Gennaro Brooks-Church

This image intrigues my soul. We all know there is more to our awareness. Like drops of watter to a thirsty mouth we are given new bits each day. But we never see the whole. We see through prisms that only show a piece of the totality. In my eyes that is why it is so important for universal unity. We are all given our own limited prism view, but together we have the whole picture.
WIKI
More WIKI
And more WIKI
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Google Images

First lets get one thing clear. We are a combination of nature and nurture. Who we are is a mixture of our inherited genetics and our influenced environment. One is not more than the other.

So "I" am a little bit genetics and a little bit environment. The two make up "me".

That's pretty basic to me and a little irrelevant.

People who try to prove one over the other are like trying to prove sleep is more important than being awake, or vice versa.

What interests me is a suspicion that both genetics and environment are just as shallow as makeup.

The real depth of being alive actually has very little with your genetic and environmental body.

This is not so obvious in a world where people travel little, genetic lineage is very important, and tradition rules peoples' actions. This can be seen in older societies.

In that kind of world it is very important who your parents are, who you are related to etc - your genetics - and what the traditions are - your environmental influence. And the fact that people travel little means that none of that gets disrupted.

But I live in NY. Like myself, many of us have come from DRASTICALLY different worlds.

I rub shoulders with people who have such drastic differences in genetics and environmental influence (prior to NY) that it all becomes a wash.

Obviously there are many enclaves in NY that have old world features. Places like China Town or Hasidim neighborhoods are deeply rooted in genetic and cultural affiliations.

But in my personal life that is the exception. The world I see is one where we no longer have the genetic or cultural mores to fall back on.

Right now I am working on a house with a white Arab, a black America and a brown Pakistani. We have no common denominator racially or culturally.

This forces us to use other norms of connecting with each other other than the normal tools we would fall back on if we were in a stable social and racial environment.

As we interact none of us talk to each other like we talk to our friends. In my eyes this wipes away dogma, tradition, and ways of interaction that we inherit from our culture and even genetics.

Instead of seeing our little group interaction as a bland United Nations, I see it as a way to wipe the crap away and really see what drives us in the first place.

Contrary to 99% of the way humans act on a daily basis, I think the true driving force of our lives is not genetic or cultural but something else.

This is not to say that culture and genetics doesn't drive most of humanity most of the time. We eat, sleep, procreate, kill, worship, dance, cry, and all of it is deeply cultural and genetic.

All that is important. But that is humanity on autopilot. All of that is no more aware than the way you breathe all day.

And thank god it works on autopilot because god knows we wouldn't be able to organize all that.

(Side note: our horror at the atrocities we commit is merely because we have a vague idea that we can do better if we tap this higher awareness. But on the mundane level, as long as we are on autopilot the atrocities are all very useful and part of the plan. Just like wildfires are a useful part of nature.)

But all that is genetics and culture. It is there to feed the body and keep it all running.

That something "other" is the true reason for being - it is our potential. Nature and Nurture are only the containers. They are like petri dishes, inert but fertile.

As far as my interaction in my mini United Nations, it is clear that honesty is the only thing we have in common. When we look into each others eyes, honestly being ourselves, who we are on the Nature/Nurture level really does not matter.

Our religion, nationality, ethnicity, heritage, background, etc - all that rich and juicy stuff that apparently makes us who we are - it becomes irrelevant to me.

What matters to me is their honest energy and my honest energy in return as we work on the project at hand.

I am at a loss to describe it so I call it "honest energy" or "something other".

I think I will not know what it truly is until enough people are aware of it and the collective (un)conscious pushes me over the hill to that level.

Until people either all move to NY or find another way to break through the facade of Nature and Nurture I guess I'll have to wait??????? Or do I??????

Here is an article that I found to be interesting. I found it because it is where I found the image I posted at the beginning of this post (an image that is timeless, beautiful, and the essence of being human).

Some thoughts on Science & Religion

Kirk T. Korista
Associate Professor of Astronomy
Western Michigan University
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~korista/
(See also links pertaining to Science & Faith: attempts of reconciliation on this page.)

The following is a personal reflection on this issue, addressed primarily to someone possessing religious or spiritual faith (hereafter, a "believer") who isn't a scientist. Scientists, especially geologists, biologists, physicists, and astronomers, are often asked about their beliefs in "God," a question I believe to be of a most personal nature. But the questions persist. Accompanying the question is often the underlying assumption by the questioner that any such belief is impossible - science and "religion" are totally irreconcilable - and that to be a scientist one must be an atheist. Or perhaps worse - that to understand and place credibility in the findings of science one must be an atheist.

Why this assumption? In most cases it's because the questioner is repeating a notion that was taught to him/her. So many people are told that the findings of science are completely at odds with the teachings of religion, faith, and spirituality. "The world must be the way we say it is, else `God' cannot exist ergo there is no purpose of existence" is, in so many words, the cry of many. I will not delve into discussion of this type of thinking here, but I will point out that this path is not the only one followed by the devout.

For example, you may be surprised to learn that....

The "father" of geology - Albert the Great, the father of chemistry - Roger Bacon, the father of genetics - Gregor Mendel, the "second Euclid" of the Renaissance - Christopher Clavius, the father of astrophysics - Angelo Secchi, and the originator of the Big Bang theory - Georges Lemaitre, were all either Christian priests or monks. Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton all adhered to the Christian faith. Even Charles Darwin was a practicing Christian for much of his adult life (he turned to agnosticism after the death of one of his children). The Roman Catholic Church and most of the Protestant sects of Christianity do not find conflict with the findings of science, including biological evolution. As Cardinal Baronius said nearly 400 years ago regarding the debate over Earth-centered vs. Sun-centered models of the solar system:

"The Bible teaches us how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go." (Galileo Galilei paraphrased this statement during his trial defense.)

The above listing of scientists should in no way be interpreted as some validation of a particular faith. It merely demonstrates that believers can be scientists (and vice versa), as well as that these scientists were products of the society in which they lived (nearly all Renaissance and early neo-classical period scholars were trained as theologians). Indeed, scientists, as human beings, come in all flavors in regards to their personal beliefs, even if this distribution in beliefs differs (substantially) from that of non-scientists. I also do not mean to imply that "science has found God," or anything of the kind. In fact it should be emphasized that each of the above scientists made their discoveries through the observation of nature, not from revelation or religious text. The scientific value of the work that scientists do is not a reflection of their personal religious beliefs or lack thereof.

Here are some of my evolving opinions on the matter of this "conflict." I should make it clear that I am trained as a scientist, not as a theologean, but I have given some thought to this matter, and continue to do so.

Humans are inherently curious creatures. So we ask questions...
Science is a human endeavor to understand how nature works. Observational evidence lies at its foundation. Scientific knowledge is never perfect, complete, or absolute and never will be. Science can only expect to produce ever-improved explanations for nature's workings. That is, science seeks to discover and understand nature's laws and use them to understand and predict how nature works in general. However imperfect our present understanding of nature, the methods of science have led us to a better understanding of our universe than we had 100 or 1000 years ago. To deny this is to deny the existence of a shred of objective reality in our lives within this universe. I'll let you ponder that one.

Some of the ultimate human questions of "who am I?", "why?", and "what purpose?" have throughout our history led many humans down a spiritual and/or inward-looking path. For some, these are questions of a very personal nature, and when perceived in this way are not naturally addressed by science. Others, however, are content with finding meaning within the natural world without a reliance on the supernatural.

Science and spirituality are both human endeavors to understand, separate though they are. However, unless one denies any shred of rational reality of our existence, then at the very least we live in a physical-natural world with its own sets of rules and laws - those that scientists strive to find and understand. So to those who seek also a spiritual world the following questions may be asked. Why choose to place a schism/chasm between the two worlds? Does the physical world have any meaning? If so, then why would one wish to place his/her spiritual world in direct conflict with the physical? Wouldn't harmony (or at minimum a truce) be preferable? For some, this harmony might manifest itself as two parallel planes of understanding, for others as two intersecting planes or overlapping planes, or in the language of a physicist - a superposition of two states.

Granted, a path to achieving this sort of harmony can be a long, hard one that can involve difficult questions, with no quick and easy answers - and even uncertainty. I would guess that many find the prospect of walking this path, one that may take years or even a lifetime to travail, too daunting, too uncertain of outcome, and so never venture outward from where it is "safe." Perhaps some are unaware of the existence of or need for any such paths. To remain in ignorance of and not think about the world and universe around them, and to be told all of the "answers," is for many so much simpler. This approach to life has its consequences, however. Think totalitarianism and dictatorship - for example, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party had all the answers (as well as the "Final Solution") to Germany's problems. History tells us that somebody is always willing to step in to lead the blind and passive (and those unwilling or unable to think critically) over a cliff.

Finally, keep this in mind. Science can neither formally prove nor disprove the existence of a supernatural being or beings. Anyone who claims to do either is twisting truth, and in doing so vying for power, trying to make a buck or both. At the same time, from the point of view of scientists who study the physical/empirical universe, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" holds true in cases where supernatural events are claimed to occur within the physical world. I'll close this discussion by asking the same question I asked above in a slightly different way: why would anyone of faith wish to place their personal faith on trial against the empirical (measurable) and physical world? Is that what faith means to you?

I don't expect to change your mind on this matter; it is not my desire to do so. And I certainly do not claim to have the answers to this problem. But it is my hope that you will reflect upon this and along the way perhaps discover something new.

The trick it seems is to develop the skills, the awareness, the strength to "be in the world, but not of the world."

If you can accomplish this you have freed yourself from petty unhappiness and tapped into a larger more powerful happiness.

"Be in the world" - THE DUALITY
You are in the world, with all of its physical and mental aspects. This is to be part of your daily experiences, to be "right there" giving it your 100% attention. Being in the world is to get involved in your surroundings, to live life with full energy and interaction. You are living its abstractions or delusions as well as seeing the world as it is right in front of you. You are in your mind where past, present and future have no distinction, where fantasy, dillusion and reality mingle without separation. You are in the hard facts of reality, crisp and clear, beautiful in their perfect truth. You live the paradox of truth and illusion, happiness and sadness, life and death. This is the duality of life. This is your environment, much like the weather.

"but not of the world" - YOUR CONSTANT SOURCE
Your SOURCE of power, truth and awareness does NOT come from the world. You are in the world but you do not depend on the ebb and flow of that world for your happiness, direction, inspiration, wisdom, or fulfillment. You may share all those things with the world in the form of your art and activities but you do not DEPEND on the world to share it back. Your SOURCE comes from a force that is not part of the world. It is not part of your physical body or mind. It is outside of that. As the world ebbs and flows, is good and bad, happy and sad, your SOURCE is CONSTANT. It is not a duality. It is ONE.

To access this SOURCE you must have an awareness ABOVE AND BEYOND the normal duality of the world. This awareness is achieved, well, through awareness....becoming aware that there is a constant force behind the relatively minor dualistic energies of your day to day awareness allows you to access the power. It is a circular activity: seeing the higher power allows you to see the higher power. Seeing the illusion of the world allows you to see the illusion of the higher world. Humans, above all else, are here to learn the essence of awareness. If we learn it we succeed as a race. If we don't we die and the universe dies with us. The universe is counting on us for this contribution. In return the universe gives us unlimited power for all of eternity.

Becoming aware of the dualistic nature of life plus the eternal source of our power and then being able to live the triad in harmony is our destiny.
Yin/Yang + eternal power = The Triad = Humanity Awakened

Bill Hicks touches on this:

A child has a heightened ability to take in stimuli but does not yet have the tools to deal with this stimuli.

Children's' senses are just as acute as an adult. In some cases their senses are even better, for example most children have better hearing and eyesight than adults.

What they don't have yet is contextual analysis tools. When they see something they might not have the experience to be able to put the thing in context and analyze it. They have not seen enough violence to know how to process it, for example. An adult has seen so much violence that they can easily put it away in the part of their brain that deals with violence.

That part of the brain has developed the tools to diffuse or otherwise rationalize the violence so that it does not do any great damage to the rest of the body. For example an adult can see a murder in a movie and the mind easily explains that it is just acting and thus we don't get upset by it.

A child however does not have these tools fully developed yet and the violence has nowhere to go. So it gets dealt with in various ways; it resurfaces later as trauma; it is expressed as violence to others; it does damage to the body via cancer or another stress; or the child actually inflicts violence to their own body.

This is why it is so important to be aware of what a child is exposed to.

But I do not think quarantine is the best route. A child can't develop the tools unless they are exposed. If you keep a child away from violence their whole childhood, when they go into the world one violent event could destroy them.

They need to be exposed to real life as children, but HOW this is done needs to be considered with great care. I think the parent has to perform an ongoing proactive role as that part of the brain that the child does not yet have developed.

The typical example is the conversation almost every parent has with a child about how movies are just actors and not real. The parent is helping the child process the information, helping the child exercise that part of the brain.

Obviously helping a child develop is a fine line and can easily fall into propaganda and brain control. I strongly think that the child knows better what is good for them than I do. Helping the child develop their brain to deal with elements of life comes from the perspective that the child already has the essence of those tools already.

The adult is only a guide, much like a mountain guide helps climbers up a mountain. Like the guide is the employee hired by the mountain climbers, the parent is there to serve the child in their climb. The child is the boss of their soul. The parent only guides as somebody who is more knowledgeable with the current terrain.

But as the guide, there is tremendous responsibility. The adult must understand that the environment for the child is crystal clear and new. The great tragedy is when the adult fails to realize that even though the child doesn't yet have the tools to process the environment fully, the child takes it all in with great intensity.

When you talk on the phone with the child in the back seat, when you glance at someone, when you speak in a certain tone of voice, when you say words (every single word): it is all taken in with complete clarity. Never mind that the child appears to not be paying attention. Their ears, their eyes, all of their senses are working perfectly.

The appearance that they are not paying attention is merely because, like all humans, they can multitast and also their mind is not necessarily engaged. But their body is engaged and they take it in and it gets lodged somewhere inside.

That is why a child can come out with something totally surprising. For example my four year old daughter put on a dress the other day and said, "I feel so sexy in this dress." Nobody ever told her she looked sexy, but she probably picked it up when adults were talking about something else and thought she wasn't paying attention.

The danger occurs when we loose control and presume that the child isn't taking it in.

This video makes the point very powerfully:

Does an alcoholic wake up in the morning and say, "I want to waste the day away, spend all my money and end the day passed out with puke all over me."
No.
They wake up saying, I want to be happy, or I want to make this pain go away.
So why do they do exactly the oposite?
Because they are all mixed up. There is something inside them, be it chemical or psychological, that is not working correctly.

Most people are not dysfunctional alcoholics, but MOST people ARE all mixed up. Myself included.

I may wake up saying, "I have a lot of things I want to get out of the way today."
And then I feel overwhelmed and go back to sleep....

Or how about this:
I want my girlfriend to stop acting a certain way.
So I say and do things so she does it EVEN MORE....

What we want and how we do things are often completely at odds with each other. If you step back it is clear there is stuff inside us that completely clouds our reason. If I was being reasonable I would not go back to sleep on a day where there was a lot to do.

So what is it that makes us do this?

I think it is a lack of inner clarity. It is like we have all this murky garbage floating around inside us that clogs up our ability to see what is good for us.

If I was clear, when my girlfriend annoys me I would act in ways that made her stop doing whatever was annoying me. It is such simple logic.

So the goal is to become clear, to clean out all that garbage. Doing that is not easy but it is possible. I think it is done by being our own baby sitters.

The largest difference between children and adults is that adults should no longer need outside structure. By the time you are an adult you should have formed enough inside structure to keep it together both on the outside and inside.

A lot of adults still have work to do in that area. Myself included.

So you start now. Next time you want to be a baby, be your own baby sitter. A grown up does not get drunk when what what they really want is happiness (hopefully a baby doesn't either, but you get the point). They suck it up and deal with the issue because they know that is the path to happiness.

When I have a shit load of stuff to do I don't go back to bed. I suck it up and deal with it like an adult. Sure it is hard but going back to sleep isn't the solution.

Now we can't be super heroes right away or forever. This is a process. We all start at our own level and we do what we can. It is a life long process and not something that lasts a week until you burn out. Pacing is the key. It takes about 30 years to become an adult if all goes well. But shit happens.

Starting now is crucial. Gotta go, my babysitter is calling.

I think that if you follow your truth it will be ok. Finding your truth is a self fulfilling process. You usually never really know what it is until after the fact. But in the process, even though you may not know what it is exactly, if you are honest enough, if you are brave enough and patient enough you will get enough of an idea to be at least on the right path. You may not see where the path is going or know what the hell you are doing. But being on the right path is good enough, the rest unfolds from there.

There are many tools to help you find the truth, from religion to coaching to the newest diet. They can be used or not because truth is ultimately right there inside anyway. The tool is often just something to help you get to the next stage, at which point the tool is no longer needed, if it ever was in the first place.

From a chain mail from Shana:

These are really very powerful. Implement whatever you can.

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile.
It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if
you have to.

3. Buy a DVR. Tape your late night shows and get more sleep..

4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following
statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'

5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.

7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga or stretching, and
prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the
age of 6.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food
that is manufactured in plants.

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild
Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new
and flowing energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires,
issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot
control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present
moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.
Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade
away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a
lifetime

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like
a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Try & pay an honest compliment to someone you wouldn't
normally.

18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what
their journey is all about.

24 No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25 . Frame every so-called disaster with these
words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your
friends will. Stay in touch.

31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

33. The best is yet to come.

34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

35. Do the right thing!

36. Call your family often.

37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following
statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished
_________.

38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you
certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through
life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

40. Please Forward this to your friends.

Perception is limited - always.

The challenge is to perceive what's important.

The primary tool of the propaganda system (also known as "the news media") is misdirection, having you pay attention to some things and not others. If you disagree with this you are either correct or have been successfully misdirected.

It is important to develop the skill to be able to watch life from more than one perspective.

This skill is developed by exposing yourself to ideas and experiences outside your skill set and comfort zone. Doing this expands your awareness and you are able to see things on multiple levels. Your ability to take in and process information increases. For example, if you have been exposed to something in the past you are more likely to recognize it when you come across it in the future.

But more than that, you have also developed the skill to take in new things. So even if you come across something new you are able to take it in more quickly because you are already used to processing other new things.

When you consume official propaganda (also know as "new reports") you can more easily realize there's more going on than what the news commentators are directing your attention towards.

This video is a fun demonstration of how this works in practice. It is also a reminder to look out for cyclists when driving. Taken from Brasschecktv.com

I always get melancholic around the new moon, especially the few days leading up to the new moon. I don't keep track of the moon cycles, I can barely keep track of important day to day events like what time to pick up my daughter at school. But the moon cycles keep track of me. Whenever I am feeling melancholic and "off" it is always a consolation when I learn that it is the new moon. It takes all the "why" out of my mood. I am not down for A REASON, such as I got bad grades in school etc, I am down because I am connected to the celestial bodies. The universe out there and the universe in here are one and the same.

And the moment I take a reason out of my mood I can relax into it. The new moon time is such a rich time. It is when I get my deepest insights and internal shifts. Sometimes when I let the mood do its thing, I can literally feel a physical shift inside me, just like the feeling you get when an airplane passes through an air pocket and sinks downward ever so slightly.

That shift needs to happen. If I don't let the mood do its thing then I am not ready for the next phase (each phase being 28 days). It is an energetic realignment much like the body goes through every time you go to sleep.

I often wonder what the meaning of life is. I wonder when sitting at a red light, when on the subway, when walking along the street.

Why am I here? What is the meaning of my existence?

Is it to "be"? As in eat, sleep, have sex, watch movies, have babies, work at a job, buy a house, make art....??

Is that it?? I do those things and they fill me with a mixture of stimuli. And I could easily continue doing it until I die. But I can't help but wonder if there is more to it. I mean I can do all that stuff in my sleep. And sometimes I do. As if on auto pilot.

In fact doing that stuff often DOES put me to sleep.

It seems there are two dualities to perception:

1. Destiny is fixed.
2. We create our destiny.

or

1. Life is, as in the scientific view.
2. Life is what we interpret it as, as in the religious view.

or

1. Life is a series of facts.
2. Life is a series of interpretations.

or

1. There is a universal reality.
2. Each individual makes their own reality.

Ect, ect.

Of course life is both sides of the duality.

I'm not getting very far here with my point.

I am not sure what my point is exactly except for this nagging question that appears trite when put into works ("What is the meaning of life") but as an energy it knocks around inside me endlessly as I go through my day.

It is a general restlessness. A low grade dissatisfaction. An inaudible murmur that there is more, maybe, maybe not. Like a slight inflection at the end of a sentence that leaves you wondering if there was more meaning than what was stated....

What is the purpose of this life????

I have had answers. The point of life is:
To love
To help
To feel
To care
To create
To be, whatever that means
To breathe
To empathize

And I do these things daily. They are great. But there is still a little question mark in my soul, a pause, a slight sigh that distracts me.

Is this our destiny - to forever wander through light blindfolded????

Here is an email I got from Desiree. It seemed appropriate for my mood today - a little melancholy, a little unclear, a little under the new moon blues.

As you journey through life, choose your destinations, but do not hurry there.

You will arrive soon enough.

Wander the back roads & forgotten paths keeping your destination in your heart like the fixed point of a compass.

Seek out new voices, strange sights & ideas foreign to your own.

Such things are riches for your soul.

And, if upon arrival, you find that your destination isn't exactly as you had dreamed, do not be disappointed.

Think of all you would have missed but for the journey there & know that the true worth of your travels lies not in where you come to be at journey's end, but in who you come to be along the way.

Here is what the new moon blues sounds like:

I checked out the MAIN PAGE of McCain, Clinton and Obama to look at the color configuration and layout. And I don't mean the splash page, I mean the main page with all the info and links.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
https://www.johnmccain.com/

All three have a general theme of red, white and blue. No surprise to me there. Those are the colors of the US flag. Pretty much every single big corporation in America sports those colors. They represent the American Dream.

There are three things that struck me right away.

The first is the use of yellow in both McCain and Hillary's web site, and the obvious lack of a fourth color in Obama's.

Obama's site is 100% red, white and blue. There is ABSOLUTELY no other color on the main page... he may be toting hope but certainly there is no diversion from the status quo on his web site. It conforms 100% to the CURRENT colors of power.

McCain and Clinton have web sites that are 99% red, white and blue EXCEPT for very prominently placed accents of Yellow. Both accent their success. For McCain it is above his name and above the words "Service to America Tour", inferring it is the tour that will will him the election.

For Clinton yellow highlights two things: a pledge for money to help her win and a pledge to help her win a specific state, in both cases it is about winning.

As you see below yellow psychologically has the effect of HOPE and it also speed up change (e.g. our own metabolism). You would think Obama would use yellow???

Is the use of yellow by Clinton and McCain an attempt to balance out their lack of those elements in their speeches? Clearly Obama has them beat on the use of "change" and "hope". He practically owns those words through his constant use of them.

Or is Obama's lack of that color an indication that he isn't as much about hope and change as we'd he'd like us to think and that he is actually going to support the status quo a lot more than he says?!?

The second thing I noticed is that McCain and Clinton both have black a while image of Martin Luther King almost in exactly the same place on the web site. Obama has no reference to MLK ANYWHERE?!

WTF?? It is the anniversary of MLK's death for christsakes and he's only one of the best politicians in the history of the world!! So it makes perfect sense that MLK should be mentioned. FOr McCain and Clintons' sites he is placed in an honorary position in the top right corner of the site.

Why is MLK absent from Obama's site??? Are the two white politicians trying to associate themselves with this great and black leader in the hopes that his greatness and his blackness will rub off on them and they will attract more votes? Probably. I mean shit, that's what politicians do.

But Obama??? Is he trying to distance himself from MLK? Is he trying not to appear too black? I don't know...I'm sure I'm not the only one asking, and I'm not even black.

The third thing I noticed about all the web sites is that they were built by the same web designer!!! Or at least by people with the exact same logistical sense. All three sites:
Top left corner has a large square area for images and slogans
Top roght area is links
Below those two areas are two columns.

I mean they are fucking identical!! What is up with that???

Below are simple Psychological influences of colors, taken from InfoPlease.com
White
Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity. White reflects light and is considered a summer color. White is popular in decorating and in fashion because it is light, neutral, and goes with everything. However, white shows dirt and is therefore more difficult to keep clean than other colors. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility.

Red
The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme color, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention.

The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing. Sports teams sometimes paint the locker rooms used by opposing teams bright pink so their opponents will lose energy.

Blue
The color of the sky and the ocean, blue is one of the most popular colors. It causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to produce calming chemicals, so it is often used in bedrooms. Blue can also be cold and depressing. Fashion consultants recommend wearing blue to job interviews because it symbolizes loyalty. People are more productive in blue rooms. Studies show weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms.

Yellow
Cheerful sunny yellow is an attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more. It is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.

Something to think about (from BrassCheckTV.com):

"McCain is obviously a demented madman.
But are the Democrats offering us anything better?
Obama is going to save us?
Give me a break.
Clinton?
Another disaster in the making.
All these people were bought and sold a long, long time ago.
Nobody gets in the White House who is not willing to use US military might as a bullying force of empire. "

Here is either a pretty gloomy video or a propaganda piece to help McCain.

Here is a great video. It starts out slow but gets very inspiring and interesting really fast.

It shows that sometimes you need tragedy and incompetence for the new to grow from. In this case the setting is New Orleans and the hurricane disaster. They are literally using vegetable grease to rebuild community.

I think the people in this video are part of the new. They are rooted in old hippie values but they are very much alive and active now. They are fringe but only they have the solution for the mainstream.

Clearly these people are visionary and doing great things. It inspires me to look into my neighborhood, the largest restaurant area in Brooklyn, and see where they put their vegetable grease. Is there a good heart business there recycling the oil into bio-diesel and soap?

They also discuss making franchises that might be worth looking into for your community.

Thier web site is BioLiberty.net.

Well worth watching:

Courtesy of Brasschecktv.com, well worth subscribing to.