CLL Support Group

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There is an excellent CLL Support Group on the internet hosted by ACOR. Normally I just glance through it each day the then click on delete. This is a copy of a letter which was posted today that merits reading:
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We are not really "Poor", just don't have a lot of money. Being poor to me is not having any family or loved ones. Our bills are paid, we have food on the table, a roof over our heads, and very little debt (our house & car, oh,and utilities). We get by...we have friends and family around us...that is wealth to me.
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I grew up dirt poor...mom would say...it's only 3 days till the welfare check comes...after 4 days you don't feel hungry anymore (that is NOT TRUE!). So, besides not being able to afford insurance, we are doing ok. We would qualify for State insurance, should (Lord forbid) we have a need for hospitalization, but for our regular doctor visits, we pay cash & get a discount. Lon should get his medicare started within the next few months, and we will make an appointment at M.D. Anderson's then. We will make a semi-vacation of it...maybe during a quilt festival or something...depending on how Lon feels. I will feel better when he can get a good specialist to take care of him. Right now, our GP takes his blood levels, and keeps us going. We can see a local Onocologist, but can't afford any tests, so, for now we will limp by.
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Remember, money does not make wealth, family & friends do. During this Christmas season, we are seeing more and more families in need come through our little 2nd hand store. We are practically giving them the furniture and items at cost. We have been there, and know the feeling of wanting one or two nice things...we give the toys away..if a child is good in the store, they take a free toy with them.
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If you can at all befriend someone in need, do try to help...the feeling is better than any medicine can do for you! Have a wonderful Christmas Holiday season!
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Lastly, don't forget that Merk & other drug manufacturers will help withmeds & drugs for treatments if you can't afford them. Don't be afraid to visit their websites and apply. They ask about income, insurance, and government healthcare...if you don'thave those & meet the income requirements..they can & will gladly help. Even if you don't meet the income standards for State Medical for regular doctors visits, you may still be able to get hospital coverage should the need arise.
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The Golden Rule

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I heard a neat quote on the radio today:
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"He who gives the gold makes the rules."
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My guess is that in the 21st century American form of Democracy the people who give the large campaign donations affect policy and the laws far more than voters do.
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This is a perversion of the concept of Democracy.
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European Weather

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The weather here in El Paso, Texas USA is not nice today.
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It is 7 degrees Centigrade (45 F) and it is raining fairly agressively. The kind of weather I put up with in Holland for 15 years. Not the kind of weather one expects here in the high desert. I had to get out my Anky van Grunsven Gor-Tex jacket just to take the dog for a walk.
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This is good.
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Occasionally I question my decision to move from Europe back to El Paso. And weather like this is just what I need to remind me of how great the weather here is normally.

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Chihuahuan Desert

This is a little short video of my dog Inu. He is walking around/sniffing the creosote bushes in the Chihuahua desert on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas USA.

The audio is just the breeze blowing against the microphone, so I would recommend turning the volume down. You need to click two times on the play button for it to start.

Bicycle Dog Trailer

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The weather in El Paso, Texas USA is drop dead gorgeous today. About 18-19 degrees Centigrade, a light breeze, and not a cloud in the sky.
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So I took my little doggie for a couple of short bike rides in his cute, new little doggie bike trailer. Both the bicycle and the dog trailer have aluminum frames, so the entire set-up is quite lightweight.
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To put a positive spin on it, I'm sure that after he does it few more times hopefully he will stop howling quite so vociferously. Golly, I have never heard that little guy make sounds like he made today. And LOUD TOO!! He upset every dog in the neighborhood.
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But when I rode the bike with the trailer near the backyard without him, where he could see me throught he gate, he complained even louder because he was being left out.
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Oh well, maybe I will just use it to put groceries in, rather than giving my best friend a ride. Or maybe he really will get used to it after a while. Time will tell.
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NOTE: On 4 January 2008 I received an e-mail from a gentleman saying that this is a pirated product made in China illegally. I notified him that I was shocked since I had purchased this product from Amazon.com I am not using the product, and I guess what I will do is just save it as evidence if I should ever be talking about this matter in court.
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This is a copy of his e-mail:
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Hi Paul,

You do have a highly interesting blog. The only part that we dislike that you have a product on it that infringes our patent of the DoggyRide (see www.doggyride.com ). That problem is obviously not created by you, but the pirates from China that made them. If we continue to allow the Chinese pirates to copy our innovations then indeed the American jobs will disappear and we become their slaves.

The product is not made of aluminum, but steel. The frame would not hold the weight as rated if it would be made of aluminum. We know that, because we designed this frame. Actually, we know why your dog might not like it. The bottom in the structure sags and dogs generally don’t like that. Anyhow, if you need any advice on how to use it better or return it (as actually selling counterfeit products is not allowed in the US) let us know.

Best regards,

Matthys van Leeuwen
Montare LLC

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Sometimes things are not what they appear. Here is the final REAL word on the subject:


Paul:

Montare has used misinformation to try to scare retailers and consumers in the past. There is no violation. Montare has threatened us before but failed to produce any evidence when asked, so now he preys on unknowing consumers, it appears.

Patent infringement is not a criminal offense, and anyway, your purchase by itself is not illegal, even if the design were infringing. We bear all responsibility in that case.

By the way, Montare is a European company, their product is made in China also, not in the USA , so I don’t understand his reference about saving American jobs, but that appears to be just part of their misinformation campaign.

Thanks for you purchase and we apologize for inconvenience you have incurred.

Patrick Hoffman
Solvit Products, LP
6720 Exchange Drive
Mansfield, Texas 76063 USA
tel: 817-466-1999 x111
www.solvitproducts.com

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Pomegranate Juice

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The BBC today reported on a UCLA study that found drinking one 8 oz glass of pomegranate juice (punica granatum) per day can greatly slow down the growth of prostate cancer. I have confidence that the UCLA report is unbiased, but it bears mentioning that the research was funded by a food company which makes pomegranate juice.


It is a real shame that this stuff is so dogone expensive!


LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5132546.stm
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POM: http://www.pomwonderful.com/ -
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Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punica_granatum
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From Wikipedia:
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CULINARY USE: After opening the pomegranate by scoring it with a knife and breaking it open, the arils (seed casings) are separated from the skin (peel) and internal white supporting structures (pith and carpellary membrane). Separating the red arils can be simplified by performing this task in a bowl of water, whereby the arils will sink and the white structures will float to the top. The entire seed is consumed raw, though the fleshy outer portion of the seed is the part that is desired. The taste differs depending on the variety of pomegranate and its state of ripeness. It can be very sweet or it can be very sour or tangy, but most fruits lie somewhere in between, which is the characteristic taste, laced with notes of its tannin.
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Pomegranate juice is a popular drink in the Middle East, and is also used in Iranian and Indian cuisine; it began to be widely marketed in the United States in 2002 [12]. Fresh pomegranate arils are used in preparation of curd rice (Telugu: Dadhojanam) in Andhra Pradesh in India. Pomegranate concentrate is used in Syrian cuisine. Grenadine syrup is thickened and sweetened pomegranate juice; it is used in cocktail mixing. Before the tomato arrived in the Middle East, grenadine was widely used in many Persian foods; it can still be found in traditional recipes such as fesenjan (a thick sauce made from pomegranate juice and ground walnuts, usually spooned over duck or other poultry and rice) and ash-e anar (pomegranate soup) [13].
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Wild pomegranate seeds are sometimes used as a spice, known as anardana (which literally means pomegranate (anar) seeds (dana) in Persian), most notably in Indian and Pakistani cuisine but also as a replacement for pomegranate syrup in Persian and Middle Eastern cuisine. As a result of this, the dried whole seeds can often be obtained in ethnic markets. The seeds are separated from the flesh, dried for 10–15 days and used as an acidic agent for chutney and curry production. The seeds may also be ground in order to avoid seeds becoming stuck in the teeth when eating dishes prepared with them. The seeds of the wild pomegranate daru from the Himalayas is considered the highest quality source for this spice.
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In Armenia and the Caucasus, pomegranate (Armenian: nur) is used in a variety of ways, notably as pomegranate juice. [12] In Turkey pomegranate sauce, (Turkish: nar ekşisi) is used as a salad dressing, to marinate meat, or simply to drink straight. Pomegranate seeds are also used in salads, in Muhammara (Turkish Walnut Garlic Spread) and in Güllaç, a famous Turkish dessert. In Azerbaijan and Armenia, pomegranate is also used to make high-quality wine which is successfully exported to other countries.
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In Greece, pomegranate (Greek: ροδι, rodi) is used in many recipes; such as kollivozoumi, a creamy broth made from boiled wheat, pomegranates and raisins; legume salad with wheat and pomegranate; traditional Middle Eastern lamb kebabs with pomegranate glaze; pomegranate eggplant relish; avocado and pomegranate dip; are just some of the dishes it is used in culinary. Pomegranate is also made into a liqueur and popular fruit confectionery that can be used as ice cream topping, or mixed with yogurt, and even spread as jams over toast for breakfast.


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Grub Genocide

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I looked out the front storm door this afternoon to see a feast going on.

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The black birds have figured out how to find the grubs in my lawn, and there is mass killing going on.

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Clinton

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Hillary Clinton has brought out all the heavy hitters since Obama has Oprah Winfrey helping him.
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Senator Clinton has her daughter Chelsea with her. That is fine, many people wonder what has happened to the little girl. But for Hillary to bring her mother along with her campaigning... Sounds like desperation tactics to me.
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And where is her spouse? Banished to South Carolina.
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Waterboarding

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This interrogation techinique is torture. No doubt about it. Just look up the history of its use.
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The following is from Wikipedia:
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INTERNATIONAL LAW: All countries that are signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture have agreed they are subjected to the explicit prohibition on torture under any condition, and as such there exists no legal exception under this treaty. (The treaty states "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.") Additionally, signatories of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are bound to Article 5, which states, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
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UNITED STATES: In 1947, the United States prosecuted a Japanese military officer, Yukio Asano, for carrying out a form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II. Yukio Asano received a sentence of 15 years of hard labor. The charges of Violation of the Laws and Customs of War against Asano also included "beating using hands, fists, club; kicking; burning using cigarettes; strapping on a stretcher head downward."
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In its 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. Department of State formally recognized "submersion of the head in water" as torture in its examination of Tunisia's poor human rights record,[56] and critics of waterboarding draw parallels between the two techniques, citing the similar usage of water on the subject.

On September 6, 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense released a revised Army Field Manual entitled Human Intelligence Collector Operations that prohibits the use of waterboarding by U.S. military personnel. The department adopted the manual amid widespread criticism of U.S. handling of prisoners in the War on Terrorism, and prohibits other practices in addition to waterboarding. The revised manual applies only to U.S. military personnel, and as such does not apply to the practices of the CIA. However, under international law, violators of the laws of war are criminally liable under the command responsibility, and could still be prosecuted for war crimes.
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Fluorescent Diamonds

There is a section of the Natural History Museum in London called The Vault. It is a display of lot of precious minerals.

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--------------------------------------------------(click on the pictures and they will enlarge)

I find especially interesting the Aurora diamond collection. It is shown in both conventional light and with the diamonds fluorescing under UV light. About 10% of diamonds worldwide fluoresce under UV light. And the good news is that they fluoresce best under the easy to make long wave ultraviolet light.
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Link: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/galleries/green-zone/vault/
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CIA Destroys Interrogation Tapes

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The CIA has destroyed some video tapes showing prisoners being interrogated using extreme means. Some would say the CIA guys were using torture, and that the tapes were destroyed because the individuals involved feared future legal action.
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President Bush says he can't remember whether he was told about the tapes before they were destroyed or not. Based on past experience I have found that when a politicial says "I can't remember" he is frequently lying and covering his ass.
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Who do these guys think they are? The KGB? Or maybe the Gestapo?
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Didn't any of these guys attend a civics course in high school? They sure don't know the meaning of the word ethical. Or constitutional.
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Gun Laws

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On lots of issues one would classify me as liberal, or somewhat left wing, or as my partner in Europe used to say, a Friggin Commie. Liberal on social issues, left wing on foreign affairs, libertarian on other things, very leftist on environmental issues, and conservative fiscally. It just shows that people are complex beings, and cannot be classified using just one word.
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But on the issue of guns I fall squarely in the camp of the NRA and others who support the constitutional right of individuals to bear arms.
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Recently there was another horrible shooting in a mall in Omaha. This lunatic 19 year old stole a rifle from his step father and killed eight people so that he wouldn't be any bother and also so that he would be famous.
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In the American state of New Mexico anyone can legally carry a loaded pistol openly in a holster. In small towns it is common to see people standing in line at the bank who are armed. The state of Texas was allied with the confederacy during the civil war in the mid-1800's, and because of this the laws do not allow open carrying of guns in Texas. You need to go to school, pay a fee, and get a permit to carry a gun, and then it must be concealed, not worn out in the open.
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Criminals and lunatics will find a way to acquire guns. When the normal people are also armed the crazies have to think twice before committing their violent acts.
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I can assure you that if some looney young punk tried something crazy like this around a group of grumpy old men who were armed with concealed handguns, you can bet that he would have been stopped long before this screwed up punk finally commited suicide by shooting himself.
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LINK: http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2007/12/06/News/Gun-Advocates.Seek.OpenCarry.Policy-3135788.shtml

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Too Old To Die Young

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The wonderfully intelligent and funny Scottish comedian Billy Connolly kind of uses that as his trademark: Too Old To Die Young

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Neat phrase.

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Related Link: http://tinyurl.com/338ylh

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Morning Walk

Me and the little doggie had a nice walk this morning.----
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(click on the pictures and they will enlarge)


The Garmin wristwatch GPS I was wearing tells me that we went 1.49 miles, that we were gone 49 minutes and 49 seconds, and that considering my speed and the elevation we gained and lost, that I burned 177 calories. It is just a coincidence, I'm sure, but that is a lot of 49's. I guess it must be because I was born in '49.

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When we got home I just plugged the Garmin watch GPS into its cradle for recharging, and the computer automatically downloaded all the information from it. Including a new waypoint which I added today, our exact track this morning, and elevation. This information is then presented to you showing you on a map where you went. And also your speed, time, and elevation gain and loss, which is automatically graphed for you at the bottom.

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If you wish you can easily import the tracks and waypoints into the Garmin Map Source software just like with any of the GPSs, or you can import them directly into Google Earth.

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The waypoint I saved today is named SSHRDx4 because we found four more shards of ancient Indian pottery today. This little wrist watch GPS is so accurate that you can see on the Google Earth map that after I found the first 2 shards I wandered all around in the immediate area. You can also see that this one is in the northeast quadrant, and the north side of the dirt road named Brandywine Road.


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Candidates For President

Imagine that you are a member of the board of directors. It is your job to decide which person will get the job as the new chief executive officer of a large organization. This is a very serious matter. If you make a bad decision you can be sued, you may end up forfeiting all of your assets. Your children and grandchildren may be forced to serve in the military, in war time. They might even be killed.

So what are the most important things we should be looking for in the person trying to get this job?

LEADERSHIP--Has the candidate got a track record of being a leader; the type of person who people choose to follow. Not just a manager and certainly not a dictator, but the type of person who rises to the top because people like him, think he is an honest person, trust him to be fair, and have faith in his judgment.

HONESTY--Can you trust what this guy tells you? Does he have integrity? You only need to think about Richard Nixon or George W. Bush to see how vital this is.

INTELLIGENCE--Is this a smart person who has the ability to take in the available facts and then come to the proper decision? John F. Kennedy was a speed reader. George W. Bush doesn’t read books and has a terrible vocabulary.

If I were involved with making this decision I would be very suspicious of the honesty and intellectual integrity of any candidate who says they really do believe in the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, or Santa Claus. They have faith in them. True believers. Or that virgins can have babies, and that every word in the bible is the literal truth.

The leadership around the world is increasingly dominated by religious fanatics. Romney wants to roll back the separation of church and state and get religion actively involved. This takes him out as far as I am concerned.

Hillary Clinton has a good intellect, but her track record gives no indication that she is a natural leader. A lot of people have concerns about her honesty and integrity too.

From my perspective John McCain, Bill Richardson, and Barack Obama have the necessary qualifications.

Bicycle With Gasoline Help Motor

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Living in Holland I had a Toyota Prius, a Vespa scooter, and a full size bicycle with a 30 cc Help Motor. It was made by a German company and sold under the Saxonette brand. It ran fine and got outstanding fuel economy. You may be able to see the small trailer hitch on the very back of it. I had a bicycle trailer, and it was a nice combination when going to the market.

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I have been looking for something along this line since I returned to America early this year.

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Thanks to a friend I found one today in the WindJammer brand. It is roughly the same concept, but this one has the added advantage that it folds up. A nice feature, either for storing in the garage, or when taking it along on the road.

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It will go well with an aluminum bike trailer set up to carry my little black doggie Inu.

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Freedom of Speech

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Yesterday I posted a blog entry in which I described how I feel about organized religion in general, and some particular religions specifically, which are very negative and destructive.
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This morning I woke to find that there were 23,000 spam e-mails waiting for me. First time that has ever happened. I have to give my firewall and virus protection software credit because I only had to manually delete less than 20. This morning I downloaded the new virus definitions and I did a full system scan. The only thing it found was 14 tracking cookies, which I deleted.
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Was this just a coincidence? Maybe. It really might be, or it might be an attack by some nutter religious fanatic.
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One thing about America, with a bozo knucklehead like George W. Bush as president it is easy to focus only on the negatives and forget that we do actually have a lot of good protections built into our political system. Like the freedom of religion. The freedom to believe in one or to not believe all these outrageous and absurd stories. Fairy tale stories like a virgin having a little baby, a guy turning water into wine, or some fellow riding off to heaven on his horse launching from a big rock in Jerusalem.

Either way, as long as you are moderately polite about it, you are permitted to go whatever way you wish here in the land of the free and the brave.

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Link: http://paulgarland.blogspot.com/2006/06/true-believer-christians.html
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Fluorescent Rocks - Petrified Wood

Over the weekend the El Paso Mineral and Gem Society held its annual gem and mineral show. I am a member of this group and really enjoy being with them. Nice people. Their field trips are great.

It was a great show.

The nicest thing I got at the show is a large piece of opalized petrified wood. It was found years ago when the dam was being built south of the Hatch, New Mexico municipal airport.

The rock stands about 6-1/2 inches (17 cm) tall, so it is a nice size. A big piece, but not so large that it is unmanageable.

And when illuminated with short wave ultraviolet light the trace amounts of uranium in the silicon dioxide in it fluoresces a beautiful bright green.

This is a link to a high resolution copy of this same composite photo: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2214/2085162702_fee04e7c5c_o.jpg

The Profligate Republicans

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USA Today reported today that:
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute. What's that mean to you? It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.
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Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-12-03-debt_N.htm?csp=34
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Take the children and the retired old folks out of these statistics, and this number is even more shameful and outrageous. And in the span of just one Republican President's administration the U.S. Dollar has gone through the largest devaluation in the history of mankind.
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How dare the irresponsible, lying Republicans claim that they are the fiscally responsible political party? This is not truth in advertising.
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Organized Religion

The 54 year old British teacher Gillian Gibbons who was teaching in Sudan was accused, arrested, convicted, and jailed because she permitted her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Two Muslim members of the British parliament eventually flew to the Sudan and negotiated at length with the president of this backward little banana republic. Mrs. Gibbons had spent eight days in custody before he pardoned her.

I have taken the quotation below from the BBC website. It is intentionally taken slightly out of context, but the words clearly indicate what the majority of reasonable people around the world are thinking:

"Each time we have” events like this “then we have repercussions and people begin to feel that Islam has no place in modern society...”

After this event it should not be necessary for me to say any more about the absurdity of this particular religion, but apparently it is required. If one examines any of the most popular organized religions around the world one finds similar things which are terribly at odds with reality. Some organized religions are certainly worse than others, as demonstrated by this case.

It seems to me that the survival of organized religions requires that faith and irrationality win out over reason, facts, and truth. This intentional suspension of disbelief in the name of faith can result in very negative consequences.

When one talks about the founders of our country, or our common ideals, one tends to think of rather ignorant and stupid members of the right-wing. But it is not necessarily so. This story clearly illustrates the importance of separation of church and state. The COMPLETE separation. This important concept seems obvious to someone who grew up in America, but in most of the other countries around the world religion is intertwined with the workings of the government.

The dilemma is that these organized religions have been used pretty effectively to pass along to children some vital concepts. Treating people fairly, being honest, humility, the difference between right and wrong, etc. Think of the ten commandments in the bible.

When both parents work (if indeed there are 2 parents present as is becoming increasingly rare), and the children are raised largely by baby sitters, television, and the internet, without the benefit of any religious education, the kids tend to grow up amorally. No absurd religion, but also no philosophical belief system. Other than the philosophy of me, me, and me. Hedonism, self-gratification, and greed.

In many cases these people who grow up without the benefit of any religious belief later turn into discontented, dishonest, and immoral adults.

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An American colleague of mine who I worked with for many years in Europe, and who has since retired and is living in Italy responds:

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Dear Paul,

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Pretty good blog. That fat bitch needs to be in a diet clinic with a ton of Mohamed's.

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The Jews gave the world the ten commandments. Thats what Moses carried down from the mountain then broke up the first tablets because everyone was worshiping the golden cow during his absence.

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I had a long chat with a professor here last night and he said that Italy is about 99% nominally catholic as they killed all the Protestants and put the pressure on the Jews to convert. The Pope and his sidekicks are into some very heavy graft and have a big influence here. It's a big non-tax paying business.

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Anyway the desire for a spiritual hand hold seems to be built into our lymbic system and we all have to have some sort of ritual to survive. The Southwest Indian took peyote and sweated it out in a primitive sauna, the Jews eat Matzo balls and the Catholics eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus who was just a weird little crazy Rabbi so who knows what is right.

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Let go and let god!!

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XXXXXX

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