((((Big Tex)))))
((((Nina)))))
Felicitations to both of you. I enjoyed this thread. Although I don't believe in a god or goddess, I'm going to insert my loose belief system in here, just because I enjoy it so much.
I've been interested in Zen for the past few years and have reached such a pleasant place with it. It's a great comfort and actually helps me a lot in daily dealings with people, children, etc. Btw, the term for a meditator and loose believer in the whole philosophy is "Zennist," I think.
Anyway, I "believe" in reincarnation almost in the way I believe in Santa Claus. It's fun, enjoyable, harmless, and comforting. The idea there may be a universal spirit and it survives death and goes on to another life is wonderful. I've even had two dreams of what seemed so realistic to me to indicate they were memories of past lives.
What I've gotten away from is the dogmatic, almost-mathematic, approach to spiritualism. Ha, a great bumper sticker I see every day is: My karma ran over your dogma. And it's true for me. There's no need to convert anyone, it's a wonderful idea that we can live over and over again.
There's also little oddities that seem to fit in: such as, of course, deja vu; also, when you meet someone and feel a deep affinity for them (even one of your children seem especially close sometime)--this could be that you've lived in a relationship with them in other lives; the fact that there IS a part of you that observes what your "mind" is thinking--who is this observer? The Zen answer is that it's the universal spirit that is ever-living; and my own observation is that many people dream at times that they're flying--who's to say this doesn't come from a time when we lived as birds?
Anyway, I've fallen in love with Zen Buddhism and practice it almost every day. In the past, people at work were difficult for me to get along with at times. Now, it's more that I live in the Now and past events (even just a minute or two ago) are PAST and don't exist and don't trouble me. Of course, that's the ideal.
Some of my favorite books are:
"Happiness" by Zen monk, Matthieu Ricard
books by Charlotte Joko Beck
"The Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman (& his others)
And many many more.
Namaste, (meaning loosely "the divine in me recognizes the divine in you")
Pat
patio34
JoinedPosts by patio34
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84
Sincere Question to Anyone who Believes in God
by Big Tex inlately it's occurred to me that one day i will die.
being raised in a cult that teaches you, you will live forever without dying will warp perspectives.
and i've been working hard on coming to terms with that realization, and it's becoming more and more okay.
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patio34
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262
Global Warming Hysteria
by metatron inhttp://cjunk.blogspot.com/2007/02/quacks-cranks-and-junk-science.html.
are global warming skeptics really just cranks?
i don't doubt that we are having some effect on .
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patio34
DEAR people, After being gone from here, I see things are pretty much the same! After several pages of this, the effort put into it is impressive. Unfortunately, it seems the educational, informational, political, and reasonableness level of the broad spectrum of people precludes reasonable & calm discussions. I do miss the posts of people like Abaddon, Hillary Step, AlanF, Seeker4, and many others. But, alas, it's not worth wading thru the often-inflammatory posts. Too bad, because polite discussion could be a useful tool. All the best, Pat
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89
Post your favorite saying
by Scully ini was just pondering how the wts has, for over a century, been able to convince people to do what is contrary to their best interests with fear tactics that armageddon is coming soon, and i came up with what is going to be my pet phrase for a while:.
"only religion has the power to compel people to embrace sheer stupidity in the name of faith.
" ~ scully, december 28, 2006. i googled it, and didn't see that anyone else has claimed it, so until someone else finds an attribution for it, i'm claiming it as my own.
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patio34
"I'd rather have questions I can't answer than questions I can't ask (or answers I can't question." From someone on this board about 5 years ago and she passed away, but I can't remember . . . oh yeah, it just came back: Jan Groenveld.
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4
Bugging you (cute cartoon video)
by MsMcDucket inmake sure that you have your sound turned up!.
http://img.tapuz.co.il/forums/8572800.swf.
.
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patio34
THAT was charming! I loved it and passed it on. Thanks.
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79
Sad news - Our friend Larc
by Angharad insome of you may remember larc and zazuwitts, who used to post here regularly.. .
i heard from zazu today that sadly larc passed away this morning.
he died peacefully in his sleep of heart failure.
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patio34
Dear Zazu,
My sincere condolences to hear of this. Larc was an incredible, unique human being and was well-loved on this board. Both of you were one of the first ones I "met" thru this.
Love,
Pat
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37
Breast Cancer
by simplesally inlumpectomy or mastectomy???.
outnfree and i chose differently.
i know the doctors gave me the survival rates................the same.
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patio34
I couldn't live with an eventual 15% recurrance rate (which means your rate increases to a maximum of 15%, one percent per yer) versus a maximum of 2%. --Sally
Dear Sally,
I'm sorry you have this to deal with! I met you in Torrance a few years ago and saw your beautiful daughter too. You stated the above, and I don't think I would have any different opinion than that. I've been thru cancer too and it's best to give it all you/they have, imo.
All the best,
Pat
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Police shoots 5 armed looters that ambushed Rescue team
by Gerard insometimes violence is granted in order to stop violence.
new orleans (ap) police shot and killed at least five people sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said.
deputy police chief w.j.
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patio34
"Sarcasm" at Wikipedia:
It was described as "the lowest form of wit" by Oscar Wilde. In 1983, Leonard Rossiter published a book titled The Lowest Form of Wit (ISBN 0722175132) which includes the history of sarcasm, rules of sarcasm, and many sarcastic comments (some of which are questionable) by notable individuals.
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2 Police Commit Suicide...Very Sad
by ISP inkatrina aftermath taking toll on police suicides, resignations hit new orleans police department
sunday, september 4, 2005; posted: 10:13 p.m. edt (02:13 gmt)
new orleans deputy police chief w.j.
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patio34
Hi ISP,
It brought to my mind the scene from Titanic where one of the officers of the ship shot himself in the head after having shot someone else. Sad, sad, sad.
"What's affected most of our officers is they don't know where their wives or kids are. They don't have homes. ... They don't have anything,"
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2
Hurricane Katrina---Any blame?
by patio34 inthis is from meet the press with tim russert yesterday: .
mr. russert: and we are back.
jefferson parish president broussard, let me start with you.
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patio34
Thanks TonyT for that. I copied some of the text and highlighted some. It's certainly food for thought. I don't know if it can ever be clearcut, but maybe so.
Tim Russert and the Blame Game
The media would have you believe that this disaster was worsened by a slow response from President Bush and his administration, though the primary responsibility for disaster response has always been with local and state governments.
It is true that federal response was not as fast as it could have been. The president himself has acknowledged that fact.
But the press has focused on the first 48 hours of federal response, not uttering a word about the fact that New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet local officials apparently did little to prepare.
Obviously, Gov. Blanco did not effectively deploy her state's National Guard.
And New Orleans' city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their own evacuation plan, these officials did little to pre-position food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.
I was surprised Sunday to watch Tim Russert, on his show "Meet the Press," tear into Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. During his encounter with Chertoff, Russert did not suggest once that local government had any role in dealing with the disaster. Russert also asked for Chertoff's resignation.
It wasn't until after the first 29 minutes of his show – 29 minutes – that Russert raised the question of local responsibility. And when he did so with Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, he did so in a passing way. Broussard brushed off his question with a non-answer.
Broussard began his interview claiming that the nation had "abandoned" New Orleans.
That is nonsense and a lie.
Broussard, who was never identified by "Meet the Press" as a Democrat, spent much of his time attacking the Bush administration, as has Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Broussard then ended his performance as he collapsed in tears with a demand: "For God's sake, just shut up and send us somebody!"
His tears didn't wash with me. My sympathies lie with the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat, failed monumentally at their jobs.
As former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told Russert, the disaster in New Orleans was "foreseeable."
In fact, New Orleans has long known that such a disaster could take place if a major hurricane hit the city.
The municipality even prepared its own "City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan."
The plan makes it evident that New Orleans knew that evacuation of the civilian population was the primary responsibility of the city – not the federal government.
The city plan acknowledges its responsibility in the document:
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Hurricane Katrina---Any blame?
by patio34 inthis is from meet the press with tim russert yesterday: .
mr. russert: and we are back.
jefferson parish president broussard, let me start with you.
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patio34
This is from Meet the Press with Tim Russert yesterday:
MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.
Jefferson Parish President Broussard , let me start with you. You just heard the director of Homeland Security's explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country . Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in
It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support . It needs to be a Cabinet-level director . It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around . FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like , with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.
We need strong leadership at the top of right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Broussard, let me ask--I want to ask--should...
MR. BROUSSARD: You know, just some quick examples...
MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of and the governor of bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?
MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.
Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water . FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. " FEMA says don't give you the fuel. " Yesterday--yesterday-- FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if --American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.
But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done and all her leadership. She sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the canal that the secretary didn't foresee, a 300-foot breach. I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levee board people. It took us two and a half days working 24/7. I just closed it.MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...
MR. RUSSERT: All right.
MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.
MR. RUSSERT: Just take a pause, Mr. President. (This was as the man was crying L )