I'm going to click into de-skeptic mode for a second and click into "occultist" mode...this should be unusual for some who read my posts but they can get a good laugh. Occultists are pragmatists about this sort of thing and frankly whether this has an effect only on the level of your personal psychology or really has an effect on the spiritual world that might be behind the physical is of no matter as if it works, it works.

All about the benjamins baby.

Where is the moral outrage? Why is the USA not being called to task for this? Twice now (also Pakistan)...without the participation of the government in question, this rogue nation has waltzed across foreign borders and deployed its military - it says - to combat "terrorism".

How the hell do we know? Because it says so? The record of "truth telling" activities of both the US government and the military are less than stellar

(this could be the winning entry for understatement of the millenium).

Right now, they are attacking a site in a nation with whom they have declared no formal declaration of war, so it is - by their OWN definition - an act of terrorism.

What i find amazing is that so many of you are so quick to say how evil the US is. The US government is Evil, terroristic and so on.

I really wish we would get out of all foriegn countries so that there would be no basis for your views. I think we should stop sending any troops any where for any reason. Period.

All about the benjamins baby.

....the three terminated forums along with the Science/Philosophy forum (crossing fingers that this one is still around by the time I post this) were a meeting place for critical thinkers to share and/or challenge each other.... yes, one would encounter the occasional cyberduel but sometimes heated exchanges can be the catalysts for personal growth in a number of venues....

Kinda makes you wonder why these words never made it to the bible huh?

Especially when it FEELS as though my views are being respected, when in actuality, underneath it all, they aren't.

*The second "T"? Those who know me know what it stands for

To save people posting 25 pages of crap, just read the website:

There is only one way for a limb to regenerate through prayer: God must exist and God must answer prayers. What we find is that whenever we create a unambiguous situation like this and look at the results of prayer, prayer never works. God never "answers prayers"

The Global forums can get very nasty also!

Maybe you just need your oil changed and tires rotated.

(CBS) A new generation of researchers is changing the way we heal, one cell at a time. This is the second in a CBS News series on the innovative field of regenerative medicine.


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

You might become a believer in the power of magic dust, when you see how a special powder re-grew the tip of Lee Spievack's finger.

He sliced off a half inch of his finger in the propeller of a hobby shop airplane. His finger never even formed a scar.

"Your finger grew back flesh, blood, vessels and nail?" CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.

"Four weeks," Spievak said.

Is this essentially what re-grew Spievak's finger.

This powder is a medical product called extracellular matrix. Made from pig bladders, it is a mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons.

But it's the matrix's unusual power to regenerate tissue that's helping launch a new field: regenerative medicine.

"It tells the body, start that process of tissue re-growth," said Dr. Stephen Badylak of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Badylak believes the matrix somehow mobilizes cells, some of them adult stem cells whose job it is to maintain and repair injured tissue.

"It will change the body from thinking that its responding to inflammation and injury to thinking that it needs to re-grow normal tissue," Badylak said.

If this helped Mr Spievak's finger re-grow, could you grow a whole limb?

"In theory," Badylak said.

That theory, that it might be possible to re-grow a limb, is about to be tested by the United States Military. The Army, working in conjuction with the University of Pittsburgh, is about to use that matrix on the amputated fingers of soldiers home from the war.

Dr. Steven Wolf, at the Army Institute of Surgical Research, says the military has invested millions of dollars in Regenerative research, hoping to re-grow limbs, lost muscle, even burned skin.

"And it's hard to ignore this guys missing half his skin, this guy's missing his leg," Wolf said. "Is there any way we can make that grow back? Some of that technology exists and now its time to field it."

Several different technologies for harnessing regeneration are now in clinical trials around the world. One machine, being tested in Germany, sprays a burn patient's own cells onto a burn, signaling the skin to re-grow.

Badylak is about to implant matrix material - shaped like an esophagus - into patients with throat cancer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read more about organ regeneration in Part I of the series
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We fully expect that this material will cause the body to re-form normal esophageal tissue," Badylak said.

Some of the most advanced tests involve the heart. This patch of material is being put on - like a band aid - to regenerate heart muscle damaged by a heart attack.

And patient Mary Beth Babo is getting her own adult stem cells injected into her heart, in hopes of growing new arteries. Her surgeon is Dr. Joon Lee.

"It's what we consider the Holy Grail of our field for coronary heart disease," Lee said.

The Holy Grail, because if stem cells can re-grow arteries, there's less need for surgery.

"If people don't have to go through that, this would be the way to go for sure," Babo said.

Lee Spievak jokes he's got a 69-year-old body and a two-year-old fingertip.

But his fingertip has researchers imagining a time when re-grown limbs replace prosthetics, when re-grown tissues replace surgery, when the body does its healing with its own cells from within.

It was not until I read this thread that I think I understand. Raveninns, who's posts I have seen before on the Religious Forum, and whose opinion I respect, posted the following:

I truly believe that Palestinians think that (know that) in the end, their land is going to get stolen away from them little by little as it has been and that they are going to get murdered anyways ... so why not take a few of their attackers with them?

When you look at it like that ... it makes perfect sense. I don't condone it, but can honestly understand their logic in it. It's pretty damn hopeless at this point. Hopeless people do hopeless things.

No one has cared to answer my posts 101-103, concerning the deal that Arafat turned down. The one that Barak offered in the closing days of President Clinton's administration. I had always wondered why Arafat did so. Just last week it dawned on me.

What I have heard about this deal but I have not gone through the details, the Palestinians were offered pockets of lands, most of these lands were surrounded by Israel on all 4 sides. Obviously this plan originated from mistrusts of Palestinians.

and the Isrealis thought was so fair, would have been perceived as a crushing defeat by those who favor the Palestinian side. Since it left some of Israel remaining as a Jewish state. And apparently Arafat was smart enough to know that. To have accepted any offer would have divided his people, if nothing else.

Questions make us co-creators with all the potential of one day becoming spontaneous co-beings where communications are no longer pre-ordained from the original I AM.

The first and most humble and most original thought will succeed in achieving that "fellowship" that preachers like to say was why God created us in the first place.

Please present your indisputable evidence that supports the belief that there is no God.

Forgive them Madfiddler for they know naught what they do!

The Bible is the truth

"How can you properly taste my cup of tea if you still have someone else's tea in your cup?"

the Bible that I read does not contradict it self and has only the truth. No one can force this truth on anyone. You can only tell them the truth, and they will have to learn for them selves if it is the truth.

C'mon Nevercanezzer.. wouldn't it depend on what one is preaching? Some preaching uplifts others, while other preaching excludes and breeds hatred and contempt..

Nice to see you back btw.. even though you used to annoy the crap out of me sometimes, lol.. :)

Don't be so hard on us christians... well, yeah go ahead... I heard this preacher once say that sometimes folks get to acting so spiritual he wanted to walk up and slap the &*%^ out of them and see how spiritual they really were. But then a few weeks later that same preacher was in some pretty hot water so I'll leave that one alone

I like you and respect your views and the only part of that statement I find alienating is


"I am the way the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the father but by me"


Personally, I can relate with you until you say that part. When someone, maybe a child looks up to you and has a different idea on what "it all is" than you and you say something like that... Well, you crush spirits... They either feel they are unworthy or they feel you are unworthy. They either change to be like you or turn their backs.

I see no merit in either case.

I'll take some license and say to you that if I were to say that I myself, statueman, am the way the truth and the life and that no man cometh unto the father but by statueman then I would be paying witness to our Creators saving grace working through me to unite us in a good cause... i.e. the happiness, love and salvation of our lives to the praise and virtue of good works done not to gain salvation but in appreciation of salvation from a life of self centeredness.

Don't skim over this part or I'll come up to Canada and... OK?

the permanent state being the rememberance of the witness in the Divine reality. Which means you do not lose your awareness of the connectedness of life.

permanent awareness as one continues that journey to the Eternal Silence of Light Upon Emptiness.

often things have to get pretty bad before I am able to "let go and let God".. but once I do.. everything falls into place... everything shines again.. Thank God- quite literally :)

This like a job interview on a huge scale, only the people they are working for can only get their questions answered through you guessed it....interviews.

Is your Green Party anything like our Green party? Ours get toss away votes only and its base would pick a tree over a human any time any date any reason.

But perhaps even Buddhism has many various beliefs within it's own construct. Perhaps it is no more immune to dogma and literalism than any other major religion?


It's not immune, at all. Anything can be corrupted and institutionalized. Which is why it's essential to constantly question and test things out for yourself---that's the difference between philosophy and religion.

Those who are closed to these experiences are obviously blinded by fear, superstition and anger. Thats alright though, all religions have the divine spark.

The word "appears" seems to be quite the misnomer in this case if there is no fact about whether she is or is not a member of FFL. To begin a discussion of Palin being extreme in abortion type thinking without knowing if that is how she actually feels and thinks and openly supports, not good in my thinking.

Alexandria, VA, Aug 29, 2008 / 06:15 pm (CNA).- This morning Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was selected by Sen. John McCain to serve as his vice presidential nominee. Palin brings with her several unique credentials, but one of the most notable is that she is a proud member of Feminists for Life, according to the group’s president Serrin Foster.

In an interview with CNA on Friday, Foster explained that her group normally doesn’t disclose its membership, but since Gov. Palin freely spoke about it to the Anchorage Daily News in August of 2006, she could confirm that Palin joined in 2006.

On its website and in its in-house publication American Feminist, FFL describes its broader vision as opposition to all forms of violence, considered as "inconsistent with the core feminist principles of justice, nonviolence and nondiscrimination"[12] including the death penalty,[13] assisted suicide,[13] euthanasia,[14] infanticide,[15] and child abuse.[16] FFL does not take an official stance on contraception[17] but they do seek a traditional feminist goal of equality in the workplace.[18]

Yes, the truly pathological aspect of Christianity. Been studying this one for about 7 years. Membership in these types of organizations should immediately disqualify anyone from holding any high office.

Social issues

[edit] Abortion and sex education
Palin is pro-life;[2] she is opposed to abortion in all cases (including rape and incest) except when necessary to save the life of the mother.[3][4][5] In 2006, while running for governor, Palin was asked what she would do if her own daughter were raped and became pregnant; she responded that she would "choose life".[6] She and her husband stated that they had "faith that every baby is created for a good purpose."[7]

The Anchorage Daily News referred to her as supportive of contraception in a 2006 article on the then-gubernatorial candidates.[8] She has been a member of Feminists for Life since 2006.[2] According to CNN, in 2006 Palin supported abstinence-only sex education in Alaskan schools.[9] She wrote, "Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," on a questionnaire while running for governor in 2006.[10]


[edit] Education and creationism
As governor, Palin supported full funding for K–12 education, as well as "early funding of education", a program that would give school districts more predictability.[11]

While running for Governor of Alaska and asked about the teaching of creationism along with evolution in public school science classes, Palin answered: "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both"; she further clarified that open debate between the two ideas should not be prohibited if it came up in discussion, but that creationism did not specifically need to be part of the curriculum.[12]


[edit] Equal pay
According to the McCain campaign, Palin favors the concept of equal pay for women (the abolition of wage differences based on gender), but opposes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have allowed more time to bring suit under the Equal Pay Act of 1963.[13]


[edit] Gay unions
Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998.[14] Whilst campaigning for election as Governor of Alaska in 2006, Palin declared that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment, although she said she has good friends who are gay and does not wish to judge gay people.[8]

In December 2006, following long-running litigation and a 2005 ruling, the Supreme Court of Alaska ordered the state to begin paying health and retiree benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees. Declaring that there were "no more judicial options to pursue" to avoid paying the benefits, Palin agreed to comply with the ruling.[15] At the same time, in her first legislative act, Palin signed a bill ordering a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny the benefits.[16]

Palin subsequently vetoed a bill that would have denied the benefits, declaring that "signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office" due to the state Supreme Court ruling.[17] Although the referendum passed in April 2007 with 53% of voters supporting a constitutional amendment, a bill to place such an amendment on the ballot in November 2008 stalled in the state legislature.[18]


[edit] Legal issues

[edit] Capital punishment
Palin has declared herself in favor of capital punishment. She has stated: "If the legislature passed a death penalty law, I would sign it. We have a right to know that someone who rapes and murders a child or kills an innocent person in a drive by shooting will never be able to do that again."[19] In a televised debate in 2006, Palin's responded to a question about the death penalty by saying that for crimes such as the murder of a child, "My goodness, hang 'em up, yeah."[20]


[edit] Gun rights
Palin is a strong proponent of the Second Amendment, and supports gun-safety education for children.[21] Palin is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, and is popular among gun rights activists. Sandra Froman, a member of the NRA Board of Directors, described McCain's selection of Palin as "outstanding".[22]


[edit] Drugs
Palin opposes the return of legalized marijuana to Alaska, and regards methamphetamine as a greater social threat than cannabis.[8]


[edit] Jury rights
On August 31, 2007, Palin signed a Jury Rights Day Proclamation,[23] commemorating September 5, 2007 as the 337th anniversary of the acquittal, in defiance of the legal direction of the bench, of William Penn and William Mead for preaching a Quaker sermon. The proclamation stated, "[This case] established forever the English and American legal doctrine that it is the right and responsibility of the trial jury to decide on matters of law and fact", and "Whereas, the Sixth and Seventh Amendments are included in the Bill of Rights to preserve the right to trial by jury, which in turn conveys upon the jury the responsibility to defend, with its verdict, all other individual rights enumerated or implied by the U.S. Constitution, including its Amendments."


[edit] Stem cell research
The The Wall Street Journal and other publications have stated that Palin opposes stem-cell research, a position that is in contrast to that of her running mate, John McCain. [24] [25]


[edit] Energy and environment

[edit] Oil and gas development
As Governor, Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.[26] She has also helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits.[27][28] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[29]

In an interview with Time, Palin argued that energy independence through ANWR drilling was essential to reducing American dependence on hostile foreign regimes.[30]


[edit] Global warming
On August 29, 2008, Palin stated in an interview: "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."[31]


[edit] Endangered species
In January 2008, Palin wrote an opinion column for The New York Times in which she opposed the listing of polar bears as an endangered species, claiming that she had based her position on a comprehensive review of expert scientific opinion.[32] State biologists have disagreed that such support exists.[33]

In May 2008, she threatened to sue the federal government over their decision to list the bears. She again questioned the scientific basis for the listing, and warned that it would adversely affect energy development in Alaska.[34]

Palin also opposes strengthening protections for beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet, where oil and gas development has been proposed, on economic grounds.[35][36]


[edit] Predator control
In 2007, Palin supported the Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing Alaska state biologists to hunt wolves from helicopters as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose populations.[37] The program was criticized by predator control opponents including Defenders of Wildlife,[37] and prompted California State Representative George Miller to introduce a federal bill (H.R. 3663) seeking to make the practice illegal.[37] In March 2008, a federal judge in Alaska upheld the practice of hunting wolves from the air, though limited its extent.[38] On August 26, 2008, Alaskans voted against ending the state's predator control program.[39]


[edit] Foreign policy

[edit] Iraq
In an interview with Alaska Business Monthly "shortly after she took office" as governor,[40] Palin favored an "exit plan" for the war in Iraq:

Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.[41]

Palin has tied the war to the quest for new energy supplies, saying, "We are a nation at war and in many [ways] the reasons for war are fights over energy sources, which is nonsensical when you consider that domestically we have the supplies ready to go."[42] However, she also stipulated that a clear plan for Iraq should not include concerns with oil or energy dependence, saying, "I’m a mom, and my son is going to get deployed in September, and we better have a real clear plan for this war. And it better not have to do with oil and dependence on foreign energy."[43]


[edit] Israel
In a meeting on September 2, 2008 with leaders of the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC, Palin reportedly told them that she would "work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership between U.S. and Israel."[44]

the sense of compassion is heightened and you become more conscious of your actions because to hurt others or the environment is to literally hurt yourself.

What do you think enlightenment is?

What use is she to women if shes a far right religous nut?
Kinda Sorta cancels out the woman thing.

I, like you Raven, feel that homosexuals bring their own unique gifts to the table (what a wonderful way to say it).

I think that these that wish to condemn the homosexual should someday have someone they love be homosexual

In vitro testing can determine of the fetus is healthy or carries a genetic defect. Parents can again choose to abort, or go ahead. Continued testing can show if there are any abnormalities, and the pregnancy can be terminated if the parents wish it so.
Therefore, having healthy babies with certain characteristics is becoming more and more of a reality with each passing years

Got a corn flake that looked remarkably like an indian in full feathered head dress, etc once. I ate it.

*For one to believe that God created these people as homosexuals, then damned them because of it is ludicrous.

DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21
If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately.
DEUTERONOMY 22:22
If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death.
MARK 10:1-12
Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced.
LEVITICUS 18:19
The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed.
MARK 12:18-27
If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir.
DEUTERONOMY 25:11-12
If a man gets into a fight with another man and his wife seeks to rescue her husband by grabbing the enemy's genitals, her hand shall be cut off and no pity shall be shown her.

For one to believe that God created these people as homosexuals, then damned them because of it is ludicrous

A young Jewish scholar asked Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment?" Quoting the prophets, Jesus replied, "The great commandment is this... to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second command is like it, to love your neighbor as you love yourself."

"This is my commandment," Jesus said, "that you love one another, as I have loved you." On this the Bible is explicitly clear. Even if we disagree about what the Bible seems to say about homosexuality, we can agree that above all else we are commanded by the Scriptures to love God and to love one another.

Since God is the God of truth, since Jesus himself told us that the truth would set us free, one way that we love God and love one another is by seeking the truth about sexual orientation wherever we can find it.

The important question seems to be less "why did it happen?" and more "what am I going to do about it now that it's happened?"

Raven I think you have confused two posters here.
In know way do I advocate the killing of anyone associated with abortion.

Will she be selfish, and have the baby, saving herself from an eternity in Hell?
Or selfless, and abort, saving the child from this fate?

Parents are choosing to accept only "designer babies". Thatn is babies that mimmic only the treaits they desire if a baby has any slight defect or tracer genes it can be aborted.
Theoretically homosexuality which has study's have shown can be identified through tracer genes in the womb could be eliminated by aborting these fetuses that show the tracer genes.

Is that ok?

No study has actually proven any genetic link to homosexuality and none have been repeated and all three were conducted by men who are all self-proclaimed homosexuals. Do the math.

It's stuff like this that keeps me coming back for more

Israel at this point may indeed not be able to make a deal. Weak leadership doesn't help. But the Palestinians passed up fair deals in the past. Fair deals do not come around so often that they ought to be squandered.

So should a woman have the right to abort a "gay fetus"?

Now they want to legalize that if it somehow survives, or you decide when it leaves the womb, it can be killed, thats called ****ing murder, and Obama is all for it, which is one of many reasons I dislike the man and would vote for Naider before him. So, I too wish i could kill O bama

you never answered my post, you never "brought it" How do you justify abortion, simple as that, justify it, I want to see you try.

So should a woman have the right to abort a "gay fetus"?

I personally don't care whether people are gay or not, but if you come hittin on me, I don't care what you are (unless female) You will get punched, hard. i'll leave it at that.

Again I'm not saying gays are wrong, I am saying they all choose it,

More is known about homosexuality in men than in women, whose sexuality appears more fluid. The consensus now is that people are "born gay," as the title of a recent book by Rahman and British psychologist Glenn Wilson puts it.

One way or another the person made a choice just like you did. (Whatever choices you made.)

And then society begins to break down.

I want to also point out why psychology/psychiatry would lead you to believe it's genetic or a chemical imbalance. It's for profit! They want you to believe they can do something about it if you throw enough money at them. They invent some drug or therapy that does nothing but make them money. It's a fantasy they put up to make money. They have no pathological proof that any of this is genetic or a "chemical imbalance of the brain".

Off to buy some lingerie to tempt me a christian man