Wouldn't this group of 140 be considered a "special interest"? Something Obama rejects like big oil or Pharma, now big clergy?

I am fully convinced now that Obama can bring little change to American politics, he is a democrat after all, yet he would be a refreshing change from just another white haired old white dude.

I fully support the above sentiments though Dr. Lerner. Thanks.

peace

Ageist eh Craig? :)

I'm sure team Obama/Pelosi/Reid(white haired) will just tear em up.

Ageist eh Craig? :)

I'm sure team Obama/Pelosi/Reid(white haired) will just tear em up.

Aloha Rabbi Lerner

Here is Jim McCanney's view on the two candidates...

August 12, 2008 posting ... what is the US smooze noooze not telling you about the "war" in Georgia with the russian "invasion" ??? simple ... cheney and the oil boys had built their pipeline from the caspian sea (third largest known oil deposit in the world) and it passes through Georgia to Afghanistan and that of course was what that little policing effort was all about (besides of course increasing the CIA heroine trade to europe) ... Cheney and the bush oil cartel were basically stealing the oil from that area for free ... the country of Georgia was a pawn in an international game of oil with the US efforts to abscond with their government with the US patsy president that they were moving to enter Georgia as a new member into NATO ... now put the shoe on the other foot (something most americans cannot seem to do) ... imagine russia coming to the western hemisphere for example and woooing Florida to become an independent nation ... building military bases and infiltrating the area with "military advisors" ... and then using it as a platform to drill for oil in our eastern Gulf of Mexico Reserves that have never been tapped before ... imagine the US response ... now maybe you are able to understand why the US is coy and smug with the answers ... yes Georgia is a pawn in the international oil resource grabbing chess game ... a deadly game where the western press labels it as a ruthless invasion as a cover for the real reason we "are there" ... now to extend the issue regarding Iran ... look on the map ... the extensive pipeline across Afghanistan has been a miserable failure ... and you will notice that the preferred route from the caspian sea (the west bank) goes directly through Tehran and Iran to the gulf ... if only we could find an excuse to take over this area it would be just what the oil companies ordered ... but one last thought ... the US military is not doing too hot ... strung very thin after years of fighting an invisible enemy in Iraq ... its war machine fatigued and worn out with HUT HUT drills and extensive over utilization in the mideast ... its fleets positioned as sitting ducks being mis-placed by a president who has NO military training whatsoever and sees the world as some kind of pinball machine ... yes the US military is in BIG trouble ... and everyone knows the USA cannot bolster any kind of response to the Georgia conflict ... the truth is coming out ... and lastly ... the US taxpayer is stretched to the max with massive economic destruction on the home turf with the nation gutted of natural resources and its farm land now some of the most depleted land in the world from over farming with "modern" agricultural practices and heading into a food shortage this fall ... it does not get any worse than this folks ... with the majority of the american public clueless as to what is happening to them ... and two presidential candidates with not enough experience to run a third rate used car dealership let alone this declining hulk of a country ... jim mccanney

Are you aware of this... there has to be a solution to stop capitalism without ethics. Our government is nothing more than a loose control of bureaucracy. The meek are ready. love patty

sorry that should read: a loose collation of bureaucracy. And have a good day, love patty

.....and we'll make you the "Fourth Jesus" for sure.........

Wonder why the Rabbi didn't go for 144 Clergyfolks?.... you know...as in the 144,000 chosen ones!! :) Awww...I forgot...that's New Testament....

:)

Obama has a divine connection, what he really needs is support that he may withstand the forces of ego and dissolve the Ego Empire so that you may all usher in Paradise and Heaven on earth, why go to Heaven when you can bring it to you?

One smiled at #1.

We know that Religion is a creation of man and is therefore subject to flaws. This is obvious with all the dividing of the One Body and the Divine Entity they do with their labels and egoic patriarchal hierarchy.

This is not to say that it hasn't served a Divine Purpose fitting for the level of consciousness of the time.

There is a new consciousness that does not require religion anymore. This is to say the Religious institutions must evolve such that they teach the core truth and not fiction and dogma that have grown around it. When they have evolved they will all look the same and not need to be separated by name.

A new role for the clergy is awareness, wisdom and guidance to self realization, the divine self, the Dissolution of the Ego Empire, and support of those battling the Forces of Ego. The ego is not something to destroy but something to be tamed, so that the lion and lamb can lay together, an integrated infinite and finite self.

The One Truth: One Being both noun and verb.

The Many Truths: Math and function.

Beliefs are nothing more than a vessel for fiction and story. Be(lie)f

Let them speak of knowing through direct experience, possibility, and probability.

Let math, statistics, probability, synchronicity between the seemingly disconnected and the fingerprints of a greater intelligence in the design be the proof of the Divine Being. There are works, some spanning centuries, with connections that could not have been mastered or engineered by individual human beings, but could only have been done by One Infinite Mind working through the finite minds of many.

Clues for those that can decode, and proof hidden in the numbers, a great puzzle to be assembled into an amazing picture.

There is an interesting bit on Shirley MacLaine's site {Click my name} about the 144,000. Twelve thousand from each of the Twelve Tribes. Twelve ships holding... maybe it is all about entertainment.

Well, I liked this post by Rabbi and I really liked the GMP idea, as I'm half way thru reading it. And I really, really, like the name GGP much better, i.e., Global Generosity Plan. :-)

May God bless this endeavor. Amen.

Love,
Char

GGP: Great God Plan :-)

GGP: Good God Plan :-)

GGP: genuine generosity plan

... found GG 3/4 down thru the reading of the plan - almost done!

Wow Patty interesting (while quite depressing at the same time).

Har har. "Ageist." That is a good one Shmuel!

No. I have resolved just to hate, in addition to rich people, all republicans and democrats (to hate in a loving way of course). Arrrrrr!

But I do say give the black man a chance!

By the way what is up with you republicans?!? Are you people simply going to shoot the democrats, "Gunman wounds Ark. Dems' party chairman," and wasn't there a similar such assassination just a few weeks ago? Are you guys going to start bombing abortion clinics again? Talk about a final solution to party differences, you cannot get much more final then death. Oh well, just another headline to throw at the little people. Maybe another war can get you people to reach across party lines! Russia would be a “good” little war!

Anyway on to really important stuff

How about those Olympics! Did you know Best Buy is going to start selling iPhones! Have you seen the Dark Knight (I have not, don’t have the money)! Did you know Britney (that poor girl) wants her children to stay out of showbiz . . .

And the show goes on.

I think you are a good man Shmuel, and I think we both want the same thing (a better world for our children; ALL of our children) we just disagree on how to get there.

They say selfishness and violence is in our genes, and I agree somewhat, yet I also say it is economic disparity, nationalism, and pride that breeds violence; maybe both positions have truth; nevertheless I am down with a worldwide Gandhian paradigm shift!

Shalom

Craig, if you keep judging the rich God is going to put you in their shoes so that ye would understand them. Don't play the lottery, you don't want to become like them.

You see they get all that wealth then fear losing it and compromise themselves and the truth. They may fear to speak out for fear of a lawsuit. If they realized where wealth really comes from they would not fear losing it.

The 144,000 in Revelations NT could mean that that's how many people required for complete and full enlightenment of the world as ONE and I think we could possibly be at 100,000 now.

BTW: I read that the Jews believe that Jesus existed and some are believers in the salvation of Jesus as The Christ. Maybe it's like Judeo-Christian?

Love, Char

Char, #16, I think you might be correct, it sounds possible and probable. Excellent observation.

Could you imagine the influence of 144,000 divine agents empowered by technology and flash communication?

Dear Rabbi Lerner,

Regarding the Appeal: How much influence can be expected of any political icon? There are so many fictions on both sides that sanity in government has long been gone.

As Ludwig Feuerback, the German Philosopher has said, "The Present Age prefers the sign to the thing signified; It prefers the copy to the original; It prefers the representation to the reality; It prefers appearance to the essence. Illusion is Sacred and the Truth is Profane."

In the philosophy of wiser times it was said that "If the system (the lie) is far too rigid - the Tower Will Fall". The TWO FICTIONS are no longer working. It appears that America has already had its warning.

According to the Hopi Elders: "All we do now must be done in a Sacred Manner, for 'We' are the ones we've been waiting for". They refer to the belief that we each must awaken to the truth of our own power to change things by recognizing how we have handed the power over to others through ignorance.

Best Wishes,

"Betsy" S.

Yes, I prefer to replace The SON with The SUN, which is the LIGHT. Same as The TRUTH. But I speak as I do because it shows where I am coming from, where I am, and hopefully where I am going :-)

Love3, Char

I hear you Richard!

Quoting Feuerback eh "Betsy": very kewl!

pax vobiscum

Craig, I was teasing; if you became wealthy I am sure you would put the wealth to good use. We are not really supposed to judge anything, our feelings do that for us, especially people because we are really only judging our self.

I agree Betsy's Ludwig Feuerback comment had great insight.

Rabbi Lerner:

Thanks for taking a stand...on holy ground.

Thanks for gathering the voices and raising them upward.

I have great respect for your backbone and send my support.

Trish~~

This comment is for Patty and others who do not check or ignore geographical maps and facts before posting their thoughts. And here just the facts, just the facts:
1. Georgia does not have entrance to the Caspian Sea but the Black Sea;
2. It is another former Soviet republic and the neighbor of Georgia: Azerbaijan - which has the oil resources and entrance to Caspian Sea.
3. BP, which does not have affiliation with G. Bush or Dick Cheney, runs the pipeline which starts in Azerbaijan and goes through Turkey.
4. Please look at the map (link below) and see that Turkey located on the South-West from Georgia when Afghanistan is far, far East.

Please see the map and comments by not so conservative LA Times below:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fi-pipelines13-2008aug13,0,3564413.story

Tzipora, you are the one who needs to be educated on some basic facts. Georgia doesn't have oil deposits but the oil pipelines (BP/BTC) in question PASS THROUGH Georgia.

Of course, there had been an oil pipeline for Caspian Sea oil through Russia to the Black Sea, but the UK, the US and Israel developed allies to run an alternate pipeline from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey... to cut both Russia and Iran out.

SEE: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060726&articleId=2824

This article from the Center for Research on Globalization from JULY 26, 2000 PUBLISHED BEFORE THE GEORGIA-RUSSIA WAR (In light of the Israel- Lebanon war ] addresses your ignorance of the situation.

It has interesting history, and shows maps of the pipelines in question running from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, just north of Syria, and the general geography of the area.

"The BTC pipeline totally bypasses the territory of the Russian Federation. It transits through the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have become US "protectorates", firmly integrated into a military alliance with the US and NATO. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Georgia have longstanding military cooperation agreements with Israel. "

"Ultimately, this design is intended to weaken Russia's role in Central Asia and cut off China from Central Asian oil resources. It is also intended to isolate Iran. "

In 2002, when the pipeline was being planned, the BBC reported:

"BTC is said to be an effective alternative to Russia's pipeline network. ... [O]il experts believe political considerations played a major role in the choice of the route.

American officials prefer a route that would weaken Russia's stranglehold on regional pipeline network and leave Iran on the sidelines. "

www.bbc.co.uk

Ref. 24. The Global Research article is from July 2006 (not from July 2000 as the typo indicates.)

In the last week's Open Thread -- as the conflict broke out in Ossetia -- I stated this in a comment in educating an intentblog reader, Ambasteve, on the situation:

"Let's be clear: there are two reasons only the US administration care about Georgia: the oil pipelines that go through its territory, and the opportunity it provides to run aggressive policies towards Russia.

Let's also be very explicit: this conflict is not unexpected: it is a direct consequence of USA's policies, in particular with respect to Kosovo."

105. Posted by Irvine Welsh on August 9, 2008 09:07 AM

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2008/08/open_thread_139.html#comments

I take this opportunity to elaborate on these points.

OK, first, the oil angle.

Georgia doesn't have oil, but it is a transit country. This is valuable because it provides the only outlet for Caspian oil and natural gas which is not going either through Russia or through Iran. And after a 15-year tug-of-war, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was inaugurated two years ago: it takes roughly 1 million barrels per day from the Azeri oil fields run by BP to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, via Georgia. That's over 1% of world production, and it is fully controlled by Western oil majors. There is also a smaller gas pipeline that follows the same route and brings smaller volumes of gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

These pipelines have been at the heart of the relationship between Georgia and the USA over the past 15 years, but, oddly enough, they have played a very small role in the current crisis. In fact, the BTC pipeline has been cut off for the past few days, not because of events in Georgia (which are in the north of the country, whereas the pipelines go through the south), but because of a bomb attack in Turkey before the conflict started, with claims by the separatist PKK, the Kurdish movement.

The reason the current conflict is not about the oil is because, now that the pipeline is built, that game is, in effect, over. Now, the only thing that could stop the flow of oil is, other than localized attacks (like the one conducted by the Kurds, something that has long been expected, and which was mitigated by building the pipeline on a route that avoids kurdish territory) would be for Russia to actually invade all of Georgia and physically take control of the pipeline, ie an outright act of war not just against Georgia, but also against the US.

The reason for that is that, as part of the process to put in place the pipeline, Georgia invited the US military to set up a base on its territory, near the route of the pipeline. Thus, any attack on the pipeline by Russia would become an attack on the USA.

But the important thing to note is that this base was not set up by the current Georgian government, but by its predecessor, that of Shevarnadze, Georgia's previous president (and, if you remember, Gorbachev's - and the Soviet Union's - minister for foreign relations in the 80s), which was kicked out of power by Saakashvili's bunch in the revolution that rose a couple of years ago. That base was seen as a defensive gambit, and was relatively small. Indeed, with Georgia still hosting Russian military bases, anything bigger would be ... interesting. Which is what's happening today.

But before we go into the internal politics of Georgia, the thing to note at this point is that it is oil that brought the West to care about Georgia, but that this was a settled situation, and no longer a source of conflict in itself.

What changed in the past few years was the series of "color revolutions" in former Soviet republics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_revolution

These started in Ukraine (the orange revolution) and continued in Georgia (the rose one). These have often been profoundly misunderstood, and have been turned into a simplistic "brave democrats fighting to choke off the grip of the evil Putin on their country" narrative, which, oh so conveniently supplemented an extremely aggressive policy by Washington against Moscow.

No longer was Putin an ally or someone that could be worked with, he was evil incarnate. Whether this has anything to do with the fact that he prevented Yukos from merging with an US oil major, or blocked the construction of an oil pipeline and export terminal project to Murmansk that would not have been controlled by the State-owned pipeline monopoly, we'll never know. But the fact remains that the steady policies of encirclement of Russia by bringing former Warsaw Pact countries into NATO, and then former Soviet Republics, and setting up massive military bases there continued and accelerated, despite earlier promises to Russia not to do that. And the rhetoric about Russia's "energy weapon" suddenly turned strident in 2006 as the UK, the neocons's faithful ally, suddenly realized it no longer had enough gas and had to find someone to blame for that situation rather than its insane 'let the markets provide' policies.

Now, let's be clear about something: Putin's Russia is not quite a democracy. But then it wasn't either in 1999-2004, a time when the discourse about Russia's turn to authoritarianism was rather muted (could it be linked to the fact that its oil sector was, then, almost fully open to foreign investment?). And in the meantime, our own track-record on that matter was rather going in the wrong direction. Thus my point in pointing out the hypocrisy in the public discourses about Russia is NOT to claim Russia as a model, but to suggest that this public discourse on democracy is hiding something else.

The rose revolution that brought Saakashvili to power in 2003 was certainly welcome (the previous regime was terribly corrupt), but it soon had its own problems, and in the most recent elections, turned to pretty anti-democratic means to avoid losing. Feeding nationalistic flames was the time-tested way to try to build up support, and various crises with Russia and its surrogates helped the regime maintain its grip on power in increasingly unpleasant ways.

That did not prevent the current occupants of the White House to laud Saakashvili as a great democrat, and to support him against the supposed plots of its neighbors and breakaway republics. The fact that this guy has been given a quasi-permanent editorial role in the Op-Ed pages of the WSJ (alongside another useful anti-Russian idiot, Gary Kasparov) to blather about how Europe was cowardly betraying democracy and human rights by not standing up to Russia in giving Georgia NATO membership should be a clue. The man is a tool of the warmongering neocons, and a man bent on clinging to his power, at whatever the cost.

Russia has explicitly stated that bringing countries like Ukraine and Georgia into NATO would be seen as an aggressive act. Is it such an irrational position to take? (I mean, look at US policy towards Cuba...) And yet the US is pushing hard to do that, despite these explicit warnings. Who is being provocative and clamoring for conflict - those that bring military forces to the borders of Russia, and who has long been training and equipping its neighbor, or those that say they consider this threatening and will react unpleasantly if it goes on?

This is all the more galling that this is happening in a context where the double standards in the West's policies have never been more staggering.

We talk about the territorial integrity of Georgia after blatantly ignoring it in the case of Serbia, by pushing Kosovo towards independence (that this would have immediate, obvious consequences in Georgia was noted long ago by observers not blinded by Washington's rhetoric).

We talk about diplomacy and international law after destroying both in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

We talk about human rights and democracy after hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, millions are refugees, and after an administration made torture its official policy.

(If you think this is about anti-Americanism, let me note again that I consider that Europe is fully complicit: they authorized or encouraged renditions on its territory, they never protested US policies and generally supported the War on Terror in practice if not in theory. European leaders are generally happy to participate to "cover" these policies by supporting the grand claims about peace, human rights and the like, as if they had any more credibility than the US, and they love to be seen in Washington or alongside the US on the international scene. Sarkozy and Berlusconi seem bent on being even bigger warmongerers, at their small scale, than Bush)

It does not matter what Russia is doing. We have zero credibility to talk about democracy, human rights, territorial integrity, peace, diplomacy and the like because we have thoroughly trashed these concepts in the past few years.

So, the question as to what our real intentions are when we hide behind these grand words HAS to be asked. The same question has to be asked of Russia, or any other player, but that's precisely my point: we see Russia as brutally playing power games: we have to see our side as doing the same.

We're just as power-hungry and ruthless as the Russians - and probably a bit more reckless and more hubris, lately. Saying so does not make me a Russian apologist, just a worried bystander.

This is for Tizpora http://www.jmccanneyscience.com/

August 13, 2008 posting #1 ... the posting below was on target ... the more we find out about this conflict we now see russia was just waiting for the israeli and US "advisors" planned conflict that would draw russia into a boarder dispute and allow the international smooze nooze to point the finger at russia as the aggressor ... when everyone fully well knows that the US Israeli backed government of Georgia attacked the small enclave of Ossetia and its capital Tskhinvali with the intention of inflicting civilian casualties to draw russia into the fray ... but few are buying into the "west's" claims ... everyone knows the game of deceit and lies ... the complex chess game being played over oil in this region is far more than i wish to enumerate on this page ... you will now find many good web pages that are covering the real story ... my write-up below was as usual on target ... jim mccanney

August 12, 2008 posting ... what is the US smooze noooze not telling you about the "war" in Georgia with the russian "invasion" ??? simple ... cheney and the oil boys had built their pipeline from the caspian sea (third largest known oil deposit in the world) and it passes through Georgia to Afghanistan and that of course was what that little policing effort was all about (besides of course increasing the CIA heroine trade to europe) ... Cheney and the bush oil cartel were basically stealing the oil from that area for free ... the country of Georgia was a pawn in an international game of oil with the US efforts to abscond with their government with the US patsy president that they were moving to enter Georgia as a new member into NATO ... now put the shoe on the other foot (something most americans cannot seem to do) ... imagine russia coming to the western hemisphere for example and woooing Florida to become an independent nation ... building military bases and infiltrating the area with "military advisors" ... and then using it as a platform to drill for oil in our eastern Gulf of Mexico Reserves that have never been tapped before ... imagine the US response ... now maybe you are able to understand why the US is coy and smug with the answers ... yes Georgia is a pawn in the international oil resource grabbing chess game ... a deadly game where the western press labels it as a ruthless invasion as a cover for the real reason we "are there" ... now to extend the issue regarding Iran ... look on the map ... the extensive pipeline across Afghanistan has been a miserable failure ... and you will notice that the preferred route from the caspian sea (the west bank) goes directly through Tehran and Iran to the gulf ... if only we could find an excuse to take over this area it would be just what the oil companies ordered ... but one last thought ... the US military is not doing too hot ... strung very thin after years of fighting an invisible enemy in Iraq ... its war machine fatigued and worn out with HUT HUT drills and extensive over utilization in the mideast ... its fleets positioned as sitting ducks being mis-placed by a president who has NO military training whatsoever and sees the world as some kind of pinball machine ... yes the US military is in BIG trouble ... and everyone knows the USA cannot bolster any kind of response to the Georgia conflict ... the truth is coming out ... and lastly ... the US taxpayer is stretched to the max with massive economic destruction on the home turf with the nation gutted of natural resources and its farm land now some of the most depleted land in the world from over farming with "modern" agricultural practices and heading into a food shortage this fall ... it does not get any worse than this folks ... with the majority of the american public clueless as to what is happening to them ... and two presidential candidates with not enough experience to run a third rate used car dealership let alone this declining hulk of a country ... jim mccanney

"That did not prevent the current occupants of the White House to laud Saakashvili as a great democrat, and to support him against the supposed plots of its neighbors and breakaway republics. The fact that this guy has been given a quasi-permanent editorial role in the Op-Ed pages of the WSJ (alongside another useful anti-Russian idiot, Gary Kasparov) to blather about how Europe was cowardly betraying democracy and human rights by not standing up to Russia in giving Georgia NATO membership should be a clue. The man is a tool of the warmongering neocons, and a man bent on clinging to his power, at whatever the cost." --IW

Indeed, Indeed.

Its not just Bush and Washington -- who egged on Mikheil Saakashvili into aggression in Ossetia -- who praised the American educated son of a tool, but John McCain too!

How would the msm have portrayed Barack Obama if he had behaved as John McCain has done since Georgian President Saakashvili sent troops into South Ossetia? Would it have been 'presumptuous' to issue proposals to intervene in the fighting even before the President had spoken? To stake out an aggressive position far in front of anything the US wished to adopt? To attack a rival candidate for refusing to do the same?

How about if he'd compared the original, impetuous aggressors in this ugly conflict to the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001? What if he claimed to be able to speak for the nation?

"I told him (Saakashvili) that I know I speak for every American when I said to him, today, we are all Georgians."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/12/politics/p094002D76.DTL&type=politics

No. Instead it looks like the term being used in the msm to describe McCain's every action in regard to Georgia - no matter how ill-advised - is 'prescient'.

Here is an example of that famous 'prescience':

www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/us/politics/12mccain.html

McCain nominated Saakashvili for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005!

Presumably McCain was able to foresee that in 2008 repeated efforts to convince Saakashvili to keep the peace with Russia would work out so well for everybody.

But 'presumptuous'? Not so far, it would seem.

"The fact that this guy has been given a quasi-permanent editorial role in the Op-Ed pages of the WSJ ..." --IW

John McCain has myriad conflicts of interest via the many lobbyists who serve as his top campaign staffers and advisers. You got to leave it to the Wall Street Journal to find a silver lining in what lesser mortals would view simply as corruption as usual.

"John McCain's top foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, is a leading expert on U.S.-allied Georgia -- and was a paid lobbyist for the former Soviet republic until March, in the run-up to what has become a major battle between Georgia and Russia.

Democratic rival Barack Obama's presidential campaign was quick to try to paint Mr. Scheunemann's dual roles as a conflict of interest after Sen. McCain swiftly took Georgia's side in the dispute, and cited it as evidence that Sen. McCain is "ensconced in a lobbyist culture," as Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan told reporters over the weekend.

But given the rapid escalation of the fighting, and the fact that Georgia is being viewed as a victim of its neighbor's aggression, Mr. Scheunemann's ties to the small nation and its pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili may look less like a weakness and more like a strength in the first foreign-policy crisis of the general election campaign."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121842762192729075.html

Nothing evokes strength like depending upon a registered agent of a foreign government.

O yeah Richard! I would buy as much land as I could, and build housing and a school, and take all of the downtrodden from the inner city and say, "specialize in whatever will make us all special!"

You want to be a dentist, a biologist, a plumber (without the plumbers the doctors, and everybody else, would be wading in their own shit!).

Each person could take a day out of the week to work in the service sector, (e.i., meals, garbage, washing dishes, etc., and I am sure their would be people who would want to specialize in being cooks, or in keeping our water drinkable, etc.). Everybody can take a month out of the year for vacation; jet skiing on the river, climbing a nearby mountain . . .

After two generations of parents modeling selflessness, I would bet the farm (or the commune anyway ;) ;)) that the ensuing generations would be so excited in making the world a better place for everybody else, the very thought of 'what is in it for me' would be extinct. Everybody would cherish the talents of the other and not be envious.

Overcoming our "innate" selfishness will be the time when humanity has truly progressed!

We wouldn't pay people for being physically beautiful, or place people on pedestals for being 'mighty warriors'; we would appreciate the inner beauty that resides in us all . . .

O yeah! I got it down to a science brother!

Ref. 26. That was a big one IW: good stuff.

pax vobiscum

Okay Craig we will consider that part of the Divine Plan. The divine permitting it will unfold at the perfect time.

More of the Divine Plan

Universal Self Government Systems
New Consciousness Government

Collective control with individual sovereignty and wisdom council stop gap for collective ignorance and liberty and truth watchdog group to preserve individual sovereignty and freedom.

So we have the conservative perspective “wisdom” and the liberal perspective (freedom) combined to create an integrated perspective with balance.

Dear Irvine Welsh,
To my knowledge, I never stated that Georgia has oil resources; I simply pointed to the article in LA Times where it was explained that oil pipes come from Azerbaijan and go through Georgia to Turkey to Europe and not Afghanistan as Patty quoted. What I asked for was not so bluntly to post someone’s rants but check the facts or face the truth…
And the best of all: most of my life I spent in the country natural recourse of which I discussed. So, will you teach me my own history and geography then?
Just wondering...

Patty starts her quoted rant with this headline:

Here is Jim McCanney's view on the two candidates....

Somehow the names Obama and McCain never appear in the post, only Bush and Cheney are mentioned. Then we read a number of inaccuracies that I appreciate Tzipora for pointing out. Pipeline in Afghanistan? Where exactly is this fantasy pipeline located? The Israel conspiracy? Bush Oil?

This gets really tedious and boring, however, I do appreciate Irvine and the newbie Tzipora for at least bringing some facts to IB, as this is a difficult region to sort out and dredging out old idiotic statements based on blind Bush hatred and anti-Israel sentiments doesn't serve anyone.

Sorry Rabbi, apparently your pleas for Obama to reject "Beltway Logic" goes unheaded as we watched last night at the Warren Forum:

When asked who his 3 wise men are, besides the wife(does he have a choice? and grandmother(arisen from previously thrown under the bus), I was surprised that the named Rabbi Lerner wasn't mentioned, who does he rattle off? Read it and weep Rabbi -

Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, and yikes! Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

Not quite New Blood, more like Blue Blood

Cheers,

Steve

Ambasteve writes (#34):

"When asked who his 3 wise men are,..."

No my friend. The question you refer to had TWO parts.

Here's the EXACT quote: "Who are the three wisest people you know in your life, and who are you going to rely on heavily in your administration? " [From the CNN transcript]

Obama's answer to the first part was "you know, there are so many people that are constantly helping to shape my views and my opinions"....and goes on to mention his wife and grandmother but doesn't get pinned down on the third person.

This is his answer to the SECOND part:

"Now in terms of the administrations or how I would approach the presidency, I don't think I'd restrict myself to three people. There are people like Sam Nunn, a Democrat, or Dick Lugar, a Republican, who I'd listen to on foreign policy. On domestic policy, I've got friends ranging from Ted Kennedy to Tom Coburn, who don't necessarily agree on a lot of things, but who both have a sincere desire to see this country improve.

What I found is very helpful to me is to have a table where a lot of different points of view are represented, and where I can sit and poke and prod and ask them questions, so that any blind spots I have or predispositions that I have, that my assumptions are challenged. And I think that that's extraordinarily important."[From the CNN transcript]

Ambasteve, why do you embarrass yourself?

And you have the gall to lecture patty -- or anyone here -- to check their facts when you are yourself so full of shit. You distort facts in your glib efforts to take cheap shots.

It's as if you take pride at your selective ignorance.

I think I got the jist of it Irvine, next time I'll follow your lead and simply cut and paste to make my points.