Jesus Enlightenment

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Jesus, Enlighten Me

I trust in You, Christ,
to help me steward my sexual energy.
Help me to understand the nature of disease,
and the sanctity of my own sacred space.
Keep me focused on upholding
my personal standards.
Keep me from generating harm
to any other being
through the mis-use of my sexual energy or needs. Teach me to be patient and happy
during the long spells of celibacy.
Help me run my energy in positive ways.
Help me to aspire to a normal life, God,
in such a way that
I do not have to function
as another person's possession.
I love you, Jesus!

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Why did you hurt me?
You, who stole from me, lied to me, denied me, raked me over the coals?
Condescended and abused, leaving me bruised?
You who blamed and presumed,
copped an attitude;
tuned me out,
and
reduced me to begging...?

WHY?

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You know God?
That person was a miserable-fuck.
That's why.


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Meat 'n Potato Hearts

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Mmmm! YAY! It's meat!!

There are a stunning number of photos on the web of food shaped like hearts... Most of that food, BTW is made of MEAT. "YAY!" Or should we say nay?

I get such mixed reviews regarding the eating of meat, especially from the opposite sex. I know a few men who are college educated and refuse to touch a piece of meat with a ten-foot pole. All their reasonings are political... They all have doctorates. And I have to say I've been prompted, and continue to be prompted to look into the Politics of Meat time and again, because of them.

Then I know some other men who insist we cannot live without eating meat, that it is a bodily requirement because we do not get enough of the right proteins from beans and nuts. So from them I have learned, you must supplement your beans, okay? With rice. How about you women out there? What are you eating for your heart health, etc.?

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As for myself, I'm Irish
and grew up eating potatoes. YAY!

Or is that a good thing?
Because I understand there is not
actually a lot of nutrition in white food,
(such as a white potato, white rice or white bread).
According to some,
this is basically like filling your gut up
with paste.
In fact? It all turns into white sugar
and makes people fat!

Yes, I'm Irish. In my family, we ate meat and potatoes, and lots of it. For generations. We also have this "hereditary" thing going way back with arthritis, rheumatism, and fibromyalgia. I don't ever remember a time in my life when I didn't contend with... Achy knees, joints in my neck, fingers and feet which snapped, crackled and popped.

Recently doctors prescribed neurontin for my mother's pain. I was stunned to go online to discover the medication was originally developed to treat people with herpes!?

That's when I struck on the idea and googled "herpes and food". Voila! Try it, and treat yourselves to the nasty truths online.

Got e coli? It's interesting how casually the news reports come in regarding the recent outbreak with peanut-butter salmonella - food we've been feeding our children. I know the Obama Administration began to crack down on the feds this week.

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All of us in the USA need to become more aware of where our food comes from - how it's grown and stewarded, and... No, it wouldn't kill us to cut-back on our intake of meat. Just keep in mind - your heart gets to filter and pump all that junk.

Sometime after WWII, the feds decided it would be good for farmers to shoot-up the animals with steroids and hormones - substances we take into our bodies. My understanding is, the government wanted to produce an image to the world, of Americans being robust and healthy. So, they felt hormones were the answer. Steroids and hormones from our meat are turning Americans into a country of Fat-Asses. Meat-Eating Foreigners leave their countries, right? And come to here, to America, and eat our meat? And they grow Big Giant Fat Asses.

Further, our meat is riddled with the herpes virus (a.k.a. e coli), causing arthritic conditions which keep our medical and pharmaceutical practitioners in BIG business. This is due in part to the cruel conditions in which the animals are raised. If the cattle and chickens are grazing on human waste and sewage, for instance, or fed with food that was grown with or in sewage... Treating the animals with antibiotics should not be the alternative.

Beginning steps to making a shift in your health and well being:
1) Buy organic, hormone and steroid free meat.
2) Ask about where your meat is coming from; get grocery and restaurant owners to think about it.
3) Limit your meat to about 4 ounces a week, and replace it with other proteins
4) Think of your meat as a treat, Man!

Once I started googling "food and herpes" on the internet, I began to feel entirely different about how I eat. Then, it became literal!

Once I started eating organic, and less meat, I stopped having pain in my joints. I stopped having mood-swings around the time of my period... (Ladies, my periods have come and gone with barely any fluctuation in weight, bloating, inconvenience. Gee! This is coming from someone who would normally have to suspend her life for 10-15 days out of every month, to be "on the rag". Of course, I have all quit all caffeinated products, too. Highly recommended! All that stuff about chocolate is a myth. You can replace it with a pint of sorbet and some cookies with chocolate bits.)

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The same holds true for our vegetables and fruits - like the peanuts - these also are subject to e coli. Check it out on the web - it's all there. If our foods are not grown organically, they may be subject to toxins and pesticides which are screwing up our bodies. If they are being fertilized with animal products that are tainted with e coli, it's a problem.

You will taste a big difference between an organic banana or tangerine, and ones that are not. Many non-organic fruits are sprayed with ethanol gas, I believe, as a preservative. So even if you peel away the skin, you will have an after-taste of gas in your mouth once you eat the fruit. (It will make you belch and have other questionable effects that make eating non-organic not worth it.) Sure, your fruit will last a whole week or longer! But there is nothing more putrid than biting into a piece of orange, with an after-taste of ethanol! With organic, you want to keep your foods fresh by getting them a couple times a week, then using them!

My tui na healer has urged me to stop eating fish altogether. I didn't bother to ask why. Being a great lover of sushi, I always knew I was taking a chance, eating mercurial poison. It's pathetic. I have stopped eating seafood.

On this note, we should all be looking at the quality of our drinking water. I suggest always filtering and boiling water before you use it. I always keep cold water in the fridge, with lemon juice in it. I don't drink carbonated drinks - the bubbles are very hard for the heart to filter! They can interfere with medications and make people black-out... They take away from the oxidation in our bloodstream. Everyone needs a good vitamin product, because we are not getting enough nutrients in our food. Some of the herbal products out there, like "Great Start Vitamins" are splendid and give lots of energy.

My main diet these days consists of raw or slightly steamed veggies, brown rice, some dressings and marinades for the veggies. Lots of raw juices, farm-fresh cage-free eggs, soups, fruits and tons of tofu and soy milk. Peanut butter and honey are staples. Safeway has a great line of organic foods; a wonderful organic series of breads which taste better than any other breads on the shelves...! Safeway also carries affordable organic fruits and veggies, and hormone and steroid free meat products. You find, once you start eating good food, you actually need less food. Once a week I "treat" myself to either a kosher hamburger, a little cheese pizza with some turkey pepperonis, or some beautifully-prepared shish-kabobs and Mediterranean Halal food... Far away, in a hidden place outside the city.

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"Christ Among the Doctors"


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AP IMPACT: Drugmakers' push boosts 'murky' ailment
AP - 02/08/2009 17:36:46
By MATTHEW PERRONE


Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions -- including whether it's a real disease at all.

Key components of the industry-funded buzz over the pain-and-fatigue ailment fibromyalgia are grants -- more than $6 million donated by drugmakers Eli Lilly and Pfizer in the first three quarters of 2008 -- to nonprofit groups for medical conferences and educational campaigns, an Associated Press analysis found.

That's more than they gave for more accepted ailments such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. Among grants tied to specific diseases, fibromyalgia ranked third for each company, behind only cancer and AIDS for Pfizer and cancer and depression for Lilly.

Fibromyalgia draws skepticism for several reasons. The cause is unknown. There are no tests to confirm a diagnosis. Many patients also fit the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and other pain ailments.

Experts don't doubt the patients are in pain. They differ on what to call it and how to treat it.

Many doctors and patients say the drugmakers are educating the medical establishment about a misunderstood illness, much as they did with depression in the 1980s. Those with fibromyalgia have often had to fight perceptions that they are hypochondriacs, or even faking their pain.

But critics say the companies are hyping fibromyalgia along with their treatments, and that the grantmaking is a textbook example of how drugmakers unduly influence doctors and patients.

"I think the purpose of most pharmaceutical company efforts is to do a little disease-mongering and to have people use their drugs," said Dr. Frederick Wolfe, who was lead author of the guidelines defining fibromyalgia in 1990 but has since become one of its leading skeptics.

Whatever the motive, the push has paid off. Between the first quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2008, sales rose from $395 million to $702 million for Pfizer's Lyrica, and $442 million to $721 million for Lilly's Cymbalta.

Cymbalta, an antidepressant, won Food and Drug Administration approval as a treatment for fibromyalgia in June. Lyrica, originally approved for epileptic seizures, was approved for fibromyalgia a year earlier.

Drugmakers respond to skepticism by pointing out that fibromyalgia is recognized by medical societies, including the American College of Rheumatology.

"I think what we're seeing here is just the evolution of greater awareness about a condition that has generally been neglected or poorly managed," said Steve Romano, a Pfizer vice president who oversees its neuroscience division. "And it's mainly being facilitated by the fact the FDA has now approved effective compounds."

The FDA approved the drugs because they've been shown to reduce pain in fibromyalgia patients, though it's not clear how. Some patients say the drugs can help, but the side effects include nausea, weight gain and drowsiness.

Helen Arellanes of Los Angeles was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in September 2007 and later left her job to go on disability. She takes five medications for pain, including Lyrica and Cymbalta.

"I call it my fibromyalgia fog, because I'm so medicated I go through the day feeling like I'm not really there," Arellanes said. "But if for some reason I miss a dose of medication, I'm in so much pain."

A single mother of three, Arellanes sometimes struggles to afford all her medications. She said she is grateful that a local Pfizer sales representative occasionally gives her free samples of Lyrica "to carry me through the month."

The drugmakers' grant-making is dwarfed by advertisement spending. Eli Lilly spent roughly $128.4 million in the first three quarters of 2008 on ads to promote Cymbalta, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Pfizer Inc. spent more than $125 million advertising Lyrica.

But some say the grants' influence goes much further than dollar figures suggest. Such efforts steer attention to diseases, influencing patients and doctors and making diagnosis more frequent, they say.

"The underlying purpose here is really marketing, and they do that by sponsoring symposia and hiring physicians to give lectures and prepare materials," said Wolfe, who directs the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases in Wichita, Kan.

Similar criticisms have dogged drugmakers' marketing of medicines for overactive bladder and restless legs syndrome.

Many of the grants go to educational programs for doctors that feature seminars on the latest treatments and discoveries.

Pfizer says it has no control over which experts are invited to the conferences it sponsors. Skeptics such as Wolfe are occasionally asked to attend.

The drug industry's grants also help fill out the budgets of nonprofit disease advocacy groups, which pay for educational programs and patient outreach and also fund some research.

"If we have a situation where we don't have that funding, medical education is going to come to a screeching halt, and it will impact the kind of care that patients will get," said Lynne Matallana, president of the National Fibromyalgia Association.

Matallana founded the group in 1997 after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. A former advertising executive, Matallana said she visited 37 doctors before learning there was a name for the crushing pain she felt all over her body.

A decade later, her patient advocacy group is a $1.5 million-a-year operation that has successfully lobbied Congress for more research funding for fibromyalgia. Forty percent of the group's budget comes from corporate donations, such as the funds distributed by Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Pfizer gave $2.2 million and Lilly gave $3.9 million in grants and donations related to fibromyalgia in the first three quarters of last year, the AP found. Those funds represented 4 percent of Pfizer's giving and about 9 percent of Eli Lilly's.

Eli Lilly, Pfizer and a handful of other companies began disclosing their grants only in the past two years, after coming under scrutiny from federal lawmakers.

The message in company TV commercials is clear. "Fibromyalgia is real," proclaimed one Lyrica ad. Researchers who've studied the condition for decades say it's not that simple.

Since the 1970s, Wolfe and a small group of specialists have debated the condition in the pages of medical journals. Depending on whom you ask, it is a disease, a syndrome, a set of symptoms or a behavior disorder.

The American College of Rheumatology estimates that between 6 million and 12 million people in the U.S. have fibromyalgia, more than 80 percent of them women. It's not clear how many cases are actually diagnosed, but Dr. Daniel Clauw of the University of Michigan said pharmaceutical industry market research shows roughly half are undiagnosed. People with fibromyalgia experience widespread muscle pain and other symptoms including fatigue, headache and depression.

After 30 years of studying the ailment, rheumatologist Dr. Don Goldenberg says fibromyalgia is still a "murky area."

"Doctors need labels and patients need labels," said Goldenberg, a professor of medicine at Tufts University. "In general, it's just more satisfying to tell people, 'You have X,' rather than, 'You have pain.'"

While Goldenberg continues to diagnose patients with fibromyalgia, some of his colleagues have stopped, saying the condition is a catchall covering a range of symptoms.

Dr. Nortin Hadler says telling people they have fibromyalgia can actually doom them to a life of suffering by reinforcing the idea that they have an incurable disease.

"It's been shown that if you are diagnosed with fibromyalgia, your chances for returning to a level of well-being that satisfies you are pretty dismal," said Hadler, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who has occasionally advised health insurers on how to deal with fibromyalgia.

Hadler said people labeled with fibromyalgia are indeed suffering, not from a medical disease but from a psychological condition. Instead of drugs, patients should receive therapy to help them "unlearn" their predicament, he said.

Research by the University of Michigan's Clauw suggests people with fibromyalgia experience pain differently because of abnormalities in their nervous system. Brain scans show unusual activity when the patients experience even minor pain, though there is no abnormality common to all.

Clauw's work, however, illustrates the knotty issues of drug company funding. He has done paid consulting work for the drugmakers, and he's received research funding from the National Fibromyalgia Research Association, which receives money from the drugmakers.

While Clauw acknowledges that Lyrica and Cymbalta do not work for everyone, he has little patience for experts who spend more time parsing definitions than helping patients.

"At the end of the day I don't care how you categorize this -- it's a legitimate condition and these people are suffering," Clauw said.

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If you suffer with fibromyalgia,
you must get all caffeine out of your system,
and keep it out... It is poison.

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Amazon Heart

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Only a certain woman could wear a design like this.

"I give freedom the meaning it has for me."

This is a huge design, signifying a person
who is very autonomous and giving at the same time.
Someone who is able to create a life of her own volition,
and still have faith in other human beings...
Putting her devotion to a spiritual life at the forefront.
Never accepting anything less than what her own standards require, she knows how to walk away from situations, people, dogmas and thought-forms that do not empower her.
She only participates in the things she loves.
She loves deeply.


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Um, yeah... Well, I was watching the boob-tube the other day... (Here in America, some of us call the television the "boob" tube... Because people sit in front of it for long hours, forgetting who or what they are. So we just become "boobs".) Uh, yea...

Anyhoo, there was a woman on TV who was a matchmaker, and she was talking about how women shouldn't have sex with a guy on the first date. She said, that's a big no-no.

The reason, she explained, is that once women make love with someone, they exude a hormone that makes them fall in love. At that point, someone on the panel (a young man) laughed and said "no wonder all my dates stalk me!" He modestly looked down, then blew with his lips on his hand, to shine-up his fingernails.

Sure.

Why not?

But later in the afternoon I got to thinking about it and had a vision of a huge backlash happening with women who are, say, between the ages of 25-40 right now. You know, there are a lot of women out there who would like to have some real intimacy in their lives? And I'm not talkin' about the kind Madonna got from Guy Ritchie. Or the kind Madonna is getting from Jesus Luz. Or the kind Madonna used to get from What's His Face - Sean Penn? And who else?

I think it may be possible that double-standard boys will drive women away all-together. I mean, I saw Madonna's next album in my mind: it will be all about how she loves having sex with another woman.

She loves putting her button (or whatever she uses) on the pulse of that kind of thing, doesn't she? Hasn't she had sex with just about everyone? But I don't think she's made an album about being a lesbian. I'm sure it's due!

Anyway... Guys out there, I'm tellin' it like it is. Women do things like fall in love; in fact, we're all about it. Are you missing out on us? You don't really like to do anything unless it is fun? And women don't like to do much unless they can totally fall in love with it. That's just how we're made.

This is my hypothesis: this love-hormone thing is the reason why everyone loves lesbians!

Lesbians are everywhere, all over the internet, esp, and - wow! I mean, I'm not a lesbian but even my psychologist asked if I'd ever think about it???

He said men are so screwed up these days. Not really emotionally available. Not able to make a decision and stand on it without getting queazy - noncommittal, he said. And then there are a lot of men out there that are just plain in a rut, and tired. (Those are the types I meet - the ones that need, more like a nursemaid than a lover.)

So he wanted to know - had I thought about it? Well, it's a big political move, for sure. Yes, I thought about it.

I think I scare both men and women because I can see right into their souls.

I think I'm happier just being here, with my computer.

So... I wonder? Are we living vicariously through the love-hormone, when we're checking out photos of some lesbian-action on the internet?

Just wondering, that's all.

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I guess this is a good spot to write a little about female ejaculation...

Women are finally catching on to the fact we can both orgasm from the vagina, and ejaculate from the clitoris. It's only taken a few millenniums (or five) to get past our subjugation and figure it out again.

In some cultures women are still being placed into arranged marriages... After having their outer genital regions circumcised. This is done in order to "please" the husbands. (And you said you weren't happy to be an American.)

Women can do things like orgasm. That information was a huge breakthrough sometime during the 1970's, when the pill became a sexual revolution in this country.

Now, everything is shifting again... Because you see, women have also learned, finally, we can ejaculate.

And shame on you women doctors out there that say we can't! Start googling it on the internet however you can. You'll find websites on how to pleasure yourself... You'll also see arguments from female doctors are stymieing. The only reason I can speculate is, they don't want you to know this information or they haven't experienced it for themselves... Or perhaps it would revolutionize the entire medical profession? I think Christine Northrup is the only doctor out there discussing it!

You see, we can heal ourselves by learning how to raise the flow of our hormones and ejaculate. I don't think doctors want you to know that? If you can learn how to pleasure yourself - to the point of ejaculation? You can also get a lot more blood to your brain - and that's important. More importantly, this kind of fluid-flow is crucial to keeping a healthy heart. Is it any wonder more women than men suffer from heart disease?

In general, men seem to have more energy, better eyesight and ability to see things at a farther range, brains that seem to be stronger and more resilient to stress than females. Men breathe more deeply whereas females tend to be shallow breathers. I think it's because guys ejaculate all the time; they have a better flow of hormonal washings going through the entirety of their bodies... Whereas females are struggling with that.

I am saying, these are the times of the final revolutions... Where all information and resources we need are coming right into our hands, minds and bodies. (Please see my other posts on the Orgasmic Hearts and Golden Hearts)

The clitoris has be exercised. It's possible to purchase a small clamp that can be used on the clitoris; it is used to move it outward with a pulling motion, until it can toughen-up and begins to protrude, becoming more erect. The other key is to be able to relax your body (as opposed to tightening the body and vaginal channel, as you would during orgasm). You've got to learn how to allow relaxation, so you can let your fluids flow. If you do happen to have a sensitive male lover, perhaps he can be helpful in teaching you to relax, let go and release. Otherwise, you might have some fun in teaching yourself?

You'll feel better for it.

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Question: Who or What is Messin' with ya?


I had a gnarly experience with some mold the other day... It got me thinking about some of the junk I see on the internet. People online are "all-up-into-it". There are a lot of jokes about he's just "not that into" you, he's "all up into" you, what are you "into", what's "into" you...

Most of the joking is sexual. It got me a little messed-up.

I started thinking, perhaps all disease originates with sexually transmitted stuff? Like herpes, syphilis, HIV. I tend to think in terms of everything being interconnected.

The other day one of my tenants called me down to her apartment. She said she was dealing with a mold infestation... Taking me back to her closet, I noticed several boxes on the floor; these were all covered with lime-green fuzz. I immediately held my breath.

"Would you take a look at this?" She pulled the lid off a box of shoes. Inside rested a beautiful pair of patent-leather heels... Covered with huge, giant-sized balls of mold. Lime green, day-glo and fuzzy; about the size of golf balls! Off each one hung several long HAIRS, 3-4 inches each! I almost barfed. Of course, she's been keeping that apartment like a sweat-box... She had to throw out all her shoes.

But my God!!! That mold was a nightmare!

Like something you'd see on LSD!

It amazed me how the mold seemed to be LOVING to grow on something like DEAD SKIN.

It got me thinking about how, in ancient times? People saw that kind of thing growing on dead bodies all the time.

I mean, we live in such hygienic environment... It's rare to see anything like that. If we cannot see what's going on, growing inside our bodies, do we even think about it?!

And yet I've witnessed joking on the internet that would show otherwise...

How some people see other people's bodies as being nothing more than say, an empty vehicle to get-off-into. Something like a suitcase.

Wouldn't you think that is all the more reason to start watching the body language of others, the language of what is going on in their environments? What they do, their intentions behind what they do, so much more than what they say?

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Question: And Why does Sex have to be so Messy?

I'm pretty sure it was earlier in the day I'd been watching a feature on the Tyra Show... I think it was something about, what are men "into"?

Several guys mentioned they preferred to have their women come to their place for sex. They said it was more convenient, because there, they have access to things like their own shower, their own towels, etc. Ejaculation is messy business. I wonder what their mattresses are like? What kind of condition those are in?

"And then I can just tell the woman - it's time for you to go..." a guy explained with a wave of his thumb.

Well brothers, I got news for ya: ejaculation can be just as messy for women. There might be a few of us who aren't interested in sharing that information with you. We might not be into-it quite yet. (I mean, we can ejaculate too. And who wouldn't like to have a few items, like say, like some nice clean, mold-free towels? And some baby-wipes on hand?)

You see, the women were having a Tyra moment out there... All upset about - why does he jump up and run away, right after he ejaculates?

Because it's messy... That's why, Ladies.

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"Everybody Wants a Piece of Me" Heart; Obama Inauguration

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Obama Rides through History on Pennsylvania Avenue
Ghosts of Pennsylvania Avenue

The Washington road has been the scene of hate, oppression, possibility and progress. Obama will make the trek past dramatic civil-rights landmarks, and won't stop until he reaches the White House.


By Faye Fiore
10:47 AM PST, January 19, 2009
REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON -- When Barack Obama takes his triumphant ride along Pennsylvania Avenue Tuesday, he will retrace the path of Ku Klux Klan marches and roll past the ghosts of hotels and movie theaters that used to turn away people like him.


This historic stretch, book-ended by the Capitol on one end and the White House on the other, has witnessed many of the milestones that made an Obama presidency possible. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were signed here.

But it's doubtful that even a Harvard-educated wonder can get his arms around the scope of the civil-rights drama that has played out on this 1.2-mile slice of real estate.

There are places more famous for their scars -- Selma, Birmingham -- but none captures the sweep of the story the way Pennsylvania Avenue does, where laws were passed to enslave people and laws were passed to free them, and at least a dozen of Obama's predecessors would sooner have considered him a piece of property than a peer.

Nearly every president has made this ceremonial trek since Thomas Jefferson did it on horseback. But never has the setting been as connected to the nation's shame as much as its glory.

"That juxtaposition is the way I always think of Pennsylvania Avenue -- a place of great possibility and of great evil," said Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. "It is a mirror of change in America."

Obama and his family will ride up the promenade in an armored 2009 black Cadillac limo after he takes the oath of office on Capitol steps built by slaves.

At 3rd Street, the motorcade will pass what used to be the St. Charles Hotel, a popular stop in the early 1800s where slaves were kept in underground cells while their owners enjoyed the luxuries upstairs; reimbursement was guaranteed if any escaped.

"That hotel became a favorite of black patrons after the Civil War," said Charles Cobb, an author and professor of Africana studies at Brown University.

At 4th Street, a block from the hotel that made sure no slave escaped, the new president will pass what used to be the American Colonization Society Hall, founded in 1816 to return emancipated blacks to Africa, an effort fueled in part by whites who believed there was no place in America for a free black community.

Tension between races was inborn for a democracy founded on a contradiction -- 12 of the early presidents were slave holders, eight while in the White House.

From the start, the heart of the nation's capital -- a broad avenue designed by Pierre L'Enfant that was a dusty mess until it became the town's first paved street -- was a place of mixed signals. Some freed blacks operated successful businesses while their brethren continued to be sold off in chains.

While in the White House, President Jackson kept 150 house and field slaves back on his Tennessee farm. It was under his nose one night in 1835, at 6th and Pennsylvania, that a white mob ransacked the Epicurean Eating House and tried to lynch its black owner, a man named Beverly Snow.

Today, just a few doors down, an elegant pink building with twin spires stands as a monument to the civil-rights struggle: The National Council of Negro Women headquarters, purchased with the help of Oprah Winfrey six years ago, is the only black-owned property on this famous stretch.

Inside, Dorothy Height, 96, a lifelong activist and president emeritus of the civil-rights advocacy group, keeps an office.

"No inaugurated president will leave the Capitol to go to his house without passing our house," she likes to say. Known for her trademark hats -- one day last week ti was dusty blue with a big rhinestone-studded bow -- she was preparing to attend a swearing-in ceremony she did not think she would live to see.

"Barack Obama presents a strong symbol of what we have achieved under the hardest conditions," said Height, who won a scholarship to Barnard College as a young woman but was denied admission because of her skin color.

The symbolism is even bolder considering the building is steps from 7th and Pennsylvania, where a teeming market of slaves, penned up in filth and misery awaiting sale, was a lucrative enterprise.

Obama will be halfway to the White House when he passes it. There is little to mark that it even existed. But, according to Bunch, a visiting British writer once noted that the business going on in the Capitol was drowned out by the anguished wails of families being separated and sold.

"We forget, but slavery was so embedded into the American system, it shouldn't be a surprise that slaves were traded within the shadow of the Capitol," Bunch explained.

Slavery was outlawed by 1865, but the inequality persisted. Blacks were barred from jobs, hotel rooms, toilets and restaurant counters. Pennsylvania Avenue led the nation in a dance: two steps forward and one step back.

Franklin Roosevelt opened the war-industry jobs to blacks after he was threatened with a massive march on Washington. Woodrow Wilson segregated the federal workplace to appease his offended wife.

And somewhere along this street, a sailor named Sam Harmon, stationed in Virginia during World War II, was denied admittance to a movie theater when the clerk saw the hand that reached for the ticket was black. He walked the streets that night in tears.

"As you move into the '50s and '60s, Pennsylvania Avenue is reflective of a segregated America," Cobb said. "Black people cooked in the restaurants that served the capital but couldn't eat in them."

For nearly 100 years after slavery was outlawed, Pennsylvania Avenue did little to advance justice. Then in 1964, President Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination in hotels, restaurants and department stores. Martin Luther King Jr. stood over his shoulder at the White House.

Four years later, smoke could be seen rising from Pennsylvania at 7th Street when riots broke out as word reached black neighborhoods north of downtown that King had been assassinated.

At 10th Street, Obama will pass within a block of Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was shot by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. As if in a flurry to honor his legacy, Congress would adopt the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments outlawing slavery, making former slaves citizens and giving black men the right to vote.

One result: Black businessman James Wormley opened the capital's first integrated hotel at 15th and Pennsylvania, a block from the White House.

Obama's ceremonial journey will end at the nation's most famous address -- 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. For decades, the windows offered a view of slaves servicing the elegant homes on Lafayette Square.

Today, in that same spot, record crowds will gather -- braving confounding security, epic bathroom lines and biting cold -- to watch Pennsylvania Avenue dance another step forward.

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Everybody wants a piece of me, God!
For a short time, I even get to be a "Rock Star"...
The personal is always political, Lord.
It takes tremendous courage to endure this kind of pressure from people,
but I'm good!
I'm okay!

Help me to help them Get It, God...
It's all about sharing!


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