The Ten Republicans Are Chosen

They just announced the ten contestants for Thursday’s Republican debate, and as suspected last night – Rick Perry is the odd man out.  There were three ‘tied in ninth place” and the two of those final three who made the cut were Governor Christie and John Kasech.  I expect you know who the other eight are.  You'll find out tomorrow night.  Tomorrow's debate will be like the Superbowl of politics, a moment we've been waiting for for a long time.  Stephanie says Rick Perry should have been included because he was ahead in the NBC and Wall Street journal polls.  This would set up a conflict with Donald Trump because Rick Perry said "Trump is like a cancer on the fabric of conservativsm" and "Nobody with an attitude twords veterans he has should be running for President".  The republicans had a “mini debate” last night.  (OK cue up mini-Kiss)  It included but was not limited to Ted Cruz,  Rick Perry, Carley Fiurina, Rick Santorum, and John Kasech.  I comment on this debate held in New Hampshire, where the format was they’d have one questioner asking one candidate at a time on particular topics, such as the economy.  I wrote Judy about this and also talked about the chaos at Chase Bank yesterday, having rearranged all their stuff to total unrecognizability.  I also got around to writing Dr Levy about you-know-who offering to store my record collection at his house.  I haven’t checked back.  I didn’t even bother to ask Dr Levy the obvious questions like “What are you doing now” or will you ever be back?

Last night I read a thing in Washington’s blog that says the United States under President Obama is ending the MAD or mutually assured destruction policy on Nuclear Weapons.  We are now clearly going for “first strike” technology, which is deemed doable now because the United States has moved far out ahead of Russia in nuclear technology and numbers.  The piece more than hints at the possibility that the United States’ aim is to wipe Russia off the map, so that they won’t be a trade competitor.  And this is from a June 2014 posting link.  Perhaps this reality is why the Orion Federation has turned against the US and toward the pro Russian position in that conflict.

Netanyahu claims that this treaty with Iran not only doesn’t block progress to the bomb but actually “paves the pathway to the bomb”.  He also said “Iran wins whether they keep the treaty and they win if they break the treaty because they still got the sanctions lifted to use for all manner of research and the spread of terrorism throughout the Mideast”.   I guess this is a legitimate point of view if you take seriously this talk of “Wiping Israel off the map” but others say this phrase is a mistranslation of the Farsee that actually means “To disappear from the stage of history because of their illigitamacy”.   Let’s review the specific terms of the treaty which “blocks every conceivable path to a bomb”.   They even have to get rid of their spent Uranium.  They say that Uranium has to be enriched to 90% Uranium 235 in order to build an atom bomb, and they only have twenty percent enrichment.  Normal uranium is U 238 with about one percent U 235.  And for power plants for peace time use they say it’s five percent enrichment to U235.   Of course U 235 is lighter than normal Uranium 238 and so the centrifuge separates it out.  But then there is a plutonium path to the bomb also where U 235 can be bombarded with alpha particles and be “transmuted” to Plutonium 239, which is four atomic weight heavier.  This is because alpha particles have an atomic weight of four.  And apparently Plutonium gets you to building a bomb quicker.  Of course we are reminded that hiding radioactive material is not like flushing drugs down the toilet before the cops break in.  You know it’s there.  I think if people think about this treaty dispassionately and sanely they will defer to all the atomic experts that state that all “paths to a bomb” are cut off, and that we will live in a safer world.

In Idaho it’s criminal behavior to secretly record the abuse or slaughter of animals.  The Dairyman group of Idaho got this bill passed in February 2014.   Of course if you are on private property I guess it would be trespassing.  But now they are going to put the thing before Federal Court because they are pleading their first amendment rights are being violated.  The Judge said though “It’s not the private property issue that concerns us, but it’s the negative content”.  I couldn’t believe that a judge would be as blatant as that.  Today is Tuesday August 4, 2015 and I think it’s Obama’s birthdays, or at least one of the dates.

The Rev Chuck Smith had an intriguing saying.  He said "Once a person rejects Christianity they leave themselves open to anything".   This line is meant to scare the congregation into not questioning anything told them by their leader and also into not "exploring' or questioning other beliefs.  One of the key things that are "child like" (the way Jesus told believers to be) is that children question and explore.  They make judgements - accepting certain things as proven knowledge- while rejecting others.  In short it's known as Growth.  This is something the so called "Christian believer" is shielded from in this adoption of what he calls "The Faith".  It's a blank check to be just as big an asshole as you please- - to play the fool all the time, yet be shielded from any embarrassment.   One thing I've learned as you get older is one has an increasing intollerance for stupid or unproven ideas.  One of Bill Cosby's favorite lines with his TV children is "That's about the stupidest thing I've heard anybody say".  Old people love to call people and things as "Stupid" and the others are supposed to rely in their wisdom and accept it.  It strikes me that most of the "true believers" are younger people- - teenagers and young adults.  This Calvary Chapel style Christianity seems to be something that one "grows out of" in time.  But Republican dogma is much like this so called "Faith".  You hear this endless series of talking points spouted by FOX news and Shawn Hannity.  Most of these talking points are demonstrably false- - but never let facts get in the way of being a "True Believer".  Indeed a definition of Faith just might be "A system of thought that shields the thinker from reality".  A lot of the belief system of the right boils down to saying "The democrats are all basically like Bernie Sanders.  They are democratic socialists.  They are like the Bolshivicks of old except for one thing.  They don't believe in acquiring their goals by military force.  But the thing is if these democrats have their way- - with increasing loss of liberty (liberty: the freedom to take YOUR rights away) then they'll resort to military force.  These right wingers lead you down a primrose path of thought.  Maybe they start off with seven or eight "forms of government" but then they start "boiling it down" and become very bi-polar, and you're left with what they call "Liberty" and "Freedom" on one side- - - and this other democratic socialist thing that Chris Matthews talked about on Meet the Press last Sunday.  He accused Bernie Sanders of being some kind of a soft Bolshivick - - who wants to eliminate capitalism and the free markets entirely- - when Bernie Sanders has advocated NOTHING like this.  But those on the right NEED to believe this- - to break everything down to a bi-polar choice just as Chuck Smith would view the world in terms of "Once you reject the truth of Christianity you'll be open to anything" or restated more simply of "Once you fail to STAND UP for Christianity then you'll FALL for anything!"

We had Swedish meatballs tonight with the usual heavy gravy.  We had that curly colored pasta with that and cauliflour.  We had bread putting for dessert.  As I was standing to leave Dora showed up with seconds on the meat balls, as the room was really thinning out.  Bill shows no inclination to come in here.  It seems that so many people are offering the cat food now at different times, she is refusing it.  But she’s eating for several now. 

Ten Candidates Prepare for Thursday's Debate

Donald Trump and all the other nine candidates are preparing for Thursday’s debates.  One person said “It’s like preparing for a NASCAR race where one of the drivers has been drinking heavily.  Many have said that Donald Trump has no hard policies, but Trump is promising to lay out his positions on a whole lot of specific issues soon.   Donald says “I am not a debater” because he’s so oriented to actually sixing problems, so he doesn’t listen to the polsters.  On Meet the Press they were saying that perhaps Donald will reverse roles and be the sane one and wait for the others to attack him first.  Trump is playing both sides of the cops issue saying “Yes there is a racial problem” but on the other hand saying Police are important to stem the (newly rising?) crime rate. There was time to hang out before Meet the Press.  They had Donald Trump on.  Donald Trump would rather run against Hillary because he thinks her campaign is imploding “If you have an honorable prosecutor”, and besides Joe Byden is a friend of Trump’s. OK.  Donald Trump is up to 24 percent in the polls and Trump points out that “With sixteen other candidates in the race, as they drop out one by one I’ll look even better”.   On “Face the Nation” Trump came out and admitted that just like all of us, he seeks to pay as little Federal Income Taxes as possible.  Trump then said something like “I’m a better judge of how to spend the money than our current government is anyhow”.  Mike Huckibee is standing by his “Obama is leading the Jews to the gas chambers” remark.  Huckibee states that as one of ten men he hopes he gets personally attacked, because if you are referenced by name you get a thirty second rebuttal.  Makes sense to me!  We’ll know a lot more Friday morning.

 Breakfast with the Beatles featured Todd Ruundgrin singing “Hold Me Tight” and I guessed it but they said they’d had that song before.  It took a lot of tries for people to guess it.  They played a version of “Norweegen Wood” with false starts and a bass drum that came in.  Those four live songs on Anthology disc 3 were part of a six song line-up.  The other two unheard songs were “I’m Really Down” and ‘Act Naturally”.  This is relevant to the Federation because the part of John Lennon in this concert was played by “Muah” according to them.  They are re-releasing “Tug of War” and “Pipes for Peace”.  They played in honor of that “Say, Say, Say”, which you rarely hear, with Michael Jackson and also “Girl, I like what you’re Doing” with Stevie Wonder but looking back on it, it actually sounds more like Prince to my ears.  We had lentil soup with very few lentils.  We had a cold cut sandwich and a decent pasta salad and grapes for dessert.  I had Leo Le Port on till nearly one thirty.  Two things stuck out.  Windows 10 is getting rid of Media Player entirely, which sounds insane.  It’s one of the things Windows is noted for.  So gone not are the CD disk rip and burn operations, but the screen savers that go along with it, and a copy of your media library and also all the radio station categories.  Some of that stuff can be found in I Tunes or elsewhere.  Did they get rid of “sound recorder” too?  No wonder they are offering free “upgrades” for the following year.  They want you off that stuff.  Then we have AT&T and this man in a wheel chair who’s being cut off of Lifeline by the phone company, which Leo says is illegal under California law.  No wonder they have been trying so hard to move me off.  I’m glad the calls have stopped lately.  It’s illegal for the phone company to “cut the copper” and put us all on digital fiber-optics.  The weather has been averaging just below normal in temperature.

Last night it was medication with Donnie in the med room.  I watched the Mc Laughlin group but don’t have any pressing remarks except Mort and Pat both said “With Hillary faltering it’s time for Joe Byden to get his campaign revved up.  I didn’t do a blog yesterday and may not do one today is something interesting doesn’t come along.  I was out of the room a lot during Wheel and Jeopardy.   I got instant coffee from Glen in his room for four cigarettes.  “Burn Notice” had a really stupid episode.  I don’t often rout for the villain but this time if I were in the enemy camp I would have told Michael Weston to go fuck himself.  Nobody offering a true business proposition would lay out such absurd turns and talk down to the client.  You don’t persuade me by insulting me.  In the morning I had the “Today” show on.  I got medication from Tom at six thirty and began to feel nauseous about ten to seven.  I sat in the front room a while.  I went to the bakery for a large dollar fifty cup of coffee.  I wanted to be able to drink it at my leisure and not feel rushed before breakfast.  I had this preminission last evening and early this morning that Augustine had taken the cat to the pound, because I didn’t see the cat before dinner or anytime after dinner or early this morning and I was worried.   We had oatmeal again and scrambled eggs and toast and butter and jelly.  We got black coffee with creamer.  Since I’ve been on more medication this year, I wonder if it’s any coincidence that references to the Federation or Dead People have been sharply reduced – from what it was a couple of years ago – is just a coincidence or chemically induced.  What if they gave all the church theologians in the early centuries (the two and three hundreds) a drug like Resperidol- - whether a lot of them in mass would get suddenly bored and just walk away from their theological ponthicating?

John Stewart is going off the air.  There seems to be an epidemic of people going off the air in the past few years.  First it’s Oprah and then it’s Jay Leno and David Letterman and Randy Rhodes and Ed Schultz.  Most or all of these people are of the liberal persuasion, and I’m starting to wonder what’s going on.   I actually saw the cat four times this morning.  I saw her just after eight when I sat on the far east wood slat bench.  I saw her later when Phyllis was petting it and it came over and let me pet it.  I saw the cat down the sidewalk by Wally on the third outing, and I saw the cat again on a fourth outing.  I’m still worried some sneak may capture her and take her to the pound.   Will the cat too be part of “people that aren’t around anymore”?

This is Sunday August 2, 2015 the 48^th anniversary of the first time I threatened to comit suicide.  The mystery of the Orange County Fair is resolved.  Wally and Lisa went there the day before it officially opened on Thursday July 16^th.  The Fair officially opened Friday the 17^th and will remain open till Sunday August 16^th which is the anniversary of Elvis’ death.  Wally was talking about various amusement park ride and how a friend threw his back out on Montezuma’s revenge at Knott’s.   The OC fair had this giant ski lift thing which is a chair on cable that rocks, and Wally doesn’t like high riding things that rock.  Glenda gave me a beer and potato burrito which wasn’t too spicy.  Glenda couldn’t eat it and Joe had a few bites.  Soon after I went for snacks in the courtyard and had two cups of “Texas tea”.  That name is catching on.

Democrats Hanging On By a Whisker

The Republicans are a whisker away from controlling everything in America.  Reaganomics has already reigned supreme for almost 35 years now.  The conservative tide has been pretty much unabaited all this time.  Clinton and Obama have had ¾ of their administrations rules by Republicans in congress.  Flipping one more Supreme Court justice republican will mean virtually every decision will be a Citizen’s United decision.  And some say for feminists not to worry but one more justice on the right will bring back the days of illegal abortions.  The Republicans already have most governorships and state legislatures and also lower level court judges.  The pathetic state democrats are in is highlighted by what I heard today that they have no hope in taking back the House but maybe they can win back the Senate.  So we’ll be in the exact same place we were from 2010 to 2014, which we thought was really bad, that is, until it got worse.  Scott Walker is still the most dangerous candidate.  And it pretty much doesn’t matter how bad Hillary is as a candidate or how many “mistakes” her campaign makes - -she knows she can’t be defeated at this point by any rival democrat.  So we’re left with no choice but to hold our noses and vote for her and have more of this uneasy status quo.

I had that Marco Rubio interview on, with this white haired southern gentleman who is pretty hawkish himself.  Marco Rubio just went nuts wanting to start wars all around the world and probably quadruple both our defense budget and the overall atmosphere of paranoia.  I just read in Washington’s blog that the Secretary of State can revoke the passport of any American without any kind of trial or evidence gathering or legal proceedings at all.  From what it says, it can be a purely arbitrary decision like they do with people in other countries.  Mario Rubio will never be president, thank God.  We’d be a really messed up society if he were.

Thom Hartman says “Any anti abortionist who hasn’t adopted a child is a hypocrite”.  Well then I guess I’m a hypocrite because I haven’t adopted a child.  Sometimes these pro abortionists can get a little ponthical and self righteous in their own way.  I kept looking for sites I hadn’t seen yet which are links on Free Speech.  “Ring of Fire” hasn’t put up a lot of shows they’ve obviously had.   It's too bad there isn't a Christian liberal party.  That is a party that generally believes in progressive causes but doesn't like the idea of gays taking over everything like on Days of Our Lives.  A party that frowns both on abortion and also on physician assisted suicide.  These positions are just as consistently Christian as being for the ecology and wanting an economy with a strong "base" of well paid workers, and a party that doesn't believe in going to war at the drop of a hat, as well as a party concerned about race relations and gun regulations.

I didn’t think Serpico was merely drummed out of the Police force, I thought he ended up getting killed.  At any rate it was a movie ahead of its time.  Now two cops have been fingered for lying and covering up for that officer who shot the driver trying to escape.  They too said, “Yes that officer feared for his life being dragged along by the car”.   I can’t get the mechanics of this down.  So did the top reach in with his left hand to open the door?  Why not just use the handle on the outside of the car.  So is he being dragged along with his arm somehow hooked inside the window and he can’t let go?  It makes no sense.  And then somehow with his free hand while he’s being dragged he reaches for his gun and shoots the driver in the head and this is somehow a way to get the car to stop?   But those two other officers would have carried the day and were it not for that video, this entire case for murder case would never have happened.

this guest on Thom Hartman’s show who wrote a book called “The Hidden side of Watergate”.  It was just more of this Nixon and the Mafia connection.  Nixon was involved with a land deal in the late fifties that never came to light with the mafia.  Eisenhower put Nixon in charge of Cuba so Nixon came up with the plan to assassinate Fidel Castro using the CIA and the Mafia.  After Nixon lost the election he got the United States to break diplomatic relations with Cuba on January 2rd 1961 before Kennedy had assumed office.  When Jimmy Hoffa was murdered, Nixon came out of seclusion and was publicly playing gold with two members of the Mafia.  Today is the fortieth anniversary of Jimmy Hoffa’s death last seen in a restaurant in Detroit.  Sam Giancana was murdered just as he was about to testify before the Church committee in 1975.  Johnny Roselli wasn’t killed till a year later in the summer of 1976.

Officer Charged with Murder in Latest Traffic Stop Incident

That Cincinatti officer in the traffic stop case a few days ago has in fact been in fact charged with murder by the authorities.  Here’s another glaring event of an officer caught in a lie.  A white cop stops a black motorist and asks for his license and registration.  The guy doesn’t have it.  The officer reaches in to open the door (?) and the motorist steps on the gas to make his escape.  The officer then fires and kills the motorist.  He then runs the hundred yards or so to where the car has now crashed into a tree and he falsely claims the motorist was dragging him and shooting the motorist was the only way to remedy the problem.  This is about as blatant case of malice as you’ll ever see.

They now have a major piece of evidence to go on in this Malaysian flight 370 case.  They found the wing flap of a Boeing 777 in the Indian Ocean, which is way west of where other people were looking.  Since this is the only Boeing 777 that is missing, it kind of narrows it down.  Anyhow it’s nice to know the plane didn’t magically vaporize into thin air.

 FOX news is now installing a “kiddy table” for those who aren’t good enough to play with the big boys.  And there is a seventeenth candidate entering the Presidential race- - from Virginia, whom nobody has heard of.  That makes seven or eight at the kiddy table.  If they are tied for tenth they should drop them both because even nine on stage will be really crowded with candidates really having to talk fast to make an impression.  I can’t escape the feeling that if the Republicans are as repressive as they usually are why Reinz Previs couldn’t just arbitrarily say “Donald Trump, you are excluded because you’re bad for the image of the Party we want to show ourselves as”.  Otherwise Donald or “The Donald” for you Romulans- - is going to suck up all the oxygen in the room and dominate the debate.

There is the story about how the US was at best “ambiguous” about this military coup in Honduras in June of 2009 installing a corrupt dictator.  I have covered this story in a blog also.  The justice system has thrown out the rule book and has become completely politicized.  On Democracy Now this guy that was kicked out “Zoliah” is being interviewed.  Hillary won’t talkabout this coup in her campaign.  Finally we have Bobby Jindell, who was voted the worse governor in America today.  His state is in shambles.  Apparently the governor’s office has sponsored “Duck Dynesty” to keep it on the air because Jindell considers it important. 

I watched “Ring of Fire” and they covered this story I already covered of how Scott Walker literally bought himself out of indictment and jail terms.  The silver lining in all this is that Scott Walker can’t run for governor again, so it’s either the Presidency or nothing.  Therefore I now see how the Koch Brothers consider it vital that Walker get into national office.  There is the story about how the US was at best “ambiguous” about this military coup in Honduras in June of 2009 installing a corrupt dictator.  I have covered this story in a blog also.  The justice system has thrown out the rule book and has become completely politicized.  On Democracy Now this guy that was kicked out “Zoliah” is being interviewed.  Hillary won’t talkabout this coup in her campaign.  Finally we have Bobby Jindell, who was voted the worse governor in America today.  His state is in shambles.  Apparently the governor’s office has sponsored “Duck Dynesty” to keep it on the air because Jindell considers it important. 

People have become more bullish on the stock market the past few weeks.  No year in my lifetime has ever been a down year in a year ending with a five.  Will this trend hold?  I don't think so - not this time.  For six months the markets have been in a "trading range" zone neither gaining nor losing much. Along the lines of the eighty year cycle of economic crash followed by War- - it’s Thom Hartman’s belief that when the last influential people remember the horrors of both economic recession and war- - then the safeguard to it’s happening again are gone so it’s “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it”.  I would throw in the crash of 1982 half way in the middle also bringing about eventual War (a “troff” war) and then major reforms.   The only time we never got reforms nor war was the crash of 1982 in the forty-year mid cycle.

The Excel file for the interest rate triangle is “compounding” but it uses the old method competing a problem where the rate of interest is unknown.  If you have money and it doubles in ten years what is the rate?  It’s just over seven percent for ten years and just over fourteen percent for five years.  You take the fraction of ten (length) or five (length) and make a fractional exponent out of one (point one), for ten years.  So it would be exponent point 2 for five years.  In the compounding file I use the longer EXP method I also used in BASIC.  Of course when Time is the unknown factor, you divide a Log by a Log, and the answer is a Log but doesn't have to be decoded because Time is the unknown factor and Time itself is a Log in this case.

Dissecting the Real Problems of Society

Viruses don’t consume food or excrete waste like normal cells do but only reproduce their patterns.  So religion is like a thought virus.  It has no substance and isn’t really a part of the material world yet it affects real people for good or bad.  Cancer like viruses, is also here for one thing and that’s to reproduce itself.  Chuck Smith considers this ability to “reproduce” or replicate itself as a great virtue.  But as I said in my book in 1980 “Nobody is going to start a cancer cell bank”.  As I said then “If Christians were orange trees they would be great at reproducing other orange trees not so hot on actually bearing actual fruit of oranges”.  Normally one considers the essence of orange trees as producing oranges, and this they don’t do.   But Thom Hartman echoed this idea that certain people were “cancers on the fabric of politics”.  Hartman goes on to explain that an amoeba is single cell.  But most multi cell organisms have to learn to work together for the sake of the organism.  But cancer doesn’t do this.  I think the whole tea party movement is a cancer on the fabric of American consciousness.  Their whole philosophy if boiled down to be one of leeching as much of the wealth of the average American and giving nothing back but only using money to further the cause of evil and oppressing of others.  So it bothers me that Paul might consider it his God given duty to give to groups that only want to oppress the poor and further line the pockets of the rich.  All the while he has a brother ling in poverty and he seems to be of no consequence.  Christians consider war as one of their highest goals along with oppression of the poor and minorities and other unpopular groups.  Also these tea party groups are experts at being sheer assholes- - when they express themselves.

There is a story that Bill Cosby got his qualudes he gives to women – from a gynecologist.  And the doctor knew he didn’t take them himself.  And he asked Cosby about it and Cosby said “No, I don’t take qualudes because they make me really sleepy”.   That would be some Saturday Night Live gag- - but if the conversation actually happened it’d be amazing!

Tom Brady had his four week suspension upheld a few days ago.  So Tom is going to have to curtail his affair with his under-inflated balls.  Tom Brady had a friend destroy his cell phone with ten thousand (?) text messages on it that would be evidence in “deflate-gate”.  Well you can’t win them all.  I guess he’ll learn his lesson and not try to destroy evidence again.

Now Donald Trump says Sarah Palin would make a nice addition to his cabinet.  Stephanie is trying to revive Sarah Palin as a comic political figure to kick around a little more.  Trump remains up in the polls despite his remarks about John Mc Cain which only goes to show that in an electorate full of major assholes, Trump wins by being king of the assholes.  Donald Trump is under suspicion for raping his first wife Ivana Trump.  The two had a very public divorce in 1989.  Apparently back then Ivanna said in a deposition that Donald had raped her.  Now Ivanna denounces what she said in that sworn - - deposition saying she is solidly behind her ex husband.  But then again -  "money talks".   Back in those days there were laws that said that a husband could never be charged with raping his wife.  It’s all back to that women are chattel thing.  It’s like wife beating was legal is the stick used to beat her with was no bigger around than a man’s thumb.  But if Trump says he didn’t do it I believe him.  Maybe Ivana made up the charge in the anger of the moment.  Apparently his attorney made some confused remarks that only made the issue work.  The debates are less than two weeks away.

 Now there is a story about killing Cecil the Lion, who is beloved by the people of Zimbobwe.  This dentist cut his head off and skinned him.  Since he was the alpha lion, the next alpha lion to take over will kill his cubs, as is the custom.  Not to be sexist in reverse or anything but it's kind of a male thing to "kill something" and present it to their mate or whatever as some trophy of their valor.  Marolyn Monroe said to Clark gable in "The Missfits" why do you just enjoy "Watching something die" and Gable said to her at the end of the movie "I guess I need to find another way to express my masculinity".   Of course if it isn't lions it's Indians, or "Coons" (negros) or it's Palistinians or Indians or maybe it's shooting moose from a helicopter with a fifty caliber AR 15.  This whole ideas of killing off the children of your rivals goes back to the Bible where the author of Samuel seems to take pleasure that the children of King Saul were killed.

 The blog today started off as bemoaning the fact that the United States has started so many wars since WW II.  But I watched two long segments of one of the most enlightened guys I’ve seen in a long time.  He says that many of these “New Age” religions encourage passivity.  It’s almost seeking salvation from passivity and ignoring the problems of the world.  This failure to consider cause and effect has always bothered me about so much of religion.  And I’d rather not hear about talking serpants in a garden with two nude people in it.  This guy says that to ignore the negative is almost to insure that what you surpress will come to pass.  His three laws of karma are different from the Federation.  To him the three laws of karma are Mind, Heart (or emotion) and Action as instigated by Free Will.  In his frame of the world you are free to exercise Free Will but you can’t violate natural law- - and that sooner or later the universe will pay you back.  But it won’t do it right away because it takes time for the universe to absorb your Right or Wrong action and make adjustments according.  Like my writing he speaks of the law - - or World of Effect, which is the Natural World as we know it.  You can’t change the past, you can only isolate causes.  Indeed the World as we see it- - with all its evil IS “Truth”.  And so you can’t deny its reality.  But relying on "this world" which is the past up to the present moment - won't "save you".  The world of Cause, according to this author is the world of Mind and Will, and pertains to the future from this present moment.  Only things done from this present moment, with the facts as they are, will bring about change.  But the change has to be "earned", so to speak.  Receiving free gifts such as free energy or world peace or UFO civilizations offering “full disclosure’ won’t happen in the continued presence of injustices in the world such as slavery or starting foreign conflicts and offering lame excuses for what you did of your own volition.  He spoke of “The Eighth Circle” called CARE meaning “What do you CARE about enough to focus your mind and actions twords changing.  Without this willfull focus of mine and will- - the change you seek won’t come.  There was an interesting clover leaf style chart showing six smaller circles arranged in the shape of a circle, and a seventh inner circle intersecting a bunch of lines from the other circle.  The eight circle is what encompasses all the other circles and he spoke of this as the “G” in the Free Mason thing.  The G could stand for “God” but it’s really the creative or genitive principle.   I’ve seen this lethargy creep into people’s thinking even like Stephanie Miller or Randy Rhodes.  There is almost this “meme” or notion, for instance by Hillary supporters of “You’ll never be able to do it all- - so why even try.  Why don’t you just give up and vote for Hillary before you even start and save yourself a lot of energy and frustration.   My philosophy is “It’s better to have tried and failed rather than to never have tried at all” because at least that way you learn things along the way.  You might even learn a thing or two about all these Causes we’ve been talking about.  There is an old saying in the stock market, “Money knows”.  And if you “meddle with the primal forces of nature” like in Network- - and tinker with the free market- - you do so at your peril.  For instance if you want to keep houses selling for $400,000 but the market is showing signs of falling, you can’t just bring in people or government to buy up homes for four hundred thousand- -  - hoping to “restore confidence” like in Communist china you stop trading when stocks fall too far.  Because since money knows- - - that people seek “feedback” when setting prices for selling something.  And if they sense the market is going down they are even more inclined to “unload this dud” if someone offers them instant money.  And the next person sees this and is thinking these negative thoughts also about the economy so he wants to sell his house right away.  At some point sooner than later- - the government will be able to maintain the price of $400,00 and prices will begin spiraling downward.   Glenda was saying some new sonogram or something said her cancer was worse than she ever imagined.  But the way I look at it- - she’s alive and active and managing- - and her attitude is amazingly good.  So who’s to say some sort of miracle can’t take place.  They said she was too sick for chemotherapy and she’d spend her last days miserable.  Larry lent me cigarette number four and just before then I was thinking about how cigarettes cause lung cancer and how that is not a sudden thing.  It isn’t as though you do something wrong and every time exactly one minute later you get stung by a bee.  If that happened you’d see the cause and effect clearly.

Israel Is Nothing But a Spoiled Child - Capish?

67.8% of respondents to a Google Consumer Survey said Israel should receive no compensation for the US finalizing a deal with Iran over its civilian nuclear program, which was begun at the behest of the US when Washington’s puppet, the Shah, one of the world’s worst human rights violators, ruled over Iran. Obama is currently offering Israel increased aid to compensate for the agreement. Israel is the biggest recipient of US aid at over $3 billion per year, and Obama has increased aid to Israel after each of Israel’s major massacres in the Gaza refugee camp since Obama assumed power. The major study of the issue of citizen impact on US government policy, conducted in 2014 by research teams out of Princeton and Northwestern universities, looked at nearly 2,000 policies and found that average-income US citizens have “near zero, statistically non-significant” impact on them, while the most affluent citizens essentially dictate policy. This dynamic has been illustrated by previous research, such as by Larry Bartels of Vanderbilt.

Another issue to watch for: the “world’s most influential” think tank, the Washington-based Brookings Institute, has suggested (among other options), as a way for the US to gain dominance over Iran, making it appear [define "appear"] that Iran has rejected a “great” deal [define "rejected" ; define "great" ] , then using Israel to attack Iran. (Note the above poll asks if Israel should be given long-range bombers and “bunker-buster” explosives.) The US and Israel have both continued to make threats of force, criminal acts under the UN charter adopted by both countries, against Iran since the agreement, and Obama’s anti-democratic offering [we aren't talking about flowers here] of increased aid to Israel could possibly signal that the “leave it to Bibi” ["Leave it to Benji" or maybe "Benji the Menace" a saga about a psycho "bad seed" who wants to blow up the world] strategy is still being entertained, along with any number of other goals.

  This idea of a whiny brat, which Israel is behaving like, has occurred to me before.  Some would argue that if you were the one who was being picked on by a bully, you wouldn’t want all your trusted friends making peace with him leaving you in the lerch and as some kind of outcast of “bad guy”.  No I wouldn’t.  But the thing is Israel doesn’t want peace at all.  Also if I were the victim of a bully – I wouldn’t go to all my friend’s wives and kids and say “Don’t listen to Daddy; he’s a complete idiot”.  This would be meddling way out of bounds.  Since Israel doesn’t want peace under any circumstances as far as I can see, then so to speak – why do they deserve our help for a peace they don’t want?

We all know Scott Walker is a congenital liar.  In terms of education scores- - these are identical to the year before he became governor, just slightly above the national norm.  The best you could say is Scott Walker has not HURT education scores in his state - - yet.  But he wants to do other stuff- - to the Universities and other lower institutions and the thing is we don't fully know all of the adverse effects Scott Walker's actions may have.  According to Hartman, Scott Walker only increased employment in Wisconsin by half the number he promised in a campaign statement.  Once again the employment numbers in Wisconsin in terms of overall trend follow the overall curve of the nation at large.  Scott Walker at best is like a Rooster who thinks that his crowing every morning is what causes the sun to come up.

This is Monday July 27, 2015 and Thom Hartman is on.  Hillary Clinton wants to restore the law saying that chief executive officers can NOT be paid in stock options.  It was the passage of this law, unbeknownst to me, that the stock market took off in late 1982 and kept soaring.  This is the first hard proposal I’ve heard Hillary make.  Obviously you would pay 15 percent on capital gains (when you sold the stock) and not a guarenteed 39% (potential) top rate every year.  You could hold the stocks till the cows come home and if you didn't sell you wouldn't pay taxes.  This procedure sucks capital out of things like research and investment, such as new factories that would hire on more workers.  It also makes the market "thinner" in that there is not "broad support" for a stock, as people on channel 22 used to put it.   Therefore if something goes wrong, it can go wrong very quickly. 

CHECKING IN ON MOM'S PROGRESS

OK, I turned off Helen Ratner or whoever and then shaved, and hurried and looked out back for cigarette butts.  Then I went to lunch.  We had creamy vegetable soup, of the type where I might have wanted seconds.  The main course was queesh with a toping of hamburger or something in a pie shape, and tater tots and a bowl of cantaloupe right on the plate.  We had seconds both on the queesh and the tater tots.  I grabbed my camera intending to take it to Mom’s.  But I thought of taking a picture of Glenda at the medication room, but the camera wouldn’t turn on.  So I took the camera back to the room and left it there.  Paul met me at the top of the stairs with a big notebook.  We went outside on the upper patio to discuss the history of his power of attorney, and now that’s elevated to a “trustee”.  He made a list of all the questions that Mom has been plaguing him with endlessly lately.  He has a good memory.  I glanced at a list of financial investment but the print looked extraordinarily small.  We went down there and getting out of the car I was talking about how the doubling of the Celexa didn’t help me at all in fact made my symptons worse.  Paul asked if it was a serotonin uptake drug, and I said it was.  He said he and Judy were watching a TV program and fifteen percent of the population react adversely to this serotonin reuptake type of drug and I said “Thanks for sharing that piece of information” because it’s something I’m going to pass along to Dr Messina.  He mentioned that Mom doesn’t like to walk the grounds of the place because “she gets lost”.  Mom is usually the one giving others directions who get lost, not the other way around.  Her air conditioning system isn’t very efficient.  It’s actually notably cooler and breezier over there just three miles down the road than it is here.  Paul wanted to get her to take a walk in the sunshine, because she doesn’t get out of the house enough.  But Mom said “You guys take a walk if you want to”.  After this I headed for the bathroom because I had a diaria attack.  Her toilet is so high off the ground, and her bathroom sink is deeper than normal.  We were all around the table in the windows area of the room and I again began feeling ill - - but it passed.  Paul had mentioned that Mom exhibited all five symptoms of sleep apnea and is having some sleep apnea test performed soon.  Paul says “It would be a real break-through in terms of her health if this explains it.  Tim is in charge of most medical aspects of Mom’s affairs.  Paul handles her finances.  Paul said he was pleasantly surprised because Mom WASN”T going through her usual list of questions.  They seemed to have a productive talk, and Paul admitted this afterward.  I learned I am getting two hundred thousand when I die, but I’m not going to tell you what percentage of the estate that is- - but I’ll assure you it’s not one third.  Even so it should provide some money cushion.  Paul had to get Judy to the doctor at two and we couldn’t stay that long.  Mom had a Thomas atlas out there and I was looking at the city limits of Seal Beach to confirm that the Steak House COULD actually be within Seal Beach city limits.  Judy has a syst on an overy, and the doctor said “It may have always been there as a benign growth growing since she was young but it’s only now become a problem.  There are other aspects of Judy’s health I won’t repeat.  I tried several times to mention my upcoming blood test, and even at the elevator leaving, but somehow it never happened.  Again the temperature difference outside between here and there is remarkable.  I arrived here about a quartet till two.  I didn’t attempt to watch any of the soap opera.  I got iced tea from Dora in the courtyard but only one cup.  Lynne’s class was in session.

 Leo Le Port talked about people hacking the computers of your car.  He went into more detail than usual about it today and says that car companies recognize the problem and are offering “patches” with the next model.  Leo says that computers controlling the engine should be completely separate from those controlling the entertainment systems.  I’m afraid I slept through Chris Marquardt, the photo guy, if he was even on.  I left the room sometime after one. (?)  I hung around outside for some time smoking short buttes.  Finally I asked for and got a cigarette from Donald.  Now I’m back to owing him one.  It occurred to me I should take pictures of Glenda and Lishia while they are both still here.  Now Lishia says she is leaving as early as August the third (a Monday), which is way less than thirty days from her pot offence.  I listened to the rest of Leo Le Port.  Dick Debartoli was not on today.  I went for two glasses of iced tea in the courtyard from Rico.  I muttered under my breath I’m now afraid to ask anybody for cigarettes because I’m so indebted to so many people.

 Bernie Sanders was first up on “Meet the Press” and I missed several minutes of his brief interview.  They talked about that Planned Parenthood baby parts video.  John Kasech was on.  His claim to fame is that he doesn’t hate Washington but is proud of his time in Congress and says we need a president who knows how to actually fix problems and not just make promises with over-blown rhetoric.  Apparently he “Didn’t go the way of Scott Walker” when it came to getting rid of labor unions apparently because of a popular vote taken.  I watched the first tem minutes on legalizing marijuana in California and the best way to safely do it.  This was the lieutenant governor.  Breakfast with the Beatles had all four separate Beatles in quad clusters all through the program.  Elvis sang “Hey Jude” but I know Elvis and this sounded nothing like Elvis.  Only the backing band was a bit of a giveaway.  They played “Eye to Eye” from Ringo Rama.  I need to do a new listing of “Best of Ringo” songs but first I need to find the old list just to see what songs from that compilation I want to carry over.

United States Foreign Policy Hypocracy

Investigative journalist Robert Parry continues to report the use by the US vanguard of the MH-17 tragedy as a propaganda tool against Russia. The US claims to be outraged by the shoot-down, but its purported indignation was easily debunked at the time of the event, when commentators reminded Washington (leaving out many other acts) that it shot down an obviously civilian plane on a commercial route, Iranian Air flight 655, killing the almost 300 civilians on board. “The commander of a nearby U.S. vessel, David Carlson, wrote in the U.S. Naval Proceedings that he ‘wondered aloud in disbelief’ as ‘The Vincennes [the US ship] announced her intentions’ to attack what was clearly a civilian aircraft.” The commander of the ship that targeted the civilian vessel, rather than being punished, was given the Legion of Merit, and George Bush Sr. said of the event: “I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are…” In fact, (and mysteriously unlike the US reaction to MH-17), virtually no one in the US seemed to care about a civilian plane being shot down when Washington was the culprit. There was “no outrage, no desperate search for victims, no passionate denunciations of those responsible, no eloquent laments by the US Ambassador to the UN about the ‘immense and heart-wrenching loss'”. Similarly, the US vanguard has been “incensed” by the ISIS destruction of ancient artifacts. Leaving aside that the US was destroying ancient artifacts in Iraq before an entity called Al Qaeda in Iraq (which became ISIS) ever came into existence thanks to the US invasion, the US has a long record, dating to its origins, of decimating ancient artifacts around the world. For example:

The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. Scattered in the landscape of the Xieng Khouang plateau, Xieng Khouang, Lao PDR, are thousands of megalithic jars. Initial research of the Plain of Jars in the early 1930s claimed that the stone jars are associated with prehistoric burial practices. Excavation by Lao and Japanese archaeologists in the intervening years has supported this interpretation with the discovery of human remains, burial goods and ceramics around the stone jars. The Plain of Jars is dated to the Iron Age (500 BC to AD 500) and is one of the most important sites for studying Southeast Asian prehistory. The Plain of Jars has the potential to shed light on the relationship between increasingly complex societies and megalithic structures and provide insight into social organisation of Iron Age Southeast Asia’s communities. In the late 1960s and early 70s, Washington carried out a genocide campaign against Laos (and all of Indochina), planting and detonating more explosives there – mostly in the Plain of Jars – than the allies dropped in all of WW2 – millions of tons. As an expert on the subject, Fred Branfman, reported (ch. 18), “the entire aboveground society [was] leveled.” Bombs planted by the US explosive teams included 262 million cluster bombs, an estimated 80 million of which did not explode on impact, and continue to kill Laotians today. Post-bombing deaths number in the tens of thousands. The Laos example thus illustrates both points: Washington’s high regard for ancient artifacts as well as civilians. It would cost $16 billion to clean up the remaining bombs in Laos, which continue to kill, maim, and/or blind three year olds, etc. While the US spent 18 million per day in its 9+ year Laotian genocide campaign, it has to date only devoted 85 million, or .005%, of the $16 billion required to dispose of the remaining bombs, which mostly effect kids, since they look like toys. Meanwhile, the US gives almost 4 billion a year in aid to an extremely rich country, Israel, spends trillions on further war-making, and recently allocated 1 to 1.5 trillion to illegally advancing its nuclear arsenal, of which MIT Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, Theodore Postol, said, “It is hard to understand what the Obama White House thinks it is accomplishing by pushing such a counterproductive program”.

I turned on Chris Matthews on computer but there was too much stuff just about Hillary. Now they are getting on Hillary’s case for releasing material that was subsequently classified by the Obama administration. The question arises - - how is Hillary supposed to be psychic so as to know which items would subsequently be classified? Chris suggested that she shouldn’t have been using a private server in the first place. Maybe they are going to make a political issue out of that. I didn’t like Chris Matthews’ attitude in saying that Republicans like Ted Cruz were trying to bolster the candidicy of Bernie Sanders by agreeing on him with him on certain issues such as not funding the import – export bank. I’ve switched my position on this from just yesterday. Now I’m against this “bank” if all they do is guarantee loans that nobody else will guarantee on the taxpayer dime. I also played the whole Ted Cruz speech and it’s possible what he was saying was actually correct. It’s just that there seems to be some senate rule that even if somebody is dead wrong- - and even lies- - it’s good protocol not to call them out on it in public. Ted Cruise also railed against “corporate welfare” and he’s going to earn a lot of points by doing that and appealing to the factory worker barely keeping his head above water. But I don’t like Chris Matthews’ whole attitude about how the democratic party can’t stand a primary contest. This is right out admitting that Hillary is week. She’s afraid of people asking her questions individually or in the public forum. If she can’t deal with Bernie Sanders convincingly, how is she ever going to deal with a Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or a Scott Walker? It’s like the NBA semi-finals must be won before you get to play in the NBA finals.

Some things if we (meaning I) understood better than I do such as hyperbolic trigonometry - - then I would understand many more of the scientific and electronic applications of this area. The simplest way to explain it is "a circle turned inside out", which sounds silly. There is a phenominon of faster than light travel where you actually "see the other sides of objects" much like looking in a mirror. They are reversed- - but it's also a convex mirror with your "field of view" in the shape of a hyperbola. We said that speed boat "wakes" or waves generated- - were in the shape of a hyperbola. But obviously the shape of this wake changes and becomes narrower and narrower the faster you travel. I wanted quickly to address one question that has arisen about Romulan cloaking devices. Can you for instance be heard or generate a noise while cloaked that can be heard by others not cloaked? We have previously said that "gas molicules are common". You can't have cloaked gas and uncloaked gas. But I've been informed that though the gas molicules are common- - - that kenitic energy is another of those "things" such as gravity and EM radiation, which can be subject to the cloaking. Hence any energy generated in a cloaked environment- - will remain "particular" or specific to the particular cloaking alterithm you're using. At first there would seem to be certain logical problems with these explanation- - but I'm told that that's the way things are with cloaking. Therefore that Star Trek thing wasn't wrong when it claimed that Jordi and Ensign Roe- - indeed would not be able to make any kind of noise, which could be heard by the uncloak people and hence be rescued.

Can't We Give God Three Days?

        
"Roadside alert- watch for emerging dead people"

They had a thing on the IRA and thirty years of “the troubles”.   A treaty was concluded on Good Friday in 1998.  I wasn’t aware of that date.  They changed an old adage of “Those who Remember History are Doomed to Repeat It”.  Because there was this Boston College study about this one IRA leader who claimed he didn’t have blood on his hands, but now it’s found out that he was instrumental in a brutal murder.  Then they did a thing on the Wikkipedia.  Unlike other detractors, they are claiming that Wikkipedia is more accurate than your average bound encyclopedia, and that mistakes are few and far between and the content is strictly edited.  Then I went outside and talked to Nancy around eight and the topic was Dr Levy and religion.  Nancy says “Actually Dr Levy contends being a Jew is the only way to enlightenment”, which is not what he led us all to believe about being “open minded” and such.  Nancy remarked about how that “Comparative Religion” thing was botched and heavily skewed tword Judaism” and I agree.  I went back in and it was Moses having that conversation with his mother (Bithia) about the circumstances of his birth.  Since Dennis Prager is so pro adoption (or used to be) he must hate that particular scene with a passion.  I had it on till Moses was with Nephritiri on the barge- - - and about to make that fatal mistake about “Paying a call on the Master Builder”.  [material edited out here]  I had kind of invited Glen to come over and watch the Jesus movie at nine (?) and got to the room again a couple minutes after nine when Pilate first says he finds no charge against Jesus-- - but capitulates to the crowd and takes the basin and washes his hands.  Everything in this movie seemed geared to the Gospel of Matthew.  Well- - they had stuff with Joseph and the tomb- - and Joseph was criticized for “helping to fulfill prophecy”.  Chiaphis’ wife was very vocal.  Also Pilate’s wife was very vocal in her opinion.  They had the driving in of the nails.  They had the spear thrower Longenus- - on orders from Pilate to insure his prompt death- - to make double sure he wouldn’t rise again.  They had the gathering of clouds and the storm and the earthquake and the rending of the curtain in the temple- - and all the falling concrete.  They had a dash of Judas.  They had things not in the Bible such as Peter and the disciples being approached to join the Zealots because “one by one the authorities will kill off the apostles just as they killed your leader, and the teachings of your leader will soon be just as dead as He was”.  I happened to think of the Republican party snuffing out the message of Christianity in these times.  Pilate was reluctant to appoint a Roman quatrane of guards and put the Roman seal on the tomb.  He considered it a waste of government resources and considered these Sanhedrin worry warts.   Many disciples wanted to leave Jerusalem as they had planned all along.  They had homes and families in Galilee, and it was their priority now.  But Peter said “Jesus said he would rise in three days.  Can’t we give God three days?  He gave us his life- - can’t we give him three days of Faith?”   That argument held. [material removed here] I was musing over the “Can’t we give God three days?” remark.   For that promise God gave me in January of 1988 -  -  - there was a flexable time limit “yet to be determined”.  That deadline hit on August 6^th of 1994.  And after that I knew the promise had failed.  And of course I have let down my readers.  I predicted a rapture in late September of 2014 and that prediction failed also.  My detractors would say “And if it isn’t bad enough that you failed, you had to drag John Lennon into the thing, too”.   I was thinking of that giving god three days remark, and thought of the Lennard Skynard song “Give me three steps”.  And musing on how members of that band were dying off one by one.  But just then I got a message from the drummer who had just died a few days ago and he said “I’m not dead- - I’m still here” and I realized that the jinx that got those other three- - - was because of their new guitar player, who jinxed the band, just as Crissy Hind had jinxed two Pretenders players.  I told Paul Evans that I was looking forward to the “predicted climate pattern change” this week.  It will not rain just once but twice this week, Tuesdays and Saturday.  Also basic pattern of the Jet Stream will have changed.

Wisconsin defeated Kentucky and their “undefeated streak” on Saturday in a come from behind victory.  But Duke fairly easily handled Michigan State as Wisconsin and Duke will now facve off in the final game tonight, which hopefully will be televised.   I still have the greatest amazement that the two key games of Saturday were not televised on over the air TV.

Judith Miller is now saying she was entirely responsible for the deception about weapons of mass destruction in a New York Times article.  But now she insists that the motives of the Bush administration were pure in going to Iraq in 2003. Thom Hartman said this morning that forty percent of the American people to this day STILL believe that we FOUND weapons of "mass destruction" in Iraq.  People who believe a Lie, become more ardent and hardened in their belief when they ARE exposed to the Truth, more than if they had never heard FOX news at all.  Tom says due to view numbers FOX news is Thee leading source of "News" for the American people.  But 935 specific Lies were told to the people about Iraq in the run-up to the Iraq was of 2003.   Let’s have it her way for the moment.  Let's pretend Bush was completely ignorant of the fact that there WERE no "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq.  OK?  There was a “final report” due on weapons of mass destruction in early 2003.  But before this final report was released- Bush attacked with “shock and awe” in March of 2003.  And since our victory in that war came with the toppling of Saddam’s statue around April 9^th and the “Mission Accomplished” speech came a few weeks later- I have a question.  First of all if the “Mission” was “Accomplished” then the War is over.  Right?  Secondly- - IF it’s true Bush did NOT know about “no weapons of mass destruction” before the “final report” why not when the report came out- - did not Bush say “I made a major mistake.  This war was entirely unnecessary”.  Had that happened the ensuing eight years of history would have been very different.  Wouldn’t it be better for Bush’s reelection campaign of 2004 to say “Look at the great victory over Saddam Hussein we wrought last year”?    Secondarily- - why wasn’t Howard Dean’s “fifty state” plan implemented in 2004 because once the Republicans got in control they certainly saw it as a state by state contest- - wanting to have party control at the local level and not just nationally.

Lindsey Graham rather than say the Iranian deal was unsound per se is just hold out for a better deal or “take another crack at Iran” with the next President.  Lindsey went on to talk about how Iran is “a leading sponsor of state terrorism”.  He also said that “Everybody knows Obama is a weak negotiator”.   However the Energy Secretary stated that “all of the possible paths to a Nuclear Bomb are cut off.  They don’t have an option of plutonium- - or enrichment beyond 3.5% and they will live a fish bowl existence, and aspects and prohibitions go on from the, to fifteen to 25 years, and some of the aspects have no ending.  You then have Nevenyahoo saying “Rather than block a path to a Bomb, this deal PAVES the way to getting a bomb”.  The Israeli Prime Minister offered nothing to back up this assertion.   It should be emphasized that nothing will actually be signed till June- - and that this entire “framework” is a work in progress till then.

They had their on site chapel that kind of dominates the landscape.  It’s really nice.  The service was kind of a Methodist flavor with the gospel style piano playing and theology that downplayed the trinity.  Paul was surprised that final hymn was unfamiliar to me.  We sang the usual three hymns and took an offering and they had announcements and a church bulleton.  I sat next to some Oriental lady who said she was a visitor.  An older guy did the preliminary stuff but this church has a stream of guest preachers.  This guy was six foot five or something with a large build perhaps in his mid forties, and was a dynamic speaker.  He spoke of various people in the crowd shouting “Hosanna” on Palm’s Sunday including Jarius daughter and leppers and a blind guy Jesus healed.  There are five things Jesus gives us with the resurrection.  First of all he gives us Eternal Life.  However he made a joke about “Everyone has Eternal life it’s just where they are going to spend it- - in the smoking or non smoking section, and for me I prefer non smoking”.  That one kind of hit home with me.  But Jesus gives us a Robe of Rightious.  Not just “the hem of his garment” but the whole robe.  Third Jesus gives us grace.  Forth Jesus gives us “exhusia” or authority over the power - - dynamos- - of the Devil.  So it’s almost as if we exist on a whole other plane that Satan and his demons know nothing of.  Finally, Jesus gives us his peace.  After this we went to Mom’s room and Paul mad ME direct them there.  Paul earlier had said “Mom is in that window right there on the corner on the third floor.  And later we entered on this other wing of the building and Paul says “OK, [censored], direct us there” and I was able to do that - - and went right to her door.  [material edited out] Mom does get all your usual over the air TV stations just like I do.  We went and hung around the big dining room waiting to be escorted to our private dining room.  I found the service to be a little slow.  Stewart Sutcliffe (of Sirius A) agreed with me- - - and also agreed with me that mustard DOES belong in deviled eggs.  These didn't have it. Stu seem to think that my concerns were being “buried” on the conversational agenda.  This may not have been a bad thing.  Because it would have turned into a brawl and I still wouldn't get any money relief.  I went to the salad bar but made the mistake of using straight sour cream for dressing- - in an otherwise well adorned salad.  We had cherry ham for lunch and some kind of rice pilaf.  Stu Baby was with a friend from Sirius A.  He chimed in when [name] was talking about all the other people raising wild animals such as llamas and chickens and things.  “That sounds like my kind of place” he said.   I had two cups of coffee and ice water.  We had these bunny shaped things for desert- - and I chose coconut.  

Seventeen Ways to Be an Asshole

In Order To Beat ‘Em, You Have Do more than to Know Their Game …You have to Prevent them from Playing it.
In order to beat Internet trolls, you have to know their strategies.

Many of these "bullshit stunts" are familiar to me because my family has used them on me.  But it's almost a case of having to stop something before it happens.  (Selah)

Below are 17 common games played by trolls to disrupt our power to learn, inform, and organize on the web … So be like "Q" on Star Trek and learn these seventeen pitfalls . . .

1. Threaten those who speak out, to try to intimidate them and their readers into silence.

2. Misquote the Bible to pretend that God commands us to be obedient slaves to authority … even if the powers-that-be are downright tyrants.

3. Start a partisan divide-and-conquer fight or otherwise push emotional buttons to sow discord and ensure that cooperation is thwarted. Get people fighting against each other instead of the corrupt powers-that-be. Use baseless caricatures to rile everyone up. For example, start a religious war whenever possible using stereotypes like “all Jews are selfish”, “all Christians are crazy” or “all Muslims are terrorists”. Accuse the author of being a gay, pro-abortion limp-wristed wimp or being a fundamentalist pro-war hick when the discussion has nothing to do with abortion, sexuality, religion, war or region. Appeal to people’s basest prejudices and biases. And (as explained by H. Michael Sweeney’s 25 Rules of Disinformation) push the author into a defensive posture:


Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule … Associate opponents with unpopular titles such as “kooks”, “right-wing”, “liberal”, “left-wing”, “terrorists”, “conspiracy buffs”, “radicals”, “militia”, “racists”, “religious fanatics”, “sexual deviates”, and so forth. This makes others shrink from support out of fear of gaining the same label, and you avoid dealing with issues.

(The person trying to smear reputation may not be a random knucklehead … he may, in fact, be a government agent, or a member of the group he’s smearing.)

4. Question motives. Twist or amplify any fact which could so taken to imply that the opponent operates out of a hidden personal agenda or other bias. This avoids discussing issues and forces the accuser on the defensive. Or accuse the author of being a narcissist.

5. Pretend it’s hopeless because we’ll be squashed if we try. For example, every time a whistleblower leaks information, say “he’s going to be bumped off”. If people talk about protesting, organizing, boycotting, shareholder activism, spreading the real facts, moving our money or taking other constructive action, write things to scare and discourage people, say something like “we don’t have any chance because they have drones and they’ll just kill us if we try”, or “Americans are too stupid, lazy and greedy, so they’ll never help out.” Encourage people to be apathetic instead of trying to change things.

6. Demand complete, fool-proof and guaranteed solutions to the problems being discussed. For example, if a reporter breaks the story that the big banks conspired to rig a market, ask “given that people are selfish and that no regulation can close all possible loopholes … how are you going to change human nature?”, and pretend that it’s not worth talking about the details of the market manipulation. This discourages people from reporting on and publicizing the corruption, fraud and other real problems. And it ensures that not enough people will spread the facts so that the majority know what’s really going on.

7. Suggest extreme, over-the-top, counter-productive solutions which will hurt more than help, or which are wholly disproportionate to what is being discussed. For example, if the discussion is whether or not to break up the big banks or to go back on the gold standard, say that everyone over 30 should be killed because they are sell-outs and irredeemable, or that all of the banks should be bombed. This discredits the attempt to spread the facts and to organize, and is simply the web method of the provocateur.

8. Pretend that alternative media – such as blogs written by the top experts in their fields, without any middleman – are untrustworthy or are motivated solely by money (for example, use the derogatory term “blogspam” for any blog posting, pretending that there is no original or insightful reporting, but that the person is simply doing it for ad revenue).

9. Coordinate with a couple of others to “shout down” reasonable comments. This is especially effective when the posters launch an avalanche of comments in quick succession … the original, reasonable comment gets lost or attacked so much that it is largely lost. Use “forum sliding” and “topic dilution” to so dilute and distract the conversation that people forget the original point.

10. Use technology and numbers to gain leverage. You can either hire low-wage workers in India or other developing countries to “astroturf” (see this and this) or – if you work for the government – you can use military personnel or subcontractors to monitor social media and “correct” information which you don’t like (and see this). You can pay students to post pro-government comments online. You can even use software which allows you to quickly create and alternate between numerous false identities, each with their own internet address. Or program software to write the comments itself.

11. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the “How dare you!” gambit.

12. Use a straw man. Find or create a seeming element of your opponent’s argument which you can easily knock down to make yourself look good and the opponent to look bad. Either make up an issue you may safely imply exists based on your interpretation of the opponent/opponent arguments/situation, or select the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Amplify their significance and destroy them in a way which appears to debunk all the charges, real and fabricated alike, while actually avoiding discussion of the real issues.

13. Associate opponent charges with old news. A derivative of the straw man usually, in any large-scale matter of high visibility, someone will make charges early on which can be or were already easily dealt with. Where it can be foreseen, have your own side raise a straw man issue and have it dealt with early on as part of the initial contingency plans. Subsequent charges, regardless of validity or new ground uncovered, can usually them be associated with the original charge and dismissed as simply being a rehash without need to address current issues — so much the better where the opponent is or was involved with the original source.

14. Censor social media, so that the hardest-hitting information is buried. If you can’t censor it, set up “free speech zones” to push dissent into dank, dark corners where no one will see it.

15. When the powers-that-be cut corners and take criminally reckless gambles with our lives and our livelihoods, protect them by pretending that the inevitable result – nuclear accidents, financial crises,terrorist attacks or other disasters – were “unforeseeable” and that “no one could have known”.

16. Protect the rich and powerful by labeling any allegations of criminal activity as being a “conspiracy theory”. After all, it was the CIA itself which created the perjorative term “conspiracy theorist” and gave advice on how to attack people on that basis. For example, when Goldman gets caught rigging markets, label the accusations as mere conspiracies. Throw in the tired out cliches “tinfoil hat” and “live in your mom’s basement.”

17. Hit and Run. In any public forum, make a brief attack of your opponent or the opponent position and then scamper off before an answer can be fielded, or simply ignore any answer. This works extremely well in Internet and letters-to-the-editor environments where a steady stream of new identities can be called upon without having to explain the criticism — simply make an accusation or other attack, never discussing issues, and never answering any subsequent response, for that would dignify the opponent’s viewpoint.