[FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Very interesting find, Vaj. BPD patients can be emotionally draining to work with. Its as if they are emotionally stuck a 3 years of age in interpersonal relationships. --- On Fri, 8/29/08, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered Interesting that the findings center around the insula, the part of the brain responsible for feelings of disgust. Thus BPD sufferers lack gut feeling in judgments, a basic human instinct. Thanks for bringing this up, Vaj and Peter. I was unaware of the description of Borderline Personality Disorder before, and now that I'm not and have looked into it, I'm finding it remarkably useful when examining the posts of a few people here on Fairfield Life. For example, look at the list of symptoms of this disorder, and then look at this week's Post Count so far, in which a couple of poster's attempts to get attention -- ANY attention -- are becoming more and more frantic with every passing minute. * Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment * A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation * Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self * Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days) * Chronic feelings of emptiness [Please note Shemp's recent admission of how lonely his is] * Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights) [Please note Judy's attempt, seemingly out of the blue, to pick a fight with Hugo/Richard] * Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms I think that BPD provides a fascinating way of looking at our two most compulsive posters. This week, both of them have escalated from their normal argumentative contrarianism into abject trolling and active attempts to start arguments, IMO because they are both panicky that no one is taking them seriously any more. The abandonment issue has made them go crazier than usual. The *nature* of the focus seems unimportant to them. All that they seem to care about is that someone -- ANYONE -- is focusing on them. I would imagine that this has to do with the first symptom above, and that they are so hideously uncomfortable being alone that they have to troll for feedback, to reassure themselves that they still exist, and that someone -- ANYONE -- still takes them seriously, and that the world hasn't completely abandoned them. What I'm wondering is whether abandonment -- ignoring them completely -- is the best thing that we could possibly do for them? What happens in a clinical set- ting when you just basically IGNORE someone with BPD? Do they get better, or do they get worse? So far, it would seem that our two BPD role models have gotten much, much worse, and are locked into acting out their feelings of I've got to do more to get people to focus on me and to take me seriously at an increased level? In a clinical setting, does IGNORING the BPD sufferer's need for attention actually help them to get over this need and learn to develop relationships that are not based on picking fights, or does it push them to get worse, and finally implode? Ya gotta admit, either outcome would be preferable to having to click past post after post of their psychic garbage. Thank God for the posting limits.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Collaborative datagraphics site
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.bobwhydontyouicludesomeactualtextinstead ofjustpostingurlafterurl Sal ** http://www.slate.com/id/2175569/
[FairfieldLife] Re: Life in Shemp's Kleptocracy
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Doesn't that headline reek a bit of antisemitism...? :D
[FairfieldLife] What I've Learned This Summer -- Bill Maher
More incisive, spot-on commentary in six minutes and 31 seconds than in all of the political speeches in this election so far: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/what-ive-learned-this-sum_b_121910.html or http://tinyurl.com/6dw8h2
[FairfieldLife] The Glammer Dream Team: Faux Hero and the Beauty Queen
The modern word 'glamour' is descended from an older and more specific Celtic word, 'glammer.' It means having the ability to cast a spell, to create an illusion, and more specifically, to being able to convince others to see you as something you are not. If you have seen the Ridley Scott film Legend, think about the scene in which a mischievous pixie, hot for Tom Cruise's bod, takes on the appearance of his girlfriend in an attempt to get him to jump her bones. For that matter, think about Tom Cruise and his entire career. Now think about the Republican Dream Team, its can- didates for President and Vice President. John McCain is pretty much the poster boy for glammer. His early life was even more of a testament to failure than George W. Bush's, and that's saying something. He managed to milk his father and grandfather's names to get into Annapolis, graduated in the lowest 1% of that class and of his flight school, and then, after his father again used his influence to have his son made a pilot (which he shouldn't have been, given his per- formance in flight school), young John preceded to lose five multimillion-dollar aircraft in quick succession. For the last fiasco, he wound up spending five years in a POW camp. And yet what is the illusory projected image he has been able to craft out of such a record of monumental failure? That he's a some kind of hero or patriot. Yeah, right, and Mighty Casey totally knocked that last pitch out of the Mudville ballpark. Then McCain went on to *continue* to milk not only his father's reputation and his own ability to project illusion but his second wife's money to buy himself into politics. The first wife wasn't good enough -- she'd gotten herself too scarred up to be of use to him -- so he fell for the first flashy bimbo with a lot of money and a lot of glammer that he met, and used *her* to add to his illusory image. And now he's done it again, by choosing another bimbo whose whole life -- from teenage beauty queen to small-town mayor to Governor who is seemingly hell-bent on selling Alaska's beauty and natural resources down the river so they don't compete with her own -- seems to be based on glammer. McCain met her ONCE, and was so wrapped by *her* ability to project an illusory image that he forget his own campaign slogan -- country first -- and seems to have made his snap decision based on cunt first. These people got to where they are by FAKING IT, and are so *aware* of this on some level that the worst thing they can think of to call their political opponents is what their whole lives have been about faking -- celebrity. Obama doesn't need glammer; he has real charisma. McCain and Palin don't have an ounce of it, and have to rely on cheap flash and manipulated images of themselves to achieve what Obama can generate just by smiling and being himself. The larger problem, however, is that these faux political celebrities who are running against a real one might be RIGHT. Look at the people Americans think are cool. Madonna, rap stars without any talent, Paris Hilton, or...dare I say it...George W. Bush. Americans have a strong *tradition* of buying into glammer, into the surface illusion, and of being incapable of looking beneath the surface to see if there is anything underneath it. And they might do it again. They might decide that a couple of posturing pissants projecting a false image of their past and America's future is ENOUGH, and vote for them. Americans might be so brainwashed into falling for glammer that they can no longer see past it to the vapidity that the glammer is trying to hide. After all, they still flock to see Tom Cruise's movies, so how smart can they be?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Christian bank fails
Looks like the devil slipped in through the backdoor. --- On Sat, 8/30/08, boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Christian bank fails To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 10:05 PM Integrity Bank of Georgia which operated as a christian bank has failed. “We felt if we prayed and obeyed God’s word and did what He asked, that He would help us be successful,” the bank’s founder, Steve Skow, told the Journal-Constitution in 2005. Also --CEO Steve Skow earned $1.8 million that year, while senior lender and executive vice president Doug Ballard earned $847,222. A typical community bank CEO, banking consultants said, earn roughly $300,000 per year. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: BillyG. wrote: The Republicans are holding the line *against* new taxes in California and getting pounded in the media for it, although Swartzenseems like nothing but a R.I.N.O. IMO. The new taxes would be on wealthier Californians and corporations anyway. Not to an extent they can't handle. This is a very corrupt state in that big business also runs state government and seems to have a history of doing so since the capital moved to Sacramento (due to a wealthy benefactor). I think you're wrong...the democrats want a 1cent increase in the sales tax across the board, that affects everybody,and is bad for business. We already have one of the highest sales tax across the country. BTW, I'll put up with earthquakes over hurricanes any day.
[FairfieldLife] The Real CC
I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. I'm comfortable with describing enlightenment as Comedy Consc- iousness because I consider being a real-deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous spiritual teacher to be only the second most noble profession on the planet. The first is being a real- deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous comedian. Both professions involve helping others to take themselves (and life) a little less seriously, and helping them to laugh more. On the whole, comedians are better at their jobs than spiritual teachers. One of them, a little chap by the name of Charlie Chaplin, said, Life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. That's it. That's it exactly. That's the thing that all of these spiritual teachers have been trying to convey to all of us spiritual groupies for all of these centuries. They've been telling us, essentially, to Lighten The Fuck Up. The long shot on the quest for enlightenment is that it's a joke. Enlightenment has always already been there. ALL of your oh-so- serious attempts to achieve it have been and will always be a joke, because you are trying to achieve something you already are. That's funny, right?
[FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozguru@ wrote: BillyG. wrote: The Republicans are holding the line *against* new taxes in California and getting pounded in the media for it, although Swartzenseems like nothing but a R.I.N.O. IMO. The new taxes would be on wealthier Californians and corporations anyway. Not to an extent they can't handle. This is a very corrupt state in that big business also runs state government and seems to have a history of doing so since the capital moved to Sacramento (due to a wealthy benefactor). BTW, I'll put up with earthquakes over hurricanes any day. * Actually, the proposed small tax increase for very high income people has been dead for some time. The latest Republican rejection was of a regressive tax increase, a one cent increase in the sales tax: Democrats wanted a three year one cent increase; Republicans would only go along if there was a sales tax reduction from today's level after that temporary three years increase: http://tinyurl.com/5jmub7 * Agrees for a temporary three year sales tax increase of 1 cent, as proposed by the Governor, but rejects the other parts of the Governor's proposal that would lower that tax after three years. CDCAN Comment: The change in the Governor's plan, which would have reduced the overall sales tax after three years, may lose the possible vote of Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn who said earlier that he could possibly support a sales tax increase if it resulted in a reduction - as the Governor's plan did. The Senate Democratic revised plan eliminates the reduction and only proposes a 3 year temporary increase - a proposal that Republicans in both houses have strongly opposed. California is like a microcosm of the Country, you have big bloated bureaucracies unwilling to give even an inch and call a decrease in their 'increased' budget a *cut*!! These bureaucracies (especially the LAUSD, teachers Union) are controlled by Democrats! Promising the tax payers a temporary tax increase is like a alcoholic saying he wants just one more drink, that's ridiculous!!! and more Democrat lies. Palin may be able to shake up these monopolies, something Obama will be unwilling to touch, change? HA, HA, HA! GMAB!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
On Aug 31, 2008, at 2:20 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: What I'm wondering is whether abandonment -- ignoring them completely -- is the best thing that we could possibly do for them? What happens in a clinical set- ting when you just basically IGNORE someone with BPD? The few people I knew who actually ended up being Borderlines all followed a similar pattern: Above average intelligence, successful working for themselves or in charge and with a certain amount of charisma. The problem was they'd draw you in with something interesting. They'd draw you in real close, revealing intimate details, etc. and you get to be close very quicklythen they blast you with their rage when you get close. Since they see the world largely in black or white, you fall into the black side of things and are devalued and looked upon as if evil. It's all your fault! Do they get better, or do they get worse? It's said that most do as they get older, but the same patterns remain and it is quite obviously a painful pattern to be stuck in. Esp. if they live with someone. It's said, that those with BPD and some other personality disorders, although they're not fatal or ready to be institutionalized, those around them feel like dying as it's so difficult to have to live with. So far, it would seem that our two BPD role models have gotten much, much worse, and are locked into acting out their feelings of I've got to do more to get people to focus on me and to take me seriously at an increased level? That's the drawing in part. Once you get close, expect to be blasted. In a clinical setting, does IGNORING the BPD sufferer's need for attention actually help them to get over this need and learn to develop relationships that are not based on picking fights, or does it push them to get worse, and finally implode? In general BPD's don't do real well in a clinical setting as they tend to just eat up staff and spit them out again. BPD's are experts at splitting people and turning people against one another. One things for sure, a BPD person who show you how close knit your staff is.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that image, in GC you realize the image of God not only in you but in the manifest Universe and in UC you realize the fullness of both the relative (CC) and the Absolute (UC) or purnamidah purnamidam (inner and outer fullness). The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. I'm comfortable with describing enlightenment as Comedy Consc- iousness because I consider being a real-deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous spiritual teacher to be only the second most noble profession on the planet. The first is being a real- deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous comedian. Both professions involve helping others to take themselves (and life) a little less seriously, and helping them to laugh more. On the whole, comedians are better at their jobs than spiritual teachers. One of them, a little chap by the name of Charlie Chaplin, said, Life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. That's it. That's it exactly. That's the thing that all of these spiritual teachers have been trying to convey to all of us spiritual groupies for all of these centuries. They've been telling us, essentially, to Lighten The Fuck Up. The long shot on the quest for enlightenment is that it's a joke. Enlightenment has always already been there. ALL of your oh-so- serious attempts to achieve it have been and will always be a joke, because you are trying to achieve something you already are. That's funny, right? No...you underestimate the 'devil' or maya, delusion! You think God made the devil stupid Turq? He's outsmarting you even now! (Or you (little ego) are actually outsmarting yourSelf (big Self or soul).
[FairfieldLife] Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin
By Lou Valentino 8/31/2008 Dear friends of Astrological Varieties, The September forecast is up. Just click below and select “Monthly Astrology Column”. Let us meditate and pray for the people living in the Gulf coast. I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Please take the time over the next several days to pray, meditate and send white light to the areas between northern Florida and the coastline of Texas. I am predicting that John McCain and Sarah Palin who have already decided to head to Mississippi today will begin the healing process of the past in relationship to the wounds left behind by the Republican Party. With so much resentment from Katrina to the Republican Party it offers an opportunity for the Republican’s to heal some of the PR damage by making adjustments during the time of their RNC week. I clearly stated on my updated predictions for 2008 on July 22, 2008 that whoever picked a female Vice President would win the election. I am standing by this prediction. As most of you know I wanted Hillary Clinton to be the V.P. for the Democratic Party. That obviously did not happen. As unexpected circumstances arise through erratic weather patterns and other unexpected events, the Republican Party will gain momentum over the next six weeks. Barak Obama was not expecting the unexpected and chose a more conservative V.P. choice. It is going to be a very close race to the white house. Sarah Palin is born February 11, 1964 under the sign of Aquarius. Therefore, she believes in working with others to benefit humanity. I do not have an exact birthtime. I placed her time at 12:00 Noon. With four or five planets in the air element (The Moon could be in Capricorn rather than Aquarius) if she was born after 11:00AM, this is a very independent women. Aquarian women that I have met in my personal life have a very strong nature and present a challenge to men if contested. Top this off with Mars in Aries and five or six planets in the fixed qualities and you have a women who is very committed to her own way of doing things. Very stubborn. With only one planet in water she is not the type of women who will hang out in a corner and cry. She is a fighter for humanity (Aquarius), and she knows how to get her message across with Gemini rising. The rising sign could change but it looks like Gemini. With Saturn, Mars and Sun possibly trine to her rising sign we have someone who communicates forcefully (Mars) and with a lot of energy (Sun) but with control (Saturn). Wow. She is a reformer. She has Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo. She pay’s attention to fine details and is very quick to make precise judgments. Neptune squares her Saturn, Mars and Sun stellium showing deceptive actions which lead to trouble if she is not careful. Neptune is in Scorpio so she has an investigative mind and loves research. She will reform the Republican agenda and even though she holds very conservative beliefs and points of view she may surprise people down the road. Spiritual teachings show in her chart or teachings that are forward thinking. Even an interest in astrology with all of the planets in Aquarius coupled with Uranus in Virgo conjunct Pluto. With 7 planets reflecting male energy and only three reflecting female she would be able to withstand a lot of pressure. When I get her exact birhtime I will elaborate more. One thing is for sure, Joe Biden had better wear a cup when he debates her because she is going to come out swinging. Hillary could help Joe out but I don’t think Hillary Clinton (Scorpio) is going to lend a helping hand after all she has been through. You can read more about September and 2008 by visiting my website Astrological Varieties http://www.yogavisionaries.com/ . May God bless America and may everyone in the world be safe and sound this Holiday weekend. Love and Light, Lou Valentino
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:34 AM, Vaj wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 2:20 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: What I'm wondering is whether abandonment -- ignoring them completely -- is the best thing that we could possibly do for them? What happens in a clinical set- ting when you just basically IGNORE someone with BPD? The few people I knew who actually ended up being Borderlines all followed a similar pattern: Above average intelligence, successful working for themselves or in charge and with a certain amount of charisma. The problem was they'd draw you in with something interesting. They'd draw you in real close, revealing intimate details, etc. and you get to be close very quicklythen they blast you with their rage when you get close. Since they see the world largely in black or white, you fall into the black side of things and are devalued and looked upon as if evil. It's all your fault! I should have also hastened to point out that treatment for this particular personality disorder is not only extremely difficult to accomplish in a clinical setting, it also does not respond well to any sort of direct confrontation, certainly not finger-pointing. This will only close off communication and forestall or stop treatment or progress. IOW you wouldn't, after years of knowing someone with this issue, approach them and reveal your diagnosis upon them. Forget about a family intervention(!). You'd very likely never, ever hear from that person again unless it was to vent their spleen, liver and tongue on you. It's also not a good idea to perform such diagnosis on discussion lists, for the above reasons and that it's medically unethical.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Christian bank fails
In my industry -- estate-planning -- I've learned that the more you hear the word Jesus, the more likely the speaker is going to be corrupt. I have several examples to support this, the most glaring being the case of one Robert Dillie, formerly of Scottsdale, Arizona, who ran Mid-America Foundation: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/claims/midamerica.htm In estate-planning, one is constantly attending seminars and training courses to learn or get licensed in various products or services that you make available to clients. Around 10 years ago I was approached and agreed to attend a 3-day intensive to learn about what is really a great product, something called a charitable gift annuity, a financial instrument that allows well-off people to donate money to a foundation, get a very significant tax break, and receive a life annuity, to boot. The concept is legitimate and is great for receiving income AND getting money to worthy causes. Anyway, the company that recruited me was run by this Dillie character. Each morning, afternoon (there were two), and evening training session began and ended with prayers...to Jesus, of course (which made me wonder how uncomfortable this made the non-Christians). They recruited Sammy Sosa and other big names in Sports to give testimonials as to the great Foundation they ran, etc. Here's what happened: Once the training was done and I returned to the field, I myself made about 5 or 6 presentations to clients. The gifts that I proposed they give were about $1 million each. I almost sold one person to do it but at the last minute he decided to get the same product through his alma mater, who offered them to alumni. There was absolutely no reason in the world for me not to continue to offer this product but, intuitively, there just wasn't something right about the organisation, so I dropped the company from my arsenal of products I offer clients and never made any more presentations. How fortunate that I didn't. Robert Dillie, it turned out, took the bulk of the $50 million he raised from elderly clients and proceeded to gamble it all away in Las Vegas. This Christian Jesus-invoking charlatan -- and let me tell you, he could sell snow to Eskimos -- actually became known on the Strip as a Whale because of how much he gambled. All I know is I thank my lucky stars each day that I was NOT successful in closing the few presentations that I made. To have taken money from a client and put it into something where they lose it in this way would have meant that I would not have been able to sleep at night. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Looks like the devil slipped in through the backdoor. --- On Sat, 8/30/08, boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Christian bank fails To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 10:05 PM Integrity Bank of Georgia which operated as a christian bank has failed. âWe felt if we prayed and obeyed Godâs word and did what He asked, that He would help us be successful,â the bankâs founder, Steve Skow, told the Journal-Constitution in 2005. Also --CEO Steve Skow earned $1.8 million that year, while senior lender and executive vice president Doug Ballard earned $847,222. A typical community bank CEO, banking consultants said, earn roughly $300,000 per year. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The September forecast is up. Just click below and select âMonthly Astrology Columnâ. Turq's Answer Song Predictions My prediction is that sometime in 2010 Lou Valentino, still trying to peddle his astro- logical services to gullible people on the Internet, will learn how to turn on straight quotes in the program he uses to write this hogwash. Dozens of readers, now able to read what he was writing for the first time, will realize that all of that â â â â stuff wasn't really Pleiadian after all, and will desert him en masse and go spend their money on some other charlatan. Also, I see clearly that Sarah Palin, anxious to get to know the ins and outs of how to fool most of the people most of the time, will invite Dick Cheney to Alaska to go hunting with her. This will have sad consquences when Cheney, who tends to swill a lot of beer while hunting, shoots her. John McCain attempts to salvage the situation by promising to have Palin's head stuffed and mounted in the Oval Office and, seeing the look in Cheney's eyes, selects him as Palin's replace- ment for Vice President. I'm TurquoiseB and I approve this prediction. And, like Lou, my predictions have a 75% accuracy rating. In the same universe his do, that is...
[FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozguru@ wrote: BillyG. wrote: The Republicans are holding the line *against* new taxes in California and getting pounded in the media for it, although Swartzenseems like nothing but a R.I.N.O. IMO. The new taxes would be on wealthier Californians and corporations anyway. Not to an extent they can't handle. This is a very corrupt state in that big business also runs state government and seems to have a history of doing so since the capital moved to Sacramento (due to a wealthy benefactor). I think you're wrong...the democrats want a 1cent increase in the sales tax across the board, that affects everybody,and is bad for business. We already have one of the highest sales tax across the country. ...and your income tax rates aren't that pretty, either. This is the marginal tax rate that a single, self-employed taxpayer reaches once he has about $38,000 in taxable income: 25.0% Marginal Federal Income tax 15.3% Payroll tax (FICA) 08.0% Marginal California Income tax - 48.3% TOTAL ...and I'm probably leaving out a few little taxes that you have which not living in California I am not aware of. Thus, BillyG, once earning a measly $38,000 (which isn't alot) a self- employed single taxpayer is essentially giving half of every dollar he earns at this point to various governments and he keeps half (and we haven't even factored in property taxes because property taxes aren't levied on income). Where is the incentive to work? BTW, I'll put up with earthquakes over hurricanes any day.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:34 AM, Vaj wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 2:20 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: What I'm wondering is whether abandonment -- ignoring them completely -- is the best thing that we could possibly do for them? What happens in a clinical set- ting when you just basically IGNORE someone with BPD? The few people I knew who actually ended up being Borderlines all followed a similar pattern: Above average intelligence, successful working for themselves or in charge and with a certain amount of charisma. The problem was they'd draw you in with something interesting. They'd draw you in real close, revealing intimate details, etc. and you get to be close very quicklythen they blast you with their rage when you get close. Since they see the world largely in black or white, you fall into the black side of things and are devalued and looked upon as if evil. It's all your fault! I should have also hastened to point out that treatment for this particular personality disorder is not only extremely difficult to accomplish in a clinical setting, it also does not respond well to any sort of direct confrontation, certainly not finger- pointing. This will only close off communication and forestall or stop treatment or progress. IOW you wouldn't, after years of knowing someone with this issue, approach them and reveal your diagnosis upon them. Forget about a family intervention(!). You'd very likely never, ever hear from that person again unless it was to vent their spleen, liver and tongue on you. It's also not a good idea to perform such diagnosis on discussion lists, for the above reasons and that it's medically unethical. Good point about being medically unethical, even though I'm not a doctor. Good point also about not risking confrontation and intervention with BPD's in a family situation. But as for doing so on discussion lists, the venting is already a done deal, so isn't the possible up side of very likely never, ever hearing from that person again worth the risk? :-)
[FairfieldLife] Bush seeks to make war permanent
Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war John Byrne Raw Story, August 30, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/6kh62b As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain's choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war. Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated organizations. Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision before Congress seeks to acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans. The New York Times page 8 placement of the article in its Saturday edition seems to downplay its importance. Such a re-affirmation of war carries broad legal implications that could imperil Americans' civil liberties and the rights of foreign nationals for decades to come. It was under the guise of war that President Bush claimed a legal mandate for his warrantless wiretapping program, giving the National Security Agency power to intercept calls Americans made abroad. More of this program has emerged in recent years, and it includes the surveillance of Americans' information and exchanges online. War powers have also given President Bush cover to hold Americans without habeas corpus -- detainment without explanation or charge. Jose Padilla, a Chicago resident arrested in 2002, was held without trial for five years before being convicted of conspiring to kill individuals abroad and provide support for terrorism. But his arrest was made with proclamations that Padilla had plans to build a dirty bomb. He was never convicted of this charge. Padilla's legal team also claimed that during his time in military custody -- the four years he was held without charge -- he was tortured with sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, forced stress positions and injected with drugs. Times reporter Eric Lichtblau notes that the measure is the latest step that the Administration has taken to make permanent key aspects of its long war against terrorism. Congress recently passed a much-maligned bill giving telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for their participation in what constitutional experts see as an illegal or borderline-illegal surveillance program, and is considering efforts to give the FBI more power in their investigative techniques. It is uncertain whether Congress will take the administration up on its request, Lichtblau writes. Some Republicans have already embraced the idea, with Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introducing a measure almost identical to the administration's proposal. 'Since 9/11,' Mr. Smith said, 'we have been at war with an unconventional enemy whose primary goal is to kill innocent Americans.' If enough Republicans come aboard, Democrats may struggle to defeat the provision. Despite holding majorities in the House and Senate, they have failed to beat back some of President Bush's purported security measures, such as the telecom immunity bill. Bush's open-ended permanent war language worries his critics. They say it could provide indefinite, if hazy, legal justification for any number of activities -- including detention of terrorists suspects at bases like Guantanamo Bay (where for years the Administration would not even release the names of those being held), and the NSA's warantless wiretapping program. Lichtblau co-wrote the Times article revealing the Administration's eavesdropping program along with fellow reporter James Risen. He notes that Bush's language recalls a resolution, known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress on Sept. 14, 2001... [which] authorized the president to 'use all necessary and appropriate force' against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks to prevent future strikes. That authorization, still in effect, was initially viewed by many members of Congress who voted for it as the go-ahead for the administration to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban, which had given sanctuary to Mr. bin Laden. But the military authorization became the secret legal basis for some of the administration's most controversial legal tactics, including the wiretapping program, and that still gnaws at some members of Congress, he adds.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
On Aug 31, 2008, at 9:36 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: Good point about being medically unethical, even though I'm not a doctor. Good point also about not risking confrontation and intervention with BPD's in a family situation. But as for doing so on discussion lists, the venting is already a done deal, so isn't the possible up side of very likely never, ever hearing from that person again worth the risk? Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Even entering into casual discussion of or with such a person will only (eventually) stir up their ire, their splitting tactics will lead-foot into high gear and they entrench IME. And keep in mind, personality disorders often appear in clusters, so situations are often much more complex than simple definition and the pointing out of personal idiosyncrasies. Forcing a person to resort to seeing you as evil is always a lose-lose situation from what I can tell. Since a basic ethic of practice is 'do no harm', in a public list setting, most professionals will simply go quiet on the subject. But education on the subject is a good thing. So are potential avenues for treatment. There are a number of meditation techniques being successfully deployed as ways to re-weave the nine circuits of the pre-frontal cortex and thus create brain-level changes for many types of suffering, including personalty disorders. However, one can use certain meditation techniques to exacerbate or even induce personality disorders. I'm sure we'll eventually see meditationally-induced personality disorders defined in statistical manuals.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
Just curious, not as any kind of argument... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! Have you personally done this? Or this a theory you've heard that you believe? So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that image, in GC you realize the image of God not only in you but in the manifest Universe and in UC you realize the fullness of both the relative (CC) and the Absolute (UC) or purnamidah purnamidam (inner and outer fullness). Same questions. You seem to be very sure that these descriptions of enlightenment are correct. Have you ever had the experiences you're so sure you can define? It's a valid question, right? The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. I'm comfortable with describing enlightenment as Comedy Consc- iousness because I consider being a real-deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous spiritual teacher to be only the second most noble profession on the planet. The first is being a real- deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous comedian. Both professions involve helping others to take themselves (and life) a little less seriously, and helping them to laugh more. On the whole, comedians are better at their jobs than spiritual teachers. One of them, a little chap by the name of Charlie Chaplin, said, Life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. That's it. That's it exactly. That's the thing that all of these spiritual teachers have been trying to convey to all of us spiritual groupies for all of these centuries. They've been telling us, essentially, to Lighten The Fuck Up. The long shot on the quest for enlightenment is that it's a joke. Enlightenment has always already
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just curious, not as any kind of argument... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! Have you personally done this? Or this a theory you've heard that you believe? So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that image, in GC you realize the image of God not only in you but in the manifest Universe and in UC you realize the fullness of both the relative (CC) and the Absolute (UC) or purnamidah purnamidam (inner and outer fullness). Same questions. You seem to be very sure that these descriptions of enlightenment are correct. Have you ever had the experiences you're so sure you can define? It's a valid question, right? The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. I'm comfortable with describing enlightenment as Comedy Consc- iousness because I consider being a real-deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous spiritual teacher to be only the second most noble profession on the planet. The first is being a real- deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous comedian. Both professions involve helping others to take themselves (and life) a little less seriously, and helping them to laugh more. On the whole, comedians are better at their jobs than spiritual teachers. One of them, a little chap by the name of Charlie Chaplin, said, Life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. That's it. That's it exactly. That's the thing that all of these spiritual teachers have been trying to convey to all of us spiritual groupies for all of these centuries.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin
I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Unfortunately, the Pleiadians have just informed me that 2009 will have the same could be and 'possible possibilities as 2008. Sorry to have the relay the (possible) bad news. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Sun, 8/31/08, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 8:40 AM By Lou Valentino 8/31/2008 Dear friends of Astrological Varieties, The September forecast is up. Just click below and select “Monthly Astrology Column”. Let us meditate and pray for the people living in the Gulf coast. I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Please take the time over the next several days to pray, meditate and send white light to the areas between northern Florida and the coastline of Texas. I am predicting that John McCain and Sarah Palin who have already decided to head to Mississippi today will begin the healing process of the past in relationship to the wounds left behind by the Republican Party. With so much resentment from Katrina to the Republican Party it offers an opportunity for the Republican’s to heal some of the PR damage by making adjustments during the time of their RNC week. I clearly stated on my updated predictions for 2008 on July 22, 2008 that whoever picked a female Vice President would win the election. I am standing by this prediction. As most of you know I wanted Hillary Clinton to be the V.P. for the Democratic Party. That obviously did not happen. As unexpected circumstances arise through erratic weather patterns and other unexpected events, the Republican Party will gain momentum over the next six weeks. Barak Obama was not expecting the unexpected and chose a more conservative V.P. choice. It is going to be a very close race to the white house. Sarah Palin is born February 11, 1964 under the sign of Aquarius. Therefore, she believes in working with others to benefit humanity. I do not have an exact birthtime. I placed her time at 12:00 Noon. With four or five planets in the air element (The Moon could be in Capricorn rather than Aquarius) if she was born after 11:00AM, this is a very independent women. Aquarian women that I have met in my personal life have a very strong nature and present a challenge to men if contested. Top this off with Mars in Aries and five or six planets in the fixed qualities and you have a women who is very committed to her own way of doing things. Very stubborn. With only one planet in water she is not the type of women who will hang out in a corner and cry. She is a fighter for humanity (Aquarius), and she knows how to get her message across with Gemini rising. The rising sign could change but it looks like Gemini. With Saturn, Mars and Sun possibly trine to her rising sign we have someone who communicates forcefully (Mars) and with a lot of energy (Sun) but with control (Saturn). Wow. She is a reformer. She has Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo. She pay’s attention to fine details and is very quick to make precise judgments. Neptune squares her Saturn, Mars and Sun stellium showing deceptive actions which lead to trouble if she is not careful. Neptune is in Scorpio so she has an investigative mind and loves research. She will reform the Republican agenda and even though she holds very conservative beliefs and points of view she may surprise people down the road. Spiritual teachings show in her chart or teachings that are forward thinking. Even an interest in astrology with all of the planets in Aquarius coupled with Uranus in Virgo conjunct Pluto. With 7 planets reflecting male energy and only three reflecting female she would be able to withstand a lot of pressure. When I get her exact birhtime I will elaborate more. One thing is for sure, Joe Biden had better wear a cup when he debates her because she is going to come out swinging. Hillary could help Joe out but I don’t think Hillary Clinton (Scorpio) is going to lend a helping hand after all she has been through. You can read more about September and 2008 by visiting my website Astrological Varieties. May God bless America and may everyone in the world be safe and sound this Holiday weekend. Love and Light, Lou Valentino
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. There might be a time when the existence of God can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of atheists. The situation is the same with God believers who don't think of a God like Zeus as more than a mythological character. Thousands of people did have a belief in him the way Christians believe in their God, but today most Christians don't share it. They are a-theists with regard to the belief in Zeus. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just curious, not as any kind of argument... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! Have you personally done this? Or this a theory you've heard that you believe? So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that image, in GC you realize the image of God not only in you but in the manifest Universe and in UC you realize the fullness of both the relative (CC) and the Absolute (UC) or purnamidah purnamidam (inner and outer fullness). Same questions. You seem to be very sure that these descriptions of enlightenment are correct. Have you ever had the experiences you're so sure you can define? It's a valid question, right? The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me
[FairfieldLife] Re: Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin
She is a reformer. She has Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo. She pay's attention to fine details and is very quick to make precise judgments. Fox news is giving astrological readings now? And who exactly in a position of any responsibility doesn't pay attention to fine details? Oh yeah George Bush, I guess you got me there. Sarah Palin is born February 11, 1964 under the sign of Aquarius. Therefore, she believes in working with others to benefit humanity. OMG, that is SUCH a naildown. S different from every other person working in government. Spiritual teachings show in her chart or teachings that are forward thinking. Yeah, nothing is more forward thinking than adding Biblical perspective to science classes. Students need to be taught that read it in my favorite old book equals mountains of scientific evidence. One thing is for sure, Joe Biden had better wear a cup when he debates her because she is going to come out swinging. I didn't know she was 3 feet tall! Since nut shots aren't legal in any combat sport I guess you are making a statement about her ethics. Anywooo, he will CRUSH her in debate. That is my prediction. I've decided that using astrology to try to give your political opinions more weight is no different from an obnoxious relative at a family gathering trying to use their service in a war as meaning they have special political insight. Especially when the insights are exactly what we are all reading from the conservative press. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, gullible fool [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Unfortunately, the Pleiadians have just informed me that 2009 will have the same could be and 'possible possibilities as 2008. Sorry to have the relay the (possible) bad news. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Sun, 8/31/08, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 8:40 AM By Lou Valentino 8/31/2008 Dear friends of Astrological Varieties, The September forecast is up. Just click below and select Monthly Astrology Column. Let us meditate and pray for the people living in the Gulf coast. I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Please take the time over the next several days to pray, meditate and send white light to the areas between northern Florida and the coastline of Texas. I am predicting that John McCain and Sarah Palin who have already decided to head to Mississippi today will begin the healing process of the past in relationship to the wounds left behind by the Republican Party. With so much resentment from Katrina to the Republican Party it offers an opportunity for the Republican's to heal some of the PR damage by making adjustments during the time of their RNC week. I clearly stated on my updated predictions for 2008 on July 22, 2008 that whoever picked a female Vice President would win the election. I am standing by this prediction. As most of you know I wanted Hillary Clinton to be the V.P. for the Democratic Party. That obviously did not happen. As unexpected circumstances arise through erratic weather patterns and other unexpected events, the Republican Party will gain momentum over the next six weeks. Barak Obama was not expecting the unexpected and chose a more conservative V.P. choice. It is going to be a very close race to the white house. Sarah Palin is born February 11, 1964 under the sign of Aquarius. Therefore, she believes in working with others to benefit humanity. I do not have an exact birthtime. I placed her time at 12:00 Noon. With four or five planets in the air element (The Moon could be in Capricorn rather than Aquarius) if she was born after 11:00AM, this is a very independent women. Aquarian women that I have met in my personal life have a very strong nature and present a challenge to men if contested. Top this off with Mars in Aries and five or six planets in the fixed qualities and you have a women who is very committed to her own way of doing things. Very stubborn. With only one planet in water she is not the type of women who will hang out in a corner and cry. She is a fighter for humanity (Aquarius), and she knows how to get her message across with Gemini rising. The rising sign could change but it looks like Gemini. With Saturn, Mars and Sun possibly trine to her rising sign we have someone who communicates forcefully (Mars) and with a lot of energy (Sun) but with control (Saturn). Wow. She
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
shempmcgurk wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think you're wrong...the democrats want a 1cent increase in the sales tax across the board, that affects everybody,and is bad for business. We already have one of the highest sales tax across the country. ...and your income tax rates aren't that pretty, either. This is the marginal tax rate that a single, self-employed taxpayer reaches once he has about $38,000 in taxable income: 25.0% Marginal Federal Income tax 15.3% Payroll tax (FICA) 08.0% Marginal California Income tax - 48.3% TOTAL ...and I'm probably leaving out a few little taxes that you have which not living in California I am not aware of. Thus, BillyG, once earning a measly $38,000 (which isn't alot) a self- employed single taxpayer is essentially giving half of every dollar he earns at this point to various governments and he keeps half (and we haven't even factored in property taxes because property taxes aren't levied on income). Where is the incentive to work? To eat? To not live under a bridge? Of course finding a job in California is not an easy trick either. There were proposals on the State Assembly floor to modestly increase taxes on the rich and corporations. The 1 cent sales tax increase has been bandied about for a while. I don't keep up that much on the badminton games or the circus in Sacramento. Someone making $38K a year in California would not be rich by any means. And self employed they can probably come up with enough deductions to pay very little tax overall.
[FairfieldLife] The NON EXPLANATORY DELUSIONS of Astrological Forecast for September
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, gullible fool [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Unfortunately, the Pleiadians have just informed me that 2009 will have the same could be and 'possible possibilities as 2008. Sorry to have the relay the (possible) bad news. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Sun, 8/31/08, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 8:40 AM By Lou Valentino 8/31/2008 Dear friends of Astrological Varieties, The September forecast is up. Just click below and select Monthly Astrology Column. Let us meditate and pray for the people living in the Gulf coast. I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Please take the time over the next several days to pray, meditate and send white light to the areas between northern Florida and the coastline of Texas. I am predicting that John McCain and Sarah Palin who have already decided to head to Mississippi today will begin the healing process of the past in relationship to the wounds left behind by the Republican Party. With so much resentment from Katrina to the Republican Party it offers an opportunity for the Republican's to heal some of the PR damage by making adjustments during the time of their RNC week. I clearly stated on my updated predictions for 2008 on July 22, 2008 that whoever picked a female Vice President would win the election. I am standing by this prediction. It didn't work for Water Mondale. as the sole, or key explanatory variable for a presidential election, this relationship is quite weak. And it ignores the many other factors that may influence victory. As most of you know I wanted Hillary Clinton to be the V.P. for the Democratic Party. That obviously did not happen. No, it was not the expression of a personal wish. It was a quite strong, almost absolute prediction. Pleadians appear to be strong on big spin. What is even more funny, or sad, is that at the time, pre-primaries, of the prediction, HC was the vast odd-son favorite. If one had placed a wager on her her, the return would have been minimal. Perhaps 10 cents per dollar bet. The odds of her winning were much much highr than the reut of simply flipping a coin. The predicter demonstrated FAR less predictive than a simple, inert coin. A courageous and far more clearly a demonstration of predictive power would have been to pick Obama. He was a very long shot at the time. A wager of $1 may have yielded $80. (While these odds are not precise -- they are in the ballpark/order of magnitude), these odds indicate that a prediction of Obama at that time would have been 800 times more powerful than a Hillary prediction. A Obama / Biden wager would have been in the order of a $1000 payoff. A Cain/Palin prediction would have been off the charts. One of the many serious flaws of this newslettters predictions (past and present) is no serious accounting of mis-predictions. Worse, no distinguishing of the difficulty of the prediction -- the odds of it happening. If Clinton had won the nomination, I am sure the newsletter would be orgasmic in tooting its magnificent power of prediction -- picking Hillary pre-primaries -- when it was almost a no brainer prediction at the time given HRC's advantages. What is funnier, the news letter, I predict (in hindsight) would have claimed the same predicive power as another letter who predicted MaCain / Palin in January. See we were both right We we equally predictive. The fact that the newsletter seems to have no clue as to the strength of a prediction the odds of it coming to pass, is sad and funny. Wagering is a good metaphor. Which wager and return would be more impressive -- a $ bet yielded 10 cents (plus the dollar bet) or a 1000 won on a $ bet. Another HUGE flaw of predictors who are oblivious to common sense, or statistics, is the probability of an event occurring when the assumed causal factor is in place, and the probability of an event occuring when the assumed casual factor is not there. Implicit in any sound prediction is that the predicted event will occur (far) more when the assumed casual factor is present AND (far) lower when the assumed casual factor is not present. For example, if one predicts that 95% of Americans will eat three meals every Tuesday (the assumed causal effect) and it so happens that the same occurs on every day of the week, the prediction has zero power. The assumed causal event has not explanatory
[FairfieldLife] Old-Photo Blog
I just wasted a perfectly good hour on this blog featuring old high- resolution photos, from Civil War days to the 1970s (most of the photos are from the first half of the 20th century). The subjects of the photos are a mixture, from very ordinary scenes of buildings and stores, to people working or having fun, to posed glamour shots. Each has a separate link to view the photo full-size to see the details. The clarity of most of the photos is amazing. A few that struck me from the ones I went through: 1864. Fredericksburg, Va. Soldiers filling canteens. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4239 1920. Oldsmobile Sales Co., Rock Creek Park. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4238 1925. Margaret Gorman with 'Long Goodie.' http://www.shorpy.com/node/4230 1912. I could stay in Atlantic City forever. http://www.shorpy.com/Atlantic-City-Forever England, 1940-41. Battle of Britain. Children in an English bomb shelter. http://www.shorpy.com/node/3572 My favorite so far: 1924. Ambushed by Angels. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4337 Some of the more mundane photos are absolutely stunning compositions: 1928. Washington Sanitarium. Takoma Park, Maryland. Office of Inpatient Nurses. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4236 1942. Road out of Romney, West Virginia. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4163 1941. Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore. http://www.shorpy.com/node/2766
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
Thanks for the photo site! I'm reading The Slave's War, the Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves right now. I think the older I get the more history interests me. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I just wasted a perfectly good hour on this blog featuring old high- resolution photos, from Civil War days to the 1970s (most of the photos are from the first half of the 20th century). The subjects of the photos are a mixture, from very ordinary scenes of buildings and stores, to people working or having fun, to posed glamour shots. Each has a separate link to view the photo full-size to see the details. The clarity of most of the photos is amazing. A few that struck me from the ones I went through: 1864. Fredericksburg, Va. Soldiers filling canteens. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4239 1920. Oldsmobile Sales Co., Rock Creek Park. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4238 1925. Margaret Gorman with 'Long Goodie.' http://www.shorpy.com/node/4230 1912. I could stay in Atlantic City forever. http://www.shorpy.com/Atlantic-City-Forever England, 1940-41. Battle of Britain. Children in an English bomb shelter. http://www.shorpy.com/node/3572 My favorite so far: 1924. Ambushed by Angels. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4337 Some of the more mundane photos are absolutely stunning compositions: 1928. Washington Sanitarium. Takoma Park, Maryland. Office of Inpatient Nurses. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4236 1942. Road out of Romney, West Virginia. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4163 1941. Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore. http://www.shorpy.com/node/2766
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. What!? Are you saying Creation does not Exist??! What better proof of a Creator than His manifest Creation??!! What more figgin PROOF do you need!!!? Its like the UNIVERSE man. Its everywhere. (And don't get me started on my beleif that God is Love and Love is EVERYwhere.) There might be a time when the existence of God can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of atheists. The situation is the same with God believers who don't think of a God like Zeus as more than a mythological character. Don't go dissing my Lord Zeus again. But -- he is not the same as GOD -- but he is a most worthy god. Thousands of people did have a belief in him the way Christians believe in their God, but today most Christians don't share it. Do you believe in music? Do you believe in the music in a young girl's heart and how the music can free her, whenever it starts, and and it's magic, if the music is groovy, it makes you feel happy like an old-time movie, I'll tell you about the magic of music, and it'll free your soul But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll. I believe in Jesus, Zeus and even the more mystical magic of rock'n'roll. And like all beliefs that I hold -- which is a belief in EVERYTHING, I do apply probabilities to the truth of such beliefs. Truth and Belief being two quite distinct things. (And just so you know, I BELIEVE that you will marry Maria, that you will have vast and great progeny, that you shall own 1000 cows, and your first son shall be named New.Morning. The % probability I assign to that belief -- well the GOOD news, it is non-zero.) They are a-theists with regard to the belief in Zeus. Glad I am not in that sorry camp.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
I read something along those lines the other day that I found interesting Curtis. It defined Christianity as: The belief that a Cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical treeyeah, that makes perfect sense. I haven't tried that out on any of my xtian friends yet, but it is Sunday today and I do tend to get a few doorbell ringers. I do try and remain gracious and at least offer the Mormon ones a beer. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. There might be a time when the existence of God can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of atheists. The situation is the same with God believers who don't think of a God like Zeus as more than a mythological character. Thousands of people did have a belief in him the way Christians believe in their God, but today most Christians don't share it. They are a-theists with regard to the belief in Zeus. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just curious, not as any kind of argument... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! Have you personally done this? Or this a theory you've heard that you believe? So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that image, in GC you realize the image of God not only in you but in the manifest Universe and in UC you realize the fullness of both the relative (CC) and the Absolute (UC) or purnamidah purnamidam (inner and outer
[FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip However, the next question is: will McCain be elected as president? I don't have McCain's chart so I can't ascertain how strong his chart is at this time. This guy thinks so: http://www.horoscoper.net/horoscopes/johnmccain.htm It's a fairly detailed chart interpretation (Western astrology, not jyotish, but maybe you can make something of the actual chart).
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Tom [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I read something along those lines the other day that I found interesting Curtis. It defined Christianity as: The belief that a Cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical treeyeah, that makes perfect sense. Sounds like a George Carlin routine! Brilliant. I haven't tried that out on any of my xtian friends yet, but it is Sunday today and I do tend to get a few doorbell ringers. I do try and remain gracious and at least offer the Mormon ones a beer. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues curtisdeltablues@ wrote: Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. There might be a time when the existence of God can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of atheists. The situation is the same with God believers who don't think of a God like Zeus as more than a mythological character. Thousands of people did have a belief in him the way Christians believe in their God, but today most Christians don't share it. They are a-theists with regard to the belief in Zeus. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: Just curious, not as any kind of argument... --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. wgm4u@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_reply@ wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. Only if you've overcome delusion!, if you still think a rope is a snake then you are still 'reacting' with fear or ignorance as the case may be. And as such you are subject to the law of karma and samsara. Intellectually you may understand reality, but you must experience it by shedding the veil of maya which is basically a delusion, not quite that easy my friend! Have you personally done this? Or this a theory you've heard that you believe? So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' A flippant comment to a profound state of consciousness which defines the state stated in the Bible that, man was made in the image of God. In CC you realize that
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
On Aug 31, 2008, at 12:13 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote: Thanks for the photo site! I'm reading The Slave's War, the Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves right now. I think the older I get the more history interests me. That's because it's the closer you get to becoming part of it, Curtis. :) Sal
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
Thanks for sharing those links. I love old photos- its almost as if you can feel yourself back in that time if you let your mind relax into it. The photos seem to allow the transition from history to now, illustrating that not much has changed in the time that has elapsed and life is the same, even way back then. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I just wasted a perfectly good hour on this blog featuring old high- resolution photos, from Civil War days to the 1970s (most of the photos are from the first half of the 20th century). The subjects of the photos are a mixture, from very ordinary scenes of buildings and stores, to people working or having fun, to posed glamour shots. Each has a separate link to view the photo full-size to see the details. The clarity of most of the photos is amazing. A few that struck me from the ones I went through: 1864. Fredericksburg, Va. Soldiers filling canteens. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4239 1920. Oldsmobile Sales Co., Rock Creek Park. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4238 1925. Margaret Gorman with 'Long Goodie.' http://www.shorpy.com/node/4230 1912. I could stay in Atlantic City forever. http://www.shorpy.com/Atlantic-City-Forever England, 1940-41. Battle of Britain. Children in an English bomb shelter. http://www.shorpy.com/node/3572 My favorite so far: 1924. Ambushed by Angels. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4337 Some of the more mundane photos are absolutely stunning compositions: 1928. Washington Sanitarium. Takoma Park, Maryland. Office of Inpatient Nurses. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4236 1942. Road out of Romney, West Virginia. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4163 1941. Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore. http://www.shorpy.com/node/2766
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for the photo site! I'm reading The Slave's War, the Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves right now. I think the older I get the more history interests me. Me too. Does the book have transcriptions of oral histories, or letters, or what? The Shorpy site has a whole gallery of Civil War-era photos, many war-related: http://www.shorpy.com/image/tid/46 Here's a few to go with what you're reading: May 14, 1862. Cumberland Landing, Virginia. Group of contrabands [runaway slaves] at Foller's house. http://www.shorpy.com/node/3123 Exterior view of Price, Birch Co. slave pen at Alexandria, Virginia, circa 1865. http://www.shorpy.com/node/472 Whitehall Street, Atlanta, 1864. http://www.shorpy.com/auction-and-negro-sales
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, pranamoocher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for sharing those links. I love old photos- its almost as if you can feel yourself back in that time if you let your mind relax into it. The photos seem to allow the transition from history to now, illustrating that not much has changed in the time that has elapsed and life is the same, even way back then. Well put. And at the same time, it shows how much *has* changed. Looking at such photos, I sort of go back and forth from one to the other, which is a little disconcerting! For some reason, for me, Civil War photos in particular--photos of war scenes--seem weirdly anachronistic, as if there shouldn't *be* photos from that long ago. But I don't have that sense about portraits and photos of everyday life from the same period, not sure why.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 12:13 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote: Thanks for the photo site! I'm reading The Slave's War, the Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves right now. I think the older I get the more history interests me. That's because it's the closer you get to becoming part of it, Curtis. :) Ouch!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered
Barry, you've jumped the shark; you've lost touch with reality. You're projecting your own inner demons onto Shemp and me. YOU NEED TO GET SOME HELP. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutphen@ wrote: Very interesting find, Vaj. BPD patients can be emotionally draining to work with. Its as if they are emotionally stuck a 3 years of age in interpersonal relationships. --- On Fri, 8/29/08, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: From: Vaj vajradhatu@ Subject: [FairfieldLife] Brain Correlates of Borderline Personality Disorder discorvered Interesting that the findings center around the insula, the part of the brain responsible for feelings of disgust. Thus BPD sufferers lack gut feeling in judgments, a basic human instinct. Thanks for bringing this up, Vaj and Peter. I was unaware of the description of Borderline Personality Disorder before, and now that I'm not and have looked into it, I'm finding it remarkably useful when examining the posts of a few people here on Fairfield Life. For example, look at the list of symptoms of this disorder, and then look at this week's Post Count so far, in which a couple of poster's attempts to get attention -- ANY attention -- are becoming more and more frantic with every passing minute. * Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment * A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation * Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self * Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days) * Chronic feelings of emptiness [Please note Shemp's recent admission of how lonely his is] * Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights) [Please note Judy's attempt, seemingly out of the blue, to pick a fight with Hugo/Richard] * Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms I think that BPD provides a fascinating way of looking at our two most compulsive posters. This week, both of them have escalated from their normal argumentative contrarianism into abject trolling and active attempts to start arguments, IMO because they are both panicky that no one is taking them seriously any more. The abandonment issue has made them go crazier than usual. The *nature* of the focus seems unimportant to them. All that they seem to care about is that someone -- ANYONE -- is focusing on them. I would imagine that this has to do with the first symptom above, and that they are so hideously uncomfortable being alone that they have to troll for feedback, to reassure themselves that they still exist, and that someone -- ANYONE -- still takes them seriously, and that the world hasn't completely abandoned them. What I'm wondering is whether abandonment -- ignoring them completely -- is the best thing that we could possibly do for them? What happens in a clinical set- ting when you just basically IGNORE someone with BPD? Do they get better, or do they get worse? So far, it would seem that our two BPD role models have gotten much, much worse, and are locked into acting out their feelings of I've got to do more to get people to focus on me and to take me seriously at an increased level? In a clinical setting, does IGNORING the BPD sufferer's need for attention actually help them to get over this need and learn to develop relationships that are not based on picking fights, or does it push them to get worse, and finally implode? Ya gotta admit, either outcome would be preferable to having to click past post after post of their psychic garbage. Thank God for the posting limits.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [snip] So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). Not love? (I apologise for the inverted commas which might imply irony). I do agree though to an extent. It would seem right to expect a sage to have great humour. But I don't think that's all there is to *it*: Most Italians like pasta; but liking pasta doesn't make you an Italian. There is after all that dark archetype of the depressed and doomed comedy genius (as a Brit, Tony Hancock, who was absolutely brilliant and greatly loved, but nevertheless came to a very sad end, comes to mind as an example). Your post put me in mind of the crucifixion scene in The Life Of Brian and the wonderful Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. But isn't the real point of that - the real *joke* if you like - that however funny it is in the film it most certainly refers to something most decidedly unfunny. That deep unease we feel is what makes the Monty Python classic so profound? And what of Jesus? I am no Christian, but his influence cannot be denied. Where are his jokes? And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. [snip] Enlightenment has always already been there. ALL of your oh-so- serious attempts to achieve it have been and will always be a joke, because you are trying to achieve something you already are. That's funny, right? Or just as accurately, sad! (Or perhaps that's just the difference between one of Life's optimists one of her pessimists?)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Old-Photo Blog
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, pranamoocher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for sharing those links. I love old photos- its almost as if you can feel yourself back in that time if you let your mind relax into it. The photos seem to allow the transition from history to now, illustrating that not much has changed in the time that has elapsed and life is the same, even way back then. Me too! A bit spooky, no? --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: I just wasted a perfectly good hour on this blog featuring old high- resolution photos, from Civil War days to the 1970s (most of the photos are from the first half of the 20th century). The subjects of the photos are a mixture, from very ordinary scenes of buildings and stores, to people working or having fun, to posed glamour shots. Each has a separate link to view the photo full-size to see the details. The clarity of most of the photos is amazing. A few that struck me from the ones I went through: 1864. Fredericksburg, Va. Soldiers filling canteens. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4239 1920. Oldsmobile Sales Co., Rock Creek Park. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4238 1925. Margaret Gorman with 'Long Goodie.' http://www.shorpy.com/node/4230 1912. I could stay in Atlantic City forever. http://www.shorpy.com/Atlantic-City-Forever England, 1940-41. Battle of Britain. Children in an English bomb shelter. http://www.shorpy.com/node/3572 My favorite so far: 1924. Ambushed by Angels. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4337 Some of the more mundane photos are absolutely stunning compositions: 1928. Washington Sanitarium. Takoma Park, Maryland. Office of Inpatient Nurses. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4236 1942. Road out of Romney, West Virginia. http://www.shorpy.com/node/4163 1941. Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore. http://www.shorpy.com/node/2766
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
shempmcgurk wrote: Reread what I wrote, Bhairitu: I said $38,000 in TAXABLE income. There are NO deductions to taxable income...this is a figure that is arrived at AFTER deductions are taken. So for the example in question the person would probably have ADJUSTED GROSS income, say, of $46,000 and then have deductions. Do you know what taxable income is? Sorry I missed that but you are making a good case why we should tax the rich more and people under $250K less. :D I have a CPA do my taxes and I barely understand her worksheet. I think it is an abomination that every citizen of this country has to practically be an accountant to not get screwed on taxes. We need to redo the whole tax code and simplify it. But I think the only way to do that is to have another revolution and start over again just as Jefferson suggested.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
authfriend wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip However, the next question is: will McCain be elected as president? I don't have McCain's chart so I can't ascertain how strong his chart is at this time. This guy thinks so: http://www.horoscoper.net/horoscopes/johnmccain.htm It's a fairly detailed chart interpretation (Western astrology, not jyotish, but maybe you can make something of the actual chart). So are you going to leave the country if McCain gets elected? I probably will.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Richard M [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Your post put me in mind of the crucifixion scene in The Life Of Brian and the wonderful Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. But isn't the real point of that - the real *joke* if you like - that however funny it is in the film it most certainly refers to something most decidedly unfunny. That deep unease we feel is what makes the Monty Python classic so profound? That *you* feel. I think it's genuinely funny. And what of Jesus? I am no Christian, but his influence cannot be denied. Where are his jokes? Someone who is more up on the New Testament will have to supply chapter and verse on this, but if I am not mistaken they did allow one of his jokes through. It's at the wedding scene, where they are trying to get him to do something mir- aculous about the fact that they've run out of wine for the guests. As I remember, they come to him to beg him to do something several times, him saying no each time, and finally saying something to the effect of, Hey, it's not my funeral. But it's a wedding. Anyway...someone who cares can look it up. I suspect that the dude himself was really, really funny but that his oh-so-serious disciples refused to write down or remember any of the funny parts, because they didn't think they mattered. They're probably the parts that mattered most.
[FairfieldLife] t
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think you're wrong...the democrats want a 1cent increase in the sales tax across the board, that affects everybody,and is bad for business. We already have one of the highest sales tax across the country. i think we can all agree that taxes, generally, reduce the activity that is being taxed. Tax Credits generally increase a valued activity. So our values are reflected in our tax system. By implication, and corresponding tax rates, our society really earning money, savings and investing 1t, only mildly dislikes consumption, is not wild about education and health, and loves pollution. Are these our true collective values? Are these values supported by tons of economic research that increase standards of living for most if not all, an yield healthy productive lives? Not so much. Tax changes can be tax neutral if an increase in one tax -- for things we dont like, are offset by the lowering of taxes that we do like. Are education and health good. An emphatic hell yeah! Are savings and investment good. Though this may be a stretch for the economics-challenge, but as 1000s of peer reviewed paper, common sense and experince reveal, hell yeah! Does mortgage deducability increase housing prices, promote larger houses, and lock more and more people out of being able to afford a house? hell yeah. Is pollution not so good for health, aesthtics, health of the eco system? and emphatic hell no! Anyone see any tax-revenue improvements here? In gereral, a high tax on carbon, sulpher, nox, pm10, nuclear waste, etc would decrease these things. Would eliminating tax deductions for housing, and placing a tax on larger homes make homes more affordable for all -- while reducing rents for renters? hell yes. Spending some of that tax revenue on eliminating taxes on ALL health an education expenses -- and providing incentives for such will increase education and health. Would spending part of the increased tax revenue on reducing social security and income taxes by half, and taxes on savings and eliminating taxes on savings and invetments up to say 200,000, increase jobs, technological advances, productivity and general prosperity. Hell yeah. Would doing all of this in a rational and thoughtful way increase anyones tax burden significantly? Hell No.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Astrological Forecast for September and Signatures for Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin also likes Ron Paul... Sarah Palin plugs Ron Paul, but not McCain, in MTV interview newsroom.mtv.com In this interview, Palin calls controversial Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul cool. He's a good guy, she added. He's so independent. He's independent of the party machine. I'm like, `Right on, so am I.' http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/08/29/sarah-palin-republican-vice-presidential- nominee-plugs-romney-paul-but-not-mccain-in-mtv-interview/ Palin's enthusiasm for Paul is evident in this picture: http://files.meetup.com/523165/palin-paul.jpg http://palintology.com/2008/05/15/could-the-libertarians-spoil-alaska-for-the-gop/ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: By Lou Valentino 8/31/2008 Dear friends of Astrological Varieties, The September forecast is up. Just click below and select âMonthly Astrology Columnâ. Let us meditate and pray for the people living in the Gulf coast. I did predict in my updated forecast for 2008 that this presidential election year could be interrupted by unexpected weather patterns, earthquakes or a possible tsunami in the Pacific Basin. Please take the time over the next several days to pray, meditate and send white light to the areas between northern Florida and the coastline of Texas. I am predicting that John McCain and Sarah Palin who have already decided to head to Mississippi today will begin the healing process of the past in relationship to the wounds left behind by the Republican Party. With so much resentment from Katrina to the Republican Party it offers an opportunity for the Republicanâs to heal some of the PR damage by making adjustments during the time of their RNC week. I clearly stated on my updated predictions for 2008 on July 22, 2008 that whoever picked a female Vice President would win the election. I am standing by this prediction. As most of you know I wanted Hillary Clinton to be the V.P. for the Democratic Party. That obviously did not happen. As unexpected circumstances arise through erratic weather patterns and other unexpected events, the Republican Party will gain momentum over the next six weeks. Barak Obama was not expecting the unexpected and chose a more conservative V.P. choice. It is going to be a very close race to the white house. Sarah Palin is born February 11, 1964 under the sign of Aquarius. Therefore, she believes in working with others to benefit humanity. I do not have an exact birthtime. I placed her time at 12:00 Noon. With four or five planets in the air element (The Moon could be in Capricorn rather than Aquarius) if she was born after 11:00AM, this is a very independent women. Aquarian women that I have met in my personal life have a very strong nature and present a challenge to men if contested. Top this off with Mars in Aries and five or six planets in the fixed qualities and you have a women who is very committed to her own way of doing things. Very stubborn. With only one planet in water she is not the type of women who will hang out in a corner and cry. She is a fighter for humanity (Aquarius), and she knows how to get her message across with Gemini rising. The rising sign could change but it looks like Gemini. With Saturn, Mars and Sun possibly trine to her rising sign we have someone who communicates forcefully (Mars) and with a lot of energy (Sun) but with control (Saturn). Wow. She is a reformer. She has Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo. She payâs attention to fine details and is very quick to make precise judgments. Neptune squares her Saturn, Mars and Sun stellium showing deceptive actions which lead to trouble if she is not careful. Neptune is in Scorpio so she has an investigative mind and loves research. She will reform the Republican agenda and even though she holds very conservative beliefs and points of view she may surprise people down the road. Spiritual teachings show in her chart or teachings that are forward thinking. Even an interest in astrology with all of the planets in Aquarius coupled with Uranus in Virgo conjunct Pluto. With 7 planets reflecting male energy and only three reflecting female she would be able to withstand a lot of pressure. When I get her exact birhtime I will elaborate more. One thing is for sure, Joe Biden had better wear a cup when he debates her because she is going to come out swinging. Hillary could help Joe out but I donât think Hillary Clinton (Scorpio) is going to lend a helping hand after all she has been through. You can read more about September and 2008 by visiting my website Astrological Varieties http://www.yogavisionaries.com/ . May God bless America and may everyone in the world be safe and sound this Holiday weekend. Love and Light, Lou Valentino
[FairfieldLife] Dr. Ravi Batra latest book: The new Golden Age
http://www.ravibatra.com/gapr.html History reveals that the age of the wealthy (eg. Big OIl, Big Drug, Big Tobacco, the Crooks on Wallstreet, etc.) always ends in a social revolution followed by a golden age. In The New Golden Age that appeared in January 2007, Batra predicted: * Oil price will break new record until 2010 in spite of a slowing economy, but collapse in the next decade. * The housing bubble will keep bursting at least till 2009 * Share prices will see a slow fall in 2007 but an accelerated fall in 2008 and 2009 *An unprecedented movement will appear by 2009 to start a revolution against the rule of wealthy lobbyists in politics. The revolution will lead to a new golden age in the next decade. New Press Release: The Escalating Economic Crisis Palgrave Macmillan April 24, 2008 The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos Cover Financial headlines scream everyday: stock markets are tanking, fear grips Wall Street, oil price breaks new records, the Fed bails out Bear Stearns, the housing market is in turmoil, layoffs soar, on and on it goes. Even government officials acknowledge that a recession has set in. None of this is a surprise to Ravi Batra, the best selling author of a new book called The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos. He predicted all this way in advance, offering his latest forecast in February last year to Texas Monthly: When the American bubble starts to burst around mid 2007, and beyond, foreign investors will head for the exits Now that the American housing bubble is bursting at the seems, Batra's biggest fear is that foreign investors will indeed head for the exits, and the already feeble dollar will collapse. Then we will see a rapid unraveling of our debt based economy, rising unemployment, bulging poverty, and big stock market crashes. Batra has made a career out of making controversial forecasts. Among his notable successes are the forecasts he made in the late 1970s: *The ayatollahs would take over Iran in 1979 and then rule for a while. *The Soviet Communism would vanish by the end of the century. *The United States would be entangled in a major fight with fundamentalist Islam starting around 2000. He also correctly foresaw the stock market crash of 2001. In The New Golden Age that appeared in January 2007, Batra predicted * Oil price will break new record until 2010 in spite of a slowing economy, but collapse in the next decade. * The housing bubble will keep bursting at least till 2009 * Share prices will see a slow fall in 2007 but an accelerated fall in 2008 and 2009 * An unprecedented movement will appear by 2009 to start a revolution against the rule of wealthy lobbyists in politics. The revolution will lead to a new golden age in the next decade. All these forecasts have been coming true right before our eyes; even the revolutionary movement has taken shape under the leadership of a charismatic leader, Barack Obama. It is clear that Batra is onto something. He uses a variety of economic and historical cycles to make his case. According to his economic cycle, we are now in the midst of an inflationary period where real estate and oil prices first zoom and then collapse. Amazingly, such a cycle has occurred every third decade in American history, with the 1970s being the last such decade. As regards the political cycle, Batra argues that nations pass through three eras; some times the military dominates society, sometimes the intellectuals including priests, and some times the wealthy. His political cycle concludes that the age of money is about to end in America and Europe. This cycle also predicts that China, where the rule of money or of wealthy landlords ended in 1949, is about to move into its own golden age. History reveals that the age of the wealthy always ends in a social revolution followed by a golden age. This is the basis of Batra's prediction that we are about to move into a period of major economic chaos and poverty that will wake up people to overthrow the rule of money in society in a ballot-box revolution. Then will come a golden age of peace, prosperity and ethical values. The single most worrisome economic problem today is that productivity is outpacing wages all over the world. Since productivity creates supply and wages create demand, supply outpaces demand; to maintain economic balance, the world is busy creating debt, which artificially raises demand. But now credit is not easily available; markets realize that goods will go unsold and profits will sink. So they are tanking. Batra explores a variety of economic reforms aimed at maintaining the demand-supply balance without increased debt. He offers an export-exchange rate plan to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit within the rules of free trade. In the meanwhile, the current crisis is just a tip of
[FairfieldLife] Taxes Reflect Society's Values and Intelligence
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think you're wrong...the democrats want a 1cent increase in the sales tax across the board, that affects everybody,and is bad for business. We already have one of the highest sales tax across the country. I think we can all agree that taxes, generally, reduce the activity that is being taxed. Tax incentives generally increase a valued activity. So our values are reflected in our tax system. By implication, and corresponding tax rates, our society really dislikes technology, productivity, higher wages and employment. And strong frowns upon making a living, earning money. And it highly favors a consumption society,disfavoring savings and investing what we defer from spending today (Ben Franklin is cringing in his grave). We as a society don't value and are not wild about education and health. And we LOVE pollution. Are these our true collective values? Are these values supported by tons of economic research to increase standards of living, and enabling far more than today to lead healthy, productive, fulfilling and prosperous lives? Not so much. Tax changes can be tax neutral if an increase in one tax -- for things we don't like, are offset by the lowering of taxes that we do like. No new taxes is an idiot's clarion call. What is needed are changes in the tax code that better reflect our collective values. Increasing taxes on things we don't like, and lowering or eliminating them, even offering tax incentives, on the things we want to see more of in society. This balance can result in no increase in the overall tax people pay right now. ( And for reasons of power, influence and equity issues, if as a society we don't like people with more than $20-100 million, or family trusts beyond that or some multiple), then that too can be highly taxed -- if the re is a consensus.) Are education and health good. An emphatic hell yeah! And they are vastly underfunded. Tey have the highest return of any investment. Are savings and investment good. Though this may be a stretch for the economics-challenge, but as 1000s of peer reviewed paper, common sense and experience reveal, hell yeah! Savings and investment are the fuel for research and development, new technology, and the huge cost of creating the productive infrastructure to build, test it and ship it -- that is, to get it to the people. Which increases productivity (aka, do less (use less resources) and accoplish more. Increased productivity is THE factor which most effects higher wages and salaries. And more time to spend with kids, helping the community and pursuing our vision / happiness. Does mortgage deducability increase housing prices, promote larger houses, gated communities, increase the demand for water, sewars and roads -- and lock more and more people out of being able to afford a house? Hell yeah. Is pollution good for personal health, aesthtics, health of the eco system? An emphatic hell no! Anyone see any opportunities for tax-revenue improvements here? In genreral, a high tax on carbon, sulpher, nox, pm10, nuclear waste, etc would decrease these things. Would eliminating tax deductions for housing, and placing a tax on larger homes make homes more affordable for all -- while reducing rents for renters? And reducig the dmand for incresingly precious clean water, heat-sink producing roads, etc. Hell yes. Spending some of that tax revenue on eliminating taxes on ALL health and education expenses -- and providing substantially increased incentives for such will increase education and health. These two areas have the highest return of all available social investments. Hard to overspend. The more spent, the smarter, productive, happy, and progressive the nation and world becomes. Would spending part of the increased tax revenue on reducing social security and income taxes by half, and taxes on savings and and invetments -- eliminating all such for taxable incomes up to say 60-100,000 -- increase jobs, technological advances, the doubling rate of knowledge, productivity and general prosperity. Hell yeah. Would doing all of this in a rational and thoughtful way increase anyone's overall tax burden significantly? Hell No. Why can't we and the country get beyond partisian blinders and agendas? High carbon taxes AND low income and capital gains taxes are both good things if you like current ocean levels, the survival of 500 million species and think (rational and ethical) technological progress, collective productivity gains, and increased prosperity are good things. John Haglin was right on at least one thing: Let valid research strongly guide policy. Particularly tax policy. And for those that value personal responsibility and freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, lets eliminate all the laws against activities we don't like, that don't harm others, and simply tax them. Tax em high if you really hate something, but don't make outlaws of
Re: [FairfieldLife] The Real CC
On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:15 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. Well I don't think it was meant to be serious, it was meant to hook a certain market segment. It's Sanskrit names are much better and are less prone to the 'rename and dumb down' marketing slant of most TM org buzz-names and TM-based techniques. I don't know about the rest of you out there in FFL-land who have had extended periods of realization or enlighten- ment, but my second reaction to it happening (my first was thinking Wow, this is odd.) was thinking Wow, this is funny. I mean, I stood there in my hotel room in Fiuggi Fonte and looked around at the world as it now was, the thing I had been seeking for so many years, and realized that it had always already been like that, and I began to laugh. I may have laughed continuously for fifteen minutes. My neighbors in the hotel must have thought that I'd lost it. Some of them were probably angry that the sound of my laughter coming through the walls was getting in the way of being all SERIOUS about their quest for enlightenment. Whereas what I was laughing at was the realization that all my years of questing after enlightenment had been getting in the way of realizing that enlightenment had always already been present. They eventually did introduce Vedic enemas but unfortunately is was too late for those compatriots on those early courses! A few off-the-program renegades did experiment with high colonics though. :-) The power of laughter is one that can never be lost if one is truly wired for awakening. So, based on my first (and temporary) experience of CC, I'm going to propose a new definition for that creaky old TM acronym CC. I think that 'Cosmic Consciousness' is just too damned serious, and that CC should really stand for 'Comedy Consciousness.' Well lets stop right there: your experience off CC? Was it a real experience of CC or was it--what Mahesh mostly seemed to talk of--the signs of CC dawning? Witnessing? Zz. The people on this planet who have most convinced me that they are experiencing Enlightenment Or Something Like It have all been, more than anything else, funny. If you ask their long-time students or people who have met them only in passing to describe them, the first words out of their mouths are often He was funny. And I don't think that this description trivializes or demeans them in any way. I think it's one of the best things that any human being can say about another human being. It's certainly the thing I would hope someone would remember first and say about me when I am dead and gone. We're all a bunch of spiritual groupies on this forum. We've paid our dues hangin' out in rooms with a lot of spiritual teachers. Being as different as we all are, however, I'm sure that we all had different things that we were looking for IN those spiritual teachers. Some were looking for flash (shakti), others for wisdom (an intellectual facility with words), and others for silence (stillness, samadhi, the transcendent). And all of these things are important, I guess, but that's not what I look for in a spiritual teacher that makes him or her inter- esting enough for me to drive across town to see them. I'm looking for funny. I'm comfortable with describing enlightenment as Comedy Consc- iousness because I consider being a real-deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous spiritual teacher to be only the second most noble profession on the planet. The first is being a real- deal, no bullshit, honest and spontaneous comedian. Well, call me guilty then. I've split ribs and had friends spew various liquids (across tables) from my comedic darshan. It's a cross I've learned to bear. Both professions involve helping others to take themselves (and life) a little less seriously, and helping them to laugh more. On the whole, comedians are better at their jobs than spiritual teachers. One of them, a little chap by the name of Charlie Chaplin, said, Life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. That's it. That's it exactly. That's the thing that all of these spiritual teachers have been trying to convey to all of us spiritual groupies for all of these centuries. They've been telling us, essentially, to Lighten The Fuck Up. The long shot on the quest for enlightenment is that it's a joke. Enlightenment has always already been there. ALL of your oh-so- serious attempts to achieve it have been and will always be a joke, because you are trying to achieve something you already are. That's funny, right? Almost all of the teachers I've been lucky enuff to connect with had those comedic darshanic powers. I'm pretty sure that's a requirement. If you can make others laugh, the chances are you have some inner smile that's always 'lighting up' and allowing you to share
[FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: snip However, the next question is: will McCain be elected as president? I don't have McCain's chart so I can't ascertain how strong his chart is at this time. This guy thinks so: http://www.horoscoper.net/horoscopes/johnmccain.htm It's a fairly detailed chart interpretation (Western astrology, not jyotish, but maybe you can make something of the actual chart). Robert Hand's short sample forecast from the German astro.com -site: Send page Introduction Your inward needs Jupiter conjunction IC: End of February 2008 until beginning of November 2008: On the lookout Jupiter square Ascendant: Beginning of March 2008 until mid November 2008: A conflict of principles Uranus conjunction Saturn: Mid March 2008 until mid February 2009: Involuntary detachment Saturn conjunction Neptune: End of September 2008 until beginning of July 2009: A material peak Saturn opposition Saturn: Beginning of November 2008 until mid August 2009: Emotionally secure Jupiter conjunction Moon: 19 December 2008 until 28 December 2008: The Data Page Introduction This report is a short edition of the Forecast Horoscope. It is meant as a sample and advertisement for the full version of the Forecast Horoscope which can be ordered from Astrodienst as a bound report of about 15 - 20 pages. Ordering Information Yearly Horoscope Analysis Your personal forecast for the next 12 months, by Liz Greene. EUR 46.95, US$ 54.95 Order it now Transits of the Year Forecast for 12 months based on your transits, by Robert Hand. EUR 43.95, US$ 51.95 Order it now Forecast Horoscope The inexpensive 12-month forecast. EUR 19.95, US$ 22.95 Order it now In the short edition, only a few, but nevertheless important transits over your natal chart are considered. It is likely however that some important transits of this six month period have been omitted in this abbreviated report. If you are interested in the full pattern of relevant themes, please order the full version of this report. Your best choice of report will be Liz Greene's Yearly Horoscope Analysis or Robert Hand's Transits of the Year. These reports will select the really relevant themes of a 12-month period for you, and deal with them in depth and style. The report was generated for 6 months starting from August 2008 with the following birth data: male, born on 29 August 1936 at 9:00 am in Cocosolo, Panama. Your sun sign is Virgo. This is the sign in which the Sun is in your birth chart. Your Ascendant is in Libra, and your Moon is in Capricorn. Jupiter conjunction IC: Your inward needs End of February 2008 until beginning of November 2008: This is a time for expansion and growth in your innermost personal life, a time when you will seek security at home and with your immediate family. It may be necessary to reexamine your past life to find out what it can teach you about yourself. But this should not be a source of anxiety. In fact, you should feel quite good about what you learn at this time. The symbolism of this influence is that you incorporate more and more of the outer world into your innermost life. On the material level, you may buy a larger, more elegant or more spacious home. Certainly it would be a good expression of this symbolism to improve your existing home and make it more comfortable. At this time you should do everything to ensure that your personal life is as comfortable and secure as possible. You need to have a feeling of inner peace and security in order to continue to move out in the world. In fact you should not think so much about outward success now as about the more personal and inward needs that we have discussed here. And you should realize that your real need now is not land or a larger home, but a feeling of strength and inner growth. This is the time to tie up any loose ends in your personal life, straighten out any relationships that are not working well, any leftovers from your past life that are still affecting the present adversely. To do this you may have to speak to others very openly about yourself and your innermost thoughts. So this is a good time to settle and put down roots. The feeling of belonging to a place and a group of people is very important to you now. You don't have to do this in a way that limits your freedom of movement, and during this time it is very unlikely that you will do so. But everyone needs a solid home base so that they can feel at peace in their other activities. If you don't make an effort to construct such a base now, you will have difficulty later when your principal concerns are turning elsewhere. Jupiter square Ascendant: On the lookout Beginning of March 2008 until mid November 2008: This is usually an excellent time for most kinds of relationships, but there are some pitfalls. Basically this influence signifies a desire to grow
[FairfieldLife] Re: Probe May Spell Election Eve Trouble For Palin [video]
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ooooh! A state trooper was improperly fired (well, that's the worst case scenario). Sorry, it's the State's Public Safety Commissioner, who's in charge of the state troopers, that she had fired because he wouldn't give in to her demands to fire her brother in law, the trooper. Here's a summary from TPM: We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired his boss. She first denied Monegan's claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened. These are, to put it mildly, not the traits or temperament you want in someone who could hold the executive power of the federal government. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/211769.php
[FairfieldLife] What's up with McCain here
Maybe Dr.Pete could watch this video of mccain and palin and give his professional opinion. It looks like mccain spends most of the time staring at her breasts and fiddling with his wedding ring - what's the significance of this? http://www.jedreport.com/2008/08/getting-to-know-you.html#disqus_thread
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. The term cosmic is completely suitable -- from Mr. Webster: characterized by greatness especially in extent, intensity, or comprehensiveness. But the fact that one might choose to convert the mind from limited awareness to the greatness of unlimited awareness (bliss consciousness, by the way) does not mean that one needs to be serious. MMY: We have an infinite number of reasons to be happy, and a serious responsibility not to be serious.
[FairfieldLife] Christmas Island: H-bomb haven now tourist spot
http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/08/31/christmas_island/?source=new\ sletter http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/08/31/christmas_island/?source=ne\ wsletter
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:15 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. Well I don't think it was meant to be serious, it was meant to hook a certain market segment. Just for the record, the term is hardly unique to MMY's teaching. As a synonym for enlightnment, it significantly predates MMY (e.g., Richard Bucke's classic 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness).
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well lets stop right there: your experience off CC? Was it a real experience of CC or was it--what Mahesh mostly seemed to talk of--the signs of CC dawning? Witnessing? Zz. You are right Vaj to question Turq's assertion. I don't think MMY intended witnessing alone to be the sign of Cosmic Consciousness! It was just mentioned as one indication that CC may be coming on; clearly CC is much, much more than just witnessing! It is Self Realization where one realizes him or herself as made in the image of God and a state of bliss where one unfolds 'ananda maya kosha' or the bliss covering of the soul/jiva. Though this is just the beginning, or as MMY himself said, a milestone on the path of enlightenment, it certainly is not the end. Once the jiva realizes itself as a reflection of Brahman, (CC) it then realizes itself as the immanent God in creation (Brahman dynamism or GC) and finally Brahman itself (UC)! MMY says it nicely in the Gita: Jiva, then is *individualized* cosmic existence, it is individual spirit within the body, with its limitations removed, jiva is Atman..
[FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: shempmcgurk wrote: Reread what I wrote, Bhairitu: I said $38,000 in TAXABLE income. There are NO deductions to taxable income...this is a figure that is arrived at AFTER deductions are taken. So for the example in question the person would probably have ADJUSTED GROSS income, say, of $46,000 and then have deductions. Do you know what taxable income is? Sorry I missed that but you are making a good case why we should tax the rich more and people under $250K less. :D I have a CPA do my taxes and I barely understand her worksheet. I think it is an abomination that every citizen of this country has to practically be an accountant to not get screwed on taxes. We need to redo the whole tax code and simplify it. But I think the only way to do that is to have another revolution and start over again just as Jefferson suggested. I used to think that the flat tax would be the way. However, now the thing is the fair tax, which is: elimination of individual income tax, all payroll tax, and corporate tax...and replace it with a value-added tax. No filling out income tax forms each year.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:15 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. Well I don't think it was meant to be serious, it was meant to hook a certain market segment. Just for the record, the term is hardly unique to MMY's teaching. As a synonym for enlightnment, it significantly predates MMY (e.g., Richard Bucke's classic 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness). Yeah, but the difference is when MMY used the term he was referring to merely Self realization not God realization or Unity, pre-Maharishi it was used to denote the complete state of enlightenment or what MMY now calls Unity. That is why there has been some confusion with the way he chose to use it. In classical Yoga CC generally refers to what MMY calls Unity.. In Love and God MMY himself refers to Guru Dev as being in Cosmic Consciousness indicating that CC is the highest state of consciousness: and was held by the Gnanies (realized) as personified Brahmanandam (Universal Bliss or Cosmic Consciousness), the living expression of *Purnam adah, purnam idam* or that Unmanifested 'Brahman' (Silence) is perfect and this Manifested Brahman (dynamism) is also perfect. LG There is nothing higher than Purnam adah, purnam idam, and in this case MMY calls it Cosmic Consciousness!! *P.S. Added dynamism and silence.
[FairfieldLife] Post Count
Fairfield Life Post Counter === Start Date (UTC): Sat Aug 30 00:00:00 2008 End Date (UTC): Sat Sep 06 00:00:00 2008 242 messages as of (UTC) Mon Sep 01 00:09:52 2008 42 shempmcgurk [EMAIL PROTECTED] 28 authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15 new.morning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12 Bhairitu [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11 nablusoss1008 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10 off_world_beings [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10 Rick Archer [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10 Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] 9 Sal Sunshine [EMAIL PROTECTED] 8 cardemaister [EMAIL PROTECTED] 8 Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] 8 TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7 do.rflex [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7 BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6 mainstream20016 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6 gullible fool [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6 boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6 bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5 sparaig [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4 curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] 4 Hugo [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3 Jonathan Chadwick [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2 yifuxero [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2 pranamoocher [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2 Richard M [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2 John [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2 Brian Horsfield [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 jyouells2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 feste37 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 Tom [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 Robert [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 Louis McKenzie [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 Dick Mays [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1 Alex Stanley [EMAIL PROTECTED] Posters: 34 Saturday Morning 00:00 UTC Rollover Times = Daylight Saving Time (Summer): US Friday evening: PDT 5 PM - MDT 6 PM - CDT 7 PM - EDT 8 PM Europe Saturday: BST 1 AM CEST 2 AM EEST 3 AM Standard Time (Winter): US Friday evening: PST 4 PM - MST 5 PM - CST 6 PM - EST 7 PM Europe Saturday: GMT 12 AM CET 1 AM EET 2 AM For more information on Time Zones: www.worldtimezone.com
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. True an atheist cannot prove the negative (there is no God) therefore his best bet is to say, I don't know, how can he say anything other? Also, you are correct to suggest that the believer must supply the evidence, but unfortunately they cannot, because only YOU can prove God to yourself! The existence of God is beyond the reach of the 5 senses, as such it is an entirely subjective experience as is creation itself an entirely subjective dream of the creator. snip
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:09 PM, BillyG. wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:15 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. Well I don't think it was meant to be serious, it was meant to hook a certain market segment. Just for the record, the term is hardly unique to MMY's teaching. As a synonym for enlightnment, it significantly predates MMY (e.g., Richard Bucke's classic 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness). Yeah, but the difference is when MMY used the term he was referring to merely Self realization not God realization or Unity, pre-Maharishi it was used to denote the complete state of enlightenment or what MMY now calls Unity. That is why there has been some confusion with the way he chose to use it. In classical Yoga CC generally refers to what MMY calls Unity.. In Love and God MMY himself refers to Guru Dev as being in Cosmic Consciousness indicating that CC is the highest state of consciousness: and was held by the Gnanies (realized) as personified Brahmanandam (Universal Bliss or Cosmic Consciousness), the living expression of *Purnam adah, purnam idam* or that Unmanifested 'Brahman' (Silence) is perfect and this Manifested Brahman (dynamism) is also perfect. LG There is nothing higher than Purnam adah, purnam idam, and in this case MMY calls it Cosmic Consciousness!! *P.S. Added dynamism and silence. I would suspect that M. borrowed the term 'Cosmic Consciousness' from Yogananda whom he also borrowed a number of other techniques. He was certainly not shy about borrowing others intellectual property without attribution!
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip I would suspect that M. borrowed the term 'Cosmic Consciousness' from Yogananda whom he also borrowed a number of other techniques. He was certainly not shy about borrowing others intellectual property without attribution! I don't believe you can call the term cosmic consciousness anyone's intellectual property, nor can you even borrow it, any more than you can the term Self-realization. Both are standard generic enlightenment lingo and have been for a long time.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
True an atheist cannot prove the negative (there is no God) therefore his best bet is to say, I don't know, how can he say anything other? Actually, it's the agonostic who says I don't know. The atheist simply does not believe there is a God. ...but mountain doesn't move! --- On Sun, 8/31/08, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 8:20 PM --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, curtisdeltablues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Good luck outsmarting the Devil Turq! It's what we're all trying to do! Believing he doesn't exist is one of his oldest tricks, don't fall for it! :-) An important point about beliefs: Atheists don't believe there is no God, or believe that there is no devil. It is not an active process. Atheists see no compelling reasons to join the belief, no worthy evidence. If I assert that there is a green dinosaur in the room, you don't have to have a belief that there is no dinosaur. You lack the belief due to insufficient evidence. This is important because one of the polemic tricks religious people pull with non believers is to assert that atheists just have beliefs like their own belief in a God, that there is no God. The atheist says: what is your evidence for your assertion that there is a God or devil or Lock Ness Monster? So far that evidence is not sufficient for atheists or non believers. The person with the assertion has to give the evidence since you can't prove a negative. True an atheist cannot prove the negative (there is no God) therefore his best bet is to say, I don't know, how can he say anything other? Also, you are correct to suggest that the believer must supply the evidence, but unfortunately they cannot, because only YOU can prove God to yourself! The existence of God is beyond the reach of the 5 senses, as such it is an entirely subjective experience as is creation itself an entirely subjective dream of the creator. snip To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Yep-And a proud day to be a Republican!! :-) was Make that...
shempmcgurk wrote: I used to think that the flat tax would be the way. However, now the thing is the fair tax, which is: elimination of individual income tax, all payroll tax, and corporate tax...and replace it with a value-added tax. No filling out income tax forms each year. A lot of countries (including India) have a VAT. What are the arguments against it?
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:11 PM, gullible fool wrote: True an atheist cannot prove the negative (there is no God) therefore his best bet is to say, I don't know, how can he say anything other? Actually, it's the agonostic who says I don't know. The atheist simply does not believe there is a God. Woody Allen joke: My wife was atheist and I was agnostic. We broke up because we couldn't figure out which religion not to raise the kids in. Sal
Re: [FairfieldLife] What's up with McCain here
I believe McCain knows he wont win or that he will win no matter what. In any case why not have pretty furniture. --- On Sun, 8/31/08, boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: boo_lives [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] What's up with McCain here To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 6:50 PM Maybe Dr.Pete could watch this video of mccain and palin and give his professional opinion. It looks like mccain spends most of the time staring at her breasts and fiddling with his wedding ring - what's the significance of this? http://www.jedreport.com/2008/08/getting-to-know-you.html#disqus_thread To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: snip However, the next question is: will McCain be elected as president? I don't have McCain's chart so I can't ascertain how strong his chart is at this time. This guy thinks so: http://www.horoscoper.net/horoscopes/johnmccain.htm It's a fairly detailed chart interpretation (Western astrology, not jyotish, but maybe you can make something of the actual chart). Judy, In jyotish, McCain was born as a Virgo ascendant, given the birth data mentioned in the website. From the few historical details that I know about McCain, the chart appears correct. Specifically, he has several planets in the 12th house, including the Sun, which account for the fact that he gained notoriety for being a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Mars is weak (technically called neechabhanga) in the 11th house. This position contributed to his loss of courage, by his own admission, due to the interrogation tactics of the enemy while in prison. Essentially, he broke down to save his own life. Jupiter is weak in the third house, technically called marana karaka sthana. Jupiter is the lord of the 7th house or spouse. Thus, his first marriage ended in a divorce. From the surface, Mercury the lord of the 10th house or career appears strong as it is exalted in the first house in the rashi chart or the primary horoscope. However, the same Mercury is weak or debilitated in the navamsha chart, a subsidiary horoscope derived from the primary one. In other words, his Mercury appears formidable from the outside. But it has an inherent weakness when scrutinized more carefully. During the election in November, he will be running the major period of Saturn/Jupiter/Mars. Saturn is strong being in its own zodiac in the 6th house, the field of battle and struggle. However, the subperiods of Jupiter and Mars are weak due to the attributes mentioned above. Thus, McCain will LOSE the election essentially due to losing courage in the heat of election battle. If you or other members have any other questions relating to this analysis, please post them. JR
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
---. The term Cosmic Consciousness was originated in the West by Dr. Richard M. Bucke and taken up by the Rosicrucian ads as well as Yogananda's group. In those contexts, there was little (if any) differentiation between CC, GC, and UC. Adi Da uses 6-th and 7-th levels; also saying that there are two sub-levels of the 7-th (both are equally non-dual but in the higher octave, the inner core of subtle bodies rockets out of the physical and merges into the Self while this subtle body is out of the physical). In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend jstein@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Aug 31, 2008, at 8:15 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: I've always thought that the name 'Cosmic Consciousness,' proposed as a synonym for the first stage of enlightenment, kinda misses the point. 'Cosmic' is just too damned serious. Well I don't think it was meant to be serious, it was meant to hook a certain market segment. Just for the record, the term is hardly unique to MMY's teaching. As a synonym for enlightnment, it significantly predates MMY (e.g., Richard Bucke's classic 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness). Yeah, but the difference is when MMY used the term he was referring to merely Self realization not God realization or Unity, pre-Maharishi it was used to denote the complete state of enlightenment or what MMY now calls Unity. That is why there has been some confusion with the way he chose to use it. In classical Yoga CC generally refers to what MMY calls Unity.. In Love and God MMY himself refers to Guru Dev as being in Cosmic Consciousness indicating that CC is the highest state of consciousness: and was held by the Gnanies (realized) as personified Brahmanandam (Universal Bliss or Cosmic Consciousness), the living expression of *Purnam adah, purnam idam* or that Unmanifested 'Brahman' (Silence) is perfect and this Manifested Brahman (dynamism) is also perfect. LG There is nothing higher than Purnam adah, purnam idam, and in this case MMY calls it Cosmic Consciousness!! *P.S. Added dynamism and silence.
[FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too)
[FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: snip During the election in November, he will be running the major period of Saturn/Jupiter/Mars. Saturn is strong being in its own zodiac in the 6th house, the field of battle and struggle. However, the subperiods of Jupiter and Mars are weak due to the attributes mentioned above. Thus, McCain will LOSE the election essentially due to losing courage in the heat of election battle. Interesting, John, thanks. When does this major period of Saturn/Jupiter/Mars effectively begin, in terms of having a strong influence? Because unless there's some last-minute major crisis requiring him to exercise courage, by the beginning of November who's going to win will pretty much have been decided (even if we don't yet know who it will be).
[FairfieldLife] Gustav updates
The NYTimes's The Lede blog has continuous updates of the situation on the Gulf Coast-- evacuations, airport closings, interviews with residents and evacuees, weather information: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/countdown-to-hurricane- gustav/ http://tinyurl.com/5826ct Some interesting miscellany, including a link to a terrific story in USA Today from a reporter who hitched a dangerous ride on the Hurricane Hunter, the Air Force plane that flies through hurricanes to measure their strength: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2008-08-30- hurricane-hunter_N.htm?csp=34 http://tinyurl.com/6k65st Also has a link to a nifty tracking map from StormPulse: http://www.stormpulse.com/hurricane-gustav-2008 Current wind speed: 115 mph.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Real CC
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, yifuxero [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ---. The term Cosmic Consciousness was originated in the West by Dr. Richard M. Bucke and taken up by the Rosicrucian ads as well as Yogananda's group. In those contexts, there was little (if any) differentiation between CC, GC, and UC. Adi Da uses 6-th and 7-th levels; also saying that there are two sub-levels of the 7-th (both are equally non-dual but in the higher octave, the inner core of subtle bodies rockets out of the physical and merges into the Self while this subtle body is out of the physical). Yes, this has been the general consensus and usage of the term till MMY.
[FairfieldLife] Satan, a liar and the Father of it...from the beginning.
So Jesus calls the objects of the senses and the entire material world a lie and Satan the Father of this lie, John:8:44. In Indian parlance it is called Maya or delusion. Maya/Satan is the magical measurer making unity or oneness *appear* as many Hence Satan's role is to deceive the jiva/soul into thinking it is separate from the creator by tempting it to identify with the objects of the senses creating the ego and enabling creation or God's lila (play) to proceed. Additionally, in spite of Satan's powers God uses him just the same! for without temptation man can never be great! Temptation is the great furnace where the steel of character is molded, for to succumb to temptation is to fall into misery and unhappiness (Satan's lie), but this experience brings wisdom to the soul. To overcome temptation is to build character and true happiness leading to infinite joy! How does it feel to merely be a pawn in God's creation?, yet that is the role we play until we 'wise up' and stop experiencing the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too) thanks for sharing:-)
[FairfieldLife] Fwd: Conservative Right wing America's number one man
America's number one conservative Republican --- On Sun, 8/31/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: Conservative Right wing To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 11:47 PM -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:33 pm Subject: Conservative Right wing View full size View full size View full size View full size John McCain thinks women are just legs and breast and middle parts, they do not deserve equal pay for equal effort or capability, they should have mans babies no matter what without choice and they are just plain old secondary citizens who will vote for him even if he just picked her for her breast. Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More! Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More!
Re: [FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
Where did you see them? How was the vibe from McCain and Palin? When I saw Clinton and Gore in Cedar Rapids in '92 the vibe was so intense it was clearly obvious that Clinton was going to be the next president. It was absolutely palpable, like some mantle had descended. --- On Sun, 8/31/08, lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 10:03 PM and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Fwd: 4 more years or 4 more months
what does this say about right wing america --- On Sun, 8/31/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: 4 more years or 4 more months To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 11:47 PM -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:42 pm Subject: 4 more years or 4 more months View full size View full size View full size View full size Were the confederate the right wing of the republican party Here is America's number one right wing representative having a good time at the Olympics... Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More! Get the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices More!
[FairfieldLife] Re: Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
Saw them here in the midwest. I can't say I felt a strong vibe. On the other hand, I was more impressed than I expected to be. First Huckabee was very congenial, as was his wife when shaking hands. McCain also had a very friendly, open vibe, as did Cindy. They bantered a bit with the crowd when shaking hands. I was hoping to get an up and close and personal impression from Sarah, but she moved in a different direction when exiting. Mitt Romney also was very friendly, signing autographs and such. nted to get that--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Where did you see them? How was the vibe from McCain and Palin? When I saw Clinton and Gore in Cedar Rapids in '92 the vibe was so intense it was clearly obvious that Clinton was going to be the next president. It was absolutely palpable, like some mantle had descended. --- On Sun, 8/31/08, lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 10:03 PM and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
Wow. I wonder if the vibe is even more intense around a candidate who wins more than 43% of the vote. They are people, not something deserving of worship. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Where did you see them? How was the vibe from McCain and Palin? When I saw Clinton and Gore in Cedar Rapids in '92 the vibe was so intense it was clearly obvious that Clinton was going to be the next president. It was absolutely palpable, like some mantle had descended. --- On Sun, 8/31/08, lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: lurkernomore20002000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 10:03 PM and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Today I Shook John McCain's Hand
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Tom [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Wow. I wonder if the vibe is even more intense around a candidate who wins more than 43% of the vote. They are people, not something deserving of worship. Who said anything about worship? These are people who are invested with the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the entire population, via the democratic system. They are our leaders. Why shouldn't they receive from us our good hopes when we get to shake their hands and vice-versa. Someone in my yoga class was in the same hotel as Bill Clinton and he said he gushed like a schoolgirl around him, that he simply gave off an incredible vibe. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter drpetersutphen@ wrote: Where did you see them? How was the vibe from McCain and Palin? When I saw Clinton and Gore in Cedar Rapids in '92 the vibe was so intense it was clearly obvious that Clinton was going to be the next president. It was absolutely palpable, like some mantle had descended. --- On Sun, 8/31/08, lurkernomore20002000 steve.sundur@ wrote: From: lurkernomore20002000 steve.sundur@ Subject: [FairfieldLife] Today I Shook John McCain's Hand To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 10:03 PM and Cindy McCain's hand, and Mike Huckabees hand, and Mike Huckabee's wife hand. We had wanted to get a close up look at Sarah, but she ended walking in a different direction. The speech she gave was mostly a rehashing of her speech announcing her vp selection. We had expected that she was going take it to the next level, which she will definitely have to do to keep the enthusiasm going. FWIW, I am still undecided as to my vote. But my wife was moved by her selection as VP, so we decided to see her, since we had the chance. (took the kids too) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
[FairfieldLife] Re: Satan, a liar and the Father of it...from the beginning.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, BillyG. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So Jesus calls the objects of the senses and the entire material world a lie and Satan the Father of this lie, John:8:44. In Indian parlance it is called Maya or delusion. Maya/Satan is the magical measurer making unity or oneness *appear* as many Hence Satan's role is to deceive the jiva/soul into thinking it is separate from the creator by tempting it to identify with the objects of the senses creating the ego and enabling creation or God's lila (play) to proceed. Additionally, in spite of Satan's powers God uses him just the same! for without temptation man can never be great! Temptation is the great furnace where the steel of character is molded, for to succumb to temptation is to fall into misery and unhappiness (Satan's lie), but this experience brings wisdom to the soul. To overcome temptation is to build character and true happiness leading to infinite joy! How does it feel to merely be a pawn in God's creation?, yet that is the role we play until we 'wise up' and stop experiencing the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I masturbate sometimes.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Sarah Palin Supports Teaching Creationism in Schools
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, John jr_esq@ wrote: snip During the election in November, he will be running the major period of Saturn/Jupiter/Mars. Saturn is strong being in its own zodiac in the 6th house, the field of battle and struggle. However, the subperiods of Jupiter and Mars are weak due to the attributes mentioned above. Thus, McCain will LOSE the election essentially due to losing courage in the heat of election battle. Interesting, John, thanks. When does this major period of Saturn/Jupiter/Mars effectively begin, in terms of having a strong influence? Because unless there's some last-minute major crisis requiring him to exercise courage, by the beginning of November who's going to win will pretty much have been decided (even if we don't yet know who it will be). The period in question will start in October 20, 2008. It appears that some of his political friends will abandon their support for his campaign. Specifically, some his military comrades may reveal the reasons why McCain is not suited for the office he is seeking. In using another projection module, the Chara dasha shows that he is running the major period of Cancer/Leo/Capricorn starting on October 28, 2008. Specifically, Cancer is weak due to the presence of a debilitated Mars. Leo is inherently not suited for career matter as it relates to the 12th house the field of moksha or renunciation. Also, Leo has several planets in them, including the Sun. Further, Capricorn contains the Moon which reiforces the signification of Cancer. Once again, the Chara dasha indicates that McCain will lose support from his own friends, or Republican base. He may be perceived as weak and desperate in his efforts to win votes. Therefore, he will LOSE the election. JR
[FairfieldLife] Canucks lead world in zapping
Quebec may be the world leader in prosecuting zapper cases. Since 1997, zappers have figured in more than 230 investigations, according to the tax collecting body Revenu Québec, which has found an active market for the software. In making 713 searches of merchants, Revenu Québec found 31 zapper programs that worked on 13 cash register systems. Zappers also known as automated sales suppression devices are a new twist on an old fraud. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/technology/30zapper.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/technology/30zapper.html
[FairfieldLife] Re: Canucks lead world in zapping
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Quebec may be the world leader in prosecuting zapper cases. Since 1997, zappers have figured in more than 230 investigations, according to the tax collecting body Revenu Québec, which has found an active market for the software. In making 713 searches of merchants, Revenu Québec found 31 zapper programs that worked on 13 cash register systems. Zappers also known as automated sales suppression devices are a new twist on an old fraud. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/technology/30zapper.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/technology/30zapper.html I'm originally from Quebec (although I emigrated to Arizona in '94) and at the time that I left, Quebec was the most heavily taxed jurisdiction in NOrth America. It is heavily socialistic. This was the culture in Quebec when you used to go into a Mom-and-Pop kind of store (I'm sure it's still like this): You go to the cash register to pay and the owner at the register says the key words Do you need a receipt for that? What that's code for if you pay cash, they won't charge you the Value added tax (a nationwide sales tax) which at that time was 15%. So you, the customer, get a 15% discount on whatever you bought and the store owners get the revenue on the sale off-the-books, which means they don't have to declare and pay tax on it (probably in the area of at least 50% or 60%). This has the effect of at least DOUBLING the after-tax revenue for the sale. Brian Mulroney, the former Prime Minister of Canada, has been involved in a scandal over the last decade because he took $225,000 in thousand dollar bills in brown paper bags...and, at the time, didn't declare it. Nor did he pay the Value added tax on it (which, even though he was selling his services, are ALSO taxable in this way). And since he got $75,000 of that cash payment while in a hotel in New York City, the question of whether he declared the amount when he crossed the border going back to Canada has become an issue because, under U.S. anti-money-laundering legislation, you're not supposed to take over $12,000 across the border without declaring it. Sadly, in my opinion, too many people are willing to give Mulroney a break. Why? Because so many people in Canada do this that they feel that it is par for the course. I think they identify with him! I want to see the bastard rot in jail.
