On Friday, July 31, 2015 at 1:40:39 PM UTC-4, Sal Paradise wrote:


> You're a real gone Bodhisattva.

I should take up surfing.

Cindy Hamilton

On 8/1/2015 5:27 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
The United States Constitution serves as the law of the land for America
and indicates the intent of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution forms
a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity,
Jesus, or any supreme being. (For those who think the date of the
Constitution contradicts the last sentence, see note 1 at the end.) The
U.S. government derives from people (not God), as it clearly states in
the preamble: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a
more perfect Union...." The omission of God in the Constitution did not
come out of forgetfulness, but rather out of the Founding Fathers
purposeful intentions to keep government separate from religion.

Although the Constitution does not include the phrase "Separation of
Church & State," neither does it say "Freedom of religion." However, the
Constitution implies both in the 1st Amendment. As to our freedoms, the
1st Amendment provides exclusionary wording:

Congress shall make NO law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
[bold caps, mine]

Thomas Jefferson made an interpretation of the 1st Amendment to his
January 1st, 1802 letter to the Committee of the Danbury Baptist
Association calling it a "wall of separation between church and State."
Madison had also written that "Strongly guarded. . . is the separation
between religion and government in the Constitution of the United
States." There existed little controversy about this interpretation from
our Founding Fathers.

If religionists better understood the concept of separation of Church &
State, they would realize that the wall of separation actually protects
their religion. Our secular government allows the free expression of
religion and non-religion. Today, religions flourish in America; we have
more churches than Seven-Elevens.

Although many secular and atheist groups today support and fight for the
wall of separation, this does not mean that they wish to lawfully
eliminate religion from society. On the contrary, you will find no
secular or atheist group attempting to ban Christianity, or any other
religion from American society. Keeping religion separate allows
atheists and religionists alike, to practice their belief systems,
regardless how ridiculous they may seem, without government intervention.

On 8/1/2015 5:27 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
If any of these associations raised questions in the mind of George
Bush, Jr., he had little incentive to voice them. Besides getting Harken
stock through the deal, Junior was paid $80,000 a year as a consultant
(until 1989, when his wages were increased to $120,000; recently they
were reduced to $45,000). He was also allowed to borrow $180,375 from
the company at very low interest rates. In 1989 and 1990, according to
the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Harken's board
"forgave" $341,000 in loans to its executives. In addition, Junior took
advantage of the company's ultraliberal executive stock purchase plan,
which allowed him to buy Harken stock at 40 percent below market value.

Such lavish executive compensation would suggest a company doing quite
well indeed. But in reality, Harken had little going for itself. One
Wall Street analyst called Harken's web of insider stock deals and
mounting debt "a lot of jiggery-pokery." Harken was not making money and
could not have continued into 1990 without at least some means of
convincing lenders and investors that the company would soon find a lot
of oil.

On 7/31/2015 1:27 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> On Friday, July 31, 2015 at 1:40:39 PM UTC-4, Sal Paradise wrote:
>
>
>> You're a real gone Bodhisattva.
>
> I should take up surfing.
>
> Cindy Hamilton
>
The Wheel of Dharma has precious few point breaks, but the ones that are
rank sublime.