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beam me up scottie's Journal
The Voice of the Voiceless
So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
I am the voice of the voiceless:
Through me, the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
Oh shame on the mothers of mortals
Who have not stopped to teach
Of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes,
The sorrow that has no speech.
The same Power formed the sparrow
That fashioned man - the King;
The God of the whole gave a living soul
To furred and to feathered thing.
And I am my brother’s keeper,
And I will fight his fight;
And speak the word for beast and bird
Till the world shall set things right.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
If you refuse to be a voice for the voiceless you are complicit; if you do nothing else at least continue to protest all cruelty, as often and as loudly as possible. This is not a fringe issue, this kind of horrific abuse affects everyone in some way, it is unacceptable. Send the message.
I have no doubt that many of Vick's dogs, after hearing him laugh, went to their graves happy in the knowledge that they pleased him in some way.
If any creature truly knows knows how to forgive, it is the dog.
In those hours when he was weak with suffering, torn alive away from life, devoid of human egoism, he saw the victims of men, the field of battle in which man triumphed in the bloody slaughter of all other creatures: and his heart was filled with pity and horror. Even in the days when he had been happy he had always loved the beasts: he had never been able to bear cruelty towards them: he had always had a detestation of sport, which he had never dared to express for fear of ridicule: but his feeling of repulsion had been the secret cause of the apparently inexplicable feeling of dislike he had had for certain men: he had never been able to admit to his friendship a man who could kill an animal for pleasure. It was not sentimentality: no one knew better than he that life is based on suffering and infinite cruelty: no man can live without making others suffer. It is no use closing our eyes and fobbing ourselves off with words. It is no use either coming to the conclusion that we must renounce life and sniveling like children. No. We must kill to live, if, at the time, there is no other means of living. But the man who kills for the sake of killing is a miscreant. An unconscious miscreant, I know. But, all the same, a miscreant. The continual endeavor of man should be to lessen the sum of suffering and cruelty: that is the first duty of humanity. *** "What have I done to you? Why do you hurt me?" He could not bear to see the most ordinary sights that he had seen hundreds of times —a calf crying in a wicker pen, with its big, protruding eyes, with their bluish whites and pink lids, and white lashes, its curly white tufts on its forehead, its purple snout, its knock-kneed legs: —a lamb being carried by a peasant with its four legs tied together, hanging head down, trying to hold its head up, moaning like a child, bleating and lolling its gray tongue: —fowls huddled together in a basket: —the distant squeals of a pig being bled to death: —a fish being cleaned on the kitchen-table. . . . The nameless tortures which men inflict on such innocent creatures made his heart ache. Grant animals a ray of reason, imagine what a frightful nightmare the world is to them: a dream of cold-blooded men, blind and deaf, cutting their throats, slitting them open, gutting them, cutting them into pieces, cooking them alive, sometimes laughing at them and their contortions as they writhe in agony. Is there anything more atrocious among the cannibals of Africa? To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of men. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. —And that is the unpardonable crime. That alone is the justification of all that men may suffer. It cries vengeance upon God. If there exists a good God, then even the most humble of living things must be saved. If God is good only to the strong, if there is no justice for the weak and lowly, for the poor creatures who are offered up as a sacrifice to humanity, then there is no such thing as goodness, no such thing as justice. ~The Unpardonable Crime
by Romain Rolland
Excerpted from Jean-Christophe. New York: Random House Modern Library, 1938, pp. 326-328
translated by Gilbert Cannanhttp://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts... There is no such thing as justice for animals.
From 'The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption':
particularly disturbing is an episode in which Vick and a friend swing a failed fighting dog over their heads like a jump rope and kill it by repeatedly slamming it into the ground...
My boyfriend had no idea how horrific Vick's crimes were, he only heard the football fans' version. I wish I didn't have to be the one who told him, it shook him to the core. I'm always the one who loses it when I hear about animal cruelty, who cannot bear it, who begs him to change the channel and runs from the room. Not this time. "NO REMORSE. NO SHAME. NO ACCOUNTABILITY. NOT ONE OUNCE OF EMPATHY, COMPASSION OR CONCERN ABOUT HIS VICTIMS."I'll say it again, there is no justice for animals wronged such as this, there never has been, nor can there ever be.
Poor Mel.
One could argue he is one of the lucky ones, he probably enjoys life some of the time.
I suffer from PTSD. I enjoy life most of the time. I can control (mostly) my fear when I'm awake. But when I sleep, I dream. Oh god, how I dream.
Imagine Mel's dreams. Imagine the horror of having to relive his worst nightmares even when awake.
No wonder the female dog didn't want to be adopted. I doubt she wanted to live.
Imagine what it's like when it hurts just to exist.
There is no justice for animals wronged such as this, there never has been, nor can there ever be.
That would be funny if not so sickening. Having your deity mocked on the internet is a joke when compared to the very real persecution that still exists today: PERSECUTION PERSECUTION PERSECUTION NOT PERSECUTION NOT PERSECUTION NOT PERSECUTION In light of the horrors committed in the name of your god in the last 2000 years, your accusations of intolerance in this forum are obscene. I'm going to throw up now.
You didn't volunteer your time, resources or product, this is what you did: 1) After "years and years" of failure in your chosen profession, you joined Barbara Jordan's church after her death because you saw an opportunity for financial gain. 2) You made what was probably a racially condescending and intellectually insulting dvd since it was put together by people who thought their skin color "DH and I are white. We wanted to help people get inspired and realize their dreams." and their education elevated them above their target audience "people in a poor black hood". 3) You pitched it by insisting the church needed to promote YOUR message of BLACK EMPOWERMENT because after all, you WERE "the first white members this church had had since its founding 125 years prior, shortly after the Civil War. Not that I wanted to be an example"  , and instead of thanking you for slumming it, they told you to go pound sand. And even though you couldn't get a secular ad agency (or anyone else, for that matter) to buy your dvd, you concluded that this was the fault of christianity, that christians in general sucked, and that god wanted you to starve. You are NOT a victim and altruism is such a foreign concept for you, you wouldn't know it if it bit ya on your highly educated ass. a good deed... phhhht!  
Ah, now it all makes sense. Here's what you've posted and my interpretation of What Really Happened: We started going to her (Barbara Jordan) church, after she died in '96 because she was a great person and we wanted to check out her church and see if we could help perpetuate her legacy of integrity. You were desperate for work and thought that the death of Barbara Jordan provided the perfect opportunity to capitalize on her good name, so you infiltrated her church in order to profit from her death. We both applied for many other jobs in the secular world. For years and years. By the time we went to the two big churches, we were just about ready to off ourselves. I took the DVD to a prominent secular ad agency and I called them back after doing a presentation. The woman I talked to kept saying "We can't do this we can't do that" You couldn't find jobs in your field and even though "People were very moved by it", you couldn't sell your dvd to secular businesses either. Did they want you to starve too? By your own admission you weren't simply trying "to help the black community make good use of one of its great citizens", you were hitting up them up because you wanted "seed money": I asked people in two large churches with severalhundred people to help me get ajob. I was willing to help them spread the gospel, help them make CDs and DVDs to help, if they would pay my DH and I for our skills. The famous, ethical politician that was a member of this church, that we wanted to make a DVD life story of, and sell to build a nonprofit community center in her old hood I wanted a job where I would give them value and they would pay me. Also, because the two churches combined had a membership of several thousand people, and I'm sure there were people who could have provided seed money for a trial run. The following posts are even more illuminating: DH and I are white We wanted to help people get inspired and realize their dreams. they didn't give a shit about promoting the message of Black empowerment through education and the example of Barbara Jordan Translation: "Ooooh, lookit us! We're highly educated white people here "to help people in a poor black hood", ain't we somethin?" The last two nails in this particularly smelly coffin are these statements: By the way, there were no Black programmers pounding on their door to make digital media for them about anything. In the hundreds of people I met, I saw no Black people who wanted to do what we wanted to do. However, this experience was horrifying to me because the church had this wonderful example of Barbara Jordan, and didn't want to use it to help the community or the first white members this church had had since its founding 125 years prior, shortly after the Civil War. Not that I wanted to be an example, I just wanted to help the black community make good use of one of its great citizens. What Really Happened: By the time you got done 'splainin to dem po' black folks over and over and over again that they NEEDED TO PROMOTE THE MESSAGE OF BLACK EMPOWERMENT by PAYING YOU MONEY FOR A PRODUCT THEY DIDN'T WANT, they threw you out on your lily white asses. And I'll wager it had nothing to do with their religion.
Genuine charity means giving aid for FREE, not asking for something in return or making you lie about who you are. Mission Statement
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God.
Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
The Salvation Army's eleven articles of faith reflect our determination to remain faithful to our standards and principles. All members of The Salvation Army are encouraged to review these principles from time to time and to reaffirm before God their dedication to Him and to His good works.
1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
2. We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.
3. We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
4. We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
5. We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocence, but by their disobedience, they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
7. We believe that repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.
8. We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
9. We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
10. We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
11. We believe in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, in the general judgment at the end of the world, in the eternal happiness of the righteous, and in the endless punishment of the wicked.
* emphasis mine
Abortion
The Salvation Army deplores society's ready acceptance of abortion, which reflects insufficient concern for vulnerable persons, including the unborn. (Psalms 82:3-4)
The Salvation Army holds to the Christian ideals of chastity before marriage and fidelity within the marriage relationship and, consistent with these ideals, supports measures to prevent crisis pregnancies. It is opposed to abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection or for any reason of mere convenience to avoid the responsibility for conception. Therefore, when an unwanted pregnancy occurs, The Salvation Army advises that the situation be accepted and that the pregnancy be carried to term, and offers supportive help and assistance with planning. Homosexuality
The Salvation Army holds a positive view of human sexuality. Where a man and a woman love each other, sexual intimacy is understood as a gift of God to be enjoyed within the context of heterosexual marriage. However, in the Christian view, sexual intimacy is not essential to a healthy, full, and rich life. Apart from marriage, the scriptural standard is celibacy.
Sexual attraction to the same sex is a matter of profound complexity. Whatever the causes may be, attempts to deny its reality or to marginalize those of a same-sex orientation have not been helpful. The Salvation Army does not consider same-sex orientation blameworthy in itself. Homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, requires individual responsibility and must be guided by the light of scriptural teaching.
Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage. These vultures are the lowest of the low, they prey on people when they are at their weakest and they openly admit that saving souls is Job Number One. After our family's house burned to the ground I was visited by several charities - including the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. The Red Cross volunteers were wonderful, as were our local charities. The SA, on the other hand, refused to help us unless we belonged to a church. I threw them out of the house. They're lucky I didn't send my German Shepard out to help them to their car. The Salvation Army does NOT give charity, they're selling something and it stinks.
From Science Blogs Terra Sigillata: Misconceptions on herbs and cancer
Category: Botanical/Herbal Medicines • Cancer
Posted on: September 20, 2006 8:33 PM, by Abel Pharmboy
Curcumin has been much in the news as of late as considerable cell culture data has been suggestive of the compound's utility in cancer prevention and cancer treatment. The impetus for me speaking on this has been the recent report by my ScienceBlogs.com colleague, Razib, at Gene Expression.
Unfortunately, the story of curcumin has been clouded by overly aggressive attempts by marketers to manipulate in vitro, or Petri dish, cell culture studies with human consumption. Some very outstanding scientists have been working on the anticancer effects of this herb, but it seems that their efforts and results have been overexaggerated and misrepresented.
Briefly, we have known that many natural compounds used at high concentrations, including curcumin, can arrest or kill human cancer cells growing on a plastic dish in the laboratory.
The bigger question in using these remedies for humans with cancer has been whether the concentrations used in cell culture can be acheived in the bloodstream of patients. Most naturally-occuring compounds must be concentrated hundreds or thousands-fold from their natural source, and then be given at doses that would choke a horse.
With curcumin, the very attractive in vitro anticancer data on the compound is offset by the fact that curcumin is poorly bioavailable. What that means is that one takes a certain amount of curcumin by mouth, very little is absorbed into the bloodstream. The question, with curcumin and any other drug, is whether concentrations that kill cancer cells in culture can be achieved in human cells.
Sadly, this is not possible with curcumin, at least at doses of one or more grams per day.
Any recommendations for its use in humans should not be taken seriously until prospective studies of its anticancer action are performed in human subjects.
Not all of the woos think the world will end, but most of them think something HUGH!!1! will happen.
Google "The Shift" if you want a free mini-lobotomy.
Most of us agree that more research needs to be done.
The double-blind cross-over study included 24 patients suffering from symptomatic, persistent allergic rhinitis who recorded the severity of their runny nose, itchy nose, stuffy nose and sneezing twice a day for a month. The capsaicin- MucoAd™ formula (Sinol-M™ ) was compared to the 1st generation product without MucoAd™ (Sinol™ .)
24 patients, no placebo. Just another internet alt-med pharmaceutical corporation woofomercial posted in DU's Health Forum.
I prefer to research cults and snake oil salesmen and post the information in the appropriate group.
Your intent is obviously to disrupt since you've attacked everyone who disagreed with you, and refused to read the references provided by the skeptics in this group (which you DEMANDED repeatedly).
This isn't WooWooLand, in this group you're expected to back up your claims with evidence.
You should go back to your echo chamber, you know absolutely nothing about the subject in the op and it's painfully obvious that you're way out of your league.
To Sue when she asked if he thought she chose to have a bone marrow disease: CanSocDem (550 posts) Wed May-28-08 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Like I said...
...people choose ill health for their own reasons. I have no idea why you have a 'bone marrow disorder'. Maybe you wanted to visit the Mayo Clinic....
Anyway, we're all surrounded by toxic chemicals, contaminated food and lethal mosquitoes but only some of us get sick. Why is that....????
I know intelligent people who can't look through a doctors manual without acquiring most of the symptoms. To Warpy who said she didn't choose to get polio: CanSocDem (485 posts) Wed May-28-08 08:42 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. You're excused.
And yes you did decide to get that "painful, crippling...disease" for your own reasons. And now you're living through it...kicking and screaming....but living.
Of course, all I know or care to know about you is what you choose to put in your post. If you want me to know that you are in pain, disabled and uninsured then that is the life you want to project. Whether shit happens to me or not, it is not what my life is about so I won't mention it. Telling me about your pain and discomfort doesn't convince me of the reality of your disease, just your reaction to it.
Try focusing on something else...it's amazing how that works. To Book Lover who became angry that he believed her daughter chose to be autistic before she was even born: CanSocDem (550 posts) Sat Jun-07-08 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #89
90. You make it sound if it were....
...my fault that your child was born with autism. Or, somehow, that by striking out at me, you will feel better. If this is all about making YOU feel better then flame away.
However if your daughters condition is making you drink and become belligerent you should probably stop blaming yourself. To cosmik who commented on how cruel it was to blame an unborn child for her autism: CanSocDem (550 posts) Sat Jun-07-08 03:24 PM
Response to Reply #94
95. Are you off your med's....
...or is that question unspeakably cruel as well??? I am not blaming the victim for anything.....are you that dense????
I'm saying WHATEVER you got you got for your own, obviously subconcious, intents and purposes.
I'm sorry that every person that attempts to enlighten you feels more like a "rapist" than someone trying to help. I hope you grow out of it..... A bizarre exchange with Warpy (an experienced RN) where he first inferred she knew nothing about colds and flu, and then went on to blame nurses for causing "life threatening super infection(s)" CanSocDem (550 posts) Sat Dec-13-08 08:33 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Why are you aware...
...of "...signs of a bacterial infection" and not of the transitory nature of cold's, flu etc.???
Could it be that you have been 'schooled' by television advertising?
Here's another good "alternative" health therapy....
Turn off your television. Warpy (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-13-08 01:06 PM
Response to Reply #4
9. Excuse me, Sparky
but I was an RN for 25 years. My recognition of the signs of life threatening super infection have nothing to do with your susceptibility to television advertising.
CanSocDem (550 posts) Sat Dec-13-08 07:59 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Yes, you are clever...
...but thanks to your vaunted profession, cold's and flu have morphed into "life threatening super infection". Care to tell us how that happened...????
John Gauger (1000+ posts) Sun Dec-14-08 11:03 AM
Response to Reply #11
21. What the fuck are you talking about?
Superbugs are bacterial infections. Influenza and the common cold are viruses. Human activities have no effect on the mutation rate of viruses. Don't blame science, blame God. CanSocDem (550 posts) Sun Dec-14-08 12:45 PM
Response to Reply #21
24. Guess what.
Excessive use of anti-bio tics resulted in viruses mutating to overpower the drugs. That's where super-bugs come from and there appears to be "humans" involved.
"Don't blame science, blame God."
For what....????
What the fuck are YOU talking about? I think it's time to call in the exterminators.
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