A Huh
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Posted:May 15, 2008 8:56 am
Last Updated:May 22, 2024 1:10 am
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According to recent estimates, the earthquake that hit China on Monday could leave 10,000 people dead. Web users are saying that the catastrophe could have been avoided, if only they had listened to the toads.
Two days before the quake thousands of toads suddenly decided to move across a bridge in Taizhou, a town in the Jiangsu province (see photos). Chinese web users are wondering why the local authorities didn't relate the event to the imminence of an earthquake, and why scientists didn't take notice of the bizarre disappearance of a lake in Enshi, in the Hubei province, on April 26 (see photos).
A seismologist tells us that the Chinese have long relied on the behavior of animals to predict earthquakes. Although there's no scientific study to back up the farmers' claims, the idea that toads sensed the earthquake should not be ruled out.
Hell in Canada we've been listening to frogs for years, mostly of the Eastern variety. whilst it's true that we haven't had many Earthquakes in Canada but still.
Perhaps we should start listening to and electing Toads instead of Frogs, can't hurt none.
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Happy Birthday Gaza and don't forget to thank the Jews for pissing on Your Cake
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Posted:May 15, 2008 7:51 am
Last Updated:May 16, 2008 11:07 am
1792 Views
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Israeli forces destroy fruit trees and greenhouses in southern Gaza Strip
Khan Younis / PNN ‒ Israeli forces destroyed green houses, farms, fruit trees and land in the southern Gaza Strip’s Khan Younis area throughout the night.
The Mayor of the eastern town of Khoza’, Sheikh Kamal Najjar, reported that "the bulldozers and tanks of the Israeli occupation penetrated the eastern side of town which exploded with destruction on Tuesday. They washed away more than 500 dunams of land belonging to our citizens."
Mayor Najjar explained that farmers experienced heavy losses as Israeli forces dug up their lands closest to the boundary near the Israeli military encampments. "This is 400 meters away and their intention is a scheme to erase all manifestations of life from these areas."
The head of the municipality estimated losses of farmers since the start of the Israeli bulldozing campaign in the area at one million US dollars, saying that the eastern regions of the Gaza Strip are plagued by this, particularly Khoza’. He called on all media to visit the region and "transfer the message to the world."
Mayor Najjar said that the bulldozers, which withdrew this morning, washed away nearly 30 acres of greenhouses and 200 acres planted with olive trees and fruit, five poultry farms, in addition to dozens of acres planted with wheat, barley and other crops.
He called on the Palestinian government and relevant institutions to work to compensate "those affected by this Israeli policy which aims to inflict a heavy toll, since agriculture is the sole source of livelihood."
Several bulldozers and tanks penetrated beginning during the late hours of Monday, coming from eastern Khoza’s Abu Redah Gate. They began razing trees and destroying greenhouses, farms and uprooting trees immediately. The devastation reigned throughout the night until the Israeli forces withdrew Tuesday morning.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the destroyed land and property belongs to the Abu Tiam, Abu Duka, Qudeih, Omeish and Radwan families.
The mayor added that Israeli forces bulldozed another large area 500 meters into the Strip on their way out.
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Language Czar's and a AHa Moment
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Posted:May 13, 2008 1:09 pm
Last Updated:May 16, 2008 6:17 am
1941 Views
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The Lingo Czar is freshly returned from the printer, supervising the final touches on his forthcoming tome, "BAD WORDS," soon to be available in The Rip Post bookstore. This, of course, will be a comprehensive compendium of rigidly conformist slang, pin-headed outbursts, "cool" expressions, abominable cliches, infantile drivel, smug rejoinders, mandatory peer-enforced buzzwords and idiotspeak that Americans are spewing from their 500 word vocabularies, as their knuckles drag ever closer to the earth.
And here is the latest installment.
Citizens are hereby advised to refrain from the following worn-out phrases, buffoonish slang, buzzwords and airy mispronunciations infecting and muddling lingo in this, the alleged 21st century. They are rated: T (trite), A (asinine), P (pretentious), W (whoops), and CP (criminally prosecutable, or damn well should be.)
GIVE MYSELF/YOURSELF PERMISSION -- Oh, how precious you are! Oh, how perfumed is your psyche! Oh, how dainty are your sensibilities! Oh, how complex and convoluted are your convolutions! You can't just do something, God forbid. You can't just make a decision, or act on impulse. You must weigh, and consider, and hmmmmm, and scratch your chin, and furrow your brow, and give yourself permission. This odiferous expression rises from the especially stinky vocabulary known as psychobabble. It is a hoary staple of New Agey shrink-ese. People who are so imprisoned by various fashionable permutations of guilt or other trendy mental constipations are advised by shrinks/shrink books ("self help") to just give themselves permission to (usually) indulge some pleasure. I gave myself permission to buy a $75,000 Masserati. I gave myself permission to eat a pound of dark chocolate (after all, it has all those antioxidants!) I gave myself permission to get a nice herbal colon cleanse at my local Zen retreat boutique. What The Czar wants to know is, if you're giving yourself permission, which one of you is in charge? Which one is calling the shots, steering the wheel, dealing the cards? The good you? The evil you? The slovenly you? The dunderheaded you? The Czar gives you permission to stop giving yourself permission. Give yourself some persimmons instead. The fuyus will be in season soon enough. A, CP.
BABY BUMP -- The sum-total of the defense mechanism of women, that is, their primary buffer against the brutish, smelly, festering, wacky world is. . .cute. Or make that Cute. Built into their psyches, if not their psychoses, is a deep need to render anythingandeverything as Cute. Or make that Kewwwwwwwwwwt. Especially, mostly, maybe entirely. . .things that are definitely not kewwwwt. Starting with the excretions, northerly and southerly, particularly of babies. Yes, women should be congratulated, really, for taking the most vile emissions of fledgling humans and trying to think of them as endearing, aesthetically pleasing, even possibly a touch lyrical. It's probably in DNA, long ago developed in order to simply cope with the constant sight and ambience of baby vomit and defecation. And now, from the makers of "poop," "spit-up," comes new. . . "baby bump!" Well, that's not quite in the same class, of course---pregnancy is hardly as unsightly as such expulsory items. Of course, vanity, thy name is woman (unless it happens to be Oprah or Barbara Walters, which are far worse.) And thus have women rendered as kewwwt something that is neither ugly nor pretty, something that just is. This alliterative lingo cutesy-ism is, come to think of it, more in the realm of slang body euphemisms. You know, where a can the size of Wyoming is suddenly termed a "tushie," or breasts casually referred to as "boobs" (which sounds like a pair of infections.) Well, "baby bump" wouldn't be quite so damn irksome were it not for every TeeVee Mannequin on "Entertainment Tonight" and such programs using it every night in describing the latest "icon's" impregnation display, generally in close proximity to the odious "preggers." A.
PREGGERS -- The Czar doesn't really mind light-hearted, jaunty patois, but there is just something in the sound of this word that strikes him as wrong, on a visceral level. "Pregnant" is not a pretty word, to begin with, and rendering it a bit more appealing is a perfectly laudable undertaking. But "preggers" sounds kind of like a computer game, or really, more like one of those cheezo rigged games at a carnival or amusement pier, maybe with laughing clowns that explode when you throw a water balloon at them. But then, that's not a bad metaphor for the process of becoming pregnant. I guess "preggers" sort of has a "boinggg!" implication in its sound, as if you hit a bullseye and suddenly, bingo---you're preggers. Of course, that is almost a literal representation of the means of attaining pregnancy. Hard to say why this is so bothersome. It just sounds like a bad batch of eggs or something. There really are no words for this condition that sound pleasant, graceful---certainly not "with " or the dreaded banal male utterance, "one in the oven." The French, however, have a downright lovely way of saying it, "enceinte," but then most everything sounds pretty good in French. Even "Merde." A.
AHA! MOMENT -- Gee. Er. . .The Czar hates to resort to outright derision, but people, this is so dopey, so rube, so. . .TeeVee. And that's where you find it, mostly, among all the Punditmannequins, Newsmannequins, Interviewmannequins, Actormannequins, saying "I had my 'aha moment' when. . ." Maybe---maybe---this wouldn't have been so hair-retractingly disgusting had it only been said a couple of times, but it has now absolutely replaced "realization/realized" in discourse. You turn on CNN, and you find yourself tensing, flexing your toes in anticipation. . .you know some jackass is going to say "aha moment." It's just a matter of time. It strikes The Czar that this came about as a result of loss of general vocabulariousness and syntaxilaxity. In other words, people, you are losing the ability not only to think, if you ever had much, but to speak. One can just picture gum-chewing, cigarette-sucking Beverly Hills PR gal Patsy Rheinhold (a fake name---if she exists, please advise and we'll fake another) driving down Wilshire in her fire engine red Mustang convertible, speaking faster than the speed of lightweight into her cell phone: "I don't know, I was getting a manicure, and this Korean girl dug too deep in my big toe, and I had this, like, aha moment, and I knew then that I had to change Pilates instructor. . ." One can easily see it then being slipped into her next press kit, and from there adopted by TeeVee boneheads. Now this is just theoretical, mind you. But it would be nice to be able to track down the first person who spoke "aha moment"---I'll just bet it might have been Oprah---and express proper gratitude for this puerile addition to declining English. T, A.
NUCLEAR OPTION -- Need anything really be said about this? Yes? Okay, then, here's what you do. Take a trip to Hiroshima or Nagasaki, hang out in a café where the locals speak a bit of English, get to know them well enough to have some good conversation, then drop "nuclear option" into a sentence or two. Watch the fun begin! Watch the eyebrows knit, the eyes widen, the exchanges of looks. What did that person just say?? You think "nuclear option" is cute, do you, oh Punditmannequin and Congressmannequin? Oh Fox News Fascistmannequin? Think it's zippy to say, "Hillary is reportedly planning the nuclear option for the Democratic convention?" I mean, really, folks, how dare you turn the most frightening and devastating weapon yet devised (oh, they'll top it, you wait and see) into a flip little turn of phrase, as if it's a goddamn football play. Do you not have an aha moment---I mean, do you not realize---that this at least subconsciously renders the horror of nuclear weapons less bone-fryingly frightening? That it even subtly furthers the process of making the nuclear option more acceptable, psychologically? Isn't it bad enough that millions of cretins in this country fill blogs with talk of "nuking" anything that does not tickle their pleasure receptors? Isn't it bad enough that fiendish Hillary recently spoke of "annihilating" Iran, including, of course, all the nice people there who just want to get on with their lives, and have no strong political feelings about much of anything? Isn't it bad enough that Bin-Laden and countless terrorist types would love nothing better than to exercise the "nuclear option" against innocents? But forget my rant here, just do as I said. Drop it into conversation in Hiroshima, or if you can't afford the trip, find a Japanese nuke survivor in the U.S.---they're still around---and try the expression out on him or her. The Czar is no patsy for sensitivity training, or political correctness, but this is about as insensitive as insensitive gets. There should be no nuclear option, in language or reality. T, A, P, CP.
THE FED -- Sounds like some kind of race of creatures that Capt. Kirk would have to contend with. You can hear Bones: "This Fed is dead, Jim." This is another unfortunate case of an abbreviation that has come to sound silly. Newsmannequins are constantly telling one and all what "The Fed" is doing. As in Federal Reserve, of course. Or even, more loosely, federal government. The Czar's theory is that the newsmannequins like to say it because it makes them feel more newsy to use parlance and shorthand---much as they picked up "shooter" from police jargon to replace "assailant" and "murderer." The Fed. I don't know, sounds like Dr. Seuss or something. "The Fed went down/ to a little town/ and ate and ate and ate/ And when he was done/ He urped and said "Yum"/ Now The Fed's had a well-fed fate!" You know, it's really just a case of The Czar being sick of hearing something. Why, oh why why why, can't some newsmannequin somewhere say "Federal Reserve," just once in a while. Not that the government deserves any particular dignity anymore, but then, if you regard a person or institution with dignity, perhaps it will begin to behave with a touch of same. Yes, you know the final line: The Czar is Fed up. T, A, CP.
DREAM -- The Czar has enormous pity for growing up today, incessantly told to "follow your dream" by every "mentor," teacher, gold-chained-God-thanking-no-talent Grammy-winning Pop Starmannequin, etc. What sorts of "dreams" are possible, one wonders, with education affordable only to the rich, cities being turned into playgrounds for the super-affluent, military recruiters hanging around high schools like vultures looking to turn young people into Iraq carrion? With pop culture ennobling "gangsta" culture, turning ignorant beasts into heavily rewarded celebrities? With dreadful, vapid, demographically designed music-product mesmerizing from early sentience? Are dreaming of becoming doctors? Scientists? Composers? Perhaps. But it is more likely they are dreaming of becoming Snoop Dogg, and that's just a nightmare. "Follow your dream" is probably the worst advice one could possibly give a these days, it suddenly occurs. Focus on one thing and work hard, extremely hard, seems much better. T, P, CP.
CELEBRATE OUR DIVERSITY -- Let's retire this, fast, once and for all, eh? It became a cliché approximately 30 years ago. What's more, let's not celebrate our diversity. Let's ignore our diversity. Let's celebrate our similarity. Let's celebrate our unity. All this "diversity celebration" has only resulted, ultimately, in separatism, resentment, even enmity. Welcome to the Factionalized States of America. You know, The Czar remembers a thing back in the '70's called The L.A. Street Scene. Mayor Bradley arranged to have downtown more or less closed off for a big weekend wang-dang-doodle once a year. There were stages set up all over the place, and every kind of music from the L.A. Phil to mariachi and a cappella to taiko and tabla. Smoke from a crazy-quilt of ethnic cuisines rose into the air and became a multi-cultural olfactory L.A. mélange. A symbolic manifestation of togetherness. Countless thousands of people poured into downtown from all sectors of L.A.., and this town really felt like a town. It was a wondrous, marvelous event---until, of course, gangs attended and began rumbling and shooting, then it was cancelled. Now there is some Latino thing every year called Spring Street L.A. or something, which is very nice for latinos who are "celebrating our diversity." Doesn't celebrate the rest of us, though, does it? This notion is an outgrowth of '60's civil rights movements that ultimately were perverted into crazed egalitarianism. Okay, we all now know how diverse we are, so let's get back to trying to be one citizenry. A, P, CP.
I'M DOWN WITH THAT -- Where are you? You're down? Down where? Down with what? You want to play poker? Yeah, I'm down with that. You want to teach cats to sing and dance? Yeah, I'm down with that. Hell, between "I'm down with that" and "whuzzup?" you've got most of your conversational needs met. Gangsta-hipster-hiphopster jive like this is typically appropriated by mainstream lingo blabberers, and loses all cache. This one had lost any degree of slang credential almost before it was new. Once upon a time, you know, slang was largely the pursuit of high school . Of course, since those days, high school mentality and behavior has been well extended into the 30's and 40's, arguably beyond, so it is not unusual to have older folk using trendy phrases, as well. How pathetic it is that guttural street lingo has become the coolspeak of the middle class. Not down with that at all. T, A, P, CP.
JOURNEY/JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY -- Open psychobabble chute number 3! Let that bull loose! Look at him bucking out there, and what's that he's leaving on the ground? Why, it's "journey!" And there's "journey of self-discovery!" How many more times must we listen to commercials, or read Hallmark cards, or have sweet, well-intentioned friends send us e-mails---all saying "life is a journey?" Answer: more than a handful! It struck The Czar that there is an analogy between traveling and experiencing life, back when he was still a little lingo prince. The insides of this cliché rotted and fell out eons ago, yet people still toss the withered carcass around all the time. You know what life is? It's really more of one big event. When you think of it as a journey, though, you wind up thinking of the destination, and that is not any place you want to rush off to, now, is it? Now let's turn to "journey of self-discovery." Is there any term that more says "narcissism" than this one? You know, The Czar really fervently wishes that people would stop discovering themselves and start discovering other people, and animals, and trees, and flowers, and manatees, and ice bergs, and. . .When you start discovering things outside of yourself, you eventually wind up knowing more about yourself than you would have by a "journey of self-discovery." T, A, P, CP.
POST-PARTISAN -- This is one of the latest infections by the post-virus, other recent notables being "post-modern" and "post-racial." What a hilarious little device, for all its transparent pretense. Want to be a player? Be sure and use "post," then. Nobody can realistically participate in Callousness: The Game of Sociopathic Self-Promotion (widely played in media and politics) without saying "post"-this or that. Post-partisan is usually used in reference to Washington, as if the "era of partisanship" has ended. Yes, that's right. And the era of self interest has also ended. Why, we must be entering the era of altruism! Bunny rabbits and butterflies and jolly candy and soundtrack entirely by The Archies! Gad. You can no sooner stop being "partisan" than you can keep roast turkey from Oprah. People have attitudes, they have beliefs, they have positions on issues. There is irresponsible, unreasoned partisanship, which is really just fascism, and there is simply acting according to your beliefs. We are no more in a "post-partisan" environment than we are dancing on rose petals. We are, in fact, at the moment, in a Rip Post-partisan environment. A, P, CP.
Have a post-partisan Lingo Day.
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The Long Night
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Posted:May 12, 2008 3:14 pm
Last Updated:May 22, 2024 1:10 am
1704 Views
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Have you ever wondered how human beings can be so cruel? And how cruelty crosses all the boundaries ‒ national, racial, and ethnic? I have.
Rereading an autobiography published in 1941 by a communist agent reminded me of the dark side of human nature.The book, Out of the Night, was written ‒ under the pseudonym "Jan Valtin" ‒ by a German who lived through the chaos of the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism. Broken by Gestapo torture, he ended up being pursued by both the Nazi and the communist man hunters and killers.
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Murders by these two forms of socialism are measured in the millions during the 20th century. That alone should warn all people off any form of collectivism, because all of those millions, in the minds of their killers, were sacrificed "for the greater good." They ‒ flesh-and-blood individual human beings ‒ were all murdered in the name of an abstraction, a stupid theory of how society should be organized. I doubt if the head thugs on both sides actually believed the theories. What they really believed in was power over their fellow man.
If you look at the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution, the message is clear: Intellectuals and the common people can produce a blood bath. Latching on to some "ism" for justification, their greed for power and desire for revenge can run amok. Butchering women and because they were born into the "wrong" class is surely insane.
In our time, when people are saying we must sacrifice liberty for security, that scrapping the Constitution is necessary to win the "war" against terrorism, I would suggest that you take your choice of genocides in the past 100 years and remind yourself what happens when people buy into the false proposition that the end justifies the means. People who preach that are always more interested in the means than in any end.
The only safe environment for a human being is under a weak government with very restricted powers. Normal people don't need much to be happy ‒ food, shelter, dignity, and freedom from marauders. They need a rule of law that applies to everyone equally and at all times and in all circumstances. In established societies, legislators should meet rarely ‒ perhaps once every two or three years ‒ because a continuing cascade of new laws will eventually drown freedom.
The Founding Fathers, whether through luck, wisdom, or divine guidance, gave us an almost perfect form of government, and we've been busy ever since trying to take it apart. Human beings are dangerous predators and cannot be trusted with power over their fellows. Many Americans have forgotten that the power of government comes out of the barrel of a gun. Governments coerce; they don't persuade.There are people living among us at this very moment capable of the cruelty so evident in the holocaust even if it had happened.
All they are waiting for is the opportunity. No greater opportunity exists than when a government enlists such people and says whatever you do is now justified for the sake of the "greater good."Who would have guessed that George W. Bush, who seemed to be a genial good old boy, would turn out to be a tyrant, launching wars of aggression, arresting and confining people without charges or access to a lawyer, condoning torture, and lying to the American people? A government that can without trial destroy you by simply putting on a list your name or the name of an organization with which you are associated is a tyranny. A government that invades other countries and that feels free to murder people in any country it chooses is a tyranny. Americans are on the edge of a long night. We had better wake up and step back before it's too late.
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At Least the British have Great Tits
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Posted:May 8, 2008 9:19 pm
Last Updated:May 9, 2008 1:26 am
1786 Views
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At least one of Britain's birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.
Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars.
Writing in the journal Science, they point out that the same birds in the Netherlands have not managed to adjust. Understanding why some species in some places are affected more than others by climatic shifts is vital, they say.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds commented that other species are likely to fare much worse than great tits as temperatures rise.
Perfect timing
The research uses a long record of great tits in a breeding site at Wytham Woods near Oxford, where observations began in 1947.
The finding is surprising in that the birds are using the same old rules, but the rules still work
Professor Marcel Visser
"We think it’s the longest running population study of wild animals anywhere in the world where animals are marked (ringed)," said Ben Sheldon of Oxford University, who led the new research.
"The population contains about 400 breeding pairs, and they produce between them 2,000 or more offspring each year - so over the course of the study about 80,000 birds have been ringed and studied," he told BBC News.
The current work used records going back only to 1961, when a standard methodology was adopted.
The great tits are laying eggs now about two weeks earlier in the year than they were 47 years ago.
The timing is crucial, because for the two-week period after they hatch, the chicks have to gobble down huge quantities of winter moth caterpillars which only emerge for a short period.
"Winter moth larvae can make up up to 90% of the biomass of insects on oak trees at that time," said Professor Sheldon.
"Great tits have eight or nine babies in a brood, and each of them will eat about 70 caterpillars a day.
The chicks hatch and are fully grown within two weeks, so they need something that's really abundant - that's why they synchonise their breeding so hatching co-incides with the emergence of the caterpillars."
The caterpillars' appearance is triggered by ambient temperature - that has been shown in the laboratory - and it is believed that great tits also begin their breeding cycle in response to temperatures.
Their movement to an earlier breeding time does not involve an evolutionary change, the scientists believe - it is simply that individual birds are able to change their behaviour, in the same way that they have presumably adapted to warmer or cooler phases before the era of human-induced global warming.
Different strokes
In Wytham, the behaviour of the two species is changing in step; but other situations are very different.
Three years ago, Marcel Visser from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in Heteren collated a number of these cases.
The North American wood warbler has not adapted its migration pattern to the earlier emergence of caterpillars in its breeding ground, and the Dutch honey buzzard is also failing to adapt to the earlier appearance of wasps, which it eats.
The red admiral butterfly is arriving on the UK's shores earlier from its winter grounds in north Africa; but the staple food of its larvae, the common nettle, continues to flower at the same time each year.
The Wytham site. Image: TA Wilkin
Wytham Woods are home to about 400 breeding pairs of great tits
Just across the North Sea in Holland, Professor Visser has also found that great tits are faring very differently from their British cousins; the breeding time is advancing each year, but the emergence of caterpillars is advancing three times faster.
"The UK finding is to some extent surprising in that the birds are using the same old rules, but the rules still work," he told BBC News.
"In our study population, the same old rules don't work any more; so it's an interesting question as to which situation is the normal one and which is the exception."
The RSPB and other conservation bodies have regularly warned that climate shifts could have a devastating impact on some species; and they believe the new research does not change that picture.
"It's great to hear that the great tit is able to keep pace with the rapid rate of climate change, but then it's probably in the best place to do that," observed RSPB spokesman Grahame Madge.
"They're abundant birds, they can live in gardens, woodland and open country, and they churn out large numbers of young in a short space of time, so they're better able to learn changes in behaviour."
The organisation believes - as do others - that climate change is one of the main cuplrits for the abrupt declines in some seabird populations around UK coasts in recent years.
The Oxford and Heteren groups are now planning to collaborate on a study to elucidate why some populations apparently adapt well to climate change, and others do not.
"Our study shows that sometimes individuals can be very flexible in their behaviour," said Ben Sheldon.
"What we want to do is to try and understand why some species are flexible and others aren't - it's the ones that aren't flexible that are going to be at risk."
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Fish Story
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Posted:Apr 26, 2008 9:58 am
Last Updated:May 16, 2008 6:22 am
2089 Views
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So, there was this giant fish, a grouper to end all groupers, and it came here a few thousand eons ago. It opened its mouth, and out came Man. Followed shortly thereafter by Woman, and the poodle. And Man and Woman began to promptly fornicate, and give forth of their kind, which eventually outnumbered the dinosaurs, which were hunted and eaten into extinction. And some particularly nasty (or hungry) humans also killed and ate the grouper, which riled up God, you see, because God was a grouper, too, and the dead fish was his only begotten . But on the fourth or fifth day, somebody saw the grouper swimming offshore near Monte Carlo, smoking a cigar and looking very sharp in cravat and beret, and lo, it was said that he had risen from the dead. And God said Man was cursed with sin and evil, and the Bushes and Clintons, but one day the grouper would return and set things right, and all who ever loved the grouper, dead and living, would stride into his open mouth, and he would then swim up to heaven, and release them into eternal fields of lollipops and cocaine and sex, and all other things that humans love best. The rest would remain on earth, doomed to burn and rot with Oprah Winfrey and Fox News.
This is Christianity, or at least, what much of it has become. The generic Christian yarn is no better---actually much less colorful and entertaining---than this tale, or countless other religious mythologies to be found on this suffocating little spinning sphere. Just think: lots of Jesus dingoes actually believe that humans cavorted with Barney the Purple Dinosaur and his lumbering pals, just a few thousand years ago. Really. Christi-inane-ity. And how 'bout that Jesus-died-for-your sins-thing? How does that sitcom work? God says he'll forgive you every Sunday for any sins you commit---infanticide, cannibalism, listening to Rush Limbaugh---because Pilate nailed his up a long time ago? Such a deal!
Whoever Jesus was, or Jesus-es, and whatever shiny and pure things he or they stood for, fuhgeddabouddit. It's: we all gwyne up to hebbin on de big ribuhboat, and you're not. We believe, therefore we are saved. You're not. You soon-to-be pustule-ridden, Rapture-festering craphounds. The supernatural aspects of the whole of God melodrama are a giant fish story---the crucified one that got away---but that's fine because most people need to believe in supernatural things, and an "after-life," and honest elections. And of course, there is an after-life. We are all broken down into bits of carbon and methane and reconstituted into other things. We are the greatest imaginable argument for recyling. Your grandmother could be a milk carton. Or a tampon. Or a bird of paradise. Or all three.
So today in these here Yoo-benighted States, or Unitashtase, as Bush pronounces it, we have those madcap, fun-loving, zany so-called fundamentalists (boy are they fundamental) and Armageddonists and End-Timers and Evangelicals who all believe that Mr. Jesus Christ is coming back anysecondnow and that "believers" will be whisked right out of their clothes and launched, buck-nekkid, to the Great Nudist Colony in the Sky. Forever and ever, world without end, Amen. Me, I'd find that a little embarrassing. I'd prefer wearing a nice Pendleton and jeans when I meet the Big Grouper. Although I wouldn't mind seeing Sigourney Weaver’s end-times, if you know what I mean.(Wink)
Now all this would be just a bit funny---and it used to be, back in the '70's when you could get stoned and laugh your ass off at televangelists----if it were not for the fact that these dithering JEEE-suhs flunkies determine government policy. Twenty-five percent of Congress believes that Man and dinosaur were pinochle partners. I mean, think about that: would you hire insane retards with a death wish to run the country? Well, you have!
Frank Zappa predicted it decades ago, but I figured he was exaggerating. (Whoops.) Yes, people who not only think the human world is ending---but who want the human world to end---have been influencing and making policy in Washington with progressive success since the country grew diseased enough to elect that B-movie actor. I mean, one of the current presi-dense-ial candidates subscribes to a religion that believes The C-Man will set up HQ in Atlanta. Tweet! Now it is all pinnacling with Prezboy "God speaks through me"/"I cry on God's shoulder" Bush. Yes, I know you know, but I think you need to be reminded. Every time I think about it, I want to slap myself upside the hay-uhd, and hope I wake up back in Kansas.
Christianity, as it has been comic booked and cartooned, has become nothing more than a death cult. Jim Jonesville, with corpulent uglies like John Hagee and the (late---thank you, Jesus) Jerry Falwell spewing nothing but corpulent ugliness. These are men of God? Then send me to Hay-uhll! All most Christians are doing today is a-linin' up, a-grinnin', for the Jesus Kool-Aid Rapture. (Actually, Jones served grape Flavor-Aid, the Kool-Aid knockoff.(Cheap Bastard couldn't even let his flock fly first-class.) And going to "mega-churches" where they get whipped up into an eyeball-rolling-back-in-the-head, goo-goo-boo-goo talkin'-in-tongues froth by filthy rich skinks and salamanders like Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn.
Understand: these people want to die and go straight to guh-lorrr-ay! Now you can see how this could just have a wee bit of an impact on oh, war, and foreign policy, and maybe queer your chances of pouring yourself a big bowl of Honeynut Cheerios tomorrow morning and slapping the li'l woman playfully on the ass. Of course, it has also provided us with the worst comedy team since Abbott and Costello (who weren't really very funny, and Costello hated Abbott), and by that I refer to Christians and Jews. Yes, dentally-impaired Christians about as smart and book-eddicated as gum trees have aligned themselves with their Jewish "brethren," who---and you'll have to indulge a bit of racist/ethnic generalization here---tend to be no more highly educated or intelligent than the average Nobel Prize-winning chemist or poet. I mean, har! Har again!
These Christians, of course, think Babble prophecy dictates that Israel's presence is "required" for Jesus to come screaming down in a cosmic Cadillac, or, as the Hagee Left Behind crowd thinks, to come thundering down as a mighty, avenging warrior. Samurai Christ. Yes, these people have their brains in their left behind, but it doesn't matter. Dick Cheney just went to Utah and made a nice speech for them---yes, for the Left Behind goons. He's the ultimate End-Timer, is Dick, and he's working 'round the clock to scrub your good-time. And shall I get the pincers and extract a delicate little irony? Okay. These so-called Christians until recently were a veritable glee-club of Anti-Semitism---the kind of pious, forgiven-on-Sundee folk who blame "the Jews" for just about everything short of toenail fungus. And their Jewish supporters? Well, this is a match made in Armageddon heaven, as most of the Jews whoring it up with Hagee's nutball Christians United For Israel are neocon right-wing kneejerk reactionary Israel-can-do-no-wrong bellicose paranoid nuke-slavering backers of the Israel lobby. Who's on first? Hey, Abbooooottttttt. . .
See, the joker in this whole Death Cult Christianity deck is the word, "faith." It is the Big Hoodoo, the magic dust that powders all current Jesus events, the comfy blanky that just smothers everything with nice, oozy, drippy, honied beatitude. "Faith" connotes purity, holiness, goodness, and possibly lack of an anus. It is a word very often spoken by people who have just committed murder, , or -murder. Politicians brought down by (take your choice) stealing, embezzling, diddling boys and girls, spewing reproductive fluid on interns' dresses, promptly begin speaking of their "faith." Presidink Bush, who has caused the deaths of between half-a-million and a million Iraqis, speaks often of his "faith." When "believers" start talking of "faith" and "faith-based initiatives," it just sounds dang-near as sweet as one of Aunt Bee's gooseberry pies on a Mayberry windowsill, don't it?
Ah, how they love to say it. MY FAITH. I don't know what I would do without MY FAITH. MY FAITH will sustaineth my ass. Watch me roll my eyes back and smile as if the vibrator is on overdrive and say, "MY FAITH." Well, let's examine this word, "faith," just for futile sport. When you attempt to engage a "believer" in discussion of his or her religion, first they deny they have a "religion." Huh? That's right---it's knowledge, not "religion." They know. It's their personal relationship with Gawd. (As if Gawd could be bothered with Johnny Johnson of Jackson Hole.) And before long, FAITH shows up, like froth in the mouth of a holy rollin' snake-handler. It goes something like this. Why do you say that Jesus Christ is the of God? Well, because he is the of God! But this is your belief---it's not a fact. No, I know this. I don't believe it. Okay, then why do you call yourself a believer, asshole? This. . .is "faith." When you claim to know something instead of merely believing it, and when you "know" that all other points of view and contrary religious notions are wrong and will get the believer sent to hell, or at least Fresno, you have. . .faith. In other words, when there is no evidence to warrant believing something, you simply decide to accept it as truth, and you call it "faith." Shazam!
This is where the Jesusists are drilling without a molar, spouting without a blowhole, smoking without the crack. (And adherents of most other religions.) This sort of "faith" is as pure and simple a definition of insanity as has ever existed. I believe in Jesus because it's true. I believe in leprechauns because they are real. I believe in tiny happy dogs growing in my armpits because they are. The Bible is the word of God because it is. Yeah, but the Bible was written by humans. No, The Bible is the word of God. No, you believe The Bible is the word of God. No, I don't---I know it for a fact. How do you know God is not a really smart ferret? Because I know it! Before long, they tend to get a little peeved, sort of like the Daleks in "Dr. Who," indignantly caterwauling, "Do not blaspheme! Do not blaspheme!" I know people who get angry---angry---if you tell jokes that involve Jesus or God. Seriously angry. Like the Mormon minister in Utah who years ago sent me an e-mail bursting with profanity and denunciation in response to a column I had written. Very Christian of her! Look, I'll allow for the slight possibility that extra terrestrials will come back to visit the planet and wipe out all war-mongering murderous jackasses who were not part of the initial prehistoric E.T. experiments on monkeys. But that's as far as I'll go.
I'm a here-and-now kinda guy, anyhow. And I think that here and now we need to get some laws passed, fast. First, there should be a law that Disneyland must be rebuilt and restored exactly to Walt's original specifications, standards, and morality. Get rid of all the Star Wars crap, and slow down all the Fantasyland rides to their original speed. Then: outlaw pineapple on pizza. Also: all female TV news, sports, and weathermannequins must wear no make-up, never show teeth, and blouses must button all the way up. Further: television journalists should wear wrinkled shirts, loose ties, and have extensive backgrounds in print journalism. Also: say the word, "cool," in public, except in reference to temperature, and pay a $1000 fine. Second offense: jail time. And of course there should be a law outlawing all SUV's, tattooes, and young women talking on cell phones.
But most of all, let's ban all influence by all religious groups in government. Period. No financial contributions allowed, no "Christian" lobbyists, no Jesus nothin'. Candidates running on a platform merging of church and state? Disqualify. Then tax the hell out of all the churches, and use the revenue exclusively for health care, gang rehabilitation, free chocolate, and planting trees.
Forever and ever, Amen.
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The Astonishing Cost of Consumer Liquids
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Posted:Apr 18, 2008 8:08 am
Last Updated:Apr 26, 2008 2:34 pm
1916 Views
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This makes one think, and also puts things into perspective:
* Diet Snapple, 16 oz, $1.29 ... $10.32 per gallon
*Lipton Ice Tea, 16 oz, $1.19 ... $9.52 per gallon
* Gatorade, 20 oz, $1.59 ..... $10.17 per gallon
* Ocean Spray, 16 oz, $1.25 . $10.00 per gallon
* Brake Fluid, 12 oz, $3.15 .... $33.60 per gallon
* Vick's Nyquil, 6 oz, $8.35 ... $178.13 per gallon
* Pepto Bismol,4 oz, $3.85 . $123.20 per gallon
* Whiteout, 7 oz, $1.39 ......... $25.42 per gallon
* Scope, 1.5 oz, $0.99 ....$84.48 per gallon
And this is a REAL KICKER...
* Evian water, 9 oz, $1.49 .. $21.19 per gallon! That's $21.19 for a gallon of WATER!! And buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)
LAST, (but not least):
Ever wonder why computer printers are so cheap? So they can rip you off for the ink refill cartridges!!? Someone calculated the cost of a gallon of ink in all those refills at.
$5,200 a gallon .
That's right...$5,200 A GALLON.
So, the next time you're at a fuel pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil or, (God forbid), Printer Ink.
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It's so nice to share
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Posted:Apr 16, 2008 3:35 am
Last Updated:May 23, 2008 4:01 pm
1885 Views
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When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don't take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don't know.
I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I'd forgotten to make.
I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying "Hello."
I politely said, " Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?"
Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear "Get the right f***ing number!" and the phone was slammed down on me. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so rude. When I tracked down Robyn's correct number to call her, I found that I had accidentally transposed the last two digits.
After hanging up with her, I decided to call the 'wrong' number again.
When the same guy answered the phone, I yelled "You're an asshole!" and
hung up. I wrote his number down with the word 'asshole' next to it, and put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I'd call him up and yell, "You're an asshole!" It always cheered me up.
When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic 'asshole' calling would have to stop. So, I called his number and said, "Hi, this is John Smith from the telephone company. I'm calling to see if you're familiar with our Caller ID Program?"
He yelled "NO!" and slammed down the phone. I quickly called him back and said, "That's because you're an asshole!" and hung up.
One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking Spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I'd been waiting for that spot, but the idiot ignored me. I noticed a "For Sale" sign in his back window, so I wrote down his number.
A couple of days later, right after calling the first asshole (I had his number on speed dial,) I thought that I'd better call the BMW asshole, too.
I said, "Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?"
He said, "Yes, it is."
I asked, "Can you tell me where I can see it?"
He said, "Yes, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Winnipeg. It's a yellow rambler, and the car's parked right out in front."
I asked, "What's your name?"
He said, "My name is Don Hansen,"
I asked, "When's a good time to catch you, Don?"
He said, "I'm home every evening after five."
I said, "Listen, Don, can I tell you something?"
He said, "Yes?"
I said, "Don, you're an asshole!"
Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too. Now, when I had a problem, I had two assholes to call.
Then I came up with an idea. I called asshole #1. He said, "Hello."
I said, "You're an asshole!" (But I didn't hang up.)
He asked, "Are you still there?"
I said, "Yeah,"
He screamed, "Stop calling me,"
I said, "Make me,"
He asked, "Who are you?"
I said, "My name is Don Hansen."
He said, "Yeah? Where do you live?"
I said, "Asshole, I live at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Winnipeg, a yellow rambler, I have a black Beamer parked in front."
He said, "I'm coming over right now, Don. And you had better start saying your prayers."
I said, "Yeah, like I'm really scared, asshole," and hung up.
Then I called Asshole #2.
He said, "Hello?"
I said, "Hello, asshole,"
He yelled, "If I ever find out who you are..."
I said, "You'll what?"
He exclaimed, "I'll kick your ass,"
I answered, "Well, asshole, here's your chance. I'm coming over right now."
Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived at 34 Oaktree Blvd, in Winnipeg, and that I was on my way over there to kill my gay lover.
Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in Oaktree Blvd. in Winnipeg.
I quickly got into my car and headed over to town. I got there just in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six cop cars, an overhead news helicopter and surrounded by a news crew.
NOW I feel much better.  
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Sailing on The Blood Money River.
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Posted:Apr 14, 2008 12:41 pm
Last Updated:Apr 23, 2008 1:02 pm
2021 Views
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Bon giorno good readers and friends; it's another day in the Empire. Money and blood are flowing in twin rivers, turning into each other and then turning back into themselves. Blood is flowing out of your body and into the banking system. Money is flowing out of the banking system and turning into blood. It may well be a perpetual motion machine.
It's difficult for me to be as precise as I would like to be because I don't have any sources at the NSA and none of the flies on the wall are fixed up with transmitters to feed into my listening devices. So I have to ponder and speculate and imagine.
There are two things that keep popping up in my mind and I'm thinking that maybe they are connected somehow and maybe I should talk about them and it could help me to understand them better or someone out there might have some ideas about what it all means.
I keep thinking about PNAC and the serendipity of 9/11; how one flowed into the other on the Blood Money River and then traveled in the ocean currents over to Afghanistan and then into Iraq. I think about the conditions on the Turkish and Pakistani borders and how Iran is snuggled up in the center of it all. You throw in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and a couple of bodies of water and you have the boundaries of this country. There it sits.
I may be going out on a limb here but it seems to me that the main goal of the neo-con psychopaths in PNAC was and is Iran. Now it goes without saying that PNAC is dominated by dual national, Israeli/Americans and that the whole putsch of the organization is to benefit the interests of Israel. Somehow this little- made up out of false rhetoric and historical fantasies- country, which didn't exist until 60 years ago has become the most powerful and problematic nation on Earth. Power on Earth comes from Money. There's no two ways about it. You could say that it comes from armies but you don’t get armies without Money, ergo'
Where does Money come from? It comes from banks. Banks are where Money comes from and banks turn Money into a blood river that flows around the world changing into Money and back into blood and back into Money. You can learn all about the blood Money exchange if you're of a scholarly bent or, if you are one of those people that likes to watch then here's three and a half hours of it. You'll know all you need to know once you've taken the time to learn; which is always a big part of understanding something and, let's face it we're all sailing on The Blood Money River one way or another and it doesn't hurt to have some charts.
Of course… if you just would rather be uninformed you can just keep drifting with the currents on The Blood Money River and see where it takes you.
When you look at all of the trouble that the low to the ground, blood-sucking, shit weasels at PNAC have been to; bringing down the towers at the World Trade Center and decimating Afghanistan and Iraq as well; reeling in the opium drug-blood Money as well as their corporate connections to the war supply profit machine it would be foolish to assume they are not going to go after Iran.
My good friend Paola over at uruknetdotinfo does not agree with me and has got precise arguments concerning it. I want to believe but once again all that trouble they went to Iran is the ultimate prize in the chess game which is really about Russia and China when you look deeper and… I just don't know. Whatever does happen, you can count on a false flag event that will conveniently track back to Iran. There's a good chance they will try to kill The Pope because THAT would put all the pieces where they want them.
People don't realize that Iran would have long ago been bombed flat by the US and certainly by Israel except for Russia that's a big consideration that no one is talking about.
The other thing that keeps coming up in my mind is all over the world, many of the people and all of the governments know that 9/11 was a Mossad/CIA hit. It's known. And an interesting thing is happening with what looks like the formation of a UN investigative agency to look into the role of the American neo-cons in what happened on 9/11. But how come, for so long… so many people have kept their mouths shut? How come, with all this threatening of Iran… how come Ahmadinejad does not take himself before the world and lay out what is threatening his country and ask for help? Why doesn't he talk about his people and their dreams and a desire to live in peace and directly address the lies? I'm having a hard time saying what I want to say. Where are the passionate voices of powerful individuals who should be standing before cameras and writing for newspapers and saying what needs to be said? Why is there no grouping of good guys, in a position to do something, traveling the world and speaking out on behalf of the world in the face of this terrible monster who wants to swallow civilization and drown it in a Blood Money River that will have neither blood nor Money if it destroys the thing it is feeding on?
We know that all mass media is in the hands of this monster. But if enough powerful individuals started traveling from town to town and talking about what they know and what they suspect if they started operating pro-actively like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, the world would notice. Where is the man with the stature of a Jimmy Carter, or the woman of noble character whose job is to call upon all of the good and decent people in positions of power (if there are any) and demand that they come forward and join together for the good of the human race and who have the courage to shame those who will not come forward?
suspect that there are people coming forward but we don’t hear about it, but we do hear about it so, where is the mind that can comprehend the simple answer to a complex problem? Leaders from around the world in every field of human endeavor must join together must stand up and say to America and Israel, to the bankers and the corporations that this madness must stop. Let them stop traffic on 5th Avenue. Let them throw bloodstained dollars down on to the floor of the stock exchange. Let them dress up in George Bush and Dick Cheney masks and chant, "I am a murder, a liar and a fool!" Let us make a spectacle. Let us use irony and comedy about that which is not funny. Let those who have the power stand before the police and the cameras and demand that these jackals be driven from the halls of power. Let the truckers stall their vehicles on the highway. Let the conductors refuse to drive the trains. Let the pilot refuse to fly and we shall see what will happen. You know what will happen. A revolution does not have to be bloody but it must be a revolution.
Someone in congress needs to stand up and accuse Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the sold out whores who are selling out their country. This isn't a government. This is a crime syndicate. It is past time to act. We see now how insidious and pervasive is the power to control the flow of information. We see now why unscrupulous individuals have seized control of it. It's time to do something about the blood Money river. It's time for the whole world to stand up and say that they "ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more."
I'm tired of sailing on The Blood Money River. I can see where it goes. I can see where it drains. It drains into The Ocean of Human Tears.
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Good Intentions
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Posted:Apr 10, 2008 5:55 pm
Last Updated:Apr 18, 2008 6:26 am
1874 Views
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Daniel Dennett wrote that good intentions do not work in situations where expectations are higher, such as the expectations that we have for our doctors and engineers. Think about it, he offers, if doctors claimed to have acted on good intentions instead of sound medical understanding based on the most modern scientific explanations of biology and chemistry they would be sued for malpractice, and looked upon by all of us as quacks if not simply criminals. If bridges are built from faith rather than physical fact, then there are huge consequences. Many religious people claim faith is as important as fact. In fact, the often claim that it is more important than fact. But the fact is, there is not as much riding on faith. They also claim that bad things done in the name of religion have been done with the best of intentions (a recent conversation of mine with a friend concerning the Scopes trial exemplifies this point of view), and that it is the intentions that are most important in such cases. The argument is confusing because it does not make sense. While I may have good intentions, I cannot rely solely upon them to prove the validity of any argument. Good intentions, as good as they may be, cannot bear the weight of truth. "Good intention" is nothing more than the blind faith of someone who feels good about relying upon emotion rather than evidence.
People who believe in a God do so, not because their intentions are good, but because they have come to some conclusion by some means, or they simply accept what they have been told. If someone comes to a conclusion, then it is fair to assume that they have concluded based on some premise or set of premises, such as the cosmological or teleological arguments. When these arguments were first posited, they relied upon the strength of their premises to prove the plausibility of their conclusions. Over time, as science broadened its abilities and scope, these arguments became less valid until today; they are simply invalidated by the alternative conclusions that science offers. At this point, anyone who relies upon arguments such as the cosmological (intelligent design) or the teleological (the virtuous argument) to prove their conclusion must adhere to logic and admit defeat, or rely upon wishful thinking or blind faith. Good intentions do not change the truth of any argument, and so those with "good intentions" such persons must rely upon wishful thinking or blind faith.
This is not a case of positing a false dilemma. While it is true that all science starts from hypotheses (unproven propositions), good science takes any arguments and tests them for validity. Such science excludes the possibility of relying upon wishful thinking or blind faith. Even if a scientist has the best intentions, if the hypothesis fails, the scientist acting on good conscience (and upon truth) must admit that the proposition posited is untrue, no matter what the intentions of positing the proposition was in the first place. This leaves one of two possibilities for those that claim that good intentions are just as qualified as rational conclusions. First, that they are ignorant of a mistake and that their intentions were not deceptive in any way. The second possibility is less good: that they were aware of their ignorance but intentionally disregarded it hoping for the best (wishful thinking), or simply disregarded the truth and knowingly accepted false conclusions regardless of valid arguments against their proposition (blind faith). Good intentions do not change the nature of stupidity anymore than they change facts and expectations.
If one accepts religious propositions on good intentions, then they still have the responsibility of qualifying their reasoning on some other ground. Faith, based on good intention is one thing, but claiming that one's propositions are true because their intentions are good is another thing altogether. If I have faith, not because I fear death, and not because I take Pascal's wager concluding that while there might not be a god and a hell I am safer betting that there is and being wrong, but because I truly believe that a god exists I can perhaps say that my belief is at the very least based on good intentions. But, I think that it is clear that my good intentions do not guarantee the truth of my belief: this is the rub. Those with good intentions in regard to religious belief, faith, cannot rely on those good intentions to guarantee any truth. In fact good intentions are not much different than faith. Because of this, good intentions cannot bear the weight of truthful propositions or valid argumentation, nor can they be the basis of disregarding the responsibility that we all have of separating faith from fact. Good intentions are simply not enough because they are unable to be qualified or exemplified in any way.
The idea of "good intentions" is two-fold. First, the term "good" is a qualifying statement: that is, "good" means that is acceptable socially or individually, and is justifiable in some valid way. Or, maybe it is deemed to be virtuous, that is: "good" is equated with honesty. Further, maybe it is believed that the consequences will be favorable. On the other hand, the term "intentions" has to do with motivation. The complex term "good intentions" therefore has multiple meanings, most of the time remaining vague to anyone outside of the individual having them. It can be argued that my intent to rid society of religious belief is a bad thing, but if my intentions are to rid society of a false, detrimental, and dangerous thing, then it would seem to be not so bad. If I do so using deceptive means, my intentions were good but my intentional deception can be deemed as bad. If my proposition is based on a personal vendetta against religion, one that is not credible, then my intentions are bad as well. All of this is simply to point out that "good intentions" are typically ambiguous and are at best limited to the individual: again, just as faith is.
The good intentions, therefore, of religious peoples are limited to their own beliefs, and are not qualified in any way to others or society as a whole, but only to their own lives. If a doctor operates with the intent to kill the patient, his intentions can be deemed as bad: the patient presumably trusts the doctor to cure rather than kill, and so there is a breach of contract between doctor and patient. If the doctor decides not to operate because of his personal belief that God will cure the patient, then he is acting irresponsibly for the same reason. Good intentions are often nothing more than a bad decision made worse by an even worse excuse.
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The Beast is hungry. The Beast must be fed.
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Posted:Apr 4, 2008 5:56 pm
Last Updated:Apr 18, 2008 8:32 am
1933 Views
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When it comes to this blood feast, the Beast isn't picky. It can be the blood of Palestinians or Syrians or Iraqi's or the Lebanese, as long as the blood is at body temperature, with the recently deceased human sacrifice to the Beast cured with artillery shells, US made smart bombs or tank shells screaming into the victim's homes. As long as the Beast gets fed, the Beast is happy. The Beast is hungry.. The Beast must be fed... The Beast is.... Israel What else is one to make of all of the rumblings coming out of Israel these days, with their talk of actions against their northern border, which would be Syria and Lebanon, unless the world's "most moral" army has managed to bomb, smash and murder their way to the border of Turkey? And their constant barrage of threats against Iran? And their ongoing blockade of Gaza, which the Beast has managed to turn into the world's largest outdoor prison, systematically and slowly, killing off that brave people, since the Beast desires more land, more water and more, more, more... of everything. What is it in the Israeli psyche that makes their leaders, if not the whole damned country, to come off as a bunch of blood-thirsty, homicidal maniacs? Is it the water they drink? No, not the water from the cisterns that are still in what's left of Palestine, since some of that water has been either poisoned or deliberately contaminated by the Israeli's. Maybe it's the land they're living on that drives them to madness, since much of that land has been drenched with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been brutally murdered by Israel since that group of eastern European Jews invade Palestine en masse in 1948. Or maybe it's the bully mentality that Israel has and frequently flaunts, since it is the ONLY nation in the ME that possess nuclear weapons and has the fighter-bombers, nuclear submarines--courtesy of Germany--and the ICBM's to deliver those nukes not only to the ME, but all around the world, so maybe all of that unbridled power has corrupted their brains. Maybe the Beast knows that it can and does get away with murder of the Palestinians on a daily basis, so that in turn feeds the hunger for more blood. When it comes to this blood feast, the Beast isn't picky. It can be the blood of Palestinians or Syrians or Iraqi's or the Lebanese, as long as the blood is at body temperature, with the recently deceased sacrifice to the Beast cured with artillery shells, US made smart bombs or tank shells screaming into the victim's homes. As long as the Beast gets fed, the Beast is happy. The Beast is especially fond of the blood of Palestinian , so much so, that it has its trained and trigger happy IDF henchmen and women, shoot those in the head on a regular basis. The Beast drinks this blood like an alcoholic sucking down Bloody Mary's. Whatever it is that makes the Beast that is Israel the craziest fucking nation on the Earth is up for grabs, but one things for sure: The Beast is rumbling that it is hungry and if the past history of Israel is prologue, the Beast is getting ready to feed again, on the blood of innocents, from the Bekka Valley, to Beirut to the painful streets of Gaza, all the way to Tehran. Right now, the Beast is licking its blood stained lips, feeling the nervousness that it has generated by a probable attack on Iran this weekend. The Beast knows that human blood that has been pumped up by a person's adrenaline, is most tasty and the Beast is preparing for a HUGE feast. The Beast is hungry. The Beast needs feeding. The Beast will not be denied.
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Adjustments in Vernacular
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Posted:Apr 4, 2008 3:54 pm
Last Updated:Apr 4, 2008 4:08 pm
1915 Views
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Dis is foe does hoe kint read and still listen to G,W Boosh.
April, ah reckon...May fine be th' Crueless Month. Th' clock is tickin'. Th' second han' spins. Th' minute han' slides an' th' hour han' crawls. Hours become days. Days become weeks an'months an' years. Wifin th' speckrum of passin' time, all thet we knows has happened, is happenin' an' will happen, as enny fool kin plainly see. Is thar enny one of us who has not said t'themselves, as they look back on their life; "How did ah git hyar?" Have we not all wonnered whut might haf been, had we not taken thet fo'k in th' road, had we not hesitated at one point o' rushed impulsively fo'th at t'other? We've all been thar. This hyar dream-stuff outta which our lives is woven is a dense composishun. We struggle t'step outside of it, t'wake up but it is an arduous tax. Most does not struggle at all, ah reckon. They move through it at th' mercy of circumstance on th' one han' an' whutevah varmintal power they imagine they brin' t'th' mix on t'other. Some thrive fo' a time an' some perish. They all depart in th' end, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' clock is tickin' an' nevah befo'e has sech a smo'gasbo'd of postibilities been spread befo'e us. When yo' reckon of all th' ponnerables an' imponnerables at wawk, it seems impostible t'calculate which way it will go. Figger about it; th' Middle East an' all th' percolatin' locashuns aroun' th' globe; th' diametrical opposishuns of which we see only th' surface; Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon an' Israel as fine as th' allus fo'gotten Palestine. Thar is th' wo'ld wide financial tightrope tremblin'. Thar is th' risin' grub costs, primarily due t'th' bio-fuels indestry. Thar is th' seldom menshuned but serious problem of water. Thar is th' dyin' bees an' th' poisoned lan'scape. Thar is th' ceaseless lies an' sopo'ific snail tracks of th' mass media. Thar is th' obvious fascism of co'po'ate corntrol in the dawgoned-est pow'ful country on Earth; presently in th' han's of deranged psychopaths. Thar is th' complicity of Europe an' whutevah peekoolyar pressures is takin' place behind th' scenes. Thar is th' quiet presence of Russia an' China in respeck of th' wo'ld pitcher. We hear mighty li'l about them in cornsiderashun of thin's but they is mighty large animals in a mighty small room, dawgone it. Thar is th' presidential eleckshun whar th' mos' trimenjus cornsiderashun is sho'ly who will be McCain's runnin' mate. This hyar is a majo' key t'much of which lies unsaid, cuss it all t' tarnation. ah w'd look mighty hard at this hyar in relashun t'ev'rythin' else. In th' past thar has allus been th' illushun thet th' so-called democratic countries of th' wo'ld were th' white hats. Now it kin be clearly see thet th' evil empire is in fack South Car'lina an' her han'lers in Israel an' London; NOT t'other way aroun'. We haf see thet thar is no limit t'whut these fo'ces will does to achieve their inds. They is wifout cornscience o' compasshun. They is not hoomin at all, ah reckon. We knows thet both 9/11 an' th' London tube affair were put up jobs. It is likely thet Madrid was as fine. We knows thet th' white hats were th' entities in corntrol of these events an' thet they were carried out in o'der t'turn wo'ld opinion aginst th' Arab/Muslim wo'ld fo' geo-political advantage an' fo' profit. Democracy is no longer at wawk an' we shall soon see whut thet means. Th' voice of th' varmints has lost th' audio po'shun of th' program, dawgone it. When one studies whut was done by th' SCOTUS in 2000. When one looks at whut has happened t'basic hoomin rights an' t'th' quality of life itse'f, th' atmosphar becomes ominous. Facko' in whut yo' haf see fum th' turn of th' century until this hyar moment in time an' tell me whut does this hyar imply? When yo' knows thet ev'rythin' thet was done was done by th' so-called white hats t'proteck yo' fum a non-exissent threat; when they ARE th' threat how kin yo' be sho'nuff of ennythin' 'cept thet trouble will come? Have ah said some variashun of this hyar befo'e? Yessuh ah have. It needs t'be poun'ed into th' insolent an' indiffrunt minds; wavin' their tired blood stained flags on over th' pyrrhic accomplishments of a prowlin' red-eyed madness. It needs t'be hammered home. Better th' hammerin' of truth in advance of th' hammerin' of clubs an' whips t'foller. Now less hoof it to a noo place. Yo''ve heard th' ress of ennythin' else ah can say about these corndishuns menny times befo'e. Let me talk about th' light at th' end of th' tunnel thet is waitin' beyond th' birth pangs of th' a-comin' Aquarian Age. Th' clock is tickin' in its agonizin' march between th' measured breaths of th' moment bein' born an' raised. Light is bustin' hyar an' thar. Even though some few years of darkness may remain, light is bustin'. It is not by accident thet various political figgers fum Italy, Germenny an' Japan haf named th' cu'prits in 9/11 an' other affairs. It is not by accident thet th' UN is cornsiderin' an investigashun into 9/11 as fo'mer Italian President Francexco Costiga has stated, "All th' [intellyjunce services] of South Car'lina an' Europe,knows fine thet th' disastrous attack has been planned an' reckanized fum th' Mostad, wif th' aid of th' Zionist wo'ld in o'der t'put unner accusashun th' Arabic countries an' in o'der t'indooce th' western powers t'take part , in Iraq [an'] Afghanistan, as enny fool kin plainly see." As Leonard Cohen said, "Ev'rybody knows." It doesn't git talked about on yer tellyvishuns. It doesn't git menshuned in yer noospapers but it is bein' discussed in offices an' wharvah political an' financial movahs an' shakers corngregate. Behind th' scenes, them who haf had inough, them who see whut is planned… th' a-comin' false flags th' majo' devastashun th' financial unrest, calculated t'cuz cornfushuns an' chaos. Wizzu haids an' corncerned minds is considerin' whut they kin does an' so they is beginnin' t'speak out an' t'o'chestrate th' disseminashun of info'mashun in sech a way thet they might retard an' hinner whut th' psychopaths haf planned, cuss it all t' tarnation. Majo' effo'ts is unnerway behind th' scenes an' yo' will see evidence of this hyar in th' time t'come. We is watchin' th' death pangs of th' evil of a passin' age. We is witness t'th' last gasp of th' last junerashun of Piscean slave herders. Beneath all of this hyar darkness is a noo wo'ld bein' born an' raised an' yer livin' in th' midst of th' transfo'mashun. Hard thin's muss happen on account o' hard thin's muss be busted. Do not despair, no matter whut yo' see o' hear. These is jest appeareences. Th' battle has already been won an' we is livin' in th' echo of their defeat though it seems t'be still gwine on, as enny fool kin plainly see. It's all on over but th' shoutin'. Yo' kin take heart an' take heart yo' sh'd. It's all a-comin' out an' despite all of th' difficult problems thet seem t'beset us, it is all wawkin' out. Whuffo' ah's sartin ah cannot tell yo' but ah's sartin. This hyar has been long a-comin' an' it is a speckacle indeed, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yer chief corncern is t'conduck yo'seff as a hoomin bein' an' does whut yo' kin whar yer an' when yer needed, cuss it all t' tarnation. It is hard t'see though th' foliage when it surroun's yo' on all sides but th' wo'ld is changin' in front of yer eyes. ah knows it seems grim, dawgone it. ah knows thar is a tendency in all of us t'fear th' unknown an' especially given th' undeniable presence of madmen at th' wheel, ah reckon. Li'l does they knows thet they haf been driven fo'th into prominent exposure so thet they kin be clearly see. Watch yo'seff, does not git swepp away, let yer hoominity come fo'ward, cuss it all t' tarnation. Th' clock is tickin' an' sooner o' later it is a-gonna be now.
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Ghosts from our recent tragedy spring at us.
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Posted:Mar 31, 2008 5:27 pm
Last Updated:Apr 18, 2008 8:15 am
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I suppose it was inevitable that when that glorious Shakespearean actor Paul Scofield died last week, we would reflect on his role in the finest film ever made in the history of the world. I am, of course, talking about A Man for All Seasons , whose magnificent screenplay by Robert Bolt so illuminated the spirit of the Renaissance and of humanism and which is now ‒ in Scofield's performance as Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England ‒ more relevant to the times we live in than ever before. So much for the superlatives and the hyperbole. But are there any Thomas Mores left?
I fear not. The real More, of course, could be as ruthless as his ultimate nemesis, "His Liege Lord Henry, the VIIIth of that name", as the vicious Thomas Cromwell refers to him. More had no time for heretics ‒ the word "heretics" was used by men and poets (Milton included) as a Renaissance version of our present-day "terrorists", thus closing down all discussion ‒ and believed in the purgative nature of live cremation. Scofield (and Bolt's script) never hinted at this side to Utopia's author. But they did produce an utterly convincing portrait of an honest, frightened, loyal, humorous, sometimes vain and ultimately very brave man. There were no sound bites in More's dangerous world; his rigged trial was the nearest he ever got to a press conference ‒ but by God, what eloquence!
It's tempting to fit contemporary personalities to the dramatis personae of A Man for All Seasons. Take Henry's arrival at More's Chelsea home to discuss the divorce ‒ which More cannot see his way to accept ‒ and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn. Laughter and merriment and terrible threats come from this brilliant king as he cruelly bullies More. They're in More's garden, by the Thames. "Ah, what an evening!" Henry enthuses. "A man could fight a lion!" and More replies: "Some men could, your grace," and at once Henry slips in "...touching this other matter of the marriage". This transition from nature to fearful politics returns within a minute. This time, it is the shrubbery which catches the king's attention. "Lilac. We have them at Hampton. Not so fine as this, though. I'm in an excellent frame of mind."
Then again, suddenly, arguing theology for his divorce, he turns on More. "Thomas, you must consider, I stand in peril of my soul. It was no marriage. I have lived in with my brother's widow... I never saw the hand of God so clear in anything... I'll have no opposition, no opposition, I say. No opposition... they that say she is my wife are not only liars, but traitors! Yes, traitors! That I will not brook. Treachery! I will not brook! It maddens me! It is a deadly canker in the body politic, and I will have it out! See? You see how you've maddened me?"
Poor More. He is doomed. This is pure Saddamite brutality, the crazed journey from small talk to betrayal ‒ the fear of all our political leaders ‒ and the implied but real threat of the axe. There's even a wonderful coda when Henry asks More his opinion of the music which the royal orchestra is playing in the garden ‒ and which More immediately identifies as the king's own work. But he promises to tell the truth. "To me it seemed delightful... I should add in fairness that my taste in music is reputedly deplorable." Yes, I can almost hear the bellows of false laughter in the Baghdad presidential palace. And no wonder More seeks some way of accepting the oath of allegiance, eventually hoping that "silence gives consent". It is the argument of a nit-picking lawyer ‒ the only characteristic More shares with Anthony Blair.
Blair's own Attendance Lord, Alastair Campbell, might feel at home in the role of both Richard Riche ‒ the schoolteacher who clamours to court and eventually condemns More to the block with the only sound bite in the script ‒ and Cromwell himself. It is Cromwell who explains his tasks to Riche: "And our job as administrators is to minimise the inconvenience... that's our only job, Riche, to minimise the inconvenience of things. A harmless occupation, you would say. But no. We administrators are not liked, Riche. We are not popular..."
But Riche's own subsequent testimony against More is truly Blair-like. He is asked to repeat More's alleged denial of the king's title as head of the church. "He said: 'Parliament had the competence.' Or words to that effect."
Ah yes. "Words to that effect". This, I fear, is how government and journalists work together. Set the narrative and the world will go along with it: "More denies king's title." "Saddam Refuses UN resolution." "45-Minute warning!" "Good vs evil". No wonder More replies with valour. "If what Master Riche has said is true, I pray I may never see God in the face. Which I would not say, were it otherwise, for anything on earth!"
Ghosts of our recent tragedy spring at us from this screenplay. When More asks Henry why he needs him as chancellor, the king's response is simple. "Because you're honest. And what is more to the purpose, you're known to be honest." Was this why Blair needed Robin Cook, who resigned, and Clare Short, who did not?
I cannot do justice to this film's script. Even Charlton Heston could not destroy it when I watch him play More on the stage in London in 1987. Who can forget More's discovery that Riche, for his perjury, has been made Attorney General for Wales? "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales!" Nor More's beheading after he is convicted of high treason and offered some brief last words. "I die His Majesty's good servant but God's first... He will not refuse one who is so blithe to go to Him."
Some suffered for their own ferocity. Cromwell was beheaded for high treason five years after More. The cowardly Archbishop of Canterbury was burned at the stake. The king died of syphilis. But others ‒ like the knaves who took us to war in 2003 ‒ got away with it. Sir Richard Riche died in his bed.
So no more Mores? I was wrong at the start of this article. I now think of the Iraq war and of a contemporary man who tried to save himself but valiantly told the truth and paid for it with his life. The martyr's name was David Kelly.
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