HORSE SENSE?

The Force Whisperer: Met Police hire guru to give their horse 'good vibrations'
By RHODRI PHILLIPS - More by this author » Last updated at 22:16pm on 25th August 2007
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Once a good grooming might have sufficed but now mounted police are being taught "horse whispering" techniques to help their charges to relax after a hard shift on the mean streets of Britain.


The therapies, which involve soothing and talking to the animals, were made famous by Robert Redford in the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer.

The Metropolitan Police has called in American expert Monty Roberts, 72, who is widely seen as the inspiration for Redford's character, to advise officers.

Also passing on tips is Met WPC Carly Jarrett, 25, who has been trained in the "Equine Touch" method developed in the States ten years ago.

This method involves the use of hands to "set up vibrations in a horse's soft tissue".

The Equine Touch Foundation says this addresses a horse's body "at all levels, physical, chemical and, some would say, spiritual".

WPC Jarrett said: "Police horses work very hard. Equine Touch gives them that bit of relaxation and relief from their hard work. It is very gentle. It lets the horse rebalance itself."

Detective Sergeant Liz Andrews, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, trained with WPC Jarrett on an Equine Touch course in Texas in May, which they paid for themselves.

She said: "I was helping at a demonstration by Monty Roberts when I first learned about the Equine Touch Foundation. It has been an ongoing journey to widen my education."

A Met Police spokesman said: "Occasionally, to develop our trainers, we have invited experts like Monty Roberts over to share their knowledge."



For more click on:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=477755&in_page_id=1770

Army Suicide Rate

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY WE CAN REALLY SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, THEIR FAMILIES, AND CLOSE FRIENDS: START BRINGING THEM HOME!

The suicide rate for the army is now at a 26 year high - 99 suicides in the army last year.

More than one out of four soldiers who committed suicide did so while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a report scheduled to be released Thursday. Iraq was the most common deployment location for U.S. soldiers who either attempted suicide or committed suicide.

The report, which The Associated Press obtained ahead of its public release, said the 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers compared to 88 in 2005 and was the highest raw number since the 102 suicides reported in 1991, the year of the Persian Gulf War, when there were more soldiers on active duty.

For much more click on: www.forbes.com

Technorati tag: army suicide rate

THE TERROR AMERICA WROUGHT...

Posted on Aug 7, 2007
By Robert Scheer

During a week of mayhem in Iraq, in which terrorists have rightly been condemned for targeting schoolchildren, it is sobering to recall that this week is also the 62nd anniversary of a U.S. attack that deliberately took the lives of thousands of children on their way to school in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As noted in the Strategic Bombing Survey conducted at President Harry Truman’s request, when the bomb hit Hiroshima on April 6, 1945, “nearly all the school children ... were at work in the open,” to be exploded, irradiated or incinerated in the perfect firestorm that the planners back at the University of California-run Los Alamos lab had envisioned for the bomb’s maximum psychological impact.

The terror plot worked all too well, as Hiroshima’s Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba recalled this week: “That fateful summer, 8:15 a.m. The roar of a B-29 breaks the morning calm. A parachute opens in the blue sky. Then suddenly, a flash, an enormous blast—silence—hell on Earth. The eyes of young girls watching the parachute were melted. Their faces became giant charred blisters. The skin of people seeking help dangled from their fingernails. ... Others died when their eyeballs and internal organs burst from their bodies—Hiroshima was a hell where those who somehow survived envied the dead.”

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#3 of THE SEVEN GREAT LIES OF ORGANIZED RELIGION

The Seven Great Lies of Organized Religion

Lie #3:

'You are not smart enough or good enough to think for yourself. We will do your thinking for you.'

Do you know what the most important invention in the history of the world was?

It wasn't the computer. And it sure wasn't the light bulb or the telephone. (Or even the electronic voting machine.)

It was the printing press.

In 1445, Johannes Gutenberg invented the world's first movable type printing press. He didn't know it, but he was unleashing a revolution that continues to this day. Even the mighty Internet in the 21st century is just an extension of Gutenberg's original, revolutionary machine.

The first book he printed was the Bible. And that led to controversy, too, because Luther translated it into German, the people's language, instead of Latin, the lingo of the religious elite.

Suddenly, ordinary folks could not only afford a copy, but they could read it for themselves instead of getting some guy's self-serving interpretation. Soon the cat was out of the bag--there were copies scattered all over Europe.

When people started to read it, they were alarmed at what they saw, because between the covers of this book was an amazing story that had seemingly little to do with the politics and shell games they saw in some corners the church.

Luther wrote a list of 95 accusations against the church -- priests taking bribes and granting 'indulgences', an institution setting itself up as a 'middleman' between man and God.

He argued that God didn't need a middleman, or a distributor, or an agent, or a bureaucracy. People could go direct to the source.

This little 'schism' in Worms Germany unleashed a firestorm of protest and permanently changed the way people approached education. No longer was a big, faceless institution responsible for your spiritual progress -- YOU were. Now that you had the knowledge in your hands, you were accountable before God to do something about it.

I'm not trying to attack the Catholic church, by the way. The problem is not institutions per se; it's just that it's always easier for us to mindlessly follow someone else than to listen to God and use the minds He gave us.

It's no coincidence that the scientific enlightenment and industrial revolution began in earnest within 50 years of this.
Not that it wasn't already underway (it had already gathered considerable momentum) but now that ordinary folks had access to knowledge and the freedom to pursue it, the possiblities were limitless.

The printing press took the handcuffs off of knowledge and spirituality, and the world has never been the same. Equal access to knowledge empowered people everywhere, and it was only natural that the Rennaisance, and in time, democracy too would follow.

What's troubling now is that most people still don't do anything with the knowledge that's available to them. Why would you accept a 'canned' answer or empty platitude when you can open the book and read about it for yourself?

People have debates about Jesus, but most have never read the real story--they just believe what they're told. How sad.

If you want a 'Just the facts ma'am' version of what really happened, grab a Bible (please -- a modern English version that's easy to read, not something from the 1600's) and read the book of Luke. A truly fascinating story will unfold.

I dare you to read for one hour and then stop!

And you know what? Nobody will need to tell you what it means.
You'll be quite able to figure it out for yourself.

You can get the book of Luke free online by clicking here:

http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?46vP9uL0VznrSDRS_tqVLA

Print it out and take it with you. (I like this NLT translation a lot, btw.)

Or, you can listen in MP3 by clicking this link:

http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?sdJM1hq0DpEGPewG0bNJ_A

You might like to burn the MP3 onto a CD and listen to it in your car, or listen on your ipod.

Tomorrow I'm going to attack Lie #4:

'Women are spiritually inferior and must submit to the authority of men.'

Talk to you tomorrow!

Respectfully Submitted,

Perry Marshall

P.S.: Speaking of scientific revolutions, you may enjoy my other 5-day email course, "Where Did The Universe Come From?"

I explore the Big Bang, the wonders of DNA, and the relationship between science and spirituality:
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CoffeeHouse Theology, 705 Jackson Boulevard Oak Park, Illinois USA 60304

#2 of The Seven Great Lies of Organized Religion

The Seven Great Lies of Organized Religion

Lie #2:

'God is huge and unapproachable, and He wants you to labor, struggle and live in guilt.'

2000 years ago, they wouldn't even dare say the word 'God.' God was distant, remote, terrible.

But Jesus had his own words for God, and he used them freely.
They were controversial, even scandalous.

His words for God:

'Daddy.'

And 'Your heavenly father.'

So when the Religious Gestapo condemned him for hanging out with ruffians and women of ill-repute, he told an even more scandalous story:

'There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Dad, I wish you were dead. Why don't we pretend you are dead, and give me my share of the family estate.' So the father divided his property between them.

A few days later, the disrespectful son packed his bags and headed for a distant land. He squandered his inheritance on wine, women and song. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he got hungry.

So he got a job feeding pigs. (Jewish people considered pigs to be utterly repulsive.)

This young man would gladly have eaten the pods that the swine ate; but no one gave him anything.

But when he came to his senses, he said to himself, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I'm here starving! He went back to his father. But while he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

The son said, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

But the father said to his servants, `Go get the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and have a huge party; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.'

Jesus sums it all up like this: 'I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who comes back than over ninety-nine people who are already good.'

The father in the Prodigal Son story was not concerned with his dignity. He was not concerned with what was 'fair.' When his son wanted to go his own way, he let him go. But he was watching out the window the whole time, hoping he would come back.

That's Jesus' picture of God - just like the father in this story. Loving. Forgiving. Approachable. And that was radical.

In fact his very first public speech was scandalous because he was talking to the hometown boyz. Luke tells the story in chapter 4, like this:

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

This is not a guy who's afraid to rock the boat.

Tomorrow I'm going to attack Lie #3:

'You are not smart enough or good enough to think for yourself. We will do your thinking for you.'

Respectfully Submitted,

Perry Marshall

Get the whole story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 HERE.


Hear the Live "Uncut" version of 7 Great Lies:
http://www.coffeehousetheology.com/7lies/


CoffeeHouse Theology, 705 Jackson Boulevard Oak Park, Illinois USA 60304

The 7 Great Lies of Organized Religion

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT MY ARGUMENT IS NOT AGAINST CHRIST, BUT AGAINST HOW DIFFERENT CHURCHES, PROPHETS, SCRIBES, POPES, PREACHERS, TEACHERS, ETC. HAVE ADDED SO MANY RITUALS, RULES, ETC. FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT, CHURCH TRADITIONS, AND THEIR OWN SELF GAINS THAT DIRECTLY CONTRADICT THE TEACHING OF JESUS THAT IF YOU LOVE GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE BEING AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

JESUS ALSO SAID THAT IF YOU SEARCH TO KNOW THE TRUTH YOU WILL BE SET FREE. -Mackie

The Seven Great Lies of Organized Religion

~~~

Lie #1:

'If you live a moral life, deny yourself pleasure,
follow the prescribed rituals and give us enough money,
you'll have a decent shot at being accepted by God.'

~~~

Mackie,

Remember that scene near the end of the Wizard of Oz,
when Toto is pulling back the curtain? The sound system
is bellowing, 'Pay no attention to that man behind the
curtain. THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ HAS SPOKEN!'
And There's a little man behind the controls, talking into
a microphone.

Kind of reminds you of certain religious institutions,
doesn't it? Short little insecure men, hiding behind
names and titles, sending everyone on Mission Impossible
while they themselves indulge in secret sin. The
preacher stands in front of thousands and shakes his
finger. Nobody else knows that he had a stripper
in his hotel room last night.

Somebody tells you, 'Here, follow all these rules and be
the best person you possibly can, and you might have a shot
at being accepted by God someday.' Then they string you along
and get you under their thumb.

No wonder people are cynical.

Well it's no accident that Jesus' own biggest enemies 2000
years ago were precisely those same self-righteous hypocrites.
When Jesus showed up, they were terrified of losing their cushy
jobs and political clout. Eventually they murdered him for
exposing their racket.

True spirituality had been buried in a big pile of bureaucracy,
and the religious establishment used it to gain leverage. To have
power over people, to get priority seating in expensive restaurants,
and to line their pockets with cash.

They had everyone thinking that pleasing God was a never-ending
performance marathon.

Well Jesus painted a totally different picture. He told this
story:

'Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a holy man and
the other a tax collector.

The holy man stood and prayed, 'God, I thank you that I am not
like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like
this lousy tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes
of all that I get.'

But the tax collector, standing far away, would not even lift
up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be
merciful to me a sinner!'

Jesus explains: 'I tell you, this tax collector went home
forgiven, rather than the holy man; for every one who praises
himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be praised.'

Beware of the proud holy man who hangs a bunch of rules
around your neck.

That humble tax collector had it right. He was doing the only
thing you and I can do to be accepted by God. He just asked, with
humility.

Tomorrow I'm going to attack Lie #2:

'God is huge and unapproachable, and He wants you to labor, struggle
and live in guilt.'

Thanks for reading!

Respectfully Submitted,

Perry Marshall
www.CoffeeHouseTheology.com

The whole story about the Tax Collector is in Luke 18:9-14:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/

Listen to the Live "Uncut" version of 7 Great Lies:
http://www.coffeehousetheology.com/7lies/