I find this a crucial debate. What is most crucial is the angle taken at the origin of ethics. I agree with Chris Hedges account that ethics has its origin in prophetic tradition in monotheism.
Click here for link
Click here for link
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Clean Cut Kid lyrics w/vidlink
Everybody wants to know why he couldn’t adjust
Adjust to what, a dream that bust?
Adjust to what, a dream that bust?
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
They said what’s up is down, they said what isn’t is
They put ideas in his head he thought were his
They put ideas in his head he thought were his
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band
When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand
When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He went to church on Sunday, he was a Boy Scout
For his friends he would turn his pockets inside out
For his friends he would turn his pockets inside out
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
They said, “Listen boy, you’re just a pup”
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up
They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills
A jeep to drive, blood to spill
A jeep to drive, blood to spill
They said “Congratulations, you got what it takes”
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He bought the American dream but it put him in debt
The only game he could play was Russian roulette
The only game he could play was Russian roulette
He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread
Ate Burger Kings, he was well fed
Ate Burger Kings, he was well fed
He went to Hollywood to see Peter O’Toole
He stole a Rolls-Royce and drove it in a swimming pool
He stole a Rolls-Royce and drove it in a swimming pool
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He could’ve sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar
Could’ve been an accountant or a tennis star
Could’ve been an accountant or a tennis star
He was wearing boxing gloves, took a dive one day
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay
His mama walks the floor, his daddy weeps and moans
They gotta sleep together in a home they don’t own
They gotta sleep together in a home they don’t own
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
Well, everybody’s asking why he couldn’t adjust
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust
They took his head and turned it inside out
He never did know what it was all about
He never did know what it was all about
He had a steady job, he joined the choir
He never did plan to walk the high wire
He never did plan to walk the high wire
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
Copyright © 1984 by Special Rider Music
Link: click here Clean Cut Kid
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
the current elite is simply not fit to rule and that the capitalist system--and in various ways you show how it's ruining peoples lives.
The moral imperative of rebellion and revolution---an interview with Chris Hedges:
click here for the Chris Hedges Interview Concerning Thomas Paine
click here for the Chris Hedges Interview Concerning Thomas Paine
Monday, July 06, 2015
Fracking In Pristine Pennsylvania Forests Above Bellwood Reservoir on State Game Lands #158
Click here for Blogsite Researching Impact of Fracking in PA State Game Lands
These fracking operations are visible via Satellite images (google Maps)---find your location, zoom in and once you are focused as close as possible click back to the 'road view' and you can see a network of roads through the state game lands which lead to cul-de-sacs of either slurry ponds (massive crater sites where the earth has been clear cut and then gouged miles wide). Then click back to the satellite site which marks roadways with a translucent white line and you can see that many dirtroads are similarly outlined with the white translucent highlight, though unnumbered.
These may later be road sites but at the present time reveal a lattice network of mining. clearcutting, fracking platforms and actual fracking sites.
I applaud Chris Grant's research work and I see how prudently he is pursuing his research. However, prudence or intelligent caution seems to have little foothold in the Harrisburg---State Game Lands Authority---Corporate Fracking Axis of wanton environmental destruction on an apocalyptic scale, in the hills and streams of Pennsylvania with a complete disregard for the ecosystem and all forms of life, pursued with obsessive, military style strategy and hidden from the citizens eyes.
If one uses common sense and their eyes, starting with the Google satellite views and then confirm these by hiking or biking into these sites, you will be shocked to such great wastelands that resemble a lunar landscape, these very lands and waters which were once the pride of our commonwealth and still are for me, a lover of these wilds. However, the apathy of the citizens is astounding and in particular those men and women who claim to respect the gamelands, who claim to be authentic gamesmen.
Click here for link to political efforts to violate the sovereign citizen rights to the commonwealth wildlife commons
I wanted to show the actual photos of these ghastly, desolate wastelands hidden in the lush forests beyond the reach of the citizens' eyes where only the dirtroads and footpaths lead, however, as I have discovered these very roads are being locked down and entry to many of these sites is Verboten. Nonetheless I have made some treks inland and been shocked and horrified what I found there. Furthermore, I have also led others there and hence have testimonies which can be corroborated by eyewitnesses.
Since we live in a land where "death don't have no mercy" truth seems to be irrelevant and the commons and wilds are being sold to the highest bidders---Texas rangers, unsavory corporations such as Halliburton, whose corruption is well known in the Iraq war thanks to their lying chiefs and the Cheney Loophole.
Finally, I would like to note that the Bellwood Reservoir is being drained as we speak as reported in the Altoona Mirror on June 22nd Click Here forAltoona Mirror Article
Here I want to identify another "axis": The Altoona Water Authority---The Frackers and The Mirror in another potential collusion. All I can say as a concerned citizen is that their activities are being monitored---and that their unrighteous deeds offend the God, the Creator. How these men and women who are complicit or are profiting in any manner from these exploitative efforts can call themselves christian, or Godfearing or how they can even consider themselves as citizens of this great commonwealth baffles me to no end. You take the thing you love and then you pumped it full of toxic waste---ignorance unchecked since Genghis the Khan, and thugs in the government. How can you say you love God and yet utterly waste His verdant Kingdom?
These fracking operations are visible via Satellite images (google Maps)---find your location, zoom in and once you are focused as close as possible click back to the 'road view' and you can see a network of roads through the state game lands which lead to cul-de-sacs of either slurry ponds (massive crater sites where the earth has been clear cut and then gouged miles wide). Then click back to the satellite site which marks roadways with a translucent white line and you can see that many dirtroads are similarly outlined with the white translucent highlight, though unnumbered.
These may later be road sites but at the present time reveal a lattice network of mining. clearcutting, fracking platforms and actual fracking sites.
I applaud Chris Grant's research work and I see how prudently he is pursuing his research. However, prudence or intelligent caution seems to have little foothold in the Harrisburg---State Game Lands Authority---Corporate Fracking Axis of wanton environmental destruction on an apocalyptic scale, in the hills and streams of Pennsylvania with a complete disregard for the ecosystem and all forms of life, pursued with obsessive, military style strategy and hidden from the citizens eyes.
If one uses common sense and their eyes, starting with the Google satellite views and then confirm these by hiking or biking into these sites, you will be shocked to such great wastelands that resemble a lunar landscape, these very lands and waters which were once the pride of our commonwealth and still are for me, a lover of these wilds. However, the apathy of the citizens is astounding and in particular those men and women who claim to respect the gamelands, who claim to be authentic gamesmen.
Click here for link to political efforts to violate the sovereign citizen rights to the commonwealth wildlife commons
I wanted to show the actual photos of these ghastly, desolate wastelands hidden in the lush forests beyond the reach of the citizens' eyes where only the dirtroads and footpaths lead, however, as I have discovered these very roads are being locked down and entry to many of these sites is Verboten. Nonetheless I have made some treks inland and been shocked and horrified what I found there. Furthermore, I have also led others there and hence have testimonies which can be corroborated by eyewitnesses.
Since we live in a land where "death don't have no mercy" truth seems to be irrelevant and the commons and wilds are being sold to the highest bidders---Texas rangers, unsavory corporations such as Halliburton, whose corruption is well known in the Iraq war thanks to their lying chiefs and the Cheney Loophole.
Finally, I would like to note that the Bellwood Reservoir is being drained as we speak as reported in the Altoona Mirror on June 22nd Click Here forAltoona Mirror Article
Here I want to identify another "axis": The Altoona Water Authority---The Frackers and The Mirror in another potential collusion. All I can say as a concerned citizen is that their activities are being monitored---and that their unrighteous deeds offend the God, the Creator. How these men and women who are complicit or are profiting in any manner from these exploitative efforts can call themselves christian, or Godfearing or how they can even consider themselves as citizens of this great commonwealth baffles me to no end. You take the thing you love and then you pumped it full of toxic waste---ignorance unchecked since Genghis the Khan, and thugs in the government. How can you say you love God and yet utterly waste His verdant Kingdom?
Sunday, July 05, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
To the cadres of political science elite: I Give you a New Tool for Analysis of 21st Century Cultural Life---Perestroika!
Restructuring (Perestroika) of U.S. Government as Consequence of 9/11
Ironic that the US government followed the Soviet lead with governmental perestroika. Gorbachev's initial move was economic, however the first phase of US. post 9/11 perestroika was the blueprint laid out in the Official Report on 9/11 (doubly ironic---their task was to legitimate the claims made about the 9.11 event, instead the bulk of the text is a clearly written blueprint for the restructuring of US military command, executive powers, and realignment of all governmental hierarchies!)
At any rate the initial move of perestroika was in the US government and only in 2007 did the banking gurus "re-structure" the United States economy in correlation with the the massive alignment re-structuring begun before,during and after 9/11.
The additional spheres of re-alignment are being revealed as we speak--Summer 2015. What or who is the author of the protocol to which the apparatchiks march is not clear, yet it IS clear that there are marching orders and a clear direction of leadership, being played out in conjunction with US leaders and global corporate players, etc... Whomever are bonded under the great banner of Babylon worldwide mammon religion---see origin of $---see also the GREAT SEAL, the seal on the back of the dollar bill, look at Google News any day, etc....
Ironic that the US government followed the Soviet lead with governmental perestroika. Gorbachev's initial move was economic, however the first phase of US. post 9/11 perestroika was the blueprint laid out in the Official Report on 9/11 (doubly ironic---their task was to legitimate the claims made about the 9.11 event, instead the bulk of the text is a clearly written blueprint for the restructuring of US military command, executive powers, and realignment of all governmental hierarchies!)
At any rate the initial move of perestroika was in the US government and only in 2007 did the banking gurus "re-structure" the United States economy in correlation with the the massive alignment re-structuring begun before,during and after 9/11.
The additional spheres of re-alignment are being revealed as we speak--Summer 2015. What or who is the author of the protocol to which the apparatchiks march is not clear, yet it IS clear that there are marching orders and a clear direction of leadership, being played out in conjunction with US leaders and global corporate players, etc... Whomever are bonded under the great banner of Babylon worldwide mammon religion---see origin of $---see also the GREAT SEAL, the seal on the back of the dollar bill, look at Google News any day, etc....
Friday, May 29, 2015
Lyrics to Eagles' Last Resort
She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air.
She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee,
Just as her father came across the sea.
She heard about a place people were smilin',
They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land.
And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide.
Down in the crowded bars out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all what it's like up there.
And they called it paradise, I don't know why.
Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high.
Then the chilly winds blew down across the desert,
Through the canyons of the coast to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play hungry for power
To light their neon way and give them things to do.
Some rich man came and raped the land, nobody caught 'em,
Put up a bunch of earthly boxes and Jesus People bought 'em
And they called it paradise, the place to be,
They watched the hazy sun sinking in the sea.
You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina
Just like the missionaries did so many years ago.
They even brought a neon sign 'Jesus is Coming',
Brought the white man's burden down, brought the white man's reign.
Who will provide the grand design, what is yours and what is mine?
Cause there is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here.
We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds
In the name of destiny and in the name of God.
And you can see them there on Sunday morning
Stand up and sing about what it's like up there.
They called it paradise, I don't know why.
You call some place paradise, kissing it goodbye.
Interpretation:
It is an important and elegiac song, being the last song on the album Hotel California and effectively the last statement by the band and reflects on the end of the American dream of the frontier. Critic William Ruhlmann said of it that it "sketches a broad, pessimistic history of America that borders on nihilism."[1] Author James Perone says that it ties "all the previous songs [from Hotel California] together in this final reflection of the dark side of California Life."[2] He notes, for example, how the song lyrics contrast the beauty of the California desert with ugly suburban houses and ultimately progresses to criticize the concept of manifest destiny, on which American expansion to California was partially based.[2] He regards the key lyric to be the line "They call it paradise; I don't know why," noting the emphasis given to it by the resignation of Henley's voice and by the falling melody.[2] Perone does criticize the use of synthesizer on the song instead of actual string instruments, which he feels sounds artificial.[2] To Eagles' biographer Marc Eliot, "The Last Resort" tells "the story of a nation's self-destruction and physical decay told as metaphor for personal creative burnout."[3]
(source: Wikipedia)
Where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air.
She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee,
Just as her father came across the sea.
She heard about a place people were smilin',
They spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land.
And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand or a place to hide.
Down in the crowded bars out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all what it's like up there.
And they called it paradise, I don't know why.
Somebody laid the mountains low while the town got high.
Then the chilly winds blew down across the desert,
Through the canyons of the coast to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play hungry for power
To light their neon way and give them things to do.
Some rich man came and raped the land, nobody caught 'em,
Put up a bunch of earthly boxes and Jesus People bought 'em
And they called it paradise, the place to be,
They watched the hazy sun sinking in the sea.
You can leave it all behind and sail to Lahaina
Just like the missionaries did so many years ago.
They even brought a neon sign 'Jesus is Coming',
Brought the white man's burden down, brought the white man's reign.
Who will provide the grand design, what is yours and what is mine?
Cause there is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here.
We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds
In the name of destiny and in the name of God.
And you can see them there on Sunday morning
Stand up and sing about what it's like up there.
They called it paradise, I don't know why.
You call some place paradise, kissing it goodbye.
Interpretation:
It is an important and elegiac song, being the last song on the album Hotel California and effectively the last statement by the band and reflects on the end of the American dream of the frontier. Critic William Ruhlmann said of it that it "sketches a broad, pessimistic history of America that borders on nihilism."[1] Author James Perone says that it ties "all the previous songs [from Hotel California] together in this final reflection of the dark side of California Life."[2] He notes, for example, how the song lyrics contrast the beauty of the California desert with ugly suburban houses and ultimately progresses to criticize the concept of manifest destiny, on which American expansion to California was partially based.[2] He regards the key lyric to be the line "They call it paradise; I don't know why," noting the emphasis given to it by the resignation of Henley's voice and by the falling melody.[2] Perone does criticize the use of synthesizer on the song instead of actual string instruments, which he feels sounds artificial.[2] To Eagles' biographer Marc Eliot, "The Last Resort" tells "the story of a nation's self-destruction and physical decay told as metaphor for personal creative burnout."[3]
(source: Wikipedia)
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Spriritual Retreats at St. Vincent's Archabbey
Yesterday I returned from my self-guided silent retreat at ST. Vincent's---what a rich experience I had! The retreat was 'silent' but I must admit I did not do well with silence---and was talking up a storm. I am reflecting upon this wondrous mystical experience and the profundity of the Benedictine community, their intensity and earnestness in seeking God, and the excellent direction I received. Thanks to Brother Hugh Lester, retreatmaster, Fr. Robert, spiritual director and all of the fellow retreatants who contributed to this much needed time to get away from the day to day workings of the world and to chant with the monks and enter into the mystical, sacramental life of the church! Thanks be to God!
Summer Retreats at St. Vincent's
Summer Retreats at St. Vincent's
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
"Damn it Pete, Your God is too SMALL" (Dennis Blalock, April 2004)
The Dimensionless Challenge!
How big is Your God---so big that the bigness empties into tinyness? I say, it's not big enough. How about tinier than peering into a Higgs-Boson field and seeing the dimmest visible flickering of energy or light? My friend, I say, that is not small enough!
Bob (Robert Archer Smith) solves this challenge with a wave of the hand: "The universe is dimensionless."
"Dimensionless?" I ask.
"Yes, as the apostle Paul tells us:
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. St. Paul to Romans 8:36-37
"He's so far out the only way out is in..." (Paul McCartney, "The Man on the Flaming Pie")
How big is Your God---so big that the bigness empties into tinyness? I say, it's not big enough. How about tinier than peering into a Higgs-Boson field and seeing the dimmest visible flickering of energy or light? My friend, I say, that is not small enough!
Bob (Robert Archer Smith) solves this challenge with a wave of the hand: "The universe is dimensionless."
"Dimensionless?" I ask.
"Yes, as the apostle Paul tells us:
"He's so far out the only way out is in..." (Paul McCartney, "The Man on the Flaming Pie")
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
In my mind, one of the best!
Lido Shuffle 1977
"you gotta have a jones for this, a jones for that...
runnin' with the joneses just ain't where it's at."
Boz Scaggs live 2004
"you gotta have a jones for this, a jones for that...
runnin' with the joneses just ain't where it's at."
Boz Scaggs live 2004
Monday, April 06, 2015
Thursday, April 02, 2015
CIA Apparatchik Discredits a Founding Father
CIA Disclosure concerning Ben Franklin is a Good Example of Orwellian Purging of History
Nice job GUYS of throwing revisionary spin on a previously published scenario ! An "undisclosed" CIA insider analyst (unnamed) reveals a so-called document with no publication date and an "unrevealed author" which vilifies the Founding Father. Was this article perhaps cobbled together by a comittee, or anonymous scriptor or is it a contemporary fabrication? All that is clear is that the so-called history is disclosed from a "black box" which ensures that it cannot be scrutinized by peer review.
Directorate of Operations Doc. (b)3(c)
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/DOC_0000872649.pdf
This communique coming from the agency whose modus operandi is to sacrifice liberty for security 24/7---has never grasped Franklin's famous adage: "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security will have neither."
I would keep my bets on the man of integrity rather than the anonymous disclosure of this soviet-style directorate communique.
Franklin himself was aware of Izard and Lee's accusations and in regard to such dirt slinging calmly remarked: "...[S]pots of dirt thrown upon my character I suffered while fresh to remain; I did not choose to spread by endeavoring to remove them, but relied on the vulgar adage that they would all rub off when they were dry (Fisher 1898, p.298)."
It is not difficult to conclude that the direction of the spin reveals two tendencies: a)a tendency to discredit Franklin and b)a tendency to project a contemporary connotation of 'security' in a historical sense. The framing that this document reveals suggests the date of the document and the clue or give-away is the hyper-emphasis on projecting so-called "sloppy security epithet" upon Franklin which indirectly legitimates the actual modus operandi of this so-called intelligence agency disclosure.
Nice job GUYS of throwing revisionary spin on a previously published scenario ! An "undisclosed" CIA insider analyst (unnamed) reveals a so-called document with no publication date and an "unrevealed author" which vilifies the Founding Father. Was this article perhaps cobbled together by a comittee, or anonymous scriptor or is it a contemporary fabrication? All that is clear is that the so-called history is disclosed from a "black box" which ensures that it cannot be scrutinized by peer review.
Directorate of Operations Doc. (b)3(c)
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/DOC_0000872649.pdf
This communique coming from the agency whose modus operandi is to sacrifice liberty for security 24/7---has never grasped Franklin's famous adage: "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security will have neither."
Franklin himself was aware of Izard and Lee's accusations and in regard to such dirt slinging calmly remarked: "...[S]pots of dirt thrown upon my character I suffered while fresh to remain; I did not choose to spread by endeavoring to remove them, but relied on the vulgar adage that they would all rub off when they were dry (Fisher 1898, p.298)."
It is not difficult to conclude that the direction of the spin reveals two tendencies: a)a tendency to discredit Franklin and b)a tendency to project a contemporary connotation of 'security' in a historical sense. The framing that this document reveals suggests the date of the document and the clue or give-away is the hyper-emphasis on projecting so-called "sloppy security epithet" upon Franklin which indirectly legitimates the actual modus operandi of this so-called intelligence agency disclosure.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Listening To Steely Dan's AJA LP Day Two
More adventures in memory:
"I got the News"---what a wild beat---every bit of it is shimmering perfection! How little of this could be grasped to my worried teen mind in 1977, yet I heard it all. My memory tells me so even as I hear it now. Where have all of these years flown? The late Soviet days, the 21st century grid being seeded in Washington, the super-city infancy, along route 70 to Dulles. Or Howard Johnson's fried clam dinners along the turnpike to the Schuylkill expressway and over the Walt Whitman bridge into Jersey. The 88 Olds' complimentary 8 track tape with "Ruby (don't take your love to town)" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson".
"I got the News"---what a wild beat---every bit of it is shimmering perfection! How little of this could be grasped to my worried teen mind in 1977, yet I heard it all. My memory tells me so even as I hear it now. Where have all of these years flown? The late Soviet days, the 21st century grid being seeded in Washington, the super-city infancy, along route 70 to Dulles. Or Howard Johnson's fried clam dinners along the turnpike to the Schuylkill expressway and over the Walt Whitman bridge into Jersey. The 88 Olds' complimentary 8 track tape with "Ruby (don't take your love to town)" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson".
Friday, March 20, 2015
Home At Last (Steely Dan, 1977)
Listening to AJA on vinyl --- 1977: the vibe was good, the feeling of being alive at the time. Listening to ‘Home at Last’ or any of the songs awakens my memory to that time and all that has since passed---what an amazingly rich thing it is! As though peering down a well lit corridor, unthinkably large and deep---my view of this phenomenon---what an amazing thing the warehouses of memory. I see it all not at once but each thing in its duly carved richness. Of course it is the music that ‘takes the memory sailing’ ---it connects all of this analogically! Yes I do recall this Eric Gale guitar line, even before I knew what guitar was, I knew this guitar line on Josie. It could be Becker, I don’t know [Larry Carlton, ed.].
Cast my memory back there, yes, what a rich and sumptuous feast. To be honest I was not a big fan of AJA at the time, my musical loves laid elsewhere, most likely Jethro Tull.
Somehow this album marked it all for me, set a boundary. I can see past it to my boyhood (I turned 14 in march of ’77)---to a murky brew of adolescent self-awakening. The actual sense being that my memory of this sophisticated music reinforces the idea that I did not understand the music, nor indeed the world in which this music inhabited---the cultural world lives through my memory. in 1977 I did not understand my being-in-the-world but I was alive! Though seething in adolescent sneering and yearnings as large as Alaska, an indomitable thirst, a hunger for experience. Sumptuous, luxuriant desire. Desire after desire and above and below and behind desire, as I plotted my next raid upon flowering sense. And I can see and hear all of this in AJA!
How or why? I cannot say: American-ness the quiddity. Apperceived “thematically”! In particular “home at last” (see link below)
I could express this in terms of philosophy but I will avoid the temptation. Seventy-sevenness, Hollidaysburg, PA. Corney’s the Y, Pete the Greek, Blinky, Uncle Dunkle, Rack and Snack, Sugar Bear, The Jolly Green Giant, or more broadly---the Big Apple “...chinese music always sets me free and the banjo sounds good to me. Aja, when all of my dime dancing is through, I come to you (Becker/Fagen 1977).” WFBG big John Riley, garibaldi, Donald Fagen singing, “...they call Alabama the Crimson Tide ... they call me Deacon Blues.” It broadcast a mercurial magic on the airwaves, 6th avenue BG in Altoona, Scott, pat and Kevin...Runes...Father O’Friel and scoops.
Elvis bites it on August 16th, my first trip to Manhattan--- staying at the Pierre hotel I can still recall the canary yellow perfumed french soap. Dad driving the blue Olds ’98 through the hot august avenues getting lost driving up into Harlem! :) Buddy I was there up above 120th street, pretty scary. This gnarly street dude slams his fists onto the Olds' hood cover. Whoomphh. Mom was like: “Herb, we need to get back to the hotel!” And later at the Madison Square Garden dad tips this this older guy with a dime, and he says “shit, man, a dime?” and tosses it to the ground.
+
Friday, March 13, 2015
Monday, March 02, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
Corporate Citizenship: Forbes Top 100
Ironically, the expression 'corporate citizen' is one of the most perfect examples of Orwellian newspeak currently being bandied about amongst so-called ethics intelligentsia. It ranks with Peacekeeper (i.e. soldier), virtual reality (which brazenly asserts that reality can, indeed, be virtual---yet, this is a clear contradictio in terminis as virtual means "what appears to be but is not in essence..." or what is "...almost so." Whereas, of course, 'reality (realitas) is the crucial term synonymous with truth, actuality, being and even God!
Do I have to explain that such wreckless misuse of language breeds bad morals? That while confusing the matter as in 'corporate personhood' effectively grants all of the rights and privileges of a person to a soulless corporate entity---this linguistic use, moreover, legitimates the corporation's ability to masquerade as an individual, living human soul. And in the case of 'corporate citizens', it legislates to corporations the very rights and privileges which are only afforded to flesh and blood individuals, that is the american citizen?
Courageous individual citizens fought and died for the ideals of democracy which are imbedded in individual citizenry---may I ask how the corporate players intend to repay their civic inclusion and privilege? Will any of these spill their blood in order to protect the individual flesh and blood John Q. Public? The inaccurate usage of language reflects Orwell's prophetic 'newspeak'. Use an expression like 'corporate citizen' long enough and it eventually gains legitimacy, and even a legislative power which has no basis in constitutional authority or in the fundamental essential truth of democracy which resides only in en-souled, individually autonomous citizens such as you or me.
Click here for Forbes Top 100
Do I have to explain that such wreckless misuse of language breeds bad morals? That while confusing the matter as in 'corporate personhood' effectively grants all of the rights and privileges of a person to a soulless corporate entity---this linguistic use, moreover, legitimates the corporation's ability to masquerade as an individual, living human soul. And in the case of 'corporate citizens', it legislates to corporations the very rights and privileges which are only afforded to flesh and blood individuals, that is the american citizen?
Courageous individual citizens fought and died for the ideals of democracy which are imbedded in individual citizenry---may I ask how the corporate players intend to repay their civic inclusion and privilege? Will any of these spill their blood in order to protect the individual flesh and blood John Q. Public? The inaccurate usage of language reflects Orwell's prophetic 'newspeak'. Use an expression like 'corporate citizen' long enough and it eventually gains legitimacy, and even a legislative power which has no basis in constitutional authority or in the fundamental essential truth of democracy which resides only in en-souled, individually autonomous citizens such as you or me.
Click here for Forbes Top 100
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
Revisiting 9/11: When the Walls were Down
NORAD Response on 9/11
Considering the events leading up to 9/11, the role of the US military defense and the events following this catastrophic failure there are many lessons to be learned. Ironically, the most salient factor of 9/11---in other words the ingredient of all ingredients that most of all contributed to the catastrophe---was lack of defense---yet this is rarely discussed.
US military might (at least in terms of defense) had been considered somewhat invincible prior to 9/11. Using a football analogy, no team had ever penetrated the end zone and scored a touchdown at a home game! Militarily, no enemy had ever scored a strike against the homeland---and one of the chief reasons for this invincibility was the trillion dollar budget military defense.
In terms of attacks from land, air or sea---it is the stated goal and mission of NORAD to defend US soil from attack. Here is the link:
NORAD link
The most relevant question on 9/11 and immediately following---whether you buy the official report or find more truth in a conspiratorial scenario---that is, in either case--the one crucial ingredient which of all others led to the success of this attack---was the failure in US military defense of 9/11. It alone can be said to be the chief cause of the catastrophic events of this "day of infamy". It is not as if there had not been previous attempts---yet these were unsuccessful thanks to military defense.
It becomes clearer looking back after the dust has cleared that on September 11, 2001 the US possessed no means of defending the homeland against an enemy attack (either from internal or external enemies)---there was no response from NORAD. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's book The Nine Harbingers brought this clearly to my attention.
The key point is that no matter how nefarious the terrorist plot may have been---this attack could never have succeeded if the basic protocols of military defense had been followed on 9/11. In other words if NORAD had done the job which it and it alone was qualified to perform. Considered from an organizational point of view one must conclude that this should count as one of the greatest organizational and military failures in human history. By definition! It is comparable to playing a very important football game, and just as the opposing quarterback snaps--the entire United States defense flees the field and the other team runs the entire length of the field unchecked by any defensive measure to an easily scored touchdown.
The example of Troy and the Trojan Horse is very apt. As mentioned above the final precipitating cause---the cause which alone could have prevented the action of that day---was the failure of the US military to respond defensively to protect the homeland. The historical record clearly shows that there was NO defense, hence the success of the strike (and this the case whether you take the official report which many engineers, architects and physicists have very seriously questioned its integrity----or you take a conspiratorial view).
Ironic that the single precipitating cause of 9/11---and the greatest military failure since Egypt failed to defend itself from the Israeli airstrike in 1968 in the so-called seven day war (one of the most successful offensive attacks in military history). 9/11 would have been a non-event if NORAD had even adequately responded to offensive strike of 9/11. Not only was there no adequate response, there was NO response. A complete failure---let me put it this way: In order to grasp the magnitude of this failure let's draw some analogies and parallels:
*The failure of NORAD to do its basic job on 9/11 is like---
a football game where just as the play commences the home team runs off of the field allowing the opposing team to score effortlessly.
*It is also like a police officer selling crack to teens in a city park.
*It is like purchasing real estate in a swamp of quicksand.
It is, in short, a failure of the greatest magnitude. Not a simple failure but a failure so great that great effort seems to have been required to bring about the complete lack of adequate defensive response. This is a very provocative consideration! And yet, consult your own memory---there was no mention of the systematic US military failure to defend the homeland on 9/11---an undisputable fact! To think that millions of hours of effort to defend should lead to a complete zero performance of 9/11.
In corporate terms, if ever an individual or organization had so completely failed in its one basic job---that individual or organization would be fired----Yet there was not even a censure! Not a mention of apology---an admission of failure. Pondering this even further one wonders if the leaders of NORAD were promoted or praised after their greatest failure. One wonders whether or not certain things are built to fail. It may sound cynical, however, it is compelling. Perhaps the entire event of that catastrophic day can be better understood by grasping this thread alone and unravelling it to the very source and to find that the greatest key to understanding 9/11 is to focus on NORAD's absence on that fateful day!
Considering the events leading up to 9/11, the role of the US military defense and the events following this catastrophic failure there are many lessons to be learned. Ironically, the most salient factor of 9/11---in other words the ingredient of all ingredients that most of all contributed to the catastrophe---was lack of defense---yet this is rarely discussed.
US military might (at least in terms of defense) had been considered somewhat invincible prior to 9/11. Using a football analogy, no team had ever penetrated the end zone and scored a touchdown at a home game! Militarily, no enemy had ever scored a strike against the homeland---and one of the chief reasons for this invincibility was the trillion dollar budget military defense.
In terms of attacks from land, air or sea---it is the stated goal and mission of NORAD to defend US soil from attack. Here is the link:
NORAD link
The most relevant question on 9/11 and immediately following---whether you buy the official report or find more truth in a conspiratorial scenario---that is, in either case--the one crucial ingredient which of all others led to the success of this attack---was the failure in US military defense of 9/11. It alone can be said to be the chief cause of the catastrophic events of this "day of infamy". It is not as if there had not been previous attempts---yet these were unsuccessful thanks to military defense.
It becomes clearer looking back after the dust has cleared that on September 11, 2001 the US possessed no means of defending the homeland against an enemy attack (either from internal or external enemies)---there was no response from NORAD. Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's book The Nine Harbingers brought this clearly to my attention.
The key point is that no matter how nefarious the terrorist plot may have been---this attack could never have succeeded if the basic protocols of military defense had been followed on 9/11. In other words if NORAD had done the job which it and it alone was qualified to perform. Considered from an organizational point of view one must conclude that this should count as one of the greatest organizational and military failures in human history. By definition! It is comparable to playing a very important football game, and just as the opposing quarterback snaps--the entire United States defense flees the field and the other team runs the entire length of the field unchecked by any defensive measure to an easily scored touchdown.
The example of Troy and the Trojan Horse is very apt. As mentioned above the final precipitating cause---the cause which alone could have prevented the action of that day---was the failure of the US military to respond defensively to protect the homeland. The historical record clearly shows that there was NO defense, hence the success of the strike (and this the case whether you take the official report which many engineers, architects and physicists have very seriously questioned its integrity----or you take a conspiratorial view).
Ironic that the single precipitating cause of 9/11---and the greatest military failure since Egypt failed to defend itself from the Israeli airstrike in 1968 in the so-called seven day war (one of the most successful offensive attacks in military history). 9/11 would have been a non-event if NORAD had even adequately responded to offensive strike of 9/11. Not only was there no adequate response, there was NO response. A complete failure---let me put it this way: In order to grasp the magnitude of this failure let's draw some analogies and parallels:
*The failure of NORAD to do its basic job on 9/11 is like---
a football game where just as the play commences the home team runs off of the field allowing the opposing team to score effortlessly.
*It is also like a police officer selling crack to teens in a city park.
*It is like purchasing real estate in a swamp of quicksand.
It is, in short, a failure of the greatest magnitude. Not a simple failure but a failure so great that great effort seems to have been required to bring about the complete lack of adequate defensive response. This is a very provocative consideration! And yet, consult your own memory---there was no mention of the systematic US military failure to defend the homeland on 9/11---an undisputable fact! To think that millions of hours of effort to defend should lead to a complete zero performance of 9/11.
In corporate terms, if ever an individual or organization had so completely failed in its one basic job---that individual or organization would be fired----Yet there was not even a censure! Not a mention of apology---an admission of failure. Pondering this even further one wonders if the leaders of NORAD were promoted or praised after their greatest failure. One wonders whether or not certain things are built to fail. It may sound cynical, however, it is compelling. Perhaps the entire event of that catastrophic day can be better understood by grasping this thread alone and unravelling it to the very source and to find that the greatest key to understanding 9/11 is to focus on NORAD's absence on that fateful day!
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Shelter from the Storm: Bob Dylan Live
Bob Dylan Live: Shelter From the Storm
A unique performance, what a band and it is interesting to see Bob Dylan play slide guitar on that amazing techno-guitar!
Bill Murray sings along w/Shelter from the Storm
A unique performance, what a band and it is interesting to see Bob Dylan play slide guitar on that amazing techno-guitar!
Bill Murray sings along w/Shelter from the Storm
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Happy New Year 2015!
It is a new year---this means nothing to rabbits or any other natural beings---it is another arbitrary human artifact, void on of any truth save the functional and cultural use!
Frosty survived long enough to raise her three kits (Daisy, Jack Frost and Sherpa). She did not live long enough to see this New Year and she is terribly missed.
At the time of this writing all is well in the rabbitry---all of the rabbits are healthy---Thank God!
I moved a young buck named Rocky Joe to the cellar as he seemed to have been quite weak with a loss of equilibrium---I feared the dreaded Head Tilt---fortunately the cause of the loss of balance seems to have its source elsewhere and in all other ways Rock Joe is thriving and growing daily.
ONE MORE NOTE:I moved another bunny kit into the cellar with Sherpa and Rocky Joe---this is Wilbury (Winterberry)---I will post a photo when I get the chance--this little guy is quite unique. First of all the coat appears to that of a wild rabbit (is it possible that one of the does who roamed free last Summer, became impregnated by a wild buck?) The other strange fact is that Wilbury does not seem to grow---looking for all practical reasons to be a wild dwarf!
Frosty survived long enough to raise her three kits (Daisy, Jack Frost and Sherpa). She did not live long enough to see this New Year and she is terribly missed.
At the time of this writing all is well in the rabbitry---all of the rabbits are healthy---Thank God!
I moved a young buck named Rocky Joe to the cellar as he seemed to have been quite weak with a loss of equilibrium---I feared the dreaded Head Tilt---fortunately the cause of the loss of balance seems to have its source elsewhere and in all other ways Rock Joe is thriving and growing daily.
ONE MORE NOTE:I moved another bunny kit into the cellar with Sherpa and Rocky Joe---this is Wilbury (Winterberry)---I will post a photo when I get the chance--this little guy is quite unique. First of all the coat appears to that of a wild rabbit (is it possible that one of the does who roamed free last Summer, became impregnated by a wild buck?) The other strange fact is that Wilbury does not seem to grow---looking for all practical reasons to be a wild dwarf!
Monday, January 05, 2015
The Soul: To Begin the Quest
We begin today's essay where we always begin...the question of how is that this day is before me--taken in the most basic and simple sense of 'being there'. Yes, the desk is before me. Yes, I am typing on a Microsoft keyboard. No, I don't like it, I much prefer writing with a pencil. Have you ever noticed how cheaply made pencils are today? No one uses them any way.
Back to the meditation of this day: before me as desk is before me and I type---see how the desk is not simply 'before' me or 'in front of me'' or even 'outside of me'. No. The reason is that the desk is also 'inside of me'! I know what you are thinking---what kind of crack is this guy on?---But I can assure you that this is a reasonable claim. And if you the reader were to begin considering these matters and keep at it in serious philosophical meditation, in a matter of time, you too will come to see the nature of this paradox: inside-outside.
If meditated upon consistently for many days and years the nature of this paradox will become clearer. This is the path to "open up" the inquiry of the soul. Prior to the out being outside and in being inside---I have analyzed this in another blog---Scriptorjesus, Realistpsychology, or some other blog in the Scriptor domain. At any rate I will rehearse again it here: there is my cup---it is whitespeckel'd dull blue campfire gear---it contains my morning tea---honey sweeten'd hazelnut strongbrew. The cup contains my morning tea (or what's left of it).
The cup contains my tea....'contains'? Pardon but what do you mean by 'to contain'? Oh, for something to be in inside of something else. And what do you mean by 'inside'? Oh, that one spatial reference contains another. And is the container contained by something else? Yes. and no!
Think harder. Well, yes the cup is on the desk and the desk is in the room. And isn't the room in the house? Well yes now that you say so, I can see this. So if one thing is on another and inside another and another---how far do you think this pattern goes on?
Can all be contained in one container--or can all be held in no container?
This is the basis for the question concerning the nature of the universe, is the universe inside of something or outside of something? What outside might there be? What if there were no outside? Either way it is paradoxical---the asymptotes and excesses of the debate concerning the meaning of 'inside' or 'outside' collapse at the extremes of the dialectic. Thought then to the very end, the inside-outside dichotomy collapses.
Now, believe it or not, we are on the trail of our inquiry---yes, to investigate the presence of this day, and give thanks accordingly for the gift, but also to realize that the ultimate telos of our inquiry into the being there of the teacupteamug also entails implicately the being there (in terms of inside-outside dichotomy) of all that is. It's not as if there is just the cup without its surrounding environing world, and this environing world does not hang suspended in the void either!
Best understood as womblike, the nascence of being, of my being present to the presence of this new day! Present to the presence as in the investigation of the blue teamug.
a)Yes, it is on the desk.
b)Yes I see it and that which I see is within my mind.
Both a) and b) propositions dissolve at the extreme of the dichotomy if extrapolated to the sense of 'all there is' or the 'universe'. That leaves us with the following question: How is this state of affairs to be considered?
In the investigation of the teamug, or anything else that is present before or around me, the harmony of the soul is already presupposed.
How so?
Because I began this day with a cup of tea. The idea of writing an essay came up, I came to my office to type this essay which is ostensibly about the mug (a)---but also requires my perceptual and hermeneutic appropriation of the mug (b). Yet, if I am honest, I will say there is no separation of these worlds---my investigation began with the true and complete synthesis of my life already given and from this plenitude I snatched the cup out of the room interrogatively. Even before I typed one word I was already HERE. Even before I typed one word, the desk is HERE. This pre-given harmony and truth is the life of my soul.
"God made the universe for us as if there were only one of us," I think St. Augustine said that.
"You can be in my world if I can be in yours," I said that.
"I'll let you be in my dream if you let me be in yours," Bob Dylan said that.
Back to the meditation of this day: before me as desk is before me and I type---see how the desk is not simply 'before' me or 'in front of me'' or even 'outside of me'. No. The reason is that the desk is also 'inside of me'! I know what you are thinking---what kind of crack is this guy on?---But I can assure you that this is a reasonable claim. And if you the reader were to begin considering these matters and keep at it in serious philosophical meditation, in a matter of time, you too will come to see the nature of this paradox: inside-outside.
If meditated upon consistently for many days and years the nature of this paradox will become clearer. This is the path to "open up" the inquiry of the soul. Prior to the out being outside and in being inside---I have analyzed this in another blog---Scriptorjesus, Realistpsychology, or some other blog in the Scriptor domain. At any rate I will rehearse again it here: there is my cup---it is whitespeckel'd dull blue campfire gear---it contains my morning tea---honey sweeten'd hazelnut strongbrew. The cup contains my morning tea (or what's left of it).
The cup contains my tea....'contains'? Pardon but what do you mean by 'to contain'? Oh, for something to be in inside of something else. And what do you mean by 'inside'? Oh, that one spatial reference contains another. And is the container contained by something else? Yes. and no!
Think harder. Well, yes the cup is on the desk and the desk is in the room. And isn't the room in the house? Well yes now that you say so, I can see this. So if one thing is on another and inside another and another---how far do you think this pattern goes on?
Can all be contained in one container--or can all be held in no container?
This is the basis for the question concerning the nature of the universe, is the universe inside of something or outside of something? What outside might there be? What if there were no outside? Either way it is paradoxical---the asymptotes and excesses of the debate concerning the meaning of 'inside' or 'outside' collapse at the extremes of the dialectic. Thought then to the very end, the inside-outside dichotomy collapses.
Now, believe it or not, we are on the trail of our inquiry---yes, to investigate the presence of this day, and give thanks accordingly for the gift, but also to realize that the ultimate telos of our inquiry into the being there of the teacupteamug also entails implicately the being there (in terms of inside-outside dichotomy) of all that is. It's not as if there is just the cup without its surrounding environing world, and this environing world does not hang suspended in the void either!
Best understood as womblike, the nascence of being, of my being present to the presence of this new day! Present to the presence as in the investigation of the blue teamug.
a)Yes, it is on the desk.
b)Yes I see it and that which I see is within my mind.
Both a) and b) propositions dissolve at the extreme of the dichotomy if extrapolated to the sense of 'all there is' or the 'universe'. That leaves us with the following question: How is this state of affairs to be considered?
In the investigation of the teamug, or anything else that is present before or around me, the harmony of the soul is already presupposed.
How so?
Because I began this day with a cup of tea. The idea of writing an essay came up, I came to my office to type this essay which is ostensibly about the mug (a)---but also requires my perceptual and hermeneutic appropriation of the mug (b). Yet, if I am honest, I will say there is no separation of these worlds---my investigation began with the true and complete synthesis of my life already given and from this plenitude I snatched the cup out of the room interrogatively. Even before I typed one word I was already HERE. Even before I typed one word, the desk is HERE. This pre-given harmony and truth is the life of my soul.
"God made the universe for us as if there were only one of us," I think St. Augustine said that.
"You can be in my world if I can be in yours," I said that.
"I'll let you be in my dream if you let me be in yours," Bob Dylan said that.
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