Idaho Conversation League

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005116252&var_Year=2007&var_Month=07&var_Day=25 Iraq war veterans gather for river trip Post-war life to include journey on beautiful River of No Return By TONY EVANS Express Staff Writer Army Staff Sergeant Chad Jukes, 23, lost his right leg four months ago after a supply convoy truck he commanded struck a roadside improvised explosive device in northern Iraq. This week he is floating with other Iraq war veterans on the Salmon River. Photo by David N. Seelig The Idaho wilderness could give a few veterans a different perspective this week. "These trips give them a more positive outlook on life," said Wood River Ability Program Executive Director Mark Mast, who began working with Vietnam War veterans 25 years ago. The American Legion Hall in Ketchum hosted a banquet on Monday evening to welcome a group of recently disabled war veterans before they embark on a weeklong float trip on the Salmon River. Mast organized the excu

Future Friedman: A place for healing war wounds? By Jim Banholzer For The Wood River Journal Original post here: http://www.woodriverjournal.com/articles/2007/07/31/features/sockdolagers/sockdolagers.prt Ancient warriors were given special care upon returning from battles. They were brought into spas at outskirts of cities and slowly cooled down with extraordinary nurturing concern for long spells until it was determined that it was safe for them to return into communities-unlike modern times when soldiers more often get dumped straight back onto the streets with little or no benefits. Nowadays, many of our Country's Veterans are homeless or incarcerated at record levels without support, while perpetually mired in post-traumatic crises. As Dennis Kucinich put it, “Homelessness and poverty are weapons of mass destruction.” Men develop with different levels of mettle, but sanity has limitation points for even the bravest of soldiers. “Soldiers Heart” affected many Civil War Veterans

Tibetan lama speaks about death By TONY EVANS Express Staff Writer Tibetan Lama Tenzin Dhonden drew from years of monastic studies and his own personal work with the dying during a teaching session in the Wood River Valley earlier this month on "Near Death Experiences." Using translations from Tibetan texts on "Sutra" and "Tantra" traditions as well as stories from his experience as a Tibetan monk, Lama Tenzin presented an intricate outline of the many subtle categories of human thought and sensory experience that dissolve at the time of death. These categories are familiar to Tibetan monastics as they prepare for the 49-day intermediate "bardo" state between death and re-birth. About 40 people attended the session at the home of David and Bex Wilkinson. "The bardo is a state of wandering in which the soul is looking for something unique," Lama Tenzin said. "During the bardo state of mind, we go through the manifestations of our li

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http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?issue_date=07-28-2006&ID=2005111586 Science Fiction Commentary by Tony Evans I'm writing a novel about the future when search technology becomes obsolete because everyone finally knows everything. After the guru wars of the 21st century, the remaining Internet traffic will be composed of R2D2 beeps and squeaks transmitting messages of universal compassion between men and women of many nations who will finally understand one another completely. Death will be considered an ancient superstition as all life and human consciousness are viewed as an uninterrupted stream of heavenly genius jumping from organism to organism. Most bodily functions will be abandoned in favor of simple chemical reactions and every sport will have clowns, not just rodeos. There will be no scandal, corruption, or holes in the historical and scientific record. Miniaturization will have made for easy transport of everything from major home appliances to entire buildings, wh

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/16524/ Excerpt: "Now, Bradbury has decided to make news about the writing of his iconographic work and what he really meant. Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands. This, despite the fact that reviews, critiques and essays over the decades say that is precisely what it is all about. Even Bradbury’s authorized biographer, Sam Weller, in The Bradbury Chronicles , refers to Fahrenheit 451 as a book about censorship. Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature. “Television gives you the dates of Napoleon, but not who he was,” Bradbury says, summarizing TV’s content with a single word that he spi

In the hot summer of ‘66, while skidding my toy bike in front of Lubber Run ESSO station, I received a flat tire. A man of about the age I am now, was picking up his reworked Chevy, saw my distressed look and kindly handed the shop owner a shiny Kennedy coin for quick patch of my tire. Joyfully, I biked home to tell ma. She asked if I had thanked the nice man. I had not. So, I hastily pedaled back, shortcutting through the alley, on a mission to thank the kind sir. However, he had already left and sometimes I feel as though I’ve been trying to thank him ever since. Last year I returned to the shopping center in a dream. I’ve done this on several occasions -both in reality and in dream- revisited this childhood Mecca of bubble gum thoughts, innocent laughter, and playful alley dogs and cats, sometimes with different scenarios playing out in my quest to find and repay that shining knight. Most dreams match reality whereas everything has gone astray; the service station vanished, the wa

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Subject: Jesus vs Satan > > >This is one of the best clean jokes I've seen! > >Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on >the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired >of hearing all the bickering. > >Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set >up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge >who does the better job." > >So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. > >They moused. > >They faxed. > >They e-mailed. > >They e-mailed with attachments. > >They downloaded. > >They did spreadsheets! > >They wrote reports. > >They created labels and cards. > >They created charts and graphs. > >They did some genealogy reports > >They did every job known to man. > >Jesus worked with >heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than h

The Chair of Forgetfullness

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