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.

An April the Fourth Meditation

Well, tonight I guess is Passover.  And after four AM tomorrow will be a total eclipse of the moon which lasts but four minutes that begins after three.  From that thing I watched Christmas eve we know that a bloodied moon in the sign of the virgin is of special significance, of a Virgin’s son paying a price in blood.  Every time I do these signs like I do in Federation stuff or stuff like this I refer to the physical star constellations, and not the more abstract Horoscope signs.   These eclipse “nodes” of the moon run in nine year cycles- - and the odds of a full moon on Good Friday are only about one in seven.  Of course that NBC thing talks about Jesus being a “man who is dangerous to the system of power” and was silenced because of that.  How nice it would be that for every dead of noble life that suffered a martyr’s death- - that God would reap his retribution just like he did with the Jewish Sanhedrin.  I’m tempted to use the cliché phrase “But that stuff only happens in the movies”.   Let’s take another man who died on April fourth - - Martin Luther King.  The people who saw him shot pointed to a location up higher than where the government concluded the shots were coming from.  I didn’t used to be a believer in a conspiracy on this one, but I’m being forced to change my mind looking at all the evidence- - and how James Earl Ray’s guilty plea was forced, and when he wanted to retract it, the powers that be wouldn’t let him.  It would seem that it IS possible to change history by the death of one or two men.  Of course Bobby Kennedy is the other obvious case in this area.  In the case of Jesus- - - most everyone agrees that the whole Jewish temple system was corrupt and perhaps was destined to go down anyhow.  I know of no record of anyone ever trying to restore the system of Jewish temple sacrifice like the Jews “enjoyed” for hundreds of years.  When you think about it, it’s a little strange, since it was the corner stone of their religion.  It’s also an excellent selling point to witness with to Jewish people trying to convert them to Christianity.  Frankly I’m surprised this approach doesn’t work more often than it does.  According to that movie I saw last Christmas Eve – the New Testament references quoting from the book of Joel about signs in the heavens and the moon turning to blood- - were fulfilled upon Christ’s death.  We’l all like to have our resurrection moments.  I’m so paranoid- - I’m almost expecting more bad news around the next corner.  I would like a break for a while of “no more bad news”.   Even with the Iran deal I’m scared spitless that the whole thing is going to go away- - someone will do or say something that will blow the whole thing up.  I say this because - "God" just doesn't seem to be the sort of person who will let President Obama have any victories.  I get fatalistic like this.
MY FEARS ARE NOT WITHOUT FOUNDATION - JUST READ THIS A groundbreaking framework agreement today between the international community and Iran has caused most to breathe a sigh of relief, as it seemingly forestalls the calls from hawks, non-stop for decades, to attack Iran. But has the war been prevented? Not necessarily. Israeli officials, griping about the deal even before it was made, have dialed up that criticism more, and having failed to sabotage the negotiations through lobbying the US Congress, they may look to “veto” the deal by starting a war and assuming everyone will back them. Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz is talking up that option in particular today, saying Israel may have “no choice” but to use the military option to counter the “threat” of the deal. Steinitz bragged that the 1981 Israeli attack on a nuclear reactor in Iraq was done entirely without US permission or cooperation, saying US efforts at diplomacy would not stop an Israeli war. Even the US isn’t immune to this sort of warmongering talk, with Defense Secretary Ash Carter declaring just days ago that the US could sign a “final” deal with Iran and then attack them anyhow if it thought it would benefit them.

There is bad news to go around not just for me but to the general public.  The number of jobs added was only 125,000 jobs and the January and February job numbers were revised downward.  This is less than half the rate of expansion from what we’ve been seeing lately.  Yesterday oil prices went down because of the good news on Iran, but now people on the right consider falling oil prices a “destabilizing factor” on the international scene.  Unemployment overall was 5.5%.  However for Latinos it was over six percent and for Blacks it was over ten percent.  White people had four percent and something while Asians were only unemployed at the rate of 3.2% How do they do it?  People are scrambling around to find a reason for the economic slowdown, which is more apparent now.  The mining industry lost thirty thousand jobs.  A lot of oil rig jobs have ended.  April first was a major down day for the markets.

Gov Jerry Brown still allows unlimited fracking in this state though fracking uses huge amounts of water and pollutes the ground water table with its waste.  Agriculture uses about 75% of the available water and urban dwellers are being forced to cut back though they use only twenty percent of the water.  It’s absurd.  We spend all this money on water saving appliances and fittings but what we save is a drop in the bucket of what’s wasted by the frackers.  Jerry Brown is still in the control of Big Petroleum.

There was this SETI scientist.  SETI means the search for extra terrestrial intelligence, which is more significant than just life.  Apparently there is a “slide whistle” radio brief transmission - - where the frequency of the transmission rapidly lowers, almost like a Doppler effect.  They have experienced eleven instances of this in the past couple of years or so.  Due to our computer development we are more able to efficiently search for radio transmissions from space than we ever were before.  Now there at least hundreds of planets discovered, perhaps lots more.  They were concentrating on the thousand or so nearest stars - - they said.  The guy wasn’t real optimistic about ever discovering ET intelligence in his lifetime.

The bad news wasn’t over yet.  The TV came on with that vertical streaked picture again.  But this time it wasn’t just for a few seconds but for a few minutes, which had me worried it could be permanent.  It’s hard to find stations with no station indicator visable and you’ve lost your bearings but I finally found DL and then the picture came in.  But it was a bad day for the happiness of the people of Salem.  Somehow Clyde Weston and Kate figured out that Victor was faking his psychological depression, but don’t ask me how.  He was acting angrily over the fact that his grandson or whatever was being cheated on by that son of a whore.  Will obviously got his sexual morals from Sammy.  But somehow a news reporter learned about it and told everybody.  He also mentioned the blood donation thing, which few knew.  John Black finally saw the light where Paul is concerned and threw him out and told him to leave Salem, and was sorry that he’d ever been so nice to him.  After this I went for coffee.  But then [name withheld] ushered us into the hall because he and Sarah were hiding Easter eggs.  Then he invited us all back out moving the coffee line.  We were served outside and I had one cup of coffee and one piece of stale chocolate cake.  I felt too preoccupied and depressed to participate in an Easter egg hunt, though I could have used a five dollar prize or whatever they had.  The whole thing seemed to be over before you knew it.  The search was confined to the courtyard, which would have made the search easier.   Now Sarah is inviting us to the Friday sing-along.  Maybe if I went I’d snap out of my lethargic state of depression.

Obama Ratified Nuclear Deal with Iran

President Obama and Iran have come to the “framework” of a Nuclear agreement.  The terms are confusing- - and some would have you to believe that Iran has made few, if any concessions.  According to Rush Limbaugh the agreement could just as easily blow up by next Tuesday.  But no conservative outlet played the body of the President’s speech today in the Rose Garden, when he spelled out all of the specific terms we are imposing on Iran and that they have agreed to.  These are measures that will decrease the likelihood of war.  But the right wing won’t tell you this.  The first place I was sent in links when I Googled the topic - - is FOX news.  Of course their job is editorializing and continuous ranting against Obama and repeating endless mantras that we’ve heard a hundred times before.  Shawn Hannity on his show today repeated the same platitudes endlessly quoting from some Presidential speech from “six months ago” where the President said he had good relations with both Somolia and Yemen, both of which seem highly improbable, giving the troubled relation we’ve had for years with both of those countries.  There was endless ranting by Hannity about his “entire Mideast strategy has been a failure” and repeats the laundry list of nations such as Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  When Shawn Hannity talks about US Allies, he’s not referring to France or Germany- - or Mexico or anywhere in Latin America or eastern Asia.  No, he’s speaking of Saudi Arabia and the military junta that took over in Egypt a couple years ago.  It’s kind of a thing with would be dictators to speak of things and entities that aren’t there, just as they endlessly refer to “The Constitution” yet show little signs of having read it.   I have no idea whether this treaty will last.  Hannity and Limbaugh are right about one thing.  They say that Obama is out to hype his accomplishments- - when he’s accomplished almost nothing as President on the many pressing issues of our day such as the economy, or reducing dangerous drilling and fracking, or reform of the criminal justice system, or going after Wall Street crooks, and lets not forget our friends, the lobbyists.  It would seem as if the world is no safer today than when Obama took office, but I hardly see that as very much the President’s fault.  So Obama clings to things which only destroy him- - like his immigration executive action, which destroyed his relation with congress- - or the Affordable Care Act- - and I don’t think I’ve talked to anybody that doesn’t say that passing that was a horrible mistake.  Obama is a man obsessed with a legacy- - and it would be a feather in his cap if he made Iran our friend.  From what I’ve heard on other shows- - continual bulligerance to Russia is just counter productive, and could end up in a lot of undesirable things we don’t want to happen.  Well, there is obviously nuclear war.  There is straining our relation with Germany in particular.  We have a much weaker position with Iran if Russia is not at least nominally on our side backing us up.  As to the idea of somehow arming the Ukrainians beefing them up for the next major War - - if it’s World War III and Nuclear weapons are changed- - nobody wins anyhow.  Having said all that, the agreement does give me gratification in one area- - and that is in sticking it to Benjamin Netenyahoo.  Because now he is out in the cold.  Israel doesn’t like “not being in control” and I fear they might be so desperate that they’ll “start something” with Iran just to make a “statement” to the world.  And if that happens- - we’ll forget our treaty and come running to Israel’s beckon call like some suicidal ex wife who’s threatening to slash her wrists if we don’t come running there.  This idea of Israel, the "apple of God's eye" being joined at the hip with another nation that will save them from their own bulligerance- - is a reference that will be found nowhere in the Bible.  I hope that fact doesn't ruin Shawn Hannity's day.  An Israel alone in the world- - - is truly an unknown entity.

Now they are complaining because there is still a whole raft of anti gay regulations in states.  They even call these groups “Big Gay”.   So I guess Wall Mart and Nascar and Ely Lilly and Apple are all part of “Big Gay” because they pressured the Indiana governor to back down.  Now he has to put his John Hancock on a document that expressly disallows gay discrimination.  The homosexual lobby is one interest group that sure gets their way and controls the media.  I wish people against Wall Street corruption or for workers rights had the kind of muscle power that the gay lobby does.  But they don’t.  So now the Republicans are in the strange place of “having to go gay” to win elections.  Frankly there are situations where I believe businesses should have the right to deny services to certain people on moral grounds.  For instance a hospital's abortion policy or florists with a certain moral reputation to uphold.  Should a cake maker refused to bake a cake in the shape of a machine gun if the NRA asks them to.  Should not a resturant decide itself which "private parties" it wants to rent its place out to?  I believe so.

On "Days of our Lives" Lucas and Adrian were at each other’s throats yesterday and the way it looked- both were so angry they didn’t care if they never spoke to the other again.  There was a lot of moralizing about “Adultery and how it damages trust in the home”.  So how is it in today’s episode (taking place an hour after yesterday’s) they have an affair and spend almost as much time in bed together as John and Yoco on their honeymoon.  And the other bombshell of the day is that John Black is Paul Norita’s father.  This of course makes no sense and is physically impossible and I’ll tell you why.  Since 1993 when Stephano said “It’s good to be back” on one of his many returns from the dead- - John Black has either been with Christine or Marlena, if you don’t count that affair with Gina alias Hope Brady- - on the submarine.  Before that Stephano was not around.  John Black was only apart from Marlena before then from very late 1991- - to early 1993, again when Stephano was not around so there WAS no “Di Mira property” to have the affair on, and of course zero reference to any mystery women then.  You know this is why many dreams can’t happen.  They involved times and people and places that don’t exist- - or don’t exist at all in the way portrayed in the dream.  So you know that they aren’t real, and can’t be prophetic, either.  And just by the way- - if I claim to know or know of anyone who has a “message” from the other side of the grave- - it should be confirmable- - made valid- - by indisputable facts, and a whole lot more than an author’s fertile imagination.  One of the most unsettling dreams I've ever had was overhearing (as if an invisable fly on the wall) was inside my parent's bedroom on a Saturday afternoon (?) and they were talking about one of my Mom's old boyfriends and for some reason - - the boyfriend still had some "hold over the relationship".  But you tell yourself "This is an entirely a false scenario that never happened".

LATE ADDITION:  I just saw on KNBC news that the Rev Robert Schuller passed away today.  He died of esophigial cancer, cancer of the throat.  He couldn’t talk in his final time on earth- - and had to mouth to his grandson “I love you”.  The grandson was there reflecting on the life of his grandfather.  Schuller started Hour of Power in February 1970 and I remember that, and me and Mom used to watch that on TV every week in a period when I wasn’t going to church.  Schuller was a main stream “Reform tradition” Christian, that sang all the hymns we sang in our own church.  He was never political.  He kept it positive but never resorted to “taking the Lord’s name in vain” like Ernest Angley or Rex Humbard or some of these others.  I was only in the Crystal Cathedral once in my life for a Christmas Eve musical- - when I had the flu.  Then I had country chicken at the Claim Jumper for dinner and was healed of it.  I never wrote Schuller letters.  David Simons of SP was a member of his church. Laura Hammil was a frequenter of his Church. Schuller was never particularly caught up in this “Moral Majority” fever, and was certainly never political in his sermons.  He even had Yasser Aarafat at one service- - which was a controversial move – then and now.

Some random thoughts can be Enlightening.  The random thought came to me yesterday was that “Sometimes when people think they hold all the reins of power- - is just the moment when the very control they sought finds a way of “slipping away from them” as if God had other plans all along.  I don’t know if this thought was from God or what.  It’s just that the Bible tells a number of stories where people conspire and think that they’ve got all the bases covered, and they don’t and God finds a way of- - for lack of a better phrase “Making His will known”.   Right now I feel “defeated” for lack of a better term- - because of my ongoing and worsening money problems and relational problems with the family that seem to be continually adverse.  I look to almost “any time in the past” as a better time than today.  And it’s not a question of the “if only I had done something different” game- - because it’s though the Devil had all of my “Exits” covered (for lack of a better term) and no matter which way I fled- - he’d have a new problem there waiting for me.  What I’m looking from God if he wants to show he’s really there- - is some kind of a basic “Game Changer” that fundamentally affects the balance of power in my life.  Nobody wants to feel as though their life now is merely “waiting to die” because Death is no deliverance.

One of the assertions you used to hear a lot from Religion - - Religion in the generic sense of the term- - - is the assertion “Nothing happens by accident.  It all happens by design”.  What’s first of all strange about this statement is at least in my case that if I were to ask “Why did Christianity fail me” I’m most likely to be told, in whatever sugar coated terms “It was just an accident.  Accidents happen”.   But you maybe we don’t even look to Religion to find “A reason for it all” so to speak.  What makes “stuff” happen?  For instance- - is a Freshman senator begins making hawkish speeches right and left (something that would not have happened in the old days) why not look to Big Money.  Maybe the military industrial complex is footing the bill, as in the case of this Senator Cotton of Arkansas, who has been making the headlines lately.  Maybe things like THIS are no accident.  Some wonder “How did the Roman Catholic church get so rich?”  Well- - maybe there is a connection between Priests not being allowed to marry and not having children to pass their acquired wealth on to- so they leave it all to the church.  Trying to find any difference between the old Bolshivic communist party and the Roman Catholic Church- may be harder than it looks.  Because both “entities” aren’t at all what they claim to be.  Some ask “How is it Scientology has such a hold over certain celebreties such as Tom Cruise or John Travolta?  Well, could it be the Church makes them confess all their secret sins- - or perhaps things they aren’t even guilty of that the Church has convinced they are guilty of.  Remember when Joan of Arc was forced to recant her testimony of hearing the voices and signed a piece of paper and the minister waves it before the cheering crowd in triumph, as if he’d accomplished something great?  But the problem is today- - Religion in most part stands naked to the world to much more a degree than in former times.  We’ve seen all the money scams and the sexual hypocracy.  It’s really hard for religion to hide today.  All of that “guilting into submission” doesn’t work any more, with today’s audience.  Today it’s all the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson and all the others.  It’s all about getting money to get more power over people’s lives- - to make them poorer and more without hope than they are even today.

More on the United States War Machine

Well I just had to "share" the following material, as the posting even suggested that I do.  Let me just say I didn't know to what extent that the United States was up to its ass in interventions in Iran.  In 1988 they apparently shot down a civilian Iranian airliner just for the Hell of it.  That's when we backed Saddam Hussein against Iran (for the most part) in their eight year war.  It seems that installing the Shaw of Iran in 1953 or whatever was entirely motivated by OIL, (not Occupation Iraqi Liberation)  The US got forty percent of their oil and the Europeans got sixty percent.  There has been a "sixty five year program" to foment war with Iran, so Shawn Hannity is a little late to the party just discovering that now.  Of course I didn't know to what extent the most extreme forms of torture were used including electric shocks and cigarette burns to a man's genitals.  Sometimes they lop off both arm and ship the armless torso back to the relatives, like something out of the Godfather.  We are reminded that in over two thousand years, Iran hasn't invaded anybody.  And back when they WERE in the expansionist business they were allied with the Jews.  If the Jews read their Bible then they'd know that.  In fact so much of "classic Jewish thought" was developed during the time when the Jews were in Iranian captivity.  There is a propensity to see us as the good guy trying to stop the bad guy who's half mad- - from developing a nuclear bomb.  It's hard to know who to believe these days.  If we listen to Sean Hannity- - the US has offered to do everything for Iran in terms of concessions, except perhaps to build the Bomb for them, to be used against us.  It's hard to know who to believe.  Apparently the Iranians did NOT have anything to do with fomenting that Shiite revolution in Yemen.  Well that Jewish guy on Washington Journal on C-Span says they did.  Who do we believe?  Well here is a bunch more sintelating stuff.  It seems when I import writings, my ratings go up.

People All over the World Want Peace … But the Military-Industrial Complex Wants War

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said that a deal with Iran wouldn’t necessarily prevent war.  Military.com reports:

The U.S. will reserve the right to use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon even if a deal is reached Iran’s nuclear program, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday.

“The military option certainly will remain on the table,” Carter said as negotiators in Lausanne, Switzerland, struggled to reach an agreement ahead of a March 31 deadline.

“One of my jobs is to make sure all options are on the table,’ Carter said in remarks at Syracuse University and earlier on NBC’s “Today” program.

We thought that Iran getting nuclear weapons was the main reason we were thinking of bombing them.  So if a peace deal is signed with the U.S., why are we still talking about bombing them?  What’s going on?  In reality, top American and Israeli military and intelligence officials say that Iran poses no danger.   But the hawks have desperately been trying to stir up war with Iran for decades, as part of a 65-year program of regime change all over the world carried out by the U.S.  And the U.S. has inserted itself smack dab in the middle of a religious war … and is backing the most violent side. And see this.   So the notion bears repeating that the American people want peace, but the military-industrial complex wants war.