Majority Leader Eric Cantor Fails to Win Reelection

Eric Cantor, the resident Jewish tea party member, was voted out of office in last night's Virginia primary election, and Rep Cantor is so eager to help his Republican Party that he's resigning his status as House Majority leader to make way for someone with even more extreme views.  Last night was a victor for extremism.  Some have put forth the theory that in Virginia's open primary - - Democrats all voted for David Bratt just to embarrass the party.  Bot voter analysis shows that there was no influx of democratic voters.  It was said that immigration was the issue.  I reccomend that you watch Chuck Schumer's speech today on this subject of immigration reform.  In it he notes that Eric Cantor was part of the problem and not part of the solution, and that on top of the many, many excuses John Boehner have put forth for why immigration reform has not been passed, the latest excuse is that "We can't pass immigration now because Eric Cantor isn't with us".  Shawn Hannity puts forth his five point platform with broad political ideals.  But in reality you have no idea from casually listening to these five points the specifics of either what tea party members HAVE done, or are doing NOW or what they would LIKE to see America become in the future if they had their way.  To learn the true goals of the tea party you need to tune into a show such as Thom Hartman or Stephanie Miller.  Apparently there is a new news network called the TONN or tea party news network, no doubt trying to compete with CNN.  This David Pratt guy is a faithful desciple of Ayan Rand and was funded by 500,000 from the Kato Institute, an offshoot of the Koch Brothers, to teach courses based on his extreme beliefs.  Apparently this guy also is a graduate of Princeton theological seminary.  They must be teaching some strange theology nowadays.  But for Bratt's financing you have to go back to a guy named John Allicen, who got perhaps billions in TARP money from the Bush Administration for B T & T bank, and of that 22 million was used to fund Laura Ingrem and Mark LeVin, who saturated the air waves this past election advocating for David Pratt's election.   Of course many Republicans are not a bit happy that Eric Cantor lost his house seat- - after all he "sure brought home the Pork" to his district.

The tea party is on a roll because yesterday the Senate apparently failed by three votes or 57 out of sixty votes needed for voting the student loan bill out - -  and they make countless excuses for that, too.  For instance it is said that forty million students or whatever- will be denied student loan refinancing so that 22,000 multi millionaires can get a little extra cash.  Keep in mind with almost any other loan and certainly a home mortgage, it can be refinanced when interest rates drop.  But not student loans.  And they can't be forgiven even if you declare Chapter seven.  This burdensome debt on so many millions of students and ex students is a major drag on the overall economy, which is just   what the Republicans want.  In their minds anything which slows down the economy is a good thing if it makes the President look bad.   I see the figure 1.2 trillion dollars.  I hope that's not the student debt figure.  Al Franken, the guy from Minnisota you never hear from- - addressed this issue today.  But it's not as iff these students and ex students who owe this debt are asking for a "government handout' but merely want current interest rates they pay to be more in line with market rates now- - which would be something like 3.8% rather than over six percent.  But the tea party stands like a wall, and they will not close so much as a single tax loophole for the ultra rich, even though Mitt Romney said he was willing to do that even if HE became President in the 2012 campaign.  I can think of no bill off the top of my head the Republicans have EVER put forth that will help or stimulate this languishing economy.

We then have this dark sports utility vehicle full of comedians that was hit by a truck driver who had fallen asleep because he said he'd been up straight over 24 hours.  In his "defence of his action" he says that truck drivers routinely have to skip nights of sleep because the sooner they get the produce to market, the more money they make.  Yet many companies have policies concerning truck drivers and the ammount of sleep they are required to get to be alert and safe drivers.   That one Black comedian is in critical condition now and his personal writer was killed outright.  Meanwhile there are those on the Stephanie Miller show who think - - that using railroads to haul more produce and cattle and such would be a bad idea, even though rail cars can haul a lot more cargo more efficiently.  In August of 1965 I stayed overnight in a Fresno motel that was right next to the railroad track that runs right through the motel strip of that city.  So don't tell me they don't have railroad tracks.  But it's like these Resident doctors in hospitals who regard it as some kind of a macho or sporting thing to be able to stay awake for in excess of thirty hours and still perform surgery on patients.

With this paragraph let's take a break from Politics and do a religious sidebar.  I had a dream last night, involving two "characters" in particular (for lack of a better term) and these two characters are ones I'd had dreams about many times before usually with the same general plot line.  This time was different because I noted there was this one time a "fundamental alteration in the plot line" and I was puzzled why the change now?  I didn't know.  I thought "Was God trying to tell me something?"   But when you think of the things of God - - - you can be Safe - or Otherwise.  A Safe view of "God" or the "Things of God" would be either that God is this Rule Maker who lays it all out and spells his will for us out clearly and it's more than evident in the OT for one, when a person has Transgressed his Word.  The other view would be like my view of God that God is this 'A moral" being outside our Universe, and for whatever reason couldn't be less interested in Anything we say or do.  But you find people who are into the whole "Religious Scene" particularly in seminary - - take this other ground that God is "Mysterious" and "There are things we may never know" and paint a God who forever just keeps men guessing what he's all about.  In short you could say this is a god who plays games such as "Hide and Seek" and "Peek a Boo" and "Catch me if you Can".  You will note all these are children's games.  There is one Simpson's episode for instance where Homer is playing peek a boo with Maggie and an onlooker observes the play and says "That's the first time I've ever seen the Baby get bored with the game before the Daddy does".   But herein lies the problem.  We are told God is Very Intelligent and designed our DNA and all that and other parts of the cell that turns genes on and off at certain times and makes the thing seem so entirely complex, that an air traffic controller's job seems a snap by comparrison.   So I came up with the explanation or slogan if you will that "No fundamentalist Christian has any business talking to us about creationism" because they believe in a god and in an idiology that is utterly devoid of either Reason, or most importantly Intelligence.   His desciples are reduced to activities such as reading the tea leaves at the bottom of tea cups- or like that guy in 'Talking John Birth Society Blues" who sees phantoms in virtually everything.

I am going to be pasting in some external material on how screwed up the Obama foreign policy is right now.  But it seems that we "switched sides" and began supporting Al Qaeda in key areas in the Mideast and Africa, without informing anybody, such as congress, that we were making a major policy change, and due to this change, among other things - - Bengazi happened.  Now Al Qaeda is making new previously unseen inroads into Iraq.  They seemingly have a whole swath of land they control both in Iraq and in Syria and are linked up to the Al Qaeda troops fighting Assad in Syria.  We could have gotten the jump on that if we had intervened in Syria like the President promised we would- - such that the people would not become so completely desperate for any relief of the oppression that they would turn to anyone- - even the Devil, even Al Qaeda.  I think I have captured pretty much the meat of what George Washington's blog posting is about in this case, but you can always go back to the original.

The U.S. “Switched Sides” to Support Al Qaeda

Al Qaeda wasn’t even in Iraq until the U.S. invaded that country. And U.S. policy in Libya is partly responsible for sending an influx of Al Qaeda terrorists – and heavy weapons – into Iraq.  And now things are getting a whole lot worse …

You may not have heard, but Al Qaeda allies took over the Iraqi city of Fallujah 6 months ago.  And today, Al Qaeda-linked extremists in Iraq captured Iraq’s second-biggest city, the major oil centerof Mosul.  (The jihadis call themselves “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”.   The fact that the U.S. is backing Al Qaeda in Syria is probably a continuing factor).   To make matters worse, the army fled, so the militants seized huge caches of U.S. supplied weapons, including humvees:

We reported in 2012 that the U.S. supported Al Qaeda in Libya in its effort to topple Gadaffi:  The U.S. supported opposition which overthrew Libya’s Gadaffi was largely comprised of Al Qaeda terrorists.  According to a 2007 report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center’s center, the Libyan city of Benghazi was one of Al Qaeda’s main headquarters – and bases for sending Al Qaeda fighters into Iraq – prior to the overthrow of Gaddafi:

The Hindustan Times reported last year:  “There is no question that al Qaeda’s Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition,” Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer and a leading expert on terrorism, told Hindustan Times.

It has always been Qaddafi’s biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi.

Al Qaeda is now largely in control of Libya.  Indeed, Al Qaeda flags were flown over the Benghazi courthouse once Gaddafi was toppled.  (Incidentally, Gaddafi was on the verge of invading Benghazi in 2011, 4 years after the West Point report cited Benghazi as a hotbed of Al Qaeda terrorists. Gaddafi claimed – rightly it turns out – that Benghazi was an Al Qaeda stronghold and a main source of the Libyan rebellion.  But NATO planes stopped him, and protected Benghazi.)  The Daily  Mail reported yesterday:  A self-selected group of former top military officers, CIA insiders and think-tankers, declared Tuesday in Washington that a seven-month review of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack has determined that it could have been prevented – if the U.S. hadn’t beenhelping to arm al-Qaeda militias throughout Libya a year earlier.  ‘The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,’ Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline.  She blamed the Obama administration for failing to stop half of a $1 billion United Arab Emirates arms shipment from reaching al-Qaeda-linked militants.  ‘Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,’ Lopez claimed. ‘They were permitted to come in. … [They] knew these weapons were coming in, and that was allowed..  ‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’

***

‘The White House and senior Congressional members,’ the group wrote in an interim report released Tuesday, ‘deliberately and knowingly pursued a policy that provided material support to terrorist organizations in order to topple a ruler [Muammar Gaddafi] who had been working closely with the West actively to suppress al-Qaeda.’  ‘Some look at it as treason,’ said Wayne Simmons, a former CIA officer who participated in the commission’s research.  The same thing is happening in Syria. The U.S. “switched sides” and is supporting our arch enemy Al Qaeda.  Specifically, the Benghazi “embassy” became the CIA headquarters for transferring – after Gaddaffi fell – weapons in Libya to the Syrian Al Qaeda rebels, as confirmed by Pulitzer prize winning reporter Sy Hersh.

This Truly is - - "The Lost Decade"

Wayne La Pierre says that “The only cure for a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun”.   But apparently the NRA had felt funny about open carry into fast food places, and so backed off of that statement.  But then even farther right nuts criticized them for that and they apologized to that right wing group and reversed their position.  Of course when someone says “Did you hear about the shooting?” you have to ask “Which shooting?” because sometimes there are more than one of them in a day.  There was the shooting in that Christian university in Seattle where the guy was taken down by a “good guy with pepper spray” and not a gun.  The guy had to stop to reload and was grabbed.  The NRA would like to prevent scenarios like this from occurring with an endless supply of bullets.  Then there was the shooting of the two police officers in having a pizza lunch in Las Vegas, I believe.  It was a husband and wife far right group that was so strange they were kicked out of the Bundy group in Nevada.  One officer was gunned down while refilling his Coke, and the other officer was shot before he could get his gun out of his holster to return fire.  Then the husband and wife team continued on to the Wall Mart where a make bystander confronted the man- - (with a gun?) and the woman was right behind him and shot him dead.  And then we have today’s shooting at Reynolds High School just outside Portland where the shooter and another student ended up dead.  We won’t even talk about yesterday’s stand-off in Los Angeles.   2012 and 2013 were really bad years for mass shootings and I thought maybe 2014 would be a better year, but it doesn’t seem so.  Of course in June of 1992 the song "Cop Killer" by Iced T was in the news in the afternoon of the Rodney King verdict riots here in Los Angeles.  All the respectable people lined up to repudiate that song.  But today it just isn't a song about a Cop Killer but two cop killers- - who put a Swastica on the dead officer- - and also the "Don't Tread on me" flag, thus defame the founders of our country to agrandize their own Egoes.  Or could it be that if it's white guys doing it, it's OK, but if the same act or a lesser act is done by a black guy or a Moslem- - then it rates hours of coverage on FOX news.  Meanwhile there was a shrieking silence on this story by FOX news..

You know they used to speak of the period from 2000 to 2009 as “the lost decade” but in fact this decade we are in, the second one of this century, which is truly “the lost decade” and it is now nearly half way concluded, with little sign of change for years on end.  So let’s just review.  Back in late September of 2007 I wrote that blog post of “All Hope is Now Lost” or something where I conflated the deaths of Dad, and the Democratic Party.  At that time I quoted statements like all the candidates are promising there will be troops in Iraq till 2013, as if that were something to strive for.  Even now we hear of the “tragedy” of the fact we are pulling out of Afghanistan - - in two and a half years - - because “The Talliban who were there before will just all return to their former power as though we had never been there”.  People like Mc Cain still regard it as some horrible mistake to have withdrawn from Iraq.  But back in 2007 we were setting our sights on Iran, because the same sort of bellicose and aggressive statements were being made about Iran- - which in the case of Iraq, were a prelude to war, and this bothered me.  And there was a lot of talk from Nancy Pelosi and others how any investigation of the War Crimes or any wrong doings of the Bush Administration- - are off the table, and won’t be used as issues by any democrat in the upcoming campaign.  There is also the line about how “The Republicans need Major Giuliani because he’s the only person who can beat Hillary - -and the Democrats need Hillary because she’s the only person who can beat Giuliani.  In those days I still didn’t like Hillary because I feared that she “would pass laws against criticizing gays- - and she would micro-manage things like what’s in our food and drink”.  Of course on Days of our Lives they now have the death penalty for anyone who criticizes gays.   In the same way that this enormous hostility tword President Obama is explainable only because they don’t like “That Black man in the White House” so this who fanatical and rabid pro gay agenda is still driving the plot of Days of our Lives.  But I would remind you that to this day, Will Horton has not had so much as one conversation with Father Eric.  We now return to 2010 and the big news at the outset of the year was Citizen’s United.   This gave the tea party the ability for the first time to raise fantastic amounts of money to get republicans in congress.  Then they use their majority there to secure gerrymandered districts.  And these gerrymandered districts are used to thwart the majority of the American people.  Even though the democrats had a majority of voters of citizens voting for congressmen, the Republicans maintained their hold on the house.  And now everybody is saying that the Senate will go republican in 2015.  And having achieved that this Republican Senate can insure that only right wing justices get approved to get on the Supreme Court, and so the whole cycle starts over again.  Rush Limbaugh wants to deport the children of illegal aliens- - by just flying them into Mexico on a C5A and dumping them somewhere in Mexico to fend for themselves.  Of course you know how bad the gun situation has become.  And we hear that if the minimum wage is raised- - or energy regulations are passed- - it will spell doom to the economy.  You’d never know all stock market indexes are at or near new Highs.  You’d never know that the rich “have never had it go good”.   Rush speaks of Hillary Clinton being risk averse or something and “Doesn’t know how to make it on her own”.  You’d never know that Rush Limbaugh has had the same job for going on 26 years now in a secure time slot on nation wide radio- - at a salary that far exceeds anything Hillary Clinton could dream of.

We need to talk more about Private Bowe Bergdoll.  First of all there is a reality gap on FOX news and Hannity and company.  All of the tea baggers lined up to demand that Bergdoll be released - - and criticized the President for not securing his release, right up to the moment he WAS released.  Then there are the roomers on FOX news that there is a secret document stating that Bergdoll was in fact now a follower of Islam.  I have not seen a shred of evidence- from FOX news or anybody on that one.  No credible source said he was “bending” tword turning pro Islamic or pro Talliban.  All we heard that he was a “troubled soul’ and that “many people actually walk off base now and then in a battle zone because they can’t stand the pressure”.  And also the fact that he was promoted – Twice, during his capture.  The military wouldn’t have done that if they thought he was a traitor.  As to this bit about Improvized Explosive Devices becoming more accurate- - there is no causal connection except in Hannity’s mind.  Also there seems to be little is any causal connection between any deaths that occurred with the platoon went out on maneuvers as opposed to any other time.   All I heard that this platoon had an unusual number of screw-ups in it, and that the leadership wasn’t very good.   On the Stephanie Miller show, Chris LeBoy keeps saying “We really need to investigate”.   But FOX news hates facts- - of the sort that may be revealed in the event of an actual investigation.  If anything FOX news prefers “show trials” like this whole Bengazi hearing thing will most likely become.  But this hearing won’t impact the November election because it may not have started by them.

Jesus taught that sometimes the thing certain people complain about the most in others, is the very thing they are most guilty of themselves.  When something - - a movement - - or an evasion or justification of your own actions - - is based on a Lie- - that lie continues to eat at you and enslave you your whole life, whether you realize it or not.  Things based on lies should not be trusted, even if that turns out to be Rush Limbaugh, Shawn Hannity, or the Catholic Church.  Time and time again I have heard Hannity and Limbaugh say things like the progressives having a "master plan" that was scripted out by some genious a long time ago such as Sol Allinsky, Karl Marx or Bill Ayres- - and they have been "setting that master plan in motion" ever since.   Anybody who knows a leftists- - knows they are far too much "in the Now" to even conceive of such long term schemes or "timetables".  Perhaps the tea party should look in the mirror for the answer to that one.  There is talk about "How horrible it is to rat someone else out".  But if someone is an "obsessive Liar' for lack of a better term, they use the Lie like a self numbing drug;  And they have to have more and more of it - - much as the whoppers the Tea Party and FOX news tells without blinking today is something even the most rabid conservative would be terribly embarrased to admit he was even Thinking ten years ago.  If Dr Daniel Jonas is guilty of anything regarding a "briech of faith" with Nicole - - it is giving her Too Much Rope to hang herself.  The trouble with a Secret is that they are always found out- - and keeping the matter secret may no longer be in your control- - as in the case of Jennifer.  I would also say that to doubt a friend- - in terms of the lack of wisdom that friend is now showing- - is not a sign of disloyalty - - but actually the truest loyalty.   If I were Daniel I would say to her "I hope one reason why you trusted me is because you know I'm a straight shooter who does not compromise my moral principles, and if I tell you something either good or bad about yourself- - you can Believe It.  You can "Take it to the bank".   Were I to cheapen my own character just to somehow "accomodate" you- - in the end you would Disrespect me for doing THAT.   And as Eric Brady told you "You should be grateful that you are no longer "Burdoned" by the weight of this horrible secret you were schlepping around with you all the time".   (selah)  Today’s episode came on and they don’t seem to have left anything out.  I’m puzzled now with this new rift between Jennifer and Daniel, and between Kate and Samantha.  Both now frictions seem pointless and “idiopathic” if you know what I mean.  Like Rush says “They have to follow the soap opera script narrative no matter how absurd”.   How in the hell was Kate able to mend fences with Stephano.  I won’t go onto the problems with achieving that but the reasons are legion. 

Usually, movements or legends or crusades or whatever- - cults - - are based around one great man.  For instance - - if you were an admirer or men like George Washington.  Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison - - - George Patton - - you would start first with the lift of the Man Himself and work outward from there.  Then you have stories about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, or Abraham Lincoln walking five miles (through three feet of snow, of course) to return an overdue library book, or whatever.   But of course in Christianity you start with certain ideas.   And I submit the very ones who started the Christian core beliefs- - are the very Sanhedrin – the Saducees- - who were the ones who are the ones ending up “self redeeming” with their own words.  Nobody has ever explained what happened to these Jewish Priests, the “Religious Establishment” after the Temple was destroyed.  All we are told was that “Temple Worship ended”.   It completely ended.  It is not a part of Judaism today and hasn’t been since the first century.  I told you that the theology of this “perfect redeemer who never sinned” existed as an Idea or Concept of the mind- - before such beliefs were ever attached to a human being.  But all they had was the Belief or desire, as some rationalization perhaps from their Priestly background getting squinty eyed studying the scriptures so much.  How does someone who is now a Nobody, make himself a Somebody again?  By believing in a Lie, of course.  They had the desire, but just as Mark Bove had to latch on to another "normal congregation" to do his particular style of "fishing for believers", so to- - the Jewish Temple Priests - - like Mrs Dietrickson in Double Indemnity, had the desire but not the means.  The Gnostics gave them the Means.  Particularly a Gnostic such as Marcion who was already "half-way there" to begin with.  The Gnostics had what these out of work Priests couldn't buy on their own - - believers- - - Disciples even.  All you had to do was to somehow "turn them".   It is my belief that people most obsessed with "snakes in their midst" and suspicious of outsiders "infiltrating their church" are in fact projecting on to others the very thing them themselves are Guilty of.  (Selah)

Now you see this reverse Principle coming back to life today.    For today one can say the same thing about President Obama’s “complete failure as a president”.  This notion is not the result of Obama’s performance in office.  If anything it is the cause of it.  All those congressmen met the night before the President was sworn in in January of 2009.  Rush Limbaugh several days before the President even assumed office said “I hope that President Obama fails”.   Now we hear things such as “If the President had tried to rescue Bowe Bergdoll and something went wrong- - like if he notified congress like they way they wanted - - who is to say that they would not have tried to sabotage the effort- - and in the process get Bergdoll killed by the Talliban before he was released.  They would have most certainly blamed the President for that.   On one hand their own candidate says “Capturing or killing Bin Laden is not that big a thing” and when the President actually accomplishes that feat they accuse the President of “Spiking the football” whenever the event is referred to.  In both the case of Christianity and President Obama you thus have first the conception or idea of an outcome- - and then move heaven and earth to “make it happen”.  And they are a lot more than Half Way There - - already.

Embellished Sayings from the Talmud

Beware of too much laughter, for it deadens the mind and produces oblivion.  But how much more important to have enough laughter to begin with.  For it is the wine of Life.

    Me - and

    The Talmud    

Customs are more powerful than laws.  So too, religious fanaticism and entrenched political opinion are more powerful than reasoned logic.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

For the sake of peace one may lie, but peace itself should never be a lie.  When you are dealing with a Calvary Christian, the peace they claim to offer is most always a Lie.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

God said: you must teach, as I taught, without a fee.  The more a teacher charges for a certain secret message, the less of anything of substance he has to say.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

He that gives should never remember, he that receives should never forget.  In this way you follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

Hold no man responsible for what he says in his grief.   There are times when a man is driven to rage as God’s way of getting the attention of jackasses.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

Humor the sons of the poor, and you stave off God’s wrath for one more day for behold the Poor are the Children of God.  You have heard it said “Blessed are the poor”.  The poor are not blessed; the Rich are blessed.  And they can take their “blessedness” right down to the Ninth circle of the bowels of Hell after they die.

    Mostly Me –

Science is God’s way of blessing those who would call this planet their home.

    -Just Me

   

Learning is achieved only in company.  So he who would isolate an individual does Enlightenment Itself a horrible injustice.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

Live well. It is the greatest revenge.   He who steps up boldly and tells the most powerful deity from the other side to “Fuck Off” will be seen by the Father and rewarded greatly.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

    - More quotations on: [Revenge]

Never expose yourself unnecessarily to danger; a miracle may not save you...and if it does, it will be deducted from your share of luck or merit.   Let him who would call himself wise, take this message to heart.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

Until a child is one year old it is incapable of sin.

    [info][add][mail][note]

    The Talmud

Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act.   Thus in the professed name of God- - much evil was tolerated during the late thirties and forties in Europe.

    Me - and

    The Talmud

Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world.

    [info][add][mail][note]

    The Talmud, Mishna. Sanhedrin

Be eager to fulfill the smallest duty and flee from transgression for one duty includes another and one transgression induces another transgression.   He would call such a diligent man disparaging names - - is deserving of Hell fire in the after-life.

    Me – and the Talmud

He who would steal wise sayings from the Other Side to gain advantage over his opponent is Wise.  He who fails to be Impressed with an opponent’s new found power is- however, the Wiser of the two.

-Just Me

He who would deny his own Past – would blaspheme his own Immortal Soul

-Just Me
When a sinner faces the Judgement Seat at the moment of his death, if he is lucky - he will be afraid - very afraid.  If he is NOT lucky, he will go on to incur upon his immortal soul yet more sin in the next life, so that in the end the suffering of his punnishment will be all the worse.

It isn't free if you have to pay for it.  And the more you have to pay for it, the less free it is, until you have destroyed it.  Artifacts of law do not have life.  In this way the New Testament cannot give life, but can only take the joy of living it away.

"You Can't Come Back and Be the First in Line"

According to Keith, the Kings beat the Rangers in double overtime.  The final score was 5 to 4 apparently on the sudden death King's goal.  I know it was tied four and four at the end of the first overtime, but Bill wanted “Burn Notice” and drowsiness was affecting me, and I never checked back.  Here is other background.  The LA Kings are tied four and four at the end of the third period and are ready for overtime.  The game began early and by the time I checked at 5:20 the first period had already been completed.  It was 0 and 2 Rangers at the end of the first.  Then the Kings scored one, and the Rangers scored one about eleven seconds later making it 4 and 2.  But when I checked at seven the Kings had scored two more times.  I got a salami sandwich with medication, and also got coffee from Glen’s room for the old price of three cigarettes for a packet of instant.   The horse race was held so late that I - - didn't have my usual post race cigarette before dinner - - but instead went right into the dining room. 

There is talk from the owner of California Chrome.  Yes I am a little disappointed, but I’m not surprise, and you will note the last couple of postings haven’t mentioned the Belmont.  But I understand the issue about having a “fresh horse” who hasn’t been through all the prior steps.  But them’s the rules.  This is why the triple crown is such an illusive thing.  But it’s like these people in wheel chairs around here who don’t really need them.  Or sometimes certain people will just sit out- - while others stand in line in the hot sun for snacks- and then they come along and say “I am here in line”.   It’s like the song ‘Out of Time” that has the lyric of “- - but you can’t come back and be the first in line”.  It’s like the parable of the workers in the vineyard- - and those who showed up for employment at five in the afternoon were openly, almost flauntingly rewarded- - sending a message loud and clear – “Why show up at sunrise to get a full day’s wages, just show up late in the afternoon”.  Of course I didn’t hear zippidy-doo-dah yesterday from any of my Cosmic friends, which may be why I didn’t put out a blog entry yesterday.  The thing is God would make a really bad chess player because he’s so gosh darned predictable.   But I think there is either a duffelganger or some fifth dimensional transfer problem afoot.  I went to the store this morning at ten after seven, having checked at five TO seven and the store wasn’t open so I came back here and hung out smoking a while.  Now when I go in the guy Ben or whoever says “Oh here is the guy who is always in a hurry- - but I know you need to catch the bus and all”.   I thought he was referring to a guy who came in the same time I did, but I got my dollar coffee after Ron, and I went to use my debit card.  And again he makes reference to my being in a hurry and “You always knock down the cigarette display when you reach for one”.   (The remark was almost Jim Spencer-esque)  That didn’t happen because I stopped and let him get the cigarettes- and it hasn’t happen.  So what possible prior event could he have been referring to?  Sometimes in the morning I hang around looking at the Spanish CD’s and the hats, and getting out of other people’s way who are in a hurry.  [some material added or reorganized at one PM]  Upon waking while it was still dark, I was thinking of all this crap about evangelist saying “I couldn’t have gotten as far as I did without my loyal wife and family around me” yet in the same breath will say “But God might have other plans for you”.  People who say “I don’t need romance in my life; God is enough for me’ are the very ones who end up (and usually soon) getting married, and they never give a thought to me.  I don’t want to sound like the Santa Barbra shooter.  He’s disgusting.  But there is an element of Truth in the idea that certain people are jinxed and in ruts- which seem to have the “Finality” as an open ended grave.  (Selah)  Ricardo reminded us that the Gay Pride parade is held today.

 By the way I was right about Brian Jones actually liking “Satanic Majesty’s Request” despite books that were emphatic that he didn’t.  In fact he is about the only Rolling Stone who HASN’T trashed that album.  He could amble into the studio whenever he felt like it with whatever groopies with him- - and so whatever “bits” he intended to do today.  And I am sticking by my assertion that “Tommy” was conceived in latter 1967 and was in fact recorded in the first part of 1968 and songs like “I’m A Sensation” (that don’t appear on some versions of the album) was recorded in 1967.  Anybody who knows the Who recordings will know that by 1969 they were doing different kinds of songs and the engineering was all different.  So this idea that Tommy was released in the spring of 1969 in England is absurd on its face.  Of course you know of other memory discontinuities, and I'll give you one I KNOW is a "false memory" that I still remember.  I remember the Saturday night before the 1968 election being in my bed and listening to my father and my grandmother talking about who she should vote for.  Nana liked Musky over Agnew for vice president, but my Dad wanted her to vote for Humphrey.  She said "But I don't like Humphrey" and Dad said, well if you want Musky you might as well vote Democratic".  The thing WRONG with this memory is that this particular bedroom has NOT been my bedroom since 1965.  And besides by 1968 the custom would be when Nana comes over that I would sleep on the sofa in the livingroom - - and we'd all retire at about the same time.  I also have a problem with the release date of "Gaucho" bu Steely Dan.  I say it was the first half of 1979 and also the death of John Bonnum, which was within a day or two of the release of "In through the out door".   Not according to what they Now call "History".  Strangely - - even under "determinism"  such "alterations of what seems to be Destiny" cannot be foreseen.   However- - like a badly written Soap Opera whole likelihood strains your credulity- - it isn't the PLOT that you have to look at the Flow of, but rather the Author of it.  If you know the way of the Author- - then you've got it nailed.  (Selah)

Hillary Clinton’s book, “Hard Choices” has a lot of politically “smart” stances in it.  Hillary was highly skeptical of just the sort of five for one Taliban prisoner exchange we ended up making.  Apparently Joe Byden was also against that trade.  She said “Obama relied on the younger people in his administration who were too idealistic”.   Actually she said that one about the whole support of the “Arab Spring’ uprisings in early 2011.  Hillary wanted us to maintain our relation with Hasni Mubarek of Egypt and not to favor his overthrow.  Of course the guy was toppled so quickly (unlike in Libya) we didn’t have much opportunity to act, one way or the other.  Hillary also favored military aid to the Syrian rebels.  In both of these stances she is right, of course, and the American people will reward her for that.  She was also against “Attacking Sarah Palin just because she was a woman” but I’m confused by that one.  I didn’t appreciate the way Chris Matthews and his cohorts handled that whole thing because to me they were trying to micro-manage the analysis and engaged in an orgy of hair splitting.  That’s my opinion.

“Totalist” won the Belmont Stakes today.  “Comissioner” was second and “Metal Count” came in third.  “California Chrome” finished out of the money tied for fourth in a photo finish with that “Bad Champion” (?) horse from Boston.   But first, second and third were virtual photo finishes to- just ahead of the other two.   “Real Solution” won on the grass course race earlier.  That was a case of one horse moving way, way out ahead all through the race but losing the advantage quickly approaching the finish line.  I turned the TV on at two thirty after that “Family Style” cooking show on KTLA.  So basically I had horse racing on for a total of an hour and 35 minutes.  I wanted to suck up all the “ambience” anticipating of a big win that didn’t happen.  There are eleven triple crown winners celebrated at Belmont Park, but there won’t be a 12^th this year.   Both of the runner up horses of the Preakness and the Derby ran in this race.  Since the horse wasn’t run till ten to seven, local time, the shadows were getting mighty long.  The thing is California Chrome had amazing support from both the crowd and the media.  But the horse is not good at getting out of a crowd and running from behind - - and having the maneuver around.  Or it could be that the horse was so relaxed today he thought “This race isn’t that important;  I’ll just phone it in” because California Chrome just didn’t show the energy at the end he usually does.  I now hear that Chrome suffered some sort of minor injury early in the race, which would impact his ability to do his best.

The Mc Laughlin group talked about severe tensions and divisions on the EEC, and the thing may break up entirely in a few years.  England is talking about getting out of it now.  And now Scotland wants to leave England and they are voting on that.  Putin kind of looked disdainfully at President Obama at the Normandy commemorations when they spoke.  But now Putin is doing an “Asian pivot’ and is securing an economic energy deal with China.  So that what Nixon took advantage of in 1972 may be coming undone now, as Russia and China for the first time since the sixties- may become allies.  There is no need to say what a dangerous situation this is for us.  The newly elected President of Ukraine, Pokeshenko (?), as of last week,  delivered a speech to the people in which he hoped that Russia would not continue to be the agressor, and promised “Russian troops a safe corridor out of the country”.  But according to the Mc Laughlin group “Europeans all over Europe are becoming increasingly secular and “ethnic” in their own nationalist interest, which if why I predicted in my Prophecy book of 1980 that the European Economic Union would never work.  Excuse me for gloating a little about this.  I think Pat Buchannon is secretly pleased by this outbreak of “Nationalism” because to people like him that’s the ideal state.  President Obama is just up a creek without a paddle in so many ways.

Tomorrow in West Hollywood they are having their annual ‘Pride” parade.  They have dropped the word “gay” now since it embraces transsexuals and bisexuals now.  Meanwhile back on the farm - - in Wisconsin gay couples are applying for licenses to get married because a lady Wisconsin judge said it was OK.  Scott Walker must be having a conniption fit over this.  Of course if the AG takes exception to it – and/or the judge is pressured into issuing a “stay” order, then you’ll have that strange situation like we had in California that neither side liked.  Of course red state governors with better economies than four years ago in 2010 will be able to claim that their own “economic austerity” measures are what did the trick, even if it isn’t true.  But were the states to still suffer from a dad economy, they could always blame the President for that.  So it’s pretty much a no lose situation for them, regardless of what happens.

Can Occultic Forces Affect Our Destiny?

I wanted to mention that 1968 turned out to be a horrible year for progressives, contrary to the marijuana induced image of that year.  People think of “Revolution” and “Wild in the Streets” and “Street Fighting Man” and “Please Come to Chicago”.   At this time I’d like to beef up my remarks with a little cosmic occultism – since, according to Hartman, if Hitler can do it with the SS, then the forces of light can do it, too.   1968 started off with the potential of being the best year of “Enlightenment” we’ve ever had.  Even the Beatles were traveling to India to seek enlightenment.  And frankly I’m a big Cynthia Lennon fan on this one. There was a raft of either new psychedelic groups or in some cases new to US audiences.  You had Arlo Guthrie, Blue Cheer, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Steppinwolf, The Chambers Brothers, the Iron Butterfly, Traffic and Pink Floyd, all debut albums by the way - - plus a double play of both Cream and Jimi Hendrix Experience albums – a holdover John Mayoll album – Electric Flag - - Cowsills, do I need to go on?   People don’t remember it but Johnson himself was turning against the Viet Nam war and fired Robert Mc Nemera and took on Clark Cliffard instead.  Robert Kennedy got into the campaign and in his book “To seek a Newer World” laid out how pursuing the Viet Nam war was doomed.  Martin Luther King was branching out into more areas.  But something - - almost occultic happened - - maybe late March - - in terms of some cosmic force waving their hand and changing the whole outcome of the year.  I call it the “cosmic IUD”.   I would call what happened almost a “cosmic abortion”  You’ve heard of the circular graviton.  This type of bozon - - and all bozons have a “bozon signiture’ as Captain Piccard would put it- - making this Universe specific of all the Universes in the Fifth Dimension.   I believe what took place was nothing sort of a “Mass Fifth Dimensional Transfer”.  After a certain point in early spring of 1968 -  the reality was 1968 was one of the banner worst years for progressives.  Think about it.  We lost 15,000 men in Viet Nam that year- more than any other year.  The war was at maximum peak despite the protests.  And many of the people who were against the handling of the war - - were that way because they thought “We should fight to a conclusive victory and drop more bombs”.   We began the year with a democratic president and ended the year with an elected Republican President, Richard Nixon.   But the numbers were worse than that.  Only 43% of the people that year voted progressive- - as in Hubert Humphrey.  The rest voted for either Nixon - - or George Wallace.  George Wallace ran on an anti bussing and anti amnesty platform.  And also he reminded Californians that we voted yes on proposition 14 to resegregate our housing- -but “The supreme court says you didn’t vote right”.   Race was a heavy factor.   Even Johnson getting out of the race may not be what people thought.  Could it be that Johnson was afraid, not of Bobby Kennedy, who hadn’t won a single primary outright yet as of March 31^st 1968, a Sunday night.  Johnson even then was afraid of Nixon, and had Johnson stayed in the race and run, he most certainly would have beaten Nixon.   You remember that tape of the Johnson library where LBJ is talking to Senator Everett Dirkson about - -Nixon sabotaging the Paris peace talks, but somehow it was decided not to use it in the campaign.  Of course you have Chicago itself and the beaten up protestors.  You also have the tanks rumbling through Czechlovakia that summer after the short lived “Prague Spring”.  But we in this country had a “different kind of spring” punctuated by race riots on a massive scale due to  the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy followed soon after.  And there is a cosmic significance to June sixth, which may not be what you are thinking – it would take too long to illucidate on now.  And then there is the retirement of Chief Justice Earl Warren- - which even I knew at that time was “the end of an era”.   Compare the number of psychedelic groups- - say- turn of the year beginning of 1968 compared with the way the charts or whatever were at the end of 1968.  The Rolling Stones and the Beatles had gotten out of psychedelic music (George Harrison made a “decision” that drugs were “an illusion”, our loss) - - and we didn’t know it yet, but the Who (post “Tommy” recorded early 1968 actually) were done with psychedelic recordings.  Traffic and The First Edition toned down their psychedelic aspects.   And the founder of Pink Floyd - - Syd Barret – (who contrary to all the hype – may have been no more certifiably insane than I was) - had to withdraw from the group. The Buffalo Springfield, the Electric Flag, The Mamas and Papas, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Big Brother and the Holding company broke up, and Cream would very soon.   And consider the anti drug songs that were out that summer such as “The Pusher” and “Anphenamine Annie’ by Canned Heat.  “Speed Kills” was the slogan.   Early in the spring of 1969 psychology class from Mr Lee (upgraded to “Dr Lee” later on) he told us that Heit Ashberry was really a depressive place now almost like a ghetto with drugs – people wasted on Speed - and a lot of other things not conducive to their image.  I felt depressed hearing this.  But take heart.  Today is “Have a donut day”, and you know what they say (or at least I said several years back) “Circles are possessive things; violate them at your own peril.”  (Selah)  But the bottom line is “If 1968 started off so hopeful and ended up a disaster, what hope do we have this year- - where all signs already point to an electoral disaster?   So who did I “tape into” for this paragraph of illumination?  You’ve heard of Nick Fallon.  Somebody who “people didn’t like”   Well - - our subject had a choice of two song renditions to take to the studio for a leading group.  Naturally he chose the track where he pioneered new ground- - who was almost a prototype of the psychedelic movement- - the track did not make the album in England but it did here.  As far as the Seven Sisters are concerned- - you could kind of call this one a “Wizzard of Oz” in reverse.  So what are the Seven Sisters most noted for going back to ancient times among star gazers?  Therein lies your answer.  (Selah)

In terms of the unemployment rate we are unchanged at 6.3% but everyone is calling it good news because we added 217,000 jobs.  They have the audacity to claim that we are back at the employment levels in absolute numbers of Americans, than we were at seven years ago in June of 2007 before this recession began.  That’s so much bullshit and people like Newt Gingrich claim that by the standards of the numbers at that time- we’d  be at ten or eleven percent unemployment.  In fact they have said our employment situation is the worst since the late Jimmy Carter era.  We know of course that logical and mathematically speaking- - the actual number of new people entering the work force last month needs to be at least seven or so percent higher than 217,000 workers for this 6.3% figure to be kosher.  So the question is "What can the president do?"  Do you think a little transcendental meditation would help him see his way through this quandary?  We are informed President Obama has only given a fraction of the Executive Orders that George Bush and other presidents have given.  It's an article of wisdom that "People who HAVE the power demonstrate that fact by USING it.  One could indeed argue that the exercise of "inherent power" needs no justification.  (Selah)  If this President were not concerned by what his opposition thinks, they'd cease to be so much of a problem.  Nobody thinks of asking the cockroach "Is there any justification you can show why I should not snuff you out?"  In fact it's an almost Biblical principle that "Good beings with the power to do so- OWE it to their followers to USE the power, lest the Lord come and transfer that Powers to Others, who are more deserving of it.  (Selah)  Neither have we heard that much about these "signing statements" the George W was so fond of.  This ammounted to sort of an extra-constitutional skirting of the rule about "no line item veto" that Governors use to keep expenditures down in virtually all fifty states.  

 In terms of marijuana Thom Hartman wants us to know that eating grass is dangerous because the effects last so much longer in the body.  However- - new people, as I learned from personal experience back in high school, are harder to ‘get high off it” than “seasoned’ users so to speak.  They claim it’s because your marijuana receptors are not yet attuned to it.   So you get into those arguments about “you sold me some bad pot”.  Personally I highly doubt that woman had the horrible symptums she claimed to have had from the pot laced food.  Tom says that they should have classes or seminars or at least warnings or medical standards or something instead of this free-for-all they have now in Colorado and Washington state.   I’ve heard this “medical marijuana” was a crock anyhow because they are quack doctors who aren’t actually doctors at all.  A wise man once coined the phrase "Better living through chemistry" and it can be argued that in this material world "we are what we are made of".  (Selah)  If your body is to be used like a vehicle, you owe it to yourself that that "vehicle" receive the best "nutrition" so that it functions and serves you optimally.

The San Antonio Spurs won last night in San Antonio with the temperature of the floor at ninety degrees and very humaid.  They say the air conditioning system just broke down, but I’m wondering whether it isn’t some ploy to have Miami at a disadvantage, because Labran James or whoever had heat stroke or something.  Everyone in the bleachers were fanning themselves.  At any rate the SA Spurs pulled away at the end of the game and it was 110 to 95 such that they let the clock run out pretty quickly.  I was switching back and forth between that and Vampire Diaries.  I think “The Originals” was on after this, which seemed to be another witches and vampire type thing- - which I watched till about nine thirty.  As noted before the San Antonio Spurs- - are of a different Cosmic Vibe than a lot of the rest of that town.  This is why I routed for the Heat, who lost.

Today is of course the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion.  So most all of the people who participated in that invasion would be in their nineties, or higher today.  Many will not make it to the 75th anniversary, so we better salute them now.  So I'm told they needed to time the invasion with the maximum low tide of the moon or something, so delays due to weather would not be advisable.  Of course you know that "The Greatest Generation' was more Progressive in terms of the subsequent legislation they did in Congress, than my own generation is.  People forget this.  One of the things they were fighting for were Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms.  These are freedom of speech.  And of course free speech should be equal and not depentant on how many millions you kick in to drown all the others out.  There was freedom of religion.  We have a tendency to forget that other Faiths are also entitled to Their - - Freedom of Religion, too.  Then there is Freedom from Want.  And finally there is Freedom from Fear itself.  These are the four as Hartman enumerated them.  During that original period I was looking up Tim Carpenter, and bookmarked a site, and I also pasted into a Word file the political aims platform of the Progressive Democrats of America, whom Howard Dean seems to be one of the co-founders.  But this Tim Carpenter guy- - who has the same name as this gay guy from Wisconsin who is still alive, died apparently on April 29^th and Hartman noted it at the time and what a great guy he was.   But now I’m suddenly paranoid that if I posted either of these documents whether I would be flagged as spam.  Thom and Stephanie have been doing a whole lot of money raising ads lately because they are becoming desperate that nobody is calling to donate despite the generous “bribes” they are offering for a person to do so.

The "Strawberry Fields Forever" Phenominon

Que darse Los Paranoias una vez

"My dog Ronnie can go anywhere in the house he wants to"  "That's the trouble with your dog; he goes anywhere he wants to and if Ronnie could speak I'd tell him I'm not a friend of "trickle down"

Moral Support for this Posting Supplied by Johnny Rhythm

So what do I mean by invoking a Beatles song to describe what I'm referring to.  I have been saying one reason why I'm not a believer in the theory advanced by "The Fourth Turning" is because that apperatus is broken.  Sure it used to work- - more I believe on a forty year rather than an eighty year basis, which ties in with the movements of Venus for the astronomically inclined.  I'm talking about this "Cultural Awakening" cycle Americans go through now and then where we rediscover ourselves and who we really are as a people, often in times of economic termoil.  We can chart this all the way back to 1730 before the country was even Born.  But I'd just like to highlight a few things.   The 1770's were an era of intellectual and cultural and political furor.  It was really in the 1850's rather than the 1860's that most Americans made up their mind that Slavery was an evil, no doubt to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 I believe.  Forty years later was 1890 or so when a lot of Western states were admitted and it is called "The end of the Frontier" as we had known it.  We were becoming more "citified" with inventions such as the electric light bulb and the telephone.  This was the era of the original women's libbers and sufferagettes as well as seminal Labor Union attempts, and the first Business regulations in the Shermon Anti Trust Act.  Skipping right up to the 1930s like with forty years previous we have economic turmoil and government taking steps to help business, but also increase regulation and defining the relation between business and labor.  We then come right to forty years ago.  Again there was a revolution.  We had the raft of environmental laws, and the Equal Rights Amendment was something many Americans naturally assumed would be part of the Constitution giving women equal rights.  There were changes in laws on such things as women's sports, as well as divorce and abortion laws, as well as legislation reigning in powers of both the Presidency and the CIA and the FBI.   We now skip up to around the turn of this past decade.  According to Hartman's book, yes we had a crisis beginning with a market crash as in 1929 and again the democrats swept into both congress and then the Presidency.  It was naturally logical that from here we would at last "awaken" to all the economic and wall street abuses and undo the "Reagan Revolution" and that congress would become very active and that democrats were destined to continue to gain seats in congress just as they did in the 1930's.  But that didn't happen.  Not Any Of It.  Why?  Clearly whatever "Cycling' there on was short circuited and derailed.  It was broken.  Here we are in 2014 with no sign of any "Awakening" of the American psyche to find out "what we need to do".   So in Beatle speak - - it's the "revamp" of Strawberry Fields Forever with the "funeral dirge" ending, which was not a part of the piece as originally conceived.  It's the "unexpected unhappy ending"  (Selah)  We have suffered from the effects and scourge of the Reagan Revolution now for going on 34 years.  In fact, it could be argued that Bill Clinton was "The best Republican president they ever had", judging by how business friendly he was.  It was said "The era of big government is Over" which I would only modify to read "The era of responsible government is Over".   We have the selling out of the media air waves, and a return to the Wild West in Wall Street, and ALL of our lives are impacted by the sweeping treaty which is N A F T A.  Clearly, if we're fair, Barock Obama should be the Republican's 2nd favorite President in terms of what was "accomplished" under his watch.  How did this happen?  Why is that cycling mechanism that saved us previously now - - Broken?  We have our suspects.  It could be Lewis Powel and his plans for a right wing news network as far back as 1975.  Maybe it was Buckley vs Vellejo.  Maybe it was Jude Wanisky, or Paul Warwick and his "Our power in government quite frankly goes Up as the voting activity goes Down.  It would be that meeting of fifteen republicans from the House and Senate pledging in almost a blood oath that Barock Obama would be made a failure as a president.  He in fact needed to be "Completely Invalidated" as though he never existed.  (Selah)  Below are a few tidbits from George Washington's blog, of which you need to read the entire thing.

Americans know that something is wrong, deeply wrong. They see signs of the problem everywhere: income inequality, growing concentration and power of mega corporations, political donations/corruption, the absence of jobs with decent salaries, the explosion of the US prison population, healthcare costs, student loan debt, homelessness, etc. etc. However, the true causes and benefactors behind these problems are purposely hidden from view. What Americans see is Kabuki Theater of a functioning form of capitalism and democracy, but beyond this veneer our country has devolved into the exact opposite.  Those who benefit from this crony capitalist state go to extreme lengths to paper over the reality and convince Americans that the system works, the American Dream is still a reality and that American democracy is in fact democratic.  Below I hope to begin to outline some of the underlying dynamics and trends that have evolved in recent decades and led us so far from what we once were. As fun as it would be, the answer is not some evil conspiracy by the Illuminati, but rather the unfortunate result of three long term and mutually reinforcing components that have been attacking the fundamental roots of the structure of our Republic.  The first is the increased concentration of corporate and private wealth. Both of which are quickly yelled down in the media as anti-free market and class war hysteria.  The second is the use of this wealth to capture all three branches of government in order to ensure the continued extraction of capital from the many and to the few.The rich might have climbed the ladder because they earned it, but they have then purchased government to pull up the ladder behind them.  The consequence of the first two components is a democracy in name only that represents the very few.  

Thom Hartman is never at a loss for making charges.  He spoke of how they are “getting fat of all kinds out of our food when it’s only the trans fats that are now regarded as dangerous”.  But then he goes on to say “And they used processed sugars to replace that fat so things continue to taste good”.  He suggested that there should be a sugar tax for all of the people that come down with diabetes type II from the sequestered sugars customers don’t know about.  He then spoke of “food deserts’ where fresh produce has now become rare in neighborhoods, and at any rate more costly now than junk food.   Hartman pointed out that George W Bush did desert his post in the military and moved from Texas to Alabama where he went on a yearlong drinking binge.   We would all agree that whatever compromises President Obama has made to our national security; Reagan and Bush 43 are guilty of a lot worst breeches of faith.   Next Thom went after the gun owners who want to bear arms openly in public.  Hartman says these are men who feel they have lost their masculinity because thirty years of Reagenomics has rendered them impotent and powerless.  I would note there is a strange similarity between early Christianity and the tea party.  Because it’s the very rich and the very poor and ignorant who join them.   It’s like the Black slaves on the plantation singing “Swing low, sweet chariot, coming fore to carry me home” sung more out of a burden than any true sense of joy.   “They were happy negroes, they were godly negroes”, we are informed by the Duck Dynesty guy.  But the tea party relies on the adherents to the tea party message to be all “dumb as fence posts” to use country jargon.

Some of these tag lines of Patriot Radio don’t make sense.  For instance the one about how “It isn’t free if your neighbor is paying for it” makes little sense, and can be self defeating, if you’re a major industrial polluter and your neighbors don’t like it.  Hartman refers to these as “external expenses such as the “true cost” of gasoline being much higher than is as apparent when we fill up at the pump, due to the effects of petro chemicals on the environment.  Hartman says one quarter of the big corporations pay absolutely no income taxes at all.  Then there is the one about how “Those who would deny personal rights, have no business talking about minority rights”.   Logically, I don’t see why hypothetically you could have a Communist- - who wasn’t a racial bigot.  And then there is the one about “The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of rich people’s money to tax”.  These people have obviously never looked at an income distribution curve.  The lead posting on George Washington’s blog when I looked this morning was a lot of stuff about how this government has ceased to become people centered and become corporation centered, with pet laws and carve out personally scripted by the corporations.  We learn there is a sugar subsidy for instance.  Assuming government subsedies are things we want to encourage, why would we ever want to encourage even greater sugar subsedies than we already have?  I suggest that if you are not as familiar with the grime statistics on national income inequity you read that blog and study all the flow charts and graphs and everything.  Of particular note is the disparity you see for the first time- - the widening gap between worker productivity and hourly wages that began looks like about 1978 and only gets worse with time.  Also of note is the cost of political campaigns due to Citizens United.  As late as 2004 I think the total figure was “only” 900 million dollars.  President Obama gave up the moral high ground when he announced in 2008 that he would “opt out” and not abide by mandated spending limits, and the figure jumped to over two billion.  And even the 2008 campaign expences was dwarfed by the 2012 campaign figures, which run in the multiple billions of dollars now. 

We still have more grim news and aftermath on the Bowe Bergdoll case.  Shawn Hannity had this guy from George Washington University, who has been a law professor for some time, saying that he distrusted President Obama the minute he took power noting “He was not at all the idealist who ran for that office”.   I would note that Health Care’s passage took on a highly unorthodox procedure I don’t fully understand.  The “reconciliation process” was used, as a way of skirting the sixty percent filibuster rule, because Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts as the 41str vote against the Affordable Care Act.  The professor notes that ACA was “a very poorly written bill, that read more like a crude first draft”.   In the Bergdoll case we were given assurance in interviews of “There are no plans for any prisoner transfer, and if there were to be such a thing it would have to go through congress first”, and that didn’t happen.  The professor took exception to congress applauding in the State of the Union address this past year when President Obama announced “If congress isn’t going to act, I’ll just bypass you people and start issuing executive orders”.   James Madison and others were wary of one branch of government somehow acquiring a lot of power to itself and becoming tyrannical.  And while it’s true that fewer laws will get passed under our Constitutional system, history proves (Madison believed) that they would be better, more thoughtful laws, were a consensus was reached.   It would seem that the welcoming home parade was canceled by Bergdoll’s home town because of “threats’ or something, which we don’t know the origens of.   It seems that this Hicani network back in Afghanistan- -  will be taking over in Afghanistan more ruthlessly than ever the minute our troops leave.  In the old days you would have things such as Peace Treaties, where the exchange of POW’s would be appropriate.  But the US hasn’t fought a war like that in decades.  Rather the US will get into a war which then becomes unpopular, and then we just pull out our troops, and leave the native peoples to the threats we went there to protect them from.  It’s not a pleasant picture but accurate.  The relation of Bowe’s father to the Talliban is also a mystery.   And there is something strange about an adult individual losing the ability to speak his mother tongue, in this case, English in favor of “Pushti” or Arabic or something, and the father speaks both.  But the good news is that according to Shawn Hannity is that the Republicans are not considering impeachment at this time, but their first hearing on this topic will be next Wednesday June 11^th.