Web site: http://www.istandwithandy.com
* * * * * PLEASE COME HELP ELECT ANDY in the Texas 19th District! * * * * *
I wrote the following letter of support on the White House site just now. Everybody please do something to help, small or large -- we really need to make this change!
And if you haven't viewed the video of the eulogy for Sen. Kennedy yet on the NYTimes or White House site, please do so.
Alan
Dear President Obama,
I am getting up early on the Sunday after your eulogy for Senator Kennedy to send this message. Thank you for your touching, careful and personal message of tribute to this great and humble man.
Last year, while normally a person of very moderate politics both in intensity and in terms of range along the spectrum, I took a week of vacation and time away from my family to travel to walk and work as a campaign worker in another state to get you elected. Your message of practical government that is informed by high ideals and works on behalf of people led me to do this.
I support this message and was willing then, as I and my family are now, to help you carry it out, and to see the changes that we elected you to perform come true. Many of these changes have taken place: you and the people working for you have shone light into dark practices of the previous administration and started steps to correct them, moved us closer to the original and true heart of the nation in terms of being one that is governed by laws and supervised, as transparently and closely as possible, by representatives who are accountable and who report in a proper way to the people.
You have moved in a variety of ways to bring us as a country into a better set of relationships with the governments of other nations and with science-based policies with respect to issues in which science impacts public policy. Now, with respect ot health care, I would like to urge you to act and to move strongly to achieve the change that we elected you to do, keeping in mind that the American people (including me) voted strongly to change the character and balance of Congress at the same time and for similar reasons.
We cannot let a set of actions by the opposing party interfere with this program of legislation, and we have already given up too much in pursuing what appears to be a fruitless and hopeless mirage of bi-partisan participation in this change. Those of good will in the opposite party are, in my opinion, too much captured by the extremist fringe of that party to let their practical better instincts emerge, and will not cooperate in pursuing and implementing the change that this nation needs.
I strongly urge you and your colleagues and fellow elected officials in the House of Representatives and in the Senate to pursue the change that this nation needs in terms of health care AND health insurance reform -- two topics that are closely related but are not the same -- and to pass and enact legislation of which the late and greatly missed Senator Kennedy would be proud. I do not often express myself on public policy, but believe that this change is important. We cannot let the equivalent of vandals who are now operating in the public forum to slow down or derail the achievement of this change.
With great respect and thanks,
Alan Sill, Ph.D
Lubbock, Texas
I will remember the last 8 years of financial destruction here in the US and the bloodshed of millions of civilians on a global scale. most honest political and financial experts consider him the worst leader america has ever had and this is why.
Worst fiscal crisis since the Great DepressionLied about the war in IraqNo WMD's found in IraqVetoed health coverage for kidsIgnored law, allowed tortureIllegal wiretappingHad enough info to stop 9/11 and didn't, hid that fact from the publicLost Bin laden at Tora BoraCrassly unconstitutional signing statementsStripped resources from Afghanistan and sent them to IraqDidn't catch Bin LadenAllowed Al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan Afghan war out of controlLied about reducing greenhouse emissions, ignored warmingMuzzled warming scientists in NASA and elsewherePolitical appointments to Department of Justice and political prosecutionsCheney, Rove, and others in contempt of Congress -- refused to tell the American people the truthFooled public into believing Saddam was involved in 9/11 when he knew otherwiseMade light of inabilty to find WMD'sPlease sign the petition to investigate Bush/Cheney for war crimes. Then pass it on to everyony you know that will sign it.
Petition link http://www.petitiononline.com/856798/petition.html
We need to hit McCain now on this. Now! You will see the following week get bogged down in smears.
The Campaign has asked us to forward this link to everyone we knnow. Please forward this link to all your friends. I forwarded it to 157 people.
http://www.keatingeconomics.com/
Now this is very urgent! Let me tell you why: I just watched an hour long documentary by Sean Hannity on his Hannity's America show sliming Barack Obama so much it would make you vomit. The "sources" he used weren't even credible authors, but if you watched that doucmentary and had no other point of view, you wouldn't vote Obama.
So let's get the word out NOW about John McCain. Forward this link now to your friends.
The Medical Corner of the News: Howard Dean, M.D. as Secretary of Health or FDA Commissioner?
[this article was originally published at my blog on mybarackobama.com; details are at: http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=57470&ret=AccountDtl.aspx]Howard Branch Dean III, M.D., may have higher goals than being Health Secretary or FDA Commissioner in the Obama Administration. He is, after all, the brains behind the 50 state coordinated strategy which might actually bring back a 60 vote filibuster proof majority to the Democrats in the Senate, and where do you go from there, having done that? He might be too smart to be in such a job, so that would be up to him, of course, and to President Obama.But just for a minute, remembering the speeches we have heard and the letters we have read from Dr. Dean: imagine having a populist consumer protectionist physician of Dr. Dean's calibre (there are no others) at the helm of the FDA, the single most important Federal Agency, since it directly oversees 25% of the American economy, instead of the glut of corporate serving lackeys we have had in the past 8 to 16 years.Just like I want to see a major internationalist like William Blaine Richardson III as Secretary of State, and the recent placement of his speech at the Democratic Convention proves others are thinking along the same lines; similarly, I want to see a massive overhaul of the American regulatory system in terms of food additives, chemicals, preservatives, sweeteners, etc., as I am sure they killing millions, and not just in the USA.Further. we need an Attorney General with the positive record and proven stance in protecting consumers rather than corporate bottom lines would be California Jerry Brown, and an Attorney General who will work to restore American Constitutional freedoms and 850 years old measures like Habeas Corpus, instead of tearing them down, and routing them whenever it seemed to suit their fancy or their deluded view of terrorism and national emergencies that they themselves caused, whether directly or indirectly.I am in the process of determing what Dr. Dean has to say about this, and who the FDA Commissioner is going to be is mighty important to the American people, whether they realize it yet or not; hopefully, it wouldn't be a step down for him to go in to the FDA in January, and start to correct many or all of the ghastly mistakes by the FDA, particulalry the Bush Commissioner, Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach, in the latter's penchant for coming up with corporate-pleasantries as policy. If it doesn't appeal to Dr. Dean to do this, who would he in turn recommend?The FDA is a state of abject failure, and a large part of the failure stems from the cozy relations it has with Big Pharma, which unforatunately spills over into the far larger field of Big Grocery, with ghastly consequences for us every time we sit down to eat, or everytime we go to a regular commercial grocery store, to dodge the carcinogens and neurotoxins in the food additives.The fundamental perspective has to be overhauled in the next FDA: it is there for the consumers, not for the coporations. There are not many people I would trust to put in charge of overseeing and regulating 25% of the US economy, but I do trust Dr. Howard Dean to do that in an intelligent, agressive, and creative manner, just like he has run the Democratic party over the past few years.IN FACT, HE WOULD BE BRILLIANT.______________________THE ENTIRE INTERFACE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND STEM CELL TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH IS ABOUT TO CHANGE, FOR THE BETTER....
______________________Japanese scientists have devised a method of creating stem cells from wisdom teeth which would otherwise have been discarded, allowing them to find cures to diseases without the controversy implicit in using embryos. "This will prove to be a major breakthrough," said Dr Hajime Ogushi, from his Osaka laboratory of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.His team extracted dental pulp from wisdom teeth removed from a 10-year-old girl three years ago and had been stored in a freezer, and from that pulp, stem cells with the ability to develop into replacement human organs or nerves can be grown. Research on stem cells taken from human foetuses has resulted in criticism from the Catholic Church, for destroying human life. The research seeks cures to a range of illnesses, including diabetes and cancer."These teeth were extracted three years ago and would have simply been thrown in the rubbish," said. Dr Ogushi. "Skin or bone marrow for this sort of research is quite difficult to obtain but this sort of operation is routine and very straightforward."The cells were extracted from the wisdom teeth and encouraged to develop for a period of 35 days. Tests then confirmed they were stem cells.Dr Oguchi said it was also simple to store the cells; he therefor plans to develop a tissue bank - as long as the funding is forthcoming, estimating that will take a decade to achieve, and give future scientists a range of genetic codes that can be matched to a patient to minimise the risk oftransplanted organs of tissue being rejected. Dr Ogushi said that people who have their wisdom teeth removed as youngsters could have them frozen and use them later in life for treatment.Embryome Sciences develops new medical products using embryonic stem cell technology and is a subsidiary of BioTime Inc., reported on 21 August that the company has licensed a portfolio of patents and patent applications from Advanced Cell Technology Inc with respect to induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cell differentiation technology.
The company is applying the license for the commercialisation of products in human therapeutic and diagnostic product markets. The technology covers methods for the transformation of cells of the human body, such as skin cells, into an embryonic and pluripotent state.Embryome Sciences Inc believes that the licensed technologies could be advantageous in the development of human stem cell products for use in medicine and are, therefore, important advancements in the field. In addition, Embryome Sciences Inc is presently marketing cell growth media, called ESpan, in collaboration with Lifeline. ESpan is designed for the culturing of human embryonic progenitor cells using ACTCellerate technology and other sub licensed technologies.Red Blood Cells Providing New Incentives for Advanced Cell TechnologyCould red blood cells be mass-produced? Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC) is a Los Angeles, California-based company devoted to turning human embryonic stem cells into therapies. On 19 August, the journal Blood published a paper reporting the efficient production of red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells.Lead author was Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at ACT (his co-authors are from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota). Up to 100 billion cells had been generated from a single plate of stem cells. The cells produced had oxygen-carrying abilities and physiological responses comparable to those of the cells from blood banks used in transfusions.Advanced Cell Technology has 3 major products in the FDA Clinical Trials Pipleline: one to do with retinal repair, another with myoblast repair, after a heart attack, and the other is a hepatic (liver) repair stem cell product; this latest development puts a very obvious fourth feather in their hat....The paper "clearly shows that stem cells could serve as an unlimited source of blood for transfusion in the future," Lanza says. "The potential here could be enormous.""This is a major advance because it shows for the first time that these cells can be expanded; they can create [red] blood cells and they can carry oxygen," says Anthony Atala, the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "Blood therapies and blood replacement agents are an area of large need."While the company searches for a big deal to stabilize it financially, Lanza says, "We are still going paycheck to paycheck." That's a familiar feeling for veterans of the 14-year-old company, he notes. "It's probably the fifth or sixth time we've had the phones turned off. When you get in trouble, that's your first warning." Lanza appeared with Barbara Walters on her show on April 1 to discuss in great deal the future and prospects of the specific stem cell research he directs at Advanced Cell Technology.Although ACTC has in the FDA Clinical Trials pipeline stem cell products in three key ares (retinal respair, hepatic repair, and myoblast [after-heart attack] repair, Advanced Cell Technology has been living precariously on signing smaller licensing deals.
On 21 August, the life-sciences research company Embryome Sciences, a subsidiary of BioTime, announced a licensing agreement with ACT. Embryome, based in Alameda, California, has licensed a portfolio of patents related to virus-free induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cell differentiation technology.Moving ACT's red blood cell method to the clinic, there are also questions about the commercial prospects for a product that would have to compete with freely donated blood."It's certainly a very exciting result from a scientific perspective," says Cathy Prescott, the director of Biolatris, a biotechnology and health-care consulting company in Cambridge, UK.
Thanks to the Telegraph, the London newspaper; to Medical News today (UK), and Dr. Catherine Paddock, to Embryome Press release, and to Meredith Wadman's article in Naturenews.
This afternoon the members of the executive board of the Midland Democratic Party threw me a going to convention celebration. I love being around all of my fellow Democrats and I am proud to represent you all at the convention. Thanks,
Chris Hightower
I sure like Michael Moore's idea of Caroline Kennedy running as Obama's Vice President, and tomorrow, Howard Dean III, M.D., is coming to Santa Fe, and I will have a chance to ask him about my deepest concern, overhauling the FDA with a true consumer protectionist as Commissioner, not the corporate-serving lackey we have right now.
I decided to join 112 Obama groups, some at the official website, and some interesting sounding Obama Yahoo! and one Google group located in Colorado. I get 1200-2000 emails a day, and it is an amazing flow of information. Recently, the news about Musharraf “resigning”appeared on the Net at least 36 hours before it came out in the New Mexican, the "oldest paper in the West."
On the other hand, my wise friend who graduated from St. John’s College believes the “cool” or “cold” media, in which he included newspaper, magazines, and books, ultimately had a much greater effect on the recipient than the jillions of bits of information pouring in off the Internet.
At times, with 112 groups’ membership, including some strange ones (LasVegasAgnosticsAtheistsforObama), Secular Humanist (my favorite), some funny ones (PoliticallyNCorrectisOK), and the high-powered Action Teams in all of the key states, the flow of information at times resembles looking up at Niagara Falls, from that little boat below, the Maid of the Mist. At other times, I notice a real self-congratulatory narcissistic attitude in the groups, as if to say, “Aren’t we cool?” and not nearly enough of the real mechanics of politics, the door to door, the articles to hang from the door, getting the people to the Polls, etc., all of which may be boring to many, but is the pulse of not only who is in the White House for the next 4 to 8 years, but whether the Senate has a filibuster-proof 60 Democrats. The people who like that and are good at that are out doing just that, not yakking it up on the Internet, basking in the ill-founded Kaffee Klatch milieu that seems to be the result of useless Liberal Arts Degrees from many years ago.
It will be a very tight election, because of that supposed 16% of American voters who are outright or secret BIGOTS, who will vote against Obama above all, even with all of the bloggers, the right TV ads, the Unions, the traditional Democrat alliance between Jews, Negroes, Minorities, Intellectuals, Indians, etc., the victorious debates, as so on. Some say it is always decided in the last 4 days anyway, which I don’t think is true with this election. Such a large percentage of Americans recognize the absolutely calamitous disastrous economic effects of 8 years of Bushies/Neocons/Cheney/Blackwater/Kellogg Brown and Root/the Pentagon and the Industrialists, etc.: I don’t see how any thinking American could not vote for Obama, but, have I been wrong before? Yes. The bloggers will get out in due course and eventually Pound the Pavement; at least, I know for sure that Obama's Campaign Manager, a few others, and me, will ask them to do that, and I will be sending at least 400,000 people emails with encouragement to get strategic and cut the yakking till after the Election.
But the observations about the effects of the Internet on Society (more than Politics) are very compelling and very interesting. Marshall McLuhan posited many years ago that all of this electronic communication and related advances would eventually create The Global Village, but obviously, the cohesion is very thin, if it there at all, eh?
Rather than any advanced form of communication, some see serious Blogging as a new form of Insanity, recognized by the Medical Profession as a brand new syndrome, and others see it as just plain old Lemming-like behavior, especially in the political context. I have a keener perception of how the Internet has requited at least 50% of the compulsion to read several daily newspapers, and let me tell you in conclusion: there sure are a lot of really smart people Blogging for Obama, and I am sure we are going to win.
Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor, Santa Fe Sun News
The Taylor County Democratic Club is a great way to get involved and meet other Obama supporters, and we have a great volunteer opportunity coming up in the West texas Fair & Rodeo
we need volunteers to work our booth and sell obama merchandise and gear, we also have great meetings and social events.
if interested message me!!
holly
Dear Obama Supporters: Please help me figure this out. I am baffled...
Why is it that journalists like this Ed Graney from the Las Vegas Review-Journal [his article follows below], and so many others like him all over the United States, collectively continue the despicable mythology of speaking so cheerily about drinking diet sodas, like it was some kind of fun thing that they frivolously insist on sharing or foisting on their ill informed readers?
Can they really be this stupid to be so oblivious the firestorm of medical evidence accruing against Coca Cola and the Diet Sodas, because of the aspartame metabolizing into methanol and formaldehyde in every single person who consumes them, or sugarless gums like Eclipse and Orbit (try to find a Wrigley's product that doesn't have aspartame!), and the product Equal, which breaks down the aspartame before it hits your stomach, making it 5 times more neurotoxic in coffee, tea, etc.
Maybe they know all of this and are getting paid bribes by the companies involved to produce mindless little puff pieces saluting and celebrating the entire Diet Coke Culture?
I work with a group of people including physicians like H.J. Roberts, Author of Aspartame Disease: An FDA Approved Epidemic, and Russell Blaylock, Author of Excitotoxins: the Taste that Kills. These are googleable; please read about them.
Our biggest firebrand and greatest inspiration is Dr. Betty Martini, D. Hum., Founder of Mission Possible International, dedicated to getting aspartame off the market all over the world. Betty keeps an entire movement of thousands of activists together, for no pay whatsoever....She was open to Obama's candidacy up to the point someone pointed out to her that about 20 years ago either Barack or his wife or both worked many years ago for the Law Firm of Ridley and Austin, who represented Monsanto, the corporation that held the patent for Aspartame after buying it from G.D. Searle, .....
I won't regale you with 5 years of articles but will ask you to take the time to read just these two:
RUMSFELD'S BIOWEAPON LEGACY AT:http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=8&contentid=2608&page=2
(Interestingly, this article has been pulled down (or knocked down by hackers?) several of the key websites on which it once appeared....
and what I wrote for the Hawaii Senate about Aspartame in the form of a genteel resolution asking the FDA to rescind its approval for the umpteen reasons included in the Resolution: this constitutes a fairly detailed and very accurate historical analysis of Aspartame, how it came on the market, and a smidgeon of the coporate lobbying and nefarious skullduggery resulting in it still being on the market, despite millions of sufferers' personal stories:
Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 191, 2008 [sponsored by the Honorable Suzanne Chun Oakland, Hawaii State Senator, cosigned as sponsors by 44% of the Hawaii Senate, yet still shot down surreptitiously in the Health Committee, when Senator David Ige of Pearl City, declined to even schedule a hearing for this Resolution! The retails associations and their lobbyists were hard at work on this one, afraid that it could come up for a debate and a vote on the Senate floor.]:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/Bills/SCR191_.htm
Personally, I think it is a hypocritical and ghastly joke that Coca Cola is such a big sponsor of the Olympics. They are only doing it to increase their sales in China and a few other nations, and to legitimize their infernal and deadly products in the minds of the naive, the stupid, and the very young.
I have repeatedly written articles, blogs, editorials, and comments that Obama must recognize how serious all of this is, and at the very least appoint a real consumer protectionist to be the FDA commissioner, instead of the corporate serving slug we now have.
Nixon ordered that cyclamates be taken off the market and their FDA approval rescinded.
A few years later, in 1981, Reagan (as a favor to his buddy Rumsfeld who had been passed over for Vice President, remember?) ordered the outgoing FDA to do nothing further, until the new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, could take his first action, to approve Aspartame, despite the FDA having turned it down for the prior 15 years.....This "earned" Donald Rumsfeld, then CEO of G.D. Searle, the patent holder, at least $15 million.
This is a vile and despicable story, one of the dirtiest and most sordid chapters in the already massively checkered history of the FDA, which I am continuing to ask Obama to put an end to when he is elected President of the United States, by Presidential Order.
Dr. Howard Dean III, M.D., will be in Santa Fe in a few days, and I hope to ask him about this further. Will keep you posted in this blog at mybarackobama.com
Truly,Stephen FoxContributing Editor, Santa Fe Sun News
stephen@santafefineart.com
_________________________________________________________________________________
Aug. 18, 2008 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
OLYMPIC POSTCARD: COCA-COLA FORGES BRAVE, NEW WORLD
ED GRANEYREVIEW-JOURNAL
I've always been a Pepsi guy. Diet Cherry. Good stuff. But you should see what Coca-Cola has planned for the future. Any day now, a Coke Zero is going to drop right out of your iPhone.
(http://www.lvrj.com/news/27084214.html)
(http://www.reviewjournal.com/webextras/)
The company has been a sponsor of the Olympics for 80 years, and its large exhibit center here in Beijing stands near the swimming and track and field venues.
One main display is for the WE8 campaign, which is eight aluminum bottles designed by Chinese art students.
They had eight themes from which to work: active optimism, individual perseverance, uplifting moments, peace on Earth, global harmony, human collaboration, healthy world and happiness.
Once the artwork was completed, some of the world's leading musicians were asked to interpret the works through music.
The company is also testing a machine that drops your drink of choice down a chute and ice forms once you shake it a few times. I'm guessing the next machine they unveil will drink it for you.
Another exhibit is a touch-screen machine where you choose your drink from any of the WE8 bottles, and then download the design and its specific song to your cell phone. We live in an amazing world.
On election day 2004, the New York Times op/ed page ran a piece entitled “The Revolution will be Blogged” about the how blogs helped shape the 2004 campaign.
If the New York Times were to repeat this in 2008, I would believe the headling would be “The Revolution will be Networked” because I believe social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and You Tube have played major roles in 2008.
At the centerpiece of Obama's Internet strategy has been social network sites.
1. He created his own social network site mybarackobama.com (MyBO), where supporters can join local groups, start and find out about local events, sign up for updates and start their own personal fundraising page.
2. he has a major presence on Facebook and MySpace with more than 500 groups on Facebook.
3. He has been very successful reaching specialized groups through niche social network sites such as blackplanet.com, glee.com (for gays and lesbians) and Eons.com (site for baby boomers).
The advantages to a social network strategy:
1. One of the most difficult things is to get a list of supporters. Social network sites make it easy. One group, Students for Barack Obama, which was started by a student, has developed into a political action committee with more than 62,000 members and chapters at 80 colleges.
2. Social network sites make politics local. You can find out and plan local events. You can volunteer to canvass local partisans and call your neighbors
3. Social nework sites aid in fundraising. He raised $32 million in advance of the Iowa primary only 12 percent offline. He has not had to spend nearly the time of most politicians in hitting the phones looking for big corporate sponsors
4. Social network sites don't simply allow Obama to connect with supporters, but allow supporters to connect with each other. If you go to Obama's wall on Facebook, you will see almost as many people posting to each other as specifically posting about Obama, creating a community of Obama supporters.
5. Most earlier Internet innovations, such as blogs, attract the political junkies. Social network sites are a way to connect to previously uninvolved voters, particularly the young. there are 30 million new voters registered for this campaign, many under 30.
The question is will these social networkers come out to vote? I think they will. What do you think?
I am from Texas but I do alot of traveling around New Mexico and I wanted to help the cause in that direction as well as Texas. Does anyone have an idea of Obama's chances of taking New Mexico in November and what counties he needs the most help in? I would like to help out in any way I could.
Fellow Texans,
The Midland Supporters of Barack Obama are preparing for the upcoming November election by holding a series of meetings that will organize the voting precincts of Midland County. Together we can work to gain and galvanize support for Senator Obama’s bid for the White House and work to regain a sense of community in Midland.
It is important that all of the people in Texas communities begin this process. We have to engage our voters and invigorate those who feel left out of the system so that they know they can make a difference. I encourage you all to take an active role in the politics of your city and send a message that the change we so desperately want is on the way.
Our event will be on Saturday, August 16 (at 2:00PM) at 4907 Lancashire Rd. Two Representatives from each precinct are requested but all are welcome to attend. This meeting will be the first of several meetings that will plan future Midland events. It is never too early to begin organizing so that we can really get the vote out in November and make an impact. So, I urge you all to attend our meetings.
Amelia Belizaire, Mike Mills, and I will be working with all the precincts in Midland for the next few weeks so if you have any questions please respond to this e-mail by contacting me at chightower2@mac.com, or by phone at 432-413-4703. If any of you are interested in becoming a Precinct Chair (in Midland) or just want to know more about all of this please let me know.
Thanks,
West Texas Supporters of Barack Obama
Conservative or Liberal? Right or Left?
Republican or Democrat? Pro-life or Pro-Choice?
I find it profoundly interesting how we have summarized all of our society in binary terms. We have found a means to dehumanize either the person who is left or right. We have successfully dehumanized either side depending upon where we find ourselves. The left side of the debate sees a person who wants to save the lives of unborn babies as “right wing religious nut jobs.” In contrast we may declare one who stands passionately for protecting a woman’s ability to have reproductive rights as “a baby killing, left wing, liberal God hater.” How did we get here? How did we get to the place of taking complex societal issues and make everything either left/right or right/wrong?
It seems we have forgotten who our neighbor is . . . It would seem that it is easier to dehumanize someone and spread fear verses acknowledging each person as a fellow member of our community who should be seen with dignity, respect and in love. We will never solve our problems as friends, family and neighbors in our community if all we do is use war metaphors toward one another. I remember reading about a woman who was caught in adultery and the local community wanted to dehumanize her, condemn her, judge her and stone her to death. Then a voice of reason, love, forgiveness and respect spoke up. This voice made a simple statement with honest observation and it is this honest observation that should generate conversation in our community today. That is … “those of you who are with out sin go ahead and throw the first stone.”
Let the conversation begin and may it spread throughout our entire community!
