I recieved this in an e-mail today, and I normally don't share this type of stuff, especially things as long winded as this, but please, read on. I believe someone finally got it right...

 

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From: God/dess
To: Our Children of Earth
Re: Idiotic Religious Rivalries

Dear Children (and believe us, that's all of you), We consider ourselves pretty patient folks. For instance, look at the Grand Canyon. It took millions of years to get it right. And about evolution? Boy, nothing is slower than designing that whole Darwinian thing to take place, cell by cell, and gene by gene.

We've been patient through your fashions, civilizations, wars and schemes, and the countless ways you take Us for granted until you get yourselves into big trouble again and again.

We want to let you know about some of the things that are starting to tick Us off. First of all, your religious rivalries are driving Us up a wall. Enough already! Let's get one thing straight: These are YOUR religions, not Ours. We're the whole enchilada; We're beyond them all. Every one of your religions claims there is only one of Us (which by the way, is absolutely true). But in the very next breath, each religion claims it's Our favorite one. And each claims it's scriptures were written personally by Us, and that all the other scriptures are man-made. Oy Vey. How do We even begin to put a stop to such complicated nonsense?

Okay, listen up now. We're your Father AND Mother, and We don't play favorites among Our children. Also, We hate to break it to you, but We don't write. Our longhand is awful and We've always been more of "doers" anyway. So ALL of your books, including those Bibles, were written by men and women. They were inspired, remarkable people, but they also made mistakes here and there. We made sure of that so that you would never trust a written word more than your own living heart. You see, one human being to Us, even a bum on the street, is worth more than all the Holy Books in the world. That's just the kind of folks we are. Our spirit is not a historical thing. It's alive right here, right now, as fresh as your next breath. Holy books and religious rites are sacred and powerful, but not more so than the least of you. They were only meant to steer you in the right direction, not to keep you arguing with each other, and certainly not to keep you from trusting your own personal connection with Us.

Which brings Us to Our next point about your nonsense. You act like We need you and your religions to stick up for Us or "win souls" for Our sake. Please, don't do Us any favors. We can stand quite well on our own, thank you. We don't need you to defend Us, and We don't need constant credit. We just want you to be good to each other.

And another thing, We don't get all worked up over money or politics, so stop dragging Our names into your dramas. For example, We swear to Us that We never threatened Oral Roberts. We never rode in any of Rajneesh's Rolls Royces. We never told Pat Robertson to run for president, and We've never, EVER had a conversation with Jim Baker, Jerry Falwell, or Jimmy Swaggart! Of course, come Judgment Day, We certainly intend to.... The thing is, We want you to stop thinking of religion as some sort of loyalty pledge to Us. The true purpose of your religions is so that YOU can become more aware of Us, not the other way around. Believe Us, We know you already. We know what's in each of your hearts, and We love you with no strings attached. Lighten up and enjoy Us. That's what religion is best for. What you seem to forget is how mysterious We are. You look at the petty differences in your Scriptures and say, "Well, if THIS is the truth, then THAT can't be!" But instead of trying to figure out Our Paradoxes and Unfathomable Nature, which by the way, you NEVER will, why not open your hearts to the simple common threads in all religions.

You know what We're talking about. Love and respect everyone. Be kind, even when life is scary or confusing. Take courage and be of good cheer, for We are always with you. Learn how to be quiet, so you can hear Our still, small voice. (We don't like to shout).

Leave the world a better place by living your life with dignity and gracefulness, for you are Our Own Children. Hold back nothing from life, for the parts of you that can die surely will, and the parts that can't, won't. So don't worry, be happy. (We stole that last line from Bobby McFerrin.) Simple stuff. Why do you keep making it so complicated? It's like you're always looking for an excuse to be upset. And We're very tired of being your main excuse. Do you think We care whether you call Us.... Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, Diana, Wakantonka, Brahma, Cerridwen, Father, Mother, God, Goddess or even the Void of Nirvana? Do you think We care which of Our special children you feel closest to, Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Krishna, Gerald, Mohammed or any of the others? You can call Us and Our Special Ones any name you choose, if only you would go about Our business of loving one another as We love you. How can you keep neglecting something so simple? We're not telling you to abandon your religions. Enjoy your religions, honor them, learn from them, just as you should enjoy, honor, and learn from your parents. But do you walk around telling everyone that your parents are better than theirs? Your religion, like your parents, may always have the most special place in your hearts, We don't mind that at all. And We don't want you to combine all the Great Traditions in One Big Mess. Each religion is unique for a reason. Each has a unique style so that people can find the best path for themselves. Know that Our Special Children, the ones that your religions revolve around, all live in the same place, (Our heart), and they get along perfectly, We assure you. The clergy must stop creating a myth of sibling rivalry where there is none. Our blessed children of Earth, the world has grown too small for your pervasive religious bigotry and confusion. The whole planet is connected by air travel, satellite dishes, telephones, fax machines, rock concerts, diseases, and mutual needs and concerns.

Get with the program! If you really want to help, then commit yourselves to figuring out how to feed your hungry, clothe your naked, protect your abused, and shelter your poor. And just as importantly, make your own everyday life a shining example of kindness and good humor. We've given you all the resources you need, if only you abandon your fear of each other and begin living, loving and laughing together.

In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust, Blessed Be,
Us

~ unknown author~

I have been saying for a long time that I should/need to get a Crock Pot/Slow Cooker. I Love to cook when I have the time, and cooking is probably #2 of the long list of things that my wife does not do or does not do well (sex would be #1 on that list), but with me working all day the last thing that I want to do when I get home is to cook dinner. I can't tell you how many nights I get home from work, ask the wife "what's for dinner?" and get the "I don't know, what do you want?" answer or my favorite "I don't know, what ever you want to make!" answer, and then it turns into a battle of wills over who is going to give in 1st. Me because I'm hungry or her because she wants me and the kids to shut up. I'm not saying that a crock pot is going to settle many of those types of arguments but at least with some prior planing I can toss something into it before leaving for work, tell her what time to turn it on (as long as she isn't napping on the couch) and when I get home from work, dinner is served. So as I was out shopping saturday, I saw a nice 5 quart Crock Pot on sale for $20 bucks and I had to have it. it even had one of those removable inside thingies (technical term) so I can just toss it in to the dishwasher after I make a mess of it.

I used it for the 1st time yesterday and made some killer Meatballs. My Mother, who obviously DID NOT come from the Italian side of my gene pool and was never the best of cooks anyway, used to call them porcupine balls, as they are not your standard meatball. it's pretty much like a stuffed green pepper without the pepper part fucking it up since I don't like green peppers.

You take ground meat, rice, breadcrums, salt peper, and garlic (2 cloves very finely chopped or garlic salt if you're lazy). mix it all together and form as many round balls with it as you can. once you have all the meatballs formed and in the crock pot (or big pan if you don't have a crock pot) you add in a couple cans of tomato sauce, some oregano, white peper, and some garlic (Hey i'm italian gotta have LOTS of Garlic!). I put the crock pot on high and about 4 hours later they were just about perfect! (in a big pan on the stove it takes about 1 1/2 hours on med/low heat).

Now, as I am new to the use of a Crock Pot, I need more ideas/recipies to cook in it. This is where you come in!! GIVE ME RECIPIES!! I know that I have several friends on here who are crock pot masters, so it's time to share those recipies and secret ingredients...

Ok, So this one is not a song but I had to share this with the masses.

I was flying home to Pittsburgh this past sunday, from LA, and had a 2 hour layover in Phoenix AZ so naturally I found the gate for my connecting flight then I found the closest bar to the gate. I sit down at a table just off from the bar flag over a waitress and ask for a beer and a menu (it was like 1:30 PM, I hadn't eaten anything up yet, and was going to be on another plane for about 5 hours so I better get something in my stomach). They have some BIG Mugs in this bar, I'm talking these mugs hold 32oz of your favorite beverage. Right about this time I notice a blonde (attractive, I would guess about 25 years old, 5'5", and around 135 - 140 lbs) wearing a big white cowboy hat, walk past me right on up to the bar, sit down and order a beer and I see the bartender give her a big ass 32oz Sam Adams.

I look down at my menu decide what to order, along with taking a few swigs of my beer, and if my eyes don't decieve me I sware I just saw the bartender giving that blond a 2nd 32oz Beer. I'm not even 1/3rd of the way done with mine, she came in after me and was on her 2nd? I was impressed (for the moment), as the bartender walks away she slams down what was left in the 1st Mug and as sly as possible opens her bag and put the mug in it.

Now I'm laughing a bit over this and apparently so were 4 guys sitting at a table a few feet from mine. So one of the 4 guys gets up and goes to hit on her. they seemed to hit it off pretty well as she's swilling down this beer and getting her drunk on. Now I hear her say pretty loudly to the guy, "Ya want to do a shot with me?". He politely declines and she yells to the bartender "I'll have a tripple shot of Knob!" (which I later found out that this was her 2nd tripple shot of the stuff. I didn't see the 1st one though) Now I've never had the shit, but I hear it's pretty potent. The guy takes a tiny sip of it and looked like he was going let loose his lunch, as she grabs the shot glass and just tosses it back like it was apple juice. 

Now at this point the guys 3 friends and I had begun talking as we're all have a good laugh over the all of this. At this point I noticed that she is now on 32oz beer #3. So now the guy gets up says he better get back to his friends, then invites her to come over to his table. She gets up and now we get to see just how drunk she is, because she almost fall on her face right then and there. She grabs beer #3, which is about 1/2 full at this point staggers over to his table, puts the beer down then goes back to grab her bags to bring over. She takes them over and then before even sitting down says "I got to go to the restroom" and go staggering out of the bar and across the hallway as the guy follows her out to make sure she gets to the restroom ok.

I sat there talking to his friends for about 20 min after this before 1 of the guys gets up to find their long lost buddy cause they are going to be late for their flight real soon. A min or 2 later in walk the 2 guys, No blonde, as he's telling his buddies that he walked her to the restroom she went in but never came back out. They grabbed their stuff told the waiter that the blonde's bags were still sitting there and they left.

I finnish my beer and my food, paid the bill, grabbed my stuff and began walking to my gate. For those of you who thought the story would be over at this point, Oh how wrong you are, because up a few people in front of me I see a big white coyboy hat. Knowing that her bags are still at the bar, and me being a nice guy and all, I run up to her and say "excuse me, Miss. You left your bags at the bar!" she stops, spins around to face me and falls flat on her ass.

I help her up, asked if she was ok, and she asks me "What bar?" I was like "umm, the bar you were just at!" She says she can't remember where the bar is and asks if I'd take her there. Well, it was like 50 yards away, but it was obvious that with out help she's would never make it, so I walked her back to the bar, and as she tries to pick up the heavier of the 2 bags (I was already carrying my 2 bags) she falls flat on her ass again. Once again I help her up, give her the lighter of her 2 bags, as I am now carrying my 2 bags plus her other bag (still has the empty 32oz mug from the bar in it!!). I walk her down to her gate (just down from mine anyway, no biggie) as she goes tumbling over once again, this time smacking her head on the floor pretty hard, and here's the coyboy hat rolling down the hallway. I grab her hat, get her on her back on her feet and I hear her say "Maybe I shouldn't have taken those tranquilizers before the 1st flight. I really hate to fly".

With a crowd now growing around us, I grab her shit and mine, and get her to a seat. I gave her, her stuff and said my good bye's as I begin to walk to my gate. A few different people stopped me asking if she was ok while wondering if they would even allow her on the plain, that is if she could make it down the ramp to board the flight.

It's been a few days now and in the back of my mind I am still wondering if she was even allowed to board her flight...

I go out at night    
while you stay home    
laying on the couch    
all alone      

Thinking of new ways    
to put me down     
more insults     
You don't want me around   

We fight every single night
you said you hate me yesterday
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

Hour after hour
day after day
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

You say I drink too much
well you are why
You say you hate my guts
and that I make you cry

You never talk
all you do is yell
You scream all the time
Just Go to Hell

We fight every single night
you said you hate me yesterday
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

Hour after hour
day after day
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

{Guitar Solo}

We fight every single night
you said you hate me yesterday
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

Hour after hour
day after day
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

You turn light into dark
sunshine turns into rain
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

Hour after hour
day after day
I just want you to go
but why do I stay

why do I stay

why do I stay

why do I stay