Hammas spokesman Ahmed Yousef said in a recent interview: “We like Obama and hope that he will win the election.”

Obama responded, “This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing,” “And then to engage in that kind of smear, I think, is unfortunate, particularly since my policy toward Hamas,” “For him to toss out comments like that, I think, is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name-calling in this debate.”

That’s right, above all, don’t call someone by name! No name-calling! To toss out the olive branch like that is a smear tactic, plain and simple.
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I know, I know. Inversion of characters in the play, all in good humor, playing Obama’s game on him. In reality, Obama is a big cry baby and can’t debate even when his life depends on it. Wah, wah, wah from the DNC kitchen. Give him a dose of Chef Ramsey. Obama commits his tried and true campaign recipe once again, depricating his opponent with the accusation of being what Obama is himself, FOUL.

deliver us from evil

The religious/politico alignment is obvious. That Obama can’t stand this blaring reciprocity being public will be his own downfall so long as the GOP public keeps throwing it in his face.

maverick muse on May 9, 2008 at 1:53 AM

If still doubting the mutual respect club, the thoughtful Christian and Atheist have more in common than they have with Code Pink.

Tomorrow provides a public display of religion (witchcraft) demonstrated loudly on the streets of Berkeley outside of the Marine Recruiting Center, Friday. “Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we’re going to end war,” Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com

maverick muse on May 9, 2008 at 2:27 AM

Those who promote that science and metaphysics are at odds with each other should consider what a neurologist from Oxford is saying.

ID: The Quest For Identity In The 21st Century by Susan Greenfield, to be published by Sceptre on May 15

An adaptation is linked from the Drudge Report, May 10th.
The REAL brain drain: Modern technology – including violent video games – is changing the way our brains work, says neuroscientist. By SUSAN GREENFIELD
The Daily Mail, May 9, 2008

When I say “shaped”, I’m not talking figuratively or metaphorically; I’m talking literally.
At a microcellular level, the infinitely complex network of nerve cells that make up the constituent parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences and stimuli.

The brain, in other words, is malleable – not just in early childhood but right up to early adulthood, and, in certain instances, beyond. The surrounding environment has a huge impact both on the way our brains develop and how that brain is transformed into a unique human mind.

Electronic devices and pharmaceutical drugs all have an impact on the micro- cellular structure and complex biochemistry of our brains. And that, in turn, affects our personality, our behaviour and our characteristics. In short, the modern world could well be altering our human identity.

[Harvard Medical School Research] But what was truly astonishing was that the group who had merely imagined doing the piano exercises saw changes in brain structure that were almost as pronounced as those that had actually had lessons. “The power of imagination” is not a metaphor, it seems; it’s real, and has a physical basis in your brain. Alas, no neuroscientist can explain how the sort of changes that the Harvard experimenters reported at the micro-cellular level translate into changes in character, personality or behaviour. But we don’t need to know that to realise that changes in brain structure and our higher thoughts and feelings are incontrovertibly linked.

My own musings follow regarding the power of prayer, faith and scientific research amalgamated in “Intelligent Design”. “Idea determines form” is no longer merely the 19th Century hypothesis by Liszt but a fact substantiated in brain matter. We are all born with the ability to imagine. What we do with that imagination determines our lives, what we desire and make of ourselves within the confines of the physical world. Though we may all have the same general opportunity or ability to imagine, we may not all have the same general inclination to exercise faith in intelligence beyond our present capacity to fully comprehend. The empirical scientific mode is stunted by ignorance when it censors the power of imagination, just as literalist Christian fundamentalism is stunted by ignorance when it censors scientific study. That observation aside, Western atheists and Christians do share a common beginning in culture and genes, and as such, should appreciate each other’s accomplishments for what they are without complete censorship one way or the other, and without complete endorsement one way or the other. It is too vain and foolish to project oneself to be absolutely without fault.

maverick muse on May 10, 2008 at 11:12 AM