KMS

The true kernels of such teachings are, Compassion, Empathy, Equality and Respect. That some persons believing their "birthright" was "God" given and using a teaching to commit horrible crimes is a misuse of such teachings. That religion was warped and terrible events happened in it's name I understand: however those acts violate the main four principles and while done in the name of religion, these teachings were used as a justification for power seeking and conquest, and not very nice. These actions are not the basis of these teachings, and as such have wrought great suffering. These actions are the opposite of the beliefs religion is supposed to contain. The fact that these positive actions do trigger chemical reactions and affect us on a physical level is accepted, and it is true whether done for religion reasons or just because we think it is good for our physical beings. With or without a religious motive behind the acts, the same thing occurs in the same physical way. It is how we physically respond when preforming an act based in non-survival thinking such as those in religion. Music and art move us emotionally and we respond physically, sometimes to tears, this is way out of survival mode, and this occurs in humans alone. How is it that our physical processes linked into this abstract understanding and started to produce physical benifits for such acts when preformed properly with the proper intent, and not for ones own gain. KMS

While watching Antiques Roadshow on PBS I saw a 17 Century wedding gown, when the appraiser started discussing the dress's fabric composition, I listened close. "Cotton was not a largely used material in the period. (Colonial America) "It was too expensive, too hard to keep clean, and wore out to quickly,” the appraiser lectured. I just could not take the dancing around of the words she longed to spit out. "Just say it,” I screamed at the television, "the dang thing is made up of HEMP." The Great Cotton Rag Myth In fact one of the largest reordering of American History has hardly anything to do with war, or foreign affairs, it instead has to do with a plant and its fibers. After watching a Documentary entitled The Hemp Revolution by an Australian film maker I went to find out about the microscopic analysis of textiles in American history. The last state left in the United States to proudly and loudly proclaim their Hemp history is Kentucky. Museums such as the Smithsonian Institute and the Textile Museum here in America have changed most of their records to totally annihilate every reference to hemp in American history. However, they have let some good ones go by. Like that fact that the rope holding George Washington's first banner to its staff, was 100% hemp. This kind of discovery tickles me to no end when found. Through history the classification of fibers used in textiles has been either overlooked due to researchers not properly categorizing the fiber by specific testing standard, or possibly on just listing the fabric contents as to what pleases the Government. After all this insures more monies to the organizations. Studies and evidence used in the determination of fibers of natural fibers at a microscopic level is sometimes tricky. Looking at the photos of Flax compared to Hemp the two are almost identical. As a researcher, I would classify alot of fibers very wrongly myself. The comparison of Hemp to Flax is so close that a light spectrum tests must be preformed to make a proper verification for the determination of which plant the fiber came from. The terms of fabrics are a key to this little mystery. "Homespun" broadcloth and linen are the major terms used for the politically correct term instead of hemp. In all of my research I have yet to find a linen plant or a broadcloth plant for that matter. There is however many fibers employed in the making of linen, mainly hemp, as well as in hundreds of other cloths used both today and throughout history. What they mean to say is hemp fibers, they simply can't. Critics say hemp fibers are and were too rough to be used as fine cloth. Yet history and today shows steaming the Hemp fibers can produce a material almost as smooth as silk. A patent on such a process was granted in the early 1800's. In fact during the Revolution Hemp fabric was considered as much a Patriotic statement as a fashion. In the United States Congress, records throughout history show there almost always Hemp on the agenda. Thomas Jefferson produced enough cloth to clothe the entire population of his plantation. I'd say due to the wealth of evidence it is been proven that Hemp was the driving force in not only building this Country but in our bid for freedom, many experts agree, America would never have won the Revolution except for our fine Hemp. American Cannabis Sativa was shown to be the finest in the world, and is still used today for military gear, from rucksacks, to uniforms and the canvas tents we supply our troops. Martha Washington herself was said to have run a spinning bee to cloth our troops at Valley Forge, only thing they could not make from Hemp, was shoes. All this is from the lowest THC variety of this plant American farmers are banned from growing. Ecological, economical, and safe, with so much of our history built on this foundation, shouldn't we also consider Hemp may well have a prominent place in our future? KMS

I need to ask, what about the effects of diet in evolution? The food we digest as a species shapes our physical systems and apperance. Protiens and enzymes ingested as fuel cause a physical change, to better digest, the addition of meat into a diet produces sharper teeth, bigger bodies, and the physical ability to hunt the food source. Making the hunter change physically into a bigger stronger, faster animal, both to catch and eat dinner. As a part of this the evolution debate, I would like to ponder how our diets as humans may have changed our evolution over the years. Could humans have come across a food source that changed chemical processes inside our bodies causing an evolution on some internal level, unseen by the fossil records? KMS

I have a question. What if the evolution of human thinking left no fossil evidence as it occured in the soft tissue of the 4th lobe of the brain? Medical science shows today the actions the frontal brain uses, emotion, language, non violence, compassion, art, beauty and abstract understanding coupled with an ability to grasp a metaphorical behind physical things are seated in this part of our brain. This science is linked to philosphy, as it is centered in that area of our physical beings. What has been evolving is the ability to use our frontal brain lobe and all of the concepts it contains. Can we see the physical chemical process in a fossil record? One can see the skull of humans changing in one major area, the forehead over time. Anthropology tracks this growth in the cultural habits of our ancestors. Rituals start to be preformed, cave paintings, music and oral histories. These needs seem only to occur in humans, and evidence is found within groups of humanoids with larger frontal skull cavities practicing these actions. Does any of what this area contains help our immediate survival as a species? Compassion, take care of the weak, music, art, and humor? Why is this only in humans? Abstract thought, concieving germs may exist even without a microscope to prove it? This thinking coupled with the ability to not only see what is not evident, but the skill to build a tool to prove it exists is built within us. Metaphorical, the non literal. Aesop's Fables are not meant to be seen as an actual fox or a wolf talking, it is the understanding of the story and moral humans understand. Only humans seem able to understand there is something behind the physical world we live in. Concepts of religion reside in this lobe of the brain as well, and science shows us when we do acts based in these teachings, our physical body benifits. A lie detector will measure a negative effect on a physical body. Higher blood pressure, constriction of blood vessels, inflamation and stress. A good deed such as a random act of kindness makes us physically healthier. The blood flow increase, the body relaxes and mentally we feel better. This act also sparks something in others who witness it, they are twice as likely to preform a similar act for another. This practice helps us out physically and is based in a system that is beyond survival instinct alone. Thes acts define us as "human" above the "animal." Evolution can show us the fossils of bones, not the chemically based systems inside them, when looking back there is a pattern in this intelligent thought that physically rewards humans for practicing it. Instincts only in us that seem to be opposite of mere survival, and are not found among any other creatures who rose alongside us. KMS