And so I find myself attempting to continue that post of headlines of the day from long lore ago that I started posting from the other day from that stack of news clippings piled up in one of those folders that I wanted to get around to blah blogging about some day, if ever. And so again, I find myself blaghing the titles of those headline news with one or two sentences commentary instead of some really long commentary because, hey, it's less writing sometimes in my attempt to maintain content for this blog whenever possible:

1. DoubleClick to sell Web ads through online exchange. Something about DoubleCLick letting advertisers sell ads on the internet. Is that another one of those get rich internet quick things?
2. amNY.com readers speak out about a Connecticut town's proposal to van baggy pants: Something about young people wearing their pants below their butts, with a readers commentary of "Next time you will be telling us how we can comb out hair or the type of shoes we can wear.
3. Beloved 91-year old dies in a truck horror. An article about yet another casualty of the mean streets of New York that seem like they are designed for cars only and are not friendly towards pedestrians or cyclists. What would Times Up! and Transportation Alternatives have to say about this and making the streets of New York safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Enough of the ghost bikes already.
4. Van drags dead man 20 miles through city. From Queens to Corney Island, driver never noticed accident victim. Repeat commentary same as above number 3. And all too often, drivers of vehicles are never even given a traffic tickets for the casualty of its victims as roadkill. If only the streets of New York could be made more pedestrian and bicycle friendly as elsewhere throughout the country and Europe.
5. Read all about him. Obama-Mania! The English Lauguage Barackafied by the editors of Slate. An ad in the Daily newspaper about books that tell the president-elect's story. I must have found this article interesting for some reason or another as I have saved this clipping.
And again, this folder of saved articles finds itself too big for me to post at the moment and it seems to be passing my by as I hope to continue this list in another posting one day in my blogahoicness, if ever. Have a great headline news day.

    

And the topic of aging and growing older and wanting to be younger and twenty one forever may cross ones mind sometimes, maybe.  The idea that one can look young forever with some kind of product.  And so along comes the best wrinkle cream as one of those products to help one be twenty one forever, maybe. And if you happen to be looking for those best wrinkles for some reason or another, TopWrinkleCream.org, has them and that wrinkle cream information you may be looking for. With their website, finding that wrinkle cream review and more is just a website visit away.

    

Now this is an interesting one. The topic of human growth hormone. And that subject is such a new one to me that I am even wondering what that growth hormone is all about. And if  you happening to be wondering what this phrase is all about also, humangrowthhormone.org can tell you what it means, as I would assume that this phrase has something to do with a product that grows humans somehow, maybe. And at humangrowthhormone.org, you can find those HGH and other growth hormone supplements you may be looking for, as they are all growth hormone information, reviews and more all the time.

    

Hey Bloggers, and here it is again on this day another day of the Sun here on planet earth, that day of rest. (Okay, is actually Tuesday according to that computer clock in the lower right corner of this computer. It's just that this is yet another one of those posts from my other blog  that was written some time a while ago.....). And for some reason, I find myself blah blogging random thoughts on this blog a lot lately in an attempt to maintain content on this blog whenever possible for some reason or another. And so that bloggers block of what to write about, if anything arises. And so I find myself with this folder of all these news clippings From New York City Newspapers and beyond that I wanted to blah blog commentary on in my blogaholicness at some point in time. And instead of blaghing commentary about each of these articles, I thought to blagh those headlines and a sentence or two of commentary, because hey, it's less writings sometimes:

1. More people "going green". Something about safe alternative non toxic cleaning products.
2. Prevent H1N1 Influenza. Get vaccinated. This Weekend. Is that media hype and publicity campaigns to benefit the pharmaceutical companies, or is it real? War tactics on instilling fear gets votes.
3. H20hhhh, No You Don't! Something about natural gas drilling and causing toilets to explode.
4. Some store color advertisement with and ad for summer fun, water bombs and an image of a yellow and pink water gun. Innocent subliminal fun and guns are the worst invention ever.
5. Another Sunday paper advertisement from some sporting goods store with an advertisement for rifles, pistols and shotguns as hunting and outdoor equipment advertised next to gold clubs. Guns considered as a sport? The local paper mind you. And guns are the worst invention ever again. If only guns can be banished from every human being on planet earth.
6. Pols struggle to save mom-and pops. Something about rents get so high in the East Village of New York and elsewhere that even the yuppies can't even afford to pay the rent.
7. Big stink over Brooklyn plant. Odor could stunt growth in Greenpoint. Something about that Newton Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint that seems as if it wants to turn Greenpoint into a waste dump.
8. Tom's cruising ahead. Something about the actor Tom Cruise's film "Valkyrie" or Scientology being political and actually having a real message to say other than bubblegum. A seemingly rarity in Hollywood.
9. Pol: Houston Street medians are "tragedy waiting to happen". Something about pedestrians being killed just crossing the street in the City of New York and cars having the right of way even when pedestrians become road kill. Will those streets ever become bicycle friendly. Will those Department of Transportation and other traffic laws ever change to become safer and pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Too many white ghost bikes chained to those light poles around town already.
10. Prozac pacifies pets,too. Something about the big pharma pharmaceutical war industry drugging up the dogs and animals too. Even the animals are now exhibiting symptoms of depression. Will the water be next. Oh, I think I have read somewhere that the drinking water is even now full of psych drugs to. How does the insurance companies profit from that one? Will Nazi Germany and mass murderers in white coats ever end?
11. Multi 'million-dollar' blocks of Brownsville. The cost of incarceration vs. investment in community. Something about the inner city poor, people of color and minorities make up the majority of the prison population. A Rockefeller Law maybe. Not sure what to comment on this one except no one is free when others are oppressed.
12. Pol: Ditch plastic bags. In proposal large stores would have to use paper. This seemingly utopian would be great for the environment if it ever happened. I think it may have happened somewhere in Europe maybe, a more socially and environmentally conscious country.
13. Watching your steps. Council OKs cameras at dance club doors as part of nightlife safety crackdown. Another one of those big brother is watching you headlines. The loss of civil and human rights in the name of security.
14. Sundance comes to B'klyn. And I think that Sundance Film Festival may have came and went to Brooklyn by the time this post is finished. Though it may make its way around again.
15. China using Web to spy on enemies. Researchers: Computers turned "listening devices". I always seem to think China is that world economic superpower for some reason or another. Everything in the USA seems as if it in now made in China. Is everything in China made in the USA?

And this folder seems to still be stuffed with those articles that I thought I would get around to blah blogging about someday. To attempt to be continued another day, maybe. Have a great day of the Sun.

    

And the topic of colon cleansers is not one of those topics I find myself blogging about on this blog every so often. And for some reason or another, this posting happens to be about the website http://www.coloncleanserreview.net. And as far as I know, everyone seems to have one of those colons as human beings dwelling here on planet earth. And if you happen to be looking for colon cleanser products and reviews, ColonCleanserReview has them. They are a website where you can find that colon cleanser product or review you may be looking for as they are all colon cleansing all the time.

    

Hey bloggers, or whoever could be reading this blog.  And this posting happens to be about weight loss success stories. You know, stories about weight loss. And weight loss seems as if it has been one of those topics that has been around since the invention of food. And if you happen to be looking for weight loss success stories, you can find them at WeightLossStories.org. They are a website where you can read all the stories about weight loss supplements and more. With WeightLossStories.org, finding that weight loss information you may be looking for is just a website visit away.

    

School, college, education. We have all come across those words and have gone to school to learn something at some point in time as one of those human beings dwelling here on planet earth I think. And now with the invention of technology and seemingly internet everything, it is possible to go to school without ever having to leave home, or at least without ever having to leave a computer. And so welcome to the age of the online university. And if you happen to be looking for an online university, Western Governors University has one. They are a place where you can learn and earn a degree online. You can receive an online nursing degree as well as find programs for teachers, business, technology, health and more at their website. With Western Governors University, finding that online degree you may be looking for is just a website visit away.

    

And this is yet another one of those posts that was written on my other blog sometime a while ago.  It's just that this blog seems as if it wants to confuse me sometimes with it's Orwellian like truespeak with it's times, dates and histories in my attempt to maintain more than one blog whenever possible.....

Hey Bloggers, or whoever could be reading this blog. And in my web 2.0 social media user generated content blogaholicness, it is not so often that I find myself blah blogging the headlines. Okay, it is often. And this is one of those headlines of the day that I find myself blaghing with its titles and headlines as follows. And what commentary can I blog about this subject that has not already been said and is being said, I am not sure, as this seemingly communist, capitalist manifesto written afterwards seems to speak for itself:


"Man Crashes Plane Into Austin IRS Office .. Angry Suicide Note Posted",
"Small Plane Crashes Into I.R.S. Building in Texas",
"Suicidal Tax Protest: Joseph Stack Crashes Plane into IRS in Austin Texas",
"Joe Stack STATEMENT: Alleged Suicide Note From Austin Pilot Posted Online",
"The Manifesto Of Austin Texas Crash Pilot Joseph Andrew Stack",
"Joseph Stack Manifesto: Austin Plane Crash Pilot's Blog Text",
and a commentary...,"Isn't it obvious that Joe Stack was a Liberal? I mean if he was a Conservative he would have quoted Hitler....?",
and another commentary "How soon before Mr. Stack becomes the official Tea Party martyr?"

And for some reason that verse from the book, the bible seems to come to mind: "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows". 1 Timothy 6:10. And the Manifesto from the website Embedded Art, (Is that that art show in the name of security at the Akademie der Kunst in Berlin Germany, or is that something altogether different?...), that seems to be finding its way throughout internetland cyberworld on this day as follows. And the list of headlines goes on and on....

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
• “another person” is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
• “taxpayer” is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
• “individual”, “employee”, or “worker” is you.
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010

    

Well, this post isn't exactly about green tea that you drink, although it is about green tea diet pills. And I assume those are pills that have something to do with green tea. And if you happen to be looking for green tea diet pills or information about them, you can find them and all about them at GreenTeaDietPill.org. They are a website where you can find out what the best green tea diet pills are, the history of green tea supplements and diet pills and more. With GreenTeaDietPill.org, finding that green tea diet pill information has never been easier.

    

And this following is another one of those posts that was posted on my other blogsometime a while ago. And even though this event may have come to pass,  Haiti is still there...

And according to this weeks weekly mailing of Jeff Stark's Nonsense NYC list there is an event today as follows.

***** Also on WEDNESDAY *****

Art for Haiti NYC

Inlight of the current situation in Haiti, Art for Haiti cordiallyinvites you to attend a show and art auction to benefit Doctors WithoutBorders (Medecins Sans Frontieres/MSF) Haiti relief. Through theefforts of MSF, we can directly and positively affect human lives onthe ground. 100 percent of the funds will go directly to DoctorsWithout Borders.

Art work available by: Melanie Baker, JesseBercowetz, Louise Bourgeois, Kate Gilmore, Taylor McKimens, TomOtterness, Judith Page, Dread Scott, Andy Warhol, and many, many more.

601 West 26th Street, at 11th Avenue, 8th floor, Manhattan
7pdoors, 8:30p auction; $free, accepting cash, check, or credit (allchecks should be made out and credit cards will be charged to DoctorsWithout Borders)

infoartforhaitinyc.com
artforhaitinyc.com

And I found myself posting a blog entry about Haiti and mother earth a week ago or so as follows:

Andaccording to that Gregorian calendar, it is Sunday on this day, day ofGod, the Sabbath, the day of rest, or is that Saturday. And yet I findmyself blogging on this blog. And I have found myself reading, watchingand listening to the news this past week of the latest natural disasterof an earthquake that has taken many lives along with it here on planetearth that has afflicted the city of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. And itseems to be a tragic event with images of devastation that representthe fragility of life as human beings that seem as if they are takenfrom the apocalypse. And in those thoughts I thought to post someverses on the internet from that book the Bible in various translationsin relation to life and death:


By the sweat of your brow youwill eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it youwere taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

Man'sfate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: Asone dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has noadvantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.

All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

Nakeda man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. Hetakes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. Even if helives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Donot all go to the same place?

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.

Anyone who is among the living has hope--even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

Forthe living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; theyhave no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten

I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living

for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;

The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

ThenI looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labourthat I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation ofspirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

And I turnedmyself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the mando that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

ThereforeI hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun isgrievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

Andwho knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he haverule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I haveshewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

Beholdthat which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and todrink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under thesun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is hisportion.

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall hereturn to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which hemay carry away in his hand.

Whatever your hand finds to do, doit with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there isneither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

And A Psalm

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea,though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear noevil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

AndGod shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be nomore death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any morepain: for the former things are passed away.

The business of birth, the business of death. Mortal man. We are all born to die.