Messages

CaCoDemon.  Bush does not support Palestinian occupation.  He supports a separate Palestinian State and has said so, repeatedly.  So did the previous President.  

Not that that would end the terrorist attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, but it is worth a try.  It is what they have always said they wanted.  Clinton almost had the deal with Arafat.....got him everything but control of Jerusulem and Arafat said no...he did not want to share control of that city and would not agree to having it declared an international city controlled by Muslims, Jews and Christians.  arafat is not a sharing kind of guy.

As to the "silly war on terrorism",  just which terrorist attacks did you happen to miss out on the past few years....or the past ten for that matter?  Pick a continent, you will be able to read up on all of them.  These are the same folks that behead people and kill children in schools.  Just because it hasn't happened in Warsaw, doesn't mean it won't.  

Glad you don't seem to have our election problems, but any election can be tampered with which is why they need to be closely watched.

Considering how two-faced the rest of the world is torwards us right now -- want our money but not us -- it really is open season on Americans abroad -- either verbally or physically -- I wouldn't pay much attention to who anyone else thinks should be the president.  

I could easily have voted for McCain or Gephardt.  But Kerry???  I just don't trust him not to sell us down the river of a very corrupt UN - who also like to line their own bank accounts with our contributions but can't seem to support us even on something as simple as the genocide currently going on in the Sudan.  

Should be interesting to see how it all turns out.

QS - isn't that what I said?

Oh, well....I am sure every cemetary in Chicago has voters in this election.  It helps us remember them fondly.  

I have heard charges of fooling around with registrations on both sides -- democrats registering to vote in Florida and New York.  ALso,  unknown numbers of undocumented workers in California are registered to vote - who knows which way.  The electronic machines are not working properly in most states that are using the new ones..... People taking absentee ballots to nursing homes and voting for the comatose, Alzheimer's patients, and others who generally cannot even understand what they are signing.  This appears to be going on in both parties.  

Clearly not enough has been done in the way of election reforms and election registrations nationwide.  Both issues have to be tackled at once and no one in Congress is willing to do it,especially as regards registration reform and making sure a person is a citizen and is registered in only one place.  

Of course we in Illinois are always suspicious as there is a long history of registration fraud and voter fraud here.  I recall the Kennedy election which most suspect was stolen by the first Mayor Daley.   To this day we still have official "poll watchers" at voting sites.   Saw the democrats try to do it again in Florida last time.  And no doubt, will see it again in this election.  The democrats have their lawyers all lined up and we haven't even had the election yet.  There have been published memos of the DNC saying charge anything, true or not.  So  the republicans are also getting their lawyers ready with their countercharges.    

It is obviously going to be a tense scenario if the election is as close as it appears to be.  

And unless we, the voters begin to demand some clear cut registration and voting regulations for nationwide elections, this may be the wave of the future.   The real issues are money and power -- too much of both concentrated in the hands of a few in DC.  

If it has gotten to the point where we cannot even trust our electoral process,  we will end up with chaos and anarchy - not a pretty picture and not good for any of us.  

And of course, the other thing that really annoys me is the media -- which on election night will be declaring winners based on exit polls and 2% of the vote counted.  I doubt if they learned their lessons about that last time and these talking heads will be declaring winners and losers long before they should.

Yes, the big "O" is up to his old tricks again on another forum and this time he is offering a healing center too....

I did have to chuckle at his prediction of no more money after November.   But considering his past record of nothing much happening which he then says he changed or delayed -- don't burn your dollars yet.  

And of course, there is no next year for mankind on planet earth and George W deserves to die and will in October.

And just a wee bit of his how-dare-you-question-me temper beginning to show with the usual advice to do some research or you are just too beneath him to understand.  

In other words, anything that happens - he caused it and anything that doesn't happen - he stopped it.  

He sure is persistent, tho.

Hi, Veccolo & Aileron & everybody....been a while but glad we all made it back ..... I like the discussion you too are having about changes.  I agree with Aileron that change happens - always and yet there are some constants such as the sun rising and the violence of mankind.

Although, Veccolo, I do not understand how you can say inspite of all the changes in history, nothing has changed.  If that were true, I would be a slave or serf somewhere today.  Likely, so would you.  If that were true, there would be no Red Cross or other relief agencies....there didn't used to be any thing like it or Doctors Without Borders or even the Sierra Club.  

Oh, sure, most of us are "wage slaves" of one sort or another, but there are some choices as to how we make that wage and what we do with it.  

If that were true, there would be no concept of a government being answerable to its people instead of the king owning all the people.  

These sorts of changes came over hundreds of years and not easily.  Things we take for granted were fought and died for many times in many places and will continue to be fought and died for in the years to come.  

Also, our definition of freedom may change and it does mean different things in different places.  Some people in the world think we in the USA have too much freedom....some here think we do not have enough.  For sure, any privacy we ever had is gone - the internet is a wonderful thing, but private it is not....nor are any of our medical, work, school, or financial records.  Anyone who wants to find out about someone badly enough can.  Its all there for the person who knows how to get at it.

I do believe that will become a real issue of the next 10 years and no one is really willing to take it on.  

But back to change....we are changing astrological ages - out with the Age of Pisces and in with the Age of Aquarius which may take a few hundred years to transition into.   2000 years ago the Roman Empire ruled Europe and northern Africa, the Han Empire ruled Asia, and the Mayans, Aztecs and Incans ruled most of the Western hemisphere.  500 years later - well into the Age of Pisces, all that had collapsed one way or another.

We can only guess at the changes the next 100 years will bring the world -and no doubt some will be wonderful and some will be horrendous because mankind seems to be a blend of both extremes.  

Some changes are lasting ones and sometimes they are for the good of everyone.   The forces of history sometimes do have a movement all its own.  When ideas gain momentum, they make take generations to work they way into the fabric of daily life, but eventually, they do take root somewhere and in sometime.   And if somebody didn't have a good idea a few hundred years ago, none of us would even be free enough to even be on the internet or wealthy enough to have access to a computer.  

I am always fascinated by people's responses to change, even my own.  I am usually resistant to it because I like stability.  But once I catch onto the changes, I find a way to adjust and live with the changes.  Don't you find that people get easily bored when things stay the same and yet get easily afraid when change happens too rapidly or unexpectedly?

Like it or not, change is coming.....my "senses" tell me big time....but I could be wrong and often am.  

[]Happy New Year Everyone.  Hi, just had emergency surgery last week and getting bored recovering and reading the tabloids and watching TV and reading this site.

Seems everyone could use a good laugh to start off the new year so lets all give our most outrageous predictions here.

Such as:

UFO Baby grows up to be elected President of the USA in 04.

Hillary Clinton dumps Bill for Richard Simmons.

Civil War in the USA begins over TV ban on football.

I actually stop smoking and lose 50 pounds -- it could happen! in
    some parellel universe.

The reptile people in the center of the earth come out and eat all of
    us topsiders.

Do feel free to let your imaginations roam......[]

Has anyone tried the Compound X formula by "Two Feathers.net" ? It is a salve or tablets for cleaning toxic substances and malignancies from one's system.  Just wondering if anyone has used it, for what, and with what results before I buy some.

Thanks,  Jenadots

Hi everyone.  MD's finally found the problem.  I had open chest surgery last week to remove a tumor pressing on the interior lining of the my chest wall.  Had to remove some ribs and tissue to get at it.  THANKFULLY, it is gone and the lymph glands show no cancer cells.

BUT OUCH!  They sure did not prepare me for the pain afterwards.  It is truly debilitating.  I will never again take sleeping down on a bed for granted.

Please pray for a deep tissue healing for me over the next week or so.  I need to go back to work in 3 weeks but can barely move without great pain now.  

Many thanks for your help.   Sandy Weber

This wonderful little novel by the Portuguese writer tells a story that is both adventure and a spiritual search to find one's personal legend.  My senior students - all pretty jaded inner city kids -- fell in love with the story and we then spent some time working on their own personal quests.  

It is a quick, good summer read.  A good beach or plane book as you follow the adventures of the young man who meets up with an Alchemist.

Enjoy.

Hi, everyone.  I have been sick for about a month with a nasty sinus infection that has spread everywhere else.  I am under treatment, but would very much appreciate any healing prayers from my fellow members.  

Thanks much,
Jenadots

QS, I never would have taken you for an anti-Semite.  Yet your last post seems to have that tone.  

Of course, if that is true, it may explain why you don't think the terrorists want the rest of us dead. You live here, you are a USA citizen, they want you dead.  Simple as that.

The Rothchilds and Prescott Bush - old news. Same for Israeli spies in the Pentagon.  After all, we likely have agents in their intelligence agenices.  Everyone spies on everyone.  And rightfully so.  In the world as it is today, it is hard to know who to trust and how much.  

By the way, if you are so anti-Bush, I surmise you are a Kerry supporter.  Hope you have your bags packed for the draft.   He will be pressured by the democrats in Congress to sign the draft bill they wrote and are trying to get passed.   Be careful what you wish for. Oh, well....just think of it as your chance to get away from it all and have a whole new direction in life for a few years.  

My real attitude is Presidents come and go.  Some are good.  Some are not.  They all play the political game at our expense and bear watching.  

And Haiti has never been a nice place to be.  Chaos has been its history.  Why do you think so many of them get on anything that floats to get away from there?  Of course, the damage from the hurricanes makes it even worse.  The people there are desperate for food and water.   Some of them haven't eaten in a week or two.  It is a mess and their government is totally ineffective in dealing with any kind of crisis and might well collapse with this present tragedy.  

So please pray for those people, if you believe in such things.  They are experiencing their own version of Apocolypse Now and are living in hell-on-earth.    

Quiet Storm...don't think for a second that democrats don't love power, money and oil as much as any republican.  And the oil companies, like most corporate interests give money to both parties and candidates.  

There are no democrats out there demanding we end our oil dependency in 10 years - banning all gasoline powered engines by 2014 or the use of fossil fuels for heating and electricity any time soon.  Only Nader is proposing that and everyone thinks he is a nut case because of it.  Oh, others give lip service to alternative fuels, power plants, or engines, but no one in Congress or the candidates in the major parties are really serious about it.  

So they are all in the pockets of the oil interests and we have the best Congress the lobbyists can buy.  

Speaking of which, I see no big influx of Iraqi oil onto the international markets.  I'm still spending $2 a gallon to fill my tank.

And the terrorist leaders may live in 2004, but they don't want to and their savagery and blood lust shows that they think of 1204 as the good old days.

They want you and me and everyone like us - well, dead.  In their minds, everyone else is a target.  Killing and mayhem and keeping their own people as ignorant as possible, and therefore controllable, is their ideology.  It is how they justify killing 34 Iraqi children yesterday.  It is how they justify beheading truck drivers, reporters, and aid workers.  It is how they would justify killing you.  Are you a Zionist?  And even if you were, do they have a right to take away from you that which they did not give you - your own life?  

Unfortunately, I don't think we have even begun to see the extremes to which such men will go to kill us.  And you don't think they have a medieval mindset?

And there is absolutely nothing new about expectations of Mt. St. Helen's erupting again or earthquakes in California.  Geologists have been saying it for years.  Nothing impressive about that kind of prediction.

Hi, Kaz.  I call it busy-brain - and it is mighty tough to turn it off and just blankly observe or focus.  

It is probably the hardest thing about trying to master meditation techniques.  On those few occasions when I have been able to let the busy-brain chatter fade away into nothingness, it is quite a relief - a wonderful stress-free feeling.  

Only wish I could do it with some consistency and at will.  

Our minds are wonderful things but create too much inner noise.  I know what you mean about some people never really just sitting and doing nothing.  They get nervous or frustrated if they have to do it. I used to be that way.  Now, when I am not, people I work with will ask if something is wrong.  No, nothing is wrong.  I just put myself in a brief stop mode.  And that is actually how I think of it, as I am going to stop now for a few minutes.  

I try to find a few times in every day when I can do that.  Not always easy, but it helps calm that busy-brain inner chatter about what next and what next.

I am sure there are many people here who are quite expert at meditation and calming the mind to do so who can give you some good techniques to try.

End of the world?  Not today.

Dear Dark Apprentice,  The earth is not dying....changing perhaps, but our remarkable planet has its own system of self-renewal.  

We, as a species, may someday go the way of the dinosaurs or may evolve into another, better species.  No one knows.

And on the bright side, scientists announced today that the hole in the Ozone layer over the South Pole has shrunk by 20%.  That is good.  They aren't sure why, but it is a measureable improvement.  

The real problem isn't that the planet is dying, but what over 6 billion people on it are doing to it.  Some think the earth's capacity is 10 billion of us and that is likely to occur in the next 25 to 50 years.  The problem is there are already too many of us overtaxing ecosystems just to have food and water.  Throw in the pollution from all the "stuff" we think we need and the irresponsibility of governments, corporations, and individuals and I agree it is quite a pig-sty.  

On the other hand, there are more trees in North America than there were a few hundred years ago.  Yes, there are...doesn't quite make up for the destruction of the world's rain forests all along the equator, but those countries may see reason yet.  Of course, most of those countries are not willing or culturally able to manage their birth rates so more and more people are clearing away more and more forest areas.  

Probably a better population for the planet is half what it is today.  But who gets to live and who gets to die...and who gets to decide.  I wouldn't want to decide that, would you?

I do believe that we as a species, and our planet, are still salvageable and worth saving.  How that can be accomplished is the real question.  We know what needs to be done, yet no country seems really willing to do it.  At least not yet.  Maybe things have to get a lot worse before those who have the real power in the world will do those things.  

Or maybe the rest of us will finally find a way to throw the bums out if they don't.

We are all here today.  Tomorrow is just an anticipation.  We may be approaching an end to certain kinds of civilization but I doubt if we are at the end of the world or the end of all life on this planet.  

Life, in whatever form, always seems to find a way to exist and grow.

In other words, your despair may be a bit of an over-reaction.  

Quiet Storm:  Re: Al-Zawahri - he is calling all Islam to fight against the "Crusaders" because he is still living in 1204 rather than 2004...at least as far as his world view is concerned.

And he lumps the USA with the phrase Zionist because he sees no difference between Christians and Jews -- or Buddhists or Hindus - or any one else for that matter.  To him, we are all infidels who must be converted or killed.  

He, and his followers, truly beleive that the 5 billion non-Muslims in the world want to eradicate the practice of Islam as a religion.  Not so, but there is no convincing them of that.  

He does not understand that most of the rest of the world doesn't care what religion he chooses to practice.  We just care that he recognize the simple right to exist of the other people in the world.

True fanatics are master manipulators and they manipulate the young who are indoctrinated into believing they have absolutely nothing left to loose, or anything left to live for.  

I personally don't care what religion a person is.  I do care that some are willing to kill in the name of that religion and in the name of their definition of God.  

There can be no peace with people who do not recognize your right to exist.  It is one of the reasons why I don't think the USA should be involved in the Middle East.  The faith of Islam must find its own way out of being overrun by such fanatics.  And at the present moment, it is hard to know if any of the Imams and Mullahs see it as a problem.  

So what to do?  What to do?  That is the problem.  There is nothing we can do or say that is going to change Al-Zawahri's mindset.  
Unfortunately, it is a problem we can no longer ignore.  

So how the next few years develop should be interesting -- and scary at the same time.

Palehorse, my state is on the hit list -- on the western end with the new Madrid fault lines and the Mississippi River.  And Chicago is always on the hit list for horrendous winter storms and five feet of snow and ice just like the northwest.  In the spring, it is tornados.

No state is immune to some sort of weather pattern that causes damage.  

Things may seem all bunched together because we have the internet and a global communications system which didn't really exist before.  Until the last 20-25 years, it took time for news to travel around the world.  Today, it is instantaneous.  100 years ago, most people never heard about much other than local news.  Probably happier for it.  

So is it that we are more aware of these things happening, or is that the happenings are themselves unusual?  

I have no idea how many hurricanes there were in any one of the years of WWI or WWII or the VietNam War or the Civil War.  Or earthquakes, or floods, or epidemics, or anything else that would have been considered a local event in any part of the world.  Could have been none or it could have been 10.  

So let's not assume that just because we notice something that it has never happened before.  And yes, maybe the earth pressures and climate changes that are building only happen once in a millenium or two, and we just happened to have been born in time to see it.  

I do believe we are in for a bumpy ride the next year or two.... even three, but maybe I have lived long enough not to see total disaster in those things whether I am in them or not.  

Now, if you want to predict the "Second Coming", I am all ears...JD

It is well past noon...and Surprise...we are all still here!  Of course tomorrow is full moon day and that usually is bizarre.

Earthquakes in California and two volcano's erupting....not exactly shocking.  The one in Hawaii generally produces a rather steady stream of lava, sometimes large amounts and explosions, sometimes small.  It has never been considered dormant by any definition.

Mt. St. Helen's has been a "next time it erupts" volcano since the big explosion - it has been churning ever since.  

So maybe this is the "big one" in California along the many fault lines there...Goodbye Hollywood and San Francisco, possibly Seattle and Portland too.    

If St. Helen blows, look for another eruption somewhere else along the ring of fire and many earthquakes.  I am waiting for the New Madrid fault in the middle west to start shaking any day now.  

But, Just because the planet is doing some of these things, doesn't mean it is damaged.  It is just doing what it does from time to time.  And from time to time, those eruptions and earthquakes and resulting tidal waves are massive.  Most geologists agree these events are long overdue and the pressures within the planet have been building.  And didn't someone just test some nuclear device in the past week or two?  That usually sets off something in the earth.  I seem to recall a news story about it.

The after effects could be devastating or mild.  Other generations certainly have survived these kind of events - or none of us would be around today.  Some may die or be injured.  Others could be totally unaffected.

In other words, that's life on planet earth.  Somehow, humanity will manage.  

Stay safe....JD

Saw an interview last night by Chris Matthews on CNBC with a democratic sponsor of one of the bills.

This one calls for a one to two year National Service requirement.  No one would be able to register in any college without having served.  Scholarship money would be given to those who do serve.  People would have a choice of service, military, educational, health, senior citizens, parks, etc.  

Sounds reasonable, except that if it passes, I do believe those who do choose the military should get more scholarship money than those who are cleaning up the national parks.  Those who actually train to risk their lives should get more than those who simply get sore hands.  

Not likely to pass, however, as the colleges and universities will lobby against it -- imagine no freshmen for two years.  Of course they might then have to open their doors to many people in their twenties and thirties who might like to go back to school but think they are too old or don't have a chance of getting in.  That might be a very good thing.  

At least this proposal gives young people some choices as to where and how they serve.  I am assuming they would also get paid something while they did the service.  Don't know if they would all have to live in barracks or dorms or if some could live at home.  

But even if everyone ends up in the military, there are many jobs in the military that are not combat positions.  Assuming the more connected sons and daughters don't get all those positions, there might be some left over for those who consider themselves conscientious objectors.  

I am still looking for that "you first" clause tho, that doesn't let the sons and daughters of the powerful get all the jobs serving coffee to the generals or driving them around to various places.  

Maybe Charles Rangel is right.  As things stand now, the kids of the rich and powerful do not see it as their responsibility to serve the country.  They don't want to be with the general "public" - that's why they were sent to private schools.  If any of these plans actually pass, it would be interesting to see if they go in as ordinary servicemen or get to go right to Officer's schools.  

Oh, well....we probably do need a draft of some sort.  And certainly some really good incentives for choosing the military service over some of the other choices being talked about.  

Maybe not this year, but possibly in one or two, this will be come a reality for our kids to deal with.  

And I do agree that the Republicans, and the higher ups in the military, prefer an all volunteer service.  From their point of view, it makes training easier.

Yes, the astrological line-ups for the rest of this year and 2005 are extraordinary.  Much depends on where the points of the pentagram are as well as the other aspects...in earth, fire, air or water signs.

And often, the effects are not all that swift -- the influences of such aspects may take years to fully develop or be understood.  

Also, the Archangel Micheal is known as the Great Healer.  Perhaps it will be first a cleansing and then a healing. Both things much needed by all living things and the planet itself.  

Should be interesting.  I look forward to 2005 as for me, my chart shows I will finally get out from under some very very intense & difficult aspects...I am hoping things will start to ease up next summer.  

So I am planning to be around.  Hope you all are too.

Wish you could all come to my Senior Literary Seminar in October on Great Journeys and The Alchemist which all the seniors in my school are reading right now.  Its about choices, and Warriors of Light, and the great journey of life.  Great Journeys is our semester theme.  We started with The Epic of Gilgamesh, will move next to Dante's Inferno, Candide, A Farewell to Arms, and Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.  

So, no matter what happens, do enjoy the Journey. []

JD

Palehorse,  it is not that I don't think something is happening....I do.  But then, something is always happening.

It is just that I don't think it is the end of all life or some great punishment for our collective sins or some  black hole of something or some alien enemies to wipe us all out.

Change comes as a part of the universal cycle of life.  Perhaps we are at the doorstep of an evolutionary leap -- and will experience some birthing pains.  

My own "sense" of it, if you will has been that the planet is becoming more astral which can be good or bad depending on your view or experiences of the astral.  I could be completely off base on that as I am not as intuned with these things as I would like to be.

Also, I think that the more people dwell or create disasterous scenarios, the more "reality" those scenarios get -- and can quickly manifest into the real thing.  

Earth changes seem to me to be a cleansing process.  Parts of the planet that need renewal may just shift as other parts that have been lying dormant may rise.  Melting ice caps in the Antartica do cover a continent - an area of the world that has been dormant.

Peace....

And what if the October Surprise is:  Life goes on.

Or it might just be that due to the hurricane damages, no one will be able to vote in the election in Florida.  And considering the problems they had putting little holes in cards last time, that might not necessarily be a bad thing. []

Besides, all really crooked elections belong up here in Chicago where we vote early and often, and then our dead relatives get to vote too.  Chicago needs to reclaim its reputation as the election stealing capital of the country.  Illinois has been feeling ignored.....boo-hoo.[]

The surprise may be no surprise.  At this point anything that does happen will be called "The October Surprise" and attributed to some big conspiracy by the anonymous "they" - whomever "they" are supposed to be.

I wouldn't be too eager to see the end of the world order or life as we know it or the chaos and mayhem that would result from that kind of collapse.  It may sound all romantic and heroic and just and fair....but just look at the places in the world where such collapses have occurred.  Not a pretty sight and not easy to survive.  Panic and the brutality that comes from desperation becomes the order of the day.  And who among us can honestly say, in their deepest of hearts, that we would not be as savage as the next person in fighting for food and water and whatever it takes to survive?  

I hope that no one here becomes so obsessed with what disasters and "surprises" might come tomorrow that anyone forgets the beauty of today and the life's breath that is within in each moment of today.

Peace....JD

Aileron, I think you are on to something.  I have begun to think the chaos in the weather is a reflection of the chaos within mankind right now.  Violent emotions leading to violent weather sort of thing.  I have not kept up with worldwide weather conditions too much except that I am aware of some extreme flooding in non-hurricane areas.  

Oddly enough, the midwestern USA has had a rare, very mild summer and early fall.  Winter could be something else again.  

I also notice a huge change in my current crop of 17 year old students from previous years.  450 seniors in my school and the whole staff agrees that we can't remember seeing such a large group of kids without the usual problems and behaviors seen in an inner city school.  They are a very sweet bunch and surprisingly optimistic.   There is something undefinable that is very right about them.  

They are much more self-aware and sure of who they are.  I wonder if this isn't the first of the Indigo Children passing through my school.  Except for the fact that I have also seen this year's freshman class which seems about as wild as 500 kids can get.  Maybe that is just puberty and they will start showing some of the same awareness in a year or so.  

I see the same thing in my 5 year old cousin.  He doesn't say much, but you look in his eyes and its like you can see the whole universe there.  Something is definitely going on and at a very deep level.

I am hoping that something is a wonderful change in human consciousness.  We certainly need it.

Yes, it seems to be coming.

And yes, it is important to vote.

And point of info - draft proposals started and supported by Congressman Charles Rangel (democrat) from New York. For what that is worth.  

My only problem with it all is I don't see a "You First" clause - as in You First, presidential, senatorial and congressional sons, daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.  As in You First, sons and daughters of all families with six figure or higher incomes.

And I don't mean some General's aide or a cushy job pushing paper in the Pentagon - but right into the real combat units.  Surely some of these families have able-bodied and mentally normal people who could serve.  

Perhaps if some of these people had a real vested interest in what happens to those in the military, they might be a bit more interested in what the rest of us have to say and in what happens to all the sons and daughters of the USA.

And I want no deferments for things like college or much else. Medical school - fine, we need doctors and nurses and other medical specialists.  Handicapped parent or child to take care of, OK.  Police and Fireman can also be exempted.  They risk their lives every day for the rest of us.  Every one else should go.

Physically unable or impaired is one thing.  Taking the easiest classes in the school is quite another.  I saw enough of that in my generation.  As a young teacher, I saw many capable men in their twenties quit their teaching job on their 26th birthday because they could no longer be drafted.  Those who couldn't go to college, did.

Assuming that the draft is coming sometime in the next few years, I just hope it is a whole lot fairer than the last one.

I don't want to see another generation go to war.  But if there is a big one, I don't want to see another generation of poor kids dying and getting crippled while rich kids risk nothing.

Yes, we are all one on a quantum level of consciousness.  I truly do believe that.  However, once in the physical, we are both one and separate.  

Those who committ atrocities separate themselves even further from the rest of us.  The reasons do not matter.  There are a multitude of reasons why global terrorism is expanding and what its appeals are.  Even if the rest of us could "fix" everything that is wrong - or that we think causes the problem, it is not likely the problem would go away.  It is not about poverty or a million other things - it is about power and a warped sense of "see what I can make people do."

As for the broken parts - the ones with defects, the comparison to a company doesn't really work.  If I have a vacuum cleaner with defects, I can try to get it fixed or I can just put it out in the trash for the trash compactors to reduce it to a little bit of garbage.  

We can't do that with people.  When people refuse to be rational - refuse to be civilized - refuse to have any regard for the value of another living being - then just what do we do with them?  We don't know how to fix them.  We can lock them up or kill them.  

My personal favorite is neither -- lobotomize them in the violence center of the brain and send them home to do whatever it is they might be capable of doing.  

I do not care why someone beheads another.  I care that they never get the opportunity to do it again.  I want the world to be a better place and am as helpful as I can be in my small portion of it.  But I
refuse to be "understanding" of this sort of thing.  

It is barbaric and savage and medieval and maybe it is time more people around the world started to say so.  Maybe then those who commit these atrocities will not be treated as heroes in some segments of their own culture and religion.  But they have also made it quite clear, woe to the Islamic person who dares to say they are not heroes.

There is no shame in being poor.  There is no shame in suffering or being hungry.  Life on planet Earth has never been fair to all its people.  But most people who are poor, and suffering, and hungry do not behead others or commit other acts of violence against those around them.  

Why not?  Because they have not become evil in their separateness that is human life here. They choose another path for themselves.