packet of Oddfellows and a quarter of Sour Plooms, please.." She said "Certainly" then told me how much together with the cost of me Observer, counted out me change wich didn't take much brain power.. 11p outa 4 quid.. I said "Ta, Jean, cya" and she smiled and said "Cheerio",, an' that's it for 2 day... God.. now I know wot me dad used to go on about old time Sundays when ya saw no 1 and could do bugger all.. thank God I live in 2012..

Will speak 2 Kate on line in a wile... and that will b nice.. do miss the cow when she isn't around and on me case... no doubt she will makeup for it wen she gets home... wos gud last night honest, babes.. well gud as I usually am an not bad in ways ne diff from the norm on nites out..

Well.. time 2 do a lil more.. not much left then I can just switch on 2 the footie wich will just isn't the same when I'm on me own.. isnt ne 1 I care about ne way but what I've seen so far it which isn't much seems to have been not so bad and the Spain/Italy game should be ok in a bit,.. shock the Dutch getting humped by Denmark but that's how it goes.. won't see much of the second game cos Lou and Shiv will b home and the lil chatterbox will need 2 tell me of 'er time wiv 'er dad, bathing, jammies, supper, incey wincey and sleep and her big sister and I will yap for a while 'bout our weekends... will be glad of the yapping. tee hee.. tho I wont have much to tell her about 2day...

God.. mind numbing Sunday this is...