If I’d lived my life by what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died
I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity
Someone had to reach for the risin’ star, I guess it was up to me
"Up to Me" by Bob Dylan)
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Law: What is It?
Law---I am looking for its root and essence so that I might better understand the truth of this phenomenon.
The problem of evil turns out to be the critical problem in the realm of philosophy but this does not emerge until human culture and civilization achieves a certain "maturity" ---- a fulness of time in which the era is fulfilled, revealed. Then evil is "scoped". Decadence reveals the root of the problem of evil. To see the phenomenon of law is to see the root of evil, and vice-versa, God has no need of law. Knowledge of evil is an impregnable fortress which Adam must squirrel away east of the gates of eden. Adam does not take a much with him on the flight from the misty beauty of Eden but he has been tinged and plagued with this horrible "knowledge".
Perhaps the horror of the knowledge of this age with its brave new world and systematic medical atrocities, chemtrails, Round-Up landscaping, corporate impersonal "best practices", virtual reality, false prophets such as Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, IBM's Gini Rometty, all wizards of Oz. The horror of the knowledge to have to wake up and see a world so gone stray. This is it---the precise root of the knowledge of good and evil---the fruit and proof of Adam's fall and the evidence that the commander of the air, the prince of Tyre, is having a field day seeing as these so-called gurus of our time are so easily snared in the wiles of satan---the restrainer has fallen and the mad dog is off his leash, rambling about in the open seeking whom he may devour. Cursing and hissing at man, so full of jealousy and condescension. Sniffing out all innocence like a bloodhound bent on murder and deception, so proud of her high IQ, and his self-made lifestyle. Now except for the double agents and mercenaries of the Lord, all churches are caught in the net, all education, all power of every sort. It is not hard to see why the masses are madly wallowing in distraction 24/7---computing in general---and pretending that this digital world is actually work, is actually education, is actually government, is actually friendship (like Facebook). 'Virtual' is the antithesis of actuality and truth, its synonym is 'fake', 'false' or 'illusory'. Hence the picture that the computer gives is better termed: 'false reality' which is of course a contradiction---hence the expression 'virtual reality' is a lie or a deception pure and simple.
The whole world is a lie, save the knowledge of Jesus Christ---all is so clearly and evident folly.
Let me tell you---this was not the case in the 1970s---it is a like a kindergarten criminal in the year 1970----his education, his seven year old worldview (BTW that kid is me). The apocalypse, the fall of babylon is a mere 'possibility'---superviruses and 9/11 are as yet unthinkable, the covert government spraying aerosol chemtrails does not start in earnest until 1995 after the scientists win their Nobel prize for the albedo effect in 1994. You know, you invent a brilliant instrument of death--the drone, Monsanto's seed modification, universal compliance to ethics codes mandatorily enforced by all powers that be so that you "learn how to smile as you kill." This enforced ignorance is mandated through online training. Now into my 54th year it is all unfolding like clockwork---as if it were "written in my soul." Rip van Winkle am I except I have slept twice as long! I wake up in the year 2017---young people do not play outside anymore, their eyes are locked onto handheld cancer causing microwave device. The neighbor pours yet more toxic herbicide on their lawn. And other drone strike takes out collateral damage, once more not a single bit of evil is touched, more innocent lives are spilled and the military deems the maneuver a success. No one disagrees. For they are blinded to the evil in their own heart which they perpetuate which is curable by only one remedy, the salve of true salvation---Jesus Christ. Oh yeah and this Good News, this Gospel of one's salvation is forbidden from the public sphere and in schools. One can join in a protest where pink ribbons and talk about "making a difference"---until you have ferreted out the root of evil all of the do-gooders have no way of knowing of their best practices are not leading to the destruction of all that is sacred personally to them and their families. Folks get nervous when I talk about satan, the devil but it is OK to spend millions of dollars to create entertainment of murder, rape and betrayal in Hollywood and to blaspheme and use the Lord God's name in vain and to sear this into the eyes of your own relatives and children through HDTV. They will say that satan is "symbolic", a narrative, or myth but not a true actuality---then the grim reaper draws ever closer to their own precious loved ones and they still can't see and if they see cannot name and call out evil as a straightforward factual force that drives every aspect of their own lives, save for some narrow haven that they still possess. Satan indeed is actual, not symbolic, but he deals in symbols and imagery. Why this fetish concerning 'is it live or is it memorex'---so-called "live"TV, "live news", replays and then back to live---who's kidding who?
The gift of Satan is the knowledge of good and evil--thanks to the serpentine lie---what was corrupted in Adam becomes the stock of the world, its "progress" and it grows into this beastly world system we see today. It is not pretty---the humanitarians still want to attribute 'goodness' to human beings while all around them all human progress and technology, medicine, education and government is hung about their necks like a noose as the son of perdition is unrestrained having the time of his life because there are not many hours before the dawn and at the dawn of the global messiah pantocrator it is game over for the devil and his legions and his minions. In that dawn no one will stand all will be on their knees before the returning Lord---even those who pierced him! Game over to the 'digital nervous system' game over for AI, corporations, economic systems, all wealth and luxury. There is absolutely no other obligation for mankind save to surrender and worship the true messiah. No other prayers or gods are required. truth will out in the end. Rebellious mankind has created their own hellish destruction, fulfilling the prophecies. Thanks to technology, science, healthcare, the roll-out of the apocalypse is right on schedule and according to the ethics and best practices which ensure its universal hellishness.
Thank God for the masterful plan to save all mankind from this diabolic panzi scheme which begins with a covenant with Abraham. All through Moses and Isaiah, up until the birth of the messiah 2010 years or so ago.
God chooses to open up the doorway of communication with Abraham, and lo and behold, promises that his offspring will prosper immensely. Through this bloodline the Messiah will be born, the one to redeem and save Israel. Abraham answers the call. God once more walks with a son of adam. It is not the same sort of union with God that Adam and eve enjoyed but it's a start! From thence forward God will work this covenant for the redemption of all mankind and the universe. The Law that God gives to Moses is, dare I say, a corrective and punitive crutch for an out of control people who keep trying to get themselves back under the plow of Egypt. Seeing that human nature seems to crave slavery, they get right back to worshipping the golden calf. There is only one way that this can be pulled off, hit them with the Law! Enter Moses.
Law is a pretty good thing for invoking a leveller and religion is good at eking out obedience, enough schooling in the laws gets God's people at least acting civil and pointing in the right direction.
You can dress 'em up but you can't take them out.
Nowadays knowledge is seen as a pretty cool thing---so the question arises: how is it that knowledge becomes horrible? The sidewinder's slippery lie embroils the progenitor of our race in a problematic whose consequences must be lived through until the last man. If Jesus Christ, the last man, dies on the cross and is resurrected somewhere near Jerusalem 2000 years ago, then what kind of 'provisional man' populates this age of the Gentiles.? Who are you? Who am I? Thanks be to God that he extended the salvation worked out within the covenant with Israel to include the Gentiles. The messiah it turns out is global and not one people's private treasure. When you are waiting for a political messiah, you are looking for a cross between Caesar, Hitler, The Beatles, or Barack Obama, even Donald Trump. Who has the courage or humility to see that the emperor wears no clothes---it is better to stay true to your own unique individuality even if it costs your earthly life---than to join the 'greater good' or church or team or party or whatever association purports to speak on behalf of the salvation that is uniquely tailored for only one person---namely you! Ironically the only way to one's true individual essence is to surrender to the son of man. To embrace one's own core which indeed 'seems' puny. One's own nature seems broken---it is fragile, fragmented, emotionally needy, etc. Only love can pierce through one's rightful self hate because I am loved as I am---I am accepted as I am, I am saved as I am! It is more than I could have even given myself or even hoped for.
Thank God that the last man, Jesus Christ, all praise to his holy name. Our bloodline is the same and the consequences of the curse upon the first man radiate self-evidently around, outside us in the news of the world, but even moreso inwardly, the nature of evil is still "squirrelled" in the human heart.
Adam's body has become enlarged, we are Adam's offspring. All destined to die thanks to the slippery lie.
All redeemed if a member of the body of Christ---the truly human. Yet, this requires a choice---the gift is in evidence, is irrefutably real---Christ's sacrifice has once and for all been made. The historical record of Pontius Pilate amply accords with the true historical facticity of Jesus' innocence before the charges leveled at him in the Roman Praetorium. THE GIFT HAS BEEN DELIVERED AND AWAITS YOU---Is there a Christmas present which you forgot to open? It is still there under the tree.
The problem of evil turns out to be the critical problem in the realm of philosophy but this does not emerge until human culture and civilization achieves a certain "maturity" ---- a fulness of time in which the era is fulfilled, revealed. Then evil is "scoped". Decadence reveals the root of the problem of evil. To see the phenomenon of law is to see the root of evil, and vice-versa, God has no need of law. Knowledge of evil is an impregnable fortress which Adam must squirrel away east of the gates of eden. Adam does not take a much with him on the flight from the misty beauty of Eden but he has been tinged and plagued with this horrible "knowledge".
Perhaps the horror of the knowledge of this age with its brave new world and systematic medical atrocities, chemtrails, Round-Up landscaping, corporate impersonal "best practices", virtual reality, false prophets such as Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, IBM's Gini Rometty, all wizards of Oz. The horror of the knowledge to have to wake up and see a world so gone stray. This is it---the precise root of the knowledge of good and evil---the fruit and proof of Adam's fall and the evidence that the commander of the air, the prince of Tyre, is having a field day seeing as these so-called gurus of our time are so easily snared in the wiles of satan---the restrainer has fallen and the mad dog is off his leash, rambling about in the open seeking whom he may devour. Cursing and hissing at man, so full of jealousy and condescension. Sniffing out all innocence like a bloodhound bent on murder and deception, so proud of her high IQ, and his self-made lifestyle. Now except for the double agents and mercenaries of the Lord, all churches are caught in the net, all education, all power of every sort. It is not hard to see why the masses are madly wallowing in distraction 24/7---computing in general---and pretending that this digital world is actually work, is actually education, is actually government, is actually friendship (like Facebook). 'Virtual' is the antithesis of actuality and truth, its synonym is 'fake', 'false' or 'illusory'. Hence the picture that the computer gives is better termed: 'false reality' which is of course a contradiction---hence the expression 'virtual reality' is a lie or a deception pure and simple.
The whole world is a lie, save the knowledge of Jesus Christ---all is so clearly and evident folly.
Let me tell you---this was not the case in the 1970s---it is a like a kindergarten criminal in the year 1970----his education, his seven year old worldview (BTW that kid is me). The apocalypse, the fall of babylon is a mere 'possibility'---superviruses and 9/11 are as yet unthinkable, the covert government spraying aerosol chemtrails does not start in earnest until 1995 after the scientists win their Nobel prize for the albedo effect in 1994. You know, you invent a brilliant instrument of death--the drone, Monsanto's seed modification, universal compliance to ethics codes mandatorily enforced by all powers that be so that you "learn how to smile as you kill." This enforced ignorance is mandated through online training. Now into my 54th year it is all unfolding like clockwork---as if it were "written in my soul." Rip van Winkle am I except I have slept twice as long! I wake up in the year 2017---young people do not play outside anymore, their eyes are locked onto handheld cancer causing microwave device. The neighbor pours yet more toxic herbicide on their lawn. And other drone strike takes out collateral damage, once more not a single bit of evil is touched, more innocent lives are spilled and the military deems the maneuver a success. No one disagrees. For they are blinded to the evil in their own heart which they perpetuate which is curable by only one remedy, the salve of true salvation---Jesus Christ. Oh yeah and this Good News, this Gospel of one's salvation is forbidden from the public sphere and in schools. One can join in a protest where pink ribbons and talk about "making a difference"---until you have ferreted out the root of evil all of the do-gooders have no way of knowing of their best practices are not leading to the destruction of all that is sacred personally to them and their families. Folks get nervous when I talk about satan, the devil but it is OK to spend millions of dollars to create entertainment of murder, rape and betrayal in Hollywood and to blaspheme and use the Lord God's name in vain and to sear this into the eyes of your own relatives and children through HDTV. They will say that satan is "symbolic", a narrative, or myth but not a true actuality---then the grim reaper draws ever closer to their own precious loved ones and they still can't see and if they see cannot name and call out evil as a straightforward factual force that drives every aspect of their own lives, save for some narrow haven that they still possess. Satan indeed is actual, not symbolic, but he deals in symbols and imagery. Why this fetish concerning 'is it live or is it memorex'---so-called "live"TV, "live news", replays and then back to live---who's kidding who?
The gift of Satan is the knowledge of good and evil--thanks to the serpentine lie---what was corrupted in Adam becomes the stock of the world, its "progress" and it grows into this beastly world system we see today. It is not pretty---the humanitarians still want to attribute 'goodness' to human beings while all around them all human progress and technology, medicine, education and government is hung about their necks like a noose as the son of perdition is unrestrained having the time of his life because there are not many hours before the dawn and at the dawn of the global messiah pantocrator it is game over for the devil and his legions and his minions. In that dawn no one will stand all will be on their knees before the returning Lord---even those who pierced him! Game over to the 'digital nervous system' game over for AI, corporations, economic systems, all wealth and luxury. There is absolutely no other obligation for mankind save to surrender and worship the true messiah. No other prayers or gods are required. truth will out in the end. Rebellious mankind has created their own hellish destruction, fulfilling the prophecies. Thanks to technology, science, healthcare, the roll-out of the apocalypse is right on schedule and according to the ethics and best practices which ensure its universal hellishness.
Thank God for the masterful plan to save all mankind from this diabolic panzi scheme which begins with a covenant with Abraham. All through Moses and Isaiah, up until the birth of the messiah 2010 years or so ago.
God chooses to open up the doorway of communication with Abraham, and lo and behold, promises that his offspring will prosper immensely. Through this bloodline the Messiah will be born, the one to redeem and save Israel. Abraham answers the call. God once more walks with a son of adam. It is not the same sort of union with God that Adam and eve enjoyed but it's a start! From thence forward God will work this covenant for the redemption of all mankind and the universe. The Law that God gives to Moses is, dare I say, a corrective and punitive crutch for an out of control people who keep trying to get themselves back under the plow of Egypt. Seeing that human nature seems to crave slavery, they get right back to worshipping the golden calf. There is only one way that this can be pulled off, hit them with the Law! Enter Moses.
Law is a pretty good thing for invoking a leveller and religion is good at eking out obedience, enough schooling in the laws gets God's people at least acting civil and pointing in the right direction.
You can dress 'em up but you can't take them out.
Nowadays knowledge is seen as a pretty cool thing---so the question arises: how is it that knowledge becomes horrible? The sidewinder's slippery lie embroils the progenitor of our race in a problematic whose consequences must be lived through until the last man. If Jesus Christ, the last man, dies on the cross and is resurrected somewhere near Jerusalem 2000 years ago, then what kind of 'provisional man' populates this age of the Gentiles.? Who are you? Who am I? Thanks be to God that he extended the salvation worked out within the covenant with Israel to include the Gentiles. The messiah it turns out is global and not one people's private treasure. When you are waiting for a political messiah, you are looking for a cross between Caesar, Hitler, The Beatles, or Barack Obama, even Donald Trump. Who has the courage or humility to see that the emperor wears no clothes---it is better to stay true to your own unique individuality even if it costs your earthly life---than to join the 'greater good' or church or team or party or whatever association purports to speak on behalf of the salvation that is uniquely tailored for only one person---namely you! Ironically the only way to one's true individual essence is to surrender to the son of man. To embrace one's own core which indeed 'seems' puny. One's own nature seems broken---it is fragile, fragmented, emotionally needy, etc. Only love can pierce through one's rightful self hate because I am loved as I am---I am accepted as I am, I am saved as I am! It is more than I could have even given myself or even hoped for.
Thank God that the last man, Jesus Christ, all praise to his holy name. Our bloodline is the same and the consequences of the curse upon the first man radiate self-evidently around, outside us in the news of the world, but even moreso inwardly, the nature of evil is still "squirrelled" in the human heart.
Adam's body has become enlarged, we are Adam's offspring. All destined to die thanks to the slippery lie.
All redeemed if a member of the body of Christ---the truly human. Yet, this requires a choice---the gift is in evidence, is irrefutably real---Christ's sacrifice has once and for all been made. The historical record of Pontius Pilate amply accords with the true historical facticity of Jesus' innocence before the charges leveled at him in the Roman Praetorium. THE GIFT HAS BEEN DELIVERED AND AWAITS YOU---Is there a Christmas present which you forgot to open? It is still there under the tree.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Chemtrails Documentary: Exposing Aerosol Crimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxlmNwmxk98
The non-reporting of these phenomena by news media, educators and meteorologists is also a crime---fraudulence.
The non-reporting of these phenomena by news media, educators and meteorologists is also a crime---fraudulence.
Trump Rally in Melbourne, Fla. With Lord's Prayer: Impressive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlo3i0KcPSohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlo3i0KcPSo
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Monday, February 13, 2017
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
Burt Bachrach and Dionne Warwick: Loneliness Remembers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv62rtEdVAk
This video gives to me an amazing array of memories---yet, I have never heard this tune until it appeared on Youtube. It awakens a sense of 'seventies-ness'---all of it, you can hear this in their tone of voices, playful---a kind of pathos that is forgotten. Dare I call it innocence---the feeling of 'back in the day'.
Specific memories: in the dentist's chair at Dr. Thaler's, I listened carefully to every song on the Muzak radio---this brings back memories of my mother---I can almost see her and to reach out and touch her---it is such a rich tapestry! Flower power. I am amazed at the power of memory---yes---think about it---this power of memory to recall and re-present this world. It is all right there at my fingertips---along this corridor. Do you recall these days, along the ragged alleyways in Duncansville, St. Catherine's old wooden chapel---the Wye Switches?
This video gives to me an amazing array of memories---yet, I have never heard this tune until it appeared on Youtube. It awakens a sense of 'seventies-ness'---all of it, you can hear this in their tone of voices, playful---a kind of pathos that is forgotten. Dare I call it innocence---the feeling of 'back in the day'.
Specific memories: in the dentist's chair at Dr. Thaler's, I listened carefully to every song on the Muzak radio---this brings back memories of my mother---I can almost see her and to reach out and touch her---it is such a rich tapestry! Flower power. I am amazed at the power of memory---yes---think about it---this power of memory to recall and re-present this world. It is all right there at my fingertips---along this corridor. Do you recall these days, along the ragged alleyways in Duncansville, St. Catherine's old wooden chapel---the Wye Switches?
Global Warming Hoax
'Global Warming' is a Scam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNU1FWHftP8
Global Warming Hoax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM-mnIROE0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNU1FWHftP8
Global Warming Hoax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM-mnIROE0Q
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Utter Astonishment
Let’s begin by distinguishing wonder and astonishment. The sense of wonder is indeed the fountain from which authentic philosophy issues---wonder concerning the beauty of a bubbling brook or a raging snowstorm---wonder seems to be aimed at some phenomenon that is present and entails a perplexity which is felt alongside an experience of nature. This human ‘sense’ initiates philosophical inquiry: questioning and thinking.
Astonishment arises not from a specific phenomenon but from the startling, and immediate sense of the total sum of phenomena in the face of nothing.
The artist is amazed at the poetic majesty of the glowing horizon at the end of day or the reflection of the sunset on the surface of the lake---wonder gives forth a question of how this specific manifestation of beauty arises, not only in nature but within her sense.
Later she is struck all at once with another question---one more disturbing, apparently groundless---but how is it that any of this appears to me at all? And more profoundly---how is it that I am sensing this? How is it that I am? How is it that any of this appears at all including me?
St. Augustine in The Confessions touches on both the sense of wonder and this more radical ‘sense’ of utter astonishment which calls into question the very ground of his own being, his soul: "For then shalt Thou rest in us, as now Thou workest in us; and so shall that be Thy rest through us, as these are Thy works through us. But Thou, Lord, ever workest, and art ever at rest. Nor dost Thou see in time, nor art moved in time, nor restest in a time; and yet Thou makest things seen in time, yea the times themselves, and the rest which results from time (Confessions Book 13).
By “astonishment” I am not referring to any cotidian marvel but the utterly astounding thought which first of all appears as terrible and full of awe. It is not clear how common this experience is, as for myself, I have never met a person who claims to have felt this, save for a few philosophers, and of course the greatest writers---St. Augustine, Heidegger, Dostoevsky. It is absolutely uncanny and springs up all at once---not in the senses but at the root of on’e being. Heidegger calls this ‘Nothing’---‘das Nicht’. Yet, the full sense of terror cannot be grasped by merely reading about this ‘phenomenon’---it must be directly experienced.
Astonishment sends one reeling--the Oxford English Dictionary’s first entry for ‘astone; astun’ is “1. To stun; to strike senseless with a blow or partially senseless with a loud noise.” Further meanings are “to daze, to stupefy. strike mute with amazement, overwhelm one’s presence of mind, to confound, astound, astonish (‘Astone’ OED, p.521).” Such a dazzling is not brought about by one’s will. Rather it overcomes the thinker, creeping in and then all at once. Having experienced this one can never forget it. It is unique, primordial and undeniable. Heidegger also calls this ‘falling’ ‘Geworfenheit: thrownness. It is overwhelmingly complete and completely disarms the senses and mind. Leaving one with the most profound question: How is it that I am here and all of the universe besides? It is strange and alienating.
Incidentally, before we leave the etymology, one notices the term 'stone' in the root of 'astonishment'---indeed it is the same root as 'to get stoned'---in Dylan's Rainy Day Women: "everybody must get stoned." Better yet we hear this in Van Morrison's "And it Stoned Me": And it stoned me to my soul/ It stoned me just like going home/ It stoned me."
Saturday, February 04, 2017
Bob Dylan Project
http://thebobdylanproject.com/http://thebobdylanproject.com/
All the Dylan songs, albums, lyrics and chords free streaming Dylan radio!!
All the Dylan songs, albums, lyrics and chords free streaming Dylan radio!!
One Percenters in Ancient Times
Much is made of the excessive luxury of billionaires these days---and indeed it is excessive---there is a great divide, even exponential, between us and them. However it should also be noted that there have been days of greater wealth divides---think of the ancient Kings of Israel---what do you think the wealth of King Solomon would be like in terms of current money measurement? I do not think you could actually measure it in trillions of dollars! But this is a false comparison---I mention it just to provoke thought. What do you reckon the pyramid of King Amenhotep or Tutankhamen of ancient Egypt were worth in current dollar measurement? Food for thought!
Sunday, January 29, 2017
President Jimmy Carter: "The U.S. Government is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery."
This photo of President Jimmy Carter and me along Spruce Creek was taken in 1995. The interview with Jimmy Carter can be found as a video w/ the link below. I want to add to his thesis by saying that the collusion and cronyism which has eroded participative democracy is most evident at the local level! Not only with the plutocrats.
Oligarchy suggests the conspiracy of billionaires whose broad influence I am not denying. However, even in the shire --- i.e. my home town, the tyranny of petty water authority fiefdoms, and political dynasties---think Shuster---which are linked into the highways, and convention centers in phase one, and later in mammoth multi-million dollar school contracts, the thugs on the ground level who are pawns for their masters, and every member of the school board, etc., etc... Of all the disturbing things in America today---perhaps the most disturbing to me is the futility of its educational system---from top to bottom. And the whole ballgame is wrapped up in the hands of 'petit bourgeois' millionaires. It is better to be a "big fish in a small pond" and I will tell you why: amongst the billionaires or one-percenters there is the prospect of global exploitation of every resource: big fish in a big pond. And of course there are little fish in a big pond---for example the Clintons. But what really cements the deal---are the big fish in the small pond. I am talking about mayors, the men and women who are on the boards of water authorities, utilities, municipalities, state level supervision and so on. It is at this level that democratic action is a possibility but it will require the awakening of the citizenry to actual political involvement on the level of one's own field of action. It is the schooling first of all which destroyed the sincerity of american political participation and not only in that it masquerades ineffectual ideals and never faces up to the local corruption in the media (WTAJ News, and the Altoona Mirror for example) who report street crime corruption but do not expose the corruption in the very political process of town hall meetings where these fracking projects and these new million dollar school contracts are being launched under the pretence of participative democracy. There are about three families who run Altoona.
The other part of the economy that is corrupt through and through and highly anti-democratic is of course medicine. A huge conglomerate like UPMC runs the state---and there is no democratic process. The AMA and the medical doctors are aloof from street level politics and are the pawns of insurance giants and the Pharma. American medicine demonstrates very little allegiance to the nation and its people.
Above all, Americans do not know what they have in common anymore. Association is the basis of political theory. People with similar religious views bond in associations for their aims. But what do americans have in common anymore---the entertainment is not democratically participative (think of the 60s). It is top down.
Love of money is the root of all evil, yes. Another root is the technocracy. Technological "culture" itself is highly undemocratic---compare a Bill Gates or a Zuckerberg to Thoreau or Franklin. Even a techie saint like Steve Jobs constructed a programmed fascism---democracy cannot be digital--the addition of apps and trinkets cannot assist in the fundamental citizen duty to be autonomous and educated in truth.
https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/
Oligarchy suggests the conspiracy of billionaires whose broad influence I am not denying. However, even in the shire --- i.e. my home town, the tyranny of petty water authority fiefdoms, and political dynasties---think Shuster---which are linked into the highways, and convention centers in phase one, and later in mammoth multi-million dollar school contracts, the thugs on the ground level who are pawns for their masters, and every member of the school board, etc., etc... Of all the disturbing things in America today---perhaps the most disturbing to me is the futility of its educational system---from top to bottom. And the whole ballgame is wrapped up in the hands of 'petit bourgeois' millionaires. It is better to be a "big fish in a small pond" and I will tell you why: amongst the billionaires or one-percenters there is the prospect of global exploitation of every resource: big fish in a big pond. And of course there are little fish in a big pond---for example the Clintons. But what really cements the deal---are the big fish in the small pond. I am talking about mayors, the men and women who are on the boards of water authorities, utilities, municipalities, state level supervision and so on. It is at this level that democratic action is a possibility but it will require the awakening of the citizenry to actual political involvement on the level of one's own field of action. It is the schooling first of all which destroyed the sincerity of american political participation and not only in that it masquerades ineffectual ideals and never faces up to the local corruption in the media (WTAJ News, and the Altoona Mirror for example) who report street crime corruption but do not expose the corruption in the very political process of town hall meetings where these fracking projects and these new million dollar school contracts are being launched under the pretence of participative democracy. There are about three families who run Altoona.
The other part of the economy that is corrupt through and through and highly anti-democratic is of course medicine. A huge conglomerate like UPMC runs the state---and there is no democratic process. The AMA and the medical doctors are aloof from street level politics and are the pawns of insurance giants and the Pharma. American medicine demonstrates very little allegiance to the nation and its people.
Above all, Americans do not know what they have in common anymore. Association is the basis of political theory. People with similar religious views bond in associations for their aims. But what do americans have in common anymore---the entertainment is not democratically participative (think of the 60s). It is top down.
Love of money is the root of all evil, yes. Another root is the technocracy. Technological "culture" itself is highly undemocratic---compare a Bill Gates or a Zuckerberg to Thoreau or Franklin. Even a techie saint like Steve Jobs constructed a programmed fascism---democracy cannot be digital--the addition of apps and trinkets cannot assist in the fundamental citizen duty to be autonomous and educated in truth.
https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/
Bill Moyers: Donald Trump's Demolition Derby
My brother explained to me that a man named Schumpeter, an economist, came up with the view that "creative destruction" is what drives the american economy(build to destroy to build again)---the following essay is a good example:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/donald_trumps_demolition_derby_20170128
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/donald_trumps_demolition_derby_20170128
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Someday Baby lyrics and chords (alternate version)
Tell Tale Signs Version
Capo 1st fret (sounding key: E flat major)
Chords:
Cadd9 x30030 or x35533
D I don't care what you do, don't care what you say Cadd9 G D don't care where you go or how long you stay A G D Someday baby, you ain't gon' worry po' me any more Cadd9 G D
You take my money and you turn me out You fill me up with self doubt Someday baby, you ain't gon' worry po' me any more
You made me eat a ton of dust You're potentially dangerous, and not worthy of trust Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
[Instrumental verse]
Little by little, bit by bit Every day I'm becoming more of a hypocrite Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
You've got my mind tied up in knots I just keep recycling the same old thoughts Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
When I heard you was cold, I bought you a coat and hat I think you must have forgotten about that Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
[Instrumental verse]
Gonna blow out your mind, and make you pure I've taken about as much of this as I can endure Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
You put me down from the upper creek That's all right, to you I turn the other cheek Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
[Instrumental verse]
You say you need me, how would I know? You say you love me, but it can't be so Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
I don't want to brag, but I'll wring your neck When all else fails, I'll make it a matter of self-respect Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
[Instrumental verse]
Living this way ain't a natural thing to do Why was I born to love you? Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry poor me any more
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Woody Allen and Billy Graham
Please enjoy this video: Personally, I think that Billy Graham comes out as the stronger thinker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194zJ55LcVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194zJ55LcVk
Saturday, January 14, 2017
But is it Ethical?--NY Times Article
Head of Ethics Office Speaks Out. Some Republicans Ask, Was It Ethical?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/us/politics/walter-shaub-ethics-oversight-jason-chaffetz.html?_r=0
AS a veteran instructor of ethics, I see the irony in this title! I wonder what qualifies this "Head of Ethics" to lead this task---did he practice turning the cheek more than the other guy, or did practice the Golden Rule in season and out of season, or perhaps he studied 'ethics'? In any case, I fear that he will be unable to determine "was it ethical?" Not only in this case, but in any case. By what measure will he determine this, evaluate it---what will be his measuring stick?
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Truthdig: Chris Hedges on the So-called Intelligence Assessment of Russian Cyberhacking
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_real_purpose_of_the_us_governments_report_on_alleged_hacking_by_russi
I agree with Hedges' view on this amateur intelligence report which demonstrates exactly how intelligent the CIA, FBI and NSA are---not very!
Moreover, I agree that when you see a document this flimsy with absolutely no evidence cited, you must ask yourself why these agencies are stretching out their necks in this manner. It reveals pernicious intention of the highest degree.
What exactly is the premise: that voters for Clinton were inexplicably compelled by this "influence" to change their minds and vote for Donald Trump? Yes, I am sure that happened. Not. And if not this, then what exactly did the influence accomplish? Nothing. If it accomplished nothing then why waste the agents valuable time on such an assessment.
I have not seen such dubious intelligence since the CIA Attempted to discredit Benjamin Franklin as a "liability" (click below). Such intelligence gurus are really a disappointment. I guess what they mean by 'intelligence' is the ability to paranoiacally project bizarre narratives which begin with 'what if?'---the dreaded subjunctive hypothetical. Question: What if worms had machine guns? Answer: Robins would not mess with them!
Before we start to use the word 'intelligence', we should make an effort to define the term.
http://franklinjunto.blogspot.com/2015/04/franklin-accused-afresh-in-cia-diclosure.html
I agree with Hedges' view on this amateur intelligence report which demonstrates exactly how intelligent the CIA, FBI and NSA are---not very!
Moreover, I agree that when you see a document this flimsy with absolutely no evidence cited, you must ask yourself why these agencies are stretching out their necks in this manner. It reveals pernicious intention of the highest degree.
What exactly is the premise: that voters for Clinton were inexplicably compelled by this "influence" to change their minds and vote for Donald Trump? Yes, I am sure that happened. Not. And if not this, then what exactly did the influence accomplish? Nothing. If it accomplished nothing then why waste the agents valuable time on such an assessment.
I have not seen such dubious intelligence since the CIA Attempted to discredit Benjamin Franklin as a "liability" (click below). Such intelligence gurus are really a disappointment. I guess what they mean by 'intelligence' is the ability to paranoiacally project bizarre narratives which begin with 'what if?'---the dreaded subjunctive hypothetical. Question: What if worms had machine guns? Answer: Robins would not mess with them!
Before we start to use the word 'intelligence', we should make an effort to define the term.
http://franklinjunto.blogspot.com/2015/04/franklin-accused-afresh-in-cia-diclosure.html
Saturday, January 07, 2017
An excerpt from the epic: Setting out for America
What kind of artistry is equal to the silver glisten on a river, or a sunset, or lightening in the sky?
What kind of man’s artistry can compare to the great artistry of creation?
What, indeed, could compare with the silver glistening on this white iron lake?
The poet is only an echo of what he sees and hears.
A transmitter, a go-between.
Little wavelets lap this rock on which I sit.
Having been refreshed by a swim, a cool swim,
the poet has a prerogative to swim in whatever fresh water he sees fit to swim in anywhere in America.
That’s the poet’s prerogative to bathe in nature.
It’s his primary right to do so.
No law can touch this.
This water is like a tea, like in Black Moshannan, brown cola-colored like the intertidal pool of the Missouri River.
The hard granite I sit upon, moss covered, rather lichen.
The wonderful green of lichen, and beneath it this pink granite.
This very hot and dry evening in May.
And the van, a stone’s throw away behind the little trees hidden beyond the rushes from the water.
And the calm fluttering in the elm and birch.
The little leaves amidst the steady ever-present roar of the waterfall over which Route, highway number 1 passes.
The little leaves are spindling around, waving as if in a game, then pausing for just a millisecond, standing there and then starting again, waving, teetering, now calm, now still.
And the blue sky emerges.
Then they begin their fluttering again and the sky disappears.
They come to the center of the stage and clamor for attention.
Some type of sign language I am as yet unable to read, but I know intuitively what it speaks to me.
As God speaks through these little things in nature, nothing grandiose, it’s all in the details.
Only with man do we find the ambitions to overcome and dominate the world, to rise above, to be higher than the world.
But it’s all here.
And in Minnesota, north.
Great calm.
After so many miles.
And I admit my weariness.
This road is very long, indeed.
And I’ve still got a very long way to go.
But knowing that poets like Dylan and Whitman have gone before me gives me courage and strength to move on, to carry on, not knowing where I’m headed, not lonely, but somehow disjointed, out of sorts.
We thank God for this beautiful day and we ask God to continue to bless our work and to bless Bob Dylan and to honor poets everywhere, especially those on the road.
There’s a Ptarmigan, or some such forest-type bird, poking around and stamping loudly like an angry squirrel.
By Lake La Moyant I see an ant running across this white lichen-covered stone.
This ant achieves his goal.
or if there is an obstacle in his path, he turns and finds another way.
The ant is a lowly, small creature but very diligent and hard working as the book of Proverbs says.
But there’s always two sides to every story.
Went through Ely.
The Chamber of Commerce there has the website: www.ely.org.
Look it up!
The scent of the forest is truly wondrous, dry perfume.
There is a beautiful Monarch butterfly impaled right into the center of my hood ornament.
Yellow and black wings with one wing having 3 blue windows and behind it, an orange window, like stained glass.
Smashed, broken butterfly.
Ornament on my car.
Symbol of resurrection.
What was once larval state,
died, rose again, chrysalis, then in its colorful, beaming, radiant, beautiful, resurrected body.
And as I drive away, I see five more perfect yellow butterflies, two together and then three together.
And I notice that the name of the lake where I was swimming was Birch Lake.
Oh, Lord, I have sought to escape you, fleeing on the highways and byways, speeding down the road, all over America from state to state, county to county.
Fleeing.
We are trying to hold onto some liquid before it races erases from my fingers.
I cannot hold onto it all the same.
And now I stand empty-handed.
You, God, are working your work in me.
I’m your putty and I’m your man, Lord, and I’ll stand by.
I will stand by you.
Restore me, oh Lord, even if it means losing my voice and my poetry and my music.
If it means losing my house and my family.
If it means losing all of my possessions, my love.
You are first.
You are the Lord, most high, Jesus Christ.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Three Channels of Original Music
1. Firewheel Studio-Standard P. Wolf Compositions
2. Uncle Gino's Cabin-folk music; guitar duos with Paolo Agostino, recorded at Log Cabin Recordings, Ltd.
3. Crunchkin-Experimental, percussive experimentation, and avant-garde, crunchkin (tm) music
Friday, December 23, 2016
One of the most beautiful teachings....
The ancient law of the goel said, �If a man died without having an heir, his nearest relative would marry his widow and have a child who would carry on his line, redeeming the barren house. Scripture shows this in the line of Judah with Tamar and centuries later with Boaz and Ruth who had Obed, who fathered Jesse, who fathered David. Later, we come to Miryam; Mary who was born of the line of the Goel intervention. She gives birth in Bethlehem - the same place the Goel redemption happened to Ruth. The birth of Messiah is the ultimate Goel redemption. Adams line had fallen because of sin. We were barren and couldnt produce life; we were headed to death. So God Himself intervened that we might be redeemed and bear fruit. Thats what God does for you. He sees your barrenness, comes and puts His life within your heart and your life miraculously bears His fruit. Rec! eive His life, love, and His Spirit and bear His fruit. Your life will be redeemed and fruitful for God Himself is your Goel.
(Source: Jonathan Cohn)
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Reflection on Winter Solstice -12/21/2016
Truth
I wish to meditate upon truth. There is perhaps no single topic of greater significance for human beings to consider.
Human beings are born and live in the truth and yet many cannot see this----as such it is a mystery for philosophers to contemplate: why is truth both present and yet hidden to man (woman)? I do not wish to engage in this subtle inquiry in this present essay. I have many other essays addressing this very theme. For example in the blog entitled: "entelechaia": http://entelechaia.blogspot.com/2014/12/essay-from-summer-14.html
Today, I wish to reflect on the truth that is immediate and accessible to all---even now, in this present moment truth is "one step away"---to be honest not even a step---take one deep breath, release it and acknowledge this truth that surrounds us everywhere, on all sides, all the time as though it were the element we dwell in. Like the flying fish who leaps beyond the surface of the sea into the air realizes then and there for the very first time that all of her life she has lived in water. The self-evidency of the water did not appear until the first leap beyond the water. The first step is to let things be what they are for the path of doubtful debating leads nowhere---doubting is the active resistance against the power of truth here and now.
You may ask: with all of this truth surrounding me, why is the world full of lies? A formidable question! And one that is potentially irresolvable----having entered into the fray of this inquiry, one might never depart. And yet, truth is self-evident and immediately grasped here and now. The skeptic
succeeds in ushering in doubt by turning away from the immediately given self-evidence of truth. Such a thing happens with the use of words---since truth is not a linguistic artifact or a theory. The "suchness" (essential being) of things is not altered by naming them, and no amount of naming can make a thing come to pass in truth.
Is truth on the side of the subject? The object? Or somewhere in between? Or perhaps there is yet another option. Truth, like salvation, is for human beings---not for God, or nature, not even for the angels. Man alone, searches for truth and needs truth.
If my reader is a veteran skeptic, ready to draw arms at the mention of the mere word 'truth', allow me to say that as a teacher I am ready to show you how to learn to know the truth that surrounds you, step by step. However, one must begin in earnest with the self-evidency of one's own perception, here and now. I call this "assuming one's own standpoint". This is analogous to the flying fish acknowledging its watery domain as its birthright as it breaks free albeit briefly from the clutch of the surf.
To be honest, the analogy of the flying fish is not entirely univocal point for point. The human being cannot exit the fact of truth and true-being no matter how hard he or she may try! For example, dreaming itself may be the gateway that leads beyond truth, hence upon waking one realizes that whereas I was dreaming and caught up in illusion and untruth, now that I have awaken I see the truth directly before me. Another attempt may be found in telling lies. One may deceive concerning the truth. However, strictly speaking, this is not effective. If I am standing before an oak tree, and I declare: "this is not a tree, " I lie. This lying word in no way changes the truth of the oak tree. The more I look at it---man may run from truth but cannot hide! Not even dreaming and lies can keep the human being outside of the truth.
Let us return to the skeptic: provided that you can assume your own standpoint, that is acknowledge that you are awake and are able to honestly name the oak tree that is directly in your eyesight, I can teach you the truth. Beginning with the self-evidency of one's own perception, the path that opens to truth is as follows: Beginning with one's own starting point you proceed to ask: How must the universe be in order that this immediately self-evident starting point is indeed true? The quest must begin in earnest. Honesty is the first virtue that is required---honesty, then a sense of wonder---how, indeed, is any of this appearing to me now? For the self-evidency of my being here and now is irrefutable. It is this truth that we begin with that leads us toward the consideration of how "the universe must be" in order that this immediate fact can be. The skeptical path is futile as is clearly seen---if I accept the immediate evidence of my standpoint but then imagine that the universe itself does not cohere with this truth then I am proposing an impossibility---namely that the one and only truth in the universe is my own standpoint.
In order for their to be one standpoint in truth it follows that the entire universe must be true or at the very least must allow enough truth for this immediate experience to stand before me as it most evidently does here and now. Our question then becomes: how is it that there is truth in the universe?
This becomes the correct method of inquiry, not only in philosophy, but in all endeavors. An allied question is this how can I sustain the truth since it is so self-evidently present to me here and now? As a preliminary I answer that there is truth in the universe because the universe itself is aimed at truth and I can sustain the truth by staying present to the evidence that arises before me here and now.
I wish to meditate upon truth. There is perhaps no single topic of greater significance for human beings to consider.
Human beings are born and live in the truth and yet many cannot see this----as such it is a mystery for philosophers to contemplate: why is truth both present and yet hidden to man (woman)? I do not wish to engage in this subtle inquiry in this present essay. I have many other essays addressing this very theme. For example in the blog entitled: "entelechaia": http://entelechaia.blogspot.com/2014/12/essay-from-summer-14.html
Today, I wish to reflect on the truth that is immediate and accessible to all---even now, in this present moment truth is "one step away"---to be honest not even a step---take one deep breath, release it and acknowledge this truth that surrounds us everywhere, on all sides, all the time as though it were the element we dwell in. Like the flying fish who leaps beyond the surface of the sea into the air realizes then and there for the very first time that all of her life she has lived in water. The self-evidency of the water did not appear until the first leap beyond the water. The first step is to let things be what they are for the path of doubtful debating leads nowhere---doubting is the active resistance against the power of truth here and now.
You may ask: with all of this truth surrounding me, why is the world full of lies? A formidable question! And one that is potentially irresolvable----having entered into the fray of this inquiry, one might never depart. And yet, truth is self-evident and immediately grasped here and now. The skeptic
succeeds in ushering in doubt by turning away from the immediately given self-evidence of truth. Such a thing happens with the use of words---since truth is not a linguistic artifact or a theory. The "suchness" (essential being) of things is not altered by naming them, and no amount of naming can make a thing come to pass in truth.
Is truth on the side of the subject? The object? Or somewhere in between? Or perhaps there is yet another option. Truth, like salvation, is for human beings---not for God, or nature, not even for the angels. Man alone, searches for truth and needs truth.
If my reader is a veteran skeptic, ready to draw arms at the mention of the mere word 'truth', allow me to say that as a teacher I am ready to show you how to learn to know the truth that surrounds you, step by step. However, one must begin in earnest with the self-evidency of one's own perception, here and now. I call this "assuming one's own standpoint". This is analogous to the flying fish acknowledging its watery domain as its birthright as it breaks free albeit briefly from the clutch of the surf.
To be honest, the analogy of the flying fish is not entirely univocal point for point. The human being cannot exit the fact of truth and true-being no matter how hard he or she may try! For example, dreaming itself may be the gateway that leads beyond truth, hence upon waking one realizes that whereas I was dreaming and caught up in illusion and untruth, now that I have awaken I see the truth directly before me. Another attempt may be found in telling lies. One may deceive concerning the truth. However, strictly speaking, this is not effective. If I am standing before an oak tree, and I declare: "this is not a tree, " I lie. This lying word in no way changes the truth of the oak tree. The more I look at it---man may run from truth but cannot hide! Not even dreaming and lies can keep the human being outside of the truth.
Let us return to the skeptic: provided that you can assume your own standpoint, that is acknowledge that you are awake and are able to honestly name the oak tree that is directly in your eyesight, I can teach you the truth. Beginning with the self-evidency of one's own perception, the path that opens to truth is as follows: Beginning with one's own starting point you proceed to ask: How must the universe be in order that this immediately self-evident starting point is indeed true? The quest must begin in earnest. Honesty is the first virtue that is required---honesty, then a sense of wonder---how, indeed, is any of this appearing to me now? For the self-evidency of my being here and now is irrefutable. It is this truth that we begin with that leads us toward the consideration of how "the universe must be" in order that this immediate fact can be. The skeptical path is futile as is clearly seen---if I accept the immediate evidence of my standpoint but then imagine that the universe itself does not cohere with this truth then I am proposing an impossibility---namely that the one and only truth in the universe is my own standpoint.
In order for their to be one standpoint in truth it follows that the entire universe must be true or at the very least must allow enough truth for this immediate experience to stand before me as it most evidently does here and now. Our question then becomes: how is it that there is truth in the universe?
This becomes the correct method of inquiry, not only in philosophy, but in all endeavors. An allied question is this how can I sustain the truth since it is so self-evidently present to me here and now? As a preliminary I answer that there is truth in the universe because the universe itself is aimed at truth and I can sustain the truth by staying present to the evidence that arises before me here and now.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Reflections At Christmastime-2016
I am feeling more compassionate, by the grace of God, as we enter the twenties of december twenty-sixteen. Ironically, it is not compassion toward family and friends that I consider, but rather, those who from habit or insult are deemed enemies. Each person is one step away from salvation---one step!
Let this be a hardened criminal, a pedophile, a corrupt politician---with Christ's eyes I see a man or woman and I know that, like them, I am but for the grace of God a serious sinner. So I must in all good faith leave my judgement aside, this person is one step away from salvation.
How to explain this? See the Apostles to the Geeks blog: http://apostletothegeeks.blogspot.com/2016/12/i-come-at-this-strange-time-as-apostle.html
Let this be a hardened criminal, a pedophile, a corrupt politician---with Christ's eyes I see a man or woman and I know that, like them, I am but for the grace of God a serious sinner. So I must in all good faith leave my judgement aside, this person is one step away from salvation.
How to explain this? See the Apostles to the Geeks blog: http://apostletothegeeks.blogspot.com/2016/12/i-come-at-this-strange-time-as-apostle.html
Thursday, December 15, 2016
This Performance had Me in Tears
Click for New Yorker article on Patti Smith performing Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall" in Stockholm, Sweden.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/patti-smith-on-singing-at-bob-dylans-nobel-prize-ceremony
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/patti-smith-on-singing-at-bob-dylans-nobel-prize-ceremony
Monday, December 05, 2016
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Sleeper by Woody Allen-1973
Here is the summary of the film's plot: "Miles Monroe (Woody Allen), a jazz musician and owner of the "Happy Carrot" health-food store in 1973, is subjected to cryopreservation without his consent, and not revived for 200 years.[2] The scientists who revive him are members of a rebellion: 22nd-century America seems to be a police state, ruled by a dictator about to implement a secret plan known as the "Aries Project". The rebels hope to use Miles as a spy to infiltrate the Aries Project, because he is the only member of this society without a known biometric identity."
The genius of this film is more evident in the current time----since it was unclear in the '70s how technical so-called progress would play out. In 2016 we have enough evidence to see that the future dystopic world that Woody Allen shows presents here is pretty close to the world are living in and it is a nightmare. So many of the ideas of progress and science, including artificial intelligence, and bionics are forced upon the citizenry in a a kind of mass-experimentation. Like Sleeper, only a few of the citizens "the underground"---realize that a society fuelled by mass brainwashing and advanced security and hyper-surveillance is anti-human.
The genius of this film is more evident in the current time----since it was unclear in the '70s how technical so-called progress would play out. In 2016 we have enough evidence to see that the future dystopic world that Woody Allen shows presents here is pretty close to the world are living in and it is a nightmare. So many of the ideas of progress and science, including artificial intelligence, and bionics are forced upon the citizenry in a a kind of mass-experimentation. Like Sleeper, only a few of the citizens "the underground"---realize that a society fuelled by mass brainwashing and advanced security and hyper-surveillance is anti-human.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
I want to share with you...A mysterious song! A most mysterious song!
I offer you a song that has haunted me for years and given me hours of sheer wonder considering the meaning of the lyrics. Here is the link to Youtube so that you can hear this masterpiece of dramatic choreography.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9LJkyZU-QMAl Stewart- One Stage Before 1975 |
It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before And juggled away the night for the same old crowd These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor As here once again they strut and they fret their hour I see those half-familiar faces in the second row Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes But where or when we met like this last time I just don't know It's like a chord that rings and never dies For infinity And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes Are waiting around for someone to call their names They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing-rooms And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago In some play in Paris or Madrid? And was I there among them then, in some travelling show And is it all still locked inside my head For infinity And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play Although we may not meet still you know me well While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say And nothing I do or try can get through the spell So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up And play again like all the times before But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds Of laughter like the waves upon the shores Of infinity Guitar solo played by Tim Renwick: Drums: Stuart Elliot Produced by Alan Parsons Recorded at Abbey Road Studio Now my commentary: It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before self-referential, especially if one is performing the song on stage And juggled away the night for the same old crowd Which gives a clue to the song's title---one stage before. These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor Harlequins-fellow players. As here once again they strut and they fret their hour they too have been here before (deja vu) I see those half-familiar faces in the second row Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes what a masterful poetic perception! And note its realism, he even desfcribes the lighting. But where or when we met like this last time I just don't know Here is a deep mystery It's like a chord that rings and never dies tying in the song itself and noting its endless temporality For infinity And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes verse two introduces a new cast of characters---not players. Are waiting around for someone to call their names spirits of music itself or the tunes which enliven this stage They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing-rooms And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames these characters are transported on specks of light and vanish in paintings But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago In some play in Paris or Madrid? And was I there among them then, in some travelling show Was I there?---the singer reveals himself And is it all still locked inside my head Is this all in his head--i.e., hallucination For infinity And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play Now he addresses those who are listening---calls them 'harmonies' to his notes. Although we may not meet still you know me well When I first met Al Stewart in Seattle, I shook his hand and quoted this line. But many others who never meet Al "still [may] know him well."While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say There are others who talk in secret key (signatures) and transpose these lyrics And nothing I do or try can get through the spell This causes a 'spell' through which the singer cannot penetrate. So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up So one more time-fulfilling the title:One More Stage. Also, "So" as in therefore...And play again like all the times before To play again like all the times before. Are all stages one four dimensional outpouring? But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds But----behind this song you might hear something else that is almost audible--- it is laughter like wavesOf laughter like the waves upon the shores Of infinity Upon the shores of infinity. This is merely my "take" on the song, each one may come to his own interpretation. However, remember that the interpretation that is 'optimal' accounts for the meaning of the verses without importing ideas and images that are not literally there. The Music
The song begins with an eery and hypnotic 12 string guitar strumming in a basic triple meter between Em and C. The beat is a complex meter when you listen to the syncopated hi-hat rhythm. When I met the drummer who played this song for Al Stewart in Seattle the night I met the entire band and partied with them (the same drummer that played for
the Spencer Davis Group), he showed me how to play the hi-hat figure."OF INFINITY" adds a twinkling bell phrase that ushers in the guitar solo. THe guitar solo is truly one of my favorites. It is well known that Al stewart has a reputation of hiring many fine guitarists, moreover in the choice of Tim Renwick, who played on Al's previous two albums the familiarity seems to grow until he plays this masterful piece. Alan Parsons also produced the two albums leading up to Year of The Cat, the album from which this song is pulled. The solo is played on a stratocaster, if I am not mistaken. The solo plays over the chord changes: Em/C/Em/C [Capo at the 3rd fret---sounds in Gm] |
The bridge begins in G
G--D--C--G/B--Am
D--Am--Bm
C--G/B--Am--G--D/F#--Em
Am--D--B--Em ("for INFINITY") Notice how the B chord sets up the key phrase: FOR INFINITY
Notice what the drummer plays behind the solo---it is as good as it gets in studio drumming---Stuart Elliot.
The final note of the solo seems to fade into the wind sounding synth production, like "a speck of light into a picture frame."
There is more that I could say about this eery and wonderful song but I prefer listening to music rather than talking about it.
Friday, November 18, 2016
November 2016: Reflections on the Crunchkin Blog
Re: The term 'Crunchkin'
Today, when one searches Google for 'Crunchkin', you will find a whole host of products, services, dog biscuits, chocolate candy and many more. When I coined the term back in the late '90s I had no idea that 'Crunchkin' would be so widely disseminated. It is a flattering thing. This blog presents artwork, music, opinion, and other sorts of "content" which reflects the Crunchkin brand.
The World Today
To my mind the 21st century is a grave disappointment. When I say 'world' I mean the human world, and not nature. Nature strikes me as the closest thing to God and a permanent blessing, no matter how badly lovers of technology deny their destructive impact. Now we have so-called environmentalists attempting to combat so-called Global Warming with Geoengineering---it is truly a case of the blind leading the blind---flimsy science concocting apocalyptic scenarios which are de facto atheistic. Now it is the engineers who must "save" the earth---what incredible blasphemy! And in their know-it-all do-gooder modus operandi they go about seeding clouds with chemtrails and ushering in consequences far more devastating than the symptoms of climate change they seek to ameliorate.
9/11
The american people continue to be in the dark concerning the fall of the world trade centers while 1000s of architects, pilots and firefighters testify to the utterly erroneous account for the catastrophe given in the Official Report. WTC7, the 48 story skyscraper that is circled in the image above fell by controlled demolition at 5:24 PM September 11, 2001. It is called "the smoking gun" by 9/11 truthers and rightly so. Further evidence of controlled demolition in the North and South Towers can be discerned in the form of pyroclastic clouds billowing at a 90 degree angle as the first tower "falls" at 9.8 meter per second per second free fall which physicists have concluded is impossible.
Truth= God
Guardians of political correctness (BTW: this is a Stalinist Term. In russian: 'politicheskii pravitel'nost) warn, cajole, and discourage any mention of the True God by teachers and believers. Talk of religion and spirituality is OK as long as it is buffered by a relativistic philosophy---but should any believer give powerful arguments supporting truth---they are practicing hate speech and intolerance. Such pompous ignorance reigns in all departments of the contemporary university, even so-called Christian universities. The bottomline is that if there is found one piece of truth, then it follows that God exists, for Truth must have an author. On the other hand, when discussing the true God---it is self-evident that this God is 'ONE and TRUE'---there can be no plural of the term "God". Yes, there may be many "ways" to this One, True God---but if the term is to be employed at all it refers to the Creator, the Master of the Universe. A pathetic attempt to refute this is put forward by astrophysicists such as Stephen Hawkings who speak of multiverses. The term is a misnomer pure and simple, medieval philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas already understood that this mention of multiverse ushers in a "regression to infinity".
Judaism, Islam and Christianity all acknowledge the same Creation as described in Genesis---the so-called name of God is a moot point. As Dylan wrote: "You can call Bobby, you can call me Zimmy, you can call me RJ, you can call me Ray, no matter what you say YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SERVE SOMEBODY." So what do I care how the Hebrew or the Muslim or the Christian prays the name of God? No matter what you say each one must serve the ONE, TRUE God!
Did I fail to mention that God is LIVING and PRESENT? To all backwards looking people---when are you going to wake up? The True God is Living and Present (here and now). You see human opinion matters not one whit---GOD IS---this is the ROCK that we must conform---God is no respecter of persons! Let's say that one begins with one's own human intelligence and belief, and yes, at this level we find opinion and relativity. But for the man or woman who proceeds toward the true, living God, opinion, is overcome, then one cannot say: I think God is multiple or has retired (Deism), or is a Higgs-Boson particle---this is literal ignorance. Each people have their own revelation of God---this statement is blatantly false. There is one pure revelation of God, this is the Son of God. The Son of God became flesh and was crucified by politicians and religious leaders. Nothing has changed.
The doctrine of progress is sheer vanity, nothing more. There has been no progress, The Son of God is still routed out and hated by ignorant men and women in power. Power not progress prevails, and this world knows nothing of the power of love and truth which Jesus Christ brought to light in the teachings of his brief life. IBM believes in progress---see the ad above---as I keep pointing out IBM is like the Wizard of Oz---projecting an awesome technological show, but when Toto pulls back the curtain, Dorothy sees that the Wizard is a pathetic charlatan---so too with Watson and those who think that all the apps and computer tricks are somehow better than the tools of the past. They are not.
Finally, to conclude, I am not at home in the current world---life was better in the 1970s or in many other eras. This is a cold world, America has lost its charm, Dostoevsky wrote that the average citizen has within their soul the same bloodthirsty tendency to be a tyrant as Zherebiatnikov, the brutal prison guard. Nature alone remains unblemished and proximal to God's beauty and truth. Leon Russell sang: "I am a stranger in a strange land." You keep your Starbuck's coffee, and Spotify, and all of your fancy things, The Lord is my Rock and my Shelter, I will serve Him.
Today, when one searches Google for 'Crunchkin', you will find a whole host of products, services, dog biscuits, chocolate candy and many more. When I coined the term back in the late '90s I had no idea that 'Crunchkin' would be so widely disseminated. It is a flattering thing. This blog presents artwork, music, opinion, and other sorts of "content" which reflects the Crunchkin brand.
The World Today
To my mind the 21st century is a grave disappointment. When I say 'world' I mean the human world, and not nature. Nature strikes me as the closest thing to God and a permanent blessing, no matter how badly lovers of technology deny their destructive impact. Now we have so-called environmentalists attempting to combat so-called Global Warming with Geoengineering---it is truly a case of the blind leading the blind---flimsy science concocting apocalyptic scenarios which are de facto atheistic. Now it is the engineers who must "save" the earth---what incredible blasphemy! And in their know-it-all do-gooder modus operandi they go about seeding clouds with chemtrails and ushering in consequences far more devastating than the symptoms of climate change they seek to ameliorate.
9/11
The american people continue to be in the dark concerning the fall of the world trade centers while 1000s of architects, pilots and firefighters testify to the utterly erroneous account for the catastrophe given in the Official Report. WTC7, the 48 story skyscraper that is circled in the image above fell by controlled demolition at 5:24 PM September 11, 2001. It is called "the smoking gun" by 9/11 truthers and rightly so. Further evidence of controlled demolition in the North and South Towers can be discerned in the form of pyroclastic clouds billowing at a 90 degree angle as the first tower "falls" at 9.8 meter per second per second free fall which physicists have concluded is impossible.
Truth= God
Guardians of political correctness (BTW: this is a Stalinist Term. In russian: 'politicheskii pravitel'nost) warn, cajole, and discourage any mention of the True God by teachers and believers. Talk of religion and spirituality is OK as long as it is buffered by a relativistic philosophy---but should any believer give powerful arguments supporting truth---they are practicing hate speech and intolerance. Such pompous ignorance reigns in all departments of the contemporary university, even so-called Christian universities. The bottomline is that if there is found one piece of truth, then it follows that God exists, for Truth must have an author. On the other hand, when discussing the true God---it is self-evident that this God is 'ONE and TRUE'---there can be no plural of the term "God". Yes, there may be many "ways" to this One, True God---but if the term is to be employed at all it refers to the Creator, the Master of the Universe. A pathetic attempt to refute this is put forward by astrophysicists such as Stephen Hawkings who speak of multiverses. The term is a misnomer pure and simple, medieval philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas already understood that this mention of multiverse ushers in a "regression to infinity".
Judaism, Islam and Christianity all acknowledge the same Creation as described in Genesis---the so-called name of God is a moot point. As Dylan wrote: "You can call Bobby, you can call me Zimmy, you can call me RJ, you can call me Ray, no matter what you say YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SERVE SOMEBODY." So what do I care how the Hebrew or the Muslim or the Christian prays the name of God? No matter what you say each one must serve the ONE, TRUE God!
Did I fail to mention that God is LIVING and PRESENT? To all backwards looking people---when are you going to wake up? The True God is Living and Present (here and now). You see human opinion matters not one whit---GOD IS---this is the ROCK that we must conform---God is no respecter of persons! Let's say that one begins with one's own human intelligence and belief, and yes, at this level we find opinion and relativity. But for the man or woman who proceeds toward the true, living God, opinion, is overcome, then one cannot say: I think God is multiple or has retired (Deism), or is a Higgs-Boson particle---this is literal ignorance. Each people have their own revelation of God---this statement is blatantly false. There is one pure revelation of God, this is the Son of God. The Son of God became flesh and was crucified by politicians and religious leaders. Nothing has changed.
The doctrine of progress is sheer vanity, nothing more. There has been no progress, The Son of God is still routed out and hated by ignorant men and women in power. Power not progress prevails, and this world knows nothing of the power of love and truth which Jesus Christ brought to light in the teachings of his brief life. IBM believes in progress---see the ad above---as I keep pointing out IBM is like the Wizard of Oz---projecting an awesome technological show, but when Toto pulls back the curtain, Dorothy sees that the Wizard is a pathetic charlatan---so too with Watson and those who think that all the apps and computer tricks are somehow better than the tools of the past. They are not.
Finally, to conclude, I am not at home in the current world---life was better in the 1970s or in many other eras. This is a cold world, America has lost its charm, Dostoevsky wrote that the average citizen has within their soul the same bloodthirsty tendency to be a tyrant as Zherebiatnikov, the brutal prison guard. Nature alone remains unblemished and proximal to God's beauty and truth. Leon Russell sang: "I am a stranger in a strange land." You keep your Starbuck's coffee, and Spotify, and all of your fancy things, The Lord is my Rock and my Shelter, I will serve Him.
Friday, October 07, 2016
October 2016-Blessed Days of the Lord
Listening to the Moody Blues "Candle of Life"---so many monumental reflections! Thinking of Alan who originally opened my ears to this amazing music. Life has become so epic in proportion, cosmic and amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWTftmfe6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWTftmfe6Q
Monday, August 29, 2016
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Thursday, January 07, 2016
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