Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Mother, Pray For Us...

For my late night film, I was enjoying the movie, (The Beatles)HELP, (which I believe was filmed in India), and toward the end, the antagonist(s) invoke the Goddess Kali, (while they prepare to slit the throat of Ringo Starr, as the wearer of a sacred ring of a sacrifice...) In the ocean was a giant bronze or brass statue of what we assume is Kali... However, the statue had at least 8 arms, and looked male to me...
(This had to bug "The Quiet One" a bit, I am sure...)

Since he is no longer in bodied to set it strait, I thought I'd do a little on-line research on Kali to see what I could find... this of course, led me to looking at other Goddesses, and I have compiled, from the best of what I have found, info on three Goddesses, we in americA know little about...

Please hit the links, and make sure dig as deep as you can... after all, the Truth is about be revealed (once and for ALL), and readers of Groove Damage, should be, at least somewhat, prepared for what has been written, hidden, and restored... (and, in Latter-days, hidden again, by the media savvy politico-power mongers, rubbing elbows with Evil's host).

The following has been edited by me, and emphasis is mine, (but all the links are there to check my work by).


So, i ask ye... Who is this 'Goddess'?


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"...She is the divine creatrix who has manifested these dancing forms of consciousness as an adoration for Her beloved, the eternal formless Supreme Being - God the Father.

In truth these two timeless lovers are not two. Rather, they are inseparably bound to play out their cosmic dance of love for all eternity..."




#1- Kali


"Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time.

There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time.

In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala.

Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses.


The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote: "Kali; Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love."

It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality.

Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons,

nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death).

It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate.

This is not to worship death
but rather it is to overcome
the I-am-the-body idea, by reinforcing the awareness that, the body is a temporary condition.

Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego.

Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego.
Thus we are the eternal, I AM, and not the body.
This is underscored by the scene of the cremation grounds.

Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha; or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality.

The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise.


A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form.

A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

Ma Kali wears a garland of skulls and a skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body.

In truth
we are beings of spirit and not flesh. So liberation can only proceed when our attachment to the body ends.

Thus, the garland and skirt are trophies worn by Her to symbolize having liberated Her children from attachment to the limited body.

She holds a sword and a freshly severed head dripping blood.

As the story goes, this represents a great battle in which she destroyed the demon Raktabija.

Her black skin represents the womb of the quantum un-manifest from which all of creation arises, and into which, all of creation will eventually dissolve.

She is depicted as standing on Shiva who lays beneath Her with white skin (in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin). He has a blissful detached look.

Shiva represents pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss), while She represents "form" eternally supported by the substratum of pure awareness.

By not understanding the story behind Mother Kali it is easy to misinterpret Her iconography.

In the same way, one could say that Christianity is a religion of death, destruction, and cannibalism... in which the practitioners drink the blood of Jesus and eat his flesh.

Of course, we know this is not the proper understanding of the communion ritual.

Attaching the idea of sexuality to Mother Kali has no basis in Her at all.

There is nothing that associates Her with sexuality in the Hindu stories. In fact it is just the opposite.
She is one of the few Goddesses who is celibate, practicing austerity and renunciation!

The notion that She is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply utter nonsense. When we study the life of the great saint Ramakrishna or the great poet saint Ramprasad (both famous Kali worshippers), or listen to the traditional Hindu devotional songs to Kali, there is no hint of this death-sex-violence notion.

This can also be confirmed by going to any of the Hindu websites such as www.hindunet.com and reading about Mother Kali.
Also recommended is the book, Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth Harding.

Also there is a beautiful and genuine Kali temple in Laguna Beach, California and it may be visited on-line at www.kalimandir.org. Kali is the goddess of enlightenment or liberation."


The Picture of Kali



[The following is Reprinted from the Kali Temple web site]

Name: Kali is so called because She devours Kala (time), and then resumes Her own dark formlessness.

She is the embodiment of three gunas (qualities of nature): She creates with Her sattva guna (quality of goodness and purity), preserves with rajas (passion and activity), and destroys with tamas (ignorance and inertia).

Complexion: Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky. As the sky is limitless, so is She. From a distance one sees the ocean water as blue, but it is colorless and transparent when examined closely.

Crescent above the forehead: She is the giver of liberation.

Earrings: Images of two little babies hang from Her ears; this means that She favors childlike devotees.

Smiling face: She is ever-blissful.

Tongue: Kali's white teeth symbolize, sattva or serenity; Her red tongue, rajas, symbolizes activity; and
Her drunkenness, tamas or inertia.

(The meaning:) tamas can be conquered by rajas, and rajas by sattva.

Full breast: She is the nourisher of all beings.

Terrible form: She is the mother of the universe as well as the destroyer. When a mother spanks her child, it does not mean that she is cruel; she disciplines her child for its own good.

Necklace: It consist of fifty skulls that represent the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, the origin of sound.
She is Shabda Brahman (Sound-Brahman), or Logos-the source of creation.

Two right arms: The upper right arm grants fearlessness, and the lower right arm offers boons. She protects Her children from danger, and She fulfills their desires.

Two left arms: She holds a sword with the upper left arm and a severed head with the lower. She can cut human bondage with the sword of knowledge, and She imparts wisdom to the head, the receptacle of supreme wisdom.

Naked form: She is called digambari, "clad in space." She is infinite, so no finite dress can cover Her.

Waist: Kali's waist is encircled with a girdle of severed human arms that represent action. All human actions, and their results, go to the Divine Mother. At the end of a cycle all souls merge with Kali; during creation they again evolve with their respective karmas.

Shiva is under Her feet: Shiva and Shakti are always together. He is the changeless aspect of the Supreme, and She the apparently changing aspect of the same. Shiva is pure cosmic consciousness, and Kali is cosmic energy.

No creation is possible without their union. Shiva cannot manifest without the power of Kali, and Kali cannot function without the consciousness of Shiva.

Dakshina Kali and Vama Kali: If Her right foot is forward, She is Dakshina Kali (benign form); and if Her left foot is forward, Vama Kali (terrible form).

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#2- Isis


"The Goddess Isis originated in Egypt.

Inscribed on Her temple is the phrase, "I, Isis, am all that has been, that is or shall be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled."

By the period of the Roman Empire, she had become the most prominent deity of the Mediterranean basin.

She was a formidable contender with the newly founded Christian religion and Her worship continued well into the 6th century AD until persecution pushed Her into the shadows of religiosity.

In Egyptian She is named Aset, (or Eset), She is one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt.

Her name is the Greek form of an ancient Egyptian word that is perhaps associated with a word for "throne."

Little is known of Isis' early cult.

In the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350-c. 2100 BC), she is the mourner for her murdered husband, the god Osiris.

In her role as the wife of Osiris, she discovered and reunited the pieces of her dead husband's body, was the chief mourner at his funeral, and through her magical power, brought him back to life.











Isis hid her son, Horus, from Seth, the murderer of Osiris, until Horus was fully grown and could avenge his father. She defended the child against many attacks from snakes and scorpions. But because Isis was also Seth's sister, she wavered during the eventual battle between Horus and Seth, and in one episode, Isis pitied Seth and was beheaded by Horus during their struggle.

Despite Her variable temperament, She and Horus were regarded by the Egyptians as the perfect mother and son.

The shelter She afforded her child gave Her the character of a goddess of protection.

However, Her chief aspect was that of a great magician, whose power transcended that of all other deities.

Several narratives tell of Her magical prowess, with which She could even outwit the creator god Atum.

She was invoked on behalf of the sick, and, with the goddesses Nephthys, Neith, and Selket, she protected the dead.

She became associated with various other goddesses who had similar functions, and thus Her nature became increasingly diverse.

In particular, the goddess Hathor and Isis became similar in many respects.

In the astral interpretation of the gods, Isis was equated with the dog star Sothis (Sirius).

Isis was represented as a woman with the hieroglyphic sign of the throne on her head, either sitting on a throne, alone or holding the child Horus, or kneeling before a coffin.



Occasionally She was shown with a cow's head.

As mourner, She was a principal deity in all rites connected with the dead; as magician, She cured the sick and brought the dead to life; and, as mother, She was herself a life-giver.

The cult of Isis spread throughout Egypt. In Akhmim she received special attention as the "mother" of the fertility god, Min.

She had important temples throughout Egypt and Nubia.

By Greco-Roman times She was dominant among Egyptian goddesses, and she received acclaim from Egyptians and Greeks for Her many names and aspects.

Several temples were dedicated to Her in Alexandria, where She became the "patroness of seafarers."

From Alexandria Her cult was brought to all the shores of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome.

In Hellenistic times the mysteries of Isis and Osiris developed; these were comparable to other Greek mystery cults."
---

(Check out a list of Symbology for Isis from Goddess Gift)



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#3- Minerva






"In Roman religion, Minerva is the goddess of handicrafts, the professions, the arts,
and, later, war;


She was commonly identified with the Greek Athena.



Some scholars believe that Her cult was that of Athena introduced at Rome from Etruria. This is reinforced by the fact that Minerva was one of the Capitoline triad, in association with Jupiter and Juno.








Her shrine on the Aventine in Rome was a meeting place for guilds of craftsmen,
including at one time dramatic poets and actors.








Her worship as a goddess of war encroached upon that of Mars.


The erection of a temple to Minerva, by Pompey, out of the spoils of his Eastern conquests, shows that by then She had been identified with the Greek Athena Nike, bestower of victory.












Under the emperor Domitian, who, claimed her special protection, the worship of Minerva attained its greatest vogue in Rome."







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So there you have it Beloved... very interesting, yet, leaving ME wanting to know more, more, more, on these and the other Goddesses throughout antiquity...

Study!

La Vie Boheme!!

Monday, October 29, 2007

"Life is a hospital in which every patient is possessed by the desire of changing his bed. One would prefer to suffer near the fire, and another is certain he would get well if he were by the window." - Charles Baudelaire

I Am Legend Trailer 2 - The best video clips are right here

Friday, October 26, 2007

Thursday, October 25, 2007


Psalm 91 (The Message)



1-13You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow,
Say this: "God, you're my refuge.
I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you're perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
drop like flies right and left,
no harm will even graze you.
You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God's your refuge,
the High God your very own home,
Evil can't get close to you,
harm can't get through the door.
He ordered his angels
to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they'll catch you;
their job is to keep you from falling.
You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

14-16 "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God,
"I'll get you out of any trouble.
I'll give you the best of care
if you'll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times;
I'll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I'll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation!"

--vivalarevoluuuujia--La Vie Boheme

2 part culture study

‘Dixie Chicking’: Post-9/11 Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry



Posted on Oct 25, 2007
Dixie Chicks
AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh

Still singing: Dixie Chicks (from left) Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire perform on “Good Morning America” on May 26, 2006.

Ed Rampell

The HUAC/McCarthy era and Hollywood blacklist may be over, but the not-so-grand inquisitors are still among us. On March 31, 2007, activist/actor Mike Farrell, who co-starred in TV’s “M*A*S*H” and co-founded Artists United to Win Without War, told Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting’s “CounterSpin” radio program, “There’s a price to be paid for speaking out, and some have paid a fairly serious price.” Around that same time, at a March 24, 2007 anti-war Oakland town meeting called by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, actor Sean Penn stated, “we are encouraged to self-censor any words that might be perceived as inflammatory—if our belief is that this war should stop today. We cower as you point fingers telling us to ‘support our troops.’”

There are other examples of creative people suffering the consequences of their outspokenness since 9/11, but none are as compelling as the saga of the Dixie Chicks, the top-selling “girl group” of all time. Indeed, the red, white and bluegrass band’s name became a verb meaning censoring and punishing dissenters: “Dixie Chicking.” The Chicks’ story was turned into a documentary by two-time Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple (1976’s “Harlan County USA” and 1990’s “American Dream") and Cecilia Peck. Cecilia’s father, Gregory Peck, won the Oscar for portraying the screen’s archetypal fighting liberal, Atticus Finch, in 1962’s anti-racist “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and produced the 1972 anti-Vietnam-War film “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” about the Berrigan brothers’ anti-draft activities. (In August 2007, Tim Robbins’ L.A.-based Actors Gang troupe presented a reading of the “Catonsville Nine” drama as a fundraiser.)

“Shut Up & Sing” was presented on March 23, 2007 at L.A.’s Pacific Design Center as part of the West Hollywood Women’s Leadership Conference, along with a post-screening panel discussion moderated by radio host Stephanie Miller that included Cecilia Peck and Natalie Maines. During the Dixie Chicks’ 2003 “Top of the World” tour, it was Maines who set-off the firestorm on the eve of “shock and awe” when she told British concert-goers: “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

As “Shut Up and Sing” demonstrated, all hell broke loose after Maines’ on-stage comment made the media rounds. The Chicks lost most of their airtime on right-leaning country western radio; CD and concert ticket sales plummeted. Egged on by reactionary FreeRepublic.com bloggers and DJs, ex-fans destroyed Chicks CDs en masse during the ensuing “Dixie Chicks Destruction” campaign. Concerts were picketed by red-baiters who called the Chicks “traitors” and “communists,” although the group’s fans were divided, and some remained loyal. Worst of all, bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors were deployed at Dixie Chicks concerts. Under heavy security, the Texas trio confronted a 2003 death threat at a Dallas performance, after a letter threatened to shoot Maines in the same city where JFK had been gunned down 40 years earlier. For his part, President Bush appeared to egg on the Chicks’ persecutors, saying: “They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt just because some people don’t want to buy their records.”

Sixty years after the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist, “Shut Up & Sing” raises the issue of modern-day censorhip. Onscreen, Maines reacts to the group’s loss of airtime, angrily demanding to know, “How is [this] not a boycott? They haven’t been playing our music for a few weeks.” Paul Beane, general manager of the Lubbock, Texas radio station KRBL, declared, “We’re not going to play them any more. It’d simply be financial suicide.” At a 2004 Senate hearing, in one of his finer moments, Senator John McCain mocked Clear Channel’s denial that the media conglomerate is ordering its radio stations to ban the Chicks from its corporate airwaves.

(In 2004, CNN quoted Howard Stern as saying that the San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel is “very tied to the Bush administration.” In the CNN report, Stern says,” Clear Channel for years has been defending me ... I criticize Bush and then I’m fired ... They acted out of politics.")

During the panel following the March 2007 “Shut Up and Sing” screening, Stephanie Miller, host of the nationally-syndicated “Stephanie Miller Show,” noted that, ironically, Clear Channel was a co-sponsor of the screening. Despite Clear Channel’s apparent support of that event, Miller said, “There’s a concerted effort to shut down progressive talk. [Conservative] Christians are buying radio stations.” Miller, whose father was Barry Goldwater’s Republican running mate in 1964, claimed that progressive stations were even being taken off the air in markets where they were number one in the ratings. Ed Schultz, whose nationally syndicated program is also heard on Air America, similarly complained of blacklisting in Ohio markets.

“Freedom of Speech is Not Free”

Onscreen, and in the “Shut Up and SIng” panel discussion, Natalie Maines displayed her defiant spirit, which was also evident on December 15, 2003. At the height of the backlash against progressive artists, the Dixie Chicks attended the annual Bill of Rights Dinner presented by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Southern California chapter in Beverly Hills. The function celebrated the 212th birthday of the 10 Amendments and honored Chicks manager Simon Renshaw (and that other “Dixie Chick,” fellow Texan Molly Ivins).

Asked which of the 10 Amendments was their favorite, Maines, Emily Robison, and manager Simon Renshaw all proclaimed the First. Renshaw added: “You know! The big one! The whole, like, speech thing one! ... The right to bare big mouths.” If they must choose between 10 platinum albums or the First Amendment, Robison preferred: “Freedom of speech. That’s ... really easy to answer. It was hard for us to be made an example of this year—but sometimes you’ve got to be the one ... We still want to stand up for what we believe is right.”

How is it that Americans pride themselves on living in a free country where people can speak their minds, but if they express dissent they’re often punished? “That’s the new system here,” Renshaw responded. “Certain people in the country have figured out that the best way of actually curtailing freedom of speech is to make sure people understand freedom of speech is no longer free, and there’s consequences to exercising free speech. What we saw in 2003, when people spoke out, there was a very well organized, vociferous group that immediately went after them and attempted to harm their well-being. Certainly, the Dixie Chicks saw death threats as a result of what they said,” Renshaw said.

Maines added: “After Sept. 11th, we felt lots of vulnerability, and wanted somebody to lead and save us. The country’s been in a strange state ... so try not to get too discouraged about everything that occurred. Things like that should always be a reminder, that we haven’t necessarily come as far as we think we have, and we have to constantly be checking ourselves. A mother of a military guy wrote us saying, ‘Freedom’s not something you can write on a wall. It’s something you live.’ So I feel proud that I use my freedoms, and don’t just claim on a daily basis to have freedom.”

Expressing admiration for the ACLU, Maines noted, “Standing up for the underdog sometimes is not politically correct.” When the tongue-in-cheeky Maines presented the award to Renshaw, she poked fun at those questioning her patriotism: “Lots of people will be surprised to hear I was here tonight, because they were waiting for me to get out of that hole with Saddam.”

Maines added, “Another power the federal government refuses to limit [is] the power of the corporate media. Not the media’s right to speak, but the media’s obligation to let other people speak. I don’t want to mention any names, but freedom of speech requires a clear channel to communications ... We have to all get active and challenge our government, or ... the Bill of Rights will just be something from history we learn about in school.”

During his acceptance speech, Renshaw mocked “George the Second,” contending: “Certainly, 2003 ... [was] the year America was deceived into a war, and part of that deception was putting on notice any dissenting voice to ensure they understood freedom of speech is not free. The concept of ‘shut up and sing’ was born ... It’s now possible to be ‘Dixie Chicked’ ... There are many well-organized groups of right thinking citizens who will work selflessly to make sure that those who dare to speak up and dissent are suitably ‘Dixie Chicked.’ They make their views known from the safety and anonymity of the Internet and radio talk shows ... They’re determined to ensure that we understand freedom of speech is not free.”

Renshaw continued: “Especially you—Hollywood. You music and movie celebrities… are all on notice: Shut up and sing—or act or whatever. But shut up! I also learned we can count on America’s liberal media—yeah, right! Instead of asking the questions and encouraging debate, our new media conglomerates issue corporate fatwas on those to be ‘Dixie Chicked.’ Music networks can ban your music, talk shows can vilify your personality, what remains of this country’s so-called news media trivializes it all into neat 30 second sound bytes ... You may have freedom of speech, but our media now seems to be designed we’ll never be heard… A well-known German TV personality… told us: ‘In my country, our media would never allow this to happen again.’”

Finally, Renshaw concluded: “I’d like to thank the Dixie Chicks [for] the way they handled themselves through a lousy time ... and for having the strength to say ‘no,’ and for their insistence on always doing the right thing ... Freedom of speech is only important if it’s exercised. Celebrities should not shut up and sing: They should stand up and shout, and we must support them.”

“Stand Up and Shout”

In a similar spirit, during his March 24, 2007 speech, Sean Penn declared: “Well, you and the smarmy pundits in your pocket, those who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and bloodstained underwear, can take that noise and shove it. We will be snowed no more. Let’s make this crystal clear. We do support our troops in our stand, while you exploit them and their families. The verdict is in. You lied, connived, and exploited your own countrymen and most of all, our troops ... you Misters Bush and Cheney; you Ms. Rice, are villainously and criminally obscene people. ...”

Their courage and creativity sustained dissident artists, as the tide of public opinion eventually began to turn. In 2004, Penn and co-star Tim Robbins won Oscars for “Mystic River,” a film about child-killing and abuse, directed by Clint Eastwood, who went on to helm the anti-war-themed 2007 Best Picture nominee “Letters From Iwo Jima.” And the Dixie Chicks swept 2007’s Grammys, as their single “Not Ready To Make Nice” expressed the band’s fighting spirit. These awards are affirmations for contrarian performers in industries subject to popular and commercial whims.

Likewise, in the decades following their censure, some blacklist-era artists also made comebacks. Dalton Trumbo wrote numerous movies, including “Spartacus,” directing and writing the 1971 pacifist picture “Johnny Got His Gun,” which won the Jury Grand Prize at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. Ring Lardner won a screenwriting Oscar for 1970’s antiwar comedy “M*A*S*H,” as did Waldo Salt for 1969’s “Midnight Cowboy,” which also won the Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards. Salt was also co-nominated for 1974’s “Serpico” and co-won another Oscar for 1978’s anti-Vietnam War drama. “Coming Home,” starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Abraham Polonsky’s “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” (1969) was a gritty look at indigenous Americans’ plight.

The Committee for the First Amendment ‘47/’07 was formed this year, not just to commemorate the Hollywood Ten and the blacklist or to seek redress for past grievances. Rather, the main reason for its creation was to remind people about a previous era of repression in order to shine a light on contemporary censorship against dissenting artists so that another blacklist—and a new brand of McCarthyism—never comes to pass. The following is a list of several artists and media figures who have paid the price for dissenting since September 11th, 2001.

Dixie Chicks
AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh

Still singing: Dixie Chicks (from left) Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire perform on “Good Morning America” on May 26, 2006.

Ed Rampell

(Page 2)

“Watch What You Say”: The Post-9/11 Dixie Chicked:

* Like truth, comedian Bill Maher was an early casualty of war. Discussing 9/11’s skyjackers on the September 17, 2001 episode of “Politically Incorrect,” Maher stated, “We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly. Stupid maybe, but not cowardly.” Maher’s remarks prompted Bush’s then-spokesman Ari Fleischer to warn: “Watch what you say.” The Disney-owned ABC network cancelled Maher’s show in June 2002.

* Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Phillip Noyce’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American,” starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser, was reportedly shelved because it critiqued U.S. foreign policy in 1950s Vietnam. According to the Toronto Sun, Miramax (then part of Disney) “abandoned it because ... Harvey Weinstein did not like the politics.” Caine, a two-time Oscar winner knighted by Queen Elizabeth, was forced to plead for the release of the film, which finally opened in November 2002.

* In February 2003, Sean Penn sued producer Steve Bing for $10 million for allegedly firing the actor from a film because of Penn’s 2002 Washington Post anti-war ad and trip to Baghdad. Bing counter-sued.

* After the Dixie Chicks’ frontwoman Natalie Maines said at a March 2003 concert in London, “[W]e’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,” the Chicks, who were once the top-selling all-girl group ever, went on to lose airtime on country western radio stations owned by Clear Channel and other corporations, and CD and concert ticket sales plummeted. Egged on by reactionary bloggers and DJs, anti-"DXC" listeners destroyed Dixie Chicks’ CDs during “Dixie Chicks Destruction” events.

* In 2003, Actor David Clennon was targeted by a right-wing Internet campaign to fire him from CBS’ CIA series “The Agency” for comparing Bush’s America to Nazi Germany.

* Conservatives attempted to impeach “acting president” Martin Sheen from NBC’s “The West Wing” and his Visa and American Express endorsements.

* Also in 2003, Right-wingers lobbied MCI to drop activist actor Danny Glover as its spokesman.

* As the Iraq war loomed, the peace sign Amanda Bynes flashed was removed from ads for 2003’s “What a Girl Wants.”

* After Michael Moore said, “Shame on you, Mr. Bush,” at the March 23, 2003 Academy Awards ceremony, a right-wing, “pro-family” group published the address of Moore’s house in rural Michigan, according to Moore, who said, “They published a photo of it. My home was vandalized. There have been attempts to do various things. Harvey and Bob [Weinstein] have to pay for 24/7 security for me. It’s a rotten way to live.”

* Madonna reportedly self-censored her April 2003 “American Life” music video.

* On April 6, 2003, CBS fired Ed Gernon after the producer of the 2003 miniseries “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” told TV Guide that the series’ story “basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunge the whole world into war. I can’t think of a better time to examine this history than now.” The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, denounced “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” as “a sign of Hollywood’s anti-Americanism.” Fox News commentator and “Bush Country” author John Podhoretz called the docudrama “an act of slander against the president” in his NY Post column.

* In 2003, the Cooperstown, N.Y., Baseball Hall of Fame cancelled a 15th anniversary “Bull Durham” commemoration because of the anti-war politics of its stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. On April 15, 2003, Robbins told Washington’s National Press Club, “A history teacher tells [my] 11-year-old ... nephew [that] Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another teacher ... asks our niece if we are coming to the school play. ‘They’re not welcome here,’ said the molder of young minds ... A friend listen[s] to the radio down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent antiwar activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent antiwar activists’ doorsteps ... Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy ... has recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes—or, rather, scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt. Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam ... by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by their ‘fair and balanced’ electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox.”

* At a September 2003 fundraiser for presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, actor Ed Begley Jr. said, “There’s a boycott list on the Internet for all the people who spoke out against the war, to write letters to studios telling them you don’t want to see shows featuring Jamie Cromwell, [myself], Ed Asner, Tim Robbins ... Janeane Garofalo [took] a big hit. They’ve suffered financially, can’t get work now. They’ve been blackballed. People don’t want to hire them ... Janeane gets so much hate mail ... I didn’t work from when that boycott list happened until just a few weeks ago ... I’ve never only worked three days in nine months since ... 1967.” Reactionary websites, including celiberal.com and boycott-hollywood.net, urged boycotts of activist actors.

* Conservatives reportedly pressured CBS to edit and reschedule the less-than-laudatory miniseries “The Reagans” from its original November 2003 CBS broadcast date to 2004 on the cable TV channel Showtime, which—like CBS—is owned by Viacom but has fewer viewers.

* The FCC proposed a $495,000 fine against six Clear Channel stations airing Howard Stern’s radio show on April 8, 2004. The shock jock responded, “This is a follow-up to the McCarthy-type ‘witch-hunt’ of the administration and the activities of this group of presidential appointees in the FCC, led by ‘Colin Powell Jr.’ [FCC Chairman Michael Powell] ... They… are… imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may listen to and watch and how we should think ... It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S. It’s hard to reconcile this with the ‘land of the free’ and the ‘home of the brave.’ I’m sure what’s next is the removal of ‘dirty pictures’ like the 20th century German exhibit in a New York City Museum and the erotic literature in our libraries; they too will fall into their category of ‘evil’ as well.”

* In May 2004, Disney reneged on its distribution deal for Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”, momentarily leaving the Cannes Palme d’Or winner in limbo until Lionsgate released it.

* After Linda Ronstadt praised “Fahrenheit 9/11” during her July 17, 2004 concert at Las Vegas’ Aladdin resort, fans grew irate; she was escorted by security guards off the property and banned from performing there again.

* CBS News producer Mary Mapes was fired, and Dan Rather eventually forced out, after their September 8, 2004 “60 Minutes II” election-year report challenged George W. Bush’s Vietnam War service record. The expose presented compelling evidence that strings had been pulled to get Bush out of going to ‘Nam, and into the Texas Air National Guard’s “Champagne Unit” instead.

* On Sept. 21, 2004, a Washington-bound passenger jet bearing British musician Cat Stevens—who had long before converted to Islam and had re-recorded his 1970’s “Peace Train” hit to protest the Iraq war—was diverted to Maine after U.S. authorities matched his name with a no-fly list. Homeland Security denied Stevens admission to the U.S.

* Following a successful 2005 run on the London stage, on March 22, 2006 the premiere of the pro-Palestinian rights play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop was postponed. The drama was based on the titular 23-year-old American peace activist, who was crushed and killed on March 16, 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer as she attempted to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian pharmacist’s home in Gaza. The play finally debuted at Greenwich Village’s Minetta Lane Theatre in October 2006.

* On September 15, 2006, Bill Maher claimed that CBS News withdrew its offer for the comic to appear in the short-lived “Free Speech” segment on Katie Couric’s “CBS Evening News” program after Maher—an atheist—chose religion as his proposed topic.

* In October 2006, right-winger Florian Sokolowski sent left-leaning talk show host Stephanie Miller a letter declaring: “As with Cindy Sheehan, the best thing that could happen to you would be seeing some wonderful activist sticking an AK-47 up your glory holes and sending you into eternity.”

* By early 2007, the Clear Channel-owned radio station WTPG-AM changed its liberal talk show format, dropping programs including the nationally-syndicated Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz shows, although the Columbus, Ohio station had reportedly tripled its ratings. Miller, Schultz and Air America programs were replaced by right-wing shows hosted by Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham. Miller alleges, “There’s a concerted effort to shut down progressive talk. [Conservative] Christians are buying radio stations.” In the April 6, 2007 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Schultz claimed his program’s move to the evening on Clear Channel-owned KTLK-AM in Los Angeles “has nothing to do with ratings or sales.” “Big Eddie”—whom Talkers Magazine called America’s leading “progressive talk” host—alleged that Air America “wrote [KTLK] a check” to put a host with lower Arbitron ratings in Schultz’s afternoon time slot.

* Folk singer Joan Baez, who had performed at numerous anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, was forbidden from participating in John Cougar Mellencamp’s April 27, 2007 Walter Reed Hospital concert for wounded troops.

* On the fourth anniversary of the start of the U.S. military’s “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, CNN’s White House correspondent Ed Henry sparred with Bush’s press secretary over what the “recipe for success” in Iraq is. During the March 19, 2007 briefing, Tony Snow told Henry to “zip it.”

* On May 2, 2007 the U.S. Treasury Department notified Michael Moore that he was being investigated for violating the U.S. trade embargo’s travel restrictions to Cuba by taking ailing 9/11 rescue workers for treatment there as part of “SiCKO.” In case U.S. authorities tried to seize it, Moore hid a copy of his health care documentary in an overseas safe house. After “SiCKO” opened on June 29, Moore was grilled by many mainstream media outlets with the kind of zeal the corporate press had failed to exhibit during the lead up to the Iraq war.

* On May 9, 2007, retired Major General John Baptiste, former commander of the First Infantry in Iraq, appeared in an anti-war TV ad—and was quickly fired as a CBS news consultant.

* Following a May 23, 2007 on-the-air confrontation with her conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell quit ABC’s “The View” before her contract expired. The outspoken O’Donnell called Hasselbeck “cowardly” for not defending her when “Republican pundits” accused Rosie of equating American troops with “terrorists.”

* On June 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against former Alaska high school student Joseph Frederick, who had unfurled a “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner seen on national TV during the Olympic relay. Frederick contended that subsequent reprisals by school administrators violated his First Amendment rights. This was the high court’s first ruling on student free speech rights in 20 years.

* The Interior Department and Republican Senators James Inhofe and Mitch McConnell reportedly blocked the U.S. portion of the anti-global-warming Live Earth telecast from taking place at Washington’s National Mall. The July 7, 2007 global concert and environmental fundraiser was co-presented by Al Gore, whose documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Oscar.

* In a front page story, the August 21, 2007 L.A. Times reported that the Israeli Defense Force is blacklisting celebrities and performers who have evaded the draft or not completed their service, barring them from entertaining at military functions and venues and on its media outlets.

* When Sally Field attempted to make an anti-war statement during her acceptance speech on the September 16, 2007 Emmy awards ceremony televised live on FOX TV, network censors cut the audio and video. What the censored actress said was,"Let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place.”

* Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather filed a $70 million wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS on September 19, 2007, alleging that, in the aftermath of the “60 Minutes II” report charging that Bush had ducked military service, CBS had made Rather a “scapegoat” in order to “pacify” the White House. Rather told the L.A. Times that “any money he collects will go to nonprofit groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists.”

* The U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning a MoveOn.org ad by a 72-25 vote on September 20, 2007. MoveOn’s full-page ad in The New York Times was headlined and sub-headed: “General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House.” Apparently the 22 Democratic senators who voted with the majority agreed with Bush, who attacked MoveOn’s ad as “disgusting.”

On October 26, the precise 60th anniversary of the Committee for the First Amendment’s first “Hollywood Fights Back!” broadcast, contemporary talents, along with blacklist survivors and their relatives, will reenact the original 1947 radio program. Performers scheduled to participate include: former SAG President Ed Asner, Norma Barzman, Larry Gelbart, Isabelle Gunning (ACLU/SC President), Marsha Hunt, Camryn Manheim, Ramona Ripston, Christopher Trumbo, James Whitmore, and Becca Wilson. The event, presented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, will take place at L.A.’s Skirball Center. For more information call: (213)977-9500, Ext. 227.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

TECH


How green is my plasma?


Photostat

Asher Moses
October 24, 2007 - 12:48PM
Page 1 of 2

* Your new TV may soon be a consumer relic

Advertisement

Consumers, instead of waiting for government action, will force television makers to develop more energy efficient flat screens by voting with their wallets, says the chief executive of a green comparison shopping site.

Comparison.com.au, which helps shoppers compare TVs based on their price and technical specifications, this week added a new feature allowing users to sort TV models by their energy efficiency rating and the amount they cost to run per annum.

The annual power cost savings earned by upgrading to a greener TV are rarely more than a few hundred dollars, according to the site's measurements, but CEO Robin Jowett said protecting the environment alone was enough of an incentive.

"People are becoming much more conscious of the environment and of the impact of these complex electrical items they're putting in their homes," he said.

"What we're trying to do here is help the consumer vote with their wallet and guide the manufacturers about how they can improve their products and the impact they have on the environment."

---------------------------
FastForward Blog: Are TV green credentials important?
---------------------------

The Federal Government is considering imposing tough mandatory energy requirements on TV manufacturers following the release of a number of government-commissioned reports, which found TV power consumption was increasing at an alarming rate as consumers upgraded from low-power cathode-ray TVs to energy-guzzling plasma and LCD behemoths.

They found TVs would soon rival fridges, heaters and air-conditioners as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from households.

The latest report, prepared for the Australian Greenhouse Office by consulting firm Digital CEnergy, recommended the implementation of a star-based energy rating scheme similar to that mandated for most consumer whitegoods from 1992.

The report stated that star rating stickers on TVs would encourage consumers to think about energy consumption before buying. Manufacturers would then be under pressure to develop more energy efficient TVs, it found.

A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "The Government is currently negotiating with industry on a voluntary labelling scheme for all TVs to provide consumers with information on the relative energy efficiency of different TV products."

-----------
"Seven Blunders of the World"


1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle


—Mahatma Gandhi

* Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, India. He led India's movement for independence from British rule and is one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 20th century. In 1948 he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his tolerance for all creeds and religions. Gandhi is honoured by his people as the father of the Indian nation and is called 'Mahatma', which means Great Soul.


Museums Of The Mind



-------Be sure to separate the wheat from the chaff when navigating the web----------

How It IS Done


THE FOLLOWING FRANK ZAPPA LYRICS ARE IN PLACE [HEAR/HEAR]/HERE;

THAT IS
, AS CORRECTED BY ME, THRU COLOR CODING AND FOOT NOTES. FROM THE #1 (FIRST RESULT) OF AN EXACT PHRASING TO{LINK}LYRICSFREAK, LYRIC SITE, (WHERE I HAVE FOUND LYRICS TO SEVERAL OBSCURE SONGS, NOT FOUND ON 'A' TYPICAL GOOGLE BASED (THEREFORE 'TEEN FEED'), IF YOU WILL, LYRICS SEARCH.

AS FOLLOWS ARE THE LYRICS TO A SONG I DON'T MIND SPINNING 40 TIMES TO GET EVERY JUICE OF TRUTH FROM, BY THE FORMER, MINOR PROPHET FRANK ZAPPA.

I THINK STUDENTS WILL FIND IT INTERESTING FROM SEVERAL STAND POINTS.

NOTICE HOW ZAPPA USES INTERESTING CHOICES FOR CHARACTERS

HOW HE LAYERS TRUTH THRU EACH "SNARKY" REMARK AND HOW THE POSTER OF THIS VERSION PUTS A SNARKY REMARK, ( indicated with a colorized astrik, and numbered footnote) BEFORE ZAPPA'S SNARKY REMARK.
I WILL USE THE COLOR CODING TO TRY TO ELIMINATE ANY CONFUSION ... UNDERSTAND, IT IS MORE important, to hear what Zappa was laying down, then for me to point out some misguided lyrics hacker.... but, as in, however, it reads a bit code, so I want to point it out to lyric freaks like me who are in danger being hyjacked by slick marketing.

I foot the posters attempts at... what ever. take a look at his game here.

So, I hope you'll play it on your headphones, and tune in to Frank Zappa... if he didn't believe in imaginary diseases, why did he die from one?

STINK FOOT

Lyrics by Frank Zappa
Music by Frank Zappa
Truth by G-d


In the dark
Where all the fevers grow
Under the water
Where the shark bubbles blow
In the mornin'
By your radio
Do the walls close in to suffocate ya
You aint got no friends . . .
And all the others; they hate ya
Does the life you been leadin' gotta go?
Well, let me straighten you out-------
-----EDITORS NOTE:ZAPPAS LYRICS CLEARLY SAY:*1a "ABOUT A PLACE I KNOW", [BUT] POSTED ON LYRICSFREAKASTHIS:
*1a"About a little russian restaurant I know . . ."
-----------------
get yer shoes and socks on people, its right around the corner!

Out through the night
And the whisperin' breezes
To the place where they keep
The imaginary diseases

Out through the night
An the whisperin' breezes
To the place where they keep
The imaginary diseases . . .

Well this has to be the disease for you
now scientists call this disease Bromidrosis


But us regular folks
Who might wear tennis shoes
Or an occasional python boot
Know this exquisite little inconvenience by the name of:
Stink foot

YA know, my python boot is too tight
I couldn't get it off last night
A week went by, an now its july
I finally got it off
An my girl-friend cried
You got stink foot! stink foot, darlin'

Your stink foot puts a hurt on my nose!

Stink foot! stink foot! I aint lyin',
Can you rinse it off, do you suppose?

Here Fido . . . Fido . . .
. . .come here little puppy, bring the slippers
Yes, thats a good dog! yes!
Arf, arf, arf!
[crash-crumble-bump-bump-bump]
Sick . . .

*2 [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]



(3:53)
Well then Fido got up off the floor and he rolled over and he looked me strait in the eye and you know what he said?

'Once upon a time somebody say to me,'
this is the dog talkin' now,
'what is your conceptual continuity?
well i told him right then,' Fido said
'It should be easy to see.
The Crux, of the Biscuit... is the Apostrophe.'

well you know the man that was talking to the dog
looked at the dog and he said kinda staring in disbelief, he said: 'You can't say that!'
he said, 'it doesn't, and you cant. I wont. and it dont. it hasn't it isn't it even aint and it shoulldn't it couldn't



he told em no, no, no.

I told me yes, yes, yes

I said I do it all the time... aint this boogie a mess

the poodle bites, the poodle chews it
(chior): the poodle bites, the poodle chews it


----------
Here is the listing of band members, as reported by the gentlemen posting to lyricsfreak site;

YOUR ASSIGNMENT(should you choose to accept it):

check these stats on your copy of APOSTROPHE'/Overnight Sensation liner notes, LPs are best for this.

What a Friggin creative band...

Frank zappa (lead guitar, vocals)
Napoleon murphy brock (saxophone, vocals)
George duke (keyboards, vocals)
Ruth underwood (percussion)
Tom fowler (bass)
Chester Thompson (drums)





Q: Is this the original album that this song is found on?

Enjoy your discovery!


La Vie Boheme




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

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Beware "Christians"... You are on Thin Ice

I just found this...





These misguided backwoods pious miscreants are making the words of Bradbury's classic prophetic...


Do you think the powers that be, haven't burned the Bible already?

Do they really think "JeeeeeZZZHusssss" wants words (any words) destroyed/banned?


Have they read the Scriptures?


There are only 2 things that leave with us when we take that feared "dirt nap", folks...

1- Our Character.

2- Our Knowledge.


G-d is not afraid of literature!


A book like Fahrenheit 451 should be revered by the followers of Christ, not make them twitch with emotional waves of mindlessness.


How can you claim allegiance to a god you are afraid of loosing faith in?
Isn't that what this boils down to?


It isn't about the curse words... Come on! Try to watch a movie with out hearing those words...



The Message

Galatians 1: 6-9 "I can't believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed."



The kids passing out the petition are hearing truth these "faithful" are not. They are engaging in debates and discussions, they are researching elsewhere for more truth, they are growing, SPIRITUALLY...

Hunger for knowledge is what pleases G-d, Beloved.

"All substance all texture to try"...


These so-called "Christians" aren't helping out the community... they are helping the Enemy do what is in the book... Ban knowledge.


Kudos to the teacher with balls enough to assign this book to their students.

Kudos to the students engaged in literary devour-ment, discussion, and on fire to protect that which is Nobel...

And a warning to these "believers": BELIEVE ME... YOU ARE FUCKING IT UP!

read your sacred "BYE-buuull"... If you direct your energy at knowing what IT says... Then you will not be concerned with what ANYTHING else says...


La Vie Boheme

Thursday, October 18, 2007


Top 25 Censored
news stories of 2007

#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media

#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran

#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger

#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US

#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo

#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy

# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq

#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act

#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall

#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

#11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed

#12 Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines

#13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup

#14 Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US

#15 Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner

#16 Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court

#17 Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda

#18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story

#19 Destruction of Rain forests Worst Ever

#20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem

#21 Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers

#22 $Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed

#23 US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe

#24 Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year

#25 US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region
"Last Updated: 18/10/2007 06:19
France hit by transport strike

France's transport workers have gone on strike today over plans to scrap their pension privileges.

In the first major challenge to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, unions called the 24-hour strike from late yesterday in an attempt to force concessions from the government, which plans to scrap privileges that allow a minority of public sector workers to retire earlier than their peers.

The SNCF state rail network said only a fraction of trains would run, while bus and tram services faced disruption in 27 major cities over the pensions row and a law forcing transport staff to provide a minimum service during strikes from January.

Gas and power utility staff, who would also be subject to the new pension rules, were due to walk off the job, although cuts in supplies were not expected. "
"Our Government keeps saying that this treaty is not the same as the old constitution, despite the mockery of almost everyone who has read it. But in one way it is different: it’s even less readable. And that, as senior politicians in Germany and Belgium and Italy have explained, is deliberate. This is an utterly cynical exercise, and our own politicians are cheapened by it.

What’s in the treaty? Britain will lose around 50 vetoes in areas including health, energy and laws for the self-employed. Our power to form blocking coalitions with other nations will also be considerably diminished, because the thresholds will be changed. So proposals that we have been successfully blocking – one of my favourites is making the police give every suspect a piece of A4, listing their EU rights – will almost certainly become law. That’s before you get to any “red lines”.



From a wider European point of view, the democratic gap between every nation and its citizens will grow again. Nation states will lose control of policing and justice matters. It used to be thought that the ability to define what was a crime and what was not, to police that crime and to determine the appropriate sentence for it, were matters for sovereign states alone. When the European Community was set up, justice and home affairs were kept strictly separate, as was foreign policy. This treaty waves those principles aside."
"Cheney, Obama are 'cousins'

Anne Davies Herald Correspondent in Washington
October 17, 2007


THERE'S an old saying you can pick your friends but not your relatives.

But how must Democrat candidate and outspoken critic of the Iraq war, Barack Obama, feel about being related to its chief architect, Vice-President Dick Cheney?

The news that the two men share a distant ancestor took off in Washington after Mr Cheney's wife, Lynne casually dropped the bombshell into a chatty afternoon interview about her new book, Blue Skies, No Fences.

In an interview on Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Cheney was asked about how she felt about Mrs Clinton as the first woman president. In what appeared to be a non sequitur, Mrs Cheney revealed that in the course of researching Mr Cheney's family tree, she had discovered a common ancestor eight generations ago.

"I thought I should admit this fact because perhaps it means I am not totally objective about Mrs Clinton," Mrs Cheney joked.

"Think about this," Mrs Cheney said. "This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor, a man that came to Maryland, could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick's and Barack Obama's."

Reacting to the news, Senator Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN's Dana Bash with tongue in cheek, "Obviously, Dick Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family."

In fact Senator Obama enjoys blood ties to the two top figures in the administration: President Bush and Mr Cheney.

The Chicago Sun-Times broke the news in September that Senator Obama is also an 11th cousin of the president himself, but for some reason, it did not get picked up by the blogs in the way it did on Tuesday."

I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It's almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building.
-Bono



Go take a step outside, see what's shakin' in the real world
-John Butler Trio

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Frogger: Who knew all those quarters were training for real life?!??!


OK. I have got to say people are out of there fucking minds!! Diane and I left the house today, just before rush hour... we had decided to walk to the grocery store, to pick up a few needed items and fixin's for diner. We hadn't been out of the house 2 minutes, when we were almost struck by a driver as we walked... we were in a pedestrian cross walk, mind you... I yelled at the cars occupants, 'You see me walking here?!? You can't wait in your car while we WALK across the street?! The driver had the audacity to roll down his window and tell me to use my head... (Use your fucking breaks you selfish prick!) I was pretty livid, but had vented, and felt fine... untill we got to the store, that is... as we entered the parking lot, at the drive way entrance, a woman (going about 20 MPH) swerved around us to make it two feet to the stop sign... I yelled at her, and she looked at me as though I was deranged... Now I am fucking pissed off...

Inside the store, people were rude, and oblivious... you know the usual... we found what we needed, and went to the self check out lane, where we scanned our items... People pushed passed us as we bagged our goods... One dick-head comes up behind us, and attempts to check out on our register, before we were done paying... the computer did the yelling for me... I said 'hold on Dude'... he said "I'm sorry"... no sooner did that transpire, then the friggin self check out clerk, pushed our cart into Duckie, so he could grab a basket behind us, (and said nothing)... all this as Stevie Wonders "I just called (to say I love you)" played on the store speakers....

It is the end of the fucking world, Beloved...


2 Timothy 3

Difficult Times Ahead
1-5"Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people. "


The problem is... how do we stay clear of them? It seems to be everyone every where...

Recently here in SLC, a pedestrian was struck in across walk by an "oblivious" driver... Here too...

It is no longer safe to walk down the street, let alone cross... this is Zion, people... and Her residents seem to be just as self absorbed as the rest of the americAns... even more so...

I am constantly screaming for the people to wake up, yet, I fear it is futile... they are worse then anywhere else I have lived... Utahn's are by reputation supposed to be more friendly, and polite then elsewhere, but this is emphatically not true... They are worse. Ruder. More lost, and twice as selfish... it breaks my heart, but I am out of tears for these people...

In California, they passed cross walk laws to protect the pedestrians... Is this what it has come to here as well?

Decency has be legislated now?

This false morality, and will fix nothing...

I can not stop yelling out though, It's my job...


2 Timothy 4

"1-2I can't impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don't ever quit. Just keep it simple.

3-5You're going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They'll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you're doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God's servant."


I am trying, Lord... I really am...

How long does [S]he tarry?

How much more till you vomit all of these weasels out of Your mouth?

Not much longer!

2008 the shit is going to hit the proverbial fan.

I hope you are ready, Beloved.


In the mean time, in between time...

WATCH OUT FOR PEOPLE, NOT GUZZLING EARTHS PRECIOUS RECOURSES... let me walk.