Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

Okay, folks, this is the mantis shrimp information that you’ve all been waiting for without knowing that you’ve been waiting for it. Prepare to run for the hills with your arms waving.

Mantis shrimp are the strongest animals on Earth. No kidding. Okay, a mantis shrimp is not able to exert as much energy as, say, an elephant. No way could a mantis shrimp knock down a tree… as fast as an elephant could.

So what? The elephant is big. Big is easy. Strong is not so easy.

The biggest mantis shrimp is as long as your forearm. However, a mantis shrimp can break through aquarium glass with one blow. How? It’s got a special pair of front legs that are spring loaded with such devastating power that they are as fast as a bullet fired by a small handgun.

A lot of people read that without considering the implications. The bullet fired by a small handgun is fired into the air, a relatively thin material. The mantis shrimp’s claws, on the other hand, have to move through water.

The mantis shrimp unleashes so much force on the objects it smashes that the hammer in its front leg produces a flash of light. You can see this effect in a small video of a stomatopod strike provided by the University of California at Berkeley. The video looks slow, but that’s because it’s displayed at 900 times slower than actual speed. That’s the only way you can actually see what a mantis shrimp attack looks like.

These animals frequent the Chesapeake Bay, among other places, and fishermen call them “thumb busters” because their blow is actually capable of shattering the bone in a human thumb. Dr. Roy Caldwell, the world’s top stomatopod researcher, says that he has seen a mantis shrimp knock the heads off of another mantis shrimp in one brutal blow.

Not all mantis shrimps are like this, of course. Others are slashers. Slasher mantis shrimps have sharp barbs on their front legs, that rip the target to shreds with almost as much power as the smashing blow.

For more on the science behind these attacks, read an excellent article from USA Today on mantis shrimps.

I was reading through a local account of an antiwar protest this afternoon when I came across a statement by one of the protesters that made my head wag at the stupidity. It seems that five people went into the public office of Republican Congressman Randy Kuhl in Bath, New York, and refused to leave until they were arrested. Their idea was that this sort of thing would convince Randy Kuhl to change his position on Iraq.

One of the people, justified his activism as follows:“Pope Benedict said the Iraq War is unjust and I was acting on that - that’s the message from this action.”

What? The message from this protest is that United States Congressmen should bow down and obey the Roman Catholic Church? The message from this protest is that member whatever the Pope says to do, members of the United States Congress should just obey and do it?

If the message from this protest is that ordinary people should engage in protests because of what Pope Benedict says, then should people conduct protests against blue hats if Pope Benedict declares that blue hats are unjust? Should people protest against Thai food restaurants if Pope Benedict says that they are unjust? Should people boycott the word “also” if Pope Benedict says that it is an unjust word?

I’ve been against the war in Iraq from the start. I’ve protested plenty, and I continue to do my part to try to bring the Iraq mess to an end. However, I do so because of the information that I come upon myself, and the thinking that I do for myself. I don’t oppose the war just because some authority tells me to.

If I opposed the the war in Iraq on the say so of some authority figure, I would be doing nothing more than choosing sides in a conflict. I wouldn’t really have a reason for my action, other than blind obedience.

Blind obedience to political and religious leaders is part of what gets us into war. It isn’t a good path to peace.

Catholic Worker activists who preach at others that we all need to oppose this or that war because Pope Benedict says so aren’t making a strong argument for their cause, and they aren’t doing the antiwar movement any favors either.

Why be in denial? People who believe in a cause believe in it, act on that belief and the belief can be inferred from their actions.

It should be obvious to everyone, after today, as it has been obvious to many of us since the initial vote on the war, nearly five years ago now, that the Democrats always have favored the war, and there has never been any fundamental change in their attitude.

The vote in February to fund the war, and the current vote, speak louder than words.

Senate approves $150B in war funding

By ANNE FLAHERTY

Thwarted in efforts to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats on Monday helped pass a defense policy bill authorizing another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

RED DAVE

October 2, 2007 - Tuesday

1648 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3807
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28009

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74431
(MAXIMUM): 81119
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $456,478,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

I referred to the amazing power of the front legs of the mantis shrimp a couple of days ago. Today, I’m bringing you something of an explanation of how it all works. It’s a video of Sheila Patek from UC Berkeley, giving a lecture on the mechanics of the stomatopod’s striking arms.

Ignore the annoying trailer at the front. From ants to architecture, and some amazing super slow motion video of the mantis shrimp’s attack, it’s all there:

October 3, 2007 - Wednesday

1649 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3808
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28009

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74432
(MAXIMUM): 81120
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $456,752,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths

By JAMES GLANZ and ALISSA J. RUBIN

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/world/middleeast/03firefight.html?_r=2&bl&ex=1191556800&en=2794af83a6d6c99c&ei=5087&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

BAGHDAD, Oct. 2 — It started out as a family errand: Ahmed Haithem Ahmed was driving his mother, Mohassin, to pick up his father from the hospital where he worked as a pathologist. As they approached Nisour Square at midday on Sept. 16, they did not know that a bomb had gone off nearby or that a convoy of four armored vehicles carrying Blackwater guards armed with automatic rifles was approaching.

RED DAVE

I’ve made my choice for the 2008 presidential election. I’m voting for Barack Obama for President!

What tipped it for me was this section of a speech that Barack Obama made two days ago:

“Some seek to rewrite history. They argue that they weren’t really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or for diplomacy. But the Congress, the Administration, the media, and the American people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002. This was a vote about whether or not to go to war. That’s the truth as we all understood it then, and as we need to understand it now. And we need to ask those who voted for the war: how can you give the President a blank check and then act surprised when he cashes it?”

It’s really a plain and simple moral choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton did what Barack Obama describes above. She wrote a blank check for Bush to go to war, and now she’s acting all outraged that Bush actually used the powers she gave him.

Barack Obama stood up and opposed the Iraq War when it counted, starting back in 2002. Read Barack Obama’s 2002 antiwar speech. He closed that speech with the following challenge to George W. Bush:

“You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair. The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not — we will not — travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.”

When has Hillary Clinton ever come close to taking this kind of principled stand? The answer is sadly clear. She hasn’t.

When America needed strong leaders, Barack Obama was strong. Hillary Clinton was weak, and made the easy choice instead of the choice that was right for America.

My choice for President is Barack Obama.

Now, it’s time for a new beginning for America. Read Barack Obama’s new speech from earlier this week.

October 4, 2007 - Thursday

1650 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3808
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28009

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74689
(MAXIMUM): 81391
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $457,034,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

A few mintues ago, J. Clifford reported on the link between Unity08 and Burson-Marsteller, the public relations firm that represented Blackwater USA, the company that sent mercenaries off to Iraq, where they have been caught shooting civilians without any provocation, not just once, but over and over and over and over again.

Well, here’s another political bombshell from this story - Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Mark Penn is CEO of Burson-Marsteller. The guy who is telling Hillary Clinton how to win the Democratic presidential nomination is the same guy who heads the firm that told Blackwater how to successfully evade being accountable to Congress!

The Hillary Clinton campaign is linked to Blackwater. Will Hillary Clinton fire Mark Penn? Don’t bet on it.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama has no ties to Blackwater. In 2008, we deserve the real deal. Vote Obama for President!

For a few years now I’ve had slight tinnitus. For those of you who have never heard of it, tinnitus is a ringing in the ear caused by exposure to unnatural loud noises and it can vary in intensity from just being perceptible in total silence to nearly or totally deafening. The mechanisms that cause this ringing are often torn fibers, called cochlear hair cells, in the eardrum. Its not a romanticized ailment like cancer or AIDS and is thus not well known but it is very prevalent to the point that about one in four people have reported a ringing of the ears. Its not a ringing that stops, and you can’t block it out because its not an external sound.

For years there has been no cure. For the better part of 30 or 40 years my dad has lived with it and has often said that in any given situation it is the loudest thing he can hear. When my ears started ringing after a concert about four or five years ago he told me there was nothing to be done and I’d just have to live with it. Back then I refused to believe there was nothing to be done because he hadn’t followed up on any medical advancements made since he was told about it.

Recently I found that there are things that can be done for it but I’ve also found that the next problem I’m facing is finding a doctor that even knows about tinnitus, even among audiologists. My dad has lived under the impression for so long that nothing can be done that he refuses to believe that nothing still can be done, even after finding a clinic in which they told him things can be done.

Now, a few hours ago I read an article that tells how stem cells can be used to stimulate the growth of cochlear hair cells in mice. With further research this could lead to a possible cure for things like tinnitus. This is an example of how Bush’s continued ban on stem cell research directly affects Americans. Not just a few, but one in four. People might ask me how a stem cell ban will affect me, and I can tell them that it deprives me of my right to silence.

October 6, 2007 - Sunday

1652 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3812
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28009

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74691
(MAXIMUM): 81404
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $457,609,021,911

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Stomatopods are often described as vicious creatures - for doing the same sort of things that human beings do, smashing and stabbing. Is there a tender side to the mantis shrimp, as well?

Yes, as a matter of fact, mantis shrimp do have a tender spot, under their invertebrate exoskeletons. There are some species of mantis shrimps that practice monogamy.

That’s no small feat for a mantis shrimp, because they tend to be very territorial animals, even in dealing with members of the opposite sex in their own species. Researchers have found that stomatopods need to find a way to selectively turn off their territoriality in order to pursue a more stable strategy for the continuation of the species. Is there a lesson for humans, that family values are strongest when the instinct to establish security over territory is overcome? I’ll leave the final decision to the political scientists, but there is some benefit to consider, I’m tempted to say, in the role of peaceful coexistence for the survival of the species.

Lest we take the anthropomorphic path too far, and declare mantis shrimps to be models of monogamous family values in a progressive sense of open territoriality, it’s important to remember that there are more species of mantis shrimps that are non-monogamous than that are monogamous. Most stomatopods love them and leave them, the better not to get bashed the morning after.

October , 2007 - Monday

1654 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3815
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28093

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74691
(MAXIMUM): 81405
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $458,261,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

I want to send a wake-up call to Democrats who are supporting the campaign of Hillary Clinton for President: If you like Wal-Mart, you’ll love Hillary Clinton!

Who helped make Wal-Mart the gigantic, abusive economic and social force it is today? Hillary Clinton, did!

Hillary Clinton spent six years on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart, promoting its policies of selling cheap products made in sweatshops in countries like China, with outsourced jobs that have been taken from American workers. Hillary Clinton was there at the top of Wal-Mart right when Wal-Mart was engaged in some of its most outrageous union-busting actions.

The Village Voice has called Hillary Clinton’s record on labor “considerably worse than wobbly”. The paper also wrote of Clinton’s connection to the biggest of the big boxes, “Was Hillary the voice of conscience on the board for American and foreign workers? Contemporary accounts make no mention of that. They do describe her as a “corporate litigator” in those days, and they mention, speaking of environmental matters, that she also served on the board of Lafarge, a company that, according to a press account, once burned hazardous fuels to run its cement plants.”

Wake up, Democratic voters! Hillary Clinton is not your friend. She’s the representative of big corporations like Wal-Mart that rip the heart out of the American economy so that a few corporate executives can make a huge amount of money for themselves.

Hillary Clinton’s record at Wal-Mart shows that she is exactly the wrong sort of Democrat for us to nominate in 2008.

Read the Village Voice article.

October 9, 2007 - Tuesday

1655 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3817
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28093

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74837
(MAXIMUM): 81556
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $458,434,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

October 10, 2007 - Wednesday

1656 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3818
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28093

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74837
(MAXIMUM): 81556
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $458,705,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

October 13, 2007 - Saturday

1658 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3823
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28171

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74983
(MAXIMUM): 81710
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $459,548,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

I caught this when I came online today and it got me to grin a bit.

[b]Dems: Override children’s health veto[/b]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 51 minutes ago

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana asked his colleagues on Saturday to override President Bush’s veto of legislation that would expand a popular children’s health insurance program.

“Every Republican must decide whether they will stand with the president and his veto, or stand with our children and their right to a healthy future,” Baucus said in his party’s weekly radio address.

House Democrats have scheduled for this week a vote to override the president’s veto of legislation that would increase spending for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Bush has called for a $5 billion increase.

The effort is not expected to succeed. An override requires a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, and the earlier House vote fell about two dozen votes short. The Senate approved the increase by a veto-proof margin.

The program provides health insurance to children in families with incomes too great for Medicaid eligibility but not enough to afford private insurance. Bush has said the bill is too costly, goes beyond the program’s original intent and shifts too much insurance burden onto the government rather than private providers.

Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt had called him seeking to compromise on the bill, but he refused.

“We want to prevail,” Baucus said then.

He said Saturday that the president is telling millions of parents that they don’t deserve the same basic care for their kids that Bush had for his.

Are the Democrats finally growing a spine? Maybe not, but I still hope they can override this veto.

October 14, 2007 - Sunday

1659 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3826
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28171

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 74983
(MAXIMUM): 81710
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $459,845,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

This weekend, the Roman Catholic Church diocese for Buffalo and Western New York announced that a large number of their churches would be closed as part of a program entitled, “Journey in Faith and Grace.” Non-Catholics may not be familiar with that phrase, which comes from a Latin term that can also be translated as “A Whole Bunch of Our Priests Had Sex With Little Boys and then We Had To Settle in Court and so No One Wants To Give Our Churches Money Any More”.

Yep, I have been boot from Unity08:

 Now all of my previous messages look like this:

Yes, GP mass media will help…

Submitted by davidfarrar on October 4, 2007 - 10:02am.

[Unity Moderation Team: 2007-10-15: Deleted: davidfarrar, you have persisted in behavior that violates community guidelines; the content of your post has been deleted]

I guess my mistake was posting IrregularTimes’ video exposing Unity08’s financial shenanigans.

Apparently, there was more truth in that video than Unity08 could tolerate their own members from seeing.

As someone who has an abiding interest in creating an authentic Internet 3rd political party, I am saddened at Unity08’s decision to block my participation in their efforts. As I pointed out to them many times before, there is really no difference in Unity08 than any other political party, including their intolerance at criticism.

Nevertheless, I have learned from Unity08 mistakes. The most important lesson I have learned is that while the Internet can be a powerful commutative tool, like any powerful tool, if mishandled, it can also powerfully hurt you. Unfortunately, Unity08 have chosen to deny itself of this feedback when it mishandles its Internet presence. So who is the real looser?

ex animo

davidfarrar

Mr. Trotsky has been purged for reasons that include, but are not limited to, the following repeated violation of these party guidelines:

1). Trotskyism is the theory of “permanent” (uninterrupted) revolution….But Trotsky does not confine himself to this indignant opinion. He goes further and asserts: “The entire edifice of Leninism at the present time is built on lies and falsification and bears within itself the poisonous elements of its own decay”

2). Trotskyism is distrust of the Bolshevik Party principle, of the monolithic character of the Party, of its hostility towards opportunist elements. In the sphere of organisation, Trotskyism is the theory that revolutionaries and opportunists can co-exist and form groups and coteries within a single party. You are, no doubt, familiar with the history of Trotsky’s August bloc, in which the Martovites and Otzovists, the Liquidators and Trotskyites, happily co-operated, pretending that they were a “real” party.

3).Trotskyism is distrust of the leaders of Bolshevism, an attempt to discredit, to defame them. I do not know of a single trend in the Party that could compare with Trotskyism in the matter of discrediting the leaders of Leninism or the central institutions of the Party.

Source: Pravda, No. 269, November 26, 1924

Looking for the results for today’s special election to Congress between Niki Tsongas and James Ogonowski, I came across the election web page of WCVB - a Boston televison station. There, near the top of the page, was the graphic you see above.

Commitment 2008? It sounds like a punishment, not a chance to be an active citizen. The word commitment may make us feel like we’re being placed in a mental health therapy center, against our will, or we’re being pressured into a premature marriage.

It seems plenty clear to me that the news media just doesn’t expect the public to get excited about elections much anymore.

They might as well come out with one of the following phrases:

Government Class 2008
Conference Call 2008
May I Put You On Hold 2008
Interruption of Your Regularly Scheduled Program 2008

The web site of the Boston Globe did an even more pathetic job. On the front page, there was a live updated tally of the score in the baseball game of the Red Sox versus the Cleveland Indians. No updates on the results of the Tsongas vs. Ogonowski election, though.

What priorities.

By the way, for those who care about the makeup of our federal government’s Legislative Branch, the latest results I’m seeing show Republican James Ogonowski ahead of Niki Tsongas, 51 percent to 46 percent, with 49 percent of the precincts in!

This was supposed to be a cakewalk for Tsongas. What the heck is going on?

Peregrin Wood made an essential point last night when he observed that George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin have steered the United States and Russia into a new Cold War. Russia is now in a military alliance with Iran, and has sworn to protect Iran from any military attacks. American political leaders like Bush, and far too many Democrats, are at the same time pushing to start a new war against Iran.

What’s at stake? Imagine open warfare between the USA and Russia. Imagine nuclear war.

In this context, Hillary Clinton continues her insane brinksmanship, joining in the push to bomb Iran, saying that, “If Iran does not comply with its own commitments and the will of the international community, all options must remain on the table.”

Hillary Clinton’s approach to foreign policy is reckless. Clinton proved unable to show mature judgment when she supported George W. Bush on invading Iraq. She is now showing herself willing to repeat the mistake.

I want to vote for a President who will say no to the nonsense of more and more wars. I want a President who has enough imagination to see a world without Cold Wars against Russia. Hillary Clinton offers the same old path of destruction and failure.

My pick is Barack Obama, who has the courage to see a new generation of possibilities, and is not afraid to leave behind old, Washington insider ideas that just don’t work.

I have, in my brief discussions of mantis shrimps (known scientifically as stomatopods), discussed some rather extreme violent abilities, smashing and stabbing at the speed of a small bullet, that make them seem like rather fearsome creatures. There are some other attributes of mantis shrimps, however, that make them rather beautiful. Look into their eyes, and you will see what I mean.

Stomatopods have just two eyes, like you and me. However, unlike you and me, they are capable of performing acts of binocular vision with just one eye at a time. How is this accomplished, without two separate eyes providing slightly different images which can then be triangulated with the power of the brain?

The stomatopod’s cornea is bisected by a few rows of special sensors that detect color and polarized light. This means that one eye receives two different half signals. Furthermore, the sensory input from these two halves of the eye are processed by the nerves right at the eye itself, not at the brain. The result is that it’s not easy to sneak up on a mantis shrimp, which can rotate its eyes around independently of each other. Think of that - two separate binocular detection systems in opposite directions at the same time.

Far out… literally.

October 18, 2007 - Thursday

1663 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3829
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28171

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75164
(MAXIMUM): 81902
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $460,946,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Bush veto of child health bill sustained
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago

House Democrats on Thursday failed to override President Bush’s veto of their pre-election year effort to expand a popular government health insurance program to cover 10 million children.

The bill had bipartisan support, but the 273-156 roll call was 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority that supporters needed to enact the bill into law over Bush’s objections. The bill had passed the Senate with a veto-proof margin.

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program now subsidizes coverage for about 6 million children at a cost of about $5 billion a year. The vetoed bill would have added 4 million more children, most from low-income families, at a cost of $7 billion annually. About 600,000 adults also participate in the program.

To pay for the spending increase, the bill would have raised the federal tax on cigarettes from 39 cents to $1 a pack.

“This is not about an issue. It’s about a value,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said just before the vote. “For the cost of less than 40 days in Iraq, we can provide SCHIP coverage for 10 million children for one year.”

Forty-four Republicans voted to override Bush’s veto; that was one fewer than the number of GOP members who voted Sept. 25 to pass the bill. Only two Democrats voted to sustain Bush’s veto, compared with six who had voted against the bill. The two were Reps. Jim Marshall of Georgia and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.

“We won this round on SCHIP,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. She said a million-dollar lobbying campaign by several labor unions and advocacy groups to turn enough Republican votes for a successful override did not work.

Bush, anticipating that the veto would stand, has assigned three top advisers, including Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, to try to negotiate a new deal with Congress.

“It’s now time for us to get to the hard work of finding a solution and get SCHIP reauthorized,” Leavitt said. “We also have a larger task, to provide every American with the means of having an insurance policy.”

Republican opponents of the bill said it would encourage too many middle-income families to substitute government-subsidized insurance for their private insurance. The bill would have given states financial incentives to cover families with incomes up to three times the federal poverty level — $61,950 for a family of four.

“That’s not low-income. That’s a majority of households in America,” said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif.

The bill said that illegal immigrants would remain ineligible for the children’s program, but Republicans seized on a section that would have allowed families to provide a Social Security number to indicate citizenship. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said it is too easy to get a false number, which would give an opening for thousands of illegal immigrants to enroll.

But Democrats said the bill’s original focus remained intact. States would earn bonuses for signing up low-income children already eligible for the program but not enrolled.

“Under current law, these boys and girls are entitled to their benefits,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. “Continuing to not provide them with coverage is a travesty.”

Bush has recommended a $1 billion annual increase, bringing total spending over five years to $30 billion — half the level called for in the bill that he vetoed.

Some public opinion polls indicate support for expanding the program. Sixty-one percent said Congress should override Bush’s veto of a bill expanding the program, according to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll released Wednesday. Blacks were more likely than whites to favor overriding Bush’s veto.

___

On the Net:

Information on the bill, H.R. 976, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/

(This version CORRECTS in the second paragraph `two-thirds that majority supporters’ to `two-thirds majority that supporters …’)

Yeah, here’s a surprise.

I still find republican hypocrisy rather amusing. It’d be downright funny if it didn’t harm so many people.

October 19, 2007 - Friday

1664 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3830
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75288
(MAXIMUM): 82027
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $461,233,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Over on the Irregular Times main page, Peregrin Wood has rightfully heaped disdain on the military’s claim that it is immoral for soldiers merely to use web sites that are inclusive of gay people. He referenced a USA Today article on the story.

What stood out to me from that article was one absurd sentence: “Betty Huang of Community Connect says the military services, through private ad agencies, bought Monster’s ‘diversity and inclusion package’, which includes posts on her company’s niche websites for Asian-Americans, blacks, Latinos, and gays.”

Memo to Community Connect: Diversity and inclusion cannot be sold to the military in a package. Targeting people for exploitative military recruiting advertisements certainly doesn’t fit under my definition of inclusion and diversity.

Kind of scary when you think about it.

Link

70 Punished in Accidental B-52 Flight
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press WriterFri Oct 19, 7:58 PM ET

The Air Force said Friday it would punish 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions.

“There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base,” said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations.

Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident in which the B-52 was inadvertently armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot in North Dakota to Barksdale in Louisiana without anyone noticing the mistake for more than a day.

The missiles were supposed to be taken to Louisiana, but the warheads were supposed to have been removed beforehand.

A main reason for the error was that crews had decided not to follow a complex schedule under which the status of the missiles is tracked while they are disarmed, loaded, moved and so on, one official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The airmen replaced the schedule with their own “informal” system, he said, though he didn’t say why they did that nor how long they had been doing it their own way.

“This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear deviation from our exacting standards,” Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne said at a Pentagon press conference with Newton. “We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken.”

Newton acknowledged that the Air Force needs to “restore the confidence” lost among the American people after the August incident, which raised questions about the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“We are making all appropriate changes to ensure this has a minimal chance of ever happening again,” Wynne said.

Newton said the flight in question resulted from an “unprecedented string of procedural errors,” beginning with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded aboard the B-52 bomber at Minot. The crew flying the plane was unaware nuclear warheads were on its wing, though it wasn’t explained what role they played in the mistake.

Highest among those to be punished are four officers who were relieved this week of their commands, including the 5th Bomb Wing commander at Minot — Col. Bruce Emig, who also has been the base commander since June.

In addition, the wing has been “decertified from its wartime mission,” Newton said.

Some 65 airmen have been decertified from handling nuclear weapons. The certification process looks at a person’s psychological profile, any medications they are taking and other factors in determining a person’s reliability to handle weapons.

After it was loaded with the missiles, the B-52 sat overnight at Minot, flew the next morning to Louisiana, and then sat on a tarmac again for hours before anyone noticed the nuclear warheads.

Newton avoided repeated questions on what extra security would have been required if crews had known the nuclear weapons were on the plane. But another official later said privately that security was increased as soon as the nuclear warheads were discovered.

The Air Combat Command ordered a command-wide stand-down — instituted base by base and completed Sept. 14 — to set aside time for personnel to review procedures, officials said.

The incident was so serious that it required President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to be quickly informed.

Wynne prefaced his remarks about the B-52 incident by saying that, in publicly confirming that nuclear weapons were involved, he had authorized a one-time exception to U.S. policy, which states that the location of nuclear weapons will never be confirmed publicly. He said he made this exception because of the seriousness of the episode and its importance to the nation.

The weapon involved was the Advanced Cruise Missile, a “stealth” weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radar. The Air Force said in March that it had decided to retire the Advanced Cruise Missile fleet soon, and officials said after the breach that the missiles were being flown to Barksdale for decommissioning.

___

On the Net:

Air Combat Command: http://www.acc.af.mil

Have we had nuclear weapons for so long our military is becoming caviler in regards to their handling?

October 20, 2007 - Saturday

1665 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3832
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75383
(MAXIMUM): 82126
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $461,513,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

October 21, 2007 - Sunday

1666 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3832
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75449
(MAXIMUM): 82193
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $461,815,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Good day. I would like to share with you the latest news from Bill Richardson on Mukasey and Waterboarding:

=======
10-19-07

In response to U.S. Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey’s refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture, New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson this morning issued the following statement:

“Waterboarding is torture, and anyone who is unwilling to identify it as such is not qualified to be the chief legal officer of the United States of America. If I were in the U.S. Senate, I would vote against Mukasey unless he denounces such specific forms of torture.

“Torture does not work. Mistreatment backfires and destroys our international leadership, as we saw with Abu Ghraib. Torture also endangers our own troops. The standards we adopt may well be what our own troops are subjected to.

“Anytime one makes a person think he or she is being executed, the very nature of waterboarding, it obviously is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, international law, and basic human decency.

“ABC News has described waterboarding as follows: ‘The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face, and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in, and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.’

“If another nation engaged in waterboarding against American citizens, we would denounce that country and call the practice barbaric, and rightly so.

“We must stand against torture without equivocation, without compromise, and without exception. Torture is a violation of everything we stand for as Americans and as human beings.”
======

Bill Richardson is the only candidate to stand up to George W. Bush and his designee Mukasey on Waterboarding. Vote Bill Richardson in 2008!

In North Carolina, Democratic candidate for the United States Senate Jim Neal has acknowledged that he is gay. Actually, he has never hidden that he is gay, so it’s kind of like Liza Minelli acknowledging that she has short hair.

The major point of communication from the Jim Neal for Senate campaign is that Neal’s sexual orientation is no big deal. My reaction to the news so far is in line with that. I read the news with a “hmm” and not much more.

What would be a big deal is if the North Carolina Democratic Party now rushes to find another candidate to challenge Senator Elizabeth Dole, because the Democratic Party isn’t willing to support an openly non-heterosexual candidate. That would be a big deal. It would be a sign of craven cowardice.

A constant question I have asked a lot of friends is “Why not re-elect GW Bush?”  It is obvious that he has all the answers.  He’s the president, isn’t he?  He has the right way to complete the job he started.  He started it didn’t he?  And he now has the background (if not the backbone) to do the job.  Plus he has the power to ignore the constitution that says that he can’t run again.  Everything is in place.  I say ‘W 2008′!  Wanna buy a bumper sticker for your SUV?

Ha!

I really didn’t think they could be this out of touch with the American people.

GOP Rivals Argue Who’s Most Conservative

GOP rivals argue who’s most conservative
By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press WriterMon Oct 22, 6:31 PM ET

Republican front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney defended their conservative credentials in the face of pointed attacks from campaign rivals Sunday night in the most aggressive debate to date of the race for the White House.

“You’ve just spent the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine,” Arizona Sen. John McCain bluntly told Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson made Giuliani his target, saying the former New York mayor supported federal funding for abortion, gun control and havens for illegal immigrants.

“He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues,” added Thompson, referring to the New York Democrat who leads in the polls for her party’s presidential nomination.

The clashes in the early moments of a 90-minute debate prompted former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to say he wanted no part of a “demolition derby” with others of his own party. “What I’m interested in is fighting for the American people.”

Whatever their disagreements among one another, the eight rivals agreed on one issue. They took turns criticizing Clinton, the Democratic front-runner.

Asked whether she was fit to be commander in chief, Romney replied, “I’d vote no.”

Giuliani said he agreed with one thing the former first lady said recently. “I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all,” he quoted her as saying as laughter filled the debate hall. “I’m not making it up.”

McCain said Clinton had recently tried to spend $1 million on a Woodstock Museum, commemorating perhaps the most famous counterculture event of the 1960s.

“Now my friends I wasn’t there. I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event,” he said.

“I was tied up at the time,” he deadpanned, and the audience rose to applaud the reference to the five and a half years McCain spent as a prisoner of war during Vietnam.

The debate was the first since Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas dropped out of the race, winnowing the field. The remaining rivals stood on a stage at a resort 10 miles from Walt Disney World, fielding questions at an event broadcast by Fox News Channel.

The leadoff Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 3, 2008, for Republicans. In their most recent debate, Oct. 9, Giuliani and Romney swapped charges with each other, vying for primacy in the race.

This time they largely ignored each other. Instead, Giuliani’s lead in the nation polls, as well as Romney’s perceived strength in early voting states, made them obvious targets for McCain and Thompson.

The first question went to Giuliani, asked whether he was more conservative than Thompson. “I can’t comment on Fred,” the former mayor said.

He then added that he had brought down crime, cleaned up Times Square, cut taxes and eliminated the city’s deficits. “I think that was a pretty darned good conservative record,” he said.

Giuliani took a more conservative position on gay marriage than he has thus far, saying he would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage if states begin to legalize it.

Giuliani lived with an openly gay couple after separating from his second wife, Donna Hanover, and one member of the couple said at the time that Giuliani promised to marry them if gay marriage was ever legalized.

Attacked by the former Tennessee senator moments later, Giuliani fired back at his antagonist. “Fred has problems, too,” he said. He said Thompson was the “single biggest obstacle” in the Senate to legislation limiting the ability of individuals filing lawsuits to recover unlimited damages.

“He stood with the Democrats over and over again” on the issue, Giuliani added.

Thompson said he believed states should decide whether to limit lawsuits in their own states.

Republicans in Congress tried for years to pass legislation that would cap damages in lawsuits, but never succeeded before losing their majority to Democrats in 2006.

Romney was asked about McCain’s earlier claims that he had shifted positions on a number of issues to appeal to conservative Republicans.

The former Massachusetts governor responded that he was proud of his record, particularly since the state had an overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature. “I fought to make sure we kept our taxes down. I fought for pro-growth strategies. I cut taxes,” he said.

Moments later, though, McCain personally turned on Romney.

“Governor Romney, you’ve been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine,” he said.

Saying he would run on his record as a conservative, McCain added, “I don’t think you can fool the American people. I think the first thing you’d need is their respect.”

Coming up next, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain debate the looming threat of of a domino effect of the Red Menace. Stay tuned!

October 23, 2007 - Tueday

1668 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3834
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75564
(MAXIMUM): 82331
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $462,345,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

I’ve been keeping track of the news from Atlanta about their drought, and how there’s a state of emergency, and how everyone there is getting in a tizzy about. You know when it’s going to be news for me? It’ll be news for me when Coca-Cola, headquartered in Atlanta, stops producing its beverages in that region.

Until Coca Cola shuts down its bottling plants so that ordinary people can drink water without worrying about it, there is no real water shortage, and no story worth paying attention to.

October 24, 2007 - Wednesday

1669 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3836
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75598
(MAXIMUM): 82368
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $462,626,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Last night, one of our regular visitors came upon an article I wrote pointing out that right wing oversight of the economy has proven to be a threat, not just to the US economy, but to the global economy as well. The visitor, being something of a right winger himself, felt called upon to express outrage, but could not come up with a substantive response.

So, the outraged visitor decided to use a tried-and-not-so-true debating tactic: Suggesting that if a person does not support something, the only alternative is support for the extreme opposite position. In this particular case, the visitor suggested that if a person does not support right wing economic blundering, that person must support the economic models employed by Soviet Communists.

This kind of thinking is not exactly subtle, but it sure is amusing. Here are a few other example of this sort of argument that I was able to come up with on the spur of the moment.

October 25, 2007 - Thursday

1670 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3838
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75598
(MAXIMUM): 82368
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $462,904,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

Blind fanatic conservative rigidity destroys the peace of society
Krishna and Jesus were names – of same God in different tongues

The blind fanatic conservative rigidity – of one’s own religion is
Leading to communal wars – destroying the peace of society.
Common sense and simple analysis – are sufficient to know truth.
Every religious fan says that – his God created this earth.
Unfortunately there is only – one earth and not many earths.
Religions are many with different Gods, - but, sorry, one earth only!
This clearly means that there is – only one God, names differ.
Then, one God should preach – one syllabus only to the earth.
Languages may be different, – but subject is one and the same.

God is impartial Father of all souls – existing on this one earth.
If you say that Krishna alone is God, – Gita alone is the path,
Those who followed Krishna only – are liberated, others to hell,
We fully agree, but one small doubt, - when Krishna came here,
India was disconnected with – other foreign countries for some time.
During that time, foreigners, - who died ignorant of Krishna
Went to hell and fault was not in them – they did not know Krishna
Due to fault of Krishna only, - if Krishna wished, all countries
Could have been linked on His – arrival to India simultaneously.

Having known Krishna, – if the foreigners did not follow Him,
Their hell is justified, – now Krishna becomes partial to India.
God is always impartial, – entire earth is His creation only.
All the souls on the earth – are issues of the same divine Father.
Partiality is not justified, - if you say India alone has good devotees.
It is also not true because – Kauravas opposed Him vehemently.
The only solution is that God came – to all countries simultaneously
In different names and preached – the same syllabus simultaneously.
This logic applies to all religions, – When Jesus came to Jerusalem,
India was disconnected for some time, – in that time some Indians
Went to hell for not following Jesus, - it was not their fault at all,
Jesus need not be partial to Jerusalem – containing good devotees
Only, since He was crucified by – the worst priests in Jerusalem.
The solution is that same God came – to India and Jerusalem.
Krishna and Jesus were names – of same God in different tongues.

God comes in human form in all places of the earth & in every generation

God comes in human form – in all places of the earth and also
He comes in every generation – that contains both good and bad.
If devotees of one generation are – favored by His direct visit,
God becomes partial for no reason, – God is not such mad!
Priests never accept human form – of God before their eyes.
They like the worship of models – that represent God indirectly,
So that the results of worship – indirectly come to them finally.
Priests did not give place for God – after Buddha in Kali age.
Buddha came in the beginning of Kali, – priests showed Kalki
At the end of this Kali age, – no human form till the end.

Similarly Christian priests – opposed Jesus when He was alive.
After Jesus, they say that – Jesus comes only in the end.
The psychology of priests – is the same in the whole world!
Krishna said that He will come – whenever He is required.
‘Jesus will come again’ means, – He will come in next generation.
If the guest says to you – that he will come again to you,
Does it mean that he will come – only once in his entire life?

In Christianity the soul after death – waits till the final enquiry.
In that case the soul meets God twice, – once in its lifetime
And finally at the time of enquiry, – this is justified, if no rebirth.
Every soul meets God in human form, – once while it exists
On the earth in the human body, - finally in final enquiry.
This is possible only if God – comes in every generation.
Otherwise, souls born - along with Jesus were only lucky,
Since they alone met God as Jesus – and in final enquiry.
All the other souls have only – one chance to meet finally.
This is again blind partiality, – God can never be blind.
Any priest in the world – does not like contemporary form
Because the benefits of service – to God should come to him.

This is possible only if God – is limited to symbolic models.
The human psychology is always – selfish and egoistic here.
Jesus told that He and His father – are one and the same.
This is Advaita, He told that He is – the son of God, this is
Vishishtadvaita stating that – son is part and parcel of father.
Jesus told that He is messenger – of God, this is Dvaita stating
That God is master and – Son of God is His servant.

Mohammad stressed on Dvaita, - since all souls are servants,
God is the master to be served, - then Son of God is not special.
This will remove jealousy of priests – towards the Son of God.
This will avoid crucifixion of – Son of God by priests.
Remember, Mohammad came – just after Jesus and tried
To avoid brutal consequences – of jealousy of priests on
The Son of God or contemporary – human incarnation in future.
Mohammad said that God – never becomes human being.
It is perfectly correct, – current is not converted into wire.
It only entered wire – God in flesh, Manushim Tanumashritam,
Mean that God entered human body, – not converted into human body.

Human body means gross body – with the liberated soul selected
By God for human incarnation, – the soul is a part of the body.
The soul is causal body, – the qualities in soul are subtle body.
The soul acts as personal assistant, – as inert as the gross body
Due to total surrender to God, – this soul is the Son of God.
Every soul has equal chance – to become the Son of God.
Every student has equal chance – to get the gold medal.
But in an year only one student – tops and gets gold medal.
The other students should not – hate the topper by jealousy.
The chance given was not – properly used by other students.
Neither God is partial nor – the topper should be blamed.
Still there is time, use it, – next time you may be topper.

Even during stay of God, – God is God and soul is soul.
Even in live wire, current – is current and wire is wire.
Wire is only treated as current – for all practical purposes.

Unity in all the religions of world for peace

God is unimaginable and - cannot be served directly.
There is no other way than – to serve mediated God.
Buddha is also misunderstood – as an atheist by followers.
Buddha kept silent about God, – silence means unimaginable.
Silence does not mean that – God is non-existent, Veda says
That words cannot touch God, – only silence indicates God.
Shankara says that God is best – explained through silence.
All religions can be correlated, – since there is one God only.

The concept of one God – should be proved first of all.
Then only correlation of – the scriptures of all religions.
Without the basic establishment – of the point of one God,
If you correlate scriptures, – correlation may be coincidence, since
Some times unity may exist – in speeches of different speakers.
This will not bring unity in – all the religions of world for peace.

If one God is proved first, - all religions must be united subsequently.
Shankara united sub-religions – in Hinduism and brought peace.
Hinduism in those days was – like the present fighting religions.
Shiva, Vishnu, Ganapati, Shakti – Skanda and Surya were Gods.
Their followers were fighting – like the present religious followers.
Yesterday-Hinduism represents – today-Universal Religions.
Today-Hinduism represents – tomorrow-united religions.
Shankara brought unity in Hinduism – similarly Datta will bring
Unity of Universal Religions – through analytical arguments.

God stressed certain aspects – especially in various religions.
Pickup those central diamonds – and prepare a garland with them.
That will be our Universal Spirituality – for the peace of world.
Hinduism is famous for unity – in diversity of various aspects.
Christianity is famous for kindness – even for sinners to uplift.
Islam stands for sincerity and – strict discipline towards God.
Buddhism is for controlling desire – in the service to society.
Jainism is for kindness to – all living beings in this world.
Similarly you can pick up – gems from various other religions.
Science is also a religion – to analyze non-God items of world.
Shankara united various – branches of single religion, Hinduism.
Then India stood as spiritual guide – for all Indians themselves.
Today all religions of world exist – in India, Datta unites them.
Now let India stand as spiritual guide – for all religions in world
To unite all citizens of the world – to achieve world peace.

Atheists say that there is no hell, heaven

Atheists do not believe in hell, - heaven and abode of God.
The souls will return from hell and heaven, – not from God.
For mere social service – God created temporary heaven.
On the earth the soul is given - opportunity to develop itself.
By social service it may go to – heaven for some time,
Or it may reach permanent – abode of God by selecting
God in human form here, - freedom is given to soul.
God does not want to disturb – the soul on this earth
By giving punishments constantly, - earth is not hell.
The soul is engaged in effort – with free opportunity here.

Hence, the punishments for the soul – are reserved in hell.
Similarly heavenly luxuries – may divert the soul here
From the possible efforts – for trying for Nivrutti in this life.
Hence, luxuries are postponed – to heaven after death.
The abode of God as - upper most world is also required,
Because for the souls - in energetic bodies after death,
A separate world with God – in energetic body is required, so that
The liberated soul by Nivrutti – is constantly associated with God.
Such soul assists the Lord here – by coming in material body again.

Atheists say that today – rockets have gone even to moon, hence,
There is no hell, heaven and – the abode of God in the space.
But scientists say that space is infinite – no rocket has gone
Up to the boundary of space – to say that space ends there.
Did you show compound wall – along the boundary of space?
If there is a compound wall, - what is present after that wall?
The space is infinite and – you have not shown absence of
Hell, heaven and abode of God – by showing the limits of space.
Of course, we have not shown to you – their presence also.
There is fifty-fifty probability – for absence and existence.

Let us assume their absence – what is the loss for me,
If I believed their presence – and acted accordingly?
I might not have enjoyed luxuries – like an atheist here,
Due to that my health and – mental peace are conserved well.
Let us assume their presence, - what will be your fate? Think.
You will be powdered in hell, - here also due to over luxuries
You have lost health and peace, - loss here as well as there.
Unimaginable miracles are seen – unimaginable events in life give
The experience of unimaginable God, - better to believe,
Even by logic of probability, – which is scientific concept.
Even the infinite space of cosmos – is a standing example for
The existence of unimaginable – nature, this is cosmic vision
Shown by Krishna to Arjuna, – it is miracle for any one to see.
Such belief in God by probability – is a partial faith only,
But it is better than no faith – of atheism assisted by science.
The full faith alone gives – the final eternal divine fruit.
The above partial faith – should slowly result in full faith.

Without the knowledge of God the society cannot be controlled

Mere social service without devotion – gives temporary heaven,
Veda and Gita say the same, - such social service is not eternal.
If you force rich to help poor, – they will act only, no reality.
If you convince the rich – by preaching spiritual knowledge,
They will really serve poor, - force will not work forever.
Even the poor people after – receiving donation from rich,
Do not get satisfied at any stage – without spiritual knowledge.
The result of your social service – gives them temporary happiness.
Hence, the fruit for your sacrifice – must be also temporary only.

A politician gets temporary post – and earns temporary wealth
For his social service, – his fame is also not eternal because
It does not follow the soul – after death to the upper world.
Preaching spiritualism should be – the main activity always
Like teaching subjects is main – in a residential college.
Boarding and lodging are also given, – but they are not main.
Similarly, while turning people – into devotees, you may help
The poor people involved in – such divine conversion here.
In such case the fruit is eternal, – because the poor people learn
To be contented with available benefits, – no end to materialism.

In the present socialism – the poor is never satisfied in life,
Donor weeps after donation – receiver is never satisfied.
This leads to cheating by donor – and revolt by receiver.
Both destroy the peace of society, – Pravrutti is disturbed.
Nivrutti cannot stand in society – with disturbed Pravrutti.
Nivrutti is the play of Lord – Pravrutti is the stage for His play.
Yajna is sacrifice for society – that gives temporary heaven.

By such Yajna, Dharma Raja – went to temporary heaven only.
The same sacrifice of Saktuprastha – to Lord in the guest form
Leads him to the eternal abode of God, - Nivrutti is highest.
If Nivrutti is preached – Pravrutti is also setup permanently.
If Pravrutti alone is preached – even Pravrutti is not settled.
Without the knowledge of God – society cannot be controlled.
Knowledge of God leads people – to permanent abode of God,
Simultaneously it will also setup – the balance of the society.

Absence of spiritualism is the reason for terrorism

Today socialism is dead really in India, – only false socialism exists.
Due to this, terrorism shot up, – the peace of society vanished away.
The basic reason for all this is – due to absence of spiritualism.
In ancient India, spiritualism – is a compulsory part of education.
But today education is only - confined to the entire materialism.
It is the responsibility of the – Government to compel spiritualism
In the course of education, - otherwise, individuals are not changed.
Without the basic transformation – of all the individuals, the total
Society cannot be transformed, - transformation by mere materialism
In education is impossible – without the basic spiritual knowledge.
Unless this fundamental is rectified – Governments will fail here.

Secularism, Socialism and Spiritual knowledge

In Ayurveda, the Indian medicine – treatment of cause is given
More importance, called as “Nidanam”, - if cause is not cured,
The disease is not cured at all – symptoms appear again and again
As long as the disease exists, – disease is permanently cured only
When its cause is cured, - spiritual knowledge cures cause.
The efforts of secular Government – are not controlling even
The symptoms, not to speak of cause, – ancient kings were wise.
Secularism is not understood, – it means taking medicine from
Bottles of different colors equally, – today secularism means
Not to take medicine from any bottle, – disease is never cured.

Nivrutti or spiritual knowledge – is the basis for Pravrutti or society.
Social justice and peace become - eternal and real in this society
Only when the spiritual knowledge – of all religions is stressed upon.
If you avoid the religion, – the spiritual knowledge is also avoided.
Universal spirituality is taking medicine – from bottles of various colors.
Spiritual knowledge is collected – from various religions on earth here.
This is impartiality while getting – the benefit of using the medicine.
Secularism is really this only, – but today secularism is misunderstood.
Today it is the impartiality – by not taking medicine from any bottle!
Impartiality is achieved, no doubt, – but there is no use of medicine,
As medicine is avoided from all bottles – for the fear of partiality!
When impartiality can be achieved – by another useful way, then,
Why do you choose useless way – to achieve same impartiality?

You are trying to bring socialism, – it is the middle golden path
Between the extreme ends of – the capitalism and the communism.
Socialism was perfectly achieved – in India in the ancient times.
The reason was that spiritualism – stood as support for socialism.
Rich people donated to poor liberally – by assimilating spiritualism.
Poor people were always contented – by understanding spiritualism.
Today neither rich donate to poor, – nor poor is contented at anytime!

The knowledge of God avoids crime and corruption in devotee

Now the criminal nature is put off, – society becomes peaceful.
Similarly the devotee will not be corrupt – by knowing God’s nature.
God will give you whatever is necessary – at the appropriate time.
You are His devotee, why to worry? – no need of corruption.
Even if you accumulate wealth, – it may harm your family.
Your child may be spoiled due wealth, – then wealth is harmful.
Yes, the wealth is terrible poison, – if it is earned by corruption.
God may bless your child directly – to earn infinite wealth here,
If He is pleased with your selfless service, - which is better?
The knowledge of God avoids – crime and corruption in devotee.

If individuals are transformed – the society is perfectly peaceful.
You cannot control crime and corruption – by employing controllers.
Controllers become criminal and corrupt, – no end to your effort.
Ancient kings supported – the propagation of spiritual knowledge.
It could control the sin, – crime and corruption are the two halves of
The sin, you are spending ten times – on employing controllers, but
There is no trace of control, - spend a small part of it on scholars
To propagate spiritual knowledge, – the sin is controlled fully.

In the name of secularism – the present Government neglects
This aspect and tries to cure – symptom of disease but not cause.

God punishes any body – only for transformation
Law and order in God’s hands only

He comes to know that God is – the overall ruler of all creation.
If some body beats you, – keep silent and do not even curse him.
You might have beaten him – in the previous birth and now
It is compensated with interest; – the case is now closed forever.
In this case you cannot expect God – to punish him at anytime.
Your long observation about him – will discourage you thoroughly.
However, if he has beaten you – without this back ground,
God will certainly punish him, – you will beat him with interest.
But the time gap is uncertain, – may be now or may be next birth.

The reason is that God punishes any body – only for transformation.
God might have punished him already – in some other angle,
Which is unknown to you and God is – waiting for the change in him.
If change is not observed – God will use the pending punishments.
Punishment due to you is somewhere – in the list of his cycle.
You are eager to punish him – just to pacify your revenge.
Your aim of punishment differs – from the aim of punishment by God.
If you realize the administration of God – or the cycle of deeds here,
You are not anxious to punish him, - law and order in God’s hands only.

Even the greatest sinner is good if he is His devotee
Gita says that even the greatest sinner – is good if he is His devotee,
Gita further says that such a sinner - becomes shortly a good person.
The devotee will not become good – simply by singing songs on God
To attain boons from God, – it is a crude primary stage in devotion.
A devotee will try to study the nature – of God in advanced devotion.
The devotee gradually becomes interested – to know the nature of God.
As time proceeds, he looses interest in himself, – interested in God only.
It is the main part of spiritual knowledge, – which is of three items.
Knowledge of God, path to please God – and soul as non-God item
Constitutes Triputi of divine knowledge, – this turns devotee good.

God is unknowable

If you say that He is this and – He is not that, it means
That you have understood God, – None knows God,
Gita says this, – only God knows God, Veda says.
If you say that you know God – you must be God.
You say that you are awareness – and that awareness is God.
Yes, you are only awareness – you know yourself, we agree.
But awareness is not God – since you know awareness, yourself.
Every one is awareness like you, – if God is awareness,
Every body knows God, – then, how Gita said that
None knows God, – then, how Vedas say that
If any body says that he knows God, – he does not know
God at all, if any body says that – he does not know God
He knows God, – this means God is unknowable.

Advaitins have misunderstood – even the theory-class,
Advaita or monism is limited – to human incarnation only,
It should not be extended to – every human being here.
Advaita applies to Shankara, – He is human incarnation.
He swallowed molten lead, – followers could not do so.
He clearly filtered human beings – from Him by this miracle.
He told “Shivah Kevaloham”, – it means that He alone is God.
You have misunderstood Advaita – in the very first step itself
By extending it to all humanity – so that you become God.
This shows your ambition – to become omnipotent God.
Soham means that you are God, – this is the final eternal fruit.
It is possible but you have to – travel in a special path, it is
Dasoham, which means that – you are humble servant to God.
The address of God to serve is – the human incarnation here.
The care in service is that – you should never aspire for soham.
Hanuman studied Gita from Sun, – God told Gita to Sun, first,
He understood that Advaita is fruit, – Dvaita is the path to reach it.

With utmost care, He served His - contemporary human incarnation.
He received the fruit, – Ramayana is the practical procedure,
After understanding theory, Veda, – from Sun, returned to earth.
Advaitin has not understood – even the theory told by Shankara,
The Sun of knowledge on earth, – but follower is not Hanuman!
The follower is only a monkey – jumping quickly from right
Interpretation to wrong interpretation, - how can he come to
The practical procedure? – Ramayana is just a story for him.
Rama is Datta testing devotees severely, – first He masked Himself
With thick ignorance to impress that – He is a common man.
All His life is only examination of devotees, – no preaching here.
All the preaching was over – in the upper world for devotees.

He never showed miracles, – Lakshmana left his wife for Rama.
He acted as a watchman – while Rama enjoyed Sita in hut.
Rama showed climax of love to wife – by running for deer.
Rama overacted by weeping for wife, – all this is to divert
Lakshmana towards his wife, – Lakshmana was firm and never
Misunderstood Rama for His lust, - Rama acted as incapable
In several occasions, – Hanuman solved all His problems,
Some times Hanuman showed – miracles to help Rama,
But Hanuman always praised Rama – as omnipotent God,
Hanuman never thought himself – as God, only servant.

Every step of Ramayana – is a message for Pravrutti externally,
But internally every step is – a test in the end of Nivrutti.
Similarly Bhagavatam is a test – of Nivrutti for the sages.
Krishna acted as a thief and – over showed lust for ladies.
But the sages recognized Him – and surrendered totally to Him.
Mahabharatha shows the failures – of Pandavas in Nivrutti.
Even Dharma Raja, a leader in Pravtutti – could not succeed.
The places of failure are also important – to know for avoiding.
These three epics are – the laboratory – manuals after theory.

End of world

A pin and a hill differ quantitatively – but reality is same.
A hill in the dream and - a pin in the world differ in reality.
After the state of dream – deep sleep results everywhere.
The awareness is converted into – the inert energy.
Similarly when the creation – is fully destroyed,
The inert primordial energy – results like in the deep sleep.
Even the souls are converted – into inert impressions.
When the cinema is put off – the cinema remains as film.
The film is static impressions – on the inert substratum.
Similarly after the final dissolution – souls are also fixed
As inert impressions in the – film of primordial energy.

It is a static impression of – the entire creation called as
Avyaktam, which means that – it is not displayed as show.
When the awareness disappears – in the final dissolution,
How can you say that awareness is – the final substratum?
The activities of living and non-living – are static here.
The activity or work of living being – is awareness.
This primordial inert energy – as a static film stands
Based on the final substratum – which is the God.
The inert energy in deep sleep – is also a static film
Carrying on various feelings – as static impressions.
It is a microstate representing – the final dissolution.

The inert energy in deep sleep, - the static microfilm
Is also based on God only – and not on individual awareness,
Which already disappeared – in deep sleep.
You are rising from deep sleep – only by will of God and not
By the will of your soul or – the awareness that disappeared.
Similarly the macro film of – this entire cosmos after
The final dissolution, called as – static primordial energy
Rises to become active as cinema – by the will of God only.
Since God wishes, – immediately you conclude Him
As awareness, applying logic – derived from worldly examples.
God is omni potent and hence – can do anything above logic.
Veda says that God eats every thing, – this does not mean
That God is fire called as - eater of every thing, Sarvabhakshaka.
Brahma Sutra explains this – “Attaa Chaaracharagrahanat”.
God burns every thing - in final dissolution, but not fire.
Veda says, “God walks without legs, – catches without hands”.
This means that God can wish – without being awareness.

Brahma Sutra says “ Due to wish – not primordial energy”.
This means, since – primordial energy cannot wish, being
Inert, it is not the ultimate God, – this does not mean that
God is awareness since God wishes, – “God is not inert”
Does not mean that God is awareness, – you are not Rama,
This does not mean that – you are Lakshmana.
You are neither Rama nor Lakshmana – God is beyond both.

God is neither inert nor awareness, – He is unimaginable.
Mula Maya or primordial energy – has only one defect,
That is, it cannot wish being inert, – awareness has defects
More than hundred, very easy to – deny it, Vyasa wrote
One sutra only to deny Mula Maya, – but he wrote several
To deny awareness in body – “Anupapattestu….” etc.
Awareness is available only – in a living body,
Continuous awareness – is only assumption, not practical.
Matter, visible energy like light – and awareness dissolve
In Mula Maya, when Mula Maya – is rejected to be God,
Not to speak of awareness – which already dissolved.

The inert energy produced by oxidation of food is the awareness
Awareness is only the name of – a specific type of work
Like walking, talking, eating etc., - work is a form of energy.
The original form of energy – is converted into specific work.
Specification of work depends – on specification of system.
Electricity is the form of energy – the same is converted into
Different types of works – in corresponding specific machines.
Same electricity in grinder – is converted in to grinding work.
Same in a drilling machine – is converted in to drilling work.
Similarly, the inert energy – produced in the form of heat
By oxidation of food due to – interaction with the oxygen,
Gets converted into awareness – in nervous system-machine.

Awareness means knowledge – it is the process of knowing,
Knowing means a type of work – work is not independent item.
It depends on the working element – and the working machine.
The working element here is – the inert energy liberated,
The working machine here is – the nervous system.
If a small electric shock is given – nervous system stops
Functioning any more, – the work is also stopped at once.

In deep sleep also – nervous system rests and no work.
When one awakes from deep sleep – the work starts again.
Work is property of inert energy – knowledge is property of awareness.
Awareness is also property – of inert energy vanishing in deep sleep.
Inert energy remains – without exhibiting knowledge and awareness.
Hence, this inert energy is called as – Nirgunam or quality less.
Awareness or knowledge is only – a quality or a property only.
Sattvam is knowledge – sattvam is a quality and not entity.
The entity here is inert energy – that remains in deep sleep.
Even the inert energy is dynamism – or oscillation of intensity,
It is propagation of waves, – it is again called as Rajas.
Rajas is also a quality only, – its inertia is called as Tamas.

Tamas is again a quality only, – the soul or inert energy
In cosmic magnification is called as – the primordial energy
Or Mula Maya or Mula Prakruti, – it is also a property only.
Property is dependable – entity is independent substratum.
Blue color is a property – the flower is the entity or dravya.
If the flower is bleached – it looses its blue color,
It became Nirgunam or – attribute less relatively
With respect to blue color – the flower is not absolutely
Nirgurnam to be called as God, – similarly inert energy or soul
Lost its property of awareness – in deep sleep, became Nirgunam
Relatively and so it is not – absolute Nirgunam or God.

The inert energy produced by oxidation of food is the awareness

Awareness is only the name of – a specific type of work
Like walking, talking, eating etc., - work is a form of energy.
The original form of energy – is converted into specific work.
Specification of work depends – on specification of system.
Electricity is the form of energy – the same is converted into
Different types of works – in corresponding specific machines.
Same electricity in grinder – is converted in to grinding work.
Same in a drilling machine – is converted in to drilling work.
Similarly, the inert energy – produced in the form of heat
By oxidation of food due to – interaction with the oxygen,
Gets converted into awareness – in nervous system-machine.

Awareness means knowledge – it is the process of knowing,
Knowing means a type of work – work is not independent item.
It depends on the working element – and the working machine.
The working element here is – the inert energy liberated,
The working machine here is – the nervous system.
If a small electric shock is given – nervous system stops
Functioning any more, – the work is also stopped at once.

In deep sleep also – nervous system rests and no work.
When one awakes from deep sleep – the work starts again.
Work is property of inert energy – knowledge is property of awareness.
Awareness is also property – of inert energy vanishing in deep sleep.
Inert energy remains – without exhibiting knowledge and awareness.
Hence, this inert energy is called as – Nirgunam or quality less.
Awareness or knowledge is only – a quality or a property only.
Sattvam is knowledge – sattvam is a quality and not entity.
The entity here is inert energy – that remains in deep sleep.
Even the inert energy is dynamism – or oscillation of intensity,
It is propagation of waves, – it is again called as Rajas.
Rajas is also a quality only, – its inertia is called as Tamas.

Tamas is again a quality only, – the soul or inert energy
In cosmic magnification is called as – the primordial energy
Or Mula Maya or Mula Prakruti, – it is also a property only.
Property is dependable – entity is independent substratum.
Blue color is a property – the flower is the entity or dravya.
If the flower is bleached – it looses its blue color,
It became Nirgunam or – attribute less relatively
With respect to blue color – the flower is not absolutely
Nirgurnam to be called as God, – similarly inert energy or soul
Lost its property of awareness – in deep sleep, became Nirgunam
Relatively and so it is not – absolute Nirgunam or God.

God uses fruit of your bad deed to create devotion in you
God grants certain desires also – to uplift the soul gradually.
God is preacher in this world – He uses the fruits of your deeds
To develop you spiritually, - this world is called as Karma loka,
Where you develop yourself – guided by God acting as preacher.
This world is not to consume – fruits of your good and bad deeds,
For that the upper worlds exist, - they are called as Bhoga Lokas.
God uses fruit of your bad deed – from the list of your punishments
To create devotion in you, - souls are like ignorant children only.

They will never become devotees – by the real devotion here.
They study for five minutes – on giving a small stroke with cane.
They become again mischievous – forgetting the effect of cane.
Similarly, a trouble is a cane, - you will become devoted to God.
You derive happiness, again – you forget devotion, become yourself.
The fruit of your good deed – acts as a gap between two troubles.

The happiness gives a gap – making you fresh for re-devotion
That comes again in the next – trouble, another stoke of cane.
Like this God uses your deeds – in any sequence He likes as per
The requirement of your spiritual – development in this world.

When you are not changed – you will face final enquiry after
This rare human birth and – you will be thrown to hell forever.
If you are good for society – without any devotion to God,
You will be sent to heaven – till the duration of fruit exists,
You will come down to earth, - God acts as a judge only after
Your exit from this human birth, – not as a preacher at all.
Therefore, there is no re-birth, - certainly no human re-birth,
Only for few exceptional cases, - in which there is hope of
Future spiritual development, - God grants human rebirth.
The liberated souls by His – devotion are always with God
Taking human re-births – to assist God in human form here.

Dattaswami’s latest bout of religious diarrhea gives me pause, since his is a cut-and-paste job, one that bullies space away from other writers without even being especially thoughtful. It says a lot that Dattaswami has chosen to demonstrate such negative character traits in the name of the true religion for which he claims to hold swami status.

There’s a contrast between what Dattaswami has done and what others have done using the diary system. Rather than cede the stage to this fakir’s song and dance, I thought I’d take the opportunity today to express appreciation to some diaries and diarists whose efforts I really appreciate. Perhaps I haven’t taken enough time to express that appreciation before now; now is the perfect time to do so.

The first diarist I’d like to single out for appreciation is Red Dave, whose ongoing Iraq Body Count series is a daily effort to keep count of what many people would like to forget — the toll of dead and injured in Iraq. Thanks, Red Dave, for ringing a reminder out loudly and persistently. His latest post, the Iraq Body count for October 25, 2007, is here.

Another shout-out goes to Scott. We haven’t heard from Scott lately, but he has a very thoughtful short series here in the diaries on religious thought. Thanks for provoking my thought, Scott. Scott’s latest diary was entitled Mocking God and was written on April 24, 2007.

I appreciate it when Damen posts news articles on topics that the main Irregular Times page might not be covering. It’s a digestion of what Damen considers critical, and although I’m hungry to hear more about what Damen thinks about these stories, I often find myself discovering something I didn’t know, and there’s a lot of value in that. Thanks, Damen.

I never know what to expect from Iroquois’ diary postings, and that’s a good thing. Iroquois is eclectic, particular, general, biting, forgiving, questioning, answering and always challenging. Thank you, Iroquois, for shoving my brain out in different directions whether I like it or not. Thanks for helping me to laugh. You can have the part of Antarctica I was saving for the icegoing cephalopod mutants.

A final round of thanks goes out to Frank Liberal, who I imagine with a brassy voice making Aunt Gertrude drop her silverware in embarrassment at Thanksgiving dinner. Frank’s not afraid to say what I’m not sure most of us are thinking, but which I imagine a lot of us come close to thinking. I’d never before thought about the curiosity of bottling plants going at full tilt in a time of drought. I should have.

These are only a few of the people whose words, for varying reasons, I find it really enjoyable to read here. You are the anti-Dattaswamis, and I wanted you to know (sniff! honk!) that I care. Cue the violins. Sweeping arpeggios!

October 26, 2007 - Firday

1671 days into the war

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 3838
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 28276

IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS
(MINIMUM): 75759
(MAXIMUM): 82542
(LANCET ESTIMATE) 600,000

COST OF THE WAR SO FAR (ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST MILLION): $463,194,000,000

Please note that the above figures, from the IBC website, are NOT estimates of total Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the US invasion and its aftermath. Rather, they are a count of Western-reported verifiable violent deaths, and likely to be a small percentage of the true figure. Les Roberts, author of the Lancet Report, believes the actual number may now be as high as 1,000,000.

RED DAVE

History of the human race, so far it is available, says that people always were in debate on religion. Because, always there were people who were denying the existence of God and hence rejecting the necessity of religion and others were claiming the existence of God or more than one god. On the other hand those who were trying to prove the existence of God were differing about definition of His existence and attributes. Even followers of one religion were differing each other regarding the same and more than that regarding religious injunctions. Sometimes we see that people of different religions debate regarding one or more particular religious injunctions of a religion. It is not a wise method. Rather we should try to solve basic differences. If we can solve those then solving subsidiary questions will become easy. The Standard or Criterion But before entering the debate we have to decide about the standard or criterion. This standard or criterion must be acceptable to all irrespective of religious faith and even to the atheists. Otherwise it will not be possible to reach a solution. We think, the only criterion that may be and should be acceptable to all, however to solve the basic queries of life, (not the queries related to expertise), is the reason. Now we have to serialize the questions according to logical preferences. When the first question is solved then we can enter the second one. Is the Truth Attainable? Now the first question: To us the first question that must be solved is that whether the truth or the reality is attainable or not. This question always existed throughout the history. Always there were some people who used to argue that truth or reality is not attainable. Their argument is like such: When we are asleep we dream, but in dream we can’t understand that it’s a dream; we think it true or real. Then wake up and can understand that it was not real. May be also our present life is like something like dream and after death we would understand that it is not true or real. Another one of their argument is that our senses are not reliable means of collecting information; sometimes we can clearly understand that those are giving us wrong information. For example, we see a plane in the sky as small as bird, but when it lands in the airport we see that it is a large thing. So we can not trust our eyes. Then if I put one of my hands into a buckets of water having 60 degree temperature and the other in a bucket of water having 30 degree temperature, then I put both of my hands at the same time into a third bucket of water having 45 degree temperature then one of my hands will inform me of hot water and the other will inform of cold water, though the temperature of the water is same. The solution: Beyond doubt that we can not attain the truth or reality regarding every phenomenon, but we can attain the truth or reality regarding many. For example, may be that the reality of my existence is as I feel or may be actually it is otherwise, but at any condition I can not doubt about my very existence. Because, I feel, I observe, I think, so I have existence (1). I have five senses and five physical organs, so those are true or real (2), though may be those are giving me all the wrong information or some wrong and some correct information. There are some external phenomenon (beyond my existence)(3), though may be those are as I observe or those are different than my observation. I sleep (4), I dream (5) and I awake (6) and I will die (7), I eat and drink (8), I talk and debate (9), I live (10); may be real nature of these phenomenon are different than that I observe, but I can not deny very reality of those. I have an analysis power in me (11) other than my physical senses that can analyze information collected by the senses and detect at least some the wrong information. If we proceed in this way we must find that we can attain the truth or reality regarding uncountable number of phenomenon, though there remain other uncountable number of phenomenon that we know nothing about those or our knowledge is fully or partly incorrect regarding those. Human experience says that through sincere effort with truth-seeking mind one can attain the truth or reality at least regarding basic queries of life that are not related to expertise. Is there any Creator? Now the second question: Is there any creator behind our existence? To reach the goal through a shortest possible way we should try to find the solution through philosophical argument based on reason: Any existence may be either essential or possible. A possible existence comes into existence when all the conditions of existence are fulfilled, otherwise not. All kinds of existence within the domain of our “experience” are possible existences which are depended upon causes and effects. The causes that brought a thing into existence are in fact effects of some other previous causes. Thus if we go back and back and back then we must reach to the starting point where there must be a cause or some causes which is or are not effect or effects of other causes. Or in other words there is no other cause or are no other causes before that. In other words, this cause is or these causes are the first cause or causes, or cause/ causes of all causes. Then this cause is or these causes are essential existence or existences which the followers of religions call God or gods. However, many material scientists tried to explain the beginning of the existence of material world, though it is not their subject, but it is beyond the jurisdiction of their experience and experiment. Previously in the name of science it was claimed that at the beginning there was motionless primary mater, then accidentally the motion was created and the process of change in the matter started. Recently Stephen Hockings claimed that the creation started from the primary particle. But none of these theories told us wherefrom did that motionless primary matter or the primary particle come? If there would be nothing before that how did it get its existence? Then who created motion in the primary matter or explosion within the primary particle? When the primary matter or the primary particle was void of cause and effect process or in other words natural rules wherefrom it came? The strange and mysterious collection of causes and effects or natural laws transformed this complex world; who or what did form those laws? Can those come into existence accidentally? The natural rules are many time more complex than the rules conducting a super computer; but also the rules conducting the super computer are part of the natural rules of the world; scientists only discovered and utilized those. Yet the super computer has come into existence after hundred year’s restless efforts of dozens of top-ranking scientists, not accidentally. Then how can these natural rules come into existence accidentally? Moreover, what does the accident means? Does it mean that something may happen without any cause? Only ignorant people may believe it? We face accident due to our lack of previous knowledge about a happening, but no accident is void of cause or causes. When there was no cause and effect process or natural rule then how accident may occur in the primary matter or primary particle? So any reasonable human being must accept that the beginning of the creation started by a willful and conscious essential existence or an Everlasting Great Scientist, whatever may you name Him, Allah, God, Jehovah, Ishwar or any other name. Oneness of the Essential Existence Now the third question: Can such essential existence or the primary source of all existences be more than one? The reply of the reason is negative. Because for being essential existence and primary source of all existences that existence must be everlasting, all-knowing, all-powerful, willful, sovereign, free of any need or imperfectness and beyond time, space, change, division or analysis. So He must be void of equals, partners, helpers, spouse or and children. We need those due to our weakness and imperfectness; the essential existence must be free of those weakness and needs. If there would be more than one perfect and sovereign essential existence then all the creations would be destroyed. Because, we know that having two sovereign kings in a kingdom and their peaceful coexistence is impossible. (However, may be two persons termed as ‘king’ may coexist in one kingdom under constitutional bindings, but it is quite clear that none of them is sovereign beyond constitutional bindings.) So it is beyond doubt that the essential existence is essentially one. Let us discuss about this subject with sincere and truth-seeking mind and arguments based on reason. Then we can discuss regarding attributes of the Essential Existence.

Spiritual Knowledge – Human & Divine Governments:

It is the duty of the human government to propagate the spiritual knowledge in the public starting from a child, which alone can control the sins like robbing the money of others, corruption, nepotism etc. The blind liking for family members, relatives, caste, religion, sex, and nationality are responsible for various present social problems. The blind love to the family members is responsible for stealing the wealth of others and corruption. The blind love for the relatives is responsible for the nepotism. The blind love for the caste and sex is responsible for electing the undeserving people into the government. The blind love for religion is responsible for criticizing the other religions and sometimes killing the people of other religions in mass. The blind love for the nation is responsible for the wars in the National boundaries. If one realizes the spiritual knowledge and finds that all the living beings are like brothers and sisters only and that one God alone is the divine father and that all this Earth is one nation under the rule of the God, all these problems vanish. Krishna was just witnessing the mutual killing of his relatives in which even his sons and grandsons were killed. He protected the Pandavas from the brutal killing by Asvatthama though they were not his sons and grandsons. His protection was based on their merit. He made the son of Sandeepani alive though he was not of His caste. He did not give life to Abhimanyu who was his own nephew. He gave immense wealth to Sudama who is not related to Him and does not belong to His caste. He took away all the wealth and killed Duryodhana though he was his relative. The favour of the Lord was based on merit and the punishment was based on the crime only. All the above bonds were unreal and dramatic in His eyes

I repeat again and again that the government should take all the efforts to propagate the spiritual knowledge at every level and in every corner. Any activity in the public office should be done in the divine atmosphere. All the places of public activities must be converted into temples. If secularism is followed, let the temples have statues of all religions. Every citizen should feel that the omnipresent and omnipotent Lord watches his or her activity. If funds are required to propagate such spiritual knowledge, let the funds of the temples be used for such propagation. The temple funds should be spent for such purpose to bring the constant awareness of the Lord and His all-pervading power that controls each and every activity of the creation. Such programs can be done only under the headship of the religious saints who are well aware of the spiritual knowledge. The officials of the government cannot effectively do such program unless they are well-versed scholars of spiritual knowledge (Jnaninah tattvadarsinah— Gita) (Brahmanah sammarsimah—Veda). The government officials without any spiritual knowledge will use the funds for public facilities, which should be done only by the revenue collected. The money of God should be spent only for bringing the awareness of God and His rule everywhere. The funds are meant for the propagation of spiritual knowledge and devotion. Any misuse for other than this divine purpose is the greatest sin and the Lord will punish the government. Religious priests manage the funds of the Vatican church and the government is not putting its finger in it. They are managed for propagating the spiritual knowledge and devotion. By this the Lord is pleased and the western countries are blessed with all comforts. India should learn this aspect from the west.

When the government is forgetting its duty to propagate the spiritual knowledge and devotion, the responsibility false finally on the underline ultimate government for which the Lord is the head. Therefore the Lord comes down in human form to propagate this spiritual knowledge and devotion. The Lord also collects some tax from you for His mission. He has already given some facilities like human birth, longevity, health, wealth etc. The human government is collecting the tax without caring for your problems. But the Lord asks for the tax from all of you, which is the time, energy or work and money, which you are wasting in illusory entertainments. You can do the sacrifice of your work (karma sanyasa) or sacrifice of fruit of work (karma phalatyaga) or both according to your convenience. The liberated souls sacrifice fully, which is impossible for all and such liberated souls are blessed by the Lord to be His constant associates, which is the permanent result. The former case is Pravrutti and the latter case is Nivrutti. One should keep Nivrutti as ultimate aim. Pravrutti is like scoring the pass mark in the examination. Nivrutti is like achieving the rare gold medal from the university. The teacher who aims that all the students should at least pass should not advice the pass marks as the goal. He will advise the achievement of the gold medal as the goal of every student. Lord Krishna was such excellent teacher who taught about Nivrutti only throughout Gita. In the beginning of the Gita Lord Krishna stated that he came to establish justice or Pravrutti on this earth (Dharma samstapanarthaya—Gita). This is like a teacher stating that his aim is to see that all the students in his section should pass the examination. In that case the teacher should stress on the pass and similarly Krishna should have stressed on the path of justice. Had Krishna done this, Gita should have become another scripture of ethics like Manu Smruti containing all the rules of justice like a legal constitution. But Krishna emphasised on the path of salvation from the worldly bonds and devotion to the Lord (Nivrutti) for achieving the establishment of justice (Pravrutti).

The teacher is fixing the achievement of gold medal to every student so that every student by putting such hectic effort will at least pass. If you put pass mark as the goal, then every student puts least effort and may fail. If the destruction of bonds is put as the goal at least the bonds will become weak. This is the excellent tactic of Lord Krishna in putting the higher goal to achieve the lower goal. In Bible, Jesus also adopted this tactic and He desired that His dearest disciple should hate the family bonds including the bond with his life. Hating means that one should see his family members as his enemies. When such extreme goal is fixed at least the blind attraction in the family bonds is reduced. In fact these family members were really your enemies in your previous birth. Since you have robbed their wealth, they have come to you to get back their money with interest. This principle of justice is forcing you to earn the money and by such force, you are doing the sins and get punished. When you rob the wealth of somebody by force, you have to not only pay it with interest but also should be punished. Thus your blind love on your family members is responsible for your sins and the consequent punishment.

Mohammed does not mention Nivrutti in his scripture because He claimed himself as messenger of God only. Nivrutti means loving and serving the Lord in person. For that God in human form is essential. But Islam believes only formless God and therefore it is not possible to love and serve the God directly. Therefore the path of Nivrutti has no place in Islam. Pravrutti itself pleases the Lord and such pleasing the Lord is ultimate in Islam. In Hinduism, Christianity and Islam the ultimate enquiry and the punishment of sinner in the hell are common aspects. Gita introduces the teacher and fixes the gold medal as the ultimate goal for achieving at least a total pass. Bible mentions the existence of teacher in the class and explains both the goals (passing and gold medal) separately. Quran also introduces the teacher to the class but shows the single goal of passing the examination. The scripture of Buddhism does not introduce the teacher and emphasizes on passing the examination and to pass the examination by self-reading. But the Buddhists must realize that the teacher is Buddha Himself, since they surrender to Buddha (‘Buddham sharanam”). The scripture of Jainism is similar to the scripture of Buddhism but the Jains should know that the teacher is Mahavir Jain Himself. The Jains also salute the liberated souls who are the top devotees. God pervades all over the human body in the case of Human Incarnation. But God dwells in the hearts of top devotees also and thus salutations to liberated souls are salutations to the Lord. All these are Human Incarnations and are represented by the word Teacher here.

Spiritual Knowledge – Human & Divine Governments:

It is the duty of the human government to propagate the spiritual knowledge in the public starting from a child, which alone can control the sins like robbing the money of others, corruption, nepotism etc. The blind liking for family members, relatives, caste, religion, sex, and nationality are responsible for various present social problems. The blind love to the family members is responsible for stealing the wealth of others and corruption. The blind love for the relatives is responsible for the nepotism. The blind love for the caste and sex is responsible for electing the undeserving people into the government. The blind love for religion is responsible for criticizing the other religions and sometimes killing the people of other religions in mass. The blind love for the nation is responsible for the wars in the National boundaries. If one realizes the spiritual knowledge and finds that all the living beings are like brothers and sisters only and that one God alone is the divine father and that all this Earth is one nation under the rule of the God, all these problems vanish. Krishna was just witnessing the mutual killing of his relatives in which even his sons and grandsons were killed. He protected the Pandavas from the brutal killing by Asvatthama though they were not his sons and grandsons. His protection was based on their merit. He made the son of Sandeepani alive though he was not of His caste. He did not give life to Abhimanyu who was his own nephew. He gave immense wealth to Sudama who is not related to Him and does not belong to His caste. He took away all the wealth and killed Duryodhana though he was his relative. The favour of the Lord was based on merit and the punishment was based on the crime only. All the above bonds were unreal and dramatic in His eyes

I repeat again and again that the government should take all the efforts to propagate the spiritual knowledge at every level and in every corner. Any activity in the public office should be done in the divine atmosphere. All the places of public activities must be converted into temples. If secularism is followed, let the temples have statues of all religions. Every citizen should feel that the omnipresent and omnipotent Lord watches his or her activity. If funds are required to propagate such spiritual knowledge, let the funds of the temples be used for such propagation. The temple funds should be spent for such purpose to bring the constant awareness of the Lord and His all-pervading power that controls each and every activity of the creation. Such programs can be done only under the headship of the religious saints who are well aware of the spiritual knowledge. The officials of the government cannot effectively do such program unless they are well-versed scholars of spiritual knowledge (Jnaninah tattvadarsinah— Gita) (Brahmanah sammarsimah—Veda). The government officials without any spiritual knowledge will use the funds for public facilities, which should be done only by the revenue collected. The money of God should be spent only for bringing the awareness of God and His rule everywhere. The funds are meant for the propagation of spiritual knowledge and devotion. Any misuse for other than this divine purpose is the greatest sin and the Lord will punish the government. Religious priests manage the funds of the Vatican church and the government is not putting its finger in it. They are managed for propagating the spiritual knowledge and devotion. By this the Lord is pleased and the western countries are blessed with all comforts. India should learn this aspect from the west.

When the government is forgetting its duty to propagate the spiritual knowledge and devotion, the responsibility false finally on the underline ultimate government for which the Lord is the head. Therefore the Lord comes down in human form to propagate this spiritual knowledge and devotion. The Lord also collects some tax from you for His mission. He has already given some facilities like human birth, longevity, health, wealth etc. The human government is collecting the tax without caring for your problems. But the Lord asks for the tax from all of you, which is the time, energy or work and money, which you are wasting in illusory entertainments. You can do the sacrifice of your work (karma sanyasa) or sacrifice of fruit of work (karma phalatyaga) or both according to your convenience. The liberated souls sacrifice fully, which is impossible for all and such liberated souls are blessed by the Lord to be His constant associates, which is the permanent result. The former case is Pravrutti and the latter case is Nivrutti. One should keep Nivrutti as ultimate aim. Pravrutti is like scoring the pass mark in the examination. Nivrutti is like achieving the rare gold medal from the university. The teacher who aims that all the students should at least pass should not advice the pass marks as the goal. He will advise the achievement of the gold medal as the goal of every student. Lord Krishna was such excellent teacher who taught about Nivrutti only throughout Gita. In the beginning of the Gita Lord Krishna stated that he came to establish justice or Pravrutti on this earth (Dharma samstapanarthaya—Gita). This is like a teacher stating that his aim is to see that all the students in his section should pass the examination. In that case the teacher should stress on the pass and similarly Krishna should have stressed on the path of justice. Had Krishna done this, Gita should have become another scripture of ethics like Manu Smruti containing all the rules of justice like a legal constitution. But Krishna emphasised on the path of salvation from the worldly bonds and devotion to the Lord (Nivrutti) for achieving the establishment of justice (Pravrutti).

The teacher is fixing the achievement of gold medal to every student so that every student by putting such hectic effort will at least pass. If you put pass mark as the goal, then every student puts least effort and may fail. If the destruction of bonds is put as the goal at least the bonds will become weak. This is the excellent tactic of Lord Krishna in putting the higher goal to achieve the lower goal. In Bible, Jesus also adopted this tactic and He desired that His dearest disciple should hate the family bonds including the bond with his life. Hating means that one should see his family members as his enemies. When such extreme goal is fixed at least the blind attraction in the family bonds is reduced. In fact these family members were really your enemies in your previous birth. Since you have robbed their wealth, they have come to you to get back their money with interest. This principle of justice is forcing you to earn the money and by such force, you are doing the sins and get punished. When you rob the wealth of somebody by force, you have to not only pay it with interest but also should be punished. Thus your blind love on your family members is responsible for your sins and the consequent punishment.

Mohammed does not mention Nivrutti in his scripture because He claimed himself as messenger of God only. Nivrutti means loving and serving the Lord in person. For that God in human form is essential. But Islam believes only formless God and therefore it is not possible to love and serve the God directly. Therefore the path of Nivrutti has no place in Islam. Pravrutti itself pleases the Lord and such pleasing the Lord is ultimate in Islam. In Hinduism, Christianity and Islam the ultimate enquiry and the punishment of sinner in the hell are common aspects. Gita introduces the teacher and fixes the gold medal as the ultimate goal for achieving at least a total pass. Bible mentions the existence of teacher in the class and explains both the goals (passing and gold medal) separately. Quran also introduces the teacher to the class but shows the single goal of passing the examination. The scripture of Buddhism does not introduce the teacher and emphasizes on passing the examination and to pass the examination by self-reading. But the Buddhists must realize that the teacher is Buddha Himself, since they surrender to Buddha (‘Buddham sharanam”). The scripture of Jainism is similar to the scripture of Buddhism but the Jains should know that the teacher is Mahavir Jain Himself. The Jains also salute the liberated souls who are the top devotees. God pervades all over the human body in the case of Human Incarnation. But God dwells in the hearts of top devotees also and thus salutations to liberated souls are salutations to the Lord. All these are Human Incarnations and are represented by the word Teacher here.

Rejection of Incarnation – Same Cinema

In Christianity Jesus is called as Emmanuel, which means that God comes down from heaven to live with us. Only a human form can live with us and guide us through knowledge. The Popes at that time also did not believe Jesus as God or atleast as Son of God or even as messenger of the God. They did not like the God to be introduced in human being as you say now. They believed only the dead messengers and not Jesus, who was the then messenger. The same logic applies today also. You believe the messenger who does not exist now. You do not believe the messenger who now exists before your eyes. Jesus told that He would come again. It means that the same human incarnation will come again and the same story repeats. The same Jesus is present today and the same people who were blind with egoism and jealousy are present again today. Therefore, I say, the history repeats.

As Jesus was insulted, then, today also the egoistic and jealous people will insult Jesus. Jesus will come in every human generation to give His direct contact. Otherwise, God Jesus becomes partial, because He gave direct contact to one generation only and not to the other generations. He clarified the doubts of one generation only through His direct voice and now He allows the immature human devotees to answer the doubts directly in the other human generations. He provided the fortune of touching His feet in one generation only and other generations are deprived of that fortune. This makes Jesus totally partial and you say that God is impartial. All the religions also say the same. How can you justify this important statement that God is impartial? Therefore, we have accepted that God is coming in human form like Jesus in every human generation. To avoid answer to this, you are saying that reasoning should be avoided. When reasoning is discarded, you need not answer any question. Whatever you say that must be the truth. You are rigid without any logic and this is the blind conservatism. This cancer is present in every religion and humanity is always is divided by this cancer. You are opposing the unity of humanity and want to disturb the world peace. God will not tolerate you, and you will be thrown in to permanent hell for misleading the ignorant people.

If you see Bible, Jesus gives reason everywhere in His concepts. For every statement He gives the reason. When the priests asked Him that He should not have saved the animal, which has fallen in the pit on the festival day, He gave the reason for His effort to save that animal. He analyzed the Old Testament and gave logical interpretations. He did not mind to cut some irrational blind statements present in the Old Testament, by giving rational modifications. He has fulfilled His duty to be the true guide of the humanity. Whenever He leaves the world these rigid people twist and pollute the meanings of scriptures. To rectify He comes again and again. When the teacher leaves for a few minutes the class becomes undisciplined. The teacher comes to the class again and again. For teaching, the human form is essential.

A statue cannot teach you. If you think Him formless, He is not speaking to you from the sky or space or air. The human body is most convenient medium for the human beings to hear preaching of the God. The main goal of God is to preach the human beings and correct them to put in the right spiritual path. For beginners, He does some miracles as signs for His presence in the human body. The realized souls will detect Him even without those signs. Sheep see the shepherd and come near by recognizing him with eyes. Some milder sheep come near by hearing his voice, which is a miracle. The mildest sheep try to go away and are punished by the stick of shepherd, which is nothing but permanent hell.

Therefore, if you keep Jesus in the place of the present human incarnation and place the same blind priests in the place of present blind followers, you can understand the truth because the same story and the same cinema is repeated with different actors having different names. This is the best way of understanding the truth. Those priests also opposed Jesus, when He argued with wonderful reason. The duty of the teacher finishes by teaching clearly to the class. It is up to the student to grasp it and pass or twist it and fail following the sweet emotional advises of bad blind friends. The Lord is not worried about the percentage of pass because there is no fault in His teaching. He should not be blamed for the pass or failure of the students. A student himself is to be blamed.

When the messenger comes to the earth, he delivers his duty so that the God is pleased with him in the upper world. He is not bothered about the fame in this world or the number of followers. God will not find fault with the messenger if the human beings did not pass. He finds fault with the messenger if the message is not properly delivered. Jesus never bothered about propagation of His knowledge. His aim was only to sit on the right side of His pleased Father after doing the duty assigned by Him. He never cared even if the people rejected, insulted and even crucified Him. His aim was God but not the world.

Can you convince the logic of atheists in your spiritual explanations?

The logic of atheists is based on perception (Pratyaksha Pramana), which was propagated by the sage Charvaka. Perception means the knowledge derived from the observation with the naked eyes. Infact in the logic (Tarka Sastra) all the means of knowledge are based on perception only. In the inference (Anumana) also, the fire on the hill is inferred by its smoke. But the relationship between the fire and smoke is perceived with the naked eyes only. Similarly other means of knowledge are also based on the perception only. Thus Charvaka forms the basic of the entire logic and without logic there is no knowledge. The statement that the God is above logic must be proved only by perception. The divine miracles performed by the human form of Lord prove that there is a power above the logic. These miracles are seen by the naked eyes. The atheists must be allowed to prove whether the miracles are simply magic tricks. When they cannot prove, they must accept the existence of super power above the logic. If they do not accept this they are contradicting their own basis, which is the perception. The divine miracles are experienced by the devotees and the experience cannot be contradicted. If the experience is contradicted, the experience of the atheists is also contradicted. Therefore atheists must be open-minded and should not be conservative. If they are conservative they have no right to criticize the religious conservatism.

The theory of Vedas and Bhagavath Gita never contradicts the perception and therefore the logic of atheists becomes the basis of the spiritual knowledge. The Lord comes in human form and this human form is perceived by the naked eyes. Even the miracles performed by demons establish the existence of super power. Therefore to convince the atheists the miracles of the Lord are not necessary. When they are convinced about the existence of the Super power (Maya), the possessor of the Super Power, the Lord, coming in human form must be also accepted because the form is seen by the naked eyes. The salvation is breakage of the bonds in this world. Since the bonds of this world exist based on the perception, the salvation is also existing based on the perception. Since the family members and the money are perceived by the eyes, the bonds with them are also perceived. Thus the salvation (Moksha) must be accepted by the atheists. A single bond with the human form of the Lord is called ‘Saayujya’ or ‘Kaivalya’.

Since the human form is perceived, Sayujya or Kaivalya is also perceived and must be accepted by the atheists. The Bliss is derived by the devotee from the divine knowledge of the human form of the Lord. Therefore the Bliss is also true according to atheists. Thus the goal, the means to please the Lord (Sadhana) and the fruit of Sadhana (Moksha and Kaivalya) are perceived and exist in this world itself. Veda says ‘Yat Saakshat Aparokshaat’, ‘Pratyagatmana Maikshat’ which mean that the Lord in human form is perceived by the naked eyes. Veda also says ‘Ihachet Avedeet’, which means that everything is true as seen in this world itself. This is called ‘Jeevanmukthi’, which means attaining the salvation while one is alive and not after death. The salvation after the death is not true because that has no basis of perception. Thus if the atheists are little bit patient and leave their aggressive nature of criticism, they are best fitted in the true spiritual knowledge of Vedas. In fact Swami Vidyaranya included the philosophy of Charvaka in his book as one of the logical philosophies (Darsanaas).

Comparison of Philosophy & Science:

Philosophy, which is the spiritual knowledge, travels in one direction in the circle of research. Science, which is the physical knowledge, travels in the opposite direction in the same circle of research. A Philosopher or a Scientist should travel extensively, so that they will meet at the same point in the circle. If they are in the middle of their journey only, they will be opposite to each other and therefore, will fight with each other. The Philosopher says that God is beyond this world and He is inexplicable. The Scientist says that this world itself is God and accepts the inexplicable points in the nature. The Philosopher says that God pervades all over the world. The Scientist accepts the inexplicable nature of the world, though some concepts of the world are explicable. When God is inexplicable, the very characteristic nature of the God is only inexplicability. Philosopher calls the explicability as the creation and the inexplicability as God. The explicable part is agreed by both philosopher and scientist. The inexplicable part of the world is also accepted by both. This inexplicability is called as God by the Philosopher and the Scientist calls the same as inexplicability. The Scientist says that there is wire and heat in a hot wire. The Philosopher says that the fire and the wire are co-existing. The only difference is in words. The Scientist calls heat and the Philosopher calls the heat as fire. The wire is the explicable part of the world, which is agreed by all. A Scientist calls the other inexplicable part as a property by calling it as heat. The Philosopher calls the same as the possessor of the property i.e., fire. The intensive heat is fire.

Thus the possessor of a property and the property are one and the same. The Scientist says the independent existence of the inexplicable power as an independent existence of a field of energy. The Philosopher says that there is a substratum of that field of energy, which is called as God and which, is not perceived so far. The Scientist accepts that they have to go still deeper. The Philosopher infers the existence of the substratum in such a deeper state. The argument of the Philosopher is that power cannot independently exist and needs a possessor. Suppose the Sun is not seen due to overlapping cloud, it should not be concluded that the light transmitting through the cloud is independently existing power. The Scientist may see the Sun in future after piercing through the cloud. So, where is the difference or quarrel between a matured Philosopher and a matured Scientist?

The inference of the Philosopher is based on the perception of a similar concept existing in the explicable part of the world. The Scientist does not believe this because it is not a perception of the direct concept. Both have not seen the Sun. Both accept the perception of light. Both accept that their search and research has not reached the end. At this stage the Philosopher infers the Sun, whereas the Scientist does not infer the Sun but still accepts that the final truth is still to be achieved after piercing through the cloud of ignorance. At this point the support for the Philosopher is the Human Incarnation, which preaches the existence of such substratum. If the Scientist accepts the alternative genuine path of the miracles, the human incarnation definitely becomes the final authority about the existence of the possessor of such inexplicable power. If the Scientist has patience to reach the bottom most end, he will become a spiritual philosopher. An impatient Scientist existing in some middle place of the path becomes the atheist.

Why Lord Datta is becoming famous in these days?

In the previous ages the people were with high spiritual standard. There was no much need preaching the divine knowledge. Even if there was a small necessity, the servants and disciples of Lord Datta used to come as human incarnation. They could solve the minor problems and used to leave the world. But today the situation is completely different. The spiritual standard has fallen. Generally, when the standard falls the people become ignorant. It is easy to teach the ignorant person and a scholar. Therefore in the present situation, if the people were simply ignorant, it would have been very easy to preach them. But today the spiritual standard is less and the people have become very very intelligent.

The meaning of Veda is twisted to suit their convenience. At the same time they want the highest result. For Ex: Geeta says that the fruit of the work should be sacrifice (Karmajam Bhudhi Yuktahi Phalam Tyaktva) and says further that if one sacrifices the desire for the fruit of the work, he can easily sacrifice the fruit of the work. The reason for not sacrificing the fruit of the work was found to be the one desiring for the fruit of the work. Therefore desire for the fruit of the work is to be sacrificed so that one can sacrifice the fruit of the work easily. But the people have taken the essence of Geeta as the sacrifice of the desire of the fruit of the work and not the sacrifice of the fruit of the work. Thus Geeta is misinterpreted and the sacrifice of fruit of work is buried because it is not convenient due to their love on their families and greediness. One sacrifices the desire for the fruit of the work and enjoys the fruit of the work. He says that he will get salvation because he followed Geeta. Similarly Veda says that one can attain by the salvation by the sacrifice of money (Dhanena Tyagena). But people have introduced the word ‘na’ which means no before the word ‘Dhanena’.

Veda is twisted and a wrong meaning is extracted like this: One cannot attain the Lord by earning, enjoying and sacrifice of money. This led to the inaction. People have become lazy and do not work to earn the money. They started depending on others claiming themselves as saints. Like this real meaning of Veda was twisted in a wrong path was established. People have become very talented in creating such twisted meanings. Thus in Kaliyuga people are not ignorant, but they have become over intelligent. The development of science also made them to analyze the spiritual concepts with opposing tendency. Scientists have become atheists forgetting that science is also a divine knowledge given by the Lord called as ‘Pravrutti’. Under such circumstances nobody else than the Lord Datta can clear the situation. The ‘Satguru’ Himself has to come down who is the Lord in the human form. This is the reason why Lord Datta Himself started coming down to this world in human form in the present age.

Only Love

When you cut all your bonds of love on all the things and on all the people in this world, it is called ‘Vairaagyam’. But this stage is not sufficient. The reason for this stage should be the love formed on the Lord. Due to this new bond on the Lord, all the old bonds must be cut. If the new bond does not exist and simply the old bonds are cut, that is only salvation. A stone is also having salvation because it does not have any bond on any thing or any body in this world.

If one leaves the family and the house by taking Sanyasa, all that is a waste, if he has not taken the Sanyasa for the sake of the Lord. The new bond with the Lord (Bhakthi) should be the reason for the detachment from all the other bonds (Vairaagyam). Only Vairaagyam is useless without Bhakthi. If Bhakthi is achieved, Variraagyam is automatic. There is no need of any effort for attaining the Vairaagyam. If you have tasted the divine nectar (Amrutham), you will automatically discard the other drinks. Without tasting the divine nectar, you cannot leave the drinks. Even if you leave the drinks without tasting the divine nectar, you will go to the drinks after some time with very high vigor. Therefore Vairaagyam without Bhakthi is not only waste but is also impossible. Just see this example. A young man loved a girl for the past one month. The parents are not agreeing for the marriage. But the young man cuts all his bonds, which were developed, with his parents for the past twenty-five years due to this one-month-old new bond! The million births old bonds are cut by a single new bond developed with the Lord in human form in this birth.

Swami Vivekananda could cut all the family bonds for the sake of the divine work of His Satguru (Rama Krishan Paramahamsa). Similarly Gopikas could cut all the family bonds for the sake of the Lord in human form (Krishna). A small atom bomb can destroy huge mountains. Narada wrote that one should love the Lord as a lover loves his or her darling (Jaara Vatcha). He also gave the example of Gopikas in the next Sutra (Yathaa Vraja Gopikanaam). Such love involves t