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Boulder residents and best friends Bre Ortola, 26, and Tara Rhein, 24, are checking items off their bucket list much sooner than they expected.
Put out a fire? Check.
Fly a plane? Check.
Feed a white tiger? check.
The friends began crossing off activities on their 2012 to-do list at a record pace since joining NBC reality show "Escape Routes" in March.
Ortola, founder of Boulder's Alchemy Mineral Blends cosmetics, and Rhein, who works in advertising, sent NBC their audition video -- stitched together clips of the two "hair whipping" in random Boulder locations -- months ago and left Boulder for Los Angeles on March 18 to begin filming.
The women were doing a cleanse and said they got bored because they weren't going out with friends, so they decided to make their audition tape.
"This was around the time when everyone was Tebowing so we decided to go all over Boulder and film ourselves hair-whipping," Rhein said. "We thought, 'Hey, this will make us look fun and crazy,' and that's how we are -- so it's perfect."
The women were offered two of 12 spots on the show's first season, which pits six teams of two against each other in challenges in six cities in the United States.
The contestants received a small bag, which had to fit everything they wanted to bring, and little information about where they were going and what they would be doing.
"We thought this would be one big road trip," Ortola said. "So we brought all these traveling gypsy clothes, and then turns out we're living in a house in each city for a week -- so, oops."
Besides packing, the pair said they have a Denver therapist to thank for helping them prepare for the emotional challenges of the show.
"We went to couples therapy before we left because we knew this was going to be a team effort and we needed to be sure we could work together," Ortola said. "That definitely helped us to know how to help each other and just keep each other going."
The cast lives together and uses their online fans to help them gain points and win challenges throughout the season. The team with the most points at the end of the show wins two Ford Escapes and $100,000.
The team said the money would help take Ortola's cosmetics company to new heights in Boulder and provide a cushion for them once they return, since they left everything, including their jobs and apartments, to be on the show.
The Boulder team, or the red team, didn't win any challenges during the first two weeks, but the women are feeling confident about the second half of the season. Friday, the teams are heading to Miami for their fourth week, and while they couldn't give away the results from the Atlanta challenges, the red team hinted that fans might be a little more impressed this weekend with Week 3's results. The show airs at 8 p.m.
The pair currently is in last place with 220 points, 160 points behind the show's leaders, and have 1,923 online fans or virtual teammates who can help the teams during challenges, according to escaperoutes.com.
Despite their less than stellar performance so far, the women said they have handled the pressure of the competition well, thanks to their close bond and trust.
"We just have a great relationship and while everyone else is fighting during the challenges, we're staying calm and supporting each other," Rhein said. "That is going to end up helping us and putting us ahead, I think."
Regardless of the results, the teammates said they are having a blast and are glad they chose to be on the show.
"We knew we would have regretted not going, so it was the right decision no matter how everything turns out," Rhein said.
Visit escaperoutes.com to join the red team and help them with challenges.


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Ex-President George H.W. Bush Remains Hospitalized
MONDAY, Dec. 3 -- Former President George H.W. Bush remained Monday in a Houston hospital, where he has been treated for bronchitis and a lingering cough.
A spokesman for Methodist Hospital said the 88-year-old Bush remains in stable condition. Previously, aides said the 41st president would probably be discharged over the weekend. He has been in and out of the hospital for treatment of the cough and bronchitis, the Associated Press reported.
Bush, who was president from 1989 to 1993, and is the father of former President George W. Bush, has been in the hospital several times recently for treatment of bronchitis, the AP reported.
The doctor in charge of his care, Dr. Amy Myunderse, said late last week that the elder Bush's condition was never life-threatening.
"Anytime someone the president's age has bronchitis, there's concern about possible pneumonia," Myunderse said. "But Mr. Bush's condition never progressed to that level."
Dr. Sumita Khatri, a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, said that as "someone gets older they are at more risk of getting chronic medical problems."
Khatri, who is not involved in Bush's care, added that "these problems increase the likelihood of getting infections like bronchitis. This can lead to pneumonia if it's bacterial."
Pneumonia is a much more serious condition, which is fatal in many elderly people.
Khatri noted that Bush also suffers from Parkinson's disease, which is a neurological problem that can affect muscle tone, including the muscles of the respiratory system.
Bush's condition appears not to be one that can be treated at home, which is why he is in the hospital where there is care and monitoring around the clock. Doctors want to see that the condition is "turning the corner and not progressing to the lower lungs and becoming pneumonia," Khatri said.
Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, added that "one thing people need to know is that over the age of 65 people should get a pneumonia vaccination."
More information
For more on bronchitis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Posted: December 2012

subset: commoncrawl


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Max Payne Mobile Review
Max Payne resonates with gamers for a number of reasons. He's the kind of hardboiled, tough-as-nails hero we'd all like to be– the kind of guy who can slow-motion dive into a room full of gangsters, drop them all like a sack of doorknobs, and then pop a painkiller to help soothe his blistered trigger finger. But that's the gameplay Max Payne– the cutscene Max Payne is tormented by his family's death and pushed to his limits by a drug-running conspiracy.
The two Max Paynes– one a balletic, death-dealing machine, and the other a vulnerable, tortured family man– are both on display in Rockstar Games' iOS port of the 2001 third-person shooter. Max Payne Mobile represents one of those unbelievable, too-good-to-be-true App Store deals: A full PC and console game, which many people paid $50 for just a decade ago, available now as a $3 download for their smartphone.
The important thing is, someone's going to pay for this.
The incredible story that unfolds as you play Max Payne is worth the $3 alone. It's told through comic-book cutscenes, featuring retouched photographs of actual actors and excellent audiobook-style voice overs and sound effects. You start off the game by reliving the terrible nightmare that made Officer Payne go undercover in the mob– the night two junkies hopped up on a new synthetic drug murdered his wife and infant daughter. This scene serves as a simple tutorial, since you have to learn to move around in your own home and kill the two druggies yourself, but it's also a psychological gut-punch that sets the tone for the rest of the game.
From there, the plot flashes forward three years, when Max steps into an even more violent and unsettling criminal conspiracy. Through subway stations, a brothel, a steel plant, and even a Viking-themed S&M nightclub called Ragna Rock, you'll engage in an unyielding series of firefights with most of the New York mafia.
Max's secret ability, beyond his colorful catchphrases and cliches, is that he can slow down time in limited doses. This lets him get the drop on slow-witted goons, and you can make him dive forward, backward, or to the side in slow-motion with the touch of a button. As useful as this ability is, we didn't have to use it much on our first playthrough of the game, because your first run must be on "easy" mode and your auto-aim (if you leave it on) can be quite generous.
Backed into a corner.
In the easy "Fugitive" mode, you'll get full health from painkillers, take hardly any damage from enemies, and be better stocked with ammo than a Texas gun show. After you beat the game, you'll unlock New York Minute mode, where you have a limited amount of time to clear each level, and killing bad guys adds a few precious seconds. You'll also unlock two more difficulty modes.
The default auto-aim is fairly crucial to enjoying your experience, since the controls are not nearly as precise as using a keyboard and mouse or dual-stick controller. Most of the time, controlling Max isn't too difficult, but in the occasional balancing-beam segment, you'll face a lot of frustration. Fortunately, some of the more obnoxious scenes can be skipped if you wish, with the only downside being that you'll also miss some of the plot.
As much as we love Max Payne Mobile's story, atmosphere, and gameplay, there are a few minor problems with this version of the game. Besides the finicky controls (which are workable, especially if you monkey with the options menu), you'll have to remember to save manually, since there are no automatic checkpoints within chapters. Also, some of the enemy mobsters' faces look very blurry compared to the rest of the visuals, and if you toggle off voice acting during the comic cutscenes, DVD-style controls will block out the bottom lines of text.
Take a dive into the tub.
Also, we experienced a surprising amount of choppiness while playing Max Payne Mobile on a brand new iPad 3. The game looks amazing on the iPad's Retina display, but perhaps it didn't get optimized fully at the new resolution in time for launch. We didn't encounter the same issues playing on an iPhone 4S. Hopefully iPad 3 optimization is at the top of Rockstar's update list– unfortunately, due to its frame rate, this isn't the game we recommend using to show off your new iPad.
What few problems this port has– the controls, iPad 3 frame rate, and other minor flaws– aren't enough to diminish our enjoyment of Max Payne Mobile. In fact, the story was even better than we remember it, with several surprising twists and betrayals. Max Payne Mobile is an impressive achievement on iOS, with memorable shootouts and a gripping story. Download it for when those cold nights in the uncaring city start to eat away at your very soul.


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July 31, 2009
July 30, 2009
Tyranny of the Pyramid
Face/Off, the film about a terrorist and an FBI agent trading places and faces, is eerily similar to how our political and economic system operates. "Terrorists" in turbans are sold like human derivatives in off-the-map areas in unconquerable lands, while real terrorists are counting their money in luxury suites in off-the-map islands. The waters have already parted but the president, presented to us as the Messiah, has people crossing their fingers instead of crossing the Nile. King said he saw the promised land, it must have been a mirage because he was leading a nation lost in the desert, aimlessly killing nameless enemies. It is a strange desert, some are looking for the nearest shade while others continue to pretend that there isn't skin being burned off their back. But at least we have our heroes, regardless if they do or don't recognize their own significance. I consider Bill Hicks, Ron Paul, Hunter S Thompson, Tupac, Alex Jones, Immortal Technique, Joseph Campbell, Bob Dylan, Amy Goodman, Bill Moyers, and so many more, as our heroes, and Emerson's children, who wrote magical stuff:
We are wiser than we know. If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular thing, and every thing, and every man. For the Maker of all things and all persons stands behind us, and casts his dread omniscience through us over things.
But beyond this recognition of its own in particular passages of the individual's experience, it also reveals truth. And here we should seek to reinforce ourselves by its very presence, and to speak with a worthier, loftier strain of that advent. For the soul's communication of truth is the highest event in nature [...]
Searching out the truth in our day doesn't take discipline or any level of commitment. All it takes is turning on the television and everything that the talking heads say, the reverse is true. This exercise almost always works. If it is said that socialists are going to kill old people, believe the exact opposite which in this case is to save them. If it is said that an unregulated market led to the housing collapse and financial ruin, flip the statement and rewrite: a Wall Street-Congress-Fed regulated market has put us in another dark age. Down the line, whether it is characterizations about political figures, the safety of certain consumer products, etc...whatever the topic, reverse the logic.
The truth is not laid out like a plate of processed, vaccinated and mechanized meat, but like a plate from Fear Factor. The only way it'll go down is if people step up to the plate of fear, and eat it raw. You can chomp into pieces then consume it, and covering your nose also helps. But there is no other way, you can't pack your bags and go home because this is actual reality, not a television program. Food for thought is what the foolish thought, the real organ required to digest reality is not the brain but the stomach. Some accept the hard breakfast only on their deathbeds, while others are accustomed to the taste and swallow it everyday. Either way, to keep away is not what the good doctor ordered.
The recent arrest of Gates and the subsequent finger-waving by all sides is another revelation that the American media misses the point of every story, and I'm not sure it is deliberate anymore. It was the second time this year that a cop's stupid and criminal action received media attention. A lot of these dumb downers are dumb downed themselves. Nobody in the press conferences have mentioned prior incidents regarding police misconduct. So far in the Obama era there have been been two occurrences that have made national headlines.
The first time was the murder of Oscar Grant, who was not a professor of an Ivy league school, by a BART station officer in Oakland, who was definitely a racist. It happened near the beginning of Obama's term and I don't think he ever acknowledged it. The mainstream media surely didn't bring it up because it was cold blooded murder and could not be defended. Sergeant Crowley's mistake, however, is partly explainable because he arrived on the scene after a 9/11 call was made, and Gates talked back like he was a citizen or something. I guess Gates didn't know what country he was returning from his trip to another police state.
In the future, there will be more Oscar Grants dying and Obama won't raise a hoot, much less call the murderer stupid. People who voted for Obama still believe they are viewed as citizens by their government. But I believe civilian is the new term. I don't fault police officers, in fact, I'm in awe of them - they have a job unlike their comrades out of arms.
Homeland Security calls the shots, and the slaves oblige because they have learned to rationalize their own slavery. If I am irrational it is because I am free man. At least that is how I rationalize it. Or not. But if America wasn't a police state, the private prison system would be an unprofitable industry. Shit, the cops and guards are the fucking shareholders of most of those prisons. They're on slave patrol most of the time. The death of Grant wasn't followed by media chants because he wasn't in his house, but out in the field. The 'Left' cries racism but doesn't say a word about the process of indebted servitude a.k.a slavery, in America's prisons. If Obama really wants to emulate Lincoln he would support the legalization of marijuana, go to any private prison in the country and read one of his god-awesome speeches. Not by heart, though, because that would mean he actually cares enough about his words to memorize them.
Police officers are about as pure as the crack they are paid to get rid of. I understand that the majority of cops are hard-working and honest individuals just following protocol. What I have a problem with is the protocol. I'm sure there are thousands of cases where police confrontations with citizens, ahem..I mean civilians, end peacefully. I just want to see them on tape. Verified proof clarifies truth. Public protection is important but only to an extent. I don't like gate-keepers, and I hate gates even more. But I'll rather stay in the woods then side with barbarians who want to bash through the gates. If anything, Crowley was acting more like a barbarian than a gate-keeper when he invaded Gates' property. Maybe invasion is too strong a suggestion, in this case, the officers' trespass was justified because there was a call made, but, once he arrived on the property he didn't have a good reason to stay there, let alone arrest the owner of the house. For all their tough gear, most cops lack the thick skin to face up the public. Only the best and the brightest, or something close it, should be given the uniform because it represents public trust, civility, and order. No other job like it exists.
I just want to make clear that these are not final statements, and that my opinion on cops is never final. Police officers are meant to serve the public interest, which is an incredible duty, and sometimes it is life-fulfilling. The good ones demand our respect. I have had few personal encounters with police officers, the nature of most of them were peaceful. I have never been pulled over, but I also don't have a car. I was stunned by cops once, not by their tasers but by their act of bravery. Seven years ago, after a long night of trick and treating, mostly treating, a gang of idiots chased us down a sidewalk next to a busy road and snatched our pillow-bags of sweets. We were devastated, especially those who had nothing left in our hands except our sweaty masks and a few snicker wrappers. Then, not even a minute passed before a couple of police officers dressed in ordinary clothes got out of a black SUV, crossed the road and pursued the gang of idiots into a street.
It all happened so quick that we didn't even notice them at work. I still regret not paying attention to them more. We were wondering what was going on, why there is a SUV parked near the side of the road, and didn't even think about following the kids ourselves. Then, the group of undercover cops, one of whom was a woman, handed back our lost treasures and quickly jumped back into the SUV to do some more crime-stopping in the area. This was the year Spiderman came out but I'm certain that those cops could beat Spidey in a footrace. We didn't even have a chance to say a deserving thank you, they just revealed their identities after recognizing the puzzled look on our faces, and boom. Gone. I went from feeling depressed to being part of something out of movie. I remember one of my friends asking them as they ran into the SUV how they got back so fast and they just answered "it's our job." After that day, nobody can persuade me that police officers are not needed and that they don't deserve our thanks.
I consider myself very lucky for having that memory. I realize it was only one experience and there are countless other individual examples where cops show ill judgment and incredible inhumanity, but that's part of being human.
The reason why I'm concentrating so much on the police is because in their current function they are the protectors of the pyramid. By the pyramid I mean the economic structure of society as it exists today. Everything points to the top, that is how the corporate model has realized itself, the state, everything and anything. Financiers' wealth, most of it ill-gained from war and unnecessary taxation via the income tax is brought together at the top, and used to fund the military and police to keep the tax-slaves from stopping the injustice. Forget weight, the greatest human imbalance in America is between the rich and the poor. Cops are not exclusively the gatekeepers with boots in this system, they serve other roles as well but when the shit hits the fan they are given the impossible job of keeping the peace. By keeping the peace I mean stomping down on anybody who dares to resist. It is not the police's job to keep the peace, or establish order. When the police fire upon the people, they are not public servants anymore but become public enslavers, much like the police in America during slavery days - when, black Americans were spied on, tailed, and all because the police were ordered to. For anybody who suggests that the police department is an institution that was created to keep society civil and orderly, nothing can be further from the truth.
Creating order from the end of a gun is not order, it is disorder in disguise. Tragically, the police have been assigned an task that is impossible for them to accomplish. The true way to order is abolishing the pyramid model of human organization, as Kierkegaard advised us to. He said that those overlooking the pyramid from the top are the furthest from God, and that "the whole enterprise of the pyramid is something to which God is exceedingly opposed." I am not hardly against social and financial achievement but when it is done on the backs of slaves and corruption, how can I support it? Side me with the outcasts, searching for my own individuality at the bottom of the pyramid. I'm all for uniting, but under one banner. And the whole effort is doomed from the start, because as we have recently relearned, pyramid schemes can't last - they are not designed to. Extraction of wealth is the main driving goal, not peace, freedom, prosperity or happiness. As Kierkegaard writes; "So God pushes the pyramid over and everything collapses - a generation later man begins again with this pyramid business."
Kierkegaard also warned of the dangers of centralization in Europe. He said it would lead to economic ruin. All the great giants of thought throughout history have attributed human grace to the individual, and to small minorities.
Centralization is never complete without blood. That was true when Genghis Khan attempted it, and all the other empire builders throughout time. Hitler in the last century believed in the destiny of the German people, and desired to invade in what he thought were German lands. Empire builders are always confrontational in their endless pursuit, like they're in a struggle with mankind. Confiscating the rights of the people and consolidating power is never done without resistance of some kind. Modernization of Russia cost the country millions of lives. In the early 21st century, Western bankers are trying to put the final touches on their consolidated system, to the resentment of their own people and foreign people alike. Reversing the trend of centralization is the most essential task if we wish for all of humankind to be free and prosperous in the centuries to come.
Gore Vidal highlighted the concerns of federal expansion in America by its premier literary critic, Edmund Wilson. Vidal wrote:
Wilson questioned the central myth of the American republic, which is also, paradoxically, the cornerstone of our subsequent empire - e pluribus unum - the ever tightening control from the center to the periphery. Wilson is pre-Lincolnian (or a Lincolnian of 1846). He sees virtue, freedom in a less perfect union. Today's centrifugal forces in the former Soviet Unin and Yugoslavia he anticipated in Patriotic Gore where, through his portraits of various leaders in our Civil War, he shows how people, in order to free themselves of an overcentralized state, are more than willing, and most tragically, to shed patriotic gore.Once the societal pyramid finally collapses, which is soon, going back to business as usual can not be an option. I pray that we have evolved from Kierkegaard's time so that I can be rationally optimistic about mankind's future. I hope that we will remember this final crisis and learn to never repeat it again on this scale, ever. But I am not so certain because of the grave evil at work behind the scenes.
Noam Chomsky concluded a talk he gave in Harlem back in December by saying:
Now, of all the crises that afflict us, I think my own feeling is that this growing democratic deficit may be the most severe. Unless it's reversed, Arundhati Roy's forecast might prove accurate, and not in the distant future. The conversion of democracy to a performance in which the public are only spectators might well lead to—inexorably to what she calls the "endgame for the human race."The 'endgame for the human race' is coming in short order. Hopefully, it will be a short order. Because I can not live with villains running the world. Even if there are heroes around.
Kierkegaardian wisdom and Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks Quotes:
We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.
I was in a cab in New York. The cab had a sign, "Please do not smoke, Christ is our unseen guest." This guy was reaching. I figure, if He could overcome being nailed to a cross, I don't think a Marlboro Light's gonna faze Him that much.
People often ask me where I stand politically. It's not that I disagree with Bush's economic policy or his foreign policy, it's that I believe he was a child of Satan sent here to destroy the planet Earth. Little to the left.
I wish I could meet a Christian who would proselytize to me, but they keep running away from me. I wanna talk to you all.
I'm glad mushrooms are against the law, because I took them one time, and you know what happened to me? I laid in a field of green grass for four hours going, "My God! I love everything." Yeah, now if that isn't a hazard to our country … how are we gonna justify arms dealing when we realize that we're all one?
Why is pot against the law? It wouldn't be because anyone can grow it, and therefore you can't make a profit off it, would it?
I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other day. Doesn't Rush Limbaugh remind you of one of those gay guys that like to lie in a tub while other guys pee on him?
I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. "I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs." "I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking." "Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!" "Shut up! Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control. Here's Love Connection. Watch this and get fat and stupid. By the way, keep drinking beer, you fucking morons."
Folks, it's time to evolve. That's why we're troubled. You know why our institutions are failing us, the church, the state, everything's failing? It's because, um – they're no longer relevant. We're supposed to keep evolving. Evolution did not end with us growing opposable thumbs. You do know that, right? There's another 90 percent of our brains that we have to illuminate.
You ever notice that everyone who believes in creationism looks really unevolved? Eyes real close together, big furry hands and feet. "I believe God created me in one day." Yeah, looks like He rushed it.
People say to me, "Bill, quit bringing up Kennedy, man. Let it go. It was a long time ago." All right, then don't bring up Jesus to me. I mean, as long as we're talking shelf-life here. "You know, Bill, Jesus died for us …" Yeah, it was a long time ago. Forget about it. How about this, get Pilate to release the fuckin' files. Quit washing your hands, Pilate, and release the files. Who else was on that grassy Golgotha that day?
Oh, there's a threat to America! Yeah, yeah, yeah … back to that fucking COPS show. 'Cause I'll tell you who the threat to freedom … no, no, not to freedom. I'll tell you who the threat to the status quo is in this country: it's us. That's why they show you shows like fucking COPS. So you know that state power will win and we'll bust your house down and we'll fuckin' bust you anytime we want. That's the message.
They proved that if you quit smoking, it will prolong your life. What they haven't proved is that a prolonged life is a good thing. I haven't seen the stats on that yet.
There's some serious pockets of humanity in this country. Go to any of these truck stops in the middle of nowhere, you meet some serious folk, man. Order coffee, the guy behind the counter goes, "You want the 32-ounce or the large?" Geez, how big is that large? "You'll wanna pull your car around back. I'll start the pump."
I've been on what I call my UFO Tour, which means, like UFOs, I too have been appearing in small southern communities in front of handfulls of hillbillies. I've been doubting my own existence.
That's why my girlfriend and I broke up: she wanted kids, and I … well, she wanted kids. [laughs] I had no idea her philosophy was that flawed. She goes, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a kid? To have this fresh, clean slate which we could fill. A little clean spirit, innocent, and to fill it with good ideas." Yeah, yeah, how about this? If you're so fucking altruistic, why don't you leave the little clean spirit wherever it is right now? Okay? Horrible act, childbirth. Nightmare. Bringing … I would never bring a kid to this fucking planet.
75% Favor Auditing The Fed
Discounter Culture
The cultural shift that occurred was largely led by young people but older social activists also helped out. What is needed now is a political shift producing the same type of concrete changes, and we can't settle for less. Marijuana legislation is part of it, so is reinstating multiple parties, freeing the public airwaves and restricting further corporate power over freedom of speech, also electoral reform, disabling the CIA-FBI-DEA-NSA network and their private counterparts, and the list goes on. We can succeed because our fathers and mothers were themselves revolutionaries. Were not going against a previous generation like they had to, but against an economic-political system that has few supporters.
This politically-conscious generation is going to create a discounter culture. What I mean by that is we are discounting the corporate media and not giving consideration to old political lobbies, and the traditional powerful players. We're not even considering the opinions of 'official experts' since most of them are compromised and are not serving the public interest. We will shape the political future the same way the younger generation shaped consumer spending and advertising back in the 60's. Counting us out is not an option, and the corporate-hijacked parties won't even get that option because were selling our support to new parties at a discount.
Commentators wrongly assumed that young people are creating an over the counter culture, but most of those counters are going bust. Say goodbye to the counter. Everything in the market is going out at a discount. The inflated prices couldn't last. Even the price of a politician was too high. Imagine old industry brokers from the 1920's waking up in the 90's and being told that a bribe for a top-level politician had gone up 3x more than the price of milk, eggs, and bread combined. Once upon a time businessmen could sway a politician's vote over a fancy meal, or in the back of a concert hall. Those were the good old days, when private jets didn't exist and the price of whores went down with them.
The sixties generation expanded the world, giving us the opportunity to demand more from it for everyone in it. What were missing is not the raw passion that they were seized with for days on end. I saw that passion when young people burned federal reserve notes at Ron Paul's rally in Michigan. What were missing are genuine leaders younger than 40, to organize political rallies and lead marches in Washington.
Vietnam and Watergate ended the War boomers' innocence but were fortunate to live in a world that we already know is corrupt. Innocence is overrated, being awake to the animal kingdom of evil will make us more capable to fight them off once a member of the kingdom approaches us. In our world, the American government doesn't fight fascists overseas, they are the fascists overseas.
And when I use the word discount I'm not referring to retail prices, shopping, or the cost of things. Ellen Ruppel has written about the unmarked consequences of discount prices, saying that "there is an absolute imperative for American culture that we keep costs down. To do that, we have to keep wages and benefits down." Instead of getting more for less, we need to start getting more from less. Making do with less, as Gearld Celente says, is the slogan for the post-consumer age. It doesn't mean that high prices are a good thing because they show the true cost of a product but chances are, if something is good it costs money. In the cheap, throw-away era appreciation for human civilization was lacking. The discount culture by staying true to its aim, discounts discount. Paying a just price, rather than shopping the world over for a bargain, is the moral thing to do.
Being consumer-friendly is a clever marketing way to cover up that you're acting as an enemy to the safety, comfort, and dignity of human beings. Plus, the whole thing is a process of further collectivization. I'm not against buying, having nice things, eating good food, I just don't want it all to come from the same place. I'm only against artificial low prices, that discount the cost of environmental effects, wages, and health and safety standards. The consumer religion wastes human and natural resources. We are consumed by it, because the process of homogenization in products and everything else in life leads us to a state where everything is taken from the real culture, is processed, and then sold back at a discount. Kierkegaard who is a prophet if there ever was one said that individuality is consumed in the process."Our contemporary age," he wrote, "is constantly striving in its levelling and tyrannizing to change everything into homogeneity, so that all become mere numbers, specimens."
July 29, 2009
Who Let the Dogs Out?
Terms like conservative democrats to describe the dogs with teeth in the Democratic party is semantics. Soon, this type of party politics will be remembered for what it actually is; two rackets with different stripes owned by the same club. Its ironic that Bernanke defends the Fed's independent status, when it is anything but, just like the politicians in town. By now, the dog and pony show that is health care reform is nothing but fodder for the toddlers. All this is obvious, I know, but it needs to be endlessly repeated like an infomercial, or else the message is lost. So having a debate about health care without any mention of the war, the powers of the Federal Reserve, and the Pentagon budget, is insanity. It is déjà vu. The Obama administration is just a rehash of the Clinton years, except this time the president really is black, and he really did inhale, so some progress has been made.
And the stupidity of the birther movement is only possible in America. This is LOL political theater. It doesn't really matter where Obama was born. In fact, if he was born outside of America he would be a better president. Maybe the first non-American president is in the near future, which is only fair for the rest of the world because America's tentacles spreads to the whole globe. Imagine if a real slave was in power, the banks would then actually be afraid of the government.
But as long as the American people are kept in the dog house there will be no change. Their president pitches health care reform about as good as he pitches a baseball. Counting on Obama to do his magic in the Congress is expecting the impossible. The most he can do with his hands tied behind his back by his corporate handlers is to influence and persuade congressmen, and unless he bribes them he will be unsuccessful. It is a sad sight. Imagine being hyped to bring a championship title to your city and you can't even tie your shoe laces in the locker room. If this was Space Jam, Obama would be Bugs Bunny and not Michael Jordan going up against the humongous aliens. And it is not his fault. Nobody can compete with the Media and Money machine. Michael Jackson was ruined by it. Ron Paul's presidential campaign was mocked by it.
Moyers and Winship lay out the problem:
As the Republicans fired away, big business stepped up the attack, too, their lobbying and advertising guns blazing. The Chamber of Commerce, for one, announced a major campaign of rallies and print and Internet ads to crush the White House plan for a competitive public option allowing consumers to choose between a government plan and private health insurance. In key states where members of Congress remain on the fence, the airwaves are vibrating with television commercials aimed at shifting hearts and minds away from any change that might threaten profits.The Media is a God machine, I tell ya! It can strike down lighting bolts from satellites and change American minds instantly, ..riight? ...Or is it really as powerful as everybody thinks it is? Ron Paul attracted 12,000 people from around the country for a rally in Washington, all without the media's help. If an authentic social movement gets under away, chances are that the media won't cover it until it is forced to. It will be a spontaneous phenomenon that will make the talking heads on television explode. The Marie Antoinettes of the infotainment world can't seen the storm coming from where they're sitting. Some have a hint but the blindfold is still on.
Carl Ginsburg recently wrote in Counter Punch that the crisis can no longer be ignored.
Crisis is everywhere. Wages and salaries have fallen at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent. Half of that decline is attributed to plummeting manufacturing, where most jobs are unlikely to return soon, if ever. Economist Mark Zandi believes that the US will have negative wage growth this year. According to Money magazine, 30 per cent of workers employed now, or about 42 million people, are independent contractors, part-timers, temporary staffers or self-employed—a contingent workforce expected to grow to 40 per cent in ten years. Crisis as a way of life.But the crisis is not a way of life for everyone, which is the number one problem. The 'crisis' has existed in America's cities for an entire generation now. You can walk down any forgotten street in America's cities or watch The Wire. These realities are not portrayed on NBC or any of the major studios, but America has been in a crisis for a long, long time. Unemployment has been high ever since China decided to be the slave engine of the world.
Paul Craig Roberts highlights the problem about government unemployment figures in his newest article:
The reported unemployment rate is itself deceptive as it does not include discouraged workers who have been unemployed for more than a year. These long-term discouraged workers are simply erased from the rolls of the unemployed.How can Americans depend on their employers for health care coverage when they're jobless? 16% unemployed is not a small number. Since the President likes to call himself a community organizer, it only makes sense that he should lead an imitative to spread community health care around the country, based on an already existing grassroots model. But he is not in power, so he might as well be called a community organizer.
The real powerful and stupid leaders of America are creating a situation ripe for a popular revolution. And it looks like they're gearing up their real blue dogs to suppress one. Forget red meat, these dogs of war won't lie down until they see blood in the streets. And
I'm guessing that the dissenters won't be getting any treatment by a health insurance company anytime soon.
July 28, 2009
Truth of the Matter
The American intelligence apparatus is worse than the KGB and the SS, since they steal indiscriminately from the Nazis and the Soviets' totalitarian playbooks. Also, there was nothing like the IRS operating in Germany or Russia. It was in America that eugenics, propaganda, fascism were first conceived but these ideas were first refined into a model in Mussolini's Italy and later executed to great lengths under Hitler's Germany. Unlike the ideas of liberty, which traveled from England and France to America, fascist theories went the other way of the Atlantic. Republican governance defined late 18th century America and Europe, while totalitarian governance is the mark of our age. And sticking with this half-baked analysis, if France followed America's path in 1789, then America followed Germany's path in 1945.
Washington became a free haven for Nazi scientists after they're master killed himself. Americans thought they were done with fascism when they came back victorious from Normandy, but it followed them home like a plague, so it is only logical that it will be Americans who show fascism its second exit in history.
Vidal, again:
It is nicely apt that the word "terrorist" (according to the OED) should have been coined during the French Revolution to describe "an adherent or supporter of the Jacobins, who advocated and practiced methods of partisan repression and bloodshed in the propagation of the principles of democracy and equality." Although our rulers have revived the word to describe violent enemies of the United States, most of today's actual terrorists can be found within our own governments, federal, state, municipal.That pretty much covers it. The right to be let alone, which all of humanity holds so dearly, is no longer recognized by the American government. Mayan chiefs went into their neighboring forests, trampling on peaceful human communities, enslaving the men and killing them for sacrifice. American civilization has functioned the same way, beginning with the savagery against Native Americans, slavery of Black Africans, and their unconscious murder in Asia and the Middle East. In America, it is the police, military, and government agencies like ATF's and other goons' job to 'civilize' dissenting communities, whether they are located in Waco or Baghdad.
But things are not as clear-cut as they were in the 1990s, or 1960's. It is not just the Black Panthers, or off-shoot Christian communities that are being targeted for not following the blueprint. In this environment everybody is suspect, as far as the fascists are concerned. It is no longer the Koreshs of the world that are being targeted, but all Americans who choose to actively dissent. Civilian insurrection has been a constant fear for the Establishment ever since they decided to rob from the people. If the masters eye revolution then it looks like they are getting what they've paid for.
And most, round-about Americans kind of deserve this whole business of fascism. They played dumb and looked away. First they went for the Christian Moralists, and America did nothing, then the Arabs were shown the metal door, and America again did nothing. Young black males and Latino immigrants were shoved in prison this whole time, and still America did nothing. And finally, white middle class Americans are given Orwell's boot, with green polishing to make it presentable, but underneath it is the same old steel toe of tyranny.
Fascists have big appetites, and they don't discriminate in their last bite. Since 9/11 we have lived in a state of emergency, however, in this emergency the police arrived on the scene before the 9/11 call was made. So in our world the authorities are at the beginning and the end of the dial, cutting the wire, so the transmission doesn't get out. But the buffering of dissent is still in the background, appearing on short wave radios and internet web sites. Which makes sense because change is usually found under the sofa, and not on top of the coffee table.
On the internet, where there is interface, you have the ability to reprogram what you have learned, and it is a virtual world, requiring engagement, unlike tv broadcasting which is purely visual.
The most revolutionary act you can do in this media-saturated environment is turning off television news and ending your subscription to corporate newspapers, which makes most of us revolutionaries. I call it Operation Op-Ed, where the godhead which is the Media Machine is giving free reign to indoctrinate populations. I wouldn't be surprised if some of key journalists working for the Post and the Times are top feds. After all, this is the Information Age, and towering institutions like the Pentagon know their battlefield, and have funded and planned their strategy accordingly. The battlefield is Man's mind. In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution forced families from their family farms into factory farms. In our time, the Information Revolution made it possible for governments to transform Man's mind into a factory setting, and for any purpose whatsoever. Without propaganda, there is no war.
But the modern day disclosure movement is fighting back against this massive propaganda effort. The last time history changed so abruptly was when the bibles were first printed for mass circulation. Dissemination of information doesn't always lead to freedom and prosperity, but that is generally the rule. If Cronkite and his generation were broadcasters, then journalists of our generation must be re-broadcasters. Something got lost in the media the first time around so we must make it our task that in the future journalists and anchors are not influenced by governments or corporations. Rebroadcasting the news feed means that we are the feedback in this news world. We are the aid to and the me in the media. I realize I lack good, graceful transitions between my thoughts and ideas, but I can't afford to beat around the bush anymore. It is time to be blunt.
And the individuals who still believe in the official version of 9/11, all I can ask is where is your pride? You speculate on stock but not on life, truth, or history? This event made me realize that for a democracy to flourish we are all required to become amateur philosophers. Questioning everything is not healthy, I don't think an all-out conspiracy culture will serve us any better, but being generally skeptical of government affairs is completely rational. People waive off the truth but it is here to stay, not like a wave that passes and only a certain few can say they were able to ride on it. I am a truth forecaster, and pretty soon we all be engulfed in the truth.
When the towers fell, people ran for their lives, knowing what was coming behind them after having seen two large buildings collapse. But then people stopped midway, believing that the collapse was over. Unknown to them, 9/11 was a harbinger of more engineered collapses to come.
The stacks of concrete fell in vertical fashion, one after the other. But the facts, too, fall into place one after another. The government line is not in concert with the science or the circumstantial evidence. All fingers point to Washington, and not a cave in Afghanistan. How can anybody be contend with the current content on the media, regarding the most fateful day in America's history?
It is beyond most of us. People feel dispossessed not because they believe the authorities are possessed by some great, unspeakable, evil, but because most of the authorities are not even told the full account. The conspirators are very small, but the truth is building up. A strong foundation has been laid, the cornerstones of the movement have already been placed and they are in tact. Soon, all men and women will grab a hold of it, and there will be no wiggle room for lies to creep in.
Our culture is divorced from a true understanding but our knowledge is slowly advancing, and there will come a time when America will have to remarry with humanity under the altar of truth, where history will ordain Americans, once and for all.
People parted with the truth under a stressful time, a time of reconditioning carried out by those in charge. Because of 9/11 all powerful States are suspect. Citizens watch groups are already set up to find out about state crimes around the world, but they are not backed by any power. This has to be changed.
States aim to co-opt the truth on a regular basis, in order to increase its prestige and power, so they must always be interrogated by the people. In terror we are gated, but once the fear subsides, and love becomes our only drive, the truth will come out. We live in dangerous times, because there is no time to consume shocking events, ironic since we call ourselves consumers. Lies are shoved down our throats before we can take a bite out of the truth. There has never been real order in the world but today they would like to have us believe that if only a world government was established, all order would come into being. Jacques Barzun reminded us that earlier times were not so calm, in fact, they were more troubling than ours.
Prior to 1914, when Man entered a new phase in his being, it "was a time of international crises, domestic unrest, and what is now called terrorism," as Barzun says. We have lived in incredibly safe and peaceful times, but psychologically we've been ruined. Living under the fear of terrorism, crime, future pandemics, future wars, etcetera...is too great a burden to carry everyday. But this burden is not immovable, it can be lifted. Occult researcher Michael Tsarion commented on the need for a new enlightenment that has to do with weight and not light. It is upon us, if only we stand up, the weight will naturally fall over to the ground.
And to Ground Zero we must go. Like the number zero, it is indispensable to understanding the world we live in. Without it, no other calculations can be made. All numbers point to Zero. New Years Eve counts down to it. Tuning into channel zero, to relive that fateful day, is our number one task. There is no going forward without a replay because the first call that was made was a wrong one. It is only right that the referees of justice remake the call on behalf of the truth.
The truth of the matter is, of course, a matter of course. Time reveals all things, and inquiry requires endless patience. You can't get around making the rounds, a real effort must be made and that is exactly what we are currently undertaking. A whole order and way of life for the elite is at stake, which is why the Media Machine is focused on repression of the fundamental truths of our day. Thankfully, though, the bubbles are beginning to burst.
July 27, 2009
A Nail in Hate: On Extremism and Violence
The development of extremist violence since the beginning of the year, which has deeper roots, represents an increasingly conscious awareness within the American public that they have been betrayed by their leaders and institutions. We are in a period of American assertion, when people begin to demonstrate their power. It is crucial that we direct this energy in positive reform, instead of ignoring it and let it slip into the hands of devious men who handle dead issues like abortion and gay-marriage, comparable to the way that wolves handle dead carcasses. These men who target government buildings, police stations, holocaust museums, lack good footing in reality. Their ground has been stripped from underneath them, and they feel they are being unrecognized. Some of these charges of reverse racism is a representation of their anxiety and helplessness. It is counter-productive to berate them, which only results in further isolation and deeper resentment. The extreme behavior of killing a human being because of his race or background is not a strange phenomena, and not unique to individuals only. The American nation has always classified its enemies as the other, and serves as the prime example that racism kills. America is a very unique country, though, because of its history, and the grave evils it has committed in the world recently, so it is not surprising that it is in America that people resort to violence to solve their problems.
Most of the analysis of extremist violence on the media is focused on the 'lone wolves' angle, a term that doesn't put anything into context. It does explain, however, that Americans are at base lone wolves because they so greatly believe in the idea of personal responsibility, of taking things in their own hands. A gun comes in handy in those situations, but it is not a real source of power. Also, I don't understand the fear that America will turn socialist, I fear the exact opposite, that it will turn into a land of 300 millions of lone wolves, and become an isolated nation. Also, pointing the blame only at the individual who committed the evil will not solve anything. After all, if Denmark itself is rotten then how much blame can you place at the foot of the barbarians?
Existential psychologist Rollo May wrote in his book, Power and Innocence, about how the nation's history affects the individual's psyche in that nation.
Most Americans are oppressed by the sense of individual responsibility, not only for general humanitarian reasons, but for reasons specific to our own nation. An American receives very little aide from his culture in carrying this responsibility. Americans have no sacraments like penance, no rituals like confession (except in psychoanalysis for the few) to help free them from the burden of the past. The whole weight rests on the shoulders of the individual, and we have already seen that he feels powerless.Americans are witnessing first hand the truism that what goes around comes around. Commit evil unto others, and evil will be done onto you. No country can go to war and simply wash its hands off, that is an innocent illusion. Germany saw pain and suffering after losing in WWI, and Britain's cities were permanently at war in WWII. France witnessed Nazi tanks on their streets. Two of Japan's cities were ruined overnight. Iraq and Iran both suffered tremendous losses in their war in the 1980s, which would have been impossible to fight if not for American money and weapons. America is the only nation whose homefront has remained untouched and relatively peaceful during wartime, and 9/11 doesn't count because it was a domestic enemy that orchestrated that event. There has been very little turbulence in America since the 1960's when race riots broke out and the Vietnam protests were intensifying. It does not matter if the Iraq war ends tomorrow, the bill is already well overdue, and it will have to be paid in the entire next decade. Social programs are going to be cut, universal health care is a dream, rebuilding cities with new green technology is still a signpost, and not possible yet. Until the wars overseas ends, America's domestic problems will grow larger. Change is necessary, but for it to happen for the good, people will have to start feeling powerful again.
Because feeling powerless in a democracy is a dangerous thing, especially if the people have been deprived of it for so long. If a group of people, whether they are Christian fundamentalists or any other, suddenly feel overtly powerful then they will transform the country into their own image. And they will use fascist means to achieve their dream state. The trick is to spread democratic power around, decentralize it and not just keep it in the top one percent, or in the top levels of government in Washington.
The reason why people are so depressed is because they know they don't control the direction of the country, and for non-Americans, the world. But things are slowly starting to change because of the crisis. "Epochs of crisis," Gasset said, "are a time for 'resolution,' for will power." Voting doesn't express power, it is nothing but a forsaken ritual. Power is not something that can be expressed in the ballot box, at least, not under the current system. To acquire power for your nation, tribe, family, etc., requires you to put your life on the line, or if you have wealth, to put money up for investment. Power is not given like love, because it is always in limited supply. "It must in some sense be assumed, taken, asserted," as May says. And "unless it can be held against opposition, it is not power and will never be experienced as real power on the part of the recipient."
May said that there are five ways power can be expressed, the first is exploitative which identifies power with force or the threat of force. The second is manipulative which is power over another person and exemplified by the con man, such as Madoff or Hitler who manipulated Germans' experience of economic devastation, inflation, and their overall humiliation from losing the war. Another form of power is competitive, which is used against someone, which helps brings out the best in others and can be very stimulating. Being engaged in the type of competitive power is important to understanding if it serves any constructive ends. One example that May gave was the competition between nations in the space race. Sadly, war is still the most primitive kind of competition between nations. The fourth variation of power was what May called nutrient, which is power for the other. Statemanship is a good example of nutrient power, because society gives the statesman the responsibility to responsibility overlook the general welfare of the nation. Mothering is probably the most well-known example, as well as doctors and teachers. Today, Dr. Ron Paul is the best carrier of nutrient power because of his work in exposing the corruption of the Fed, and all the other evils in Washington.
The last and most effective kind of power is called integrative, and this is power with the other. Obama has asked for this type of power to be used by Americans, because he asked Americans to criticize him. May highlighted Hegel's dialectic process of antithesis/thesis/synthesis that can be used in this type of power. For example, Obama serves as the antithesis, against the American people's thesis, and will be forced to reform and develop and a new synthesis. Martin Luther King Jr and Ghandi used this power to the utmost degree. Nonviolence is a great spiritual force because it depends on human memory and is based in innocence. "When it is authentic," says May, "nonviolence has a religious dimension, since by its very nature it transcends the human forms of power."
I believe we are in a new phase of American Assertion. The trouble is when we act independently, without co-ordination. I don't mean as individuals, which is the first goal, to become individuals and express power that way. Jung said that in any collectivity man is rootless and then the demons get him, which was one reason why the Nazis never wanted to form individuals but collective masses. In Ron Paul's rallies there were individuals, but Obama's ascendancy was due to the campaign's manipulation of its mass following. They identified themselves with Obama, projected all their hopes for change onto him and as a result they are now without power. They are limbless.
Why is being an individual related to power? Because only individuals can act out their power, masses are unable to. And power must be expressed in the political arena, or life is not worth living. Psychologist Rollo May said that violence occurs when we are restricted from expressing power in normal ways. Self-aggression, if it is asserted positively, is healthy for any human being. And that rule extends to peoples of nations as well. If we are to fight back against extremism and violence of all sorts, we must keep in mind that love is the greatest expression of power. It will be our salvation. But we must take a stand, otherwise, the enemies of the people will continue on their unrighteous path.
July 24, 2009
Terror Stimulus?
Raw Story:
By Agene France-Presse Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the United States and abroad are preparing to go on high alert as part of a massive terrorism prevention exercise — the first of its kind here.
Beginning Monday, security officials at all levels in the United States and four other countries will scramble into action in the wake of a fictional terrorist attack somewhere outside the United States.
The scenario envisions the receipt of intelligence that a follow-up attack is planned inside the United States, forcing agencies inside and out of the country to test their coordination, intelligence and terror prevention skills.
Generation RX and Carl Jung on Psychosmatic Drugs
In August 1957, twelve years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the original psychological renegade, Dr. Jung, expressed his concerns about America's turn from nature's healing powers to drugs to treat its psychological imbalance in the Houston films, a collection of interviews running over four hours. He was interviewed by Richard I. Evans who taught psychology at the University of Houston.
Evans: Now to pursue this a little further, another development that falls right into line with this whole discussion of psychosomatic medicine has been the use of drugs to deal with psychological problems. A particular development has been the so-called non-addictive drugs which began in France with chlorpromazine, reserpine, serpentina, and a great variety of milder tranquillizers known by such trade names as Miltown and Equinal. Thjey are now being administered very freely to patients by general practitioners and internists, not only to schizophrenics and others who are not approachable but are being dispensed almost as freely as aspirins to reduce everyday tensions.
Jung: It is very dangerous.
Why do you think it is dangerous? They say these drugs are non-addictive.
It's just like the compulsion that is caused by morphine or heroin. It becomes a habit. You don't know what you are doing, you see, when you use such drugs. It is like the abuse of narcotics .
But the argument is that these are not habit-forming; they are not addictive, not physiologically.
Oh yes, that is what one says.
Bur you feel that psychologically there is still addiction?
Yes. There are many drugs tha are not habit-forming like morphine, yet it becomes a psychic habit, and that is just as bad as anything else.
Have you actually see any patients or had any contact with individuals who ahve been taking these particular drugs, these tranquillizers?
I can't say. You see with us there are very few. In America, you know, there are all those little tablets and powders. Happily enough we are not yet so far. You see, American life is, in a subtle way, so one-sided and so deracine, uprooted, that you must have something to compensate the earth. You have to pacify your unconscious all along the line because it is in an absolute uproar, so at the slightest provocation you have a big moral rebellion. Look at the rebellion of modern youth in America, the sexual rebellion, and all that. The real natural man is just in open rebellion against the utterly inhuman form of life. You are absolutely divorced, you know, from nature in a way, and that accounts for the drug abuse.
But what about the treatment of seriously ill mental patients? We have the problem of hospitalized patients, the schizophrenics, manic-depressives. Certain schizophrenics are so withdrawn that you can't deal with them. In many hospitals they have been using drugs like chlorpromazine and the patient comes back to reality for a short time. I don't think most of our practitioners believe the drugs cure the patients in themselves, but at least they make the patient more amenable to psychotherapy.
Yes, the only question is whether that amenability is a real thing or drug-induced. I am sure that any kind of suggestive treatment will have an effect, because the patients simply become more suggestible. You see, any drug or shock undermines the moral stamina, making these people accessible to suggestion. And then they can be led, they can be made into something, but it is not a very happy result.
In an age of grand evil, when even the doctors are compromised, it is every man for himself. And I use that last phrase in the most positive way. Self-diagnosis remains the only tool for survival. Navigating the psychological minefield that is our unconscious mind is perhaps our most important job as individuals. Know Thyself is the eternal maxim, but for our times it has become Know Thyself Better.
The Greatest Idea of Our Time
Beginning in this century we're still affected by the trials of war, rumors of more wars abound, and were only slowly starting to adapt to the technological evolution, as well as the information and communication revolutions. As it is, the case for separation must be made again.
Why come together into one unified government when we have a more likely chance to survive and live happier apart? Besides, we're one regardless of our physical proximity. The arguments for a big government is that we'll join hands in a circle and take of each other, but when has the government ever worked that way? Living under one big government with all the resources in the world will not keep us safe, as it is argued, just like being under one umbrella does not mean that we will all stay dry from the rain, no matter how big it is.
Forming our political relationships in one giant colossal system makes our society more vulnerable, and less resistant to tyranny. We let our guard down when we feel safe and secure and that is when tyrants make their plans to gain power. And were easily scared so as soon as a tragedy strikes we give up all sovereignty and cry for relief, which tyrants keep in mass storage. Relief is the avoidance of distress, of due reckoning, a release from your post as a citizen. Christ's example taught us to carry the burden, even if it leads to death, and this message is not a rejection of this world but a call for correction.
We've accepted that idea a man and a woman can divorce, but not a citizen and a state. This state of affairs cannot last. The idea of secession needs to be reexamined because its coming up on our civilization like a whale and we will be forced to strangle with it sooner or later.
Decentralization is the greatest idea of all times, but especially ours because we can put it into motion in ways Jefferson never dreamed of. Technology exists so people can have a freer time and more choices to decide how to spend that time. On the internet there are various online communities and forums that caters to people's different interests and they are popular because individuals have chosen to join those communities. Democratic government should work the same way, and it is the cheapest way for all parties involved.
People of the world want to decentralize and America is leading the way. The decentralized example that America can provide in the years ahead may redeem America in the eyes of humanity, and make the country a better place to live in. America is an innovator of war, that has been proven time after time but who says it can't also be an innovator of peace?
Here is Kirkpatrick Sale giving a speech in New Hampshire last November, at the Secession Convention speech.
July 22, 2009
The Three-Tier System
But this picture, that has also been voiced by others, is not fate or the work of divine providence. The 'to-be-or-not-to-be' global system, when it shows its face, will always be destined to break apart and replaced with a more equitable and democratic system. So rigid political and technological boundaries will probably be put in place to maintain a false order. This vast undertaking, however, will be fragile, unlike Nature which is firm and adaptable.
With that said, we can change the world in the next few years but in all likelihood we won't succeed because of the tremendous severity of the real and made-up crises engulfing humankind at the present hour. In times of crisis human beings follow the closest and most dominant authority, and the elites are shaping up to be the ones taking the charge. There is no mass movement, there are signs of it and it may take some crucial events to bring it into being but as if right now, we are in this for the long haul. Tyranny is a generational phenomena. Man has lived under fear and led by tyrants for most of his evolution on Earth so it is never out of the question that we can again accept tyranny. We already have, even if most of us haven't completely realized it yet. When the truth finally sets in, then the tyrants will begin to unravel their masterwork - even it fails miserably. Hitler and his fellow psychopaths at the top of his regime undertook the Holocaust in a very short time, but his plans were in the back of his mind for a long while. And the greatest lesson we can take from his grave is that he failed in the end - so destiny is never written no matter how much leaders and elites like to believe. Tyrants and the systems they put in place are always undone in the end.
All this is speculative chatter and probably doesn't matter but it's still good to air your doubts, however strange they may be. I think we are going to end up living in an situation resembling the one portrayed in films like V for Vendetta and others of the genre, where finally everybody is going to converge en masse and take back their puppet governments with their feet. I'll call it the March of Armageddon. But that is not going to happen anytime soon because I sincerely doubt that we currently have the numbers needed to sustain a long-lasting peaceful uprising. We need the collective mass to accomplish that task and we are not there yet. As soon as shots are fired and civil unrest emerges people are probably going to stay in doors, and those that resist will be forced to submit. In populated cities there will be curfews and surveillance, and people will have no choice in the matter.
Government leaders will label this upcoming period the 'transition' to a more peaceful time where everybody in the global community will be reimbursed with their freedoms and such. And this promise will be repeated to keep people hopeful. But there may come a time in the future when people will not rationalize tyranny anymore, not listen to the authority figures and just explode and rise up. It will be nature reinstating its sovereignty and independence in the world. As America's last assassinated president said, "man was born free and independent." And when that time comes there will be a new realization of nature and humanity and I will call it The Revival. Come to think of it, we maybe in that age right now and it's just taking a long time for us to listen closely to our unconscious because of the surreal aspect of it. Terrence McKenna foresaw it, so did Jung other shamans in the West. This Revival entails waking up and reintegrating with nature and our more humane qualities. Waking up feels like coming up from the deepest part of the ocean up to the surface and unable to hear anything because of the water in our ears. Once we shake our bodies we will come to our senses and it will then dawn on us - that we in fact made it out of the water and can begin to attend to the matter at hand.
There is a good chance that my speculations and dry metaphors are moronic and meaningless but they are entirely sincere. To be truthful, I haven't given this much thought but I think there is something to it - to my intuition I should say - because in films the future is always portrayed as a tyrant's paradise which troubles me. Maybe they are just visions by screenwriters who think like me and have no particular agenda of their own other than drawing millions of people into the movie theaters. Or maybe films are collective dreams. But Hollywood is Hollywood for a reason, and I'll venture to guess that Hollywood may be used for social engineering purposes on some occasions. Blockbuster films require lots of dough, and rich people have an agenda, they always have, so it only makes sense to assume that they will only fund projects that falls in line with their vision for the future.
I'm never confident about my suspicions because I am young but it's good to just write this out of my system. If each blog post required $5 then I would definitely keep these fears private because they are not that important in my mind, but blogging is free last time I updated. Besides, I'm free to fear anything I want. America is too, so let our imaginations run amok.
We can conceive our future on the spot, or expect as the way it's portrayed on film and in pop culture. Forty years ago people assumed we would be wearing jet packs in the year 2000 all because of television, which tells us that the energies of the imagination are powerful and that projection used as a propaganda tool is fundamental to understanding modern life. Hollywood myth-makers have imprinted their own vision of the future on the collective mind for a while now, and we should always be aware of that. It makes us anxious and assume reality as something pre-existing, something that is out of our hands. Okay, now I'm just rambling and stuck in a small rabbit hole where I lack the foresight to say anything else that won't be regarded as bullshit.
I am reading Jung and I was immediately pulled back to this post. I remember learning about Freud and his theories in school, but Jung was brought up only occasionally. It is a real shame because reading Jung is so much more fascinating and stimulating.
What if our inhibitions to come together and powerfully resist the system on a regular basis is a form of cultural neurosis? We don't just live in an economic repression, that is just the outer layer of our present troubles, but we are under real repression. Repression of the collective unconscious may explain a lot more about our problems then declining economic statistics.
Jung spoke about how a significant number of patients recovered from their neurosis at the start of the second world war:
At the beginning of the war one observed that cases of compulsion neurosis which had lasted for many years suddenly were cured because they got into an entirely new condition. It is like a shock, you see that with shock. Even schizophrenics can be vastly improved by a shock, because that's a new condition; it is a very shocking thing that shocks them out of their habitual attitude. They are no longer in it, and then the whole thing collapses, the whole system that has been built up for years.Jung was referring to how the system of thought within an individual build ups over a period and then suddenly ceasing, but the same is true of entire cultures, and even civilizations. This shock incident may happen to us individually or as a collective, but we all go through these motions at some point in our lives. It is not inherently bad but represents change and serves as a possible evolutionary mechanism, depending on what we choose to do after we experienced the shock. For example, do we act on our knowledge after a catastrophic event or sheepishly submit to the higher authority?
Moreover, the gross amount of Americans on pills and other harmful drugs is totally ludicrous. It is not the psyche that is pushing human beings into states of neurosis and other conditions but the way of the world, their immediate surroundings, and general life obstacles. Big Pharma drugs perpetuate the conditions and in a lot cases makes them worse. We can't allow this to go on. The personal psyche is very vulnerable, especially in children, and only ignorant doctors or total maniacs would tackle natural problems by way of artificial drugs. Also, most of the time the humans put on medication do not even have natural problems, let alone artificial ones. They are victims more than anything else, consumed into a medical and social nightmare that is absolutely tragic and very sickening. The corruption surrounding this issue and industry is even beyond the scale of the Church making their flock pay for 'salvation' with their hard-earned money. Practitioners of psychiatric drugs and other pushers in the medical drug game are worst than Fred Lucas and Ricky Ross, at least they had enough of a conscience to not sell drugs to children.
So where is our Luther and when will he pin his new theses on Big Pharma's doorstep? I'm guessing it won't be ninety-five this time around but it doesn't matter since we all have attention deficit disorder and will stop reading at five. Maybe our Luther will tweet his findings in ninety-five posts.
Luther or not, the madness must stop. It all boils down to making a consistent and collective effort to reveal this unscientific medical paradigm. We have to become conscious of these processes and act on what we have learned which Jung says is a moral imperative:
The development of consciousness is the burden, the suffering, and the blessing of mankind. Each new discovery leads to greater consciousness, and the path along which we are going is merely an extension of it. This inevitably calls for greater responsibility and enforces a great change in ourselves. We must draw conclusions from what we know and discover, and not take everything for granted.
July 21, 2009
Fed's Feet to the Fire
Survivor of The Darkness Age
It represents our collective insanity.
America put one of the 20th century's most profound, yet still a bit disturbing poets, Ezra Pound, in a cage. After his release, Pound remarked that America is a lunatic asylum. And it still is to this day. How else could a personality like Cheney rise up through the ranks and gain influence in the executive government?
Pound railed against the private bankers behind the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, and supported government issued currency, free of interest and national debt. And that sane monetary system also eliminates the need for an income tax, which means more money for average, hard-working Americans, and less money for filthy, bloodthirsty bankers, who don't pay any income tax. It also means no war. Imagine that?
Late in his life, Pound regretted his anti-semitism that he frequently expressed. Though he was a great mind and a remarkable poet, he was human and humans are prone to ugly forms of prejudice. I am reserving judgment on Pound the complete man, but as a poet, he was an incredible master. He embodied his age and that is the way I try to understand him. Anti-semitism was and still is a pathetic and appalling social, political and cultural phenomena, and doesn't explain the powers of international finance. It reached its peak in Europe with Hitler whose ascendancy interests me for historical reasons. Only fools resort to such small-minded and racist analysis, and in the 20th century political tyrants and poetic masterminds were plagued by this menacing thought.
But simply touting anti-semitism at anyone who criticizes the Israeli state doesn't clear away the crimes it has committed. Sadly, the label has been used for political purposes and in the end undermines rational criticism and gives racists more ammo. Behind all the labels and racist dialogue, we need to remind ourselves that what is at stake are precious human lives. Being consumed with hatred steers us off-course from reaching what MLK prophetically saw as the Promised Land. Which, as I understand it, is entirely metaphorical and has nothing to do with geography. The Kingdom of God is within, as Jung professed in the middle of the century, and Campbell later repeated, after the moon landing. So all this in-fighting and domination for the world's resources is, in the final analysis, stupid. Nothing else explains it. It is stupid. And also, very, very profitable for the very, very few.
July 19, 2009
Walter Cronkite: Whose Way Is It Anyway?
John Nichols wrote about Cronkite's legacy, before and after the anchor position, on the news of his death:
The reporter, editor and anchorman from 1962 to 1981, whose name remained synonymous with American journalism to the day he died, fretted in particular about a 2003 move by the Federal Communications Commission to relax media ownership rules. After the commission approved proposals that would permit a single media company to own television stations that reach up to 45 percent of American households, and that would permit a single media company to own the daily newspaper, several television stations and up to eight radio stations in the same community, Cronkite said, "I think they made a mistake, I do indeed. It seems to me that the rule change was negotiated and promulgated with the goal of creating even larger monopolies in the news-gathering business."
The veteran television journalist was especially concerned about monopolies developing at the local level.
"We are coming closer to that (monopoly situations) today, even without the relaxation of the rules," Cronkite said. "In many communities, we have seen a lot of mergers already and that is disturbing. We have more and more one-newspaper towns, and that troubles me. I think that the failure of newspaper competition in a community is a very serious handicap to the dissemination of the knowledge that the citizens need to participate in a democracy."
Below are passages and brief sentences taken from Cronkite's writing, and interviews, gathered on the web.
War on Drugs:
I remember. I covered the Vietnam War. I remember the lies that were told, the lives that were lost - and the shock when, twenty years after the war ended, former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara admitted he knew it was a mistake all along.
Today, our nation is fighting two wars: one abroad and one at home. While the war in Iraq is in the headlines, the other war is still being fought on our own streets. Its casualties are the wasted lives of our own citizens.
I am speaking of the war on drugs.
And I cannot help but wonder how many more lives, and how much more money, will be wasted before another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for all to see: the war on drugs is a failure.
While the politicians stutter and stall - while they chase their losses by claiming we could win this war if only we committed more resources, jailed more people and knocked down more doors - the Drug Policy Alliance continues to tell the American people the truth - "the way it is."
I'm sure that's why you support DPA's mission to end the drug war. And why I strongly urge you to support their work by giving a generous donation today.
You see, I've learned first hand that the stakes just couldn't be higher.
When I wanted to understand the truth about the war on drugs, I took the same approach I did to the war in Vietnam: I hit the streets and reported the story myself. I sought out the people whose lives this war has affected.
The Iraq War:
He was obviously a man of integrity. But I am not a complete convert. I respect his forthrightness, and the fact that he always fell back on his conscience, which is the safest place to land, tells me that he was not governed by fear of persecution, at least not all the time, which says a great deal about any human being but especially a human being ordained to report the stories of the day truthfully. I do not, however, agree with his view that we must put in a place a democratic world government, and a uniform world law, in order to insure that our civilization survives and prospers in peace.
"We are going to be in such a fix when this war is over, or before this war is over … our grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be paying for this war.""I look at our future as, I'm sorry, being very, very dark. Let's see our cards as we rise to meet the difficulties that lie ahead."
On the occasion of accepting the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award from the World Federalist Association, Cronkite said:
Today we must develop federal structures on a global level. We need a system of enforceable world law --a democratic federal world government-- to deal with world problems. What Alexander Hamilton wrote about the need for law among the 13 states applies today to the approximately 200 sovereignties in our global village: "To look for a continuation of harmony between a number of independent unconnected sovereignties in the same neighborhood, would be to disregard the uniform course of human events, and to set at defiance the accumulated experience of ages." Today the notion of unlimited national sovereignty means international anarchy. We must replace the anarchic law of force with a civilized force of law.World federalism is not the way it is, sir. And it will never be. Besides, not if the Hamiltonian ethic is your anchor. America will always remain Jefferson's land. He declared independence, and we will manifest it. It is predestiny.
I see the men who call for world government, and most of them are not of Cronkite's caliber. Rather, they are corrupt and power hungry individuals who believe that they alone should direct the form this world government must take. World federalism is not necessary, what is necessary is more conscience and independent leaders of nations who will not be persuaded by banks and the military establishment.The fact that Cronkite avoided to face is that human beings are born sovereign and rational, which runs counter to popular opinion among elites that the masses of humanity need to be directed and led, even by tanks if it is necessary. Ceding our sovereignty means ceding our humanity.
But Cronkite was a man of peace, his anti-war stance shows that he wanted a world government that does not tolerate any nation who seeks to solve problems by way of war. Unfortunately, I believe he put too much faith in those who are working to institute world government behind the scenes, and not enough faith in the American people. Not being upfront to Americans and all world citizens about their intentions is the new world order cabal's gravest mistake. They desire peace so much that they will blow up whole nations to achieve it. So ask yourself what good is peace if it is beaten into the minds of men, and prepared not in the kitchen but ordered in? The future can not be made under wraps. It must be cooked hot and steamy, or else the people will not take a bite out of it.
Moreover, although these extremists are very influential and heavily funded, bringing in a new world is a tall order. Man is not infallible, and neither is their design for such a massive project. I believe in the end they will fail and continue to be despised throughout history as this story will be told and retold to all future generations of men. They will fail because their revolution is a false revolution. They seek to snatch the world from under us, kind of like giving birth in a lab overseen by doctors who snatch the baby from the mother as soon as she is born. And finally they will fail because they are not for the law and justice, nor do they represent the civilized codes of decency and righteousness. Inducting wars for resources, failing in the process, and then bringing into being a global government is not the way of honorable men.
I believe we have it in us as free human beings to achieve global justice without creating a global government. But I can forgive Mr. Cronkite for his Star-Trekian dreams of world federalism because he told the truth about war:
"Preventive war is a theory, a policy, that was put forth by the president in his policy address," Cronkite observed. "It upsets all of our previous concepts about the use of power. It is particularly worrying when our power is almost unchallenged around the world. It seems to me that this preventive action is a terrible policy to put forth to other nations. If we are viewed as a pacesetter by other nations, this is a policy that could lead to eternal war around the world. If every small nation with a border dispute believes they can go ahead and launch a pre-emptive war and that it will be approved by the greatest power, that is a very dangerous thing."
A Living Legend
July 17, 2009
Nations Can Not Go Bankrupt
"We're going to go bankrupt as a nation," Biden said.Let it be recorded into history that with these sheepish utterances the vice-president of the United States showed where his true loyalties lie. I'm not thinking irrationally when I say that he just either confessed his lack of knowledge about economics and its relation to government, or, his criminal involvement in bringing the United States closer to the creditor's doorstep. And these are not regular creditors, but robbers who take their own nation hostage.
"Now, people when I say that look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?'" Biden said. "The answer is yes, that's what I'm telling you."
Imagine a kingdom turning into a madhouse, wouldn't you want to be an escapee? So I understand politicians like Biden selling out their own people. But Biden must be aware that he is treading dangerous ground because it looks like he is slipping information to the public in a secret fashion like a person who slips a date-rape drug in a drink when his victim is not paying attention. Getting the half-truths and truths of the day out of the way is not that straight-forward. Why is the nation bankrupt, as you say it is? I bet he won't mention war funding. In any case, Biden needs more explaining to do, and less telling. That is what gangsters do. Leaders explain. Gangsters tell. The only thing that's telling is his blatant disregard for the American people. After all, it is treason when you use usury to loot from the nation's treasury.
Also, the administration's lack of political astute tells a lot about its priorities. They think it is craftsmanship when you don't prosecute torture and keep it on the hush-hush. If prosecution of former officials is political taboo, then a revolution is called for. And why is the vice-president and not the president delivering the important messages to the nation, and warning of dangers to come? Is the administration afraid that Obama's image will be blemished if he made those statements? And why not present the harsh truths at a press conference? Does Obama share with Bush the belief that Americans are incapable of understanding the severity of the situation? If so, then that is sad. It shows the same lack of confidence in the American people that we observed in the last administration, and makes it clear that the new crop of boys in the White House are not special in the least. But for some reason half of the citizens are confident that the current government will act on their best interests, but as in any relationship, if that confidence is not matched by the other partner then it is all for nothing. Confidence must go both ways in any relationship, whether it is between a man and a woman or citizens and their government.
Why is economic knowledge important? Because without it our culture lags and our society needlessly suffers.
Companies go bankrupt. Families go bankrupt. Nations can not go bankrupt. Neither can California, or any state, city or township in the union. Any political-economic organization that governs a community of people spread over any given territory, regardless of size, can come out of debt by simply recognizing that only they can decide on the value and volume of the money in circulation in their community. Outside financial agents like private central banks and foreign banks, or very wealthy individuals whose power is not institutionalized, can not legitimately decide the destiny of a nation. That is statesmanship 101. Either Biden knows that simple truth and is not acting on it, which makes him a corrupt coward, or, he is ignorant which makes him unfit to govern. Either way, the citizens of America must demand his resignation from high office.
All the financial hoopla and useless worry about the health of the economy zaps our energy that could otherwise be used for more productive projects. Forget the economy, rediscovering political sovereignty comes first. Dealing with the economy is at base about social and political problems, so our intense focus on the 'dismal science' represents our failure to learn the most basic lessons of how to sustain a healthy human society. Anyone who complicates and confuses the populace about the economic realities of nations either supports the agenda of criminal financial agents or is utterly clueless.
Since the dawn of civilization, men of thought have learned and relearned the few laws to govern a just society, of which the economy is a small but essential part. American poet, Ezra Pound, for all his drawbacks, was one of the few intellectual heavyweights of his time. Setting aside his support for Mussolini, which must be understood in context, Pound seemed like a very direct and honest man, and should have been honored prior to WWII by America for his contributions to poetry and knowledge. It was his disdain of the ruling central bank and money aristocracy that compelled him to leave America. He did not, however, forsake her. He rightly recognized the error in Western civilization in claiming money as a god, rather than appreciating it for what it actually is: a means of exchange to purchase good and measure prices, and a means of saving. And he blamed the process of denaturalisation for bringing this false order into being, saying "our money has been given false attributes and powers that it should never have possessed." An exorcism is needed. This time we must not just get rid of the money-lenders in the temple of doom, but the ideology that puts money atop the temple of doom. There is a place for money but to regain our sanity we must first adhere to social justice and the natural order of society and not give money the ascendancy that it does not deserve. In the end, as we are now witnessing, the advancement of political powers is depended on economic advancement, which is very unfortunate because it ignores talent, knowledge, merit, and character. It leaves us socially and culturally poorer as a result. It destroys human potential, whether artistic or any other. Money must be given a balance weight, so it is not equal to itself but to the rule of law, and social justice.
The good news is that economic knowledge is growing, and our fate is not sealed like the back of the dollar bill. Unlike former times, in previous financial crises, there is an inconceivable amount of avenues of thought to communicate abandoned information. Also, ordinary heroes on both sides of the false isle are gaining new esteem. The corruption of Goldman Sachs is making the airwaves on both 'conspiracy' radio and progressive media. Truth is unstoppable. Ordinary people are interested about learning how to manage their finances, realizing the gravity of individual choices. This is incredibly inspiring. But, beyond individual power, we must also seek to solve the problem of the lack of collective political will. It is time that nations rediscover who they represent; their people, not bankers and corporate titans. Some of the new leaders in Latin America understand the responsibility that nations have to their people, and are starting to manage their own economic affairs, forcing out the IMF. Hopefully, the end product of all of this is the realization that the monopoly of money is the first right of nations, and not the territory of private individuals, families and corporations.
Pound made a great point about the responsibility we all share to make sure that money stays legitimate and honest:
No one is such a fool as to let someone else have the run of his own private bank account; yet nations, individuals, industrialists, and businessmen have all been quite prepared - almost eager - leave the control of their national currencies and of international money, in the hands of the most stinking degs of humanity.I don't regard Pound as the ultimate authority on the subject, but his research into economic matters in both ancient and modern civilization is evident, and we should not dismiss his knowledge simply because we disagree with some of his beliefs. His profound insight into the crisis of our civilization that is reaching the tipping point at this time in history is badly needed, and we should not be ungrateful of him or all former men who also eyed the crisis. Jung is another grand master who was tainted with a devilish mark when he was called a Nazi sympathizer. To group such men as Pound and Jung with Mussolini and Hitler is unbelievably stupid and reflects our inability to dissociate historical persons from historical events. Dispensing them to the margins of thought doesn't add to our knowledge and understanding of the psyche or economics, and makes us very childish. Intellectual progression is meaningless if we discount mankind's renegades, in whatever field of knowledge. On a final note, one last lesson we can take from Pound is his assertion that Civilization "depends on local control of purchasing power needed for local purposes."


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The Arizona Diamondbacks announced they have agreed to a four-year contract through 2016 with infielder/outfielder Martin Prado, according to D-backs Executive Vice President & General Manager Kevin Towers. Prado, 29, hit .301 (186-for-617) with 42 doubles, 10 home runs and 70 RBI in 156 games with the Braves in 2012. He led the National League with 60 multi-hit games, ranked fourth in hits and fifth in doubles while playing five different positions (left field, third base, second base, first base and shortstop). Prado was named to the 2010 NL All-Star Team and received NL Most Valuable Player consideration in 2010 (9th place) and 2012 (T-20th). He has hit at least .300 in three of the last four seasons, joining Joey Votto, Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez as the only four NL players to accomplish that feat (min. 200 plate appearances). Since 2009, Prado ranks among NL leaders in multi-hit games (T-2nd, 193), doubles (3rd, 146), hits (5th, 651) and average (12th, .294). The Venezuela native is a career .295 (752-for-2546) hitter with 168 doubles, 52 home runs and 286 RBI in 683 games with Atlanta. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-handed hitter has made 222 appearances in left, 209 at second, 191 at third, 56 at first, 15 at shortstop and 1 in right. Prado, who was named to Venezuela's provisional World Baseball Classic roster, was acquired by Arizona on Jan. 25 with right-handed pitchers Randall Delgado and Zeke Spruill and infielders Nick Ahmed and Brandon Drury in exchange for outfielder Justin Upton and infielder Chris Johnson.
MLB Headlines
Prado, D-backs agree to four-year contract
MLB.com | Jan 31


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Posted 6 years ago
(6 items)
This coin is gold in color , it is NOT the light reflecting onto it. I work in a convenience store so I am always coming across old coins. Sometimes I think people get hard up for cash n get into Grandmother's coin stash. I say this because, there isn't just one here and there show up its several pieces at a time from the same people who NEVER have $ and use every last cent they have to buy cigs. LUCKY ME, I am always scannin the change to see what treasure might be in there.