Is Easter really about the resurrection of the body or the eternal
nature of the soul? One of the most crucial beliefs in mainstream
Christianity is the resurrection of the body of Jesus. A careful read of
the bible can offer a different interpretation. Virtually every
encounter, from that of Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday to that of Jesus
with the disciples on the road, begins with a person who is a "stranger"
who is afterward determine to be Jesus. These accounts would be
consistent with Jesus as a spiritual entity communicating through the
body of another.

And what of us? Are we going to be spirits living in heaven with God or
are the bodies of the righteous going to come up out of the ground and
be active again? There is also, of course a third possibility; the
spirit comes back in a new body (reincarnation). Personally, if I have
to come back in a body, I would prefer a new one. I don't want to look
like a zombie. Seriously, to me it makes no difference if his body rose
up or not. I believe he experienced, taught and demonstrated the reality
of the spiritual realm. That we all have this divine birthright and the
ability to access this purer level of existence is, in my mind, what we
celebrate on Easter. May we all be channels for love. Peace be with you.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I know, some of you think that we are nothing more than a bunch of "Cheechs &
Chongs", but if you want to know why we fight so hard to end this destructive
cannabis prohibition, read what is happening to this patient. Her story is just
1 in a million being played out TODAY across our great nation, while you, who
are supposed to represent us and serve us, ignore us and our sufferings. Do you
honestly believe that you are our mommys & daddys who know what is best for us??
Or, do you let your personal views of cannabis get in the way??
   I say,"SHAME ON YOU" and may God forgive your lack of compassion for your
fellow man/woman!!
   And please spare me your "boiler-plate" answers about bills introduced cause
we already know about them!!

   Patient wrote:
   High All,
    Hoping you had a great Easter weekend and enjoyed the Hash Bash. I had a good
time with friends and family. Allthough I missed my extended "phamily" huge!
   Just thought I'd send out a quick update regarding my current situation with
the court system. I still have yet to be given a court date, 50 + days and
counting. Still have yet to select jury, as I am fighting every ridiculous
charge they think they need to place on me. I do however have a great lawyer and
sincerly believe he is on my side.
   As I sit here, my left lower half is numbing and my ADDICTIVE legally
alternatives fail to kick in at the rate I NEED! 15 days out now and I have gone
from 1 pill a day to minimum of 12.
   Funny how my panic attacks,nerve misfires, fibro pains,depression and back
spasms returned within 5 days of no Mother Nature.  Oh, and don't forget the
physical therapy I start tomorrow! It is supposed to miraculously help me regain
strenght and muscle control. What a crock! I told my lawyer I'll remain quiet
until after this crap is over, but then.........WE"RE ON!
   Loving you all and missing the truth in this world.

   Peace Forward, Traci
   --------------------------end report--------------------



Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
The fish are biting.
  Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

What else would you expect from Rev. Steve besides cannabis issues?? A little
humor a day keeps the gloom away!!


   EVEN GOD ENJOYS A GOOD LAUGH
>
>There were 3 good arguments that
>Jesus was Black:
>1. He called everyone brother.
>2. He liked Gospel.
>3. He couldn't get a fair trial .
>
>But then there were equally-good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
>1. He went into His Father's business.
>2. He lived at home until he was 33.
>3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was
God.
>
>
>But then there were 3 equally-good
>arguments that Jesus was Italian:
>1. He talked with His hands.
>2. He had wine with His meals.
>3. He used olive oil.
>
>But then there were 3 equally-good
>arguments that Jesus was a Californian:
>1. He never cut His hair.
>2. He walked around barefoot all the time.
>3. He started a new religion.
>
>But then there were 3 equally-good arguments that Jesus was an American
>Indian:
>1. He was at peace with nature.
>2. He ate a lot of fish.
>3. He talked about the Great Spirit.
>
>But then there were 3 equally-good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
>1. He never got married.
>2. He was always telling stories.
>3. He loved green pastures.
>
>But the most compelling evidence of all - 3 suggestions that Jesus was
a
>woman:
>1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.
>2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just
didn't
>get it.
>3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was work
to
>do.



Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Michael Moore video clip & other info suggest what made Cho and other young
people kill classmates et al - at this site: www.drugawareness.org/home.html.

There are similar coverups in dentistry. Hidden tooth infections and metal
poisoning from dental treatments may cause many diseases:
http://curezone.com/dental.

Oil mouth rinsing is a cheap effective way to end such infections and poisoning.
I found this out with my own health problems. Olive oil can be used. Put a
teaspoonful in your mouth and swish it back and forth over the teeth for ten
minutes a day. Health improvements become apparent within a few days or weeks
for most people.

According to my analysis of the Curezone survey on oil pulling at
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=847384#i,
here are the benefits and side-effects you can expect if you try oil pulling, if
you're like the average survey taker. [Kids and adults are encouraged to do an
experiment and take the survey at www.freewebs.com/soyps.]

THE GREAT MAJORITY, 75% OF 111 PEOPLE, HAD NO APPARENT SIDE-EFFECTS FROM O.P. IN
1 TO 3 MONTHS OF USE

A MINORITY, 23%, HAD SOME POSSIBLE O.P. SIDE-EFFECTS
The main possible side-effects reported were:
__Acne 6%; __Tooth pain 5%; __Dry Skin, Allergy 4%;
__Headache, Gum Problems, Eczema, Cystic Acne, Bad Breath 2%

62.5% REPORTED HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS FROM O.P. IN 1 TO 3 MONTHS

HERE ARE THE MAIN SYMPTOMS THAT WERE IMPROVED:
__[21 of 65] Teeth color; __[17 "] Gums, Gingivitis; __[15 "] Dry Skin;
__[12 "] Plaque; __[10 "] Fatigue, Exhaustion; __[10 "] Bad breath;
__[9 "] Gum Disease - Periodontitis; __[9 "] Allergies; __[9 "] Clearness;
__[8 "] Tooth Pain; __[8 "] Teeth texture; __[7 "] Skin quality;
__[7 "] Tongue, coated; __[7 "] Bloating; __[6 "] Constipation;
__[6 "] Brain Fog; __[5 "] Acne; __[4 "] Acne Blackheads;
__[4 "] Dark circles under eyes; __[4 "] Anxiety; __[4 "] Depression;
__[4 "] Headache, occasional; __[3 "] Back Pain; __[3 "] Candida;
__[3 "] Mood Swings; __[3 "] Keratosis Pilaris [a skin condition];
[65 of 104 = 62.5%] is Total % of survey people with improvements;

15% THINK ONE OR MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS WERE CURED
HERE ARE THE MAIN CONDITIONS THEY THINK WERE CURED:
4 Gums, swollen or bleeding; 3 Acne; 2 Tooth pain;
2 Brain Fog; 2 Constipation; 2 Allergies; 1 several others.


---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TO MY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES,

UCLA's Donald Tashkin has theorized this to be why he has not seen lung
cancer develop in heavy cannabis smokers.

You can read more about the anti-cancer properties of cannabinoids here:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7008

and here:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6814

   The only time that I go to my doctor is once every 5 years for a complete
physical. I am due for one this year, turning 60 in November. At 55, my lungs
were completely clear, and I was given a clean bill of health, and told by my
doctor to keep using cannabis!

    Being one fourth Native American Cherokee, the tobacco plant is as sacred to
me as the cannabis plant, and I consume 5-6 rolled cigarettes made from organic
"Natural American Spirit" tobacco per day. My intake of cannabis varies
depending on how much physical work I do in a day that causes some pain &
discomfort, but I have used it for 42 years now. I do not use man-made drugs of
any kind!

    So the following report is really no new news to me, but in light of it, I
have to wonder just how much longer we responsible,adult cannabis consumers must
suffer prohibition, and be treated like criminals!! Shame on all of you who
treat us this way, and allow it to continue!!

   With All Sincerity,
   Rev. Steve


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Marijuana Compound May Fight Lung Cancer
April 17, 2007 at 10:33:01 PT
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter
Source: HealthDay

USA -- While smoking marijuana is never good for the lungs, the active
ingredient in pot may help fight lung cancer, new research shows.

Harvard University researchers have found that, in both laboratory and mouse
studies, delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cuts tumor growth in half in
common lung cancer while impeding the cancer's ability to spread.

The compound "seems to have a suppressive effect on certain lines of cancer
cells," explained Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill
Hospital in New York City.

According to the researchers, THC fights lung cancer by curbing epidermal
growth factor (EGF), a molecule that promotes the growth and spread of
particularly aggressive non-small cell lung cancers. "It seems to go to
(EGF) receptor sites on cells and inhibit growth," said Horovitz, who was
not involved in the study.

The findings are preliminary, however, and other outside experts urged
caution.

"It's an interesting laboratory study (but) you have to have enough
additional animal studies to make sure the effect is reproducible and to
make sure that there are no overt toxic effects," said Dr. Norman Edelman,
chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. "It's a little more
than tantalizing because it's a compound that we know has been in humans and
has not caused major problems."

The findings were to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Los Angeles.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the world. Lung tumors that
over-produce the EGF receptor tend to be extra-aggressive and don't respond
well to chemotherapy.

THC is the main active ingredient of Cannabis sativa --marijuana. It has
been shown to inhibit tumor growth in cancer, but specific information on
its action against lung cancer has so far been limited.

In the new study, the researchers first showed that two different lung
cancer lines, as well as samples from patient lung tumors, produced the
cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2.

Endocannabinoids -- cannabinoids produced naturally in the body -- are
thought to have an effect on pain, anxiety and inflammation when they bind
to cannabinoid receptors.

Next, the researchers injected standard doses of THC into mice implanted
with human lung cancer cells. After three weeks of treatment, tumors shrank
by about 50 percent in animals treated with THC, compared to those in an
untreated control group, the researchers reported.

The findings may shed light on a question that has been puzzling Horovitz:
Why hasn't there been a spike in lung cancer in the generation that smoked a
lot of marijuana in the 1960s.

"I find it fascinating, wondering if the reasons we're not seeing this spike
is that THC inhibits lung cancer cells," he said. "It would be very ironic,
although you certainly wouldn't tell somebody who smoked cigarettes to add
marijuana."

A second set of findings presented at AACR suggested that a viral-based gene
therapy could target both primary and distant tumors, while ignoring healthy
cells.

When injected into 15 mice with prostate cancer, this "smart bomb" therapy
eliminated all signs of cancer -- effectively curing the rodents.
Researchers at Columbia University, in New York City, said the therapy also
worked in animals with breast cancer and melanomas.

And in a third hopeful trial reported at the meeting, German researchers at
University Children's Hospital, in Ulm, said they've used measles viruses to
treat brain tumors. In mouse experiments, the virus attached to the tumor
from the inside out, the team said.
-------------------------------end report-----------------------------




Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I do not often reply to this forum, but this time I must. I am the director of
one of the top cardiopulmonary departments in the country. As a professional in
pulmonary care I must tell you there are worst things to live with than just
lung cancer. There is a very high number of marijuana smokers with COPD (chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease). This includes emphysema, bronchitis, asthma and
a few others. While the chemicals contained in grass could potentially offer
benefits, the smoke contains the same harmful components as tobacco or for that
matter exhaust fumes. There is a higher concentration of nitric oxide and nitric
dioxide in the smoke than in bus exhaust. I think it should be legalized but not
on the basis of fighting cancer. Since we spend millions trying to but not
controlling the sale of grass, it make economic and medical sense ( for ca
patients). But you are not improving the health of your lungs by taking a good
toke! COPD is one of the biggest killers in the USA. Smoking anything is
harmful.

Rev. Jaclyn Jones, MS, RRT, RCP



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I'm composing a book-dvd on how young people can survive, thrive in and help
turn around a decaying society. I want teens and young adults [and anyone else
interested] to help compose it and help promote it.
.
I want the dvd to have some original music and art along with the print. It
would be a learning experience for all involved and profits would be shared
proportionally. It might get some people started on fun careers.
.
I've written 3 books in recent years, but didn't sell many. So I know how to
write and edit, but not yet how to promote. But I don't want to work
independently; I'd rather work with a congenial group.
.
If interested, contact me at LKINDR @ yahoo.com [Remove spaces]. Thanks!



---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dear Michael,
    Virginia Tech and all you folks there are in our thoughts & prayers here in
Michigan!! You all have our upmost,deepest sympathy.

Michael Krawitz <miguet@...> wrote:
   Address messages for this group to 'affiliates@...'

---



<>


Dear friends, colleagues and associates,
By now I am sure you have heard about the events that transpired at Virginia
Tech on Monday. You may not know that I am still considered a Virginia Tech
student out on medical leave.

At Virginia Tech we have an active SSDP chapter and a partially
inactive NORML chapter. To my knowledge none of our membership
has been wounded or killed. Will keep you informed. If you know anything
please let me know ASAP.

Briefly, the facts of the incident:
A student carried out a seemingly impromptu but well imagined and
well practiced
shooting spree on Virginia Tech campus. Before turning the gun on himself the
student successfully murdered 32 students. The student was South Korean.
The guns, [9mm and 22mm], were purchased legally. The student was
reported to Tech police
over a year ago by a teacher for his violent writings. The student
shot two people
before 8 am and then the rest after a couple of hours at another
location on campus. The
Tech campus police issued a one line warning to students by email
after the first murders thinking
it was a domestic dispute. The majority of students that were shot,
apparently at
random, were shot while attending classes. Several professors were
shot and or killed.
One professor gunned down was a survivor of the Holocaust. The building
where the students were murdered is now shut down for the year.

I apologize for the delay in this email. Number one I am in shock. Number
two, most of the Roanoke Valley has been in a state of [storm] emergency and
without power, my house included, for days.

Being right here right now is very strange. I just flicked through the channels
on the TV and every single channel with the ability to do so is
presenting their entire news show from Virginia Tech. There are
enough satellite
trucks on campus to give everyone in my neighborhood free satellite reception.
It is kinda like a new kind of atom bomb went off. A bomb that killed
33 people in
Virginia but was felt all the way in South Korea.

For the record I haven't heard any parents or survivors blame the guns. They
blame the shooter and consider it an isolated incident. The Virginia Tech
community is awesome and is really pulling together. President Bush and
Governor Kaine were here I haven't witnessed any sloganeering. The governor
made strong statements against anyone who would use this incident
to further an agenda. The British Prime Minister even recorded and sent his
condolences. There has been only one mention of drugs and that was
a reference [I caught in passing] of a media personality who blamed all of
this on antidepressants.

Over the last ten years I have held dozens of events at Virginia Tech, some
with attendance of 3000+ and never have I had to deal with any problems.
Virginia Tech, and the beautiful area between the Appalachian Trail and
the Blue Ridge Parkway where Virginia Tech is nestled has been my little
secret for many years it is sad that the rest of the world would come to
know it as the home of the greatest campus murder tragedy in history.

The students murdered at Virginia Tech were from all walks of life and like
most all of the students at Tech were remarkable young people striving
for a better tomorrow. They are being mourned and are still being identified.

I feel like I will wake up and this will have been one of those dreams that
seemed to make sense but soon after you awake seemed impossible
and absurd but then I think this is not going to change..

MichaelK
Virginia, USA


###################################################









Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

From the desk of Rev.Steve,with love on 420,

   “Who wants Cannabis relegalized?”
   “Oh, we do! We do!”
   “And who will help me post flyers for a relegalization event,and attend?”
   “Uh, I have to wash my car.”
   “And who will write letters to the editor to urge a change in public
thinking?”
   “Uh, I have to mow the lawn”
   “And who will help me write legislation to stop prohibition?”
   “Uh, I have to go watch the grocery truck unload”
   “And who will help me smoke legal Cannabis?”
   “Oh, we will, we will!”

   It is time to get rid of the little red hens, so don't be one!!!! Make a
committment this 420 to be involved in helping to end Cannabis Prohibition!!


Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

You seem to have smoked a few too many.  I truly believe that
your "medical" agenda is just a way to try and appear to be a
legitimate advocate of legalization.  Unfortunately, aligning with a
religous organization to legalize your use demeans those of us who are
here for a different reason.  I just don't see this group as an
appropriate forum for your goals.

Personally, I find you highly offensive, but that's just me.  To openly
flaunt the laws of this country leads me to wonder just what your next
agenda will be, legal child pornography if it is computer generated,
legalization of spousal abuse if done in the home and causes no lasting
injuries?  Sorry, but you're just a sorry excuse for a wanna be
minister.

Wow. I'm impressed. I am personally way too busy fighting injustice to get
worked up enough to find a proponant of medical marijuana to be "highly
offensive."

I do find religious people who come knocking on my door trying to bully me into
joining their faith to be "highly offensive," however. I find religions the deny
m medical treatment to sick members "highly offensive." I find religions that
tell women that they are inferior to men, tell gays and bisexuals that they are
inferior to straights, tell those of us with dark skin that we are inferior to
those of us with light skin all "highly offensive." And I certainly find a
supposedly religious president who considers all opposition to his single-minded
dedication to international bloodshed and mayhem to be "highly offensive." I
find the shrugging aside of 600,000 dead Iraqis to be "highly offensive." I find
five years of lies and the dismantalling of the Constitution to be "highly
offensive." I find three months added to a 12 month tour of a war zone to be
"highly offensive." I find the Real ID program, the US PATRIOT Act, and Gitmo
Bay to be "highly offensive..." And I find drug prohibition, especially when
justified by lies and distortions, to be "highly offensive."

I find religion used to make people smaller, weaker, less empowered, and
frightened of themselves, one another, their own government, and their own
natural rights to be "highly offensive."

But medical marijuana or, for that matter, pot as recreational substance? Sorry.
I've got bigger fish to fry. I don't attend temperance meetings of any sort, to
be honest. My body, my choice on so many levels. The government already has too
much power and religion has helped make it that way. One of the reasons I opted
for the ULC was because it gives people a wider range of options and
acknowledges that what is sacred varies from person to person.

I work professionally in the adult entertainment industry. Your "what next?
Computer generated child porn!?" response is a common one when people
uncomfortable with responsible autonomy are faced with behavior or subject
matter that triggers their own discomfort. To compare smoking marijuana for
medicinal or personal recreation purposes to the forcing of sexual behavior upon
minors (real or fake) says to me that you can't argue your point rationally and
must resort to hyperbole and hysteria. The two have nothing to do with one
another. It's like comparing apples and wheelbarrows. The issue of computer
generated child "porn" is a complex one, far greater than the simple human right
to ingest any of the plants of the earth. Spousal abuse is absolutely
inappropriate as a comparison, as well -- because it involves the genuine
removal of consent from another person and the forcible and violent imposition
of one's will upon another. How does that compare to a wheelchair bound MS
patient smoking a joint so they can control their body's movements a bit better?
How does it compare to two friends smoking a joint while listening to music and
sharing coversation? It DOESN'T. That's how.

Personally, I say Screw Religion. It's gotten this world into nothing but
trouble. I view religion as being a different animal from spirit, spirituality,
reverance, or the "divine" (however we define that). Religion is the construct,
the form, the frame and it often gets caught up in maintaining order instead of
nurturing growth. Religion has often promoted laws that we today declare
immoral, including slavery, child abuse, spousal abuse, racism, and religious
intolerance. My moral compass does not require a structure in order to be sound.

Theresa
(Stepping away from the soapbox)


   ----- Original Message -----
   From: beeble736
   To: Universal_Life_Church@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 6:09 AM
   Subject: [Universal_Life_Church] Re: The "Little Red Hen Syndrome!"


   You seem to have smoked a few too many. I truly believe that
   your "medical" agenda is just a way to try and appear to be a
   legitimate advocate of legalization. Unfortunately, aligning with a
   religous organization to legalize your use demeans those of us who are
   here for a different reason. I just don't see this group as an
   appropriate forum for your goals.

   Personally, I find you highly offensive, but that's just me. To openly
   flaunt the laws of this country leads me to wonder just what your next
   agenda will be, legal child pornography if it is computer generated,
   legalization of spousal abuse if done in the home and causes no lasting
   injuries? Sorry, but you're just a sorry excuse for a wanna be
   minister.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Effective Action Against Codex
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=853055#i or
http://curezone.com/forums/top50.asp.
IAHF is the International Advocates for Health Freedom [www.iahf.com]
.
IAHF COMMENTS ON [2 false flag health organizations] Natural Solutions
Foundation [NSF] and Citizens for Health [CFH], [which] were created [by big
drug companies] to attempt to DIVERT the [public's] grass roots AWAY from the
message of IAHF and allied organizations [for effective action against Codex and
for health freedom].
.
[Codex, a creation of the big drug companies, is trying globally to limit public
access to nutritional products, because the latter compete with their profitable
junk drugs.] The purpose of NSF's & CFH's spin is to deceive vitamin consumers
into thinking it is possible to stop Codex AT CODEX and to divert people from
pressuring Congress into holding an OVERSIGHT HEARING on the FDA's Illegal
Trilateral Cooperation Charter with Canada and Mexico. This FDA move is part of
an effort [by drug companies] to force the USA into a planned North American
Union [that makes Codex the law].
.
[So talk to Congress, not to the FDA or Codex or other bureaucrats, who only
listen to big business.]
.
The biggest vitamin companies [in the drug-company-]dominated Vitamin Trade
Associations [want Codex as a means to reduce competition from smaller nutrition
companies].
.
[NSF & CFH promote the WTO]. Since when has the WTO been concerned with
scientific honesty? The Natural Solutions Foundation and Citizens for Health
cannot supply us with any evidence that the WTO's highly biased Dispute
Settlement Panels have EVER based their decision-making on sound science.
.
Lori Wallach, JD, Director of the Global Trade Watch Division of Public Citizen,
however, has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that the WTO
has ruled against the [US public] in 42 out of 48 cases, including EVERY case
impacting our environmental and public health laws (Testimony of Lori Wallach,
JD, Director  of the Global Trade Watch division of Public Citizen before the
House Ways & Means Committee May 17,05
http://www.citizen.org/documents/Wallach%205.17.2005.pdf )
.
Given the total non-transparency [secrecy] of these [Dispute Settlement Panels]
and the fact that they don't follow US rules of evidence [designed to prevent
bias and fraud], given that the WTO has never given a private citizen standing
to appear before a Dispute panel to provide testimony, given that the WTO has
even made unfair, unethical rulings against STATE laws, on what BELIEVABLE,
FACTUAL BASIS do the Natural Solutions Foundation & Citizens for Health continue
to maintain that a nation adopting the "International Dietary Supplement Act"
model legislation [which includes Codex] would be exempt from the imposition of
WTO trade sanctions?



---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I was just wondering....does this "bit of truth" highly offend you,beeble736??

lloyd kinder <lkindr@...> wrote:          Effective Action Against Codex
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=853055#i or
http://curezone.com/forums/top50.asp.
IAHF is the International Advocates for Health Freedom [www.iahf.com]
.
IAHF COMMENTS ON [2 false flag health organizations] Natural Solutions
Foundation [NSF] and Citizens for Health [CFH], [which] were created [by big
drug companies] to attempt to DIVERT the [public's] grass roots AWAY from the
message of IAHF and allied organizations [for effective action against Codex and
for health freedom].
.
[Codex, a creation of the big drug companies, is trying globally to limit public
access to nutritional products, because the latter compete with their profitable
junk drugs.] The purpose of NSF's & CFH's spin is to deceive vitamin consumers
into thinking it is possible to stop Codex AT CODEX and to divert people from
pressuring Congress into holding an OVERSIGHT HEARING on the FDA's Illegal
Trilateral Cooperation Charter with Canada and Mexico. This FDA move is part of
an effort [by drug companies] to force the USA into a planned North American
Union [that makes Codex the law].
.
[So talk to Congress, not to the FDA or Codex or other bureaucrats, who only
listen to big business.]
.
The biggest vitamin companies [in the drug-company-]dominated Vitamin Trade
Associations [want Codex as a means to reduce competition from smaller nutrition
companies].
.
[NSF & CFH promote the WTO]. Since when has the WTO been concerned with
scientific honesty? The Natural Solutions Foundation and Citizens for Health
cannot supply us with any evidence that the WTO's highly biased Dispute
Settlement Panels have EVER based their decision-making on sound science.
.
Lori Wallach, JD, Director of the Global Trade Watch Division of Public Citizen,
however, has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that the WTO
has ruled against the [US public] in 42 out of 48 cases, including EVERY case
impacting our environmental and public health laws (Testimony of Lori Wallach,
JD, Director of the Global Trade Watch division of Public Citizen before the
House Ways & Means Committee May 17,05
http://www.citizen.org/documents/Wallach%205.17.2005.pdf )
.
Given the total non-transparency [secrecy] of these [Dispute Settlement Panels]
and the fact that they don't follow US rules of evidence [designed to prevent
bias and fraud], given that the WTO has never given a private citizen standing
to appear before a Dispute panel to provide testimony, given that the WTO has
even made unfair, unethical rulings against STATE laws, on what BELIEVABLE,
FACTUAL BASIS do the Natural Solutions Foundation & Citizens for Health continue
to maintain that a nation adopting the "International Dietary Supplement Act"
model legislation [which includes Codex] would be exempt from the imposition of
WTO trade sanctions?

---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

You are truely an intelligent & passionate person...thank you,Theresa. And just
for the record...the Jesus that I believe in didn't like religion either!!

Darklady <darklady@...> wrote:
Wow. I'm impressed. I am personally way too busy fighting injustice to get
worked up enough to find a proponant of medical marijuana to be "highly
offensive."

I do find religious people who come knocking on my door trying to bully me into
joining their faith to be "highly offensive," however. I find religions the deny
m medical treatment to sick members "highly offensive." I find religions that
tell women that they are inferior to men, tell gays and bisexuals that they are
inferior to straights, tell those of us with dark skin that we are inferior to
those of us with light skin all "highly offensive." And I certainly find a
supposedly religious president who considers all opposition to his single-minded
dedication to international bloodshed and mayhem to be "highly offensive." I
find the shrugging aside of 600,000 dead Iraqis to be "highly offensive." I find
five years of lies and the dismantalling of the Constitution to be "highly
offensive." I find three months added to a 12 month tour of a war zone to be
"highly offensive." I find the Real ID program, the US PATRIOT Act, and Gitmo
Bay to be "highly offensive..." And I find
  drug prohibition, especially when justified by lies and distortions, to be
"highly offensive."

I find religion used to make people smaller, weaker, less empowered, and
frightened of themselves, one another, their own government, and their own
natural rights to be "highly offensive."

But medical marijuana or, for that matter, pot as recreational substance? Sorry.
I've got bigger fish to fry. I don't attend temperance meetings of any sort, to
be honest. My body, my choice on so many levels. The government already has too
much power and religion has helped make it that way. One of the reasons I opted
for the ULC was because it gives people a wider range of options and
acknowledges that what is sacred varies from person to person.

I work professionally in the adult entertainment industry. Your "what next?
Computer generated child porn!?" response is a common one when people
uncomfortable with responsible autonomy are faced with behavior or subject
matter that triggers their own discomfort. To compare smoking marijuana for
medicinal or personal recreation purposes to the forcing of sexual behavior upon
minors (real or fake) says to me that you can't argue your point rationally and
must resort to hyperbole and hysteria. The two have nothing to do with one
another. It's like comparing apples and wheelbarrows. The issue of computer
generated child "porn" is a complex one, far greater than the simple human right
to ingest any of the plants of the earth. Spousal abuse is absolutely
inappropriate as a comparison, as well -- because it involves the genuine
removal of consent from another person and the forcible and violent imposition
of one's will upon another. How does that compare to a wheelchair bound MS
  patient smoking a joint so they can control their body's movements a bit
better? How does it compare to two friends smoking a joint while listening to
music and sharing coversation? It DOESN'T. That's how.

Personally, I say Screw Religion. It's gotten this world into nothing but
trouble. I view religion as being a different animal from spirit, spirituality,
reverance, or the "divine" (however we define that). Religion is the construct,
the form, the frame and it often gets caught up in maintaining order instead of
nurturing growth. Religion has often promoted laws that we today declare
immoral, including slavery, child abuse, spousal abuse, racism, and religious
intolerance. My moral compass does not require a structure in order to be sound.

Theresa
(Stepping away from the soapbox)

----- Original Message -----
From: beeble736
To: Universal_Life_Church@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 6:09 AM
Subject: [Universal_Life_Church] Re: The "Little Red Hen Syndrome!"

You seem to have smoked a few too many. I truly believe that
your "medical" agenda is just a way to try and appear to be a
legitimate advocate of legalization. Unfortunately, aligning with a
religous organization to legalize your use demeans those of us who are
here for a different reason. I just don't see this group as an
appropriate forum for your goals.

Personally, I find you highly offensive, but that's just me. To openly
flaunt the laws of this country leads me to wonder just what your next
agenda will be, legal child pornography if it is computer generated,
legalization of spousal abuse if done in the home and causes no lasting
injuries? Sorry, but you're just a sorry excuse for a wanna be
minister.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I haven't smoked nearly enough yet!! At first, I was gonna ignore this, but feel
compelled to answer 1 thing. "Wanna be minister??" ONLY GOD knows my heart...not
you,beeble736, or anyone else for that matter!! We're a team...me & God...and I
love Jesus dearly!!
   Thank you, beeble736 for sharing your opinion as you serve & love your god!!
   And thank you, ULC for having us both!!

beeble736 <beeble736@...> wrote:
           You seem to have smoked a few too many. I truly believe that
your "medical" agenda is just a way to try and appear to be a
legitimate advocate of legalization. Unfortunately, aligning with a
religous organization to legalize your use demeans those of us who are
here for a different reason. I just don't see this group as an
appropriate forum for your goals.

Personally, I find you highly offensive, but that's just me. To openly
flaunt the laws of this country leads me to wonder just what your next
agenda will be, legal child pornography if it is computer generated,
legalization of spousal abuse if done in the home and causes no lasting
injuries? Sorry, but you're just a sorry excuse for a wanna be
minister.






Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

my cousin is a drug addict . has lost his job house and family because
of drugs . trying to kick the habit .always loks like he could be high
all thetime

my cousin is a drug addict . has lost his job house and family because
of drugs . trying to kick the habit .always loks like he could be high
all thetime

We know this to be true, that the world is composed, not only of black
and white (with shades of grey between), but also by the many spectral
hues of the rainbow. It is the rainbow which spans the gap, bridging
polarities, adding color and richness to life. People, like plants,
rocks, and everything else in nature, are birthed in a diversity of
styles. Diversity is our strength. Polarization is our weakness. Those
who seek to divide the world into good and evil, male and female,
right and left, emphasize weakness. Their day is soon passing. The
uniqueness of each individual is nature's way of creating stable and
sustainable ecosystems.

Brothers and Sisters of Bohemia understand, accept, and praise the
virtues of the Rainbow Way. We are no longer confined to one side of
the chasm or the other. We're walking, skipping, and dancing our way
across the bridge we are building together. We are actively
constructing a better reality than that offered by the dualistic
mentality which proclaims the superiority of Us over Them. Our task is
to bring the polarities together peacefully, without explosion. This
can be accomplished with love.

Love is not weakness. Love is strength. It is easy to be lazy and fall
into the polarizing programs offered by corporate controlled media,
consumer product manufacturers, and corrupt political cohorts. People
give up their individuality in order fit into brand-identified
subcultures. It is a simple matter to we swallowed by a crowd, to
become part of a mindless mob. That's exactly what the polarizing
powers program people to do: choose a side, compete for prizes,
support a team, wear the proper costume, and buy the props. Someone is
getting rich in the process and most likely it is not you. Divide and
conquer is the root of the oldest military game in town. Dehumanize
the enemy so you can plunder their riches and rape their virgins. All
we need to do is go along with the official script, do our grunt jobs
without complaint, be on time, and kill the enemy when ordered to do
so. The Brothers and Sisters of Bohemia do not choose the easy way.
Bridge building is hard work. We are up to it because we have integrity.

Integrity is that which holds one together and imparts soul. Bohemians
have soul. Soulful acts endure beyond death so we are not afraid to
die. We have courage, honor, and respect for ourselves and each other
and for all the rays of the rainbow. As bridge builders we look beyond
opposing viewpoints. We realize that we are all Spokes in the Wheel of
Life, sharing a common center as well as a unique perspective out here
on the rim of the universe. We are connected in so many amazing ways,
interdependent, linked by nature. What is done to one is done to the
whole. It's a small world after all. We whole heartedly choose to be a
part of the solution rather than a part of the polarity problem -
because we understand that soul is something shared. Soul does not
belong to one person to the exclusion of another. The Rainbow Way is
inclusive. Light and dark are welcome in Bohemia - for they are the
two sides of the chasm we are bridging, pillars of the Sacred Temple
upon which material reality is founded.

We're putting a puzzle together in Bohemia. Each of us is,
potentially, an important piece in a larger picture. As Brothers and
Sisters of Bohemia, we are yearning to meet the surrounding pieces we
are made to fit into. As it is within, so it is without. We cannot
find mates outside without also putting ourselves together inside. The
doctrine of programmed polarization tells us that we can be this or
that but not both. Nature deems it otherwise. We're composed of  a
combination of colors. One cannot leave a color out of the rainbow
without sacrificing integrity and becoming less than a whole soul.
Wholeness within is reflected without. Please put your personal puzzle
pieces together, create balance, become the entire spectrum, so your
wholeness will fit in with mine. In fact, since every part affects
every other part, I make it easier on you by putting myself together
and vice versa. Do this with love and our bridge will soon be complete
and the chasm between polarities will be no more.

Come out of the closet into the twilight where the shades of grey
merge into rainbows. You can do that in Bohemia. It's a practice
stage, carefully set, where you can try out various characters, wear a
wide variety of rainbow oriented costumes, safely and securely -
because, as Brothers and Sisters of Bohemia, we are all each other's
keepers, protectors, supporters, and caregivers in our joint journey
over the bridge we are cooperatively building between the competing
factions created by the great dividers who, without the unifying
influence of the Bohemian Brother/Sisterhood, would surely lead
humanity to it`s doom.

Let's not root for either side as they seek to destroy each other. Let
us nurture our construction project. If you need help doing so, please
ask for help and thank those who do by helping someone else when they
need it. That's what we're all here for - incarnate in the material
world. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to make a bit of magic
in your life. So, let's get on with it.

Bohemia Social Club is a magic theatre. The Bohemian stage is perfect
for creative improvisation. We'll help facilitate the play but we
won't often direct it. We might suggest a play theme or point out a
common thread to follow. It is futile for a few people to script the
future for everyone else. We would rather have a wild and crazy
mixture of confused characters than a bunch of confirmed clones
following a sadistic director's orders. Out of confusion, facilitated
by improvised interaction, clear and focused characters may unfold.
Feel free to take a peaceful part of yourself and play it out.

Tired of playing a bouncing brainless bimbo bowing to your master's
dominating whim? Feel free to be a rebellious lesbian dyke or a
Mistress with the upper hand. Reverse the roles. Sick of being
typecast into another one of those stressful "nothing can harm me"
macho man roles? Step out of the programmed stereotype. Dare to relax
in a skirt. Be the bi slut you always wanted to be. Permission is
granted to mutate. Some folks find a study of the various god/desses
of world mythology to be helpful when choosing an archetypical
character. Princesses can shift into Priestesses. Princes can
transform into Pucks and Pans. Faerie is a wonderful world populated
with fauns and fey folk and the wise witches and wizards who protect
them. Cross over into faerie if you wish. The Brothers and Sisters of
Bohemia are behind you, playing supporting roles as you let your star
shine!

Take a walk on the wild side. Gender blended shamans make great
rainbow bridge designers and decorators because they partake of and
can identify with both sides of duality. Divine Androgynes merge the
polarized worlds into One. Remember, the primary objective is to play
out parts of your personality in order to get in touch with repressed
sides of one's whole self. Any character is permissible in Bohemia as
long as it (and you) remain peaceful, respectful of others, and
non-violent. All acts between players must be consensual, agreed upon
by all characters concerned. Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you.  From that basis, play until your heart is content and your
fantasies are fulfilled.

Love is the Law - Everyone is a star!
Jade Dragon (aka: Terry the TODE*)
*Tindome Orendil Dor Elda
personal contact:
aeonarc@...
networking:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bohemiaclub

Hello,

I was just alerted to this article from the mainstream media, which I
found to be very helpful and useful reading.

Thought to share it with all of you with whom I share an interest in
these explorations.

Thanks,
Petros
_________


From:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/world/americas/07theology.html?_r=1&oref=slogi\
n


May 7, 2007
As Pope Heads to Brazil, a Rival Theology Persists
By LARRY ROHTER

SĂO PAULO, Brazil, May 2 — In the early 1980s, when Pope John Paul II
wanted to clamp down on what he considered a dangerous,
Marxist-inspired movement in the Roman Catholic Church, liberation
theology, he turned to a trusted aide: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Now Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI, and when he arrives here
on Wednesday for his first pastoral visit to Latin America he may be
surprised at what he finds. Liberation theology, which he once called
"a fundamental threat to the faith of the church," persists as an
active, even defiant force in Latin America, home to nearly half the
world's one billion Roman Catholics.

Over the past 25 years, even as the Vatican moved to silence the
clerical theorists of liberation theology and the church fortified its
conservative hierarchy, the social and economic ills the movement
highlighted have worsened. In recent years, the politics of the region
have also drifted leftward, giving the movement's demand that the
church embrace "a preferential option for the poor" new impetus and
credibility.

Today some 80,000 "base communities," as the grass-roots building
blocks of liberation theology are called, operate in Brazil, the
world's most populous Roman Catholic nation, and nearly one million
"Bible circles" meet regularly to read and discuss scripture from the
viewpoint of the theology of liberation.

During Benedict's five-day visit here, he is scheduled to meet with
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, canonize a saint, preach to the
faithful and visit a drug treatment center before addressing the
opening session of a conference of Latin American bishops that will
discuss the future of the church in the region where liberation
theology originated, prospered and drew so much of his censure. Some
liberation theology supporters will be present, others will be at a
parallel meeting, and all have been cautioned not to be too aggressive
in pressing their views.

In the past, adherents stood firm as death squads made scores of
martyrs to the movement, ranging from Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero
of El Salvador, killed in 1980 while celebrating Mass, to Dorothy Mae
Stang, an American-born nun shot to death in the Brazilian Amazon in
February 2005. Compared to that, the pressures of the Vatican are
nothing to fear, they maintain.

"Despite everything, we continue to endure in a kind of subterranean
way," said Luiz Antonio Rodrigues dos Santos, a 55-year-old teacher
active in the movement for nearly 30 years. "Let Rome and the critics
say what they want; we simply persevere in our work with the poor and
the oppressed."

On a cool and cloudy Saturday morning in late April, evidence of the
movement's vitality was plain to see. Representatives of 50 base
communities gathered at the St. Paul the Apostle Church on the east
side of this sprawling city, in an area of humble workers' residences
and squatter slums.

With four priests present, readings from the Bible alternated with
more worldly concerns: criticisms of government proposals to reduce
pensions and workers' rights under the Brazilian labor code. The
service ended with the Lord's Prayer and then a hymn.

"In the land of mankind, conceived of as a pyramid, there are few at
the top, and many at the bottom," the congregation sang. "In the land
of mankind, those at the top crush those at the bottom. Oh, people of
the poor, people subjected to domination, what are you doing just
standing there? The world of mankind has to be changed, so arise
people, don't stand still."

Afterward, discussion turned to other social problems, chief among
them a lack of proper sanitation. A representative of the left-wing
Workers' Party discussed strategies to press the government to
complete a sewer project. Congregants agreed to organize a campaign to
lobby for it.

In other areas here, liberation theology advocates have strong links
to labor unions. At a May 1 Mass to commemorate International Labor
Day, they draped a wooden cross with black banners labeled
"imperialism" and "privatization" and applauded when the homily
criticized the government's "neoliberal" economic policies, the kind
Washington supports.

"We believe in merging the questions of faith and social action," said
Valmir Resende dos Santos, a liberation disciple who brings base
communities and labor groups together in the industrial suburbs here.
"We advise groups and social movements, mobilize the unemployed, and
work with unions and parties, always from a perspective based on the
Gospel."

Since liberation theology first emerged in the 1960s, it has
consistently mixed politics and religion. Adherents have often been
active in labor unions and left-wing political parties and criticized
governments they complain are beholden to modern-day Pharisees.

Supporters see that activism as a necessary virtue to answer the needs
of the poor. Opponents say it dangerously insinuates the church into
the temporal, political realm, and in recent years they have
repeatedly announced the movement's decline or disappearance.

Some of the distinctions in this debate are finely drawn. John Paul
II's reach extended into human rights and politics, as he discouraged
abortion and divorce and encouraged fellow Poles and other Europeans
to reject Communism. He is widely credited with helping to bring about
the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.

That, some say, differs from the direct, class-oriented political
activism embraced by liberation theology. Cardinal Ratzinger once
called the movement a "fusing of the Bible's view of history with
Marxist dialectics," and other critics complain of what they see as
its emphasis on direct collective action in Jesus' name over
individual faith.

As John Paul II put it early in his papacy: "This conception of Christ
as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth,
does not tally with the church's catechism."

Certainly at the upper levels of the church hierarchy, liberation
theology has been forced into retreat. Bishops and cardinals who
supported and protected the movement in the 1970s and 1980s have
either died or retired, succeeded by clerics openly hostile to such
communities and the values they espouse.

"Base communities can only thrive in areas where there are bishops to
encourage them," said Margaret Hebblethwaite, a British religious
writer whose books include "Base Communities: An Introduction" and
"The Next Pope." "If you take away the support of the bishop, it
becomes very difficult for them to get anywhere."

But the movement remains especially active in the poorest areas like
the Amazon, the hinterlands of northeast Brazil and on the outskirts
of large urban centers like this one, the largest in Brazil, with
nearly 20 million people in the metropolitan area. Hoping to draw less
attention and opprobrium to themselves, some of these groups simply
say they are engaged in a "social pastorate."

Sparring between liberation theologians and Benedict — whose own
theology was formed in reaction to the reach of Nazi ideology — has
been long and bitter. In 1984, as the Vatican official charged with
supervising questions of faith and doctrine, he declared that "the
theology of liberation is a singular heresy."

More recently, he said, "it seems to me we need not theology of
liberation, but theology of martyrdom," and argued that the movement
will become a valid theology "only when it refuses to accept power and
worldly logic" and instead emphasizes "inner liberty." But that was
when his job was to carry out John Paul's orders, and there is
speculation here that his views may have softened somewhat.

That helps explain some of the theological maneuvering that has been
going on in Latin America recently.

At the behest of conservatives, the Vatican has imposed sanctions on
the liberation theologians Gustavo Gutiérrez of Peru, Leonardo Boff of
Brazil and, most recently, Jon Sobrino of El Salvador, a Jesuit born
in Spain. But when the Vatican admonished Father Sobrino, in March,
Pedro Casaldáliga of Brazil, one of the bishops most committed to
liberation theology, wrote an open letter calling on the church to
reaffirm its "real commitment to the service of God's poor" and "the
link between faith and politics."

That drew a sharp rebuke from Felipe Aquino, a conservative theologian
whose views are often broadcast on Catholic radio stations here. "In
spite of having received the Vatican's cordial warning, you continue
to be incorrigible, poisoning the people with the theology of
liberation, which, as Ratzinger noted, annihilates the true faith and
subverts the gospel of salvation," he wrote.

At a news conference here on April 27, the newly appointed archbishop
of Săo Paulo, Odilo Scherer, 57, tried to conciliate the two opposing
viewpoints. While he criticized liberation theology for using "Marxism
as a tool of analysis," he also praised liberation theologians for
redirecting the church's mission here to focus on issues of social
injustice and poverty.

He also argued that the movement was in decline. Adherents, however,
are less sure.

"The force of Latin America's harsh social reality is stronger than
Rome's ideology, so the theology of liberation still has a great deal
of vitality," Mr. Boff, a former Franciscan friar who left the clergy
in 1992, argued in a recent interview. "It is true it doesn't have the
visibility it once had and is not as controversial as it once was, but
it is very much alive and well."

* * *

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the petition: "Protest a Stolen Election &
Persecution of Rev. Pinkney"...I was #247.

Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in
signing the petition. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a
difference. We are trying to reach 1,000 signatures - please sign here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/624471377

Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and
family to sign as well.

Thank you!





                         Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
   6215 Smeltzer Rd.
   Benzonia,MI 49616
   (231) 882-9721

   GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
   GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants
throughout the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had
made,and it was excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"














---------------------------------
Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

THE QUICKER WAY TO END PROHIBITION!!

   I Dont Care What The Judge Says!

A Story On Jury Nullification

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/24518.html#
by Joel Turtel

"Look, Mr. Straun, John, can I call you John? We've been at this for 25 days.
We're all sick of this. We all want to go home. You're the only one left. You're
the one keeping us here. I got things to do at home. I got to go to work and
make a living. All of us do. The judge is mad as hell at us. You're going to
hang this jury. You're going to make this three-month trial into a farce and
waste of time. You have no right to vote acquittal. You heard the judge's
instructions. The jury is not allowed to judge the law, only the facts."

"The fact are clear as day, aren't they?" Dillard ranted. "You even admitted
that to us. The guy was found with marijuana in his car. That's against the law.
And the guy admitted the marijuana was his. What more do you need?" said Raymond
Dillard, the jury foreman. Raymond Dillard was tall, beefy, in his 30's, and he
was getting mad, so mad he wanted to beat John Straun's head in.

Straun was a small, slim man in his 30's, with a straight back, dark brown hair,
large, steady eyes, and a firm mouth. He seemed not to care at all about all the
trouble he was causing. And he seemed to be fearless.

John Straun said, "I don't care what the judge said. I happen to know for a fact
that a jury has the right to judge the law. Jury nullification has a long
history in this country. A jury has the right to judge the law, not just the
facts."

Raymond Dillard and a few other jurors sneered. Dillard said, "Oh, are you a
lawyer, Mr. Straun? You think you know more than the judge? What history are you
talking about?"

John Straun said calmly, "No, I'm not a lawyer. I'm an engineer. But in this
particular case, I do know more than the judge. When I found out I was going to
be on this jury, I did a little research about the history of juries, just for
the hell of it. Most people don't know this, but jury nullification has been
upheld as a sacred legal principal in English common law for 1000 years. Alfred
the Great, a great English king a thousand years ago, hung several of his own
judges because they removed jurors who refused to convict and replaced these
courageous jurors with other jurors they could intimidate into convicting the
defendant on trial."

"Jury nullification also goes back to the very beginning of our country, as one
of the crucial rights our Founding Fathers wanted to protect. Our Founding
Fathers wanted juries to be the final bulwark against tyrannical government
laws. That's why they emphasized the right to a jury trial in three of the first
ten amendments to the Constitution. John Adams, second President of the United
States, Thomas Jefferson, third President and author of the Declaration of
Independence, John Jay, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and
Alexander Hamilton, First Secretary of the Treasury all flatly stated that
juries have the right and duty to judge not only the facts in a case, but also
the law, according to their conscience."

"Not only that, more recent court decisions have reaffirmed this right. In 1969,
in "US. vs. Moylan," the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of
juries to judge the law in a case. In 1972, the Washington, D.C. Court of
Appeals upheld the same principal."

Raymond Dillard said, "Yeah, if that's the case, how come the judge didn't tell
us this?"

"That's because of the despicable Supreme Court decision in "Sparf and Hansen
vs. The United States in 1895." John Straun said. "That decision said juries
have the right to judge the law, but that a judge doesn't have to inform juries
of this right. Cute, huh? And guess what happened after this decision? Judges
stopped telling juries about their rights."

"The judge knows about jury nullification. All judges do. But they hate letting
juries decide the law. They hate juries taking power away from them. That's why
judges never mention a jury's right to judge the law, and most judges squash
defense attorneys from saying anything about it in court. Remember when Jimmy
Saunders' defense lawyer started talking about it? The judge threatened him with
contempt if he didn't shut up about jury nullification."

"And since you asked me," Straun continued, "I'll tell you a little more about
jury nullification. Did you ever hear of the Fugitive Slave Act? Did you ever
hear of Prohibition? Do you know why those despicable laws were repealed?
Because juries were so outraged over those laws that they consistently refused
to convict people who violated them. They refused to convict because they knew
that these laws were unjust and tyrannical, that Congress had no right making
these laws in the first place. So, because juries wouldn't convict, the
government couldn't make these laws stick. They tried for many years, but
finally gave up."

"What do you think this mad War on Drugs is that we've been fighting the last
sixty years? It's the same as Prohibition in the 20's. It's the same principle.
A tyrannical government is telling people that they can't take drugs, just like
in the 20's they said people couldn't drink liquor. What's the difference? A
tyrannical law is telling people what they can or can't put in their own bodies.
Who owns our bodies, us or the self-righteous politicians? Does the government
own your body, Mr. Dillard? Do you smoke, Mr. Dillard? Do you drink beer?"

Dillard nodded his head, "Yeah, I do."

"Well, how would you like it if they passed laws telling you that can't smoke or
drink a beer anymore. Would you like that, Mr. Dillard?"

Dillard looked at John Straun, thought about the question, then admitted, "No, I
wouldn't, Straun."

John Straun turned to the others around the table. "You, Jack, you said you're
sixty-five years old. You like to play golf, right? What if they passed a law
saying anyone over sixty-five can't play golf because the exercise might give
him a heart attack? You, Frank, you said you eat hamburgers at McDougals all the
time. What if they passed a law saying fatty hamburgers give people heart
attacks, so we're closing down all the McDougal restaurants in the country, and
they make eating a hamburger a criminal offence? You, Mrs. Pelchat, I see you
like to smoke. Everyone knows that smoking can give you lung cancer. How would
you like it if they passed a law banning all cigarettes? What if they could
crash in the door of your house without a warrant to search for cigarettes in
your house, like the SWAT teams do now, looking for drugs? Mrs. Pelchat, how
would you like to be on trial like Jimmy Saunders because they found a pack of
cigarettes you hid under your mattress?"

"Do you all see what I mean? If they can make it a crime for Jimmy Saunders to
smoke marijuana, why can't they make golf, hamburgers, and cigarettes a crime?
If you think they wouldn't try, think again. They had Prohibition in the 20's
for almost ten years, till they finally gave up. The only reason they haven't
banned cigarettes is because there are thirty million cigarette smokers in this
country who would scream bloody murder. They get away with making marijuana and
other drugs illegal only because drug-users are a small minority in this
country. Drug users don't have any political clout."

Raymond Dillard sat down in his chair. The others started talking among
themselves. John Straun started seeing heads nodding in agreement, thinking
about what he had said.

"OK, Straun," Dillard said. "Maybe you're right. Maybe Jimmy Saunders shouldn't
go to jail for smoking marijuana. Hell, probably most of us tried the stuff when
we were young. Clinton said he smoked marijuana in college. Bush said he tried
drugs in college. Probably half of Congress and their kids took drugs one time
or another. O.K. we agree with you. But what about the judge. He said we can't
judge the law."

John Straun stood up. He was not a tall man, but he stood very straight, and he
looked very sure of himself. He looked from one to another of them.

He said, "If you agree with me, then I ask you all to vote for acquittal. You
are not only defending Jimmy Saunders' liberty, but your own. You are fighting a
tyrannical law that is enforced by a judge who wants the power to control you. I
told you that many juries like us in the past have disregarded the judge's
instructions. They stood up for liberty against a tyrannical law. Are you
Americans here? What do you va!ue more, your liberty, your pride as free men, or
the instructions of a judge who doesn't want you to judge the law precisely
because he knows you'll find the law unjust? Will you stand with those juries
who defended our liberty in the past, or will you give in to this judge?"

"Here's another thing to think about," John Straun said with passion. "What if
it was your sister or brother on trial here? Do you know that if we say Saunders
is guilty, the judge has to send him to prison for twenty years? I understand
this is Saunders third possession charge. You know the "three strikes and you're
out" rule, don't you? The politicians passed a law that if a guy gets convicted
three times on possession, the judge now has no leeway in sentencing. He has to
give the poor guy twenty years in prison. What if it were your sister or brother
on trial? Should they go to jail for smoking marijuana, for doing something that
should not be a crime in the first place? Do we want to send Jimmy Saunders to
prison for twenty years because he smoked a joint, hurting no one? Can you have
that on your conscience?"

"Do you know that there are almost a million guys like Jimmy Saunders in federal
prisons right now, as we speak, for this same so-called "crime" of smoking
marijuana or taking other drugs? These men were sent to prison for mere
possession. They harmed no one but themselves when they took drugs. How can you
have a crime without a victim? When does this horror stop? It has got to stop.
I'm asking you all now to stop it right here, at least for Jimmy Saunders. The
only thing that can stop tyrannical laws and politicians is you and me, juries
like us. If we do nothing, we're lost, the country is lost."

"I'm asking you all to bring in a not-guilty verdict, because the drug laws are
unjust and a moral obscenity. I'm asking you all be the kind of Americans our
Founding Fathers would have been proud of, these same men who fought for your
liberty. That's what I'm asking of all of you."

John Straun sat down and looked quietly at Dillard and all the others around the
table. They looked back at him, and it seemed that their backs began to
straighten up, and they no longer complained about going home. They were quiet.
Then they talked passionately amongst each other.

Fifteen minutes later, they walked into the courtroom and sat down in the jury
box. When the judge asked Raymond Dillard what the verdict was, he was stunned
when Dillard, standing tall, looking straight at the judge, said "Not guilty."
Over the angry rantings of the red-faced judge, all in the jury box looked
calmly at John Straun, and felt proud to be an American.



Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"
















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"The Relief Campaign for Nahr el Bared in Lebanon"
http://english-cyprus.indymedia.org/mod/comments/display/2184/index.php

Parent article:
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and here:
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Petros
_________

hello, i will begin about a discussion on the Caino's handbag, that
we will see on the european tv SKY.TV at the beginning of the 2008.
Kind regards

New entry at the MOSA,  Art and Science: CAINO'S HANDBAG – HUMAN
CLONED SKIN-I.

ART AND SCIENCE: A NEW PARTNERSHIP

ANDREA TOMASI

CAINO'S HANDBAG – HUMAN CLONED SKIN-I.

  SAATCHI GALLERY

  http://mediasite.de/cainobag


According to the words of Kofi Annan, "ARTISTS HAVE A SPECIAL ROLE TO
PLAY IN THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR PEACE. ART OPEN NEW DOORS FOR
LEARNING, UNDERSTANDING AND PEACE AMONG PEOPLE" "I believe that
dialogue is an opportunity for people coming from different cultures
and traditions to get to know each other better, whether they live at
the opposite ends of the world or wheter they live in the same street"


TG Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of installations (new
media arts: science - art) by Andrea Tomasi. Opening concurrently at
SAATCHI GALLERY (Europe) and TG GALLERY (USA), Andrea Tomasi: CAINO'S
HANDBAG – HUMAN CLONED SKIN – I. is the artist's first exhibition in
London over a decade. In these works, Tomasi expands on the iconic
motif of the HandBag as a symbol of the beauty and inherent fragility
of life, reaching new heights of complexity, refined detail and
radiance.

To receive an invite please email mailto:ulc.advisor-at-gmail.com
giving your name and address.
All images available for viewing on our website from opening date

- Series 1: Caino's HandBag – Human Cloned Skin-I.
- Series 2: Caino's HandBag – White
- Series 3:Caino's HandBag – Black
- Serie 4: Caino's HandBag – Kamikaze Bag
- Serie 5: Caino's HandBag – White & Black
- Serie 6: Caino's HandBag – With Barbered Wire
- Serie 7: Caino's HandBag – With Chains
- Serie 8: Caino's HandBag – Exposed To Fire
- Serie 9: Caino's HandBag - With A Bar Code
- Serie 10: Caino's HandBag – With A Bullet Hole
- Serie 11: Caino's HandBag – Torn By A Blade
- Serie 12: Caino's HandBag – Minotaur's Bag
- Serie 13: Cainos' HandBag – With a Cross
- Serie 14: Caino's HandBag – With Piercing
- Serie 15: Caino's HandBag – With Money
- Serie 16: Caino's HandBag – With A Diamond Necklace
- Serie 17: Caino's HandBag – With a Fashion Tie
- Serie 18: Caino's HandBag – With An Exclamation Point


Throughout his work over the last ten years, Tomasi has taken a
direct and challenging approach to ideas about existence. His work
provokes a critical dialogue by calling into question our awareness
and convinctions about the boundaries that separate desire and fear,
life and death, reason and faith, love and hate. In his art Tomasi
uses the tools of science (human cloned skin – I.) and religion,
creating installations whose beauty and intensity offer the viewer
insight into art that transcends our familiar understanding of those
domains.


For inspiration and ideas:

The Saatchi Gallery, www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk ; The Australian
Accademy of Science, http://www.science.org.au/reports/clone.pdf ;
Arts Catalyst, www.artscatalyst.org.uk since 1993 has worked
nationally and internationally to promote undertanding and
cooperation between the arts and the sciences – a driving interest is
to extend the practice of artists engaging with scientific processes,
facilities and technologies in order to reveal and illuminate the
social, political and cultural contexts that brought them into being;
National Endowment for Science, www.Nesta.org.uk ; Arts Council of
England, www.artscouncil.org.uk ; Science Museum,
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk ; The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
www.gulbenkian.org.uk ; Institute of Contemporary Arts,
www.ica.org.uk ; The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,
www.msim.org.uk ;The Wellcome Trust, www.wellcome.ac.uk
www.sciart.org.uk ; University of Wisconsin-Madison, www.wisc.edu ;
The Serpentine Gallery, www.serpentinegallery.org ; Rena Bransten
Gallery, S. Francisco, www.renabranstengallery.com .

http://www.richardkamler.org/seeingpeace/intro.html

Art is our one true global language. It knows no nation. It favors no
race. It acknowledges no class. It speaks to our need to heal, reveal
and transform. It transcends our ordinary lives and lets us imagine
what is possible. It creates a dialogue between individuals, and
communication between communities. It allows us to see and to listen
to each other.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/science-briefing-sheet-23-sci-art-
jun03.doc

There has been in recent years an intriguing and important
development in worldwide culture. Exhibition spaces, associated more
usually with artists, have made room for the debates, findings and
even the hardware of science. Laboratories, in amongst the daily and
busy business of producing science, have welcomed into their
communities artists of varying sorts, and given them the space to get
on with their craft. It is not unusual now to find science centres
and museums with works of art on permanent display; to hear of plays
with specifically scientific themes, and to come across gatherings
and conferences where scientists and artists debate their points of
contact, and their differences. Finally, but significantly, the
science-art collaboration , where an artist and a scientist work
together on a common project, has become, if not commonplace, then at
least a recognisable and legitimate activity, capable of drawing
substantial grants from major funders, both in the arts and the
sciences.

Part of the interest of science-art is the diversity of the people
involved: sculptors, neurophysiologists, hospital architects, film
makers, perfomance artists, psychologists, photographers, particle
physicists, writers and mechanical engineers are all on the roll
call. The list is long, and growing.

Some readers might doubt that there is anything very novel in the
idea of exchange between science and art. As one scans back through
history, there appear multiple examplea of the one influencing the
other. The physicist Neils Bohr had a cubist painting on his wall –
could this have helped him see a particle as both a wave and a
particle? Was it not the roman poet, Lucretius, who in his didactic
poem On the Nature of the Universe, propagated the ancient greek idea
that the material universe is divisible into particles? Most people
like to think that Leonardo da Vinci, with his catapults and his
paintings, as both a scientist and an artist – the original
renaissance man. Wee know too that the artist Jan Vermeer used
optical devices to project the scenes he painted: most recently David
Hockney, in his book Secret Knowledge argues that the old masters
used lenses much often than had been thought. The idea of an artist
being also a person of scientific skills is supported by the fact
that for centuries a knowledge of human anatomy was central to the
professional development of painters (George Stubbs, indeed, was an
expert in comparative anatomy).

Scientists who have always had an interest in the arts now know that
science-art collaborations have the formal support of major funding
institutions.


Tomasi Gallery
1230 Avenue of the Americas
Rockefeller Center
7th Floor
New York City, New York 10020
United States
T: videoconference
F:  212-208-0939
tomasigallery@...
www.tg.sky.tc

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_I found a very good way to search any site and I think a lot of folks would
like to know about this. Go to Google.com, type in the search box: site:[and the
domain name] and the words you want. For an advanced search to find exact
phrases etc, at Google.com, click on Advanced Search and do the same, but put
the exact phrase you're looking for on the second line.
_As an example, I typed on the first line: site:solari.com --- and on the second
line: coming clean. I got several hits all from that site only, but some are
probably from the same webpages. - GDay, LK



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As a minister and a human being. I think the most inportant thing in
life is You! What you make out of life and what you accept. No one
should have to fight or debate about being accepted on what I do or
who I do it with in bed. We are people not products. I judge the
products based on what it does not the person. Why should we be
concerned about what a person does behind closed doors? As long as
you are not killing or abusing somebody, don't worry about if people
don't like you. So what!! Like and Love yourself. If we embrace the
TRUE UNIVERSAL LIGHT then we will have no time to judge by appearance
or circumstance. We will only see and feel the LIGHT in each person.
Let every man be persuaded by his own opinion. If you question a
persons life, what you should do is ask the Creator to enlighten your
path so that if things are wrong, He will make it right or correct
them not you.

Another thing, The Creator makes no mistakes. WE ARE/ WERE made the
way we came out. To change that says that you are not happy with the
look and design that the Creator made of you. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!
without alteration. You are beautiful. The Creator didn't make any
Junk. What was made was something special and important.

I feel in my spirit that there are 40 members in this group that are
secretly battling Love, REJECTION, and acceptance issues. May LOVE,
LIGHT, LIFE AND WHOLENESS surround you and penetrate your inner being
until the enemy of depression, anger, frustration, and hopelessness
be dissolved from your existance!!

I hear the names Sheila, David, Ann, Tracy, Monica, Eric, Larry,
Henry, Michael, Nancy, Doug or Douglas where are you? please step
forward and talk to me.

Gee, some real nice presidential candidates the Republicans got running here!

   These mindless people need to wake up and support a REAL REPUBLICAN like Ron
Paul from Texas!!


   http://www.reason.com/news/show/121088.html

Romney, Torture, and Teens
The former governor's connections to abusive "tough love" camps
Maia Szalavitz | June 27, 2007

When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he’d support
doubling the size of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, he was trying to
  show
voters that he’d be tough on terror. Two of his top fundraisers,
however,
have long supported using tactics that have been likened to torture for
troubled teenagers.

As The Hill noted last week, 133 plaintiffs filed a civil suit against
Romney’s Utah finance co-chair, Robert Lichfield, and his various
business
entities involved in residential treatment programs for adolescents.
  The
umbrella group for his organization is the World Wide Association of
Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS, sometimes known as WWASP) and
Lichfield is its founder and is on its board of directors.

The suit alleges that teens were locked in outdoor dog cages,
exercised to
exhaustion, deprived of food and sleep, exposed to extreme temperatures
without adequate clothing or water, severely beaten, emotionally
brutalized,
and sexually abused and humiliated. Some were even made to eat their
  own
vomit.

But the link to teen abuse goes far higher up in the Romney campaign.
Romney’s national finance co-chair is a man named Mel Sembler. A long

time
friend of the Bushes, Sembler was campaign finance chair for the
Republican
party during the first election of George W. Bush, and a major
fundraiser
for his father.

Like Lichfield, Sembler also founded a nationwide network of treatment
programs for troubled youth. Known as Straight Inc., from 1976 to
1993, it
variously operated nine programs in seven states. At all of
  Straight’s
facilities, state investigators and/or civil lawsuits documented
scores of
abuses including teens being beaten, deprived of food and sleep for
days,
restrained by fellow youth for hours, bound, sexually humiliated,
abused and
spat upon.

According to the L.A. Times, California investigators said that at
Straight
teens were “subjected to unusual punishment, infliction of pain,
humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threats, mental abuse
  and
interference with daily living functions such as eating, sleeping and
toileting.”

Through a spokesperson, Lichfield has dismissed the similar charges
against
WWASPS to The Hill as “ludicrous,” claiming that the teens who sued

“have a
long history of lying, fabricating and twisting the story around to
their
own benefit.”

Straight would use virtually identical language in its denials: In
the 1990
L.A. Times article cited above, a Straight counselor downplayed the
California investigators’ report by saying, “Some kids get very
  upset
and
lie and some parents believe them.” Both Straight and WWASPS have
repeatedly
called their teen participants “liars” and “manipulators” who
  oppose the
programs because they want to continue taking drugs or engage in
other bad
behavior.

Curiously, however, both programs regularly admitted teens who did not
actually have serious problems. In 1982, 18-year-old Fred Collins, a
Virginia Tech student with excellent grades, went to visit his
brother, who
was in treatment for a drug problem at Straight in Orlando, Florida.
A counselor determined that he was high on marijuana because his eyes
were
red (this would later turn out to have been due to swimming in a pool
with
contacts on). He did admit to occasional marijuana use, but insisted
he was
not high at the time, nor was he an addict. Nonetheless, he was
  barraged
with hours of humiliating questions, strip-searched, and held against
his
will for months until he managed to escape.

He won $220,000 in a lawsuit he filed against the program for false
imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault,
  and
battery. Ultimately, Straight would pay out millions in settlements
before
it finally closed. However, to this day, there are at least eight
programs
operating that use Straight’s methods, often in former Straight
buildings
operated by former Straight staff. They include: Alberta Adolescent
Recovery
Center (Canada), Pathway Family Center (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio),
Growing
Together (Florida), Possibilities Unlimited (Kentucky), SAFE
(Florida), and
Phoenix Institute for Adolescents (Georgia).

Sembler has never admitted to the problems with Straight's methods.
In fact,
when he recently served as Ambassador to Italy, he listed it among his
accomplishments on his official State Department profile. Although
all of
the programs with the Straight name are closed, the nonprofit Straight
Foundation that funded them still exists, though under a different
  name.
It's now called the Drug Free America Foundation, and it lobbies for
drug
testing and in support of tougher policies in the war on drugs.

One of the plaintiffs in the current case against WWASPS, 21-year-old
Chelsea Filer, spoke to me when I was researching a TV segment on the
industry. She told me that she was forced to walk for miles on a
track in
scorching desert heat with a 35-pound sandbag on her back. “You were
  not
allowed to scratch your face, move your fingers, lick your lips, move
your
eyes from the ground,” she said. When she asked for a chapstick,
“They put a
piece of wood in my mouth and I had to hold it there for two weeks. I
was
bleeding on my tongue.”

Why was Filer subject to such punishment? “I had less interest in
school and
more interest in boys and my mom was worried about me,” she says,
explaining
that her mother believed that the program was nothing more than a
  strict
boarding school.

Because she has attention deficit disorder, Filer was unable to
consistently
follow the exacting rules, and repeated small violations were seen as
ongoing defiance. “It broke my heart that my mom had no belief in
me,” she
says, describing how, because WWASPS had told her mother to dismiss
complaints as “manipulation,” her mother ignored her pleas to come
  home.
“I’m not a bad kid,” she continued, “I never used drugs, I was
  never in
trouble, I have no criminal record. I know my mom was worried about me
—but
so many times I told her that this is too much. I would gladly have
gone to
prison instead.”

WWASPS is linked with facilities Academy at Ivy Ridge (New York),
Carolina
Springs Academy (South Carolina), Cross Creek Programs (Utah),
Darrington
Academy (Georgia), Horizon Academy (Nevada), Majestic Ranch Academy
(Utah),
MidWest Academy (Iowa), Respect Camp (Mississippi), Royal Gorge Academy
(Colorado), Spring Creek Lodge (Montana), and Tranquility Bay
  (Jamaica).
Although it has settled several lawsuits out of court, the
organization has
never publicly admitted wrong-doing. However, the U.S. State Department
spurred Samoa to investigate its Paradise Cove program in 1998 after
receiving “credible allegations of physical abuse,” including
  “beatings,
isolation, food and water deprivation, choke-holds, kicking, punching,
bondage, spraying with chemical agents, forced medication, verbal
abuse and
threats of further physical abuse.” Paradise Cove closed shortly
thereafter.
That same year, the Czech Republic forced the closure of WWASP-linked
Morava
Academy following employees’ allegations that teens were being
  abused.
The former director of the Dundee Ranch Academy Program in Costa Rica
went
to local authorities after seeing medical neglect and other severe
abuse,
although human rights abuse charges were ultimately dropped against the
owner, Robert Lichfield’s brother Narvin. That program closed in
  2003.
Police in Mexico have shut down three WWASP-linked facilities:
Sunrise Beach
(1996), Casa By The Sea (2004) and High Impact (where police
videotaped the
teens chained in dog cages).

In 2005, New York’s Eliot Spitzer forced WWASP to return over $1
million to
the parents of Academy at Ivy Ridge students, because the school had
fraudulently claimed to provide legitimate New York high school
diplomas. He
fined Ivy Ridge $250,000, plus $2000 in court costs. A civil suit has
been
filed for educational fraud in New York as well, by a different law
firm.
Straight's Sembler currently heads the Scooter Libby Defense Fund, in
addition to his work for Romney, and has worked tirelessly to keep
the Vice
President's former Chief of Staff out of prison, even after his
conviction
on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. After all, if running
programs that impose these kinds of "treatments" on American
teenagers is
not a prison-worthy offense, why should lying to a court be?

The Romney campaign is aware of the WWASP suits, and should be
familiar with
the Straight suits. If not, it's worth asking: Does Romney support
  these
types of tactics for at-risk youth? Or does he take the line the
organizations founded by his fundraisers take—that these dozens of
lawsuits
are merely from bad kids who make up lies?

Coming from the man who wants to double the size of Guantanamo, these
aren't
insignificant questions. If Romney doesn't believe the aggressive
tactics he
supports for use against enemy combatants ought to be used against
troubled
teens and youth drug users, he should say so, and show he means it by
removing these men from his campaign.

Maia Szalavitz is author of Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen
Industry
Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006) and a senior fellow at
stats.org. Her latest book, co-written with Dr. Bruce D. Perry is The
Boy
Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's
Notebook. (Basic Books, 2007).

===============end sorry report================


Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
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I agree. Dr. Paul is a bright light amongst the clouds. He is the only
republican candidate that I could support.

---------------------------------
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Today a story came out claiming that science had discovered how
meditation works. (see
http://www.livescience.com/health/070629_naming_emotions.html
<http://www.livescience.com/health/070629_naming_emotions.html>  )The
study inferred from brain scans of people assigning emotional words to
pictures that identifying negative emotions shut down the amygdala (the
part of our brain which triggers responses of fear and stress). It then
relates the process to mindfulness meditation in which one identifies
the emotions they are experiencing. So, the person that tells you they
are really angry at you is having less of an emotional experience than
one who is so caught up in rage that he attacks you. Yes, I agree with
that, but how is that actually accomplished? If you slow your EEG down
to alpha waves it produces a meditation like state, but how do you do
it? I would like to suggest that the answer is never going to be found
to be physical although there are going to be physical correlates. The
"being" that perceives the world through the body is not the body. Why
do I say this? Because like many who have delved into techniques to
explore the mind, I can experience being and yet be totally unaware of
my body. To me, that is the goal of meditation, to experience the self
free of the body. Some who claim to be scientific will immediately say
"there is no self free of the body". This is, of course, a
completely unscientific statement. They will throw Ochim's razor at
you and say the simplest hypothesis (that there is nothing beyond the
body) must be correct. First, I ask, when has the simplest version ever
been found to be correct? The earth is not flat, my friends. First the
atom was the smallest particle. Then we had electrons, protons and
neutrons. Then we had quarks. Now the best guess is there really
isn't anything solid, it is just energy units like strings. Also,
Ochim was not a scientist, he was a theologian that was tired of people
blabbing on and on about possible theories of the supernatural. In one
way, Ochim was correct though. As we venture deeper and deeper into
ourselves, what we ultimately find is that we are all One.



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Only YOU can make this happen folks!!

Dennis Kucinich <denniskucinichmessages@...> wrote:


   July 4th Message from Dennis Kucinich
   Dear Friend,
   Happy Birthday, America, from Dennis and Elizabeth. Today is Independence Day,
the 4th of July. What would our forefathers think if they could see where this
nation is today? What happened to their America, this land of the free, home of
the brave? Would our founders be ashamed? I can tell you I sense a change in the
wind. There is a hunger in this nation for a grand vision to bring us all
together, to heal us and lift our spirits. There is a hunger for clarity, for a
sense of purpose.
   Click here to view Dennis's video message.
   Where as a nation are we going? Who among us doesn't yearn for a better way, a
better day for themselves and their families? There is a hunger for the truth.
What is wrong in standing for principles that unite, not divide? Where is the
integrity in the public life of our nation?
   We must have the courage to believe in unity. We must understand the
imperative of human unity. No American should be left behind. Each person
everywhere has fundamental human rights. "We hold these truths to be self
evident" speaks our Declaration, "that all men -- and women -- are created
equal." This document speaks to the highest truths which unite us as a nation
and which also unite us with the world community celebrating life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.
   We understand that peace connects us to security and to prosperity and a
celebration of the human condition as war leads to fear and poverty and
destruction of the human condition. What do we say to the people when there is
no peace? What do we say to the people when there are no resources for
education, or for health care; when there is no real security; where there is no
real government of the people, by the people, and for the people?
   A new America awaits those of us who still believe. Together, you and I have
the power. We have the power to create peace for the people, health care for the
people, education for the people, jobs for the people; to create a government of
integrity for the people, of trust for the people, and healing for the people.
   It is time to let the nation hear, and it is time to let the people speak; to
let the world hear you. We are a great nation who want to build, not bomb; who
want to create, not destroy, who want to love, not hate, who believe in the
dignity of all people, who want to embrace the world and lend it a healing hand.
   I will protect your Constitution. I will protect your Bill of Rights. I will
keep America strong with defense built on honesty, integrity, peace, and
goodwill towards our fellow world citizens. Because our forefathers put their
lives on the line to create a country which had the ability to adapt to an
undreamed of future, America needs each of us to respond to that impulse for
recreating our higher destiny.
   It is our turn, to declare once again, our independence from the shackles of
repressive politics. You, and we, have the power to turn this upside-down world
right side up. Join me in this grandest of visions; the hope that is the beacon
for you and for all the world; that America the beautiful, that America we love.
   I'm Dennis Kucinich, and I'm running for the people, and I'm ready to be your
President of our United States.
   Thank you.

   Dennis

---------------------------------


   877-41-DENNIS (877-413-3664)
             Paid for by Kucinich for President 2008




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Rev.Steven B.Thompson,Director
6215 Smeltzer Rd.
Benzonia,MI 49616
(231) 882-9721

GENESIS 1; 11,12: And God said,"Let the earth burst forth with every sort of
grass and seed-bearing plant." And so it was,and God was pleased.
GENESIS 1; 29,31: "And look! I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout
the earth for your food." Then God looked over all that he had made,and it was
excellent in every way.
  Taken from "THE LIVING BIBLE"

















---------------------------------
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