oenophile

byob...bring your own bag

This is my all time favorite... http://buttcandle.com/

Happy birthday et bon anniversaire to our darling red headed French-Irish canadiene. Tu es ma amie tres cher. J'taime. Now here comes the French grammar lesson.

Orthodox Quaker Bahai Faith Reformed Judaism

Sharon, It hurts when you feel like you are being ignored. There have been times when I have felt the same way also when no one responded to one of my posts that I hoped would stimulate thought and discussion or maybe when a birthday went unnoticed. However, what I have also experienced is that there has always been someone from GSC offering hope and encouragement at the times when I needed them most. I hope that you will take comfort in the words of the people who have posted above that you are valued and very much cared for here. You are certainly loved and valued by me. R

Wytedove wrote: I agree with dovey's premise, that graft and corruption do occur with in government just as it does in corporate America. However, in both of these cases the books are open to everyone to see. The books are a matter of public record. (Ofcourse, I must hasten to add that while figures do not lie, sometimes liars figure. i.e. Enron and Iran-Contra) There does exist a system of accountability in place to expose such excesses within these institutions. Unfortunately, no such system exists within twi.

I proudly hail from NC but I ain't no baptist.

If it is mood the early 60's (as a continuation of the 50's) that you are trying to recapture perhaps someone reading some poetry by one of the beat poets like Alan Ginsberg might set the coffeehouse mood. Bongo drums and a black beret here and there would also be a good touch.

Rose of Sharon, Happy Birthday! May you enjoy many, many, many blessed returns of the day. Shalom, R

ommm...if they are from the Pacific wouldn't they be called typhoons or do they become hurricanes when the enter the Gulf of Mexico?

Could it be that Sweetpea is none other than M.A.A. the New York Italian Texan with whom I worked with in Dallas?

Happy Birthday Dear One!!! Robin

Ryan, my 16 year old, has been accepted in the high school academically gifted summer program at Johns Hopkins University. He will be taking college honors courses, be held to the same academic standards as the college students in his classes and receive college credits. I am going to miss him for the six weeks that he will be at Johns Hopkins but at the same time I am so happy that he is getting a foretaste of what college life is about. I hope he avoids getting into mischief since his father did not.

As a person of a left leaning political persuasion, I condemn equally the holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis and the Stalins reign of terror. Actually Stalin and Hitler were closer on the political spectrum than say Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell. You see the continuum bends and the extremes are almost touching. The only difference is the rhetoric which is just a facade to legitimize their hold on power, usually by focusing blame on any convenient group as a threat to the security of the society at large. The real agenda for totalitarian regimes of any label can be seen in what they share in common rather than what is cited as their philosophical differences. Their real agenda is to seize and to hold on to absolute power over a society, to control it's means of production, to make sure the masses only get to hear one message and to repress or eliminate any perceived opposition to this agenda. While we are condemning the despotic regimes of the world for their atrocities, let's not forget that the U.S. government (by using your tax dollars)has been guilty of practicing a vicarious depotism by propping up dictators who essentially do it's dirty work. The examples of this abound in Central America and the Middle East. Let's not forget that Saddam could not have come to power without American support and sanction.

I do feel a twinge of guilt when I open up my coat closet and see an old moth eaten overcoat when I am reminded there are people out on the street shivering for lack of a warm coat. My intention is to take them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Yet, in my closet it remains after hundreds of such self inflicted goadings. Perhaps it is something deep seated which prevents me from tossing or donating my stuff. Maybe it has to do with wanting to hold on to bits and pieces of my life experiences. Could it be that I hang on to these momentos of days gone by in order to keep the fantasy alive that I can prove Thomas Wolfe wrong and actually go home again? Might not the thirty year old robe in my closet transport me back to my first job out of college? Could it be that the leather coat that hasn't been worn in 12 years will keep my son always four years old and greeting me at the door with the words "Daddy, I love you so much? Finally, (and since today is Mother's Day) could the old moth eaten overcoat that my mother gave me keep her forever alive? But Tom Wolfe was right, you really can't go home again. I will never again sit at the dining table of my parents home in North Carolina sipping iced tea with the window opened, feeling the gentle cooling breeze of a late summer day and listening to the creaking limbs of a hundred year old oak. Perhaps what I heard in the creaking limbs was the song of my grandparents reminding me that they once lived here too.

Ex10, If your daughter's "Christian" friends really believe that their gay classmates are in such a pathetic spiritual condition, then instead of shunning them shouldn't they be loving them following the example of Jesus. I am not pontificating about homosexuality one way or the other but I remember reading just the other day that Jesus hung out with harlots, tax collectors, winebibbers (my kind of people)and sinners of every stripe. I never remember reading that he shunned or scorned any of them but he was disgusted, sickened and had plenty to say about hard, unloving, legalistic religious people. They might be reminded as the Pharisees were by Jesus, the harlots, sinners (and gays) enter the kingdom before you.

I have had several gay friends that I have asked the following question. "Do you recall a time that you made the conscious decision to become a homosexual?" I have yet to hear anyone answer in the affirmative.

Mike, You are right. There is an incredible God and there is incredible evil in the world. The abuse you suffered in twi and the guilt they instilled in you is a part of that incredible evil. Ask the incredible God to break the bands of guilt and have the courage to step out of them. Also, if you haven't already, I would encourage you to get professional help.

Thanks J. for making the coffee. Oldies, wake up and smell it.

Abi, I've gotta read it. R

I'm quite comfortable in my male-ness, so much so that I do not feel it threatened when it is time to call on the services of a automotive repair specialist. After all, given the choice between spending an afternoon at the opera, at a play or in the park and fixing something that I lack the experience / knowledge is a no-brainer for me.

WB, They are 100% my words. Thanks! RJ

Cindy, Living in Chicagoland with it's large Jewish population in some of the burbs, you may find valuable resources. I would encourage you to get in touch with local synagogues or perhaps the JCC. Perhaps, they could put you in touch with an actual holocaust survivor who would love to share his/her experience with young people. I would also recommend the short book by Viktor Frankel, Man's Search for Meaning. Frankel was a prominent psychiatrist in Vienna when the Nazis sent him off to Auschwitz. In his book he gives us a glimpse of his professional perspective on the horrors of Auschwitz and the heroic love of some of his fellow prisoners. The truth that emerges from his pen is that when all else is stripped away from a person, what remains intact and inviolate is the ability to choose one's way...one's dignity and humanity cannot be taken by force. They are lost only by resignation. Thank you for allowing the truth of the holocaust to speak to your youngsters when there are antisemites who would tell them that it never happened...that it is a Jewish fable to gain support for Israel.

When I first exited twi there were gnawing moments but not days as in JT's case. But through therapy and the deliberate decision that I made to never, never be a part of anything that requires me to check my critical thinking at the door those moments have vaporized. I actually dropped out of my church's over 30 singles group at the first hint of thought control by leadership. For me, everything is subject to scrutiny in the cool light of day.

Another favorite place of mine is Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is an elegant, demure senorita of ageless beauty. She will forever win your heart. As she tells her story, she will transport you back in time to the zenith of Spanish colonial power in the new world. Her old spanish forts, El Morro and San Cristobal, they have been stalwartly keeping their vigils over the deep blue Atlantic since the 1500's. Her arms will gently embrace you as you walk her cobble streets lined with row after row of Moorish influenced buildings with beautiful wrought iron gates and balconies. When you take that last look as you peer back from your cabin window in the sky at the walls of forts, perhaps you will see her standing at the shore waving to you. "Adios, vuelva a mi pronto!", she says.