A Post Mortem
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

 .

~~After being told, continuously, that the election is

   "not about race", all anyone talked about after is how

   they were "glad a black guy won". White voters, seduced

   with a vision of racial innocence - a "post-racial" candidate,

  unwittingly embraced race as their primary motivation.

    During the campaign Obama bragged about being "the only one

   against the war". He didn't vote for the war because he wasn't yet

   a Senator, yet savaged Hillary for her vote. Now, hardly anyone

   even mentions the war - Obama's plan to "draw down the troops"

   is murky. He did say that we must "confront Al Queda once and for all".

   Does that sound like "Bring the troops home right away"?

    Meanwhile, the transition team is infested with former Clinton

    staffers - this is the big change everyone voted for?

     The $65 million in "small contributions" Obama collected came at

     the expense of the big environmental groups - the contributions

     are down for every group according to the NRDC.

      How shall the green voters be rewarded?

      Obama proposed big, industrial wind turbines.

      Many environmentalists oppose turbines because they

      don't reduce CO2 or consumption, need traditional (coal)

      power plants and the grid to operate, and the massive blades

      will puree millions of migratory birds.

      I know we can, but maybe we shouldn't... c

3:19 AM - 17 Comments - 17 Kudos - Add Comment

The Perfect Institution
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

. . . . .

 ~~We like to laugh at the Grand Inquisitor - as an example of

 religious excess: lurid accusations of wild sex and cannibalism,

 confessions under the influence of the rack, the auto-da-fe, etc.

  The Cathar Inquisition is well documented, because the prosecuting

 Bishop went on to become a Pope, all his papers were saved.

 The Cathars believed that there were two Gods - a good one, in

 charge of heaven, and a bad one, in charge of earth. Because

 earth is bad, "everything is out of place", the Cathars believed it

 doesn't matter what we do here because we're all going to heaven

 anyway.

  This Cathar heresy extended to the belief that they didn't have to

 tithe - to pay the 10% cut that goes to the Church. That earned them

  unwelcome attention from Rome.

 In this way, the Cathars are "modern"

 people - libertines who cheat on taxes - just like us!

  What we forget ,among the bloody tales of torture and religion, is

 that the secular courts sanctioned torture too, and had little

 regard for "civil liberties". The Inquisition had regulations about

 exactly when and what kind of torture could be applied so that

 it was as "legal" an institution as any other.

  We become smug, thinking that we're so much better - yet

 our own country had Salem witch trials, rounded up socialists,

 interred the Japanese, and had "witch trials" against Hollywood

 communists - all sanctioned by our "legal" authorities.

  A thread runs from the Inquisition through history - the Reign of Terror,

 Nazi death camps, the gulags, Mao, Pol Pot, and the many mass murderers

 who preside over the African nations - all "legal", and secular authorities.

  We like to imagine that we may employ "reason" when it comes to

 decide who we want to prosecute, as if we can examine our beliefs

 with "science". Yet the ivory tower of science has it's own cruelties

 and cluttered facts.

  We idealize a "shared language of public examination" -

 something that was already achieved, with much more clarity and

 precision, by the venerable institution of the Inquisition! c

6:53 PM - 11 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

Predictions 2009!
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

......... 


---It's a bit early, but I don't want the other psychics to say

     I'm piggybacking on them.

         Here are my rock-solid, iron clad lock Predictions for 2009!

      - On Jan 21, Michele Obama will be proud of country for the

        SECOND time in her life.

     - Very cold winter will be said to be "definite proof" of the

        man-made global warming.

     - Age will become the number 1 cause of death among old people.

     - Trouble in the Middle East.

     - Most popular new flavor - Shea Butter!

     - US relations with Kenya, Indonesia, Hawaii, and Illinois

       show a great improvement.

     - Scientists discover 9000 new species - all living under

       the same rock.

     - China corners market on lead paint.

     - GM rolls out "virtual car".

     - Singer Barbara Streisand succumbs to bout with saturated

       fat.

          See you next year, unless I'm abducted by

           space guys! c

   -

---

3:11 AM - 14 Comments - 23 Kudos - Add Comment

The Green Flash
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

 --- -

~~~Calistoga Water Co lays off 80 employees as

       sales of bottled water are down. People realize

       that bottle water costs 800 times more than

       the kind out of the sink.

      Whole Foods Market stock is down 40% as

      people forgo free-range New Zealand lamb

      chops for the regular meat at Kroger/Ralphs.

      California proposition to spend $4 billion on

      alt fuel cars is defeated.

      California proposition to mandate so much percentage

      electricity from renewables is defeated.

     NYT writer and green-cheerleader Friedman drops shibboleth

     of "the warming" and "biodiversity" and now claims that

     alt energy "good for capitalism".

     Joe Biden, after contradicting Obama on "clean coal" says

     that converting to alt energy will be "very painful"

    At least Biden is telling the truth.

    But if people are willing to abandon "green" products and

    initiatives because they've gotten a tad expensive how

    will they react when their utilities, gasoline, food, etc.

    goes up 50% to pay for all the "green" conversions?

    Especially when there are millions of barrels of crude laying around

    the old USA?

    And a trillion barrels in the sands, the shales, and the coal

    mines that will be had cheaply?

    When "going green", for most people means boiling in the

    summer and freezing in the winter?

    Hmmm.... c

3:42 AM - 17 Comments - 15 Kudos - Add Comment

Know Your Psycho
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

----------

 Do you know someone who is witty, charming, smart -

• Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
  
• Parasitic lifestyle
  
• Poor behavioral control
  
• Lack of realistic, long-term goals
  
• Impulsivity
  
• Irresponsibility
  
• Juvenile delinquency
  
• Early behavior problems
  
• Revocation of conditional release

• Many short-term marital relationships
  
• Criminal versatility

          Brain studies reveal that psychopathy may be a defect

          in the "paralimbic system" - the network that reaches

          from the frontal cortex to the posterior cortex - the regions

          involved with precessing emotion, inhibition and attention.

          The psychopath, instead of processing emotion in the limbic

          system, mid-brain, only shows activity in the front of the brain

          in the language center, resulting, as one expert says:

          "They know the words, but not the music".

          25% of the prisoners may be psychopaths - guilty of

          horrific crimes. But just as many, maybe more, are still

          on the loose - so if someone is being "too nice" - run! c 

7:24 AM - 16 Comments - 21 Kudos - Add Comment

Why We Fight
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

______


 ~~~War is so commingled with culture, such a constant

       counterpart to our culture, that, if not for war, we

       wouldn't have any culture at all.

      The Great Stories: "Odyssey", "Iliad", "Gilgamesh"

      "Aeneid", the Bible, many of Shakespeare's plays all

      join culture and war.

      War has left it's stamp on the evolution of music,

      the old martial tunes, the "Eroica", on Art, from the

      early battle pictographs, to the Vietnam memorial, on

      architecture, echos of castles in our official buildings

      and even fashion, with the popular "camouflage" prints and boots.

      The games we play are games of battle: chess or football

      or whatever is the latest video game - they are all byproducts

      of war.

     Culture, in turn, legitimizes war by transforming the universal

     prohibition against murder into the sacred duty of taking lives

     in battle.

    But what about peace? Peace and love?

    While there have always been pacifists, the idea

    of peace didn't go mainstream until the 1970's.

    This change was signaled by the book, "The Aquarian Conspiracy",

    by Marilyn Ferguson.

    According to Ferguson, astrological signs indicate that

    humans are entering a "new age" of harmony, love,

    and transcendence. She cites the popularity of spirit channeling,

    crystal power, and other "natural" products as signs of

    the impending transformation.

    But even Ferguson admits she's not sure if any of these

    things work, or if anything she says is true.

    This may be why the "peace movement" hasn't fared too

    well - there have been more that 200 wars in the last 40

    years, and the number of war refugees has quadrupled.

   War goes with culture like jealousy goes with love.

   The reason why we fight is simply self-interest.

   Notice that every side of every war claims self-defense,

   against some evil force.

    If we look carefully at violence,

    in every form,

    there is nothing that we do that's without it. c

6:56 AM - 11 Comments - 17 Kudos - Add Comment

No We Won’t
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

---------------

 

  ~~~ We've been seeing rapturous stories about the "death of conservatism":

   the repudiation of the Reagan revolution by the failures of Bush Jr., etc.

   Some go so far as calling for the return of FDR, the worst president ever.

   This incoherent view ignores three essential things:

----------

 

    Bush is no conservative - the biggest education bill ever, the third

    largest social program, the biggest AIDS to Africa bill ever, a messy

    interventionist war. This is the program of a moderate Democrat, like JFK!

    Any doubt? JFK's first act as president was to cut taxes for the "rich".

 

    A moderate Democrat is a Republican who likes trees - the line that

    defines "moderate" has moved so far right that the politicians have become

    indistinguishable. The Clintons perfected this. Oh, individuals may have their

    pet issues, like the gays or warming hysteria, but substantially they are

    all the same.

 

    No one knows what a conservative is - the great Grover Norquist defined

    the true conservative agenda: to shrink the Fed so small that it can be

    "drowned like a baby in the bathtub". This is a fine and noble goal, but it

    is contingent on two things:

----------

 

    The States must grow some balls - in Democrat California, the legislators

    live in protected, gerrymandered districts, spend tax money like an  abstraction,

    on all kinds of nonsense, and then, when they bankrupt the state, scream "Bush"!

    But when it comes time to actually do their job - make laws, they palm it off

    to the deceptive and fraudulent proposition process.

    This is why local elections are the most important thing!

 

    The Parasite Classes must be eradicated - there are "interest groups"

    that are an expensive drain on the economy and cause social harm

    by promoting fear and confusion. If you oppose them they scream about

    "Our Children". These are the unions, the trial lawyers, and the Wall St brokers.

    Note that the Democrats depend on these people for most of their money

 

    Which is why the Democrats are unfit to lead. c

6:25 PM - 12 Comments - 15 Kudos - Add Comment

Obama/ovulation survey results!
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

Remember the Obama Survey that asked if you are having your period?

Here are the results, which appear in "Glamour" magazine

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2008/10/ovulating-women-prefer-obama-a.html



As you can see from the address, "ovulating women prefer Obama", leads one to believe that not all political decisions are a result of logic and reason! c


...

11:42 PM - 13 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

Walk Away
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

.......................

     I was finishing some task at the studio, my friend had put away

     all of his materials and was waiting in a chair against the wall.

    "Are we ready to go?" he asked. "Just five more minutes baby-doll,"

     I replied in show biz lingo.

    "Okay, ready," I said, "do we have everything?" I stood and looked the

     tables over - they were clean, our packages in a neat group by the door.

     We turned off the lights and walked out into the hall. My friend closed the

     office door, turned the deadbolt, said, "Just one more look", unlocked the

     door and walked back inside. After a few moments, he came out again.

     "Why did you do that when you just got done staring at everything for

       ten minutes while you were waiting for me?" I asked.

      "Because I have to"

      "No", I exclaimed, "you could just walk away!"

       "I can't", he said, weakly...

     "At least I didn't look in every corner, under every chair" he complained,

      "I used to be much worse - I used to have to go back home and check

      did I lock the door or make sure the stove wasn't on"

     "But you don't even cook," I observed, "what's in your 'fridge right now?"

      "A moldy plate that reminds me of your face."

     "Listen to me," I hissed as we walked down the empty hallway

      "Focus! - if you just walk away it's not the end of the world!

      Say you do leave something behind, or your house is looted or

      burned down - so what? Maybe that will teach you to pay attention

      next time!"

      You see, my friend suffers from the idea that anything he may or

      may not do is "important". It is not - in 100 years no one will remember

      or care about anything he did.

     So of course he can just "walk away". Why not? Will he die?

     No, he'll just experience some "anxiety".

     "And I know how to fix that too," I added, helpfully,

     "I'll hit you in the leg with a golf club, to help take your

     mind off things... In fact, most of your problems can be solved

     with a sound, physical beating!"

        ...that's what friends are for. c

6:30 AM - 8 Comments - 11 Kudos - Add Comment

Deprivation
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

..............

    ~~The Daughter is doing a project on the Bill of Rights.

    You may recall, these are the amendments to the

    Constitution, usually the first ten.

    I asked her, "Why do you suppose rights are a good idea?"

    She answers, "Because the deprivation of rights hurts people".

    I had to agree, but was hoping for a more positive answer.

    "Deprivation" is her theme - kids are like that; attracted to the

    cruel and dramatic, secretly taking the side of Authority, while

    avoiding the onus of the crime -

      "Every woman adores a Fascist,"

     as Sylvia Plath likes to say...

    But if everyone thinks that rights are so great, whether

    God-given, or just useful, why are they being continuously

    eroded, ignored, taken away?

    Usually, rights are abrogated because someone is trying

    to "do good" - either to promote the "common good"

   (the poke-nose liberal do-gooders) or by people trying to

   promote some standard of moral behavior

   (the killjoy roast-in-Hell crowd).

   Either way, it is clear that most of the evil in the world is

   caused by people who are trying to do good.

   Because, what ARE rights, anyway?

   Rights are the protections for people to do as they please -

   to ensure "individual liberty". And what people want to do,

   all the time, is gratify their desires and emotions.

   Is this important? It is only the only thing that makes life

   worth living...

   Given this standard, which politician or platform deserves

   our support? Why, the answer is clear - none of them!

   A "lesser evil" is still evil. The State, if it has any legitimacy,

   has the sole function of protecting our privacy -

  not promote "unity" or someones whack idea about

  "appropriate behavior". c

7:22 AM - 10 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment