Sunday's Assorted Pleasures: Keeping Friendships Strong

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Thanks so much, dear friends, for having come to our delightful and joyful Celebration of Mother's Day at the Pneumarium. Social events such as this help weave, interweave, and maintain the important connections between the lives of the people who love each other, as we do!:):) Life would be so much poorer without them, and the many opportunities for Love-sharing that they bring.
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Bob Herbert Speaks of Republicans

Thanks to Barbara Baty.
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Out of Touch By BOB HERBERT
Published: May 1, 2009

The incredibly clueless stewards of the incredibly shrinking Republican
Party would do well to recall that it was supposedly Abe Lincoln, a
Republican, who said that you can't fool all the people all the time.
Readers'

The Limited Value of Travel

Traveling around the world sounds very exciting! That, in fact, might be a core of a major problem.

Others will praise your decision to travel; as we will see, these people are not necessarily helpful either.

A person is not deeply, profoundly, or permanently enriched by simply moving her body around this little tiny, itsy-bitsy planet. For even if you go "everywhere," on this tiny planet, you have seen and experienced virtually nothing of the cosmos!:)

In order to gain any mental clarity, you must ask yourself why you feel such pride about your travels. Why is this so important to you? It is because most people on this little planet are unsophisticated and uneducated spiritually. Because of these factors, they are impressed when a person moves her body around on this planet. They go so far as to believe that travel itself enriches a person.

But this is wrong; it comes from limited experience and limited understanding. For travel in itself does not enrich a person. It does not give a person depth-- spiritually, mentally, or emotionally. It does not improve a person's wisdom, compassion, or morality; in other words, travel in itself does not improve a person. Travel in no way makes you "more important."

Travel can enrich only what you already have within. A person is made no "richer" by going to the furthest corners of the earth than by going to the corner store. Therefore, the common "pride" involved with travel is based upon an illusion, for this entire world is but a dreamworld.

As people questing after enlightenment, it is desirable for us to abandon all pride, including pride of travel, and pride of friendship, to which it is closely related. (Some people feel, deep down, that they are worthless, and so, they are always talking about "important" or famous friends. For the same feelings of low selfesteem, people always brag about their travels.)

One of the greatest (and most humble) writers of mysticism in all history was Lao Tzu (pronounced "Lah'-o dzuh"). He was a writer in China, whose writing was already four hundred years old when Jesus was born. He wrote, "The sage can see the whole world without moving her front gate."

A "sage" or enlightened person does not have to follow slavishly the often uncomfortable or even harsh task-master of traveling, for her selfesteem does not in any way depend on impressing others. She knows that she is singularly and uniquely important because she is a daughter of Love (God); she has nothing to prove, nothing with which to impress strangers or friends. She is completely selfcontent, and does not need to "impress" anyone. She is content and happy, satisfied and fulfilled,
in her own deep interior nature. She is happy in her own skin, and in her own backyard, and does not have continually to "flee" from her home.

Most people do not feel this much at peace with themselves, and so, have to "prove to themselves" and to others, that they are "important." Sadly, in our culture, one way that people artificially "prove their importance" is by travel.

But real Love, of course, has nothing to do with geography.

Most people, unfortunately, are highly impressed by simple travel (because they do not at all like their home). You cannot, and will not, receive reliable advice from them, even though they love you profoundly. For they cannot be objective about this question. And you must find an objective answer in your own heart. The importance of doing so cannot be overemphasized.

Travel is interesting, and can be even exciting, when you are young. Like all other things of earth, in time, it becomes boring and wearisome, losing much attractiveness. It is good to travel when young, for when older, you might have lost the desire, and even the ability.

But please just do not confuse the excitement of travel, which always marks an inexperienced person (for it is a "new experience") with falling in Love-- a fabulous, fantastic, ultimate "high" that is the best thing that can happen to a human being.

You must sort through your thoughtfeelings and decide how and why mere travel has become so important to you. Do you feel, deep down, that you are inferior?

Love wisely, carefully, slowly, and selectively when it comes to your life-choice of a Soulmate, Love-partner, or monogamous companion. For one thing, you need to know much more than you do right now. So, be patient, dear friend; this is not the time to leap before looking, to act prematurely, impulsively, or impetuously.

You have a great need to love, as you have to eat. But although a stack of candy might be truly attractive, it will never give your body, mind, or Soul the nutrition that you need.:)

Project K: Update

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Believe it or not, we do have a date for the surgery of Project K! It is currently planned for June 16, so please focus your kind hearts and thoughtful minds on the donkey that day; he can use all the energy that he can get! Brother Donkey, the body, is showing some peripheral tiredness and lack of energy. We continue regular bloodtests, and regular conferencing with the nephrologist (kidney-specialist) whom we have known now for nearly twenty years.

The last transplant, the donor was a taurus. This time, she is also a different taurus, and the doc is also a taurus. Although I am a pisces, I do have a taurusmoon. So, maybe there is a cosmic pattern behind all that is happening; we like to think so, at any rate.:):)

Thank you for your continued interest in this important lifevent, and thanks for asking, dear friends. Thanks also for any silver energy that you can send. (We are requesting this from all our friends.:)

May you have a most beautiful and temperate day as we together celebrate the return of the Goddess of flowers with springtime.:)

Sitchin's Ideas

Yes, we are a little familiar with Zechariah Sitchin and his theories.

From the viewpoint of traditional or mainstream scholarship, his ideas represent an extreme. He is thought to have extrapolated much much more from the small amount of data that we have re the Sumerians. Most of his work is purest speculation, and it could be wished that it were more "grounded" in solid fact. But, often at crucial areas, his theories do lack some necessary factual data, and he goes very much "out on a limb."

This, of course, does not mean that he is "wrong.":) But Sitchin is not the very best basis for a cosmic philosophy, to which he aspires. Many of his concepts are attractive, but, again, it is difficult to justify building an entire philosophy on this rather tenuous basis.

As you can tell, we are not "true believers." In order for us to embrace any datum into our personal philosophy, we must be convinced that it is at least in harmony with the immense mountain of factual data in philosophy, history, science, and other related areas of knowledge.

But neither are we skeptics or cynics. Perhaps no one on earth has the data necessary to adopt or accept this position either. At present, we prefer to take a "wait and see" attitude towards these ideas re "the tenth planet," and related concepts, especially those regarding chronology and calendars.

One example is the wide, but not wise, spectrum of worldenders. It is still very, very fresh in our minds how, ten years ago, thousands of native American leaders, channelers, new-agers, and fundies of various stripes were anxiously holding their breath and predicting with utter certainty that the year twenty hundred would bring "the end of the world," through the "y2k" crisis.

It was one of the very rare years, in fact, specifically used by Nostradamus in his famous "prophecies," and Ed Cayce also had dire predictions for this "marked year." Worldenders were madly coming "out of the woodwork," and people thought it a bit "freaky" that we did not jump on this bizarre bandwagon. But now, we are very glad that we maintained a skeptical position.

When I was a fundy, we also made, in retrospect, the rather foolish error of predicting a certain specific year for the "end." That year, 1975, came and went without a single global disturbance, proving to any reasonable person that the fundy cult was wrong. This was no mere matter of interpretation. They were just plain wrong-- undeniably.

Sitchin has also predicted the return of Niburu. So far, no "tenth planet" has been discovered whose trajectory intersects with the orbit of the earth. So, this comes down to a remarkably simple truth that is not speculative, or even controversial: If he was right, this planet should have appeared, or else, it will do so shortly. And if it does not, then he was in error.

I am no specialist in either ancient Sumerian or astronomy. My specialty is spirituality. But, in Sitchin, the three areas overlap, and he claims to be an "expert" in all three. But almost no one in the academic or scientific community has been convinced either of his expertise or of the validity of his more radical theories. Only time, dear friend, will tell; and it will tell all.:)
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The Pacific Nightmare-Monster

The Pacific Nightmare-Monster
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Thanks to Barbara Baty.
*****

The Feds want to survey, possibly clean up vast garbage pit in
Pacific...impossible to clean up

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

The so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a stewy body of plastic and marine debris that floats an estimated 1,000 miles west of San Francisco, is a shape-shifting mass far too large, delicate and remote ever to be cleaned up, according to a researcher who recently returned from the area.

But that might not stop the federal government from trying.

Charles Moore, the marine researcher at the Algalita Marina Research Foundation in Long Beach, who has been studying and publicizing the patch for the past 10 years, said the debris-- which he estimates weighs 3 million tons and covers an area twice the size of Texas-- is made up mostly of fine plastic chips; [it] is impossible to skim out of the ocean.

"Any attempt to remove that much plastic from the oceans boggles the mind," Moore said from Hawaii, where his crew is docked. "There's just too much, and the ocean is just too big." The trash collects in one area, known as the North Pacific Gyre, due to a clockwise trade wind that circulates along the Pacific Rim. It accumulates the same way bubbles gather at the center of hot tub, Moore said.

A two-liter plastic bottle that begins its voyage from a storm drain in San Francisco will get pulled into the gyre and take weeks to reach its place among the other debris in the Garbage Patch.

"While the bottle floats along, instead of biodegrading, it will "photodegrade," Moore said . The sun's uv rays will turn the bottle brittle, much like they would crack the vinyl on a car roof. They will break down the bottle into small pieces and, in some cases, into particles as fine as dust.

"The Garbage Patch is not a solid island, as some people believe," Moore said. Instead, it resembles a soupy mass, interspersed with large pieces of junk such as derelict fishing nets and waterlogged tires-- "an alphabet soup," he called it.

Also, it's undetectable by overhead satellite photos because it's 80 percent plastic and therefore translucent, Moore added. The plastic moves just beneath the surface-- from one inch to depths of 300 feet, according to samples he collected on the most recent trip, he said.

By Moore's estimation, the "floating landfill" is also simply too far from land to conduct any meaningful cleanup operation. It's about 1,000 miles west of California and 1,000 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands-- a week's journey by boat from the nearest port. It swirls in a convergence zone located about 30 to 40 degrees north latitude and 135 to 145 west longitude.

There's no doubt that a stew of marine debris exists in the convergence zone of the gyre, said Holly Bamford, an oceanographer and director of the marine debris program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but there is some debate as to its size.

Moore has led most of the research and publicity surrounding the Garbage Patch, so Bamford said her federal agency, which oversees ocean conditions, is collecting its own data to assess the area and density. Bamford said she has noted some "gaps in the research" that suggest the affected area is not as large as Moore estimates. Yet there's no question that marine debris is gathering in the area and is having a negative impact on marine life, such as fish who mistake the particles for food.

"But before we embark on a huge removal process," Bamford said, "we need to understand what we're dealing with."
Bamford added that the agency had attempted to take satellite photos of the area last year, but the overhead photos were inconclusive. "It's hard to distinguish a whale reaching the surface versus a piece of plastic," she said.

Still, Bamford said the agency is considering flying unmanned aircraft that can be launched from boats to skim the ocean's surface and collect data.

But launching the drones is 18 months away, Bamford said. It could be two years before a federal plan is enacted to remove the plastic-- if it's warranted, Bamford said.

"Once we get to that stage, we'd need to ask, 'If we can remove it, what would be the best way? And what would we do with it afterward? If we collect it, would we bring it back to shore - and then what-- put it in a landfill?'"

In the meantime, as the production and the use of plastic continue to grow, so will the Garbage Patch, Moore said. The only way to reduce marine debris, all sides agree, is to cut it off at its source-- on land.

The dramatic growth in plastics use over the past two decades is what distresses activists [such as] Moore. The annual production of plastic resin in the United States has roughly doubled in the past 20 years, from nearly 60 billion pounds in 1987 to an estimated 120 billion pounds in 2007, according to a study by the American Chemistry Council, which represents the nation's largest plastic and chemical manufacturers.

Keith Cristman, a senior director of packaging at the American Chemistry Council, said the plastics industry is aware of its connection to marine debris; [he] said the council is working with federal and state agencies to put more recycling bins on California beaches in an attempt to stop plastic bottles and bags from making their way to the sea. At the end of November, Cristman said, the council is co-sponsoring
its first marine debris workshop with state and federal agencies.

Cristman said he'd rather see more plastic recycled than production slowed.

"Plastic is a valuable resource," he said. "It shouldn't be wasted. It should be recycled."

Asked [whether] the council would assist in any cleanup of the Garbage Patch if the federal government called on it, Cristman said, "We're always interested in working with NOAA and the EPA."

Moore said his crew had collected new data that suggested more plastic is entering the gyre, yet he was hesitant to elaborate until he finalized the research.

"The ocean is downhill from everywhere," Moore said. "It's like a toilet that never flushes. You can't take these particles out of the ocean. You can just stop putting them in."

Scammers are Taking Advantage of Swine Flu Fear

Thanks to Mick Gallagher.
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Man am I shocked. what happened to United We Stand? I thought the bird flu, SARS, Y2K, 9/11 WAS THE LAST OF IT.

And the hoaxes just keep on coming!! I guess they know how to effectively use the widely impressive corp media to browbeat us into complete submission---
What's it all about Alfie?

Mick Gallagher
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-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray
Sent: Apr 30, 2009 4:30 PM mctgal@earthlink.net
Subject: Scammers are taking advantage of Swine Flu fear

Dear Friends of the Heart,

What's in the news often drives companion scams. My office has received
complaints related to the Economic Stimulus Package, tax returns, and
television conversion to hd. It appears that the same predators are now
attempting to take advantage of people's fear about swine flu.

According to the Better Business Bureau and online security companies,
emails from spammers about swine flu already make up two percent of spam
emails, and hundreds of Web sites using the term "swine flu" have already
been registered.

In addition to making you aware of this trend, I need your help to
identify the scams.

Here's how you can help:

Forward suspicious e-mails to the Federal Trade Commission at:
spam@uce.gov, then delete them from your inbox.
File a complaint with the Attorney General's office about e-mails, phone
calls, direct mail, or other attempts to scam you. You can do this by
logging on to www.SpeakOutOhio.gov or by calling (800) 282-0515.
Forward this e-mail to friends and family so they can be aware.
For reputable information and updates on swine flu and fighting the
outbreak, go to www.CDC.gov/swineflu
And remember: to protect yourself from any kind of scam, NEVER send
personal information, such as bank account numbers or Social Security
numbers, via email. If you're asked for this information in an email,
don't respond and don't click on links in the message.

Thank you for helping protect the pocketbooks of Ohioans.

Sincerely

Richard Cordray
Ohio Attorney General
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Worried about Swine Flu? Here's something you can do.

The United States needs to allow all working people to earn paid sick days to ensure our economic security, and protect public health.


Sign the Petition Today


Dear Friends of the Heart,

The news over the weekend was scary -- outbreaks of a potentially pandemic flu virus, called the "swine flu" are being reported all over the world, including in the U.S. As of now there have been 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S., with the first fatal U.S. case reported this morning from Texas.1 White House officials monitoring the situation are recommending that: If you're sick, stay home, get treatment, go see a doctor.2

This is easier said than done. In the U.S. today, nearly half of workers aren't allowed to earn paid sick days (i.e. they don't have a single paid sick day to take when illness strikes in order to keep our communities healthy and not spread illness). And more than half of the workforce does not have or cannot use paid sick days to care for sick children. The numbers are even worse in industries where people need paid sick days the most: 92% of waiters and waitresses, and 79% of childcare workers aren't allowed to earn any paid sick days3.

How do the experts expect people to stay home when they're sick, if they don't have any paid sick days?

Sign the petition today! The United States needs to allow all working people to earn paid sick days to ensure our economic security, and protect public health.

http://momsrisingaction.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1924&source=TrueMajority

In this economic downturn, folks need to work, sometimes whether they're sick or not. I talked to a coffee shop employee today who told me, "I go to work sick sometimes; I need the hours so I can pay my rent!" We've all been there. When people go to work sick, it puts us all at risk. The recent swine flu outbreak is a powerful reminder that we need paid sick days for public health.

In New York, where there is a small outbreak at a school among students who recently traveled to Mexico, health officials told the Wall Street Journal that one way to reduce the spread of the disease is to "stay home until 48 hours after the symptoms have passed to avoid spreading the disease,"4 Clearly, folks need paid sick days to do the right thing and stay home to care for themselves and their children when they show these symptoms, so more people don't get sick.

Sign the petition today, and pass it on to your friends and family!
Everyone should be able to earn paid sick days to ensure our health and economic security.

Thank you,

--Katie, Mary, Kristin, Sarah, Anita and the MomsRising.org Team

P.S. See the CDC Website for more information about the swine flu
outbreak: cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

1. Read the NY Times compilation of information about the swine flu here:
topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/influenza/swine_i
nfluenza/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=swine%20flu&st=cse

2. Quoted in:
cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/26/swine.flu/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

3. Institute for Women's Policy Research analysis of the March 2006
National Compensation Survey, the November 2005 through October 2006 Job
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and Highlights of Women's Earnings
in 2005 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Report 995).
iwpr.org/pdf/B254_paidsickdaysFS.pdf

4. Quoted in: online.wsj.com/article/SB124077900486757017.html

Joyful Announcement of Love

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Dearest Friends of Humanity, Friends of the Heart,

As you know already, Love Ministries has been directed to start the Love Ministries Federation. Frankly, this work has entailed some rather discouraging efforts, and so, as of 040109, we put a temporary stop to it; gathering donations has been like pulling teeth-- without an anesthetic! The responses of our friends has been lukewarm at best, and cool at worst.(:

But we have never claimed to be "in charge" of Love Ministries. We are not. The One, the Supreme, the Ultimate, the Lovegod(dess) is in charge of Love Ministries, and today (041909), she directed that we once again try to elicit support for the poorest people in the world. To stand by and let God's children-- our sisters and brothers-- drop dead from starvation, because we are fearfully clinging to our dollars, guarantees a future life of dire and extreme poverty.

Besides, Sophia, the Goddess of Love, wants these people to be aided; and she wants you and me to do this.

So, Love Ministries USA is again open to striving to gather a few dollars to aid our strugglling and starving friends-- the poorest people in the world. Please allow the Light of Love to penetrate your heartmind in a practical way, and donate what you can; we are accepting, as before, donations of as small as three dollars. It is not just the quantity that counts, but the Lovexpression.

So, won't you please, today, support Love Ministries of India, Love Ministries of Kenya, Love Ministries of Pakistan, Love Ministries of Rwanda, Love Ministries of Sierra Leone, and Love Ministries of Uganda? The poor orphans of these countries are literally dying to hear from you!

Please discuss this important issue with the interior God(dess). There is no more important way to invest money than by investing it in other living human beings. Thank you in advance; thanks from the hundreds of orphans to whom you are giving the great gift of life itself!

Please send snailmail donations to:

Love Ministries USA
5100 Liberty-Fairfield Rd.
Hamilton, OH 45011.

Thank you for all eternity.
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Angels

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Mine has always been a practical approach to spirituality based on what I have been able to evidence to my own mind. As I have had no interactions personally with "angels," this spirituality has been free of "angels." I do leave the question, and the heartmind, open to them; they could well exist and might have even wings! But angelology has never been a specialty, or special interest, of this life. This is probably all to say that... direct access to the One, without any "middle men," has
worked just fine.:)
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