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"When it hits you everything it destroys"
UGK
what you gonna do when your you is gone?
I wonder what would happen to this planet, if for ONE second every individual lived from pure intention rather than motivation!
Living this way is a lofty goal, is it not?
Those that KNOW, say nothing;
those that no nothing, say alot!
UGK
Samlam...Too late for me to delete. You'll have to ask the admins. Sorry.
The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes
Translation by Sir Isaac Newton
1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
2. That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
5. the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.
6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great indoustry.
8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it desends to the earth and receives rhe force of things superior & inferior.
9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
10. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
11a. So was the world created.
12. From this are & do come admirable adaptaions where of the means (or process) is here in this.
13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet
Stormy Dreams
By JM Novak
Stormy night comes
where rains fall fast
to find a place
to dry at last
Fire in the stove
to warm our hearts
for tea or cider
before journey starts
A twilight's gaze
through curtains calls
to sleep once more
As night time falls
Wind swept doubts
and childhood dreams
skipping rocks on ponds
Jumping stones in streams
Where tears of love
become as doves
the trees, the wind
and apple groves
A rooster calls
New light awakens
Explore the new path
a dream's desire has taken
Moral of my story-
What if there aren't suppose to be morals,
not supposed to be
an infinity of wrongs, or
rights, or
goods and
bads
a world of opposing sides.
The bird doesn't go to the tree
sit there
and wait for me
so it can watch
and contemplate
"why, oh why, am i here?"
it only cares
when I walk out the door
for it's own survival
The bird just does what birds do,
it lives it's bird life
and doesn't require a
billion distractions
to break its' boredom.
What if we should be more like the bird
who eats, lites on things
chits,
and
flies back to the feeder?
So you say!
"but as a bird with a little bird's life
doesn't get to do the things
or see and know
the wonders that
we've geen give.
You say
the little birds can't
FEEL
The JOYS of life
and even the pain
and all this beautiful planet has to offer?
How tragic!
Authos
SamiAM
Gnostic - Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge. From late Greek Gnostikos, from Greek gnostikos, concerning knowledge, from gnosis, knowledge.
No posts lately and I'm in a rare mood to talk so I'll lite these thoughts on this board.
This morning while I was watching the birds
Just sitting there admiring their little lives
how beautiful they are
and then
My gaze was drawn to one of the chickadees
that had just lit on the line
which stretches from the back of the house
out to the road.
It was there, unaware of me, fluttering it's little wings
making me smile as I fixed my gaze on it
then
It chit,
and flew off!!!
Sam
In one day
the earth spun round
yet somehow
I kept my feet on the ground
In one day
I found a friend
and she stayed
Through the end
In one day
I met myself
in the mirror
and saw true wealth
In one day
I became you
And found
You aren't so different than me
In one day
we celebrate
that you are me
and I am you
Spread the wealth of love you get in return, for there is no wealth beyond the joy of life.
"The DEMAND for clarity is the cause for the confusion"
U.G.
I always look forward to reading the discussion here.
Best of it today!
Sam
Yes...but we use religious or metaphysical terms to describe what we can't yet explain in scientific terms. We think we are much more advanced than that tribe, but are we?
A transcendental experience is just a fancy way of saying you had an AHA moment of some degree. It is not a NEW truth, it is just seeing something that already existed to begin with.
Culturally mandated, but the ideas formed around a central truth.
The physical reality we think we see with our eyes is only a mental construct of light and energy. There is far too much reality that we cannot see. We only exist within a thin band of vibration along a much greater spectrum. Stuff going on all around us, but the brain only gives us what our reference points can handle.
We can't even find where consciousness originates yet. Are we broadcasting consciousness or recieving it? Both? Hehe.
If science finds a unified field theory that allows for the extra dimensions you spoke of, does that mean they found proof of "God"? What if a video camera with a certain filters shows "ghosts" or other lifeforms that exist along side us within a different light spectrum?
Extremes I know...but that would be an example of a trancendental reality proven by science if it happened.
But the "religion" you spoke of was merely a culturally mandated understanding of a physical reality that was beyond the experience of the tribe. There were no metaphysical issues involved.
Spiritual perception of God is a metaphysical issue.
As I was trying to explain before, a real meeting of the metaphysical with the physical will require some sort of transcendental evolution. The term "religion" is not interchangeable with the experience of Spirit or the metaphysical.
Yes...religion is, however we are still part of the Universal construct, therefore we fit into the "mainframe". Religious and spiritual expressions are just a different way of saying the same thing as science. It is the labels that need clarifications. If we use religious meaning and symbolism as archetypes for the greater forces of the natural universe in motion, then they begin to make sense in scientific terms.
We're just too hung up on labels.
Here's an extreme to show what I mean...
During World War II, there were tribes in the Pacific islands that had never seen an airplane. One dropped rations on an island. An entire religion was formed around the great thunder god that gave gifts.
To you and I that seems absurd. We would go in and say, "NOT A GOD"...and we would possibly be killed for saying it.
However...the religion was founded on a real life event. There really was a big noisy thing that dropped food. And their scale models of the airplanes obviously would not fly, but there was a rational science involved with the creation of the religion. It just took knowing a little more about airplanes to understand where religion and science met for these people.
I'
"It's my stated goal in life to unite science and spirituality. High goals indeed, but what the hell. I'm a dreamer. And if the infinity of God is just that, infinite and Omnipresent, then all of reality, including religion and science, will reflect that. "
A couple of comments -
In order for this to happen there would have to be an evolutionary breakthrough in either science or spirituality, perhaps akin to discovering a 4th dimension.
I would also question your statement about "religion and science" being part of reality.. Religion is an artificial cultural construct that is totally irrelevant to individual perception of Spirit.
If mankind is to take an evolutionary leap in the perception of God, Truth, Spirit, or whatever you wish to call it it will be physiological (greater intellectual capacity, perhaps) or it will be metaphysical ( a critical mass of enlightened beings who are able to break through the negativity of being earth-bound, perhaps) but it will not be a religious event.
It's my stated goal in life to unite science and spirituality. High goals indeed, but what the hell. I'm a dreamer. And if the infinity of God is just that, infinite and Omnipresent, then all of reality, including religion and science, will reflect that.
Patterns in life are reflected everywhere. There is no escaping life. Why would we be so bold as to think that there can be no link to spirituality that science can't prove?
I say that is a myth that will fall soon.
Do you as the scientist claim to know it all before you place all facts on the table?
Do you as the preacher claim to it know all before before you place all facts on the table?
Do you as the teacher assume you know more than the students?
Of what use is any of this knowledge if it cannot be seen as a whole with all facts laid out on the table.
And even when we thought we had all the facts, life has a way of changing in spite of what we do just by the simple fact that the observer of the experiment can change the outcome without even knowing it.
If a theory is valid, it must cross all laws, both scientific, ethical and spiritual. And if it cannot pass through those three rings of the fire, then natural laws take over and destroy it.
Those are the four foundations. And when the four unite, we form a pyramid to the stars and become one with Universal Law. And that is what the Egyptians called "Ma'at". It can be a personal experience and a group one.
Hope that helps :)
Commentary on the Crowley quote:
"The many religions of the world have all lost their power to guide chiefly- because the development of means of transport and of international commerce have convinced the educated that anyone religion is about as good or as bad as another for the purposes of social discipline, and that none has any validity £from the standpoint of actual fact, or historical or philosophical truth."
First, I believe religion should only be a vehicle of enculturation and education. Behavioural guidance and social discipline are inappropriate functions for religion. If religion teaches one to rely on external guidance it is failing in its function of bringing the individual Spirit closer to reconcilation with the One.
"The remedy is evidently to be found only in one way. There must be found a formula based upon absolute common sense, without one trammel of theological theory or dogma, a formula to which no man of intelligence can refuse assent, and which at the same time affords an absolute sanction for all laws of conduct, social and political no less than individual, so that the right or wrong of any isolated or concerted action can be determined with mathematical accuracy by any trained observer, entirely irrespective of his personal idiosyncrasies. This formula must be scientific, not religious."
I totally disagree with this also. Science is a physical thing, Spirituality is metaphysical.
"This formula is:
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
This formula does not, as ignorant or malicious people pretend, mean "Do anything you like." On the contrary, it is a most severe self-control of every individual or social unit to concentrate its whole energy performing his true proper function; and this function is to be determined by a profound, accurate calculation of the potentialities inherent in its constitution.
The first practical step towards this end is the formation of a strong central organization to direct coherently the activities of the numerous adherents already established in many countries.
It will then be necessary to convene conferences of experts in all the sciences, which treat, of mankind in his social and individual character, in order to draw up a comprehensive international programme. "
The ideas presented here seem to be directly in opposition to Gnostic faith. What was your purpose in presenting them?
Peace,
Paula
The Wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha", he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
Steven Crane
The Beginning of the New World
by Aleister Crowley
Unrest is the sign of this moment.
No man, however rich or safely placed, feels sure of next week. No man knows where he is going.
This is because no man knows where he ought to go.
The bases of society have been so shaken that it has become impossible for anyone to make a plan, just as a banker or a surveyor could not work if he were no longer sure of the multiplication table.
Now, this state of things is not wholly due to the actual conditions of materiel existence, to political unrest, or to economic confusion.
Circumstances have not the power to wreck the soul of man as long as he has in himself adequate driving-power and wit and skill to steer.
When men have a definite aim to pursue, they instinctively find means of overriding mutual interference, and may even work together (unselfishly, as it is polishedly called) to obtain their separate ends with the minimum of friction.
But when they are aimless they become distracted and witless; they push each other aside in their desperation; even the simplest tasks become impossible.
Today the mass of mankind has no longer any law by which to live, any unchallenged principles of right action.
The one deep cause of the present universal anarchy is the loss of all man's moral sanction.
The many religions of the world have all lost their power to guide chiefly- because the development of means of transport and of international commerce have convinced the educated that anyone religion is about as good or as bad as another for the purposes of social discipline, and that none has any validity £from the standpoint of actual fact, or historical or philosophical truth.
The remedy is evidently to be found only in one way. There must be found a formula based upon absolute common sense, without one trammel of theological theory or dogma, a formula to which no man of intelligence can refuse assent, and which at the same time affords an absolute sanction for all laws of conduct, social and political no less than individual, so that the right or wrong of any isolated or concerted action can be determined with mathematical accuracy by any trained observer, entirely irrespective of his personal idiosyncrasies. This formula must be scientific, not religious.
This formula is:
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
This formula does not, as ignorant or malicious people pretend, mean "Do anything you like." On the contrary, it is a most severe self-control of every individual or social unit to concentrate its whole energy performing his true proper function; and this function is to be determined by a profound, accurate calculation of the potentialities inherent in its constitution.
The first practical step towards this end is the formation of a strong central organization to direct coherently the activities of the numerous adherents already established in many countries.
It will then be necessary to convene conferences of experts in all the sciences, which treat, of mankind in his social and individual character, in order to draw up a comprehensive international programme.
Hehe got it :)
Ted Turner says Iraq war among history's "dumbest"
Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:33pm ET
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1389442006
By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. invasion of Iraq was among the "dumbest moves of all time" that ranks with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia, billionaire philanthropist Ted Turner said on Tuesday.
The founder of CNN and unabashed internationalist also defended the right of Iran to have nuclear weapons and the effectiveness of the United Nations and, in a jocular mood, advocated banning men from elective office worldwide in a Reuters Newsmaker appearance.
Alternately combative and humorous, Turner spoke nine years after his pledge to donate $1 billion to the United Nations over 10 years and on the same day President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly a mile away.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq has caused "incalculable damage" that will take 20 years to overcome "if we just act reasonably intelligently."
"It will go down in history, it is already being seen in history, as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody. A couple of others that come to mind were the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia," Turner told the forum.
"It literally broke my heart. You don't start wars just because you don't like somebody. ... I wouldn't even start a war with Rupert Murdoch," Turner said, referring to his onetime cable network rival.
Often contrarian, Turner called it a "joke" that Bush demanded that Iran abandon any ambitions for nuclear weapons while at the same time hoping to ban all such bombs.
"They're a sovereign state," Turner said of Iran. "We have 28,000. Why can't they have 10? We don't say anything about Israel -- they've got 100 of them approximately -- or India or Pakistan or Russia. And really, nobody should have them.
The Wisdom of Solomon
Shekinah is the Supreme Spirit devoted to the good of all people . . . She shines bright in the bloom of ignorance; She is unfading; She is easily seen by those who love Her; easily found by those who look for Her, and quickly does She come to those who seek Her help.
One who rises early, intent on finding Her, will not grow weary of the quest -- For one day he will find Her seated in his own heart.
To set all one's thoughts on Her is true wisdom, and to be ever aware of Her is the sure way to perfect peace.
For Shekinah Herself goes about in search of those who are worthy of Her.
With every step She comes to guide them; in every thought She comes to meet them . . .The true beginning of spiritual life is the desire to know Shekinah.
A desire to know Her brings one to love Her.
Loving Her enables one to follow her will.
Following Her will is the sure path of immortality.
And immortality is oneness with God.
So the desire to know Shekinah leads to God and His Kingdom - - a never-fading Kingdom.
With all your thrones and scepters you may rule the world for a while, but take hold of Shekinah and you will rule the world forever.
-- Modern historians say this was written by an unknown Jewish sage living in Alexandria around 50 BCE. By custom, however, it is ascribed to King Solomon (10th century BCE).
Europeans begin to speak with a single voice
By Carter Dougherty International Herald Tribune
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/15/business/euro.php
BRUSSELS Henry Kissinger once quipped that Europe lacks a single telephone number - while that might still be true for most things, over the course of this year the barb has become less true perhaps in one area: the economy.
On the eve of the semi-annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Singapore, the notion of a more unified European voice in international economic affairs is slowly starting to gain ground, eight years after the creation of the euro.
Since June, the euro zone has belonged to a special working group at the IMF, along with the United States, Japan and China, aimed at finding solutions to the massive trade deficits that could destabilize the global economy.
Advocates for the change hope that it could eventually lead to a single European seat at the IMF, replacing the eight it currently has with a stronger, single voice.
Last week, euro-zone finance ministers decided to continue the arrangement they began two years ago of having a more permanent leader, instead of rotating every six months. They reappointed Jean-Claude Juncker, finance minister of Luxembourg, to another two-year term as head of the so- called euro group - suggesting that the appetite for consolidation is growing.
For Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, that constitutes progress. Still, the genial Spaniard, who has handled his portfolio in Brussels since early 2004, confessed that it can be a frustrating process.
"Sometimes it is possible to give a single telephone number," Almunia said during an interview. "Other times, it is not so easy."
The numbers available include the European Central Bank, which is charged with monetary policy and maintaining price stability; finance ministries control the fiscal levers; and the commission, which has a unique role in monitoring the economies of members states and their compliance with rules on budget deficits and government debt. At the main international gatherings, all of the institutions are represented. As a result, Europe ends up sitting on the sidelines more than it would like, or coming in late.
The Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998 resulted in a forceful American response, with careful coordination between the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Europe was largely unable to pitch in to help, despite its combined economic power.
Privately, European officials were wondering two weeks ago how they could respond to an American plan to change IMF contribution quotas, which is to be confirmed in Singapore, to reflect the greater weight of China, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico. Most European countries supported the change, but they could not go public until all the finance ministers, central bankers and commission officials met in Helsinki last weekend agree on an official position.
"When Europe is not a giant, it becomes many little dwarves," said Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the European Central Bank executive board responsible for international issues. "Sometimes they agree with each other, but the complexity of getting there undermines their influence."
Charles Wyplosz, a Paris-based researcher and professor at the Graduate School of International Studies in Geneva, said: "For the first time in Europe, we are having a serious discussion about a single European chair. I don't think anything will happen fast, but this is the first time it is happening."
Almunia is optimistic about the evolution of improved coordination among the policy branches. "I am sure that this process of coordinating positions and developing common strategies will continue," he said. "The single voice will be strengthened, and it will end with a single seat" at the IMF.
But probably not quickly.
Smaller nations with IMF seats, notably the Netherlands, have made it clear they are going to fight for their privileges, though they are supporting IMF restructuring. "We hope to stick to the system we have now," the Dutch finance minister, Gerrit Zalm, said.
The euro-zone team at the IMF, in a scrupulous balancing act, includes one person each from the central bank, the commission and the Council of Ministers.
This summer, Almunia and Juncker got into an unusual public spat with Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, about whether they needed more meetings to adequately coordinate policy for the euro zone. Trichet, vigorously guarding the bank's independence, argued that the three of them have plenty of contact at central bank events and finance ministers' meetings.
But Almunia concedes that discussions with Trichet - about the European recovery, or the fiscal rules that are supposed to underpin the euro - have developed well over the past two years, bearing out the promise of Juncker's original appointment in 2004.
"I am sure that this process of coordinating practices and developing common strategies will continue," Almunia said.
Still, he cautioned the rest of the world that progress toward a stronger European voice would focus on coalescing around single policies, not single individuals.
In that respect, he offered a pointed riposte to Kissinger's comment, made decades ago, about needing a single phone number.
"With mobile phones and e-mails, the fact that you need to talk to two or three people is not an obstacle," Almunia said.
Seattle Mysterious light streaks across sky - video
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_091106WABskylightKC.8ea7852f.html
SEATTLE – Around 7:30 p.m. Monday, KING 5 News' phones started to ring as viewers reported seeing a ball of flames shooting across the skies of Western Washington.
The calls came in mostly from Pierce and Kitsap counties.
Michael Witig and his wife were out barbecuing when they saw something streaking through the sky. They kept rolling as the fiery tail grew behind the mystery object.
KING 5 News contacted the Air Force, FAA, National Weather Service and other local authorities, but could not immediately find an explanation for what streaked across the sky and what was caught on tape.
Controversial website - sign of the times?
http://911prophecy.com/
"Another prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies;" Liber AL 3:34
WHO WOULD YOU RATHER GIVE YOUR MONEY TO?
http://911prophecy.com/Chapters/Global%20Unity/global%20unity.htm
U.S. Constitution: Ninth Amendment
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. "
***
enumeration
Pronunciation[i-noo-muh-rey-shuhn, i-nyoo-]
–noun
1. an act of enumerating.
2. a catalog or list.
3. To count off or name one by one; list: A spokesperson enumerated the strikers' demands.
4. To determine the number of; count.
***
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment09/
Ninth Amendment - Unenumerated Rights
Amendment Text | Annotations
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Annotations
Rights Retained by the People
Aside from contending that a bill of rights was unnecessary, the Federalists responded to those opposing ratification of the Constitution because of the lack of a declaration of fundamental rights by arguing that inasmuch as it would be impossible to list all rights it would be dangerous to list some because there would be those who would seize on the absence of the omitted rights to assert that government was unrestrained as to those. 1 Madison adverted to this argument in presenting his proposed amendments to the House of Representatives. 'It has been objected also against a bill of rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration; and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the General Government, and were consequently insecure. This is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard against the admission of a bill of rights into this system; but, I conceive, that it may be guarded against. I have attempted it, as gentlemen may see by turning to the last clause of the fourth resolution.' 2 It is clear from its text and from Madison's statement that the Amendment states but a rule of construction, making clear that a Bill of Rights might not by implication be taken to increase the powers of the national government in areas not enumerated, and that it does not contain within itself any guarantee of a right or a proscription of an infringement. 3 Recently, however, the Amendment has been construed to be positive affirmation of the existence of rights which are not enumerated but which are nonetheless protected by other provisions.
The Ninth Amendment had been mentioned infrequently in decisions of the Supreme Court 4 until it became the subject of some exegesis by several of the Justices in Griswold v. Connecticut. 5 There a statute prohibiting use of contraceptives was voided as an infringement of the right of marital privacy. Justice Douglas, writing the opinion of the Court, asserted that the 'specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance.' 6 Thus, while privacy is nowhere mentioned, it is one of the values served and protected by the First Amendment, through its protection of associational rights, and by the Third, the Fourth, and the Fifth Amendments as well. The Justice recurred to the text of the Ninth Amendment, apparently to support the thought that these penumbral rights are protected by one Amendment or a complex of Amendments despite the absence of a specific reference. Justice Goldberg, concurring, devoted several pages to the Amendment.
'The language and history of the Ninth Amendment reveal that the Framers of the Constitution believed that there are additional fundamental rights, protected from governmental infringement, which exist alongside those fundamental rights specifically mentioned in the first eight constitutional amendments. . . . To hold that a right so basic and fundamental and so deep-rooted in our society as the right of privacy in marriage may be infringed because that right is not guaranteed in so many words by the first eight amendments to the Constitution is to ignore the Ninth Amendment and to give it no effect whatsoever. Moreover, a judicial construction that this fundamental right is not protected by the Constitution because it is not mentioned in explicit terms by one of the first eight amendments or elsewhere in the Constitution would violate the Ninth Amendment. . . . Nor do I mean to state that the Ninth Amendment constitutes an independent source of right protected from infringement by either the States or the Federal Government. Rather, the Ninth Amendment shows a belief of the Constitution's authors that fundamental rights exist that are not expressly enumerated in the first eight amendments and an intent that the list of rights included there not be deemed exhaustive.' 7 While, therefore, neither opinion sought to make of the Ninth Amendment a substantive source of constitutional guarantees, both did read it as indicating a function of the courts to interpose a veto with regard to legislative and executive efforts to abridge other fundamental rights. In this case, both opinions seemed to concur that the fundamental right claimed and upheld was derivative of several express rights and in this case, really, the Ninth Amendment added almost nothing to the argument. But if there is a claim of a fundamental right which cannot reasonably be derived from one of the provisions of the Bill of Rights, even with the Ninth Amendment, how is the Court to determine, first, that it is fundamental, and second, that it is protected from abridgment? 8
Footnotes
[Footnote 1] The Federalist No. 84 (Modern Library ed. 1937).
[Footnote 2] 1 Annals of Congress 439 (1789). Earlier, Madison had written to Jefferson: 'My own opinion has always been in favor of a bill of rights; provided it be so framed as not to imply powers not meant to be included in the enumeration. . . . I have not viewed it in an important light--1. because I conceive that in a certain degree . . . the rights in question are reserved by the manner in which the federal powers are granted. 2. because there is great reason to fear that a positive declaration of some of the most essential rights could not be obtained in the requisite latitude. I am sure that the rights of conscience in particular, if submitted to public definition would be narrowed much more than they are likely ever to be by an assumed power.' 5 Writings of James Madison, 271-72 (G. Hunt ed. 1904). See also 3 J. Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States 1898 (1833).
[Footnote 3] To some extent, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments overlap with respect to the question of unenumerated powers, one of the two concerns expressed by Madison, more clearly in his letter to Jefferson but also present in his introductory speech. Supra, n.2 and accompanying text.
[Footnote 4] In United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75, 94 -95 (1947), upholding the Hatch Act, the Court said: 'We accept appellant's contention that the nature of political rights reserved to the people by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments [is] involved. The right claimed as inviolate may be stated as the right of a citizen to act as a party official or worker to further his own political views. Thus we have a measure of interference by the Hatch Act and the Rules with what otherwise would be the freedom of the civil servant under the First, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments.' See Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U.S. 288, 300 - 11 (1936), and Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. TVA, 306 U.S. 118, 143 -44 (1939). See also Justice Chase's opinion in Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 386, 388 (1798), and Justice Miller for the Court in Loan Ass'n v. Topeka, 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 655, 662 -63 (1875).
[Footnote 5] 381 U.S. 479 (1965).
[Footnote 6] Id. at 484. The opinion was joined by Chief Justice Warren and by Justices Clark, Goldberg, and Brennan.
[Footnote 7] Id. at 488, 491, 492. Chief Justice Warren and Justice Brennan joined this opinion. Justices Harlan and White concurred id. at 499, 502, without alluding to the Ninth Amendment, but instead basing their conclusions on substantive due process, finding that the state statute 'violates basic values implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,' (citing Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937)). Id. at 500. It would appear that the source of the fundamental rights to which Justices Douglas and Goldberg referred must be found in a concept of substantive due process, despite the former's express rejection of this ground. Id. at 481-82. Justices Black and Stewart dissented. Justice Black viewed the Ninth Amendment ground as essentially a variation of the due process argument under which Justices claimed the right to void legislation as irrational, unreasonable, or offensive, without finding any violation of an express constitutional provision.
[Footnote 8] Notice the recurrence to the Ninth Amendment as a 'constitutional 'saving clause'' in Chief Justice Burger's plurality opinion in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 579 -80 & n.15 (1980). Scholarly efforts to establish the clause as a substantive protection of rights include J. Ely, Democracy and Distrust--A Theory of Judicial Review (Cambridge: 1980), 34-41; and C. Black, Decision According to Law (New York: 1981), critically reviewed in W. Van Alstyne, Slouching Toward Bethlehem with the Ninth Amendment, 91 Yale L. J. 207 (1981). For a collection of articles on the Ninth Amendment, see The Rights Retained by the People: The History and Meaning of the Ninth Amendment (Randy E. Barnett, ed., 1989).
Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003226851_fragile26.html
By Chuck McCutcheon
Newhouse News Service
Saturday, August 26, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON — A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures
disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.
None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or
terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country's basic operating systems are deteriorating.
"When I see events like these, I become concerned that we've lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation's
infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad — if not worse — as being an insecure nation," said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).
The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the
nation "D" for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating
that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.
"I thought [Hurricane] Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but
people are missing the alarm," said Casey Dinges, the society's
managing director of external affairs.
British oil company BP announced this month that severe corrosion would close its Alaska pipelines for extensive repairs. Analysts say this may sideline some 200,000 barrels a day of production for several months.
Then an instrument landing system that guides arriving planes onto a runway at Los Angeles International Airport failed for the second time in a week, delaying flights.
Those incidents followed reports that the National Security Agency (NSA), the intelligence world's electronic eavesdropping arm, is consuming so much electricity at its headquarters outside Washington that it is in danger of exceeding its power supply.
"If a terrorist group were able to knock the NSA offline, or disrupt one of the nation's busiest airports, or shut down the most important oil pipeline in the nation, the impact would be perceived as devastating," Beckner said. "And yet we've essentially let these things happen — or almost happen — to ourselves."
The Commission on Public Infrastructure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said in a recent report that facilities are deteriorating "at an alarming rate."
It noted that half the 257 locks operated by the Army Corps of
Engineers on inland waterways are functionally obsolete, more than one-quarter of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete, and $11 billion is needed annually to replace aging drinking-water facilities.
President Bush, asked about the problem during a public question-and-answer session in an April visit to Irvine, Calif., cited last year's enactment of a comprehensive law reauthorizing highway, transit and road-safety programs.
"Infrastructure is always a difficult issue," Bush
acknowledged. "It's a federal responsibility and a state and local responsibility. And I, frankly, feel like we've upheld our
responsibility at the federal level with the highway bill."
But experts say the law is riddled with some 5,000 "earmarks" for projects sought by members of Congress that do nothing to
systematically address the problem.
"There's a growing understanding that these programs are at best
inefficient and at worst corrupt," said Everett Ehrlich, executive director of the CSIS public infrastructure commission.
Ehrlich and others cite several reasons for the lack of action:
• The political system is geared to reacting to crises instead of averting them.
• Some politicians don't see infrastructure as a federal
responsibility.
• And many problems are out of sight and — for the public — out of mind.
"You see bridges and roads and potholes, but so much else is hidden and taken for granted," said Dinges of the Society of Civil Engineers. "As a result, people just don't get stirred up and alarmed."
But a few politicians are starting to notice. In March, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., joined Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Tom Carper, D-Del., in sponsoring a bill to set up a national commission to assess infrastructure needs.
That same month, the CSIS infrastructure commission issued a set of principles calling for increased spending, investments in new technologies and partnerships with business. Among those signing the report were Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
"Infrastructure deficiencies will further erode our global
competitiveness, but with the federal budget so committed to
mandatory spending, it's unclear how we are going to deal with this challenge as we fall further and further behind in addressing these problems," Hagel said in a speech last year. "We need to think creatively."
Expose on Brokers
For Educational purposes only
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003241428_pfbroker03.html
Related Stories:
When choosing a broker, do your research
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003241430_pfbrokerchoose03.html
Why investors have hard time getting lowdown on brokers
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003241433_pfbrokersnasd03.html
A word of warning
By Will Deener and Paul Foutch
The Dallas Morning News
SDALLAS —
tockbroker Troy Hawkins came highly recommended to Pam and Ron Yandell.
He had been a trusted adviser to Pam Yandell's parents for seven years and worked for a large, well-known firm called Everen Securities in Dallas.
"My mom and dad thought he was great," she said. "Ron was going to retire, and Troy Hawkins was going to take care of everything."
The Yandells turned over their $1.4 million retirement nest egg to him in 1999. But as the tech bubble burst in the stock market, the Yandells' account lost $230,000. In his late 50s, Ron Yandell had to give up on retirement and go back to work.
After a five-year battle, the Mansfield, Texas, couple convinced a New York Stock Exchange arbitration panel that Hawkins had invested their money in risky tech stocks without their permission and against their instructions.
The panel awarded the Yandells $990,000, which includes compensatory and punitive damages. But Hawkins has yet to pay, and the Yandells' lawyer says she doesn't know where he is.
When The Dallas Morning News reached Hawkins through a relative, he said he had been living in the Seattle area but recently moved to Oregon. He wouldn't identify the town.
In discussing the Yandells' case, Hawkins used a common defense among accused brokers — that the customers were sophisticated investors who approved his stock trades.
"They were fully aware and followed everything on their investments daily," Hawkins said.
"When the account went down, they realized that they could play the card of 'We didn't know what was going on.' "
The Yandells thought they had done a good job picking their broker by going with the recommendation of a relative.
But many of the disgruntled investors interviewed by The News as part of an extensive study of brokerage firms said they, too, had followed a friend or relative's recommendation in picking their broker.
What the Yandells failed to do was to check out Hawkins' regulatory history.
If they had contacted the Texas State Securities Board or the NASD, they would have learned that Hawkins had been fired in 1994 from Prudential Securities. The firm accused him of taking company documents without permission, according to NASD records.
Everen Securities hired Hawkins less than two weeks later. That is where the Yandells became his clients, according to NASD records.
Hawkins filed two lawsuits against Prudential and his supervisors, alleging wrongful termination and malicious prosecution. An arbitration panel dismissed the claims. Hawkins filed a third lawsuit, which was settled for an undisclosed amount in 1998.
At the time, Hawkins' NASD records also showed two customer complaints that alleged, in part, misrepresentation. One resulted in an arbitration award of $10,000, and the other was settled for $13,000.
Modest home
The Yandells live in a modest home in Mansfield and consider themselves "simple people." Ron Yandell, now 62, retired from U.S. Steel in 1999 after 31 years.
They had $350,000 in savings, and U.S. Steel also gave Ron Yandell a lump-sum distribution of his pension that totaled $800,000. All told, the couple transferred about $1.4 million to an account with Hawkins in 1999.
"When I retired, I had a face-to-face meeting with him, and I shared with him that this was all the money that I had," Ron Yandell said. "I didn't want to take a lot of chances."
Initially, the Yandells had a conservative portfolio with about half of the assets in bonds and half in blue-chip stocks. And they were pleased with how well Hawkins managed their money early on.
In early 2000, though, the technology-laden Nasdaq stock market roared past 5,000, with seemingly no top in sight. That's when someone could no longer resist the temptation of the cyberrockets — the question is whether it was the Yandells or Hawkins.
"The Yandells were feeling like they weren't participating in the explosive market of the late 1990s and early 2000," Hawkins told The News. "They wanted to shift some of those investments [to technology], and when they did, as happens to most people, the market corrected."
On March 5, 2000, only a few days before the market collapse began, Hawkins moved a large portion of the Yandells' money into tech stocks, such as Juniper Networks, Lucent and Nortel. In their arbitration claim, the Yandells said Hawkins did this against their instructions.
The Yandells' lawyer, Tracy Stoneman, quizzed Hawkins on the purchase of technology stocks at the arbitration hearing:
Q. And your testimony is that this was their idea?
A. That would be correct.
Q. Despite the fact that you marked virtually all of the order tickets in this case "solicited," didn't you?
A. Yeah.
"Solicited" means the stocks were the broker's suggestion, not the customer's.
Stoneman said that although risky technology stocks were clearly unsuitable for a retired couple, it was the allegation of unauthorized trading that was the heart of the Yandells' case.
When brokers make an investment on behalf of the client, they have to discuss it with the client. The only exception to that is when someone opens a so-called discretionary account with a brokerage firm.
"To not do that violates probably one of the most sacrosanct rules in the industry," Stoneman said.
When they got their account statement and saw the trades that had been made, the Yandells wrote Hawkins to tell him not to make any more trades without discussing them first: "Please do not buy or sell any stock in any account unless you confer with either one of us," said the letter dated March 16, 2000.
Bubble collapses
By the summer of 2000, the losses were mounting as the technology bubble collapsed. The original $1.4 million investment had dwindled to $674,000 because of a combination of the losses and some withdrawals.
Frantic, the Yandells told the branch manager to close the account, which he did.
Ron Yandell could no longer afford retirement. He went back to work as a consultant building a desalination plant in Trinidad for two years. And he worked for U.S. Steel for 18 months in Chicago.
"I was glad they would take me back because we no longer had enough money to live off of," he said.
The couple complained to the NASD, but nothing came of it, Pam Yandell said. In fact, she felt as though the NASD simply didn't have the time to deal with her case.
Finally, they hired an attorney — Stoneman — who filed an arbitration claim with the New York Stock Exchange in August 2001.
When the hearing began on Oct. 29, 2002, Hawkins attended, along with lawyers for First Union Securities, which had acquired Everen Securities in 1999.
The Yandells told the arbitration panel about the March 16, 2000, letter they had sent Hawkins ordering him not to trade in their account without permission. Hawkins said he never received the letter.
After the first two days of the hearing, Stoneman felt that one of the three arbitrators hearing the case was being unfair and asked that he step down, which he did. The case was then postponed while another arbitrator was sought.
While the case was in limbo, two things happened: Wachovia purchased First Union. (Wachovia spokesman Tony Mattera said company policy forbids him from discussing the case.) And someone at First Union's headquarters in Richmond, Va., found the Yandells' letter. The firm soon settled the case for an undisclosed sum and also allowed the Yandells to pursue the arbitration case solely against Hawkins.
For that to work we would have to have a system that let us bid out contracts in a fair and competitive manner and demand a reasonable quality product for our dollar. Ain't gonna happen unless we get some grass roots reform.
I think that the first thing every citizen needs to attend to are honest elections, term limits, and prosecuting those who game the system.
Unless that gets fixed and we have a firm democratic foundation the rest is a house of cards no matter what the system is.
LOL...I think you are on target...
"In short - this country is in big trouble."
The country IS being shorted.
What if you could change the system by using the very laws the system is bound by and force it to work the way it is supposed to?
For instance...a tax-exempt publicly traded stock backed by bonds and assets (UCC-1 notes, property, joint ventures, etc.) that are held in a common law irrevocable trust.
Totally worthless -
It isn't even a reasonable basis for the capital market in its current state. Too much game playing.
In order for the US economy to become stable again the stock market needs to be re-invented. Safeguards against manipulation must be created and enforced.
Our currency is a sham -
Our capital market is a sham -
Our executive branch is a sham -
Our courts are a sham -
Our legislature is a sham -
Our elections are a sham -
Our "religious faith" as a country is a sham -
Our diplomatic relations consist mainly of terrorist policies against other nations.
In short - this country is in big trouble.
Honest citizens need to create a democratic revolution and take back our own country.
What do you think about stock as a potential asset backed currency?
Gold and silver are not a suitable basis for currency any more. I am expecting a pump & dump in precious metals and within 10 years a serious devaluation due to the use of nanotech and biological refining methods. Gold is not a rare metal, it is only rare in a form that we can refine economically at this time. If that changes, the value of gold changes.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/HJR-192
House Joint Resolution 192 (HJR 192),
June 5, 1933
To assure uniform value to the coins and currencies of the United States.
Whereas the holding of or dealing in gold affect the public interest, and are therefore subject to proper regulation and restriction; and
Whereas the existing emergency has disclosed that provisions of obligations which purport to give the obligee a right to require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency of the United States, or in an amount in money of the United States measured thereby, obstruct the power of the Congress to regulate the value of the money of the United States, and are inconsistent with the declared policy of the Congress to maintain at all times the equal power of every dollar, coined or issued by the United States, in the markets and in the payment of debts. Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) every provision contained in or made with respect to any obligation which purports to give the obligee a right to require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency, or in an amount in money of the United States measured thereby, is declared to be against public policy; and no such provision shall be contained in or made with respect to any obligation hereafter incurred. Every obligation, heretofore or hereafter incurred, whether or not any such provision in contained therein or made with respect thereto, shall be discharged upon payment, dollar for dollar, in any coin or currency which at the time of payment is legal tender for public and private debts. Any such provision contained in any law authorizing obligations to be issued by or under authority of the United States, is hereby repealed, but the repeal of any such provision shall not invalidate any other provision or authority contained in such law. (b) As used in this resolution, the term "obligation" means an obligation (including every obligation of and to the Untied States, excepting currency) payable in money of the United States; and the term "coin or currency" means coin or currency of the United States, including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations. SEC. 2. The last sentence of paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of section 43 of the Act entitled "An Act to relieve the existing national economic emergency by increasing agricultural purchasing power, to raise revenue for extraordinary expenses incurred by reason of such emergency, to provide emergency relief with respect to agricultural indebtedness, to provide for the orderly liquidation of joint-stock land banks, and for other purposes", approved May 12, 1933, is amended to read as follows: "All coins and currencies of the United States (included Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations) heretofore or hereafter coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties, and dues, except that gold coins, when below the standard weight and limit of tolerance provided by law for the single piece, shall be legal tender only at valuation in proportion to their actual weight." Approved, June 5, 1933, 4.40 p.m.
The Bankruptcy of The United States
United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993 Vol. 33, page H-1303
Speaker-Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11.. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner’s report that will lead to our demise.
It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress m session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only.
The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H.R. 13955 reads in part: "The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States?’
Gold and silver were such a powerful money during the founding of the united states of America, that the founding fathers declared that only gold or silver coins can be "money" in America. Since gold and silver coinage were heavy and inconvenient for a lot of transactions, they were stored in banks and a claim check was issued as a money substitute. People traded their coupons as money, or "currency." Currency is not money, but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) make no such promises, and are not "money." A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not "money?’ The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution for the united states of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money, -gold and silver coin.
It is essential that we comprehend the distinction between real money and paper money substitute. One cannot get rich by accumulating money substitutes, one can only get deeper into debt. We the People no longer have any "money." Most Americans have not been paid any "money" for a very long time, perhaps not in their entire life. Now do you comprehend why you feel broke? Now, do you understand why you are "bankrupt," along with the rest of the country?
Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) are unsigned checks written on a closed account. FRNs are an inflatable paper system designed to create debt through inflation (devaluation of currency). when ever there is an increase of the supply of a money substitute in the economy without a corresponding increase in the gold and silver backing, inflation occurs.
Inflation is an invisible form of taxation that irresponsible governments inflict on their citizens. The Federal Reserve Bank who controls the supply and movement of FRNs has everybody fooled. They have access to an unlimited supply of FRNs, paying only for the printing costs of what they need. FRNs are nothing more than promissory notes for U.S. Treasury securities (T-Bills) - a promise to pay the debt to the Federal Reserve Bank.
There is a fundamental difference between "paying" and "discharging" a debt. To pay a debt, you must pay with value or substance (i.e. gold, silver, barter or a commodity). With FRNs, you can only discharge a debt. You cannot pay a debt with a debt currency system. You cannot service a debt with a currency that has no backing in value or substance. No contract in Common law is valid unless it involves an exchange of "good & valuable consideration." Unpayable debt transfers power and control to the sovereign power structure that has no interest in money, law, equity or justice because they have so much wealth already.
Their lust is for power and control. Since the inception of central banking, they have controlled the fates of nations.
The Federal Reserve System is based on the Canon law and the principles of sovereignty protected in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the international bankers used a "Canon Law Trust" as their model, adding stock and naming it a "Joint Stock Trust." The U.S. Congress had passed a law making it illegal for any legal "person" to duplicate a "Joint Stock Trust" in 1873. The Federal Reserve Act was legislated post-facto (to 1870), although post-facto laws are strictly forbidden by the Constitution. [1:9:3]
The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the federal United States government. The Federal Reserve is a maritime lender, and/or maritime insurance underwriter to the federal United States operating exclusively under Admiralty/Maritime law. The lender or underwriter bears the risks, and the Maritime law compelling specific performance in paying the interest, or premiums are the same.
Assets of the debtor can also be hypothecated (to pledge something as a security without taking possession of it.) as security by the lender or underwriter. The Federal Reserve Act stipulated that the interest on the debt was to be paid in gold. There was no stipulation in the Federal Reserve Act for ever paying the principle.
Prior to 1913, most Americans owned clear, allodial title to property, free and clear of any liens or mortgages until the Federal Reserve Act (1913)
"Hypothecated" all property within the federal United States to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, -in which the Trustees (stockholders) held legal title. The U.S. citizen (tenant, franchisee) was registered as a "beneficiary" of the trust via his/her birth certificate. In 1933, the federal United States hypothecated all of the present and future properties, assets and labor of their "subjects," the 14th Amendment U.S. citizen, to the Federal Reserve System.
In return, the Federal Reserve System agreed to extend the federal United States corporation all the credit "money substitute" it needed. Like any other debtor, the federal United States government had to assign collateral and security to their creditors as a condition of the loan. Since the federal United States didn’t have any assets, they assigned the private property of their "economic slaves", the U.S. citizens as collateral against the unpayable federal debt. They also pledged the unincorporated federal territories, national parks forests, birth certificates, and nonprofit organizations, as collateral against the federal debt. All has already been transferred as payment to the international bankers.
Unwittingly, America has returned to its pre-American Revolution, feudal roots whereby all land is held by a sovereign and the common people had no rights to hold allodial title to property. Once again, We the People are the tenants and sharecroppers renting our own property from a Sovereign in the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank. We the people have exchanged one master for another.
This has been going on for over eighty years without the "informed knowledge" of the American people, without a voice protesting loud enough. Now it’s easy to grasp why America is fundamentally bankrupt.
Why don’t more people own their properties outright?
Why are 90% of Americans mortgaged to the hilt and have little or no assets after all debts and liabilities have been paid? Why does it feel like you are working harder and harder and getting less and less?
We are reaping what has been sown, and the results of our harvest is a painful bankruptcy, and a foreclosure on American property, precious liberties, and a way of life. Few of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. have dared to tell the truth. The federal United States is bankrupt. Our children will inherit this unpayable debt, and the tyranny to enforce paying it.
America has become completely bankrupt in world leadership, financial credit and its reputation for courage, vision and human rights. This is an undeclared economic war, bankruptcy, and economic slavery of the most corrupt order! Wake up America! Take back your Country."
European troops to form core of Lebanon peacekeepers
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=313485&rel_no=1
The up to 7,000 additional troops pledged today by European leaders in Brussels will form the core of the projected 15,000 U.N. troops in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) to maintain the fragile peace between Israel and Hezbollah.
When added to the 2,000 troops already committed by France, the European contribution could account for more than half of the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Erkki Tuomioja, the foreign minister of Finland, which holds the rotating E.U. presidency, made the announcement from Brussels, indicating that the additional European contribution would be "between 5,600 and 6,900" troops.
Coming in the wake of serious doubts about the possibility of acquiring enough troop support from Europe, the pledges are a significant coup for U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who called the conference of E.U. foreign ministers a "success."
Earlier, French President Jacques Chirac had called the projected U.N. figures for troops "completely excessive," and suggested a significant reduction in size. Chirac was heavily criticized when he initially committed to only an additional 200 men, despite having command of the U.N. troops in Lebanon.
France had been expected to be the largest contributor to the forces and to lead the way for other European commitments. Chirac later pledged a total of 2,000 troops to southern Lebanon.
Italy committed to sending 3,000 troops in Brussels, outstripping France as the biggest contributor. It will also take over the command of the UNIFIL troops from France in February 2007.
Great minds stink alike! LOL
Cheers! :D
John,
lol, I was just typing almost the same response, even down to the phrase, "go on further" then cancelled the post. But, it feels right after all these years that there seems to be something I'm missing, I've looked within and everywhere else for answers. The true teacher tells you that there's no-thing to teach and in that moment of nothing, everything dissolves into nothing. That's only what feels right to me at this point in my life, true, not true, I've no idea.
Good to see you post Paula!
Sam
Yes...but we might take it one step further and state, "A true teacher does not teach anything, but instead inspires desire to find answers by showing possibilities".
I believe it is the student and only the student that can properly identify who is and who is not the teacher. Even the most criminal mind has a lesson to teach us, whether they intented to or not.
Thanks for posting! Drinks are free! :)
A true teacher teaches one to look within, not to look at the guru.
Taken from "Using the Delphi Technique to Achieve Consensus"
http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/1998/nov98/focus.html
More on the Delphi technique at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=delphi+technique&btnG=Google+Search
...
The facilitators or change agents encourage each person in a group to express concerns about the programs, projects, or policies in question. They listen attentively, elicit input from group members, form "task forces," urge participants to make lists, and in going through these motions, learn about each member of a group. They are trained to identify the "leaders," the "loud mouths," the "weak or non-committal members," and those who are apt to change sides frequently during an argument.
Suddenly, the amiable facilitators become professional agitators and "devil's advocates." Using the "divide and conquer" principle, they manipulate one opinion against another, making those who are out of step appear "ridiculous, unknowledgeable, inarticulate, or dogmatic." They attempt to anger certain participants, thereby accelerating tensions. The facilitators are well trained in psychological manipulation. They are able to predict the reactions of each member in a group. Individuals in opposition to the desired policy or program will be shut out.
The Delphi Technique works. It is very effective with parents, teachers, school children, and community groups. The "targets" rarely, if ever, realize that they are being manipulated. If they do suspect what is happening, they do not know how to end the process. The facilitator seeks to polarize the group in order to become an accepted member of the group and of the process. The desired idea is then placed on the table and individual opinions are sought during discussion. Soon, associates from the divided group begin to adopt the idea as if it were their own, and they pressure the entire group to accept their proposition.
...
Heh...I can see why they would walk away. That was great! I read a book some years back. I think it was an author commenting on him and Guirdjieff. Was a good read. Can't recall the title.
I keep getting sidetracked. Installing the software now. :)
John, hey good morning! nice to see another poster here as well! I was just wondering if you watched that video of UG. He's actually fun to watch, he tends to curse and rave like a madman. I just randomly chose this one to listen to and this morning I actually listened to it again (been 5 or so years since I first discovered him). Anyway, he talks about believers, non-believers and the worst situation to be in is being an agnostic, lol. So, how ironic, to post this one to listen to---totally coincidence?
Good luck today it's been a really tough market this summer.
Sam
The quotes are from ug Krishnamurti whom I discovered on my million paths of seeking. He's about as cynical as they come. Millions have come to him for answers and they leave mostly bewildered and angry. You never know what's coming out of his mouth. He's told even the most sincere seeker to go to hell. In a way, it's the best thing they could have heard fro him....lol, well...just listen if you wish. here's a link to a video clip of him:
http://www.ugkrishnamurti.org/ug/ug_video/ugv_bcpa2/q_and_a.ram
the opium of the masses quote is from Karl Marx. everything else comes verbal and written traditions, in india mostly.
III
Excellent post. Did you write that? I'm a pill about giving credit to author if available. If not, just state "unkown" next time. :)
"religion is the opium of the masses"
Upon learning the Dharma the buddha was hesitant to try to convey this truth because he saw that the inhabitants of this world had too much 'dust' covering their eyes and they would not be able to comprehend the truth. It was not until the greatest of gods convinced him that there were those few that had little dust obscuring their vision that he decided to teach.
The buddha also espoused a theory of teaching that we call "expediant means" and explained it through this anecdote...a father comes home to find the lower level of his house on fire with his kids playing unaware in the upper level. the father, knowing, that if he yelled for the kids to leave because of a fire they would be too scared to move so he yells to them that he has brought a whole cart of toys back (even though he had no toys) and if they want them they have to come get them. the kids are saved. in this same way the buddha would have no problem in me telling you that i will give you a billion dollars if you attain enlightenment. The buddha's point being that if you attain enlightenment you will see the truth of the world and the money i offered would be like dirt to you and the truths of the world would be your concern. that's why there are sects of buddhism that espouse a heaven (very unbuddhist) becasue as long as it gets you to sit quitely (meditate) and follow the ten-fold path then it has served its purpose.
No apologies needed. :)
Enjoy your day. Find who said those quotes, if possible! The cabbage one was priceless too, btw hahaha
lol, sorry i should have said that in more general terms. when i re-read my post, it did sound like i was giving you a bit of a hard time. just looking at the big picture, penny stock market built on the pyramid scheme. sorrry about that. i have to get for a bit, be back later....as usual in a hurry.
sam
"Maybe I will be the one you unlaod your POS to. That's what this is all boils down to anyway."
I don't understand. That may be how it boils for you. You seem to be mistaking me for a flipper/pumper/dumper/shorter type. I'd rather take a loss than dump a POS stock on anyone. So you need not worry there. I sleep at night better that way.
For instance...I bought into the Stockster pump QTCE at over .01 and held it all the way down to the bottom. Same with PXIT and AMSN. I sold those at rock bottom. I am a long term investor and very new to the stock market (is that obvious? lol).
Sometimes...it just isn't about the money.
Not here to create organizations or petty experiences. I want to hear about YOUR experiences. That's why I created this board. Just looking for some honesty and good people to chat and have a laugh with.
Tarot readings are for entertainment. Not to be taken seriously.
Can I ask where you got this quote?
"All gurus are welfare organizations providing petty experiences to their followers. The guru game is a profitable industry; try and make two million dollars a year any other way."
You gave some good ones. Thanks for the post. :)
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