sent 1/28/15 by The Guardian: "Hope begins today was their mantra’: the inside story of Syriza’s rise to power"

Subject: by The Guardian: "Hope begins today was their mantra’: the inside story of Syriza’s rise to power," by Paul Mason, The Guardian, January 28, 2015

Whatever is going to happen to Greece next, this story is fascinating both overall and in the details. 

You may recall that Greece has been, since the 2008 crash, increasingly under the thumb of the destruction of its social service networks by international bankers, similar to the many stories that Naomi Klein famously told and proved, about smaller countries that we'd barely heard of, in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2008).  Greece is bigger than the places Naomi Klein wrote about, and Greece has some influence in the bigger world, still, I think.  Unlike in Palestine and the Ukraine as well as other places in the world, in Greece the bankers have not, so far, gotten the police and military to take down this new upstart government that just got itself elected.  Fascinating.  I wonder what happens next!  I have always loved Greece.  I have no money to send them, but I wish them the best--whether my wishing them the best them does any good or not. :-7
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/greek-people-wrote-history-how-syriza-rose-to-power

Larry

1/27/15 Friend Heather Madrone

Subject: Friend Heather Madrone

I use the word "Friend" in the sense that Heather Madrone is a part of the silent meeting Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).  I have not had the privilege of her personal acquaintance.  I do know from another F/friend that Heather Madrone is a special person.  This site is a new discovery, just today.

A Friend in Need: Striving to be faithful to the light (link)

"Striving to be faithful to the light" looks like a variation on two other phrases that I have heard used among Friends, "standing in the Light" and "following the Light."  The meaning relates to a strong experience that one can have at certain times, not all the time, of being directly connected to Jesus, God, the Universe, the Light or some Name to use when no words are right.  And no we do not start all sounding the same when we are standing in the Light individually, and, yes, individually is how it is even when some of us might be in the same room together sometimes. :-) 

love,
Larry
--
Attorney Scott archives (Larry at Blogspot) "undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
YouTube: "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" (Rudy Vallee, 1931)

sent 1/27/15 Music for January 27, 2015 1. Moses School is closed for snow 2. Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Subject: Music for January 27, 2015 1. Moses School is closed for snow 2. Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries

1. Overheard:
-----------------------
Hello Friends,
I thought you might enjoy seeing how one modern Quaker principal informs his students to stay home for a snow day.
http://boingboing.net/2015/01/27/watch-the-awesome-way-one-rhod.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
This ties in with David Foster's message on Sunday about how we might be becoming a little too serious.
-----------------------
I like that so much that I made an mp3 music only file from it.  You can play that beautiful ode to staying home from school because of snow with the play button in the middle of this ge.tt page or start a download to play with your mp3 player here.
You can also start a download of the mp4 video file for your local video player here.

2. YouTube: "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" (Rudy Vallee, 1931).
As one of the commenters said, this is profound. :-))
You can also play with the button here or start an mp3 file download for your mp3 music player here. :-)

love,
Larry

sent 1/25/15 (12 min video) "Food betrayal -- don’t swallow the lies"

Just don't swallow the lies, is all.  Be part of the "Food Elite," if you can, I guess.  I saw that term fly by in the video linked below.   Just wait a sec, be patient, read on a bit please. 

If you are a farmer then you might look into the idea of breaking free and making a living at the same time, from customers who can afford a little bit more for better food.  That's easy for me to say, I know, talking about a big change, and I know little or nothing about the potential of any given farm for having things done differently.

Alan Lewis directs Government Affairs and Food and Agriculture Policy for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, a 60-year-old health food chain operating over 85 stores in fifteen states. He is active in many trade organizations and sits on the Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council. His focus is on communicating with local and federal policy makers using frameworks that are non-confrontational and inclusive -- except for tonight. He has lived for extended periods in Portugal, Haiti, and Dominica, where he developed a keen appreciation for the variables of agriculture production and food systems within different geographic, cultural and economic contexts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81rCiw1LPY

So yes.  Mr. Lewis is biased.  From everything I've been picking up over the past couple of years, I believe he's right, and I am not biased except that I grew up with a mother whose big thing was nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.  She was convincing on the importance of good nutrition to good health.  She died even so, but hey, so does everyone.  She might have done better if she had been as convinced about the importance of a regular aerobic exercise routine also.  We children have not done too badly, though we have had our different struggles.  I still to this day eat raw greens every single day without fail, organic now, even. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81rCiw1LPY

Thanks to the one who sent me that link.

Larry

sent 1/24/15 fascinating, and I can relate "The Blog Comment That Achieved an Internet Miracle"

"The Blog Comment That Achieved an Internet Miracle: A nerd's attempt to engage feminists—made deep beneath an obscure blog post—spurred the debaters to recognize their mutual humanity," by Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, January 23, 2015

This is way too big to summarize.  I will say that I can relate, at least to an extent, to the feelings of fear and self-Loathing in puberty that MIT professor Scott Aaronson describes having had as a boy.  I too had held liberal, enlightened, feminist ideals since childhood.  I was saved from much confusion and misery by moving into a different world when I went to the college at which I began my post-secondary education, purely unknowing as to what I was getting into, believe me when I tell you that.  Now you know a major reason why I believe college is important.  I might never have escaped otherwise.  Please read this piece.  It might help.

This is important for its inclusion of the stories of many people, not just one.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/01/the-blog-comment-that-achieved-an-internet-miracle/384539/

Larry

sent 1/24/15 the death of Marcus Borg and his willful ignorance

the death of Marcus Borg and his willful ignorance (link), by Nakedpastor David Hayward, January 22, 2015

Marcus Borg died yesterday.
The first time I heard of Marcus Borg was in...
the death of Marcus Borg and his willful ignorance (link), by Nakedpastor David Hayward, January 22, 2015

This article leapt out at me from Sojourners.  It might interest you if you happen to be concerned with ultimate answers. :-)

Larry
--
Attorney Scott archives (Larry at Blogspot) "undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
"But, if we just kill some more of them, the rest will settle down and be our friends."— kara vallow (kidding, probably)

sent 1/22/15 one inspired sermon

This is one inspired sermon by Rev. Brian ("Brian") Krause of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in Honeoye, New York, where I have allowed myself to be impressed into singing in the choir on Sunday mornings lately.

The sermon starts at 34min 42sec in this video (link).and ends at 54min 16sec. Brian begins by talking and reminding us all about what he calls--you'll see why--"elf on the shelf" theology.  [Hint: The name refers to a modern winter holidays "Christmas" development.]  I would be very surprised if you did not find that theology very familiar to you at least somewhere in your background. 

But then, and THEN, he explains why that theology is just all wrong based on his reading of the book known as the Holy Bible, one version or another of that book being the main background for the various denominations of what is known as "the Christian faith."  My guess would be that Brian has all of the versions and studies them some more, some less.

This is one inspired man's expression of a rather large part of his concept of our universe, I think it's fair to say.  

Not only that, it also resonates with me.  If you know me you might have guessed that it would.  I tend much more often to use one of the languages of modern psychology.  And it feels to me, and yes I am "standing in the Light" at the moment that I write this--that the two concepts do refer to something that is impossible to describe, or almost impossible to describe but which seems very much the same except for a possible discussion over W/who is "in control."  But I suggest that you not assume that that last question about W/who is in control actually means anything, whether or not the question really matters.

[P.S. As Robert Heinlein famously said, "What is is; what is not is not." (Perhaps it does not matter matter so much what anyone thinks about W/who it is that is in control.  Ignoring that and not worrying about it works for me, not to say a thing about anyone else.)]

http://vimeo.com/117156739

Otherwise it has seemed to me lately that Brian Krause has been on what might be called a roll, putting together a clearer picture, in his own words and speaking, of what he believes works.  And I for one think it's great despite that Brian talks differently than I do.

Larry

sent 1/22/15 of personal import: "Faces of civility"

This is just wonderful, this piece: "Faces of civility" (link).  Please read it as personal reinforcement for yourself, for whatever the extent to which you are able to live among others without internal hatred or with less internal hatred in a sometimes or often tough world.  To accomplish that feat, it seems that it is required to reduce one's efforts to induce others to hate themselves, while still and at the same time being open and honest about disagreements--with details included sometimes even.  It's a good trick to know.  It does require a bit of thought sometimes, though.

Here also, for your easy convenience, is the complete article in instant pdf download form.

The part about responding civilly to incivility is a particular challenge.  I generally have managed to get any persistently uncivil people out of my life and not have not had to bother with them further.  I know that some people are not always as lucky as to be able to do that, or not always anyway.

Below are a few carefully chosen disjointed excerpts, hoping to tease you on into reading the whole piece.  Disjointed means that these paragraphs are not consecutive in the article.
---------------------------
Deeply wounded by the experience [of hateful racism] during his sophomore year at Swarthmore [in the 1950s], Eldridge sat out a year, then came back “with the strength to be me.”
--------------------------
According to the 2013 survey Civility in America, conducted by the global public relations firm Weber Shandwick and public affairs firm Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research, 70 percent of Americans feel that incivility has risen to crisis levels. Americans encounter incivility more than twice a day on average, and 43 percent expect to experience incivility in the next 24 hours, the survey contends. The behavior of politicians, the media, America’s youth, and the Internet are assigned most of the responsibility for this purported decline.
-----------------------------
In 2001, Oberdiek was inspired to write Tolerance: Between Forbearance and Acceptance “because I found students thinking if they criticized a position, that meant they weren’t respecting a person. I try to argue, ‘No, no. Tolerance requires disagreement.’ It shouldn’t be regarded as offensive as long as the way in which you disagree is civil.”
----------------------------
Managing to straddle the line—remaining civil while also maintaining her position—“is something I learned a lot about from Hans, and it’s an area in which my intuitions changed dramatically as a result of my involvement with the Swarthmore ethical/intellectual community,” Sadovsky says. Modeling civility, she believes, is a responsibility of “every student, administrator, and coffee-bar barista as well as the professors.”
------------------------------
“It’s good to disagree,” he adds. “If there aren’t points of contention, there’s no reason to have a seminar. I think you should be able to have a disagreement with somebody and not feel assaulted by it.”
--------------------------------
That’s a really hard sort of dissection for our students, to say, ‘I can respect you as an individual even though I think you’re the craziest individual in the world, and I want nothing to do with your way of viewing the world.’ ”
-------------------------------

"Faces of civility" (link)

Larry

Update February 27, 2015: I have just today archived here a message that I sent on February 27, 2014.  It links to a video, for watching either on line or by instant download.  Two professors with seriously and earnestly opposite views on some important things debate and allow discussions with some brilliant young students at the same time giving a real lesson on civility.  For me, watching it last year was an experience!
sent 2/27/14 Swarthmore VIDEO what it means for intellectuals to learn from each other despite deep differences on important questions

sent 1/19/15 humiliation a key to the authoritarian personality type?

Subject: humiliation a key to the authoritarian personality type?

The writing of my own that I am forwarding you below was part of a private exchange earlier.  The identity of the person with whom the exchange took place is of no possible useful consequence. 

Just for your information, I have mentioned over the years something about the authoritarian personality type, so-called.  There was much discussion about that at the site of my friend Dr. Andrew Bard ("Andy") Schmookler just a few years ago.  I may have involved you in having made reference to that topic four times in the past that I find in my archives.  It falls into the professional field of Psychology.  I think this below is a standalone from which you can take away a bare understanding of some point that I might be trying to make.  :-)  But if you happen to be interested you might take a look at one previous mention of mine (link) of the term "authoritarian personality" at Larry

----sent privately earlier to one friend ----------------------------
Dear [Anon],

You can look it up and read all about the so-called authoritarian personality type if you are interested.  There is at least one book on the topic that got excellent reviews.

I think a key to understanding might be that people of the authoritarian personality type believe in the use of humiliation as a tool, either from the giving humiliation side (leaders) or from the constantly or sometimes receiving humiliation side (followers). I have no idea whether or not anyone has written those words in a book.  But I bet they do fit.

Larry

1/19/15 a general challenge (a very short one :)

One general challenge is maintaining and developing one's own reality while, at the very same, maintaining some connections with other human beings on the planet.  Right or wrong? :-)

sent 1/19/15 (12-5-2009 repeat) sharing comments and clarification Re: thought question for you

Hey, :-)

There have been comments to my question, "How can we identify evil and talk about it and confront it in such a way as not to become resentful ourselves and in such a way as to encourage others to reduce or eliminate their own internal resentment?"  The comments are worth sharing.  To the last one, which poses an excellent question about the question, I am adding a response to clarify the question.

Comment 1:  (This is from a friend who is the designated spiritual leader of a largish congregation.)

That's a brilliant question. It begins, I think, with the subtle understanding that resentment is a sentiment that has within it the seeds of a desire for revenge.

Seeing evil without becoming it or becoming lost in resentment begins with the emotional response of compassion (for self or for others). Still, Compassion is a secondary emotion, so it's always preceded by fear, pain, relief, or some other more elemental emotion -- and that's what makes seeing evil so difficult. Most people don't get past fear -- and given that the corporate media types are seeking profits by playing on people's fears, we are, as a nation, doing quite poorly at this emotional work.

Thanks my take on it.

Comment 2: This is part of a response from a fairly new friend who for some time has been engaged in a struggle with a terminal illness.

I think that is a great question and totally worth discussing...

I honestly think both sides and conditions are equally there and true.

Is this a good and kind world that I see?  YES  (in the extreme from my experience and neighbors, etc)

Is this a horrible evil world also? yes, but I have not followed the news so I have not been impacted by such.

Comment 3: This is from an old friend whom I have respected as a thinker for almost 40 years.  He is a very complicated man.

I am lost. Do you mean when I confront the fact that the allies could have bombed the tracks going to Auschwitz or the way advertising misleads people into thinking that commodities are the path to happiness, I develop some kind of internal resentment?

My response to Comment 3:

Both "the fact that the allies could have bombed the tracks going to Auschwitz [and] the way advertising misleads people into thinking that commodities are the path to happiness" are things that can and probably do trigger resentment in many.  Additionally, things happen in families and among friends that may trigger resentment sometimes or often.  One can even be a hermit and feel resentful at life's unfairness--sort of feeling resentful at God, if one thinks of God.  The question is, how to minimize and replace resentment?  To me it seems that the approach may be complex and may be completely different in response to different situations. 

I have another question if you've read this far?  Where does anger fit in?  Anger clearly has its place sometimes.  Sometimes things that need to be done get get done when people are motivated by anger--anger that they/we are able to control according to moral rules, at least.  Besides being unhealthy, internal resentment alters our judgment, and, in my experience, not for the better.  So.  My original thought question remains, regardless of whatever help these comments may have been.  Remember, absolute perfection is not required. The question was:

How can we identify evil and talk about it and confront it in such a way as not to become resentful ourselves and in such a way as to encourage others to reduce or eliminate their own internal resentment?

For context, please review, at least in your mind, Rabbi Sapowith's sermon, the one I sent you on Monday, November 30th.  If you need it again, ask and you shall receive. :-)

Larry

On Saturday December 4, 2009 Larry Scott wrote:

P.S. For the sake of the question, please start with the assumption that it's possible to do, if somewhat imperfectly.  I think it is possible even though I don't have all the answers.  :-)  Larry

Larry Scott wrote:

Subject: thought question for you

I have spent a bit of time over the past two or three years or so at nonesoblind.org .  The ongoing theme and frequent discussions there are on identifying and confronting evil.

Now put that together with the sermon I sent you recently, my cryptic summary of it being, as you may recall: "Eliminate resentment from yourself, by one means or another, no matter what seemingly good excuse there might be for it.  Resentment is bad for your soul and bad for your health, like smoking cigarettes.  Be thankful for what you have."

So here's the thought question for you:

"How can we identify evil and talk about it and confront it in such a way as not to become resentful ourselves and in such a way as to encourage others to reduce or eliminate their own internal resentment?"

My purpose is not to start a discussion on this question.  If you happen to have a comment then of course feel free, as always.

love and hugs,

Larry

Larry

sent 1/19/15 (11-30-2009 repeat) copy of sermon Re: happy thanksgiving :-)

Boy have I been cooking today.  This is first in an immediate short series today, hopefully all today. Larry
------------------------------------
Subject: copy of sermon Re: happy thanksgiving :-)
Date: November 30, 2009

Here it is, [now a very quick download* under this ge.tt link-LAS], just received, from Rabbi Amy J. Sapowith, Temple Sinai, Rochester, New York--her Thanksgiving day sermon in PDF (Acrobat Reader) format.  I suggest just going ahead and printing it and then reading it on paper.  It is only 11 pages and, in my opinion, very much worth keeping if it is even a fraction as good as having heard her speak it.

love and hugs,

Larry
* If you are set up like most, your Acrobat Reader application will open automatically almost immediately with the document up and ready for you to to read.

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

On Thanksgiving afternoon Larry Scott wrote:

I accompanied my sister to church this morning for a joint service of several local city congregations including Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Islamics.  It was a very fine service with lots of opportunity to sing songs that I and many others knew.  The main message (some say "sermon") was given by a fairly young and obviously gentle woman, a Rabbi from one of the synagogues.  The message was:

Eliminate resentment from yourself, by one means or another, no matter what seemingly good excuse there might be for it.  Resentment is bad for your soul and bad for your health, like smoking cigarettes.  Be thankful for what you have.

Of course it was much better than that.  The Rabbi promised to email me a copy.  When it comes perhaps I will forward it to you.

Anyway, I hope you are having a great day.  We did have some great food, but today wasn't all about the food.  Have fun or make the best of it, I say frequently these days.  :-)

love and hugs,

Larry

sent 1/17/15 some beautiful knowledge: “The Strange History of Birds”

Subject: some beautiful knowledge: “The Strange History of Birds”

I loved reading this and gaining a few new insights.  I bet you will have the same response.  My comment is there too, if you're curious. :-)

Larry
--
Attorney Scott archives (Larry at Blogspot) "undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
One way or another, raise yourself up I say; do not be afraid.  If you are not doing it you can do it.  Other people are doing it.  Learn from them if need be.  Remember that woman's eyes.  We are always learning from each other anyway, all the different messages, parts of the whole.  Choices.--LAS

sent 1/16/2015 White House: 'We Look Forward' to Working with GOP on Limitless War Authorization

Subject: White House: 'We Look Forward' to Working with GOP on Limitless War Authorization, by Jon Queally, staff writer, CommonDreams.org, January 14, 2015. (print-friendly link)

This is those evil people again, mostly, largely.  That TPP (Trans-Pacific Pipeline agreement proposal) thing goes right together with this, as you may well have realized already quite awhile back.

More on that TPP thing is coming too, and I have a couple of things in my queue to send you about that when you and I both have time.

In the meantime I would bet that the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is working to oppose the GOP in the endeavors outlined in Mr. Queally's article, in addition to working to oppose the still impending fast-tracking of the TPP proposal.

To review or see for the first time much information on the TPP in the meantime please see
sent 1/14/15 Elizabeth Warren Just Gave a Really Important—and Revealing—Speech
and follow back through that one for links to the full collection of what we have so far.

Larry

sent 1/16/15 The best defenses against Verizon's invasive, already-being-abused web tracking

This is not so much for me, since I have never had and plan never to have a Smartphone connected through the Verizon network, however good Verizon coverage may be.  I have a sold basic flip phone on Verizon and do not have these concerns.

If you have a Verizon [Smartphone], then you might or might not have a problem depending upon how your yourself may feel about the situation that you find yourself in.  For me enabling high-powered personal ad focusing is not something I want.  I disable most advertising as it is.  That took just a bit of work awhile back.  If that does not happen to bother you, then perhaps the concept might concern you of the National Security Agency and the FBI and major police national cooperation services piggy-backing themselves into [the ongoing commerce in keeping tabs on everybody, with the cooperation of someone or someones in the commercial world.  I do not care for that idea either, just on the basic principal of the right to Privacy that the Supreme Court famously found in a "Penumbra."  They said it's there, so it's there, even if you might not be able to find it.  :-)  It is there, the right to privacy.

And the right to privacy is there for a reason.  The reason is because the right to freedom is important, and it is basic basic America.  You can now find and read that famous decision for yourself with just the clues I have given right here, about why privacy is important in America to our basic, yes, freedoms. I would like to fight and keep on fighting for the protection of that basic right in America if nowhere else in the world whatever I can find to do. 

Just sayin', perhaps for the first time about the Penumbra and all.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2871512/how-to-protect-yourself-against-verizons-mobile-tracking.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2871192/cleared-your-browser-cookies-it-wont-stop-ad-company-using-verizon-tracking-header.html

If we have what seems to be a bit much in terms of things to think about, well it just is what it is, as Robert Heinlein might have said once at least, sort of, in one of his early novels. :-|

Larry

sent 1/14/15 "Sterling Trial Opens in Security-State Matrix"

"Sterling Trial Opens in Security-State Matrix," by Norman Solomon, ExposeFacts.org, January 14, 2015
(or CommonDreams PrintFriendly)

I feel that I should keep my eyes on some of the worst of the evil that my country does in the world in my name.  It is part of my obligation as a citizen to face that sort of thing head-on, just to know about it if nothing else.  Citizenship, geographical location inside the United States, and my dollars at work.  I did not think that for a long time.  Now I do.  That is what this is about.

My copy of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, by James Risen (2006) is now on its way to me, from an outside used bookseller, actually.  Reading it might take awhile.  I have a lot of books on my plate among other things.  But I want to see what it says.

Something previous for your easy reference:
sent 12/11/14 (not the quickest) (help take viral please) Please help advocate for a Presidential Pardon if not prosecution for our torturers

Larry

sent 1/14/15 Elizabeth Warren Just Gave a Really Important—and Revealing—Speech

http://www.thenation.com/blog/194361/elizabeth-warren-just-gave-really-important-and-revealing-speech

It is not the only thing by any means, but do note Senator Warren's mention of the TPP, yes, that old Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal AGAIN.  I will have more for you on that shortly.  In the meantime you can refresh your recollection here.  At least skim down toward the end of that 6/26/14 message to the links to earlier resources that it contains.  That is probably enough for you to get the full horror of that particular (big) thing.

Larry

sent 1/14/15 Succinct! Memorize?: 5 Signs the American Economy May Be on Shakier Ground Than You Think

Subject: Succinct! Memorize?: 5 Signs the American Economy May Be on Shakier Ground Than You Think

This is nothing in this that I have not shared with you before, with lots of background, if I have been writing to you for long enough.  But this article by Lynn Stuart Parramore, Ph.D, IS pulled together and succinct.  That clarity and succinctness is a major value of it. 
"5 Signs the American Economy May Be on Shakier Ground Than You Think," by Lynn Stuart Parramore, Ph.D, AlterNet, January 11, 2015.

I suggest your saving this someplace for easy reference, until you have all five (5) things clearly in the back of your mind as you go along through the next few years thinking about what to do next depending upon which of all the possibilities is your own starting point.  Of course these are not the only five (5) things to know, just some of them.

Larry

sent 1/12/15 SO funny

I think this is so funny,* or it would be if Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu were not continuing on his merry way being one of the world's biggest annoyances (understatement).  Feel free to read it just for the humor over something happening on the other side of the world, after all; forget for a moment that it's a small world. :-7
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/12/252817/damned-if-you-do-netanyahu-slammed.html#emlnl=World_Newsletter

This link came to my Inbox via the free McClatchy World Newsletter.  You could sign up for it and try it yourself.  There are other options also, like Popular and Environmental, which are also separate.

Larry
* Yeah, yeah, true: There is nothing funny about any of it really.  It is all very serious.  But Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu really is an annoying player, I find.  I cannot recall having heard anything come out of his mouth straight yet, is a lot of what is annoying to me about him I think.  And, my friends, no matter what you hear, it is not true that one must like and approve of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in order to remain Jewish.

sent 1/12/15 Mr. Larry A. Scott and the Honeoye NY United Church of Christ 2014 Christmas Eve service

Subject: Mr. Larry A. Scott and the Honeoye NY United Church of Christ 2014 Christmas Eve service


This was a totally wonderful service from beginning to end, including the parts with the minister, Brian Krause. 

Aside from that,:) during the singing of Silent Night by the entire congregation at the very end starting at about 1hr5min you can see my outline in the candle light standing alone at the far end of the front row in the choir section over to the right in the front part of the church.  If you click to jump forward to 1hr5min then hitting Pause ("||") might help for the video to have time to come in to your computer fully up to that point as quickly as possible so that it works better.

Not only can you see my outline, you can hear my bass voice.  It seems as though they might have had a microphone on me, but if so I did not see it.  Anyway, the recording sounds quite good to my ears. Thanks to whomever was the acting technician responsible for that part.

So now you know a bit more than you did about me, unless you were there that night.  You might even like knowing that about me, that I do things like that, sing with beautiful people sometimes, I mean.. :-)  It was great fun, let me tell you! :-)

Larry

sent 1/12/15 The best: Stefan Molyneux on "Female Laziness: The Story of Male Exploitation" (YouTube voice)

Subject: The best: Stefan Molyneux on "Female Laziness: The Story of Male Exploitation" (YouTube voice)

I have been extremely busy this morning, especially for an "old man."  I've caught a break and just happened upon that wonderful piece.  I have to say, the woman that Stefan Molyneux married sounds like the woman I married back in 1967.  She could hold her own, and I do not recall her complaining, really.  I might share that with her.  I haven't decided.

Larry
P.S. Do remember, "Do not compare yourself with others. There will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you."
--
Do remember, "Do not compare yourself with others. There will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you."

sent 1/11/15 What’s the Real Reason Al Qaeda Attacked ‘Charlie Hebdo’?

Professor Juan Cole has also been a brilliant writer many times, as I have seen in the past few years.  I think he very well might have it right again here.

What’s the Real Reason Al Qaeda Attacked ‘Charlie Hebdo’?, by Juan Cole, The Nation, January 8, 2015.

If you have no access to The Nation, I can send you a pdf print of the above article.  It would be an exception under the Copyright Law for educational purposes and no profit for anyone including you not getting money for forwarding it further.  

 

I encourage you to get access to The Nation.  The Nation is one of the world's greatest independent publications, still published in America on paper since 1865.

Larry

sent 1/11/15 (revised 9/24/17) One way or another, raise yourself up; do not be afraid

NB: Since I first sent this on January 11, 2015, I have added more to it a number of times, the last time--so far--being 9/24/2017. LS
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Hey, you. :-)

Some people are just off their rockers with ridiculous fear and worry.  Like about brown terrorists somehow descending upon America in droves--as if that fear were not being driven by our own homegrown terrorists [LINK].  I pray that you are not one of those fearful people and that you can, without fear, rise against those who are afraid, not with hatred but with love and determination.  One way or another, raise yourself up I say; do be unafraid.  If you are not doing it you can do it.  Other people are doing it.  We can learn from them if need be.  We are always learning from each other anyway, all the different messages, parts of the whole.  And we get to choose which messages to take home with us.

The classic  book by cancer survivor and well-known author Barbara Ehrenreich (Wikipedia link) that I have referenced many times is valuable for keeping one's balance.  It is not only, and not even mainly, about her personal experience with cancer.  It just starts there.
Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America (2009) (226 customer reviews on Amazon)

Do remember, "Do not compare yourself with others. There will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you."
 
The statement below in this paragraph might be instinctive for some or many--not naming names here, you know some of them even if you are not one of them--but it is dead stupid, as many instincts may be before we manage to overcome them, to grow past them.  Of course this is stupid.  But please think about it anyway and reinforce in yourself the idea that it really IS stupid, TOTALLY--just as a practical matter, i.e., it will not work, never happen ever: "But, if we just kill some more of them, the rest will settle down and be our friends."— kara vallow (kidding, just from the context where I found it)  Please remember, that statement is false "wisdom."  Please hold that thought, for the sake of everyone else if not for your own sake.  I have never been more serious.

Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.

 If you are going to be driven, let it by by something other than fear.

For me it is first The Light Within and then country, not the other way around.

And here are seven more major messages that are alive and very well, thank you, even though the dates are slightly older than this (4/2/15 now) update:
sent 12/2/12 MAJOR-"I like myself *unconditionally*"
sent 10/4/14 major: on the seriously negative effects of fear
sent 12/16/14 (2 short videos) great messages from inspiring people, quite different one from the other
sent 2/14/14 Nonviolent Communication--hugely important short quotations
sent 1/22/15 of personal import: "Faces of civility"
sent 3/20/15 big inspirations from Brian, Sunday March 15, 2015 at Honeoye United Church of Christ 
sent 3/24/15 almost miraculous, seriously, yet another one: big inspirations from Brian, Sunday March 22, 2015 at Honeoye United Church of Christ
sent 4/2/15 #3 from Brian; linking my Quakerism to Brian's Jungian Christianity 
sent 6/30/15 Sunday, June 21, 2015:
"We of the wonderful little choir with which I've been singing lately on Sunday mornings did our last performance for the season on Sunday, June 21st, nine days ago now.  I would love for you to hear our performances of that day, most especially the later one.  The later one was joint with the great bell choir that blesses this particular congregation, so to speak, with the bell choir conductor Kelly conducting both choirs for that performance.  You can watch it and listen to it at:
https://vimeo.com/131408193
Do please start by listening to the very beginning.  That is not some routine beginning.  It was special.  Brian did that.  The particular bell choir and voice choir performance whereof I speak is from 13 min 35 seconds to 17 min 44 sec.  I give you permission to cry during the performance.  You can see me at the usual spot to the upper right, but you cannot hear me as plainly, which is a good thing.  There was another big bass there by special invitation Sunday, so the bass section sound is a blend, a better sound.  There were good tenors also, even though our regular lead tenor did not sing  because he was playing in the bell choir right then.

Brian's sermon came later.  I loved it.  Heavily paraphrased: "We have no idea what is going to happen next.  Some"--or maybe he said "much"--"of it is going to be hard, most likely.  Whatever is going to happen, keep the feeling of being led."

OR in the voice of Larry Scott, if you can imagine--I am a bass you know: "KEEP THE FAITH, BABY!--WHATEVER happens next!"
 
sent 4/8/15 Francis Weller: "The Reverence of Approach"  
sent 4/10/15 "None Shall Make Them Afraid: 5 Virtues of Responsible News Consumption"
new 6/18/15:  sent 5/23/15 Winning in America is still possible sometimes: A win for clean air
song for the day 6/9/15, "Jamie," by Hedge & Donna
new 6/10/16 You might cry with joy "By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them," by Charles Eisenstein.  Once again I suggest reading that very slowly, because there is a beautiful complexity of intermingled thoughts--about dealing with two realities, I would say.
new 6/10/16 three by Dushka-Zapata, Quora writer:
1. What are the keys to a happy life?
2. Existence: I feel lost.  What is going on?
3. Do the top writers in "life advice" practice what they preach? Are they all successful and happy all day every day?
new 6/22/16 sent 6/23/16 Movie--great beauty: INNER WORLD/OUTER WORLDS
new 11/11/16, sermon by Rev. J.K. Boody given 11/6/16.  J.K. gave this two days before the 11/8/16 election, but it is most timely, I think.  Yes, it might be time for us each to help speak truth to power even more than we have in the past.  "UCC Honeoye 11-6-2016 Worship Service: Why No Flags"  The sermon starts at 46:16.
new 2/4/17 from Sojourners: 5 Spiritual Survival Strategies in the Trump Era
new 2/18/17 from Huffington Post: "10 Things Therapists Do When They’re Stressed By Politics," by Lindsay Holmes, Huffington Post, updated February 10, 2017
new 3/6/17 from Slate" This one's a big switch from most of the others.  The sixth and last big tip in the Professor's list is to swear a lot. "The resistance is all in your head: 6 ways to fight Trump brain rot," by Sophia McClennan, Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University, Salon, March 4, 2017
new 8/2/17 sermon by J.K. Boody given July 16, 2017. UCC Honeoye 7-16-2017 Worship Service: "Faith vs. Fear."  Do note the very useful secular authorities he cited in addition to the biblical.  The sermon begins at 31:00 and ends at 47:07--16 minutes total.
new 9/24/2017 sermon by Forrest Church given September 20, 1998 at All Souls Church in Manhattan.  sent 11/28/13 "How My Mind Changed" PASS THIS TO AT LEAST SIX PEOPLE IN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES

sent 1/7/15 make of this what you will

I've just thought of an old true story.  Make of it what you will.

For awhile before I went off to college I was attending a big Christian church located on a Christian college campus.  I remember the words of the minister from one occasion where he was preaching a sermon from the pulpit. 

He said: "Do not look to me for an example to follow.  Sooner or later I will fail you.  Look to Jesus Christ."

Larry

sent 1/5/15 Judge rebuffs prosecution's bid to set 9/11 trial date

This is probably interesting mainly from a lawyer's point of view.  But who knows, who knows.  I do feel sorry for the guy trying to defend himself and having to live with all night noises and vibrations.  That even sounds a bit like unlawful torture to me no matter what the guy did or did not do.  Anyway, this looks to me like the courts at work.  Cases often require what seems to those involved, not to mention to onlookers also, an interminable amount of time.  In this case, as in others, it appears there are good reasons for that, given the foot dragging on the part of at least one of the parties.  One clear example of that, from the article, is the failure of the government lawyers to respond to the Court concerning the allegation that the FBI was spying on the defense team's work.  That is a huge huge no-no, you know, called "attorney privilege."  That could end with a permanent mistrial because it could well be a damage that cannot be fixed any way at all.  Attorney-client-privilege (Wikipedia) is considered necessary for the preservation of any pretense of a just society.

Judge rebuffs prosecution's bid to set 9/11 trial date by Carol Rosenburg, Miami Herald (McClatchy), January 2, 2015

Larry

sent 12/30/14 Pastor Gives Up on God ‘To Have a Closer Relationship to Reality’

“My focus is I want to have a closer relationship to reality. I think before I wanted a closer relationship to God, and today, I just want a closer relationship with reality.”

"Pastor Gives Up on God ‘To Have a Closer Relationship to Reality’"
by Tom Boggioni, Alternet, December 30, 2014--originally from RawStory News.

I imagine that this is not a terribly significant story to most people.  I know a few people to whom it might be important.  This is for them and I'm not sure who else, maybe you.

The reason I think this is not terribly significant is that I think most people will either think or say "I told you so, there's a conflict between God and reality," in one form or another; draw closer to their churches, using the word "churches" to signify the meeting places of all deistic religious groups; or not care.  I would not expect any effects to be big.

I think the main significance is as another person's story, looking at the details.  "People are just so interesting."  It is, as always, possible to listen without judgement. :-)

Larry

sent 12/25/14 Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Happy Holidays

My favorite Flight Attendant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxNrizGdhtY&app=desktop

Thank you to the friend who sent me this. <roflmao>

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Happy Holidays and love to you and to all mankind.

There is a new tagline below, thought of earlier today.  You don't wanna know how that came about. :-)

Larry
 --
Life seems to be one drama after another, do you not find also?