Sunday, August 31, 2008

Who Cares?

Jews are always in Peril, and will continue to be. As long as there are fascist governments, pagan Christianity, and it's bastard brother Islam. The idolatry of the Fascist state would seem to foster religious indifference, in fact it promotes a heretical religion of its own. A moral casuistry, based on the glorification of the state, provides an alternative to faith in Adoni.

The Christian fascist religion inevitably persecutes all other faiths. Despite its claims of religious toleration, the fascist regime cannot abide the presence of any organization that refuses to worship the god of the state and that proclaims a higher God that has given divine moral law that is in conflict to the interest of the state:

To make things worse it seems that God's chosen has adopted a loser mentality. How can we be a light unto the nations, when we fail be a light unto our fellow Jews? Is it any wonder why so many love starved Jews become Christians? That mythical Jesus sure seems like a sweet guy, but don't be fooled, your God is more true and loving than any false idolatrous god like Christ. So my friend, what is in your heart? Do you seek a closer walk? Or has religion destroyed your faith?

The true balance between the secular and the sacred is only possible if all religions go back to the original teachings of Abraham, father of all nations, as they were consummated at Sinai. Every intelligent person should know that when distortions set into any system, the truest way of discovering the real facts is not by adding new theories, but by tracing back to the original roots that preceded human distortions.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Keeper Of The Stars

I love those lyrics, but the music is so typical, has no imagination.
It sounds like a thousand other songs. I'm not sure if Sarah would like it.

It was no accident me finding you
Someone had a hand in it
Long before we ever knew
Now I just can't believe you're in my life
Heaven's smilin' down on me
As I look at you tonight
I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars
He sure knew what he was doin'
When he joined these two hearts
I hold everything
When I hold you in my arms
I've got all I'll ever need
Thanks to the keeper of the stars
Soft moonlight on your face oh how you shine
It takes my breath away
Just to look into your eyes
I know I don't deserve a treasure like you
There really are no words
To show my gratitude
So I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars
He sure knew what he was doin'
When he joined these two hearts
I hold everything
When I hold you in my arms
I've got all I'll ever need
Thanks to the keeper of the stars
It was no accident me finding you
Someone had a hand in it
Long before we ever knew


Tracy Byrd The Keeper Of The Stars

What can I say? I love that woman, and all things keeper!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Our days here are numbered.

Just thought you'd like to know :) The emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases involves many interrelated factors. Global interconnectedness continues to increase with international travel and trade; economic, political, and cultural interactions; and human-to-human and animal-to-human interactions. These interactions include the accidental and deliberate sharing of microbial agents and antimicrobial resistance and allow the emergence of new and unrecognized microbial disease agents. As the 21st century begins, already new agents have been identified, and new outbreaks have occurred. Solutions to limiting the spread of emerging infectious diseases will require cooperative efforts among many disciplines and entities worldwide. This article defines emerging infectious diseases, summarizes historical background, and discusses factors that contribute to emergence. Seven agents that have made a significant appearance, particularly in the 21st century, are reviewed, including: Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers, human monkeypox, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus, and avian influenza ANTHRAX: A disease that would be likely to kill only twenty percent of any group that was exposed to it, provided that massive and adequate medical treatment was available. The symptoms that Anthrax produces are high fever, vomiting, hemorrhage, headaches and bloody diarrhea.

RABBIT FEVER: People usually get this disease from rodents by means of fly bites. Rabbit Fever causes the lymph nodes in the body to swell, with a resultant high fever. Sometimes these swollen lymph nodes transform themselves into ulcers. A bit more unpleasant than the common cold, but you can cure it with certain antibiotics if you happen to have them in your pocket.

BOTULISM A: A few people may recall that this virus killed a couple of folks when it cropped up in some cans of soup in the summer of 1971. Because the ingestion of this virus results in a paralysis of the eyes, throat, chest and the entire respiratory system, it is almost always fatal.

Q FEVER: Kinder than most of the biological weapons, this one won't kill you; it will merely waste you for a long time. The advantage of this bug is that it is highly infectious. You can spread it around very quickly and very easily. All you have to do is to breathe out near someone who is breathing in.

VENEZUELAN EQUINE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS: A deadly disease that inflames the brain and spinal cord. It can be carried and dispersed by migrating birds. If you think this bird idea is pure theory, be informed that the Pentagon has put a number of millions of dollars into finding out just how this could be done.

STAPHYLOCOCCUS ENTEROTOXIN: Another 'humane' germ. It will only make you vomit violently for a number of days. Unless you are weak, old or pregnant it won't kill you.




Agent
Disease condition

Anaplasma phagocytophilum Human granulocytic anaplasmosis
Australian bat lyssavirus Encephalitis
Bartonella clarridgeae Cat scratch disease
Bartonella elizabethae Endocarditis, bacteremia
Brachiola vesicularum Microsporidiosis
Ehrlichia ewingii Ehrlichiosis
Encephalitozoon intestinalis Enteritis, disseminated infection
Gymnophalloides seoi Gastrointestinal illness
Hantaviruses
- Sin Nombre virus
- Whitewater Arroyo virus Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
Hemorrhagic fever
Hendra virus Encephalitis, respiratory disease
Hepatitis G virus Hepatitis (suspected)
Human herpesvirus-8 Kaposi sarcoma
Metapneumovirus Acute respiratory infections, pneumonia
Metorchis conjunctus Liver disease
Nipah virus Encephalitis
Nocardia veterana Pulmonary disease
SARS-associated coronavirus Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Trachipleistophora hominis Microsporidiosis
TT virus Hepatitis (possible)
Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype 03K6 Gastroenteritis

.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

UJC Launches Georgia Campaign

Breaking News

Published: 08/13/2008

The United Jewish Communities has launched an emergency appeal for the embattled citizens of Georgia.

UJC has set up a mailbox to take donations in addition to a blog addressing the crisis. The organization's overseas partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel, have been assisting the local Jewish community, a number of whom have made aliyah to Israel in recent days.

Georgia has been engulfed in crisis since Russian troops invaded and are now in control of half the country. It began last week in what Western leaders have described as an act of aggression aimed at destabilizing the country's democratic government. Though a truce was reached early Wednesday, Russian troops continue to occupy areas near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and tensions are still running high.

IDF vets who trained Georgia troops say war with Russia is no surprise
Europe, dependent on Russian oil, unwilling to intervene in Georgia war, By Shoshana Bryen.

The Jewish Agency and the JDC have been particuarly assisting the Georgian Jews in Gori, a city near Tbilisi that has seen some of the fiercest fighting. On Wednesday, 34 Georgian Jews immigrated to Israel.

Donations to the campaign can be made online at www.ujc.org or mailed to P.O. Box 30, Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10113.


More Breaking News from JTA
An Israeli government official dismissed claims that the United States was withholding arms from Israel to dissuade the Jewish state from attacking Iran.
U.S. Sen. John McCain held a fundraiser in New Jersey organized by a pro-Israel political action committee.
Russia blames Georgia war on the Jews.
The United Jewish Communities has launched an emergency appeal for the embattled citizens of Georgia.
Longtime Israel critic Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party nominee for president.
Disturbing reports of abuse of ethnic Georgians in captured parts of the disputed region have emerged. A group of captive soldiers were paraded in the streets of the South Ossetian capital, Tskinvali, and the bodies of at least 40 dead troops rotted in the sun.
Teams of ethnic Georgians, some under armed guard, were forced to clean the streets. It was the first apparent evidence of humiliation or abuse of Georgians in the Russian-controlled breakaway republic.

August 16, 2008

Russia in nuclear threat to Poland
Catherine Philp and Tony Halpin in Tbilisi
Russia threatened Poland with a nuclear strike yesterday as the ripples of the Caucasus conflict spread through Europe and pitched West against East along new borders.

In a chilling echo of the Cold War, Russia gave warning that Poland was “exposing itself to a strike — 100 per cent” after signing a deal with the US to set up a missile shield on Polish soil.

The threat, the strongest since the fall of the Soviet Union, came as President Saakashvili of Georgia was forced to accept defeat as he signed a truce giving the Russian Army the right to patrol Georgian soil.

General Anatoli Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the general staff in Moscow, said that Russian military doctrine sanctioned the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them”, as Poland had done in signing the deal.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 By Damien McElroy in Tbilisi.

In Ukraine, Fear Of Being A Resurgent Russia's Next Target
KIEV, Ukraine -- For 17 years now, several former satellites and republics of the Soviet Union have cherished their democracies, all made possible by the simple premise that the days of Russian dominance were over.
The events in Georgia over the past week have made them rethink that idea. Ukraine inflamed mounting East-West tensions yesterday by offering up a Soviet-built satellite facility as part of the European missile defence system.
The proposal, made amid growing outrage among Russia's neighbours over its military campaign in Georgia, could see Ukraine added to Moscow's nuclear hitlist. A Russian general declared Poland a target for its arsenal after Warsaw signed a deal with Washington to host interceptor missiles for America's anti-nuclear shield.

Russia claims pullback but forces move other way
Monday, Aug. 18
GORI, Georgia - Russia said Monday it had begun withdrawing from
the conflict zone in Georgia, but it held fast to key positions and
sent some of its troops in the opposite direction — closer to the Georgian capital.
American officials said the Russian military had been moving launchers for short-range ballistic missiles into South Ossetia, a step that appeared intended to tighten its hold on the breakaway territory.
Human Rights Watch reported that researchers witnessed "terrifying scenes of destruction" in four deserted ethnic Georgian villages, and said they the villages had been looted and burned by South Ossetian militias.

DEVIL SENT DOWN TO GEORGIA
RUSSIA UNLEASHES CHECHEN THUGS

OVER the weekend, photographic proof emerged that the Russians used mur derous Chechen mercenaries to do their dirtiest dirty work in Georgia:

Small Russian convoy leaves key Georgian city

Jewish Agency for Israel

Do what you are able to help those in need; Be they Jew or gentile, with the compassion of an open heart, and you will always be a friend of the Keeper!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Apples and Wine

I once wrote something very much like this a long time ago, but I don't think I was quite as hard on the men. But a man with a hard on, is looking for a sure thing, be they rotten apples or not.
I know at least one of you girls will enjoy this.

"Apples and Wine
Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree. Share this with women who are good apples, even those who have already been picked!"


"Now Men.... Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with."

Women Comics.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Therapists' Burnout

James Hoyt delivered mail in rural Iowa for more than 30 years. Yet Hoyt had long kept a secret from most of those who knew him best: He was one of the four U.S. soldiers to first see Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp. "There were thousands of bodies piled high.
I saw hearts that had been taken from live people in medical experiments," Hoyt told author Stephen Bloom.
Even 63 years after the liberation, Hoyt suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and attended a weekly group therapy session at a Veterans Affairs facility.
"Thinking back, I would have pushed to be a (psychologist) -- if for no other reason than to understand myself better."
James Hoyt, Buchenald Liberator 1925 - 2008
\
Retired Gen. Robert Sentman had earlier told mourners about the Buchenwald liberation. "When the prisoners saw Jim, they picked him up and threw him in the air, that's how happy they were after seeing such horrors. Prisoners had been hung from hooks to die. He saw a lampshade made from a prisoner's tattoo. Jim carried those horrors with him forever. He never got what he had seen out of his mind. If you ever wondered about Jim, think about what he saw."

The fall of Saigon drove many people into not only suicide but serious mental disorder as well. Ten years later, some physicians said that at least one thousand people around the Saigon area suffered incurable insanity on that day of the Black April. This tragedy had far reaching effects here in America too. As many veterans who could no longer endure the soul searing trauma induced by the horrors of war, and those who could no longer suffer the disgrace of defeat, took the easy way out.
Professor K. was a highly decorated war hero, and my close friend and advisor. An expert in Psych Ops (psychological warfare operations) he also conducted a major part of the counter terror program “Phoenix” in Vietnam, This CIA activity employed Special Forces personnel who were selected for their expertise in relevant skills necessary for the conduct of BLACK TERROR and assassination missions. The Project was buried deep within a Military Intelligence unit which was itself operating under the guise of a Civic Action Team, a common CIA cover for covert operations world-wide. Although members of the Civic Action team wore various military uniforms and carried on activities as though they were legitimate military officers, some were full time CIA Agents.
. I believe it was all the assassinations, and atrocities he was ordered to commit, that eventually led to his mental decline, and regretfully resulted in doctor K, drinking himself to death. Ever since my early college days, when I myself was a psychology major, I have been aware that many of my fellow students, as well as those who are now practising psychiatrists and psychologists, are more likely than any other profession, to be emotionally injured or phobic people using their occupations to heal their own psychic wounds. Alas, I have witnessed the fear of insanity, and the morbid decline of a another very close psychologist friend of over 15 years, JT, was at on time an associate professor at the same college that I attended. Before moving on to be in charge of a mental health care system covering all of Eastern Kentucky. As his brilliant mind began to fade into dementia it was like watching a slow death. To lose a good friend that way is nothing for anyone to joke about. And like the jokes deriving from the clerical sexual deviancy allegations of Roman Catholic priests. Psychotherapists are a central target of jokes and cartoons, often portrayed as greedy, out of touch with reality, easily outwitted by their crazy patients, prone to creating problems where none exist, and, of course, obsessed with sex, money, and power (Masson, 1988; Redlich, 1950). Psychologists are also accused of narcissism, over-intellectualizing, and harboring illusions of superiority, omnipotence, and god-hood. A recent surge of articles, books, and popular media focuses on psychotherapists who sexually exploit their patients. These "doctors of desire" are described as abusive, deviant, exploitative, and above all, willing to betray their patients' trust to satisfy their own desires.

In a 1952 paper, Menninger asserts his theory that most psychiatrists suffer some form of rejection in their family of origin. Hence, their work is necessary to them in order to maintain their mental health. This popular belief that psychotherapists, as compared to the general population, come from emotionally deprived or unstable homes is reflected in several papers (Burton, 1972; Ford, 1963; Groesbeck, 1975; Racusin, Abramowitz, & Winter, 1981). Groesbeck and Taylor (1977) titled their article, "The Psychiatrist as Wounded Physician," and Henry, Sims, and Spray (1973) reveals that more than 60% of the thousands of therapists surveyed report having few friends in high school and feeling somewhat isolated. The claims that psychotherapists have disrupted childhood seem pervasive; however they did not validate its conclusions.

Speculations on additional motivations for becoming psychotherapists range from therapists being drawn to "one way intimacy," to voyeurism, to obsession with others' suffering, to sadism, to an intense need to mother people (Bugental, 1964; Marmor, 1953; Wheelis, 1958). Bugental (1964) also mentions rebelliousness as a potential motivator, pointing out that the clinical setting often permits the discussion of socially tabooed topics, such as sexuality, and thereby challenges authority.

Maeder (1989), interviewing a biased sample of hostile adult children of psychotherapists, concludes, "The field of psychotherapy attracts people with a God complex in the first place, and is nearly custom designed to exacerbate such a condition when it exists" (p. 83). Throughout his book he equates psychotherapists with narcissists and uses the work of Kohut and Alice Miller on narcissistic parents to explain the dynamics of psychotherapists' families.

Studies have provided a few significant variables to indicate where psychotherapists differ from the general population or other professional groups, such as physicians. In the most extensive investigation to date, Henry, Sims, and Spray (1971, 1973) conclude from the 4,300 psychotherapists they studied that no one factor can account for these people's choices of mental health as a career. Other surveys report that prior to their choice of career, future psychiatrists tend to be intellectually flexible and interpersonally adaptive. They are apparently restless and have a low tolerance for routine. They are responsive and function well in settings where autonomy and independence are conducive to success, tend to be psychologically minded prior to their career choice, and are generally introspective. It was also found that even prior to medical training psychiatrists are significantly less authoritarian, less religious, and more liberal than their physician counterparts.

Research consistently documents physicians' significantly higher rate of depression and suicide as compared to the general population. Psychiatrists have been shown to score markedly higher than physicians. The Task Force on Suicide Prevention of the American Psychiatric Association conducted one of most extensive surveys. In investigating the deaths of approximately 19,000 physicians between 1967 and 1972, the Task Force determined that psychiatrists kill themselves about twice as frequently as other physicians. Furthermore, psychiatrists commit suicide at a younger age than the male population as a whole, and single women are at particularly high risk (Rich & Pitts, 1980). A similar survey of psychologists' death certificates concludes that female psychologists have a rate of suicide three times that of women in the general population (Steppacher & Mausner, 1974). Other important statistical data points to the high rate of alcoholism reported among psychotherapists (Thoreson, Budd, & Krauskopf, 1986).

In contrast to the above findings, Millon, Millon, & Antoni (1986) echo what many other researchers have argued; that there is no data that suggests that psychotherapists differ significantly from comparable professional groups. Indeed, no research to date indicates that psychologists and counselors are as vulnerable to depression, alcoholism, and suicide as psychiatrists were shown to be.

Though some of these conclusions are disputed, they are still valid and merit our attention. They do not necessarily mean that psychotherapists or psychiatrists manifest a significantly stronger tendency toward depression, suicide, and alcoholism prior to their training in and practice of psychotherapy. The alternative argument is that their training and practice increase their vulnerability to depression, suicide, and alcoholism. This second hypothesis leads us to the next area of inquiry.

As early as 1937, Freud warned about the dangers of psychoanalysis for the practicing analyst. In 1934 Jung alerted practitioners against what he called "psychic infection" and Scott & Hawk (1986) intensified the exploration of the hazards of psychotherapy for the therapists and forewarned that if preventative measures are not taken, burnout becomes inevitable.

My thanks to Ofer Zur, Ph.D. for doing all the really hard work. Otherwise I would have looked like a rambling fool, in trying to validate myself.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Frankly, my Dear, I Don't Give a Dam*

*Rhett Butler's parting line to Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind in 1939 that outraged, and captivated moviegoers: While Margaret Mitchell spelled it damn in her novel Gone With the Wind, Miss Mitchell's spelling only added to the confusion. The more accurate spelling should have been dam. A dam is a small Indian coin, less in value to our penny. So Rhett was actually saying, "The value of my caring is not even worth, a penny." Is it not a pity how people, like many of the good folks that call themselves Christians, are so quick to condemn and tie you to the stake, before they know all of the facts. The coin was first introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his rule of India between 1540 and 1545.
It was very common for my grandmother to say,("I would not give a nickel"), in fact when I was a baby, she said it in front of me so many times, that Nickle was the first word I ever spoke. I lost everything' when brother Dan crashed the computer, all those old e-mails from Caren forever lost, I can't even remember what day I got the first one back from her, and changed my destiny in many ways. Now the computer is at my house. I decided my little brother needed closer supervision so I moved him in with me. I hope to be back on line in a day or two.

As for the moment, I still feel little more than the essence of a spirit trapped inside this computer, I'm like a pet gerbil in his cage, spinning my wheel for all to see. It suits my altruistic nature, to be always entertaining. However, because I'm known to no one, I have too much independence. I should be happy that there is little scrutiny, and no one to for me to answer, for any of my improprieties, but I am not, and so it goes. On the other hand I have no proof that any other blogger really exist, Pictures can be doctored, and voices faked, everything I know about you could be computer generated. Today, I found this conversation, that I can really relate to.

Loren Booda07.11.04, 00:16
wuliheronIndividual is a concept, a word, and words only have demonstrable meaning according to their function in a given context. Hence the answer to all your questions is yes and no or "what was the question exactly?"

To quote that immortal philosopher, Popeye, "I yam what I yam and dat's all dat I yam."

I can no more convince another of my individuality than I can prove the moon is made of cheese. In the final analysis, we are the belief makers, we give it all meaning or no meaning at all. Do I mean we as in the plural, or we as in the royal we? Only a specific context can illuminate that question. :0) Simple beauty in motion. Enjoy your (individual) universe. You know it so long as it remains whole, and free of analysis (an analytical statement in itself). Duality to me is a practical necessity of multifold beings.

Royce,

The quest is not a test, or to best, but to fest - the rest is jest.

Rader,
I have a hard enough time remembering the definition of the word "ontological" - it seems more a process than a state. Your descriptive contribution is helpful, considering this (individual) recipient; but will I retain it? I believe I am a physicist first because I rely upon my immediate physical environment and mental representations thereof rather than less grounded philosophical terms as a source of inspiration.

wuliheron07.11.04, 06:42
wuliheron Simple beauty in motion. Enjoy your (individual) universe. You know it so long as it remains whole, and free of analysis (an analytical statement in itself). Duality to me is a practical necessity of multifold beings.

Both are just tools, to be used and abused when we forget we can lay them down when we are done with them.

Rader07.11.04, 08:41
I have a hard enogh time remembering the definition of the word "ontological" - it seems more a process than a state.

If we observe from within the universe, it would seem that it is, but if you could observe from without, might it be a state.

Your descriptive contribution is helpful, considering this (individual) recipient; but will I retain it? I believe I am a physicist first because I rely upon my immediate physical environment and mental representations thereof rather than less grounded philosophical terms as a source of inspiration

Well let me try and help. While I can only be what I know, learned and believe, it is fully understood that you must be also be. If an individual evolved and was aware of being aware, of its "I", it would then posses an absolute truth. It would eventually know it is not alone in the world and come to understand that properties relations and change, are all part of what makes it aware of being aware. Hence understanding, those beliefs, of what is, with sufficient intellegence could describe with a mathematical formula, a individual atom, inidvidual human or its own universe. Write your formula. :wink:

loseyourname07.11.04, 19:49
Ultimately, if it comes down to it, I can demonstrate the meaning of something by actually pointing to it, without using any words whatsoever. That is what I mean by demonstrable. If you ask me the meaning of "gravity" and I push you off your chair that is a demonstration. What you mean by the use of such words I can only guess according the context you use them in.

"In this case, the context is a philosophical bulletin board. As for how we manage to communicate at all, apparently we are the belief makers, we give it all meaning or no meaning at all. That is, perhaps, the ultimate context.

"So what do you point to for an explanation of "context?" What about "meaning?"

What then is reality? In a world where only blogs exist, is not my twisted version of reality just as valid as the next person's?