oenophile

Roy, you are right. Greed has brought us to where we are now with respect to healthcare. As a nation we pay more for healthcare than any other industrialized democracy on the planet. Healthcare costs account for 17 percent total gross national product. Compare that figure with France which spends only 11% of her GDP on healthcare. You would think that with that kind of outlay, Americans would be the healthiest people on the planet, wouldn't you? Yet, when you look at what we get for our money another sharply different picture emerges. Consider, these statistics compiled by the World Health Organization. A. Healthy Life Expectancy: 1. Japan 74.5 yrs 2. Australia 73.2 yrs 3. France 73.1 yrs 4. Sweden 73.0 yrs 5. Spain 72.8 yrs 24. United States 70.0 yrs B. Preventable Deaths (per 100,000 population) 1. France 65 2. Japan 71 2. Australia 71 4. Spain 74 4. Italy 74 14. United States 110 C. Infant Mortality (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) 1. Iceland 2.9 2. Singapore 3.0 3. Japan 3.2 4. Sweden 3.2 5. Norway 3.3 33. United States 6.3 What do you think about them apples?

Happy Birthday to my favorite Blonde Bombshell!!!

Just how did the Government cause the problem?

Here is a version done by Elis Regina, probably Brazil's best songstress. Sadly, as with Susannah McCorkle, we lost her, we lost her much too soon. Her passing was due to a drug overdose. Obviously, she struggled with her own demons. Yet, the joy with which she sung this song is unmistakable. We all struggle. Some of us struggle with unspeakable loads of sadness and a few of us have seriously considered unburdening ourselves of our mortal coils abruptly in order to find relief. One can only surmise what pushed Susannah and Elis over the brink. Yet, that does not negate the truth that within each of us there is that impulse to embrace what beauty, love and exhaltation may be found here.

Here you go Yangi. Maybe this will work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L-C2hZ8srg&feature=related

We all have had songs that draw us in and we really don't know why at least at first. One such song for me is Waters of March written by the Brazilian composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Probably you are more familiar with another of his more famous songs, The Girl from Ipanema. Just a few minutes ago, I was listening to it sung by Luciana Souza from her The New Bossa Nova CD and its meaning hit me like a ton of bricks. This after being a lover of Waters of March nearly my entire life! Waters of March A stick, a stone, It's the end of the road, It's the rest of a stump, It's a little alone It's a sliver of glass, It is life, it's the sun, It is night, it is death, It's a trap, it's a gun The oak when it blooms, A fox in the brush, A knot in the wood, The song of a thrush The wood of the wind, A cliff, a fall, A scratch, a lump, It is nothing at all It's the wind blowing free, It's the end of the slope, It's a beam, it's a void, It's a hunch, it's a hope And the river bank talks of the waters of March, It's the end of the strain, The joy in your heart The foot, the ground, The flesh and the bone, The beat of the road, A slingshot's stone A fish, a flash, A silvery glow, A fight, a bet, The range of a bow The bed of the well, The end of the line, The dismay in the face, It's a loss, it's a find A spear, a spike, A point, a nail, A drip, a drop, The end of the tale A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light, The shot of a gun in the dead of the night A mile, a must, A thrust, a bump, It's a girl, it's a rhyme, It's a cold, it's the mumps The plan of the house, The body in bed, And the car that got stuck, It's the mud, it's the mud Afloat, adrift, A flight, a wing, A hawk, a quail, The promise of spring And the riverbank talks of the waters of March, It's the promise of life It's the joy in your heart A stick, a stone, It's the end of the road It's the rest of a stump, It's a little alone A snake, a stick, It is John, it is Joe, It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe A point, a grain, A bee, a bite, A blink, a buzzard, A sudden stroke of night A pin, a needle, A sting, a pain, A snail, a riddle, A wasp, a stain A pass in the mountains, A horse and a mule, In the distance the shelves rode three shadows of blue And the riverbank talks of the waters of March, It's the promise of life in your heart, in your heart A stick, a stone, The end of the road, The rest of a stump, A lonesome road A sliver of glass, A life, the sun, A knife, a death, The end of the run And the riverbank talks of the waters of March, It's the end of all strain, It's the joy in your heart. Simple lyrics. Simple melody. Just streams of consciousness with very little to connect them together except the refrain: And the riverbank talks of the waters of March, (da dada da da) It's the joy in your heart. Joy may arise from within us and reflected back to us in some unusual forms and occasions, even as "a pain... a sting... a death..." or more often "as nothing at all." Yet joy that is in all of us needs no form or reason to be. It just is. So much of life is transitory, marked with impermanance, hills of elation and deep crevasses of woe. Yet the simple joy of being alive is with us always. If we are awake to what lessons life may teach, we will not be far from it.

TWI taught its minions to answer a question with a question because questions are what they feared most. In most cases (with a few exceptions such as slippery politicians) the one asking the questions is in control of the conversation because questions control the flow and focus of the conversation. Also, persistent questioning employing logic has a way of peering into the secret machinations of hierarchies that they would prefer to keep hidden.

Believersnonbeliever, I was married to a woman for 14 years who absolutely loathed TWI. She had taken the class because she was head over heels in love with me at the time. Right after she took the class she moved into a Way Home and quickly saw the hypocrisy such as Limb Coordinator sleeping with her housemates, the Way Home Coordinator undersheparding new people by getting under them in bed. In addition, when she brought her friends from school (she was attending optometry school at the time) to either study or just hang out, she was quickly informed that if they aren't there for the word then they aren't welcome. The final straw as far as TWI was concerned for her happened when she was kicked out of the house (after paying rent for everyone for the previous month because no one had their rent) by the BC Fester S***h. When we were finally married, we dealt with the elephant in the room with the understanding that I would not put pressure on her to get involved and she wouldn't nag me for doing TWI. So I think I can speak to your situation. Your GF is getting a lot of pressure to dump you right now, as you already know. She is also getting a lot of pressure in the form of questions that leave open the possibility that something is not right with her. TWI will do its damnedest to drive a wedge between you and her. She will be told that it is a sin to open her heart to you because you are not a standing believer. Puts a kind of chill on the tenderness of a relationship, doesn't it? I ABSOLUTELY would advise against going along to fellowships in order to save the relationship. You are like my former wife. You see TWI for what it is. You should stand your ground just like she did.

We referred to them as condo commandos in Florida.

What have I done with what I knew. Hmmm, maybe become a two-fold child of hell than they are themselves.

Suggesting that someone KILL their child!!! Let me reiterate that anyone who thinks that an atmosphere of breaking down personal boundaries did not exist is in wholesale denial and is furthermore a godamned idiot.

OMG, did that really happen?

yawnnnnnnnnn.....

Does that include believing the earth, sun and moon were made in six days? Does it matter that the Hubble Telescope has recorded the background noise of the Big Bang and that the age of the universe can be calculated at 14 billion years, give or take 500 million by the red shift of celestial bodies? Must we believe that Noah welcomed two of every animal no matter how small? Must we believe also believe that all the continents formed one mega-continent at the time of Noah even though at the rate of continental drift, no continent should be more than a couple of football fields from any other one today?

For me the true self emerges in one as one is ready to lay aside ego and its endless facades. Like the lotus, humans find themselves submerged in the mud of ignorance, selfishness and pride. As the lotus emerges from its dank surroundings, it becomes what many cultures consider a symbol of purity and truth. For me, its unfolding of petals is analogous to the process that people go through in shedding their provisional false identities until they are ready to stand naked and unabashed before all creation.

Happy Birthday Rascal.

Perhaps I was not clear enough. The article stated that the changes in the beaks was observable in the hatchlings after several years climate change.

O Shake for me baby, Let me be your backdoor man Gonna give you my love, every inch of my love Whole lotta love, Whole lotta love

Dualism is the school of thought that holds to the belief that two fundamental kinds or categories of things. Monism on the other hand holds the idea that there is only one thing. In theology, a dualist believes that there is both Good and Evil...God or the Devil in the world. One could argue that Judism, Christianity and Islam are dualistic religions. On the other hand, Buddhism is clearly a monist religion because it makes the claim that all is one.

*clink*

Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

It is interesting that you bring evolution up here. I read an article yesterday that relates to some of the ground finches that Darwin observed on the Galapagos. Scientists have observed the process of genetic mutation that is producing changes in the beaks of the birds to respond to changes available food sources (less nuts, more seeds) due to climatic changes. Environment has a role to play also.

Our heroes deserve more than a parade, picnic and a wreath laid at a memorial in Arlington. They deserve the best of our nation's bounty not crumbs and bureaucratic red tape. It is a national disgrace when pork barrel projects and bridges to nowhere take precedence over giving them their due. A veteran 60, 70, 80% or more disabled diserves more than just to live a smidge above the poverty line. A child who lost a father or mother deserves the best shot at living out the hopes and dreams that the fallen parent had for the child.

If what we were taught in PFAL is correct that the soul is merely "breath life" that perishes when the natural man dies, why have the resurrection of the unjust if only thereafter they are to die again after the Judgment? Does God have the need to rake them over the coals a little before extinguishing them again in the Lake of Fire? Could it be that He wants to have sinners recognize Him as God before He consigns them all to eternal death? Could it be that He intends to grant eternal life to some, most, if not all of them?

'Tis true, Geo. You are correct on both counts. It is a documented historical fact that Michelangelo was gay and as far as the devil being a female...I was married to her.