A little Portuguese

Sonnets from the Portuguese - Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

 

I	I thought once how Theocritus had sung
II	But only three in all God's universe
III	Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
IV	Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor
V	I lift my heavy heart up solemnly
VI	Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
VII	The face of all the world is changed, I think
VIII	What can I give thee back, O liberal
IX	Can it be right to give what I can give?
X	Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
XI	And therefore if to love can be desert
XII	Indeed this very love which is my boast
XIII	And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
XIV	If thou must love me, let it be for nought
XV	Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
XVI	And yet, because thou overcomest so
XVII	My poet thou canst touch on all the notes
XVIII	I never gave a lock of hair away
XIX	The soul's Rialto hath its merchandize
XX	Beloved, my beloved, when I think
XXI	Say over again, and yet once over again
XXII	When our two souls stand up erect and strong
XXIII	Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead
XXIV	Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife
XXV	A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne
XXVI	I lived with visions for my company
XXVII	My own Beloved, who hast lifted me
XXVIII	My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
XXIX	I think of thee!—my thoughts do twine and bud
XXX	I see thine image through my tears to-night
XXXI	Thou comest! all is said without a word
XXXII	The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
XXXIII	Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
XXXIV	With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee
XXXV	If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
XXXVI	When we met first and loved, I did not build
XXXVII	Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make
XXXVIII	First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
XXXIX	Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace
XL	Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
XLI	I thank all who have loved me in their hearts
XLII	My future will not copy fair my past
XLIII	How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
XLIV	Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowe

Some of my favorite poems

From my favorite poet... (sometimes)  

 

http://lovepoems.yu-hu.com/cummings/ee_cummings_poems.shtml

 

)when what hugs stopping earth than silent is

all ignorance toboggans into know

All in green went my love riding

along the brittle treacherous bright streets

because i love you)last night

because it's

being to timelessness as it's to time,

i am so glad and very

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

i go to this window

i have found what you are like

i like my body when it is with your

i love you much(most beautiful darling)

if everything happens that can't be done

If I have made, my lady, intricate

if I believe

if i love You

if strangers meet

in spite of everything

it is at moments after i have dreamed

it may not always be so;and i say

if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have

lily has a rose

love is a place

love is the every only god

Marianne Moore

may my heart

my father moved through dooms of love

my love

my love is building a building

my sweet old etc

nothing false and possible is love

Of Nicolette

one's not half two. It's two are halves of one:

since feeling is first

somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond

speaking of love(of

supposing i dreamed this)

Thy fingers make early flowers

true lovers in each happening of their hearts

unto thee i

when faces called flowers float out of the ground

Where's Madge then,

who knows if the moon's

yes is a pleasant country:

you being in love

you said Is

you shall above all things be glad and young

And some analysis:

http://lovepoems.yu-hu.com/cummings/reading_ee_cummings.shtml

 

Sex, Law and the City: Right to know who visits a ho

Now this is a pity: Judge Orders Lid On Phone Records. The phone records in question are from a ho house in Washington DC. The public has a right to know who was getting hisself some on the side, doesn't it? And even if we don't have the right, at least we have the desire, right?

 

It says:

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman accused of being the D.C. madam, can't release any more phone records that would reveal patrons of her Washington escort service, a federal judge said yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler placed a temporary restraining order on Palfrey and her civil attorney, prohibiting them from sharing additional phone records with news organizations or the public.

Palfrey has said that she regretted any embarrassment felt by her former customers but that she was letting a news organization mine her records so she could find potential defense witnesses and fight government charges that she ran an illegal prostitution ring. Palfrey said her escorts provided legal massages and fantasies.

Right. A woman is innocent until proven guilty.....

ABC News reporters' calls to possible customers last month ultimately led Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias to resign after he acknowledged using Palfrey's escort service. Tobias said he got a massage, not sex.

A positive development. Anyone who went to that sort of outfit and only got a massage is too much of a sucker to work for the government. No wonder US foreign policy looks the way it does. Putin would never settle for just a massage, and if he did, he wouldn't be dumb enough to admit it.

 

S. Sharer

Coming out of the closet - rights for everyone

I am always afraid to write about Atheism, because it will alienate people, and because I learned long ago that it will not change many opinions, and because somewhere inside me there must be a little something that warns about the lightning bolt that will strike me down, :-)

 

Data show that the percentage of Atheists or Agnostics in many countries is substantial - up to 65% in Japan, 31-44% in Britain, up to 9% in the USA. Probably about 20% overall.

 

That is a big non-religion, perhaps as big as Catholicism and Islam, and certainly bigger than Judaism or many Protestant sects, at least in industrialzed countries, yet we are not heard from.

 

Every cause now claims legitimacy, including suicide bombers and pedophiles. Isn't it time we came out of the closet?

 

S. Sharer

---

Hundreds of Proofs of God's Existence
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm

 

 

History and Development of Science and Scientific Naturalism

http://www.godlessgeeks.com/WhyAtheism.htm

 

Excerpts:

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurean  summed it up well when he wrote these ideas:

Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can and does not want to.
If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent.
If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked.
If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?

......

Many religious people ask how Atheists can be happy without God.  For me and for many Atheists I know, the realization of our Atheism has been extremely freeing and has opened us to our own happiness.

Atheism helps us to see reality as it actually is, without the mental filters of superstition preventing us from directly experiencing it.

Atheism opens us to experience our selves, without the debasing idea that we are innately sinful.

Atheism allows us to experience true interpersonal love, without any imaginary supernatural intervention.

Atheism gives us the freedom to think for ourselves, to construct our own meanings.  We each can choose what we think has value.

Atheism shows us that we can gain meaning by seeking to make our world a better place, for ourselves and our posterity.

Atheism teaches us to take responsibility for our behaviors in the here and now, not in an imaginary afterlife.

Atheism lets us see that we have to make choices about our future.  No big daddy god is going to protect us from bad decisions.

Atheism teaches us to treasure this moment, this life, and this world ― because we realize that it's all we have.

Atheism also can work well for free societies.  Free nations with high levels of Atheism ― such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and Japan ― are among the healthiest, wealthiest, most educated, and most free societies on Earth.

Most Atheists are also Secular Humanists.  The philosophy of Secular Humanism takes the Atheist position and adds another layer.  It declares that humans are most important, not any imaginary gods.  We have the power, thru love, reason, science, courage, and vision, to solve our problems.  We shape our destiny.  We are each capable of personal development and satisfaction.  Humanism holds as its highest goal the happiness, fulfillment, and freedom of all humankind.

This has been a long and involved article, so I would like to conclude with letting you know the bad news ... and the good news.  The bad news is that there is no god to watch over and care for us.  The good news is that there is no hell, and we can all love and care for each other ― if we so choose.

Profound wisdom...

Profound wisdom...

 

An old Indian Chief sat in his hut on the reservation, smoking a ceremonial pipe and eyeing two U. S. Government officials sent to interview him.

"Chief Two Eagles," asked one official, "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."

The Chief nodded in agreement.

The official continued, "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where
did the white man go wrong?"

The Chief stared at the Government Officials for over a minute and then
calmly replied,

"When white man found the land, Indians were running it.

No taxes.

No debt.

Plenty buffalo.

Plenty beaver.

Women did all the work.

Medicine man free.

 

Indian man spent all day hunting and fishing.

 

All night having sex."

 

Then the Chief leaned back and smiled,

"Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."

 

Whores in Government?

Feds Seek To Gag D.C. Madam

Prosecutors fear leak of sensitive client, escort information

MARCH 7--Federal prosecutors want to gag an indicted former Washington, D.C. madam who has recently threatened to go public with details about her former customers. In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court, investigators are seeking a protective order covering discovery material to be provided to Deborah Palfrey and her lawyers. Palfrey, 50, was indicted last week on racketeering and money laundering charges stemming from her operation of the Pamela Martin & Associates escort service, which closed last summer after 13 years in business.

In their motion, a copy of which you'll find below, government lawyers claim that some discovery documents contain "personal information" about Palfrey's former johns and prostitutes that is "sensitive." The prosecution filing does not detail the nature of this confidential information, though the identity of Palfrey's D.C. customers would surely be cloaked if the protective order was signed by Judge Gladys Kessler.

Additional at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0307071palfrey1.html

Removing Evil Sprits: Mayan Priests To 'Purify' Bush Site

[Not a joke, apparently]

Mayan Priests To 'Purify' Bush Site
Sacred Site Will Be Cleansed After Pres. Bush Visit
 http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=bizarre&id=5105873

 

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - March 9, 2007 - Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

 

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

 

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites - which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles - would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.

 

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.

 

The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

 

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.

 

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)