One's true religion is the sum of all the behaviors they perform 'religiously',
regardless of what they profess to believe, or the arguments with which
they defend those beliefs.

Simply put, actions speak louder than words, and what we claim to believe
is often different than the beliefs belied by how we actually live. This, in
conjunction with the other constant dynamic in human relations, would
seem to be the source of all religious disagreements.

The other dynamic is that it's always easier to criticize and attempt to
change another than it is to take responsibility for critically observing
and changing ourselves - or so we'd prefer to believe, but let's explore
whether this is really true.

What if the true goal of spirituality was not to acquire the greatest
number of converts and 'win' the human race, but to achieve personal
peace of mind - enlightenment.

There are numerous indications that such a "peace that passeth
understanding" is simply incapable of being disturbed by the illusory
disagreements based on transitory beliefs of those who have yet to
realize such a profound peace.

There are plentiful suggestions that such a peace is based on an
experience so fulfilling that it is literally "beyond belief(s)", or anything
which can be expressed in words, and creates within the experiencer a
reluctance to engage in the folly of either words or beliefs, which, by
the nature of the duality they arise from and convey, detract from the
fulfillment inherent in the experience of that peace.

What if we truly understood that all the energy we expend on the effort
to change others was robbing us of the energy to change ourselves
in the process of realizing this ultimate peace?

Given this perspective, one might wonder if the things we most
passionately urge another to hear are the efforts of our own highest
nature to have us hear those very things, and apply them in our own
lives, toward the end of moving into a state of peace which surpasses
the need to change others, yet gives us the actual power to do so
just by being.

Perhaps the reason 'God', Itself, seems to exert so little effort to change
the follies of Man is because 'God' is that fulfilling, powerful peace,
and is calmly awaiting our arrival at Its doorstep, knowing we can't
fail to do so...eventually...since we are, at heart, of the same nature.

Paradox

I am male, yet I am not male -
I am not male as opposed to female.
I am a lover; I encompass both in my lovingness.

I am white, yet I am not white -
I am not white as opposed to black.
I am human; I encompass both in my humanity.

I am Christian, yet I am not Christian -
I am not Christian as opposed to Buddhist.
I am spiritual; I encompass both in my spirituality.

I am human, yet I am not human.
I am not human as opposed to divine.
I am (w)holy complete; I encompass both in my totality.

©1989 John Everest

BUSH

To THINK that I should find my tush
amidst the poem they call a bush.

A poem with branches stiff, unbending...
Poking, prodding my rear-ending.

A bush with thorns that tear and rend
The glutei of my back end.

A bush that makes arising painful,
and makes passers-by disdainful,

Lest, in helping me (to free me)
They, in turn, will look to be me.

Falls can come from those who push,
But pain comes from the g*****n bush!

Spiritual Peace

Actually, you already live in the midst of it, and it lives in the midst of you...

Intellectually, you can understand it this way:
Imagine the silence that exists in the furthest reaches of deep space...
like space itself, it is empty...there is no content, no sound...
no medium or atmosphere, for that matter, in which sound can travel...

Now imagine traveling toward the earth and entering the earth's
atmosphere...the silence of deep space still exists, but if you
say your name, you can hear it now, since the atmosphere
allows sound to travel from your mouth to your ear....

Silently, you continue, moving closer to the earth...
you can hear airplanes now, and closer still, you hear birds...
as you approach a city, you can hear traffic, sirens, etc...
Finally you come to rest in the middle of a sports
stadium filled with cheering people, and the noise is constant...

Then you realize that you are still sitting in the middle of
the same space through which you just traveled,
where there is endless and eternal silence.
It is just that your current space has been filled with
the earth, the people, and the sounds of the game and the crowd...
Take all that away, and the space and its native silence still exist...

You have been taught to pay attention to the sounds, the light,
and the physical objects...taught that these are the things of value and
significance....

But you can train yourself to pay attention to the native attributes of
space - the darkness, the silence and the space...

To appreciate the pauses between musical notes and the spoken
words of speech...between your thoughts, your breaths, your
heartbeats...

To appreciate the vast and silent emptiness which exists constantly
around you, no matter what content occupies or passes through it
in any given moment, attempting to distract you from it and the
infinite, fulfilling peace it represents...

Your mind is just like outer space, in which are endless constellations
of heavenly bodies, and innumerable objects like our planet...

And, as with the physical universe, you have been taught that the
contents of your mind-space are what matter...thus depriving
yourself of the nurturing fulfillment of the infinite emptiness of
the womb from which you were born....and to which you will,
inevitably, return....

Losing your attachment to the meaningless contents of the
mind and losing yourself in the infinite creative emptiness,
which alone can restore and renew you, is the necessary
surrender which gives rebirth, and comes either at death,
when we no longer have the strength to fight the force of
the attraction we have resisted all our lives
(which resistance has led to our weakness and death),
or through conscious trust and surrender in the act of meditation.

It took you years, from the moment you first opened
your eyes on this planet, to be taught the value of the
words and ideas you use, and the things you own
and seek after...

It will take more than a moment of opening your
heart to the empty silence before you appreciate
its mysteries...

Don't 'look' - you don't know what to look for....
Stop 'looking' and 'seeking' and simply
open your eyes in the dark...
open your heart in the silence...

Be willing to take your time,
or, better, give it...
It's the only thing you have to trade....

I want to know, anew, a gnu...
And learn how to attire a tire.
I want to run afoul a fowl....
And then, to try, once more, one smore.

Google has continued to become such a hot provider that, according to
OneStat.com, "Google has a global average usage share of 55.2 percent
during the last 2 months".

Additionally, Google just removed from 'beta' status a question-answering service
called Google Answers, which allows you to post a question, set a price, and get an answer from any of the 500 or so approved researchers who have been
screened by the Google Answers Editors. You can learn more about the researchers behind the service at Google Blogoscoped, a blog which publishes interviews with the researchers, as well as useful information about the world according to Google, and tips & tricks for using the search engine.

The following letter was written by Clarissa Pinkola Estes to a young activist.

As you may know, Ms. Estes is a psychoanalyst and author of "Women Who Run with Wolves". She has served as a post-trauma specialist at Columbine High School since the massacre in 1999 and is a Board member of the Writers' Guild in New York.


Letter To A Young Activist During Troubled Times from Clarissa Pinkola Estes


Mis estimados:

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now. It is true, one has to have strong cojones and ovarios to withstand much of what passes for "good" in our culture today.

Abject disregard of what the soul finds most precious and irreplaceable and the corruption of principled ideals have become, in some large societal arenas, "the new normal," the grotesquerie of the week. It is hard to say which one of the current egregious matters has rocked people's worlds and beliefs more.

Ours is a time of almost daily jaw-dropping astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking.

Yet ... I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is - we were made for these times.

Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement. I cannot tell you often enough that we are definitely the leaders we have been waiting for, and that we have been raised since childhood for this time precisely. ...I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see
one.

Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able crafts in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

I would like to take your hands for a moment and assure you that you are built well for these times. Despite your stints of doubt, your frustrations in arighting all that needs change right now, or even feeling you have lost the map entirely, you are not without resource, you are not alone.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. In your deepest bones, you have always known this is so. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless. ...We have been in training for a dark time such as this, since the day we assented to come to Earth.

For many decades, worldwide, souls just like us have been felled and left for dead in so many ways over and over - brought down by naiveté, by lack of love, by suddenly realizing one deadly thing or another, by not realizing something else soon enough, by being ambushed and assaulted by various cultural and personal shocks in the extreme. We have a history of being gutted, and yet remember this especially ... we have also, of necessity, perfected the knack of resurrection.

Over and over again we have been the living proof that that which has been exiled, lost, or foundered - can be restored to life again. This is as true and sturdy a prognosis for the destroyed worlds around us as it was for our own once mortally wounded selves. ...Though we are not invulnerable, our risibility supports us to laugh in the face of cynics who say "fat chance," and "management before mercy," and other evidences of complete absence of soul sense. This, and our having been to Hell and back on at least one momentous occasion, makes us seasoned vessels for certain.

Even if you do not feel that you are, you are. Even if your puny little ego wants to contest the enormity of your soul, that smaller self can never for long subordinate the larger Self. In matters of death and rebirth, you have surpassed the benchmarks many times. Believe the evidence of any one of your past testings and trials.

Here it is: Are you still standing? The answer is, Yes! (And no adverbs like "barely" are allowed here). If you are still standing, ragged flags or no, you are able. Thus, you have passed the bar. And even raised it. You are seaworthy.


...In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. Do not make yourself ill with overwhelm. There is a tendency too to fall into being weakened by perseverating on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear.

Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater? You have all the resource you need to ride any wave, to surface from any trough. ...In the language of aviators and sailors, ours is to sail forward now, all balls out.

Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a waterspout, you will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than the inner one. To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause it, by whatever countervailing means, to swirl much less, to more evenly match the velocity of the inner, far less volatile core - till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to Earth, lays down, is peaceable again.

One of the most important steps you can take to help calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a flurry of overwrought emotion or despair - thereby accidentally contributing to the swale and the swirl. Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.

It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts - adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.


...One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires ... causes proper matters to catch fire.

To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both - are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.


...There will always be times in the midst of "success right around the corner, but as yet still unseen" when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it; I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.

In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But ... that is not what great ships are built for. ...This comes with much love and prayer that you remember who you came from, and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

©2003 C.P. Estes, All rights reserved. Permissions Department

Here's a link to an article by Jay Bookman, the deputy editorial page editor of
The AtlantaJournal-Constitution, dated 9/29/2002, which may help clarify why
George Dubya is so willing to ignore the negative public opinion he's been
getting in regard to his invasion of Iraq. It expounds on Bookman's perception of
The president's real goal in Iraq.

I received an email today, forwarding the content of a hope-filled speech by
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations. The email did a poor job, however, of making clear what was
directly quoted and what was not, so I went to Google news to look for a
cleaner copy of the speech. Much to my surprise, it was not cited online
anywhere. I finally tracked it down in one solitary entry in a newsgroup:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica
was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has
worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. Recently he was in San
Francisco to be honored for his service to the world through the U.N. and
through his writings and teachings for peace. At age eighty, Dr. Muller
surprised, even stunned, many in the audience that day with his most
positive assessment of where the world stands now regarding war and
peace.

I was there at the gathering and I myself was stunned by his remarks.
What he said turned my head around and offered me a new way to see
what is going on in the world. My synopsis of his remarks is below:

"I'm so honored to be here," he said. "I'm so honored to be alive at such
a miraculous time in history. I'm so moved by what's going on in our world
today."

Dr. Muller proceeded to say, "Never before in the history of the world has
there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation
about the very legitimacy of war".

The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue -
listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or
not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking
- "Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant
an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be
the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this
set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of
negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for
declaring war?"

All of this, he noted, is taking place in the context of the United Nations
Security Council, the body that was established in 1949 for exactly this
purpose. He pointed out that it has taken us more than fifty years to
realize that function, the real function of the U.N. And at this moment in
history - the United Nations is at the center of the stage. It is the place
where these conversations are happening, and it has become in these last
months and weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the most
powerful container for the world's effort to wage peace rather than war.
Dr. Muller was almost in tears in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream.

"We are not at war," he kept saying. We, the world community, are
WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let
up. It is working and it is an historic milestone of immense proportions. It
has never happened before-never in human history-and it is happening
now-every day every hour-waging peace through a global conversation. He
pointed out that the conversation questioning the validity of going to war
has gone on for hours, days, weeks, months and now more than a year,
and it may go on and on. "We're in peacetime," he kept saying. "Yes,
troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined up. Yes, the
aggressor is angry and upset and spending a billion dollars a day
preparing to attack. But not one shot has been fired. Not one life has been
lost. There is no war. It's all a conversation."

It is tense, it is tough, it is challenging, AND we are in the most significant
and potent global conversation and public dialogue in the history of the
world. This has not happened before on this scale ever before - not before
WWI or WWII, not before Vietnam or Korea, this is new and it is a
stunning new era of Global listening, speaking, and responsibility.

In the process, he pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia and
China on the same side of an issue is an unprecedented outcome. France
and Germany working together to wake up the world to a new way of
seeing the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the history of
the world are taking place--and we are not at war! Most peace
demonstrations in recent history took place when a war was already
waging, sometimes for years, as in the case of Vietnam.

"So this," he said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace " looks
like." No matter what happens, history will record that this is a new era,
and that the 21st century has been initiated with the world in a global
dialogue looking deeply, profoundly and responsibly as a global
community at the legitimacy of the actions of a nation that is desperate
to go to war.

Through these global peace-waging efforts, the leaders of that nation are
being engaged in further dialogue, forcing them to rethink, and allowing
all nations to participate in the serious and horrific decision to go to war or
not.

Dr. Muller also made reference to a recent New York Times article that
pointed out that up until now there has been just one superpower - the
United States, and that that has created a kind of blindness in the vision
of the U.S. But now, Dr. Muller asserts, there are two superpowers: the
United States and the merging, surging voice of the people of the world.

All around the world, people are waging peace. To Robert Muller, one of
the great advocates of the United Nations, it is nothing short of a miracle
and it is working.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A synonym for 'conclusion' is 'ending'.

When you 'draw a conclusion', you 'arrive at an ending'.

When you 'arrive' at the conclusions you've drawn,
and wonder how you got there, remember that I already
told you...

To preclude arriving at endings you'd rather avoid,
when you have a thought, ask yourself "To what end
does this lead?" and "What conclusion am I arriving at?"

Taking The Terror Out Of Terror Weapons
A Soldier's View On Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Attacks
By SFC Red Thomas (Ret)
Armor Master Gunner Mesa, AZ
2-14-3


Unlimited reproduction and distribution is authorized. Just give me credit for my work, and, keep in context.


Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert.


Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s there were a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in a few hours) and only one percent of the injured died.


60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand dead people per drop was theoretical.


Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too). Forget everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out loud!). These weapons are about terror. If you remain calm, you will probably not die. This is far less scary than the media and their "Experts," make it sound.


Chemical Weapons


Chemical weapons are categorized as nerve, blood, blister, and incapacitating agents. Contrary to the hype of reporters and politicians they are not weapons of mass destruction, they are "area denial," and terror weapons that don't destroy anything. When you leave the area you almost always leave the risk. That's the difference; you can leave the area and the risk but soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and that's why they need all that spiffy gear.



These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles. The agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that defines wh en/how it's used. Every day we have a morning and evening inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down. This inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at these times of the day.



So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being vapors and airborne particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low places like ditches, basements and underground garages. This stuff won't work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and wind spreads it too thin too fast. They've got to get this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it for it to work. They also have to get the concentration of chemicals high enough to kill or wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and it's wasted.


What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard to do with military grade agents and equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for terrorists. The more you know about this stuff the more you realize how hard it is to use.



We'll start by talking about nerve agents. You have these in your house, plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent. All nerve agents work the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the signals your nervous system uses to make your body function. It can harm you if you get it on your skin but it works best if they can get you to inhale it. If you don't die in the first minute and you can leave the area you're probably gonna live. The military's antidote for all nerve agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes, after that the agent is used up. Your best protection is fresh air and staying calm.



Listed below are the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning:



Sudden headache, Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have pinpointed pupils), runny nose, excessive saliva or drooling, difficulty breathing, tightness in chest, nausea, stomach cramps, twitching of exposed skin where a liquid just got on you.



If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop, did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick too? Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or camphor where it shouldn't be? If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the area and head up wind, or, outside.


Fresh air is the best "right now antidote." If you have a blob of liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot it or scrape it off and away from yourself with anything disposable. This stuff works based on your body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs won't hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in real deep, then lick the residue off the ground for a while. Remember they have to do all the work, they have to get the concentration up and keep it up for several minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on you/quit breathing it by putting space between you and the attack.


Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to provide oxygen to your tissue. The scenario for attack would be the same as nerve agent. Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something and folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The telltale smells are bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be. The symptoms are blue lips, blue under the fingernails rapid breathing.


The military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote it just keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are used up. Fresh air is the your best individual chance.



Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to even handle it let alone use it. It's almost impossible to handle safely and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is also limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals. If you do get large, painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop them, if you must, don't let the liquid from the blister get on any other area, the stuff just keeps on spreading. It's just as likely to harm the user as the target. Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.



Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial chemical spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you, to herd you like sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream. They have to get the stuff to you, and on you. You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. Your odds get better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time, and fresh air really deal this stuff a knock-out- punch. Don't let fear of an isolated attack rule your life. The odds are really on your side.



Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth. The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If you see a bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall to the ground! The heat will be over a second. Then there will be two blast waves, one out going, and one on it's way back. Don't stand up to see what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen will have happened in two full minutes.


These will be low yield devices and will not level whole cities. If you live through the heat, blast, and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live for a very, very long time. Radiation will not create fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and grass hoppers the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1 kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT.



Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation will kill a lot of exposed (not all!) people within a half mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions this is about a half mile circle of death and destruction, but, when it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device for a good distance, it's impossible to say what and how far but probably not over a couple of miles from ground zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones, computers, ATMs, you name it, all will be out of order.


There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about three, the others you have lived with for years. You need to worry about "Ionizing radiation," these are little sub atomic particles that go whizzing along at the speed of light. They hit individual cells in your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going. That's how you get radiation poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the decaying cells poison you.


It's the same as people getting radiation treatments for cancer, only a bigger area gets radiated. The good news is you don't have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can do rather than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha particles, a page of a news paper or your clothing will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and avoid inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are emitting these things and you'll be generally safe from them.


Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my brain hurt) and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles only they keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way through your body. It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense material, on the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you.

Your defense is as always to not panic. Basic hygiene and normal preparation are your friends. All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK if there's no dust on em (rinse em off if there is). If you don't have running water and you need to collect rain water or use water from wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if you have a bucket of water to pour in the tank.

Biological Weapons


Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much to cover here. Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a million doctors. Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food, sloppy kisses, etc., .... with strangers. Keep your garbage can with a tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools) laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is carried by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated material. If biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound, why has Saddam Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of dollars trying to get it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat well and are active you're gonna live.


Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take for a big storm. If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one. I know this stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one either (how's that for confidence). We have a week's worth of cash, several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water. We don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.


These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources. These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find out it's no fun. The government is going nuts over this stuff because they have to protect every inch of America. You've only gotta protect yourself, and by doing that, you help the country.


Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and you can think up specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best. This letter is supposed to help the greatest number of people under the greatest number of situations. If you don't like my work, don't nit pick, just sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a document around three pages long yourself. This is how we the people of the United States can rob these people of their most desired goal, your terror.

OmPlace.com has created the following Enhanced Spirit Card for you to enjoy and to forward to your friends and family. It features the poetry of Rumi and the artwork of Francene Hart.

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Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their countries.

Well, it's true!...and I had to post something to get this thing rolling, anyway.