Neutrality

Democracy Not!

2009-07-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

Democracy is a political system in which the supreme power lies in the majority of citizens who can elect people to represent them. Democracy is based on the Majority Rule, which is the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group.

An Oligarchy is a form of government where power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society. It is a type of authoritarianism.

Democracy is said to have arisen in Athens in the fifty Century B.C. For the first time in human history, every citizen had an equal voice in government. This is the foundation of our government in the United States. Democracy is a process in which free citizens flock to the poles to elect individuals who in turn represent their interests in the government.

The founding fathers also created a Constitution containing a Bill of Rights in which every elected official swears an oath of office to uphold. Elected officials have no power to amend the Constitution unless they build a consensus of a ¾ majority of both Houses in Congress. So politicians cannot decide which part of the Constitution to apply nor can they ignore parts of it which they do not like; if they do it is considered treasonous.

Yet for the past century, the decisions made by our politicians do not reflect those of the Constitution or those of the electing majority. It seems our government constantly rules in favor of moneyed interests, also know as the elite, by creating laws contrary to the Constitution and contrary to the majority who elected them. How did this happen? It all started in 1914 with the creation of the Federal Reserve Act.

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence.

Woodrow Wilson realized after signing the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) he unwittingly ended Democracy and created an oligarchy. In fact, if you read the last few words, “a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men” it is the exact definition of an oligarchy. It is very important to understand the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) is a PRIVATELY held bank; it is not controlled or administered by the government. The FRA gives the power of creating money to a small elite group of unelected officials who then charge our government interest on this money. This interest is the National Debt. If there was no FRB there would be no National Debt (there actually would be a little debt but no where near what it is today).

“If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied.” Thomas Jefferson

“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” Napoleon Bonaparte

So how do we break an oligarchy? It is difficult but it can be done. First of all, there should be an amendment to the Constitution eliminating all campaign contributions including gifts and favors of any kind for elected officials or their family, friends, and associates. Instead a portion of tax payer money should be evenly divided among the candidates for campaigning. The penalties for violating this law would be immediate expulsion from office and a very long prison term. This would force our elected officials to be honest. Laws would no longer be only for the profitability of the elite but for the voting majority.

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford.

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” Thomas Jefferson

Secondly, the Federal Reserve Act should be repealed and the Federal Reserve Bank transformed into a non-profit institution; all debt owed to this institution by the government would be forgiven. Salaries of FRB executives would be regulated and capped. Interest rates for all consumer loans would be capped and lowered to a more reasonable rate allowing people to get out of debt. Because of the lower interest rates you could pay off your debt sooner and possibly retire.

These two simple changes would be enough to end the oligarchy and return our country to a true Democracy. As it stands today we have no Democracy. Our elected officials cast votes in favor of the elite few who spend billions in lobbying to get their way. The politicians have no desire to change anything as they get wealthy in the process.

There is no transparency in government anymore which causes conspiracy theorists concoct crazy schemes. Obama promised transparency in government while campaigning, yet he blocked the release of photos proving the previous administration broke the law by torturing, and he will not release the names of individuals who meet with him in the White House even though the Supreme Court ruled twice that it is public information.

I thought an Obama presidency would mean real change but so far the only thing which changed in the White House is the name on the door. He has yet to stand up to the bankers, who received hundreds of billions in bail out money. He has yet to stand up to the military who are still using our men to increase the profitability of big oil companies. He has yet to stand up to the CIA, who still run an illegal surveillance program on US citizens, He has yet to stand up to Wall Street by enacting tough regulations like we had after the Great Depression; he can begin by closing the Enron loophole. Guantanamo Bay is still in operation.

In a recent gallop pole, 72% of Americans want some kind of public option in the new healthcare reform bill. The jury is still out on healthcare but if the billions in lobbying being spent by the insurance companies are any indication, the middle class will lose again. I am using this issue as my barometer to measure the Obama Administration and Democrats in general. If they can get healthcare with a public option then I feel things will change, if not then that will be proof that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Blagojevich and the Selling of Our Democracy

2009-01-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

Rod Blagojevich was found guilty today and became the first Governor of Illinois to be impeached. Even though Blagojevich claimed to be an ambassador for the working class, this unanimous guilty vote is a monumental victory for the entire democracy. Republicans and Democrats put aside party differences and came together to make a tough decision; but in the end it was the right decision. Now future Governors will know if they commit crimes they will be punished.

I could not help but think back to the Watergate scandal and how when Ford pardoned Nixon, it put a black mark on democracy which is still felt today. How is that you might ask? Because people within the government decided prosecuting the President would be bad for our Country. I disagreed whole heartedly with that decision and the lack of prosecution set a precedence which still plagues us today. The precedence set is the President of the United States is above the law. It sent a message to future leaders that if corruption is discovered, no need to worry, you'll get away with it.

Prosecuting crimes, even crimes committed by our leaders, does NOT expose weaknesses within our society, nor does it put a black mark on a society. Quite contrary the prosecution frees the society because the people speak out against the acts committed. It makes us stronger because it sends a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. No man, no position, not even the President is above the law.

I enjoy reading books about historical events and one of my favorite was the Nuremberg trials after World War 2. Many people disagreed with trials because they thought the Allies were abusing their power and prosecuting the losers. Not so. The purpose of the Nuremberg trials was to expose atrocities committed by the Nazis including: the Holocaust, execution of POWs and ritual killing of civilians in the many Nazi concentration camps. By prosecuting, the world set precedence that this behavior will not be tolerated, thus the rules of war were set by the Geneva Convention. So if any regime behaves in a similar fashion in future wars, they will also be prosecuted. This is the primary reason Progressives like myself were opposed to torture. By ignoring the Geneva Convention we were behaving like the Nazis in WW2. I believe we are better than that. So even if the other side tortures we will not because we are better than the other side; our moral compass is superior and never compromised.

I still believe the Bush Administrations policies on torture and surveillance should be investigated. If enemy combatants were tortured and killed then the leaders who allowed it should be prosecuted like the Nazi war criminals of WW2. Our society would then be vindicated and a message would be sent to the world and future Presidents that we do not condone torture. All who were involved even the leaders of the Democrats who knew should be included in this investigation. I believe the Democrats have blocked investigation attempts because they are just as guilty. I am talking about you, Nancy Pelosi.

The Blagojevich impeachment also exposes how thin the line is in our Democracy between lawful political contributions and illegal political contributions. Let me explain how thin this line has become. If I am a contributor to a political candidate or a politician in office, I can give money to influence a vote in my favor as long as the vote is NOT implied. So I can give money when the politician knows how I want them to vote and we might even have communicated so he knows how I want him to vote. So I give the money and he votes in my favor. This is legal.

It becomes illegal if I give the money and tell him directly I want the vote or he specifically states he will vote my way for the money. It is a very thin line. I think both should be illegal. If we removed cash from the Democracy we would get a better Democracy. Then the issues would be decided on merit and not monetary gain. Putting a price on votes is the reason bridges to nowhere get built and why the laws favor the few instead of the many.

So whether you are a Conservative or a Progressive you should expect the Government which represents you to behold the law. If a leader breaks a law they should be convicted just like any other person. That is the only way we can prevent our society from becoming illegitimate. We cannot expect other Countries to respect us until we reject illegal acts committed by our leaders. The unanimous prosecution of Blagojevich is a victory for Democracy and a step in direction of exposing how money corrupts the Republic.

Lessons in The American Lifestyle

2008-07-23T19:27:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of decades, Americans have always been able to satisfy their wants no matter how excessive, without thinking about the consequences to the rest of the world or to their own bank account. Example number one: while many parts of Europe paid $8 per liter for gasoline, we built enormous gas guzzling SUVs, laughing at the rest of the world all the way to the gas pump. We bought these super sized SUVs because the advertisements during the football game said we had to have it. So we traded the economically minded car and bought the Dodge Ram, because it was the “American” way.

When we want a newer 60-inch television to replace the old 59-inch, we buy it and throw the old one in the trash. While many parts of the world are starving, we are over eating at buffets as our kids vomit to be skinnier. We shop with forklifts. We might buy something today and then throw it away tomorrow still in the unopened package because we no longer like the color. Our houses keep getting bigger, while our families and our wallets keep getting get smaller. If our neighbors buy a newer, bigger toy then we have to have it too. The world is our oyster.

How did Americans pay for all of this junk? We didn’t use cash because we didn’t have any. No sadly, we run our households like our government is run. So we either put it on the charge card at 30% interest or, even worse, refinanced the house and paid for it with our future.

Within the past 7 years a caldera was forming in the heart of the American way of life, like a volcano ready to blow its top. And finally, several weeks ago, driven by overextended credit and a lack of equity, the bills finally came due for many Americans and the American economy erupted like Mt. St. Helens did in the eighties.

The collapse of the subprime mortgage markets have sent ripples throughout the financial world. Already two major banks have collapsed with more surely to follow. Not since the 1930’s has our financial markets taken such a beating. Now the government is giving billions of our tax dollars to stop the bleeding by bailing out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; money which could be used for healthcare, better roads or an economic stimulus package.

The primary cause of this disaster was the deregulation of the banking industry spearheaded by Phil Gramm and his big banking buddies. These regulations were in place since the Great Depression to prevent another economic failure like the banking collapse of the 1920’s. But Gramm and his cohorts quickly eliminated every regulation which not only protected the consumer but also protected other banks, clearing the way for banking institutions to grow even wealthier by allowing predatory lending practices to endure in the mortgage markets. We’ve seen other popular Phil Gramm deregulations bring us four dollar gas prices.

Although predatory lending practices have stolen the homes of many hard working Americans, some people should rightfully take responsibility for their own financial tragedies. The American lifestyle needs an overhaul. Fueled by over -commercialization, over-indulgence and the need to “keep up with the Jones’s"; many Americans have dug themselves into financial ruin in which they have no one to blame but themselves.

Let me give you even more examples of things I’ve noticed about the typical American. I have a friend who works in a dollar store who has a cell phone. She can’t afford this phone so her mom pays the bill. I have used cell phones in the past but they have always been bought by my employer as a tether for them to use when they wanted me after hours. So if my job ends so does the cell phone. But why does somebody who works in a dollar store need a cell phone? In my opinion this is a classic example of over indulgence. Does every American really need a cell phone? You can save up to $100 per month by eliminating it.

Another example was when I was pumping gas one day back in 2003 and noticed the house next to the convenience store. I remember this guy washing his super sized SUV in the driveway. This SUV towered over his house. He could actually drive over his house, crushing it entirely. I chuckled to myself and thought why own a car that is more expensive and bigger than your house? For that matter, why do Americans buy huge houses when they have small families or no families at all? I’ll bet this idiot spends more to fill up his gas tank per month than he spends for his house payment.

A contributing factor to the economic collapse of our country was Americans willingness to refinance their house and then use the equity to take a vacation or to support their over indulging lifestyles. Another mistake was to charge their lifestyle at 30% interest. People have to realize when income ends or stagnates then the lifestyle has to change, get smaller. The only necessities which are needed are food, water, housing and the utilities associated with housing. Everything else is a luxury and can be eliminated. The 60-inch plasma TV can wait, the cell phone can be cancelled, and the Blu-Ray DVD player is not a necessity. This is a simple lesson our grandparents learned which they have not passed down to the next generations.

I have been unemployed twice in the past ten years and both times I cut spending and changed my lifestyle until I gained employment. I did not refinance my house to take vacations or to buy a new plasma TV, nor did I max out the credit cards. It sucks but this is what is necessary to survive. I do not understand how people can survive without this basic understanding of financing.

The problems of financing are not limited to a certain group of people either. Across all classes of people from all nationalities, mistakes are often the norm and not the exception. After 2001, record numbers of families choose to refinance their home and then promptly took the equity and blew it. When the reality finally catches up with the irresponsibility, families suffer.

The victims of this behavior are the children who now have to live with their parent’s mistakes. They are the ones who bear the humiliation of these misfortunes because they do not understand what happened. Many times their education is interrupted while they are forced to change schools and change friends. This is very disrupting to a child’s development because kids need stability. Another tragedy is these kids will probably use the same financing skills which bankrupted their parents, and thus another generation of economic idiots graces the United States.

Maybe there is one positive thing which might come from these foreclosures. Maybe the children will learn from their parent’s mistakes, since they now have to live with the result of fiscal irresponsibility. It is just a shame their grandparents did not teach these lessons to their parents. They have to learn, and this lesson is best learned younger, that you can’t always get what you want.

The Greatest Story Never Told

2008-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I received an awesome comment at the end of the Entrance Exam to A Christian Seminary; it was from an old friend of mine. I wanted to publish my response for everyone to read in the hopes that something might be learned from it. Maybe reading my position on religion might open a door for someone else. Note the names have been changed to protect futurerev for retaliation from the fundamentalist whachos he works with.

Futurerev,

I appreciate your email and I have read you responses. The problem is I don’t really want to respond if you think criticizing your religion is a personal criticism of you. I respect you and do not want to hurt you that way.

I learned a long time ago to keep my emotions separate from my ideas because, if I didn’t, business and other factors would crucify me. If you toss your ideas into an arena but do not separate your emotions from them, you cannot objectively argue or learn anything. This is the exact reason why the religion argument has eluded mankind in the past. When religions are under fired, zealots often throw their emotions up as a smoke screen to shield them from the irrational and illogical ideas they support. This is how a constructive conversation about religion often turns into a tenth grade name calling contest.

I enjoy a great debate, especially one highlighting religion. But if I am going to hurt you with my responses then I would rather not even go there. Although I do not think very highly about Christianity, I still respect you and your feelings.

I do have to retract something from my response to you which you pointed out to me. You are correct in that god never told Moses to go and rape, he told the people of Benjamin to go and rape to get wives. But it was Moses who carved unborn babies from the wombs of pagan women and then threw these innocents from a cliff or smashed them on a rock. I guess today’s Christians base their abortion argument on that chapter in the Bible? The only reason I included this, was I believe Moses to be more like Saddam Hussein or any of the other terrible titans throughout history, rather than a holy man. I did not make this up; it is written in the Bible.

When I worked for my former employer, I did “try on” Christianity for a short time. But when I read the Bible and read passages like what Moses just did, how could I support that? I am not a man of war nor am I man who demands or understands others who demand blood. In answer to your question about our justice system, I would forgive somebody who wronged me. At least I hope I would. You are confusing justice with revenge. Justice is NOT revenge; these are two separate terms and ideologies.

We humans are very fallible so I understand why we fail to see the difference, but I would expect an all-knowing, all-loving god to understand this but clearly the Christian god does not. I would expect this all-loving god to teach us the difference between justice and revenge and then show us an example, like forgiving us for sins without expecting bloodshed.

The Bible would in fact be the greatest story ever told if god would have intervened right before the crucifixion and said, “Stop this madness!! All is forgiven; please accept my son to teach you the ways of love, toleration and forgiveness.” Then Jesus could have lived among us and taught us the ways of an all-knowing, all-loving god. No more hocus pocus. No more blind faith or people flying to heaven or death or blood. Wow what an ending!! Instead, we get a brutalized torture and murder sequence that people apply some twisted ideology to be for our forgiveness, and then mankind echoes god’s thirst for blood with 2,000 years of war, murder and mayhem. Now how can that possibly make any logical sense to anyone?

I have been wronged many times in my past but have chosen to forgive those who did me wrong. I have already forgiven my former employer for my wrongful termination. I wasn’t always like that; in my youth I was quite a hellcat. I’m not proud of every aspect of my youth, but it took me many years to come to this enlightened thinking. I understand that bad people need to punished or rehabilitated or whatever you want to call it. But nobody and certainly no government have the right to extinguish life; it is far too precious. I would expect a just and loving god to understand this principle.

Please understand I am not trying to change your beliefs; I am just trying to give you insight into mine. I hope this email does not offend you and if it does then I apologize for saying this to you but I could never apologize for thinking this way.

Your friend,

DarthImmortal

Entrance Exam for A Christian Seminary

2008-05-25T03:08:00.000-07:00

Part one of the test will de derived directly from the scriptures. This is the teacher’s edition as the correct answers are in bold and italics.

1. In Exodus 21:2, according to god if you purchase a Hebrew slave, how many years of service should you get from him/her?
a. A Lifetime
b. 6 years
c. 3 years
d. A fortnight

2. in Deuteronomy 22:28-29, according to god’s law, if a man rapes a woman the punishment is:______________.
a. Death
b. The man must marry her and never be allowed to divorce her.
c. Castration
d. The woman is killed

3. Whom (What) did Jephthat sacrifice to god upon a burning altar after he defeated the Ammonites in god’s name? (Judges 11:29-40 NLT)
a. A ram
b. His favorite cat
c. His daughter
d. A burning bush

4. According to the book of Kings 13:1-2, god demanded certain sacrifices from King Josiah. What sacrifices did he demand?
a. Gold
b. Old Democrats
c. Frankincense
d. Kill all of the pagans upon their own altars (which resulted in thousands of human sacrifices)

5. In Chronicles 21, how many innocent people does god kill after David’s census?
a. God doesn’t kill people, it says so in the Ten Commandments
b. 70,000 innocent people were murdered
c. No people but a couple of goats were killed
d. No people but at least 6 asses

6. In Judges 21, what does god tell the people of Benjamin to do to get wives?
a. Go forth and propose marriage to the best women
b. Ask the fathers of the best women for their daughters hand in marriage
c. Kill all of the people of Jabesh-gilead and kidnap the women for your own pleasures
d. Use the Internet

7. How many times in the scriptures does god mention priests must be virgins?
a. 6,666
b. 0
c. At least 7 times
d. More than 10 but fewer than 15

8. According to James 5:14-15, if a devout follower of god gets sick what is the best cure?
a. Get to a doctor immediately.
b. Prayer.
c. Eat vitamins.
d. Plenty of rest, fresh air and sunlight.

9. In Judges 18:27-29, what did god command Micah to do to the town of Laish?
a. Explain the pros of conservative politics.
b. Quickly outlaw abortion before the Democrats take over.
c. Pass a resolution banning slavery.
d. Kill all of the people and burn the town to the ground.

10. Why did Jesus die for our sins, couldn’t his father just forgive us without all of the bloodshed? After all he is the almighty god.
a. No. Jesus’ father demands blood sacrifices because he loves us
b. No Jesus wanted to die because he enjoys pain
c. No, BECAUSE!!!!!
d. Yes his father could have simply forgiven us.

Part two of this exam is word association. Fill in the correct answer.
11. Kryptonite is to Superman as _____________ is to Jesus.
a. Unholy Water
b. Radiation
c. Garlic
d. Nine in nails

12. Nuclear power is to Ironman as ____________ are(is) to Catholic Priests.
a. Fresh water
b. Fresh air
c. New clothes
d. Little boys

13. According to many Old Testament stories, blood is to Dracula as __________ is to god.
a. Deep space
b. Blue skies
c. Human Blood
d. Kryptonite

14. In modern times, two years in jail for theft is just as fair as the Old Testament justice of___________ for missing church on Sunday.
a. Four Hail Mary’s and six Our Father’s
b. The sacrificing of your most productive goat
c. Death
d. Partial stoning + 20 months of gay sex

15. According to god, the greatest law is:
a. The writ of habeas corpus which guarantees all men are guaranteed liberty and relief from unlawful imprisonment.
b. The Bill of Rights which guarantees all men life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness among other protections from tyranny.
c. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, give money to the poor and ensure the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few.
d. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the Ten Commandments portion of the test.

The list below contains twenty five of the worst sins in humankind. Select the 10 which all-knowing, all-seeing, almighty God included as the worst:

Human slavery
Missing Sunday mass
Pedophilia
Worshiping false gods
Rape
Coveting thy neighbor’s wife
Polygamy
Stealing
People dying of hunger in a world with ample food supplies
Plunging an entire economy into turmoil so a few billionaires can earn even more money
Disobeying your mother and father
Slaughtering living creatures for pleasure
Human torture
Coveting your neighbors goods
Gay sex
Janet Jackson flashing a bare boob during the Super Bowl
Murder
Nude photography of consenting adults
Using god’s name in vain
Cannibalism
Carving an image of another god or of the heavens
Genocide
Bearing false witness against your neighbor
Allowing the wants of the few precedence over the welfare of the many

A passing grade and to ensure entrance into the Seminary, you must get at least a 95% passing grade.

I'm Baaaaack

2008-03-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

I’ve got one excuse for my absence: Tivo. This box is incredible!! I can record all of my favorite shows!! I no longer have to wait for the DVDs to be released because I can skip through the commercials. I had plans to write blogs on some awesome topics but I ran out of time due to Tivo and learning my new job (but mostly Tivo). It’s been so long since I even logged into my blog that I forgot the password. It took me almost an hour to find it again.

I have been reading more lately. We remodeled the house and build an office for me which allowed us to renovate the old office into a library. I have over 5,000 DVD titles, 8,000 CDs, and 4,000 books organized and available. Having my books available instead of in boxes has allowed me to catch up on some very necessary reading. Some of my recent reads include: The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine, The End of Faith by Sam Harris, God’s Problem by Bart Ehrman, The Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama, God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, The God Delusion by Richard Hawkins, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, American Fascists by Chris Hedges, Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby, God On Trial by Peter Irons, and selected works by Noam Chomsky, David Cay Johnston, Gore Vidal, Barbara Ehrman, Thomas Paine and Cornel West. If you are looking for a great book chose from any of the above. I guarantee all will challenge your intellect and possible change your paradigms.

I’ve seen many great and not so great movies over the past several months. I can tell you that 10,000 BC is very disappointing compared to other Rolland Emmerlich films. Its well made, has some good special effects but the plot of the film is adolescent, and unbelievable. The ending might work in a Disney film but not here. I find the older I get the less I enjoy PG-13 films. I’m an adult, therefore I like adult movies about adult topics. The fairy tales with always happy endings don’t register on my radar anymore. There are exceptions but they are very rare indeed.

I also realized during my absence that when someone tells you they will pray for you it means they plan to do absolutely nothing for you. I would prefer action. Instead of praying, get off your ass and do something……anything. Be honest, just say, “I will help you by sitting on my ass, closing my eyes and mumbling words to my invisible master in the sky.” Thanks buddy; maybe superman or even spiderman will help in the interim!!!!

Regarding the Presidential elections, I am very happy with all of the candidates but Obama is the man. I am disappointed with Hilary Clinton for her selfish attitude by trying to derail the entire Democratic Party if she loses the nomination. When she said (paraphrased) the experience to be the president was limited to herself and Sen McCain, she crossed a line no candidate should cross. For her punishment, if I was Obama I would not even consider her for Vice President. With that statement she has proven she regards herself and her interests above all others. We’ve had that attitude in the White House for eight years, we don’t need it anymore.

I am looking forward to the election this year and the possibility of exchanging our first retarded president with our first black president. Although I will miss the speeches where he fumbles his words, provides his usual blank stare when the questions get too tough, and then struts off stage like he nailed it. I will also miss the open and honest communication. Including the talks about fear, how we must compromise our freedom for security and about how we must limit the checks and balances within our government. Yea I’ll really miss all that.

The Selling of American Leadership

2007-10-05T14:31:00.001-07:00

I’ve been watching Ken Burn’s new documentary The War broadcast on PBS. Something I realized while watching it is just how different leadership is today compared to the days of WW2. The Greatest Generation was the greatest generation because they had some of the greatest leaders our country has ever seen.

In our country we have been lucky to have great leaders in times of crisis: George Washington during the Revolutionary War, Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, FDR during WW2, JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis. All four of those times were critical times when the country was in danger of annihilation. We have had our share of poor leadership too: LBJ and his administration during the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon (nuff said), Herbert Hoover was president during the Great Depression but did nothing to help the Country recover. Those are only a few but you get my point.

A couple of questions I have been asking lately are: Why are we still involved in a war in Iraq when the majority of the country is opposed to it? The last time I checked we were still a democracy, so why doesn’t our leadership listen and react to the majority? What are the differences between our country today and our country in WW2? The reason I ask this question is because we conquered most of Europe and Africa in three years but we have been in Iraq (a country the size of Texas) for over five years. Why?

I can answer all of those questions with one answer. The power of corporate America is now influencing our leadership and has more control over American policies than ever before. Look how much money is spent on the war in Iraq. Most of the money goes directly into the hands of the corporations that are involved with the war. It’s a gold mine and they don’t want the gravy train to end. Our leadership has been bought and paid for by corporate American so they pander to these mega-billionaire corporations like never before in American history.

In WW2 FDR turned every production facility into a manufacturer for war materials. He did not care what corporate American though about this idea because he was a true leader. He forced Americans at home to sacrifice and again did not care what Corporate America thought because he had the support of the majority.

Can you imagine how corporate America would respond if President Bush tried to force Americans to sacrifice for the war in Iraq or if he forced manufacturers (the few which are still a domestic operation) into manufacturing war materials? He doesn’t want Americans to sacrifice because he works for corporate America, who would suffer a hit in profits if the country would have to sacrifice. In fact, he told us we should shop more. Remember this was his recommendation of what Americans should do to contribute to the war against terrorism. Spending more money is not good for the average American citizen nor is it good to buy an enormous automobile. Spending more money on gas gives more money to the terrorists.

Leadership has been compromised by billionaire corporations; this is very evident by the way they are contributing to Hilary Clinton, the presidential front runner. I am actually hoping Obama gets the Presidential nomination because Hilary Clinton has the backing of corporate America so she will do nothing for middle class Americans. She is promising a national healthcare program in which we will be legally required to pay for it ourselves. So now we’ll be put in jail if we cannot afford healthcare? This sounds like a good plan for the insurance companies but not for middle class America.

I want to see a national healthcare plan funded by the richest corporations, which covers all Americans regardless of class. I also want to see the insurance companies and the “for profit” hospitals driven out. Corporate American should not earn a profit from the sick, it’s immoral.

I also want to see a plan to end our usage of oil. Not drill for more oil or manufacture oil using food which drives the price of food through the roof. I want to see a leader stand up to the oil companies and fund a program to end the internal combustion engine. We can do this, we do have the technology but we have no leadership capable to standing up to these corporations which have put their profits above both the security of our nation and the survival of our species.

It is just my opinion but if we could resurrect FDR or George Washington or Abraham Lincoln today and allow then to regain the Presidency without accepting millions of dollars in campaign money (which is how corporate America buys our leadership) then we would have resolutions which resolve these problems instead of creating more disasters.

Hilary Clinton will not be a good President because she has the backing of the majority of these corporations. They know she might win so they want to buy her now; it’s cheaper. But as bad of a president as she will be, she will still be much better than the idiot we have in there right now or the religious zealots from the Republicans. At least she knows the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, the Earth revolves around the Sun and knows humans never played with dinosaurs.

I will still cast my vote in favor of Obama. He has collected a lot of cash but it is mostly from rich individuals and NOT corporations. Of course there is still corporate money there but not as much as Hilary. He is a visionary and has the leadership qualities capable of turning the corner. But the only people which have a chance of getting elected President are the people corporate America funds. Let’s hope Obama can break this trend.

Jena 6

2007-10-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

Before the Jena 6 case I believed the issue of racism was only being kept alive by black leaders like Al Sharpton seeking attention instead of truth. I don’t know what this town is like but anyplace which establishes a racial boundary within a school definitely has a problem. I can put myself in the shoes of those black students being told repeatedly they were not allowed and I can feel the rage within me starting to boil.

We have two different issues to discuss in the Jena 6 case. First of all, we have a racist community and secondly we have a criminal justice system which also needs an overhaul.

There are changes which need to me made in this town and others like it to help eliminate racism. Common sense tells us that having a racial boundary is not a good idea so the adults which allowed this behavior (I’m talking about the school administrators and any other adult working for the government which allowed this behavior) should all be fired. The new administrators should promote healing by encouraging all races to participate in a school function dedicated to eliminating all racial boundaries.

You will never be able to completely erase racism in towns like Jena in the parents of the children but you can train the teachers, the administrators, the police, and everyone else within the local government to instill a better attitude within the kids. Show the kids how ridiculous, irresponsible, and hurtful racism can be and then teach them how to be more accepting of everyone. This would be a good start to help in the healing.

The second issue which is the criminal justice system is more complicated. I don’t believe it to be a racial system but I do believe there is a bias according to the class of defendants. This bias is built into the system by giving the best lawyers to the state or the richer defendants. Poorer individuals often do not have a chance in proving their innocence because their lawyer is inadequate. Public defenders are often over-worked and unprepared for their case load and it reflects by the number of poorer people in jail.

We all know if O.J Simpson was a middle class man he would have easily been convicted. His trial was little to do with race but everything to do with money. If everyone could afford his defense team no one would be in jail. I’ve heard Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson complaining how the criminal justice system is a racist system but instead of pointing the finger at race they should be arguing to even the scales of justice for everyone regardless of pocketbook. They won’t do this because they have plenty of money and want that advantage if they need it.

I have thought for many hours about our justice system but I still don’t how it can be changed so it is fair for every American regardless of money. I can tell you that I have witnessed this system first hand with the conviction of a relative. I believe our criminal justice system is worse than death. With death at least there is peace at the end but being accused of a crime and watching the loss of everything is worse.

First of all, if you are accused of a crime how can you pay for a decent lawyer when you are put in jail and either cannot afford bail or do not even get bail? You cannot work in jail so you will lose your job and eventually all of your assets will be owned by the bank which held your mortgage or other creditors. It is very easy for a middle class family to lose everything even before the trial. There is no decent defense when you are penniless so now you are at the mercy of the over-worked and unprepared public defender. Realistically you are guilty at the arraignment because now you don’t have a chance in hell. Plus you lost everything so even if god does somehow intervene and you are found innocent at the trial you have no home anyway.

The Jena 6 has exposed isolated pockets of racism in our country but the inflated charges have nothing to do with race but everything to do with a corrupt system. Trumped up charges is evidence of how our criminal justice system is abandoning justice. If you need proof just turn on Court TV or MSNBC and you’ll see inflated charges tagged across all races. Even the battle between the prosecutor and the defense has nothing to do with guilt or innocence but everything to do with political gains or money. Even the judges sentencing have more to do with politics than with justice.

On the lighter side of justice (another observation):

Our criminal justice system is so terrible if a super hero like Spiderman did exist, he would be put in jail with a very long sentence. Prosecutors, police and judges do not like people playing god, they want exclusive rights to that function especially if they have aspirations of running for public office.

Debates 2007

2007-08-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

This is what I think about the presidential debates of 2007:

iGouge

2007-06-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

This Friday, customers of Apple Computer will wait in lines to take it in the ass by paying $600 for a phone. Then they are forced to sign a contract with AT&T, which is notorious for slow and shitty cell phone service. After the 2 year contract is signed these drones will pay up to $3,000 to use a phone for two years. Because Apple cares about its customers so much, they are out pricing the next competitor by double and then forcing them to sign a contract with a known lemon. Thanks Apple, we appreciate the love!

Who is the more foolish: the fool or the fool who follows the fool? In every case it's always the fool who follows the fool. Although this $600 price tag is a better example of price gouging than the oil companies, people will line up like brainless drones for a chance to dump their money for something which will be obsolete in six months. Then they’ll have to line up again to dump another $600 for the same thing but with more RAM or a different color.

When I see people willing to pay $3,000 to use a phone for two years, then I can very easily foresee $6 a gallon gas prices. The American consumer is infatuated with taking it in the ass, in fact; they’ll line up to take it in the ass. If gas prices were $6 per gallon, people would still buy the enormo SUV’s by the bushel because GM told them they needed it or they saw a commercial and it looked cool. When will people start to think with their brain instead of their ego?

This is the reason people in other countries hate us so much. We are a brainless society. We buy gold chains when we can’t afford food. We buy vehicles which burn gas like a forest fire consumes trees, while we watch the effects of global warming on the news like it’s a video game. We shop with forklifts and over pay for everything with a 29% credit card and then file bankruptcy next year. Meanwhile our expenses runneth over our income like the Gulf of Mexico at a New Orleans’ levy during a hurricane. Then we end up crying on Dr. Phil because our wife fucked the trash guy after the house was foreclosed.

The typical American consumer spends $1.10 for every $1 they earn, and the average credit card debt is closing in on $10,000 per household. This is stupid behavior but when people line up to pay $600 for a phone then I can easily see how this happens.

The above graph shows the escalating credit card debt in America. Lets all give Apple a big round of applause for contributing to this problem.

I’ll bet most of the people buying this device cannot afford it but will just charge it, further contributing to their downward economic slide. After all, this is not really a phone, it’s a status symbol. People will buy this device to compensate in other areas they are deficient; like maybe cock size or wallet size or even personality.

“But Darth, maybe if the hot chick at the coffee shop sees me with this phone while I drink my $6 cup of coffee, she’ll go home with me.” Could the hot chick actually have a brain and think, “What a waste of money? Anybody who spends $600 phone and $6 on a cup of coffee is a loser.” In any event, how will you even be able to afford to take her out when you will spend $3,000 for phone service for the next two years but you work at a dollar store?

When I see things like this happen, I see the collective intelligence of the entire country drop by 100 points. Can you survive with a phone which costs $300? And even that is obscene. Yea you could, but that would make too much sense. The typical American is infatuated with irrational behavior.

For the Love of Big Brother

2007-06-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was interviewed for the fourth time since my unemployment began. One thing I have noticed during my job search is the amount of intrusion Corporate America is granted into our personal lives. They want personality profiles, credit reports, drug tests, skill assessments, multiple personal and professional references, FBI and police background checks, and a vial of blood and/or semen (just kidding). Am I being initiated into the Sopranos or just trying to get a job? I don’t even know anymore.

One of the most disturbing trends is the new Big Brother policy involving the Internet. Just about everyplace I have visited has WebSense or a similar device, which monitors and regulates Internet and email traffic. One such company even limits the amount of time spent on the Internet to only 5 hours per week.

As an IT worker my lifeline to technology is the Internet. I use it to solve problems, evaluate new technology and to remain informed of cutting-edge technology. I cannot imagine losing this valuable resource in the middle of an important project or when I need pertinent information quickly to rescue a downed device. Imagine being in the middle of a multitude of fires like those only to be denied Internet resources because some troll has decided 5 hours of Internet is all you need.

We are in the beginning of a new era with Corporate American heavily regulating our lives. If we consider how past erosions of our liberties began, we can easily see the beginning of this trend.

Take the seat belt laws for example. About 10 years ago most people were NOT in favor of seat belt laws. Most people saw these laws as an unneeded intrusion into their life by the government. But the legislatures were sneaky and convinced America these laws would only be enforced as a tack on to a moving violation; hence nobody would be pulled over and ticked specifically for violating the seat belt laws. People accepted this.

Yet this year as people forgot about losing their choice to wear seat belts, the laws were then enhanced so police could now issue a citation ONLY for a seat belt violation. What “they” do is start a law in its most unobtrusive form to gain acceptance. But then, over time as we forget about losing a choice or a freedom, they tighten the regulations further so the liberties are forever lost.

Corporate America is beginning a new campaign of regulating behavior, morals and laws by: monitoring employee’s Internet connections, giving drug tests and personality tests and a host of other unnecessary intrusions. I remember when there was a heated debate over drug tests. At first, they were only to be administered for jobs involving public safety but nowadays drug tests are as widely accepted as illegal government wire taps. We lost a lot of privacy by allowing corporations to intrude into our personal lives and test our bodies for foreign chemicals.

In reality what you do in your free time is your own business, but not anymore. And as time goes by these liberties will erode even further. How bad will it get? Imagine a corporation investigating your medical records and not hiring based upon an illness or a possible genetic illness which could occur in your future. Imagine NOT being hired based upon a credit report or an investigation into your television viewing habits uncovers you watch adult films. Imagine NOT being hired based upon the company monitoring your home email account or home Internet account and discovering you read a lot of left wing propaganda when they are a right wing organization. Imagine NOT getting a job because you smoke or you’re overweight. Laugh if like, but remember, we laughed in the 1990’s when the uninformed liberals told us “they” would not stop until “they” tested EVERYBODY for drugs.

Where will the line be drawn? As future generations adjust to the idea of corporate regulated intrusions, they probably won’t even notice how many freedoms they have lost. This line will slowly creep into the danger zone until corporations completely regulate morality, behavior and the laws by controlling and ultimately ending careers. Why incarcerate people when it’s cheaper to ostracize them from society by taking away their livelihood. This is almost worse than jail in one respect because you will still loose your social and economic status but you will not even have a cell to sleep in at night.

Another liberty we are slowly losing is our right to have a defense in court for an alleged crime. Certain municipalities have installed cameras at traffic signals to ticket people who run the red light. The camera takes a picture of both the license plate and the car but NOT the driver, and then a citation is issued through the mail. This citation cannot be challenged in the courts because you are guilty and your only choices are to pay the fine or go to jail. What if you were not the driver of the car? It could be your spouse, your kid, a friend you lent the car to, it could be anybody. Who cares – you’re guilty!! Will people adjust to this and then allow an automatic guilty verdict for other alleged events?

Innocent until proven guilty is one of the most important values in our country but yet not in these cases. So if people get used to an automatic guilty and not getting the right to a constitutionally guaranteed defense, then they could be treated the same way in other crimes. Again, our future generations will never realize how things used to be as the changes dissolving their liberties are slowly taken away over time. One day you wake up and they’re gone.

Did you ever file for bankruptcy? Imagine a new future of being excluded from Corporate American and never being able to find a job for filing for bankruptcy or late payments on bills. This is a perfect check and balance for corporations to finally ostracize and punish these people. Who needs the uncertainty of courts or the expense of buying judges when corporations can now take care of their own?

Conservatives suggest limiting our freedoms is necessary to live in a more secure country. I say gaining a more secure society is never worth sacrificing our liberties. If we sacrifice our liberties then the terrorists, criminals and bad guys will truly win. Once freedoms are lost they can only be regained with blood. Much blood has already been spilled by our grandparents for the freedoms we enjoy today. Don’t dishonor their sacrifice by sitting idle as our liberties are slowly drained away.

When will Americans awaken from their slumber and begin to take back their country? When will we realize what is happening? Will it be too late? As long as the Super Bowl, American Idol and the sex lives of celebrities garner more attention than these more important issues, we will quickly lose our country to fascists without a dissenting word. When our grandchildren awaken into a society completely controlled and regulated by the richest 1% of America, they can thank us for getting everything started.

A Plea For Help

2007-06-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

Will somebody please invent a reanimator fluid so we can bring back FDR and the rest of the Greatest Generation from the dead? We need lessons on how to live in a democracy because none of the current residents in the United States know anything about liberty or the ideas within the Constitution. Maybe it’s because we are all too lazy or too rich or too stupid to care anymore, but whatever it is we need help quickly.

I think we also need the help of these illegal immigrants to teach us how to live in a democracy. They have been the only group to lead a demonstration against the Federal Government in several years. Remember how our government responded to this peaceful demonstration? The innocent picketers were beaten with clubs and shot with rubber bullets.

We’ve also had enough of the Dark Ages leadership style of Saddam Bush and the rest of his Bath Party followers. We now need a true believer in a democracy and human rights to lead our country again. We need a leader who will take the Constitution, in particular the Bill of Rights, seriously. We need a leader with intelligence, courage, and who understands the issues. We need someone who believes the Earth is round, revolves around the Sun and is at least 4.5 billion years old.

If this doesn’t scare the shit out of you then nothing ever will. No it’s not the latest trailer to a horror film. This is REAL life scary. A member of the media was asking questions to one of Rudy Giuliani’s staff members. When the person being interviewed did not like the questions, he had the reporter arrested and charged with espionage. Let me remind you this happened in the United States of America; NOT the Soviet Union, NOT North Korea, NOT China but right here.

I know when I use words or phrases like “fascist” or “anti-American” or “unconstitutional”, many people think they’re overkill and that I’m crazy. These are the terms which are appropriate for situations like this. Let me repeat this in case it was not read right: A member of our media, who was carrying the proper credentials and who was doing a job protected by our Constitution, was arrested for asking questions then charged with espionage. WOW!!!!

Remember the Military Commissions Act I warned you all about that Saddam Bush signed into law. These are the laws which allow him to jail anybody for any reason for any length of time without due process. It doesn’t get any more like a dictatorship in our country than this. These are the very laws they are using to jail this innocent man.

I hate to again say this but these are the types of things that will continue to happen if we get another 4+ years under Republican leadership. I cannot believe the Republican Party as a whole completely ignores Constitutional law, in particular the Bill of Rights. These are the same miscreants who are also in power at my former employer. They ignore all common sense and human rights to forge their own fascist police state. These people are no different from the former Bath Party in Iraq; similar execution of justice, similar ideology.

Is there anybody out there who will stand up to these fuck holes? The Democrats have no spine!! They cave on every issue, preferring to play party politics rather than fight for the rights and the lives of their constituents. Talk about chicken shit, the Democrats are the epitome of spineless. When I read about events like this I think to myself all hope is lost. If I can be fired for writing a blog and a reporter can be jailed for espionage for asking questions, then we are all fucked!!!

I have considered deleting this blog several times in the past couple of weeks but when I read about events like this and see them get ignored by mainstream media, I am hoping people like me will gain an audience to put an end to this behavior. This is simply wrong. How very few people can see through the right wing conspiracy’s obvious anti-American behavior baffles me to no end.

This right wing conspiracy includes all of these religious zealots who want their theology to become engraved into our law books, thereby dissolving our important separation of Church and State. Maybe these idiots never learned anything from history but religion and politics are like oil and water; they don’t mix well together. I am not including all religious people in this category, just the ones who want to practice their theology as criminal law.

When almost half of the voters continue to vote for a Republican Party which burns the Bill of Rights and celebrates its demise, then it is very easy to see how devastatingly bad things have become. Are these people misled or just plain ignorant? I would like to see a Democratic presidential candidate stand up and kick somebody’s ass – and Hilary Clinton is NOT the right one for this job.

I also can’t figure out why when I post an important topic like this, I get no feedback? Does the lack of comments mean you are all in agreement that this reporter should be jailed for espionage for asking questions to a politician? Because that is what it seems like to me? Maybe I should write about Paris Hilton or publish sex stories so I can get people to talk. Because the dumber the topic the more people speak out about it. Is everybody scared? What is it?

I would really like to know of anybody cares about their dissolving rights? Does anybody care what is happening? Does anybody care that the politicians are allowing human rights to become extinct like the dinosaurs?

I am pissed off that not more people are pissed off!!!

Oil and Greed

2007-05-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

Agreken made a significant point in one of his comments:

So that is your belief? SCREW everyone else at the company because you think NOW is the time to take them (specifically, ONE person who you are angry with) down. You use the words "they didn't" but it wasn't the secretaries and mail room clerks and fellow IT workers who were responsible for your "confidentiality agreement". But SCREW them right, causalities of war? Sounds vindictive and spiteful, not heroic...

He is absolutely right in this statement and when I first read this, it took a while to sink in. Another appropriate way we can apply his wisdom is in the war in Iraq. We falsely accused Saddam Hussein of harboring WMD’s and then falsely linked him to the 9/11 attacks. Then we storm into Iraq and upset their delicate balance of power, thereby killing many innocents in the process. Agreken is right, this action is not heroic.

We have now killed more Iraqis since the war began than Saddam Hussein killed in his reign of terror. Now let us also remember he was given the poisonous gas and the weapons by the Reagan Administration to fight the Iranians, but he used them on his own innocent people when that war ended. Let us not forget we funded Saddam Hussein.

Even today as more evidence surfaces proving this war was based on false allegations, the perpetrators stubbornly continue on their course of destruction. Seven out of ten Americans now want the war to end, which is an overwhelming majority within a democracy, certainly enough to stop this act of terror. But yet the dictators within our government stubbornly continue on their course of action and ignore basic democratic principles. Why? Two reasons: oil and greed.

Oil is the evil within our souls and our greed is the engine which thirsts for it. Oil and greed are the primary ingredients to our capitalist values and the primary reasons we inflict terror upon the world. We will stop at nothing to obtain them. We will lead our planet to destruction, lead our sons and daughters to an early grave, kill innocent families which stand in our way and fund the terrorism we claim to want defeated. American responds to all of this by buying bigger and less efficient vehicles but feel justified if they put the “We support our troops” bumper sticker on the ass of their mega-ton SUV.

Corporations are also profiting handsomely from this war and they see no good reason to end it. When you look at Congress’s voting record every single bill passed into law favors Corporate America; not one favors the lower classes or the ordinary working Joe. This war is just another bill giving Haliburton and the oil companies the right to steal mega-billions. And they are stealing it from the blood of our troops.

Every American KNOWS the truth but they either ignore it or lie to themselves. We are in Iraq because of oil and greed, the primary reasons behind all of our actions. We are like a drug user who stubbornly refuses to admit he has an addiction.

Also, this war has NOT curtailed the gasoline prices as we were promised when it began; another outright lie and broken promise from the Bush Administration. Even if it did lower our gasoline prices, let’s ask the families of soldiers if they would rather have their sons and daughters back home or cheaper gas. Or even better ask yourself, would you rather have your son or daughter back from the grave or Saddam Hussein back in power? I would never trade my son for that; never in a million years.

The only time war is justified is in defense of your country. Iraq didn’t do anything except rattle off some tough talk and take a belligerent stance regarding the weapons inspectors. Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia should have been the two targets.

I made the right decision when I ended my private war so why can’t our leaders do the same?

Gas Prices

2007-05-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today gas prices jumped to $3.18 for regular unleaded in St. Louis, up twenty cents after jumping ten cents on Monday. The reason given for this increase is the standard bullshit answer of tensions in Iran and the summer driving season is nearing.

The reality is this market is not like other markets. It’s exactly the same market principles which charge $8 for a beer at a sporting event. Supply doesn’t really matter unless there is a shortage; right now there is no shortage but still prices continue to climb.

The oil companies can charge whatever they want for gasoline, just like the stadium which charges $8 for a beer or $5 for a hot dog. There is no place for a fan to go and get another hot dog or beer so he is stuck with the price, just like there is no other place for the driver to go get cheaper gas prices. The oil companies are all in collusion just like all of the concession stands are in collusion. The only reason for $3 per gallon gas prices is the oil companies want to make more money. PERIOD!

Because of the oil companies greed we are in the midst to using our corn as a substitute for gasoline which has driven the price of corn through the roof. Corn is a staple in our food chain. A lot is dependent on it, from feeding our cattle to sweetening our food. This price surge in corn is affecting the price of our food: chicken is up 27%, pork is up 25% and beef is up 15% over last years prices. These numbers are expected to double by the beginning of next year. Meanwhile, the oil companies are eclipsing their profit margins from last year by double digits percentages.

Instead of using our corn for gasoline and plunging our food markets into chaos why don’t we just regulate the oil industry? Put a cap on them. If the oil companies don’t like it then we should take the profitability out of that market like Chavez did in Venezuela. If you remove the profit and taxes from gas prices, it would only cost about $1 per gallon or less.

The Bush Administration’s plan to combat these prices is to open up protected land for drilling. How is this going to cheapen the price of gas? It won’t. Instead the oil companies will now have even more oil to sell at whatever price they want because there is no regulation on this market. How about a plan to move to an alternative fuel sources? How about a plan to break the oil cartel? How about a plan to regulate the price of gasoline like we do with electricity? How about at least forcing them to build more refineries which will is a better solution than more drilling?

The oil companies don’t want to build more refineries because that definitely would drive the price of gas down. There is no supply shortage but we do have a bottle neck within the refining process. With the technology advances we have today, if they would build even one new refinery it would be better for the environment and produce almost as much gasoline as two of the older refineries. But this would translate to cheaper gasoline prices at the pump which is NOT what the oil companies want.

The Bush Administration is weak on oil policies because the entire Administration is made up of oil executives. Condi Rice was serving on the board at Chevron before she caught Bush’s eye. In fact, they named a tanker after her. The there is first term Commerce Secretary Don Evans who is a big gas and oil buddy. Lawrence Lindsay the former chief economic advisor is from the Enron Advisory Board. James Baker was formerly with the Carlyle Group which represents the oil companies. Bush loves the oil people so much we’ve even seen him walking hand in hand with the Saudi dictator or whatever they call him. When you earn the richest profits on the planet you can buy anything or anybody you want. It is clear this Administration is bought and paid for by oil.

Also the Republican debate was tonight but not one question was asked during either debate if any candidate has any plan to curtail these oil companies which are doing so much harm to our economy. The fact is no candidate will challenge these oil companies because they give so much money to every candidate either directly or indirectly. We all know corporate America controls our government, and there has never been a more blatant example than what is happening to our gasoline prices.

I remember the investigation last year when Congress called certain oil executives to testify. They were trying to find evidence of the oil companies gouging the American people. Just look at the profits, you dumb asses! Talk about bullshit – that entire circus was full of the purest bullshit I’ve ever seen. In the end, nothing was done and I didn’t expect anything to be done either. I wish they would have had a camera in the back to show the oil executives handing the Congress suitcases filled with money and laughing their asses off.

Our government now encourages monopolies. They do nothing when large companies within a market merge leaving no competition or limited competition. There was a time when corporate influence was not as great because monopolies were broken up and NOT created. Today, it’s obvious the pro-corporate mantra within our government; they don’t even try to hide it anymore.

There is no relief in sight to these outrageous gas prices because none of the potential presidential candidates will even admit there is a problem. Instead of forcing regulations on a few greedy oil companies, our government will sit idle while the prices on everything skyrocket us right into inflation. When this happens, they won’t call it inflation and if they do they’ll never admit what caused it. But you mark my works; right here on May 3, 2007. I predict inflation by 2009 to the point where the recession of 2002 will look like an economic boom.

By 2009 gas prices will probably top $5 per gallon and the oil companies will have another banner year where their profits might reach the trillions per quarter. By 2009 milk prices will be close to $4 per gallon, certain meat prices will be almost unaffordable to all but the upper middle classes. In fact, we’ll probably see a 25% or more jump on the price of all food. All the while our wages will only climb by the standard 2% - 3%. Too bad corporate profits and the wage for a standard American cannot be linked. Maybe then something good would happen for the average working American.

Virginia Day 2 – Virginia Massacre

2007-04-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were in Staunton, VA only an hour from Virginia Tech when we heard about the massacre. At first, I thought it was just a rumor as we overheard people at the restaurant talking about it. Then our worst fears were verified when we got back into the car and turned on the radio.

Cho Seung-Hui, a resident alien from South Korea, was the shooter. This psychopath killed 32 innocent people. Since he killed himself the blame game has already started. People are searching for someone or some group to hold accountable. I’m sure since he was an immigrant; they will start there with a “whack a mole” blame game.

As soon as I heard the shooter was dead I told my wife they would immediately start searching for the sacrificial lamb. First, they wanted to blame the police for not knowing two murders in a dorm would grow into the worst massacre on a college campus in American History. Then, they jumped on the school for also failing to read his mind. Now they have started a witch hunt for any students, faculty or staff who might have known about anything. Who could have predicted this? Even if he would have told somebody, who would have believed it? Punishing somebody would be ludicrous.

Very soon they will find out what kind of music he enjoyed and blame the artists. Then they will find out which video games he played and try to ban them. I am sure they will also try to blame the gun shop who sold him the guns, even though he legally bought them and even waited the legal three days. He was an English student who read Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. Do you think they will try to ban books by those authors now?

Now they are probably going to try to pass a slew of laws, none of which would have saved any of these innocent people, but will be a major loss of liberty to every law abiding citizen in the country. There will be stupid law suits against the school, so now every University will be forced to lock campuses down like prisons or face similar stupid law suits. Where will it end? I don’t know.

My heart pours out to the families of the innocent victims but the reality of the situation is, in a free society, there is no way to stop random acts of violence like this. No amount of laws or loss of freedoms will ever stop this kind of behavior. This is the price we all pay for living in a free society. The alternative is to regulate EVERYTHING and to sacrifice liberty for safety; this is the definition of fascism. Don’t buy into this!!!!

Pray for the families, mourn with them but don’t jump on a fascist bandwagon which will accomplish nothing except to eliminate the freedoms our grand-parents have paid for with their blood. Like it or not, the right to bear arms is a Constitutional right which cannot be sacrificed for safety’s sake or convenience sake.

This guy was a psychopath, plain and simple. Don’t let his mental illness influence the rights which we fought so hard to obtain. The fact of the matter is no amount of changing of the laws will ever keep us safe from psychos; they will always find a way to be psychos. But don’t apply the least common denominator principle and treat all of us like this psychopath.

Our vacation continues. Yesterday we toured Endless Caves and the Woodrow Wilson birthplace. Today we saw the Manassas Civil War battlefield and Mt Vernon. Enjoy some pictures from the past two days in Virginia.

Endless Caverns

A family of bats on the cave wall. They don't like to be petted and they hate Skittles.

Mt. Vernon, home to George Washington, the father of liberty. He died of a sore throat which became infected. If they only had Triaminic he might still be alive today.

Woodrow Wilson's birthplace. They actually had the bed in which he was born (and conceived) in the house.

I'm sitting on GW's back porch enjoying the view of the Potomac River. You can actually see my duck feet in this picture.

Manassas National Civil War Battlefield. An early battle won by the Confederates thanks to the leadership of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. He acquired that nickname at this battle.

In other news, I've also changed my mind about the Dodge Charger, it is a piece of crap. It might look fast but it has no pick up at all. We were having troubles passing 18-wheelers. My Monte Carlo can run circles around it. There are many more inadequacies with it: the horn sounds when you lock the car, the lights turn on when you unlock it and they stay on after you lock it for quite a while.

Virginia Day 1 – Footsteps of Giants

2007-04-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Virginia yesterday but too late to see any of the Presidents’ homes. So we drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and hung out along the coast. We then spent the night in Charlottesville so we could get an early start to see as much as possible today. There were eight Presidents born in Virginia and today we saw three of their homes: James Madison (Montpelier), James Monroe (Ash Lawn), and Thomas Jefferson (Monticello).

Many of you know I am an avid reader of biographies and stories about the founding fathers. My favorites are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin. Needless to say I was quite overwhelmed to see two of my favorites.

James Madison’s home is called Montpelier and is currently being renovated by a $30 million DuPont grant. But I still got to see the most important room in the house, his office. It was in that office James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, which I contend is the most important document ever written by man. Madison was just a 25 year old Congressman but his intelligence was greater than his years. The renovations will be finished in the fall and I must return again to see it again in its glory.

At the time Madison was writing the Bill of Rights, Thomas Jefferson was in France but he lent Madison many books from his impressive library to do research. It is important to note that Jefferson had the second largest library in the country (only the National Library had more books). In the war of 1812 when the British burnt down the National Library it was Jefferson which replenished it with his own books. He later wrote he could not live without books and again built an impressive collection of literature which survives to this day.

Anyway, I stood in the very room in which James Madison wrote this important document and was immediately entranced in thought. I often wonder what he would say if he knew the kind of inhumanities our own government is involved with today. I don’t think anyone else on this tour realized where they were standing and the importance to American history, and humanity for that matter, it signified.

Thomas Jefferson’s home is named Monticello and was just as impressive. Jefferson wrote the Constitution and as I stood in his office staring at his pen, chair and desk, I got the same feelings of pride for my country as I did while standing in Madison’s office. Both of these men were good friends. Both were intellectuals, rebels and liberals; they would not fit well today into our heavily regulated society in which human rights have taken a back seat to security. Many of their greatest ideals have been undone by our current administration.

We also saw the historic Michie Tavern which serviced travelers since 1784. In those days it was rumored body oils would protect you against disease so people did not shower much. The tavern only washed linens and clothes twice per year, and people bathed only during the summertime (if that). They carried a small bag of potpourri in their pockets and would press it against their noses when encountering other people to cut down the smell of the stench. I don’t know how people had sex back then with the stench of their bodies being so strong but they had many children so it must not have bothered them.

Michie’s Tavern offered separate rooms for men and women but there were few (if any) women traveling alone. Mostly the women’s quarters were used for private rooms for richer patrons which would pay up to a weeks salary for one night in a private room. Most travelers stayed on the floor of the main lobby. For a meager amount (no one knows exactly how much) they would get a hot meal, usually soup, and be offered the floor or a chair to sleep through the night. The main lobby also had gambling tables and unlimited drinking for travelers. Alcohol was sold by the glass, mostly whiskey or wine.

James Monroe was another important player in American history. He was integral in the Louisiana Purchase as he was the ambassador to France and a good friend of Napoleon. Under Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency, Monroe went to France with a millions dollars and came back with the title to land which more than doubled the size of the US.

James Monroe was a farmer and his home, Ash Lawn reflected his meager living. He wrote about defeating a king during the Revolutionary War and did not believe men should live as kings. Most of Ash Lawn was burned down and rebuilt by another family but it is still impressive to see this man’s home. One of the most impressive pieces of art was the bust of Napoleon given to Monroe by Napoleon in honor of their friendship. There was also a portrait of Napoleon’s daughter hanging in the parlor as their daughters were also good friends. They even attended college together.

Enjoy a few pictures of my travels and come back tomorrow for more. Mount Vernon is on the itinerary, home to George Washington.

Historic Michie's Tavern in the pouring rain.

Monticello, home to Thomas Jefferson - still raining.

Barboursville Ruins. This historic home was designed by Thomas Jefferson for Governor James Barbour and was built in 1814. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day in 1884.

Our hot rental car is a 2008 Dodge Charger. When my 2001 Monte Carlo is replaced, I want one of these.

Ash Lawn home to James Monroe. This house is very small compared to the other famous homes; I feel like a giant.

Imus Idiotus

2007-04-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

I have never listened to Imus, he sounds like an idiot to me. The comments he made were stupid and insensitive but does he really need to lose his livelihood for telling a stupid joke? I say stupid things all the time and I’ll bet you all do too. Should we all lose our jobs and maybe even our careers over a stupid joke? I hope not.

What Imus said wasn’t any different from what any other performer says. Chris Rock says much worse, so does Dave Chappelle, so did Ann Coulter and a host of other performers. Look at all of the hate words used in hip-hop and rap music. Nobody lost their job over any of those bigoted statements. All of the above said much worse things than Imus.

So why the double standard? I don’t have an answer for this and whatever anybody else says in defense of firing Imus won’t make sense to me unless they address all of the other hate speeches. Imus is a performer NOT a Senator or any other representative of the people. If the President or someone of that nature were to say something like this then I would agree with them being fired or removed from office. But again, those people are different because they have jobs in public service. Imus is a radio shock jock, a performer NOT a public servant.

Firing Imus is setting a dangerous precedence in our society. This dangerous prededence is saying white people cannot have a sense of humor about racial issues. White people cannot tell the same jokes as black comedians. A law is a law; and a racial statement is a racial statement regardless of who says it. The law should be color blind so what happens to Imus should happen to everybody else. And since I don’t think it should happen to anyone else, I don’t think it should happen to Imus.

I think Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are hilarious. I don’t want them fired or ostracized for telling racist jokes. I don’t like Ann Coulter but even she should be able to make a joke about John Edwards (even though she bordered on slander)without being fired from her job. Even though I think Imus is an idiot, he should have the ability to say something stupid and apologize for it (or not) and retain his livelihood. For those who judge him differently from anybody else; they are the racists.

Beginning next week I’ll be on vacation in Virginia. I will hopefully be posting pictures and a plethora of information about my wanderings.

Winds of Change - Part 4 - Conclusion

2007-04-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

In Part 1 I asked the question: “If you lie to enough people and they start believing the lie as fact, can this lie be woven into our instinctual behavior?” Lie is such a harsh word. Yes a lie or a false belief can sabotage the evolution of a species as well as the intellectual advancement. I’ll site two examples.

What if the 100 monkeys instead of washing the sweet potatoes shoved them up their ass? If this caught on and became a fad it could jeopardize the entire clan if everybody followed the one fool who shoved the potato up his ass. Some would have died because they stopped up their bowels, others might have pulled it out and eaten it with feces and died of a disease. If the whole 100 did it they might have all died and taken many others with them.

The second example of how falsehoods derail intellect is the Heaven’s Gate cult. These idiots followed a guy to his death by drinking the “Kool-Aid”. Upon death they were promised a ride to heaven aboard the Hale-Bopp Comet or something of that nature. They blindly followed this lunatic to his death. The founder of Heaven’s Gate had no proof, no scientific evidence to prove his claim but yet these knuckleheads died anyway; social Darwinism at its finest. What if this crazy cult would have hypnotized more people, like 5 billion?

So following a lie or some false and unproven theories could lead to disaster. This is why we must be diligent with our beliefs and accept only fact based theories. We should also constantly change based on new evidence but don’t be too quick to jump on a new idea. Don’t be the second monkey to shove a potato up your ass; rather wait until the facts arrive.

When you have too many people believing in something false or working toward wasted efforts like profits, it can stunt an entire species. Instead of resources being spent on intellect or projects advancing the species they are wasted on bullshit. This is the cycle we are stuck in now. Too much blind faith and too much time wasted working to advance the profit margins of soulless companies have stunted our growth.

So what do you do when a fundamentalist President like Bush ignores 66% of our entire nation to further his own agenda? First of all, you find out who else in the Senate and the HOR is supporting him and then vote them out in the next election. Stay informed. There are some credible news agencies out there, but you have to look for them; I have links to a few on this blog. You have to work at being an informed, intelligent human-being. But the payoff is worth the work. More intelligent voters elect better candidates. And if you don’t like either one then write somebody in.

Raise your kids to be free thinking adults. They should challenge authority, know the law (especially the Bill of Rights) and learn proper etiquette. Just because they challenge authority doesn’t mean they have to be uncontrolled. Buy energy efficient products including automobiles. Don’t join a church just because everyone else is doing it. If you do join a church then read everything and learn as much as you can about the religion. Don’t let someone tell you about it, read it for yourself. That was exactly how the Heaven’s Gate people were tricked into drinking the Kool-Aide – blind faith. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck; then it’s a duck.

Winds of Change - Part 3 – Search for Higher Intelligence

2007-04-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

I believe in a higher intelligence. At this point, I don’t want to call this higher intelligence “God” because there are so many preconceived notions with that label, because what I am suggesting differs from traditional views of God. This higher intelligence might exist within us, within our DNA or somehow connected to our DNA. It might influence changes through direct contact but we see only what it wants instead of what is actually there (I’ll explain this later).

Accepting a search for a higher intelligence even if you already worship a God is an acceptable human behavior. For example, you can worship Zeus but still keep your mind open for something more logical and explainable than a man living in the clouds with a humongous hammer. We have a complex mind in which we haven’t even tapped into one-tenth of our potential, but yet we often accept unproven theories over more logical, proven theories. We do this because it's easier.

Accepting the fact we don’t have the answers to life or even death is more threatening than believing a man in the clouds with a hammer will save you when you die. When I was a kid it was easier believing in Santa Claus but as I aged I wanted the truth and sought the truth until I found out there was no Santa. Sure I could have still believed but that still would not have changed the fact that there was no Santa. Human evolution is the same. We can blindly believe in our tradional Gods or we can put more resources into science to find the truth.

Whether the religious fundamentalists will admit it or not, science is responsible for all of our intellectual growth and many of our evolutionary leaps. Without the smart person in the group inventing a wheel or fire we would still be living in caves and hunting with sticks. What would the Wright Brothers say today if they could see how their innovation has led us onto the moon and beyond? Science is responsible for all of this. From the electricity in our home to the power of our automobiles, these fundamentalists will use all of the modern conveniences science invents but still give them no credibility at all.

The point I am trying to make is just like the 100 monkeys influenced their entire species, let science and our intellect take our species to new heights. Don’t sabotage their findings because they threaten old traditions. You can help the evolution of our species by raising your kids to be open minded. Don’t close their minds with religion, hate and prejudice. Let their minds develop so they can search for God and make their choice based on intellect instead of tradition.

Some fundamentalists believe our laws are based on the Ten Commandments but that’s total idiocracy; only two of the Ten Commandments are laws. A 20% success ratio is not a winning number even by Enron’s accounting methods. I said it before and I’ll say it again, the Bill of Rights is the most important document ever written for humanities sake. If the Ten Commandments were written by God then he would have realized the need for human rights before the egotistical need to realize He was the Supreme Being. The first commandment should have been Thou Shall Not Have Slaves and went on from there. The fact that important laws like this were missing is proof these commandments were written by a fallible man.

If you draw circles around all of the groups you belong to, you’ll see the human being circle is the biggest. Whether it's religion, political party, or family, the human being circle is the biggest and sometimes the most important. If we accepted the importance of this group, we would treat our fellow man with more compassion and we would realize this compassion should be our most important value. Any religion worth anything should realize this and will be built on compassion, acceptance, education and human rights. A true religion would want to desegregate and bring all of humanity together instead of excluding huge groups of our species. In fact, this is the first rule of a false religion: if they exclude any group or influence one group to kill another group, they are a false religion.

In the search for a higher intelligence we must be prepared to find another more advanced species instead of a Supreme Being. Like my fish tank theory we could be fish in a tank and the higher species could be our creators, visiting us occasionally to study our advancement. In a similar but more frightening theory, the other species could be living amongst us but on a higher or lower frequency so we cannot see them. Maybe they even built a blocker into our DNA so we cannot see them. This could explain certain ridiculous UFO sightings people have experienced.

One such ridiculous sighting was a farmer. When investigators visited and interviewed him there were still burn marks on the dirt near his home in which traces of a rare chemical were found which could not have been faked, also impressions in the ground left by the landing gear were too precisely measured to be a hoax. Even more ridiculous was the farmer saw the aliens and claimed they offered him a plate of pancakes. When he looked into the craft he saw another human in what looked to be a 1950’s kitchen wearing an apron and waving. What makes this so convincing was the man knew it was ridiculous but still told the story to investigators. They concluded if he was lying he would have made up some fantastic story instead of telling them a story he knew was silly. Is it possible this was a visit from our creators or some higher intelligence and they somehow cloaked this man’s mind only to see what they wanted him to see?

If a higher intelligence were to visit us they would surely try to keep their presence masked and what better way of doing this than to leave behind a ridiculous trail of unbelievable stories. As a paranormal investigator I find it interesting how similar ghost stories are to UFO abductions. Sometimes the ghosts which people describe to me actually look similar to the pictures of aliens. The similar occurrences contain elements of paralyzation, accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and despair. Many of the stories make the storyteller look foolish and they realize this but yet they stick to their story. Some of them might be crazy but I know too many witnesses who are sane, intelligent people. There know certain facts which only someone who is experiencing a real haunting will know, and I can usually tell just by listening to the story who is faking it or if they are only experiencing the house settling. Could these “ghosts” actually be visitors from a higher intelligence but our rudimentary minds cannot handle the reality of the situation?

UFOs could also be a higher intelligence inspiring us to achieve a higher intelligence. I am not saying this is provable truth I am only saying this is a possibility. When ancient man would see UFOs they saw rope ladders which would unravel and the aliens would appear as bearded dwarves. As we evolved so have our UFO sightings. The fact remains UFO sightings have inspired many scientific advancements. UFO sightings are partially responsible for the space program. We have copied many of the UFO designs into actual machines which we have either tested or are flying today.

All of this leads us back to the 100 monkeys theory. If we keep our minds open allowing only proved theories to be evidence of higher intelligence then as a society we will evolve faster. If we hold onto traditions which hold back our power of intellect then we will never evolve.

The most important values for our species should be protecting this planet from destruction, preserving our liberties, protecting all life and maintaining our quest for knowledge of our solar system, universe, planet, a higher intelligence, and ourselves. Anything which interferes with these should be abhorred.

Winds of Change - Part 2 – Paradigms

2007-04-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

My last post provided a foundation, explaining what needs to happen to change our society and how a small change can snowball into a shift in paradigms. Part 2 will focus on what needs to be changed and what our agenda should be for this millennium.

Our society is infatuated with profit even though this thirst for profit conflicts with our most important purposes in life. The success of our species depends on learning about our universe, our solar system and our planet. But there is no profit in this research and many fundamentalists suggest it is not needed because we already know everything we need to know.

Our obsession with profit is almost as obsessive as a teenage boy’s obsession with his libido. It consumes us. We put 100% of our efforts maintaining and increasing our profit margins. We even make laws ensuring the wealthy remain wealthy. If it doesn’t make money then the government will come along and deregulate a market so it becomes a profit center (like health care in the 80’s or energy markets today). As a society, this leaves little time for anything else.

The true evil of capitalism is its ability to create a society which appreciates money above everything else. This is the reality of our world today. This is why we have homeless people, a lack of education and a lack of healthcare. There is no profit from solving or changing any of those so there is nobody working on them. And when somebody does work on then somebody else comes along and shuts it down because no one can make money from providing an upgrade to those services. Even though the aforementioned are all good for humanity, money or profit is still the most important thing, so they will never be solved and will forever remain a problem. How do we change this paradigm?

Before we can change the paradigm we must realize the supreme laws of the land is in our society. The supreme laws are: good for the economy is what is best, increasing profits from year to year is paramount, and money is your God; it can buy anything. Nothing else matters.

Our kids today are taught the principles economics which enforces the belief that good for the economy is most important thing, even if it is bad for you. To pass the test you must believe in these principles or else you fail and will have to take the course again. You’ll keep taking it until you accept that principle as the supreme law of the land.

Let’s assume you will turn to religion for guidance. Religions only enforce these supreme laws. Don’t even think of joining a church without giving your 10% off the top. Turn on the television and you’ll see how profitable religion has become. All of those tele-evangelists are multi millionaires and getting richer every day. Their message is give me money and go to heaven. So they enforce one of the supreme laws; money can buy anything.

Money CAN buy anything. Look at the presidential election and see most of the candidates have already collected over $20 million dollars each and are expected to collect over $100 million just to be competitive. Are these candidates the best possible presidential hopefuls? No, but they are the only ones rich enough that want the job. The best presidential candidates will never be heard of because they don’t have the ability to raise $100 million dollars just to run. Want a wife? Then buy one online from Russia; she’ll even be unbelievably hot!

Money can also influence people’s opinions; buy votes. Just run ads on television or pay a news reporter to conduct an investigation and conclude a favorable opinion in your direction. In government, they run false flag operations to influence us and like flies to a flame we quickly submit. It’s hard to believe our own government might possibly the bad guy but when they torture people and even get Christians to agree to it, then something is wrong.

We are in the beginnings of another ice age. Our government imprisons people without habeas corpus, admittedly tortures people and conducts acts of terrorism sometimes killing Americans and then blames it on other countries. All of this is happening under the watchful eyes of an “unbiased and liberal” media.

Our paradigms need to change. We need a more compassionate society based on personal freedoms, social services for the needy and better education for all. We need more non profits and fewer corporations. Instead of finding ways to charge people more, let’s find ways to do things for free or at least cheaper. We need to invest more time, energy and money into the exploration of our universe and the understanding our planet. The scientific community needs a louder voice. We need better leaders focused on retaining personal freedoms, and establishing communications with our enemies so we can live peacefully. We need to realize personal religious beliefs should remain personal and should not be legislated.

In part three, I will focus on a higher intelligence and explain why the search for God must continue and why no one should be threatened by this search.

Winds of Change – Part 1 - 100 Monkeys Theory

2007-04-05T08:37:00.001-07:00

The 100 Monkeys Theory is based on research conducted in 1952 through 1958 when the monkeys on a remote island were observed while discovering a new way to wash sweet potatoes. The monkeys living on nearby islands and even the mainland somehow acquired the same knowledge, even though there was no physical contact between the two groups of monkeys. The study went so far as to show how future generations of this monkey were born with this new knowledge; it became instinctual.

So the theory is when enough members of a group (for convenience stated as 100 monkeys because there were approximately 100 monkeys on the island) acquire a certain piece of knowledge, this knowledge passes into a collective consciousness, and all members of the group acquire that knowledge. But in reality we currently refer to this behavior as instinct. This research shows how the instinctual behavior of a small group can eventually shift paradigms. It also proves there is hope for a society like ours.

A casual observer would see this research as only about monkeys but this is actually a story about social change and how the power of intellect can enlighten an entire species. So by the same token if you lie to enough people and they start believing the lie as fact, can this lie be woven into our instinctual behavior? Before we answer this question let’s look at more data to see if we can connect the dots.

There also might be a correlation between total population and the number of enlightened people to bring about a change. In monkeys at that particular time it was 100, but to bring about an instinctual change in mankind today with a population today of over 6.5 billion, the number of enlightened might be much higher.

I believe in this theory. If enough enlightened people believe and adapt their behavior then our entire species can shift to a better paradigm and live a more enriched life. However, other people can sabotage this shift as is evident with President Bush and his 30% approval rating pandering to an unpopular, immoral war in Iraq. This scientific research proves he must either change or be left behind eating dirty potatoes. But this posting is not about the war in Iraq.

Our DNA is a recorder for our species. It has all the information ever collected about us, even so far as telling us how many of our species were alive in a particular time. Using this data we built a historical chart of the evolution of our species and we compared it with other data collected from the Earth in ice and rock. For example, we saw a severe drop in population about 80,000 years ago to the point where we almost went extinct. This data corresponded with evidence of a mega-volcanic eruption about that same time in evidence collected within the ice in Antarctica and within the rocks in Australia. When you have evidence collected by three different scientific fields reflecting the same conclusion then you have very strong proof.

In order to keep my posts shorter and easier to read, I stop here and let everybody digest this. I will post more next week about this theory and how this collective intelligence might respond to falsehoods and lies. What are your thoughts and comments so far?

The Abstinence Myth

2007-04-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

There has never been a more blatant example of the lack of separation of church and state than the archaic sex education methods taught to our kids. The federal government spent over $168 billion on programs promoting an abstinence only approach to sex education and over $1.2 billion since the Clinton administration. These programs cannot mention birth control at all; not even condoms.

The abstinence-only morons lie to themselves and believe this approach to be working but the real truth is the single mother birth rates continue to climb, the teenage pregnancy rates continue to climb as does the rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The only thing this myth is accomplishing is to bring our children closer to ruining their lives due to an STD or an unwanted pregnancy. If educators do not properly educate or start propagating myths like abstinence-only, then kids will continue to perpetuate problems within our society.

School is supposed to EDUCATE. It is impossible to educate about sex when you leave out important facts about safe sex and how to protect yourself from unwanted pregnancies. Again we see how the government, led by the right wing, continues to destroy freedom and choice. Actually Clinton is just a guilty here. He fired his Surgeon General for proving masturbation is a healthy thing and a good alternative to sex.

Have you ever seen one of the presentations by one of these abstinence-preaching morons? They equate sex to fire. So they burn paper to show how damaging sex can be to a relationship. Do these people have a clue at all? Then they equate abstinence with water which puts out the flame and saves us from burning. This is actually a federally funded program. LOL!!

Don’t get me wrong, I am a supporter of abstinence for teenagers but you also have to teach them about birth control too and how important it is to protect themselves from the multitude of STDs which can kill. As a father of a 15 year old boy, it is important he understands how to protect himself.

My son turned 15 this year. Of course, we are telling him it is best to wait until after graduation from high school before engaging in sexual relations, but if the urge strikes then protection is a requirement. We are going to keep a drawer full of condoms at home for his use. He won’t have to come to us for any, just go to the drawer. It will be my job to keep it full. He is well aware how easy sex can ruin his life because of the many STDs or an unwanted pregnancy.

I cannot imagine what those fundamentalists’ parents are thinking as they sound off about how you’ll burn in hell for doing some as natural as having sex. Then their daughter gets knocked up (or worse gets an STD) because she wasn’t taught about something as simple a condom. Perhaps I should start a business selling chastity belts to these idiots.

After more than two generations of failure and over $1.2 billion dollars wasted, you would think we would look at the statistics and start teaching the entire story. Start teaching kids about how condoms will save their life. Start teaching kids about how an unwanted pregnancy can ruin their life. Bring in single mothers and let them tell the class how difficult life has become and how their plans for college are now ruined. This is the reality the conservatives do not want our kids to see. They would prefer to quote the Bible more often or, even worse, blame the entertainment industry and then lobby to end all adult programming so all TV shows are scaled to only 5-year olds.

Morons!!!!

A Clean Slate

2007-03-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine posted a comment to my Lost Tomb of Jesus writing which sparked the following response. I decided to put my response on the front page of the blog so everyone understands not only my motives for that post but also understands why I am writing so much about religion. This friend of mine is a devote Christian, but more importantly, a very good human being. While I do not like to talk about religion in person, I enjoy writing about it. I find religion is not a good topic to converse with people because religious beliefs are tightly woven into their being and I don’t want to challenge their faith; it can be damaging to friendships. However, I will challenge MY beliefs, which is what I do on this blog.

Let me first give you a little background about me. I was raised Catholic. Many of my early years were spent in service to the Church as either as an altar boy, choir or doing the readings during mass. I was a staunch Republican for many years and used to believe Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of my lifetime. But I started questioning things about 2003. So I decided to wipe away all of my beliefs and learn new ideas. If these new things led me to where I was then that would be proof I was on the right path but if they led in another direction then I was prepared to follow the new course.

The reason for this new approach was I saw inaccuracies within our system of government; contradictions and hypocrisy within my religion. Prayer and going to Church left me with an empty feeling; I felt as though I was wasting my time doing both. I also felt that taking action was better than prayer because at least I was working on fixing a problem. I saw people believing in religions and government but not knowing why they believed, or even worse, believing in outright deceptions.

Since August, 2005 I have been on a mission to find the ultimate truth through the most intelligent minds of our time and their research. The only way to do this is to wipe the slate clean and relearn everything. This blog is the result of this research and the primary outlet for it. This is also why I selected the name "Neutrality" because I now consider myself a "true neutral". We must have balance in life, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. In the absence of evil within a society, portions of the good will then become evil (this is also known as chaos theory). So there is no such thing as a "good" society.

During this research, I have read selected works by Stephen Hawkins (very hard to read this guy), Carl Sagan, the Founding Fathers, and watched many documentaries about a host of topics. This research has proven one thing to me; we cannot give up our search for God just yet. The scientific discoveries of the past ten years are fascinating and deserve recognition.

I find it hard to believe most fundamentalists disregard the most brilliant minds of our generation because they uncover something which contradicts old traditions. I thought humanity was supposed to constantly be learning new things and adapting these new discoveries to life. Even animals use their intelligence and discovery to influence their behavior, but some people within our species do not practice good intellectual behavior. In their narrow minds, tradition is more important than truth.

This research has also been the root to uncovering many other false beliefs I had about government. I have also uncovered many negative traits within our society which our leadership has ignored. Even worse, I found most of the leaders of our nation to be corrupt and working on their own agenda instead of what is right for all of us.

There are many inaccuracies in the Bible but I am not a fundamentalist, so I can still give merit while accepting these inaccuracies. For example, do I believe the universe was created in seven days? No way and I find it hard to believe there are people who still do. But this does not tarnish Jesus’ image for me. I don’t cut the entire tree down because of a bad branch. I cut the bad branch and likewise will just disregard this bad text as an oversight by ignorant men.

I am not sure if the tomb of Jesus reportedly found by the Discovery Channel documentary is the actual tomb of Jesus but I believe it is possible. I believe just admitting this I have taken an incredible leap forward to possibly finding God. It is possible man created Christianity (he certainly had motive for this deception), so that means the true God might still be waiting for us to discover Him; at least this possibility exists. I cannot bury my head in the sand and ignore science, my intelligence, or other people’s intelligence just because these new ideas clash with unproven theories or writings of men over 2,000 years ago.

When I read the Old Testament, I see men of power struggling to control other people and using fear as a weapon to gain control. It’s obvious. So I struggle with my own intelligence telling me this versus my conservative upbringing. Every day I give less validity to the roots of my upbringing because those are not based on fact but on tradition. I am searching for the truth even though it might break many paradigms within my life. It is very difficult to start with a clean slate but this is what I must do in order to obtain my goal of ultimate truth.

I am not sure where this will lead me but I am willing to take the journey and follow the road in which the evidence leads regardless of the conflicts with old traditions. When I finally reach my destination, I’ll let you know, but until then, enjoy the ride.

Fast Food Nation

2007-03-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

I finally watched this movie last night but I cannot give a complete review on it because I fell asleep about 30 minutes in, but woke up just in time for the grand finale in the slaughter house. I fell asleep because it was not too good of a movie. It was not a documentary like Super Size Me but a drama which centered on a particular fast food restaurant and how damaging their business practices are to society. From the gathering of slave labor in Mexico to the eventual slaughter of thousands of animals, and everything in between; it was disturbing.

Here is where I am a hypocrite (everybody has one thing, right?) I hate the slaughtering of animals but yet I am addicted to meat. I love to barbeque over the open fire; steak is my favorite meal. I have seen what happens in a slaughter house and it truly disturbs me yet I cannot end my addiction to meat. Every once in a while I will eat only a salad if I’m not too hungry or have an upset stomach, but I am not truly satisfied until I eat meat. I have tried many times to change this behavior but I cannot do it.

First of all, you cannot humanely kill anything unless it is willing to die or suffering with little hope for survival. The two words ”humane” and “kill” are opposites and cannot be used together. Like "wet" and "dry" or "cold" and "hot"; you can’t be wet and dry at the same time. The only time “humane” and “kill” could ever belong together is, like I stated above, if the killing is being done to prevent suffering. I'm not a hypocrite about this either; if I was suffering with little or no hope of survival I would welcome death.

Unlike most people, I am not scared of death, just the pain and suffering which would come before it. Death to me is like the big sleep. Now, finally, I can get some much needed rest.

I do not understand how somebody can work in a slaughter house. I could not work in an environment in which I am surrounded with death and suffering. It would take a toll on me. I guess the horrifying thing would be if you just accepted it, or even worse, if you pulled the trigger but it didn’t bother you. Like a serial killer. I guess we need people like this in our world after all.

The West is the only society in the world which hunts on a full stomach. If I was starving then maybe I could kill an animal and eat it. I am lucky I have never been so hungry as to have thoughts of killing for food.

Maybe it is just that in my mind, life is so precious, such a beautiful thing that every creature should have the right to live without the fear of being murdered. The only time you should lose this right is if you are a predator who kills innocent people/creatures for pleasure. Then I have no mercy for you at all.

On a positive note, we are planning our vacation for the spring. It will be Virginia this year. We will be flying into Norfolk on 4/13 for another adventure. Nightly photos will be posted if I am lucky enough to stay in a hotel with Internet access. From relaxing on the beach to visiting historic locations, Virginia seems to have a variety of things to do. Also, I am trying to find some haunted locations for us to explore.

Netflix vs. Blockbuster

2007-03-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

I have been a Netflix customer for almost two years now. For the most part I am very happy with them but every once in a while I notice it takes them longer than usual to deliver the next movie to me. I am one of those people who turn movies over very fast. Well one of my friends found an article about Netflix explaining how they intentionally hold back the next movie for people like me.

It’s obvious they hold movies back because it shouldn’t take 5 days to get a movie from the city I live in. Also they will intentionally send a movie from a distant city when the movie is in stock locally. I know this because it took me 5 days to receive a movie from Seattle. When it arrived damaged I reported it the same day and received another copy the next day from a St. Louis location. Well why didn’t they just send the movie from St. Louis in the first place?

If you haven’t noticed, I have a personality disorder in which I hunger for efficiency. So I decided to find another movie service to compare with Netflix to find the best one available.

Well I couldn’t resist the temptation to join Blockbuster and compare the two services. The first advantage for Blockbuster is you can take your finished movies to the nearest Blockbuster outlet and exchange them for movies within the store (even new releases) so you are never without a movie. I did this last night and it is a very sweet deal. I got three new releases for the movies I sent back.

Movie selection is important to me but both seem to have movies the other does not have but they all have the newest movie releases, so this area is a tie. Availability is another key issue; do they have enough copies of new releases so there are no long waits? So far Netflix is winning this battle as every movie in my Netflix queue is in stock but several within the Blockbuster queue are in a “very long wait” status. But I will not count a movie as “late” until its time is up and I am waiting. Right now the “very long wait” movies are far down the queue. The final test will be speed. Both queues have 50 movies in them, so the first to delivery all of them will be the winner.

I’ll keep you posted on the results but if you are looking for a good movie service, both are very good. The upper hand right now goes to Blockbuster because I can get movies in the local stores while I am waiting for the next movie to be delivered. Also I doubt many of you want to see that Coney Island documentary, so the selection and the availability of harder to find titles will be something only a few will even consider.

Poop, everywhere, poop!!!

2007-03-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

It will probably reach 80 degrees today in St. Louis. Gorgeous weather calls for an open window to let in the fresh air and sunshine. So that’s what I did, but after about 5 minutes a pungent odor bitch slaps my nostrils. Well, I didn’t eat bean burritos for lunch, there was no garbage in the office refrigerator, I checked my shoes to make sure I didn't step in dog shit on the way into my office. Where o where was the stench coming from?

Well some mental giant decides to spread horse shit and a mulch mixture all over campus, with a huge steaming pile right under my windows. Everything smells like shit! My clothes smell like shit! My computer smells like shit! My pen smells like shit!

I decided to take a break from the stench and leave for lunch. I pull up to the Best Buy on Hanley open my door and the stench hits me again. Then I notice they spread the same mixture from hell all over their tree pods in which I parked under a tree. To make matters worse before I noticed I stepped right into it. So now I have shit all over my shoes. My car smells like shit! My new DVD smells like shit!!

It is really necessary to spread shit all over the place in the springtime when everyone is opening their windows? Can't this be done in the winter or summer when all windows are closed? What in the hell are they growing at Best Buy anyway which requires so much nutrition to be put into the soil? I don’t see any farmland at school either?

This is probably one of the differences between a big city like New York and a hick town like St. Louis. I don’t think New Yorkers cover their land with shit in the springtime but for some reason St. Louisans are required to partake in this ritual. It must be some ancient, pagan, St. Louis, horse shit spreading cult. I can’t figure out what it could be if not that. These same horse shit spreading cultists are probably the same idiots who disagree with daylight savings time. Because, you know, too much sun is a bad thing. Freakin' idiots!!

Political Bullshit

2007-03-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

In a stunning revelation, FBI Director Robert Mueller claims the FBI has misused the Patriot Act to collect information on American citizens. This is exactly why we need an uncompromised system of checks and balances, regardless of the circumstances. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and a host of other laws sought and passed by the Bush Administration have blatantly disregarded this important system for “our protection”. Yea, right!! If you believe that nonsense I've got a bridge to sell you.

I disagree completely with people who want to limit our society for our “protection” because the potential for abuse is too great. Our government simple cannot control itself when the rights of people are disregarded. I cannot understand how so many people can support the aforementioned laws. There too many ignorant people who have blind faith in false prophets and other nonsense. Stop making this issue about politics and start making it about human rights.

Within Bush’s presidency we have sanctioned torturing, allowed unmonitored snooping into the private sector, imprisoned people indefinitely thus suspending habeas corpus, and created laws in direct conflict with one of the most important documents every written by man (the Constitution). Why has the Bush Administration and their supporters shredded the Bill of Rights like a piece of junk mail, while at the same time put so much effort into an Iraqi Constitution? I will never figure this out.

I’m sure we’ll hear more bullshit from the Right about how the liberal media is causing trouble again. I have news for you fundamentalist assholes. Just because someone reports on issues like this, does not make them liberal.

Why can’t we stop what is happening to our country?

Lost Tomb of Jesus

2007-03-07T10:27:00.001-08:00

I don’t know how many of you watched this documentary on the Discovery Channel last Sunday but I would advise you to see it. The filmmakers think they have found the bones of Jesus and his entire family including his wife Mary Magdalene and one of their children.

The evidence, although it will never be 100%, is very compelling and the dramatizations were very good at illustrating how Jesus’ life might have looked. I really don’t want to speak for the film or try to summarize it but I would really advise you to see it.

Is this evidence the Bible was written by man and NOT God? It is very evident if you read the Bible, many of the stories just don’t make sense. If you logically think about the decisions made by the key characters or the archaic laws they followed and then apply those same ideas to people and situations today, you will realize just how ridiculous they sound.

So Jesus had to be killed to pay for OUR sins. Why? Why again must there be bloodshed to please God? If He is a loving God as people suggest, then why can't He just forgive us? Why is death always required to please Him? Imagine if my father wanted me killed because he did not like our neighbor’s lifestyle. This is the same reasoning the God in the Bible uses to sacrifice His son. Does that make sense to anybody else because I’m not seeing it?

What if Jesus never called himself a God like the Bible suggests? What if man put those words into his mouth and changed the Gospels to adhere to those ideas? I believe Jesus was a rebel trying to change the government and trying to show how ridiculous the pagan religions where. He was probably also preaching how the Jewish God in the Old Testament (then an unknown term “Old Testament God”) was just as bad as the pagan Gods. This angered the rabbi’s in the synagogues. A logical person can now conclude that Jesus was probably killed because of negative speeches about the Jewish rabbi’s (who were very powerful) God and the corrupt leadership in government.

Now let’s fast forward 400 years later. When the Council of Nicaea put the Bible together under the demands of the Emperor Constantine, they decided to only to include Gospels which detailed Jesus as a divine being and not as a man. Is it possible they created a God when one did not exist? By putting words in Jesus’ mouth they can also validate the Old Testament God and please everybody.

Constantine’s motives where to save his kingdom which was splintering because of a religious revolution. He did not care which religion reigned supreme or which God was idolized just as long as he remained the emperor and was able to control the people again. The majority of the empire was Christian so he commissioned the Council of Nicaea to end the conflicts within the Christian faith. So this Council of Nicaea dubbed Jesus a God and included only the few Gospels which supported this. They did not include the majority of Gospels which wrote about Jesus as an ordinary man with a wife and child.

No group has been more discriminated against by organized religion than women. The pre-Christ pagans believed the way to heaven was by having sex with women. So, in essence, the women held the power for gaining entry in heaven. Well the men during this time wanted to change this, so the Council did not include anything which would give women power again over men. This is probably one of the reasons why Mary Magdalene was written as a whore instead of the wife of Christ, to eliminate any power she might have brought into Christianity. It also provided a perfect cover up to eliminate her relationship with Jesus. To ensure the pagan religions were forever destroyed and woman’s power along with it, thousands of women were slaughtered, labeled as witches, when their only crime was to believe in a different God (a non Christian God). Now the pagan religion was forever dead and man can now control entry into the afterlife.

When the Council of Nicaea ended, Christianity was now the official religion of Rome. The Roman armies enforced these new Gospels with an iron fist by killing all opposition and by burning any of the opposing Gospels. Now, finally, Constantine’s country was whole again.

Recently, I began reading the New King James Version of the Bible. I am surprised at how many times evil exists but has been twisted to be good. There are also many situations which don’t make any sense to a logical, intelligent human being. I am only as far as Numbers but I have already encountered several situations of outright evil. I’m talking Saddam Hussein evil. How can you justify cutting babies out of pregnant mothers and bashing them against rocks or throwing them off cliffs? How can you justify killing people for cursing their parents or not going to church on Sunday? Why did they have to kill animals or even people to please God? Already I’m three chapters into this book and it sounds like I’m reading a book about a devil.

I challenge all Christians to read the Bible from cover to cover with an open mind. Put yourself in the shoes of the people making the decisions and try to justify them as “good” decisions. Try to bring the situations into your world and see if they still make sense. Try to find other people in the news which made similar choices and see if they are remembered as tyrants or as saviors. These revelations will change you.

Most people who claim to be staunch conservative Christians probably have never read the Bible from cover to cover. They just listen to what others tell them and accept it as ultimate truth. That’s what happened to me when I was younger. I only read the Bible through the selected passages my priest selected for me or in a Catechism class. I never knew the horrors which existed until I started reading it unedited from cover to cover.

Is it possible one day we will soon have evidence proving how the religions of today are false and how we have not even begun to find God? If we have overwhelming evidence then what will happen? Will the religions try to save themselves by killing people again? I am still hoping to find God before I die but the outlook is grim with people believing in ancient traditions without questioning anything no matter how ridiculous. Traditions built on the motives of one man trying to protect his dictatorship.

How can we ever find the truth when religion is woven into our culture so tightly that even an atheist believes (without realizing) many religious traditions? We are baptized at birth and taught, even before we can think for ourselves, that Jesus is God. We are not given a chance to debate anything. What can you debate if everyone within your family circle is a devout Christian? They will surely threaten you for challenging the authority of the church. You are raised to conform, even though no one knows exactly what they are conforming with.

When a devout Christian actually reads the Bible they are usually so convinced it is the ultimate truth that their powers of observation and critical thinking are forever gone. So they convince themselves that killing non believers in the Old Testament days was a good thing. They will use ridiculous phrases like “God works in mysterious ways” or some other gibberish to justify the slaughtering and torturing of entire towns and villages. Who does the Old Testament God think he is anyway…….George Bush?

Steak 'n Shit

2007-02-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

My brother and I got into a discussion about Steak 'n Shake. I took the position that it is one of the healthier fast food restaurants and he was trying to tell me it was no different from any other one. It turns out he was right. Well this got me thinking about food in general and I was surprised with my findings. The food in our society is as close to poison you can get without being charged with a crime. Even our fresh fruit and vegetables are saturated with chemicals.

Many restaurants are owned by big corporations or at least by entrepreneurs seeking to make money. The more people who frequent their establishment, the more money they will make. The average American Joe wants to eat food which tastes good and hardly ever looks at the ingredient list. As long as it pleases the pallet, he’ll eat it. No one cares the burger you choke down contains more fat than eating a chunky scoop of lard or more salt than you should have in a week. Should restaurant owners have some responsibility in ensuring their food is healthy?

This is where my fundamentalists’ roots are still showing. I assumed the companies would not serve anything too unhealthy. We all know McDonald's is bad but Steak 'n Shake is supposed to be “in sight and it must be right”. The slogan should be “In sight of a quadruple bypass.” These restaurants, even the ones you assume are healthier, are just as bad as the fast food crapola which McDonald’s sells.

When I do a comparison on the different meals I eat at the different restaurants (and I use that term loosely) everything is almost the same including the levels of fat, salt and carbs. I might as well open up my veins and shoot animal fat, salt and sugar directly into them. The cholesterol and salt content of all foods served by restaurants including the ones you assume are good are actually VERY bad.

Well I didn’t stop there. I started looking at other foods sold in grocery stores and found that most of the food we eat is poison. I already alerted you to the dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup a while back but there are so many more other bad ingredients within our food that it is troubling. Why do we need so many chemicals?

The food lobby is a very powerful lobby. More importantly, there are many hands in the “kitty” wanting a paycheck. Every time somebody takes a bite of a sandwich the producers of these chemicals get paid. If we remove these chemicals we will eliminate a huge market and since our country is about making money, our government allows these companies to exist at our own detriment.

I am NOT saying these chemicals will kill you tomorrow if you eat them tonight. But I am saying if you do not regulate your dining out then you are sure to develop troubles later in life. Like high fructose corn syrup will increase your chances of diabetes, these other chemicals and additives will increase your risk of a host of other diseases and complications if not regulated.

Another false assumption is diet soda, since it has no calories it is healthier than regular soda. Well if you look only at the calories then it is better but the list of chemical ingredients reads like the molecular chart of a meteorite in a science journal. Artificial sweeteners are very bad for us. The only exception is Splenda, but it is still too new for any long term research on the effects to be known. But if you are a diabetic what other choices do you have?

The government is on the side of the capitalists. They care little for the health and well-being of society and care more for keeping the profits margins high for corporate America. I think the schools should include classes teaching kids how to manage calories, read food labels, and exactly how to spot unhealthy foods. If our habits change then the blood-sucking corporations will be forced to change or lose out to those who will.

Oscar Predictions

2007-02-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

I usually don’t watch the Oscars because I can’t stand political correctness (PC) and this is PC at its finest. I do enjoy debating about the winners the next day; even though the choices by the Academy piss me off most of the time. The worst I can remember was in 1983 when Chariots of Fire won Best Picture over Raiders of The Lost Ark.

In 1983 the Academy was being criticized for not acknowledging foreign filmmakers, so Chariots of Fire wins. Another year they were criticized because not enough black people won awards, hence black people swept the Oscars. I am still surprised they did not succumb to peer-pressure last year and give the Best Picture to Brokeback Mountain. It was a good film but it was not a great film. Anyway, getting back to 1983, does anybody even remember Chariots of Fire? I doubt it but Raiders of The Lost Ark is still cherished as one of the greatest films ever made and will stand the test of time for years to come.

Two of the best years I can remember (the best years being when the proper people got the awards) was when Titanic and Return of the King swept all the categories. Those two films will be watched generations from now and the competition will probably be forgotten.

This year in my opinion the Best Picture by far is The Departed. The story was solid and the performances were outstanding. This movie had some of the best acting I have ever seen in a film. With Jack Nicholson, Leo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg headlining and with a host of other solid supporting performances, this film is one the best ever. Two other great films of note were Blood Diamond and Apocalypto.

Let’s look at the categories and I will give my opinions:

Actor in a leading role:
Leonardo DiCaprio had the best year of any actor in 2006. With two incredible performances (The Departed and Blood Diamond), he should easily get this as he was head and shoulders above the other performances.

Actor in a supporting role:
Although Mark Wahlberg was outstanding, Djimon Hounsou deservers this award. His performance was powerful in Blood Diamond.

Actress in a leading role: (the word ACTRESS does still exist)
I’ll have to pass on this because I have not seen any of these performances. None of these five films interested me at all to pay $8 bucks to see them. Even when The Devil Wears Prada came to video I still didn’t want to see it for only a buck. I don’t care at all for the fashion industry and I care even less for the assholes who run it.

Actress in a supporting role:
Again the only performance I saw was Adriana Barraza in Babel. The film was very dry, very slow and too long.

Best Picture:
I have to admit, of these films I did not see The Queen, but my choice is definitely The Departed. Only Letters From Iwo Jima was even close to being the caliber of The Departed, but, still the Departed was in a different league. Martin Scorsese should also reel in the Best Director award.

My predictions are rarely ever right. For some reason the Academy usually picks the most boring piece of shit to win Best Picture and rarely grades actors and actresses on their performances. As I said earlier, sometimes the Academy wants to make some half-assed political statement, so instead of grading performances they will give awards based upon race or they will throw foreign films an occasional "bone" (right-wing fundamentalists at their finest).

The Oscars is just another tool in the movie marketing machine. Since the Academy consists of workers within the movie making industry, most of the time you only have to see which film had the most people working on it; the more people, the more votes. Sometimes they will select a film which was not too popular to increase profits. Why else would people rush out to see Chariots of Fire?

Top Films

2007-02-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

Since we are getting close to Oscar season I decided to post my all time favorite films. I do take into account the aging of the film, so if the film does not age well, it drops down on the list. If you would like to post your favorite movie list I would be interested in seeing what films you rate as the greatest of all time.

1. Gladiator
2. Lord of the Rings-Return of the King
3. Batman Begins
4. Lord of the Rings-Two Towers
5. Lord of the Rings-Fellowship of the Ring
6. V For Vendetta
7. The Departed
8. War of The Worlds – 2005
9. Shawshank Redemption
10. Man in The Iron Mask
11. Bladerunner
12. King Kong-2005
13. Patton
14. Les Miserables
15. Star Wars V – Empire Strikes Back
16. Chronicles of Riddick
17. Legends of The Fall
18. Unbreakable
19. Underworld
20. Star Wars VI – Return of The Jedi
21. Devil’s Advocate
22. 12 Angry Men
23. Exorcist, The
24. Star Wars III – Revenge of The Sith
25. Star Wars IV – A New Hope
26. Aliens
27. The Prestige
28. Goodfellas
29. Shindler’s List
30. Titanic
31. Matrix
32. Matrix 3
33. The Illusionist
34. Spiderman
35. Raiders of the Lost Ark
36. Gangs of New York
37. The Pianist
38. Dawn of The Dead - 2003
39. Godfather 2
40. We Were Soldiers
41. Scent of A Woman
42. Godfather
43. Terminator 2-Judgement Day
44. Matrix 2
45. Jurassic Park
46. Silence of The Lambs
47. Spiderman 2
48. The Thirteenth Warrior
49. Shaun of The Dead
50. Ghost and The Darkness
51. First Blood
52. Star Trek II-The Wrath of Khan
53. Last Samurai
54. Silverado
55. Prophecy
56. Jaws
57. Total Recall
58. Top Gun
59. The Rock
60. Unforgiven
61. Outbreak
62. Sixth Sense
63. Terminator
64. Casino
65. Star Wars II – Attack of The Clones
66. American History X
67. Razor's Edge
68. Bridge on The River Kwai
69. Avalon
70. Bourne Identity
71. Forrest Gump
72. Rob Roy
73. Signs
74. Primal Fear
75. Platoon
76. Master And Commander
77. Conan The Barbarian
78. Cool Hand Luke
79. Dirty Harry
80. Black Hawk Down
81. Rocky
82. No Way Out
83. Eight Men Out
84. Vision Quest
85. Elephant Man
86. Falling Down
87. Fatal Attraction
88. Highlander
89. Con Air
90. Casualties of War
91. Judgment At Nuremberg
92. Kelley's Heroes
93. Lonely Are The Brave
94. Road Warrior
95. Marathon Man
96. Uncommon Valor
97. Miller's Crossing
98. Monte Walsh
99. Good Bad Ugly
100. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
101. Natural
102. Omen
103. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
104. Pale Rider
105. Poltergeist
106. Predator
107. Presumed Innocent
108. Regarding Henry
109. The River’s Edge
110. Rocky 3
111. Roger & Me
112. The Corporation
113. Bowling For Columbine
114. A Christmas Story
115. Shoot To Kill
116. Ed Wood
117. Stand By Me
118. Taxi Driver
119. A Time To Kill
120. To Kill A Mockingbird
121. Tron
122. The Untouchables
123. The Vanishing
124. Walk In The Clouds
125. The Wild Bunch
126. Sting, The
127. Treasure of Sierra Madre
128. Star Wars I – Phantom Menace

What do you think? How would your rankings look?

Our Eroding Freedoms and Heroes

2007-02-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

When freedoms are eroded it doesn’t happen overnight, it usually occurs over generations. The next generation hardly realizes how much freedom the generation before it actually had. But the past few years has been the exception as the Bill of Rights has been treated like toilet paper.

The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and a host of executive orders outlined in my previous posts are all aimed at limiting or destroying our freedoms. What is very scary about all of this is how quiet the press has been over these issues. It seems the sex habits of celebrities are more important than losing our 5th Amendment rights or being illegally taxed. This really frustrates me.

Whenever arguments arise over lost freedoms or lost rights, I wish our political parties would think beyond their partisan agendas and consider how the law impacts the America people as a whole. Are the people losing rights as guaranteed by the Constitution? If so, do we really need a law which conflicts with the single most important document in human history? Is the permanent loss of freedom worth the heightening of security, keeping in mind when freedoms are lost they are rarely gained? These are questions which should be answered from a bipartisan committee and not the Republican or the Democratic parties. Too often they both have hidden agendas and are too corrupt to answer these questions so the American people’s interests are not properly considered.

I hope you all realize the inaccuracies within the history books. History is often written and censored by the conquerors and masters of that particular generation. If you want to read a real history book, try Howard Zinn’s The History of the American People.

The quest for money and power within our historical and religious books leaves a trail of blood which could fill the Atlantic Ocean. It also seems like the richer the asshole the more blood he shed. You think Columbus was a great man? Well he slaughtered just about everybody he encountered on his journey to America. Genocide was often the rule as he stole anything he wanted and brought blood-soaked treasures back to Europe, claiming them for his own. The only difference between Columbus and Charles Manson was Columbus was funded by the Crown. Yet history books would lead you to believe he was a great man.

Try to find a hero in history and it is difficult to do; even religious heroes are riddled with evil tendencies. For example King David, who slew Goliath and saved his people, had a very dark side. One day he noticed a beautiful young woman bathing in the river and fell instantly in love. Too bad she was married to his best friend (too bad for his best friend that is). So he sends his best friend off to the front lines of war where he was eventually killed so David could satisfy his carnal desires.

Like Moses? Think again. After leading his people out of slavery he formed a rogue army which terrorized the Middle East. They slaughtered many innocent men, women and children because they were not believers in Christ and were having premarital sex. The Bible tells vivid stories about him cutting the babies out of women and slamming them against rocks or throwing them off cliffs. And you thought the Bible was against abortion. He would take the young, virgin women as prisoners though, until they collected too many of them. When his general asked what to do with all the women he replied, “Give half to God and the other half do with as you please.” Translation, kill half of the innocent women and use the other half as your personal sex slaves. Are we to believe Moses was working on God’s authority?

Everybody has a dark side. I liked President Clinton even though he got a head job in the White House. That is until he signed NAFTA, which was the single most tragic document every to befall the middle class. Only the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act inflict more terror on the middle class. Now President Bush threatens to sign CAFTA which will make NAFTA look like the Social Security Act. Have you heard anything about CAFTA on the news? Nope, because the ruling class wants this law because it will be very good for corporate profits, but they don’t want us to know anything about it until after it is signed into law, so it has been suppressed from the media.

This is why I liked Star Wars so much. You could easily tell the evil people from the good people by their appearance. The evil people had red skin or glowing red eyes or some other deformity, but in real life the evil people look like you and me. They walk among us and talk like us and eat the same foods we eat. They are attractive and well-spoken. Except they talk from a "pulpit" and fail to see any point of view except their own. If you disagree with them, they will rain down a hell storm of fire and brimstone until you submit or die. Religious figures are the worst because they preach from this position of self righteousness but are often doing the exact thing they are claiming is the work of the devil. This really irritates me.

Some people think I am too hard on religions. The truth is I don’t have to be, if you read the teachings they speak for themselves. From Mormons to Jews to Christians to Muslims, their teachings are riddled with murder, hypocrisy and hilarity. Sometimes I wonder why anyone who actually read any part of those books could possibly think God was present in any of it. It must either be some kind of brain damage or they must not actually understand what they read.

The ABC's of Darth

2007-02-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Mimi's blog and it sounded fun: (notice I have troubles choosing just one thing)

A-Available or married?
Married.

B-Best Friend?
I am so lucky to have more than one best friend: My brother, my wife, Andy R, Rozetta, Ken.

C-Cake or pie?
My mom’s homemade Lemon Pie (her German Chocolate Cake is not too bad either)

D-Drink of choice?
Diet Dr. Pepper, Diet Root Beer, Sprite Zero, Crystal Light

E-Essential item?
Computers (notice it's plural)

F-Favorite color?
Dark Purple

G-Gummi bears or worms?
I hate all things gummi because they stick to my teeth. I eat sugar free York Peppermint patties and coconut chews.

H-Hometown?
St. Louis, MO

I-Indulgence?
Taking dangerous adventures either by or confronting things or going places I shouldn’t.

J-January or February?
I really do not like either of these months but if I must choose one then it will be February; only because it is a shorter month and closer to spring.

K-Kids and names?
I have one son named Nick, a straight-A, 15-year old freshman. He is already taking classes as a freshman in high school which I took deep into college.

L-Life is incomplete without?
My family and friends.

M-Marriage date?
October 31, 1998

N-Number of siblings?
2 younger brothers.

O-Oranges or apples?
Actaully, I prefer peaches (in season) and grapes.

P-Phobias/fears?
Death of a loved one and losing my freedom.

Q-Favorite Quotes?
Life is not about the number of breaths you take but the number of moments which take your breath away.
Love in the past is a memory, love in the future is a fantasy, only here and now can we truly love.
Men have two heads but only enough blood to run one at a time.

R-Reasons to smile?
My family and friends.

S-Season?
Fall

T-Tag 3 people?
Instead of a tag how about an open invitation to participate. Just leave a comment so I know you are doing it.

U-Unknown fact about me?
I have a superman complex in which I like to save people. This is probably why I like dangerous adventures.

V-Vegetable you hate?
Raw onions (my Kryptonite)

W-Worst habit?
Retreating into my dungeon to write and do research for many hours.

X-X-rays you have had?
Leg, more specifically the knee. I eventually had surgery.

Y-Your favorite foods?
Imo’s Pizza with meat and provel cheese toppings, preferrably pepperoni(A St. Louis thing)
Hostess Snowballs (which I rarely eat anymore)

Z-Zodiac sign?
Leo

America: From Freedom to Fascism Part 2

2007-02-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

“It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford.

We have learned in previous posts how it was possible for the government to allow the 9/11 terrorists attacks to happen (there certainly was enough motive), how we are not legally required to pay income taxes but the federal government instills fear and collects them anyway then gives all the money to the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB), and how the FRB are the true owners of our country and how they are allowed to print money and charge us for it even though the government has this power.

We’ve seen many examples of new fascist laws the government is imposing upon us to restrict our freedoms under the guise of “protecting” us from terrorism. I think it is obvious the government wants to put RFID chip in our body to further snoop on our habits to ensure we are controlled. But where is all of this going? Before we can answer this question it is important to understand more about the banking system. The FRB is just one leg in a much larger world bank. This World Bank operates under the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements.

Most people don’t know that these private bankers control the governments of the world. They have financed and profited from every war since WW1 without any concerns of humanity. The war in Iraq is an attempt by the FRB and their international banking partners to gain control of the Middle Eastern banks and bring them into the New World Order.

These bankers are currently working on a new system of world government where everything will be controlled by them in a police state. This Orwellian system will be the most sinister plot ever instigated on mankind. A new police state will be born where every person will have a tracking device planted within them, where the bankers and the government can monitor every transaction you make.

“The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.” Felix Frankfurter, US Supreme Court Justice.

Since 1913 huge media conglomerates have controlled the media but in the past couple of decades they have been allowed to merge and control multiple markets or multiple media outlets within single markets. The result is many of the news organizations, whether they are TV, newspaper or radio, are now controlled by a few huge corporations. These corporations can now spin stories however they see fit, and since we are taught to believe everything the network news tells us, we eat it up like candy. The media controls the information and the temperament of society by printing articles which tilt the favor of certain activities in their direction. Even if the direction is not favorable for us they can still twist the facts to trick us into believing something is good for us when it is not. This is why you should get your news from non commercial entities like National Public Radio.

Fascism could also be called corporatism because it is the perfect merger of power between the corporation and the state. We cannot trust the media because they are owned by the very same corporations which seek to enslave us under the Federal Reserve System. CBS is owned by Viacom. NBC is owned by General Electric. ABC is owned by the Disney Corporation. These three corporate giants are in bed with the FRB because there is a tremendous payday for them to support that system.

If you notice within the past few decades the reporters no longer ask any deep, probing questions to government officials. It is considered taboo. Within the White House press Corps, if you ask one of those questions you will be ostracized. There is a veil of fear hanging over them because in some cases they know what is happening but are powerless to get the story out to the American people. We are left with the media being a non factor as one of the checks within our system of government. Instead of reporting on changes within the law which removes our freedoms, they report on the current status of celebrities. And the mindless masses eat it up like candy.

I notice it when I post something like this and I get no comments. I guess people think I am a weirdo or some conspiracy theorist nut job. When I am only a guy who researches topics and I go where the evidence goes. I feel like I am living in the world of John Carpenter’s They Live. If you would like someone else’s words then read a couple of these quotes, which support the efforts of the World Bank led by the FRB is taking over the world’s finances:

“The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress are irrelevant. America’s domestic policy is now run by Alan Greenspan and the FRB. America’s foreign policy is run by the International Monetary Fund. When the President decides to go to war he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress.” Robert Reich, A member of President Clinton’s Cabinet and one of his most trusted advisors. Quote made on January 7, 1999 in the USA Today. (Every now and then one slips by them).

“In the next century, nations as we know them will be obsolete. All states will recognize a single global authority.” Strobe Talbott, President Clinton’s Secretary of State. This quote was taken from Time Magazine on July 20, 1992.

“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the NY Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But now the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supra national sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.” David Rockefeller, Private Banker; delivered to the Council of Foreign Relations in June 1991. He believes the world would be better off if he and his banker friends ran it.

It is important to remember treaties like GAT, CAFTA and NAFTA are nothing more than governments working along with bankers to create a New World Order. These are not free trade agreements but government managed trade aimed at destroying the standard of living in richer countries like America. By bringing the labor rates down they control more money while at the same time Middle classes (which are usually the majority within most countries) will be curtailed and neutered.

The alliance formed between these bankers, the government and the huge corporations is the primary reason our government no longer forces immigration laws. The bankers want a one world government without borders and the American government is obeying them. If the American government was so worried about terrorism then why leave the borders open but require a National ID card?

This is a bipartisan plan. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have the power to stop this. They know what is going on and support the efforts to turn our planet into a police state controlled by the rich bankers. In other countries their governments are controlled by the bankers too. I really don’t think we stand a chance of turning the tide.

What can you do to help the situation and deliver us from slavery to retain our freedoms and democracy?
• Join together in civil disobedience like Martin Luther King, Ghandi and George Washington did in earlier times.
• Vote favorably for laws and only for political candidates who force Congress to use their legal authority and shut down the Federal Reserve System.
• If you are in the military or law enforcement, remember you swore an oath to defend the American constitution and the freedoms within. Do not act on orders which conflict with the Bill of Rights.
• Realize the government has the authority to issue money without paying interest to the bankers.
• Do not accept a national ID card.
• Abolish computer voting as it can easily lead to rigged elections.
• Stop being good Republicans
• Stop being good Democrats
• Participate in strikes, boycotts and marches on Washington
• When the media starts telling you the country will fall apart if this agenda fails, don’t believe them; this is just the Federal Reserve System trying to save itself.

It is important to remember, the war on terrorism is actually a war on our freedom.

America: From Freedom to Fascism Part 1

2007-02-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

“The Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper!” George W. Bush, November, 2005

In the January following an election year, the President of the United States takes an oath of office and swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. It is now common practice to break this vow. As a part two follow up to my first posting entitled Federal Income Tax Fraud, this post will deal mainly with the “owners” plan to turn our democracy into a fascist regime under the guise of “protecting” us from terrorism. Remember the owners have been defined as certain private bankers working with the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). These bankers are the true masters of our country which control the government like pawns are controlled on a chess board. Nothing happens without their approval, the president is just another employee.

We have been told that changes in laws and our society are needed to “protect" us from terrorism. The real reasons for these changes are to protect the bankers and give them even more control of us. In a surf system the masters must have complete control of every aspect of society. In just a few short years they will have this control and it is happening right under our noses.

In May of 2008 the “Real ID Act” becomes an active law requiring every American to have a national ID card. Along with this ID card, checkpoints will be set up throughout the country requiring you to present your ID card to pass through. The guise behind this law is to “protect“ us from terrorism but it is really a form of population control. I remember seeing images of Nazi Germany and the roadblocks requiring “papers” to pass. Well this is exactly what we will have in 2008. If the American government is so concerned by terrorism, then why have the borders have been left open but at the same time telling us we need a national ICD card?

During the 1990’s President Clinton monitored millions of private phone calls placed by US citizens under a secret program called Echelon. The widespread use of wiretapping American citizens during the Clinton Administration proves this practice was not started because of 9/11 but is standard procedure. Technology had finally provided a way for the government to snoop on the people and they took it. Eventually news of this would reach the population and they will not be too happy with this procedure. How do you change people’s perception to allow the government to snoop on them? How do you take a free society and get them to succumb to less freedom? Answer: the government has to scare the shit out of them and then they will come crawling for protection.

In the summer of 2001 a confidential file reached President Bush’s desk that spoke of a terrorist plot to attack the World Trade Center using commercial jet airliners. These details later became public knowledge in the 9/11 Commission Report. What did the President do? Nothing. It is also important to point out that the major corporations within the WTC all recently increased their insurance premiums. Maybe in anticipation of this attack?

Instead of taking action to stop this terrorist plot, it was allowed to take place to scare Americans into the new order (the new order being a fascist plot by the bankers of America to finally seize control of our country). We have visual evidence many of the building within the WTC plaza were not brought down as a result of fires or a plane but due to demolition. The most convincing was Building 7 which was not damaged at all but collapsed on itself. We have recordings of officials at the time warning all inhabitants to vacate because it was being “pulled”. "Pulled" is a term used by demolitionists which means they are getting ready to demolish the building. For more information about this conspiracy click here.

I know many of you are thinking, “There is no way America is becoming a police state!” But I would argue proof of this exists because we are not allowed to do anything without “permission”. We cannot open a business, develop land without government permission or go to a doctor without insurance permission. As middle class people we don’t own any of our property or land, it is all owned by the bank. We just make payments on it. And I must again point out there is no law requiring us to pay income taxes but these taxes are collected by force (this is the definition of authoritarianism).

Below is a list of new laws and decisions by lawmakers which will begin the transformation of our democracy into a police state. These are just the ones I found, there are probably many more out there which I haven't found. The time is coming when America will no longer be a free country. Let me also point out that none of these have received any press coverage. Can you think of why?

• President Bush has signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law and suspend habeas corpus. This gives him or any other President dictatorial power over the people, without any checks and balances.
• The government can jail you for life without any charges and without a lawyer. – Military Commissions Act
• FDA ruled the Americans do not have a right to know which foods are genetically modified.
• Because of globalization our government must now accept other nations’ laws.
• Under CAFTA the sale of vitamins and supplements will be illegal.
• Executive Order #IO999 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation.
• Executive Order #IO000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
• Executive Order #I921 Provides that the President can declare a state of emergency that is not defined and Congress cannot review the action for six months.
• Senate Bill #I873 Allows the government to vaccinate you against your will.
• HR I528 (Congressman Sensorbrenner’s Bill) Requires you to spy on your neighbors, including wearing a wire. Refusal would be punishable by a mandatory prison sentence of at least 2 years.
• Treasury Letter (8-12-2005) The government claims the power to seize all financial instruments: gold, silver, currency and anything else if they deem an emergency exists.

Another piece of fascist work is the Patriot Act, which permits:
• Secret FBI and police searches of your home and office.
• Secret government wiretaps on your phone, computer and/or other Internet activity.
• Secret investigations of your bank records, credit cards and other financial records.
• Secret investigations of your library and book purchases.
• Secret examination of your medical, travel and business records.
• The freezing of your funds and assets without any notices or appeals.
• The creation of secret “watch lists” banning those named from traveling.

The next line we must draw is with these new RFID chips which they want to put on every item we own including within our bodies. As you saw above they want to vaccinate us without our permission. This is needed to get the se RFID chips in our bodies so they can tract us and identify us where ever we go. I guarantee you when this comes before the media, they will portray this as very important step to defeating terrorism. In reality, this is the most important step in taking away our freedoms.

Imagine having a chip implanted in your body which a law enforcement officer or government official could easily read with a reader device. This chip would contain everything about you including: medical history, blood type, credit history, purchasing history of the good you bought, how much cash is in your bank accounts, salary history, social security number and national ID number, just about any pertinent information about you. All right there for anyone with a reader device to see.

They also want to put these in the goods we buy so they can easily track them. They are so small they only appear as a period within the sentence on the label. Yet they can send a signal which could easily be read by any official with one of those reader devices to locate it.

They want to put these chips within cash so the amenity of cash will disappear. Imagine going to a bank or ATM machine and the cash you get is scanned and recorded as given to you. Then you go to the store and buy something, the cash is put into their reader device and recorded what you bought. Now a database can easily be built outlining your purchase habits and history. I think this is too Orwellian to be true, yet it is true.

“A massive database that the government will use to monitor every purchase made by every American is a necessary tool in the war on terror.” – The Pentagon.

More to come...........

Andy

2007-02-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

The past couple of days have been very surreal for me. I have seen people in an ICU before but when I visited my friend AndyR I was completely horrified by what I saw. I remember when my grandmother was in the ICU she seemed so calm and relaxed. They had her under several blankets and her head was propped up on at least three big pillows. She was sleeping and seemed very happy.

Andy was lying with only a small rag covering his chest and groin. He still had blood all over his body along with this yellow substance, looking like he was just out of a war. A large tube with several smaller metal tubes was protruding from his neck surrounded by dried blood. His eyes were half open causing a “blank stare” effect with wet gunk along the edges. He was also bloated and stone cold. There was no movement or activity at all.

I talked to him but there was no response. I had to fight back the tears welling up inside of me at seeing one of my oldest and dearest friends looking like he was a cadaver. I am glad he was out because I can only imagine the pain he would have been in if her were awake. He had a nurse at his bedside watching him, because he was still at risk for dying. I found out he had two open heart surgeries because after the first the bleeding was not stopped. So they had to open up his chest again.

Another good friend was there and after he saw him he commented when would Andy’s ship finally come in? He is a very hard working guy, who is a faithful friend but he never seems to get a break. This was finally going to be his year as he was getting out of debt, his business was finally on the verge of taking off and then this happens. He has had only one girlfriend in his life because he works so many long hours (and that was a short term thing) but she was an abusive bitch and treated him like shit.

Seeing this makes me realize just how fragile life can be. At any moment the icy hand of death can swoop down from the skies and squeeze the life out of us. It makes me appreciate the little things in life like laughing with a friend. If you hold off doing that thing you want to do, you might not be alive tomorrow to do it. So live everyday like it is your last. When I see stuff like this it is also hard for me to believe in a God. Because if there is a God what kind of justice is this? What did this guy do to deserve this? Sorry for venting but this really pisses me off.

Somebody Get The Stick Out of Our Ass

2007-02-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

Another Superbowl, another boring mess. The game was almost as bad as watching two pigs get stuck in the mud while trying to free themselves. (I better be careful because people might complain because I am poking fun of pigs). I fell asleep during the third quarter so I did miss a little of the game but nothing happened anyway. The game was over in the second quarter; I think there was a total of two exciting plays.

This year the commercials were the worst I have ever seen. With the exception of Blockbuster and a couple of Budweiser ads, the whole mess was horrible. But the Budweiser axe and chainsaw hitchhiker ad was "fall on the floor" funny. I hate commercials anyway but I do appreciate the humor in beer ads.

I saw the Federline commercial which was supposedly making fun of fast food workers (which was not worth the tape it was copied on). People were complaining because it belittled fast food workers. Now we cannot make fun of people’s jobs.

We have got to get the stick out of our ass before we all die from stress. Good comedy is going to have to go underground soon or comedians will face law suits. What the hell is wrong with us when we cannot make fun of people’s jobs? I really hope to be kidnapped by aliens soon because I can’t take much more of this shit. If I am going to get probed in the ass at least a whole society should benefit from it and not just the NFL.

A very good friend (AndyR) was rushed into surgery yesterday at 8pm because his aorta burst open. He was very close to death but managed to get himself to the hospital just in time. Now I know why he didn't show up for the game.

I didn’t find out what happened until about 10pm but I was left speechless. I am going to visit him in the hospital tonight. This is proof how valuable our time on Earth is and how quickly it can be taken away. Live everyday like it is your last because you never know when it will be.

Get well soon Andy as the readership of this blog just dropped by 50%.

In closing I leave you with a list of events or videos that were more fun to watch than
Superbowl XLI:

• A tractor Pull (this was very close).
• Snapping turtles bottoming out in the deep sand.
• Real time video of a bucket of ice melting on the frozen tundra.
• The underwater mating habits of the wild sponge.
• The above water mating habits of Wal-Mart greeters (I think I just threw up in my mouth)
• A Kevin Ferderline music video.
• 100 hours of video of dogs licking their balls narrated by Charlton Heston.
• A spitting contest featuring 10 ill-showered, beard-wearing, Camel smoking, tobacco-chewing, camoflauge-wearing, NRA-card carrying, gun-toting, big-breasted, Bible thumping, toothless, Republican midwestern hunters.
• The riveting docudrama entitled, “How many wheels can I fit on the rear axle of my truck” starring the winner of the spitting contest.
• Making the career jump from whore to high school French Teacher in 5.1 DTS.

Bush’s New “Healthcare Plan”

2007-02-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to comment on President Bush’s new “healthcare plan” which I thought was hilarious. He wants to place a tax on corporations who give healthcare benefits to employees and then give that money back as a tax credit for people who pay their own healthcare. LOL!! Do you know what will happen as a result of this?

Employers will start cancelling coverage for workers to avoid the tax. They will justify this decision by pointing out this new tax credit and how people should be able to buy coverage on their own, thus cancelling coverage for their workers. So Bush’s new “healthcare plan” will probably result in more uninsured Americans and will end healthcare in the US as we know it. Then, eventually this tax credit will be too expensive and will be abandoned leaving us with nothing. LOL!!

This is exactly what corporations want. They have been trying to end corporate healthcare coverage for years and now Bush has given them their “out”. Yet another example of a brilliant plan to help corporate America at the expense of middle class America. At least he is consistent.

I’ll bet Rush Limbaugh and the ditto heads also loved this idea. I can imagine them spinning this idea as “very good for the country”. You see, Rush and his cohorts believe in a “laissez faire” style of benefits where everybody buys their own and if you can’t afford it then, “oh well”. I think they call the current system a corporate welfare system. Rush and Bush care little for humanity and see healthcare as a luxury and not a necessity.

So Bush’s new “healthcare plan” will result in no healthcare at all. Message to Bush: Not everybody in the country is a complete moron.

The Case for Nonprofits

2007-02-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Exxon Mobil today announced earnings for 2006 at over $35 billion. There is no mystery to high gas prices; just look at $35 billion and that should answer any question as to why gas prices are so high. Even as crude oil prices tumbled in late 2006, prices at the pump did not always fall at the same rate.

This is a classic example of how a corporation’s interest often conflicts with the interests of the country. When this happens government regulations need to exist to curtail the corporation in question. Exxon Mobil could easily contribute to crushing our economy by charging whatever it wants for gasoline products in 2007. What can the government do to prevent these corporate giants from negatively impacting society? Turn them into nonprofits.

I am not in favor of what Chavez is doing in Venezuela but I respect his motives. At least he will not allow a thieving oil company to suck money out of his middle class. But nationalizing something like oil could also lead to government corruption. In my opinion, any market which is deemed needed for the survival of the country or its people should be made into a nonprofit market.

Examples of where nonprofit entities are needed include: hospitals, drug companies and other health care facilities, utilities such as electricity, gas, water, and sewer, gasoline companies like Exxon Mobil, banking services including loans and interest on debt. Just think about how good our life would be if we could all afford healthcare and did not have to pay exorbitant interest rates. Just those two items alone would make life better for all of us overnight.

Am I suggesting Best Buy be forced into nonprofit status? Absolutely not. There is nothing wrong with earning profits because the consumer chose one product over another. But when there is no choice or when the market is rampant with collusion or when you cannot afford life saving drugs or treatments because they are too expensive, the consumer needs protection.

Imagine taking that $35 billion and giving it back directly to the drivers of automobiles. Imagine taking the $600 million Ameren earned in 2006 and giving it back to the families in the St. Louis area. Ameren actually is seeking a rate increase this year, like $600 million was not enough money.

How much is enough? The answer to this question, there is never enough for them. If they earn $35 billion this year they are going to want $50 billion next year. This cycle will continue until this beast consumes everything around it. This is the problem with capitalism and why certain markets must be regulated. As long a product has plenty of substitutions, capitalism and the free market system will be successful. But when smaller companies are allowed to merge into bigger companies to create monopolies and energy companies are not regulated, they will run wild and consume everything.

Racism

2007-01-31T11:07:00.001-08:00

Racism has many different definitions. Historically, it has been defined as the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities, that a certain race is inherently superior or inferior to others, and/or that individuals should be treated differently according to their racial designation. Sometimes racism means beliefs, practices, and institutions that discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed race. ...

Racism is one of the forbidden topics for white people like me to discuss in our society. If you are black you can talk about it whenever you like but white people must be silenced. There is plenty of evidence suggesting racism still exists but most of this evidence supports black people are racists too.

After the Colts beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, the racist comments started about two black coaches being in the Superbowl. Who cares? We are taught to separate people’s actions from their race. You cannot hold an entire race responsible for the failures of the few; likewise, you cannot credit an entire race for the successes of the few either.

Could you imagine the outrage last year if we would have celebrated Bill Cowher winning the Superbowl; NOT because he was the winning coach but because he was a WHITE winning coach? Can you imagine talk shows discussing the topic about how great white coaches are? There would have been lawsuits filed all over the place. People would have been fired; the whole thing would have been very ugly. So why do we tolerate this behavior from black people?

Stephen I. Cohen is a Democratic Representative from Tennessee who recently tried to join the black caucus. His membership was refused because he was white. Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., D-Mo., a co-founder of the caucus, had circulated a memo telling members it was "critical" that the group remain "exclusively African- American." Other members, including the new chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., and Clay's son, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., agreed.

I thought we were all equal? I thought we could no longer have private clubs excluding people based upon race? Can you imagine what would happen if Stephen Cohen tried to start a white caucus or any other federally funded group which excluded blacks? I’ll tell you what would happen to him; he would be kicked out of the House and probably ostracized from our society. He would be labeled a racist and never be allowed to hold a position of leadership again. So why are we tolerating this same behavior from Rep. William Clay?

What is with this whole “African-American” label? Are any of these people actually from Africa? My ancestors were from Germany but I am an American, NOT a “German-American”. I cannot imagine being so consumed with my race that I had to label myself as such. Aren’t people who are this consumed with race a racist?

If I spent time introducing myself as a German-American and joined exclusively German clubs which only allowed Germans, isn’t that a racist? What I just described is Nazism who are notorious racists. A racist organization is one which seeks to instill power in one race while excluding other races. This just defined the NAACP, the Black Caucus, Neo-Nazi’s and a host of other groups. The only difference is the Neo-Nazis preach violence but they all have similar intentions. Groups should exist to help all mankind and not focus on any one particular race. In a “racially neutral” society where we are all equal, we are not supposed to notice or care about race or the advancement of one race over another. If we do then we truly ARE racist. Right?

Should institutions like these be considered racist?

• A college scholarship fund which only helps one race.
• A society which only accepts one race as members.
• A caucus which seeks to help only one race while excluding all other races.
• A person who only helps people of one race.

These should all be defined as racist. Yet these examples are accepted in our society when they only contribute and seek to further the causes of racism.

We are naïve if we believe racism will ever be completely eliminated. The best we can achieve is a majority of people who are NOT racist. This becomes very difficult when the very people who are complaining about being mistreated because of their race, continue to condone racism within their own ranks.

At some point we have to ask ourselves what does a society free from racism look like? The answer is simply a society where people and organizations help all people and do NOT give precedence over any one race. When somebody fails or succeeds, it is seen as a failure or success of that individual and has nothing to do with their race. When we look at someone we should not even see their heritage but we should notice their personal charisma, accomplishments and failures and judge them accordingly. Even if we do raise our children properly and teach them these values, as long as we allow racism organizations like the Black Caucus or the NAACP to endure, we will continuously fail.

Unless we learn to separate race from individual achievements and failures, and we learn we are all Americans regardless of our heritage, we will never be rid of racism. So don’t celebrate the fact that two black coaches going to the Superbowl, just celebrate the fact that two incredibly talented and intelligent coaches are going to the Superbowl. If you notice their race, then YOU are the racist.

Cardinal Ownership Deceives Fans

2007-01-29T07:32:00.000-08:00

Five years ago the ownership group of the Cardinals approached St. Louis wanting a new stadium. One of the reasons they gave was they claimed this would give them the ability to remain competitive so money would not be an obstacle to signing higher priced players. Since the opening of the new stadium the Cardinals have brought no new significant free agents to the Cardinals organization. Losing Jeff Weaver for a measly three million dollars was the final straw. Isn’t the three million dollars in the Jeff Weaver contract exactly what you promised would be there when the new ballpark was built?

This ownership group does not care about winning. They dangled the hope of signing better talent in front of the St. Louis fans to get their stadium built and have now abandoned them to count their money. Instead of AJ Burnett we got Josh Hancock. Instead of Jason Schmidt we got Kip Wells. Now both Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver have gone elsewhere, leaving the Cardinals with only one healthy, bonafide starting pitcher for the season.

Winning the World Series last year was a surprise but it had nothing to do with ownership bringing in talent. We won because Walt Jockety, Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan have continued to work miracles with absolutely no help from above. They pulled a St. Louis miracle by winning with guys on the scrap heap. Jeff Weaver, Ronnie Belliard, and Preston Wilson all contributed to the post season but were throw-away players other teams did not want.

During the first day Cardinals tickets went on sale a record 250,000 were sold but the ownership rewarded the fans by letting three of the five starting pitchers leave a championship team. The two guys you should have let go were Marquis and Mulder and then kept Suppan and Weaver. I suspect if Mulder was healthy he would have left too because you wouldn’t have paid him either. Facing the possibility of selling out all the home games for another season was not incentive for you get at least one more pitcher? Or are you hoping to keep Cardinals fans happy by letting them catch a barrage of home run balls from opposing hitters?

What do the fans have to do to get a decent payroll increase to bring in more talent? We sell out every home game, we follow the team on the road and increase attendance in those parks, and we purchase every piece of Cardinal merchandise you throw at us. We pay the highest ticket prices and highest concession stand prices in the league. Tell us what more can we do? Do you want our rent money? How many millions do you have to steal from the pockets of fans before you give some back?

The Cardinals have a talented group of core players which have dominated their division for a decade. But only having one championship to show for it is disturbing. Cardinal fans stepped up and sold out every home game last season and it is realistic to think that it will happen again this year. But the ownership group is again slapping the fans in the face by not signing any free agent pitchers for the second season in a row. Now the Cardinals are faced with the reality of Kip Wells being their number two starter. Kip Wells being another player claimed from the scrap heap.

An Open Letter to Rush Limbaugh

2007-01-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

I listen to the Rush Limbaugh radio show just about every day. I am not a fan; I just like to listen to political talk radio. However, I realize this show is not meant to be a political talk show, but an avenue to enlist people into the conservative camp by belittling differing opinions into agreeing with the conservative agenda. For example, if you think America should pull out of Iraq then Rush believes you are in favor of terrorists winning the war. Therefore, you are a traitor and should be treated as such.

Since Rush is a fundamentalist, he fails to understand the principles of a democracy. In a democracy, it is alright to disagree. In fact, disagreements, compromise and differing opinions are what makes democracies so great. In a democracy when two-thirds of the people disagree with an agenda, then the agenda should be abandoned.

When President Bush flew the helicopter onto the aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" banner flying in the breeze, the war was declared a victory at that point. Bush declared victory, case closed. So why can’t Rush accept this? Our goal in Iraq was to remove the Saddam Hussein regime, which was accomplished. Now there is a civil war in which we should not get involved. Therefore the war is won, now it is time to pull the troops out and come home. Let the Iraqis settled their own internal disputes.

So the majority of people who want to pull out of Iraq are not traitors and they not defeatists. They are people who already believe the war has been won and want to get our troops out of a completely different civil war, which has nothing to do with terrorism, but which could claim many innocent American lives.

Rush is a fundamentalist and we all know fundamentalists only see in black and white. You are either with them or against them; there is no middle ground. They must accept every item on an agenda and cannot pick and choose. Most people are neither liberal nor conservative but someplace in the middle. They pick and choose which ideas to support from both the liberal and conservative camps based upon their own morals and beliefs. Fundamentalists do not think this way, because again, it is an all or nothing approach with them.

Another term Rush loves to use is “flip-flop”. Conservatives in general loved to say this about John Kerry during the elections of 2004. Most intelligent people are “flip-floppers”. A "flip-flopper" learns new facts and then adapts new ideas as a result. This is the definition of learning and intelligence. When you hear a set of facts, you form an opinion, but when you learn new factors, you then form different opinions. Most fundamentalists cannot think this way. No matter what new facts surface they must adhere to their “stone age” style of intelligence and allow the agenda to be more important than the set of circumstances. This is true of all fundamentalists whether they are liberal or conservative.

If anything, this radio show is a determent to society as it seeks to divide not unite the country. Rush does not believe in compromise because if you compromise then you lose. He is in favor of gridlock and partisanship. He gives the agenda of his affiliation priority over everything else; whether the topic is civil rights, murder, torture or destruction. They are all necessary if the agenda of the conservatives is at stake. This is the definition of a traitor, not someone who changes based upon new evidence. A traitor puts their needs above the needs of the country.

I would love to have an open debate with Rush Limbaugh to show him just how little he thinks. Instead of thinking about a situation and forming his own opinion, he allows the agenda of some other group to dictate his opinion. This is a robot and not thinking, learning and intelligent individual. It is hard for me to believe that some like this can have their own radio show for as long as he has, when he has so little to offer the American people.

The Dangers of Literal Meanings, part two

2007-01-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted my thoughts regarding the state of religion in today’s society and entitled it The Dangers of Literal Meanings. Well, someone posted a very good anonymous comment which I responded to. After many edits I decided to post the final version on the front page for everybody to see and debate. I put much time and thought into this response to make it as accurate as possible.

Please keep in mind, I am not trying to offend anybody but only trying to debate a topic which is very sensitive. It might be a good idea to ready part one before proceeding.

Anonymous said...
How about, "If you were God would you be able to make sure the bible was written exactly like you wanted it?" That's a good question worth asking too.

My Response...
You have uncovered one of the many of the many logical flaws within the Bible. I have thought about that but it is a flawed question. If God wanted to make sure the Bible was accurately depicted then why not just give us copy already written by Him? Wouldn’t that seem more logical than the alternative?

There so are many other important logical flaws within the Bible which are too easily dismissed by fundamentalists. These logical breakdowns are irrefutable evidence the Bible was not written by God but by man because God would not have made such obvious mistakes. At the very least we should believe that He probably gave us better explanations and reasons at the time which have long since been lost through man’s translations and storytelling. Since man did not have or most likely lost those logical explanations provided by God, we embellished, which might have seemed logical at the time but today most of those embellishments are almost laughable.

There are actually people who believe in the Old Testament that Noah actually gathered two of every animal in the world and loaded them onto his arc. By today’s standards imagine doing that? It would probably take you a lifetime just to gather up half of all the animals and this is if you had modern technology like planes and trucks to assist.

Let’s give the whole story about the Ten Commandments a quick reality check. Moses goes up the mountain to pray and ask God for help because an army led by a dictator is bearing down on his people to enslave them or worse kill them all. What is the first thing God says, “I am your God accept no others!” or something like that. If I was Moses I would have responded with, “Yea God that’s cool and all but how about something disallowing slavery? How about something against rich people dominating or controlling everybody’s life?” Nope. God responds with, “Go to Church on Sunday.”

When Moses comes down from Mount Sinai instead of being concerned with where the people were going to eat, or sleep or live, or even the disappointment about no commandment forbidding slavery. The first thing which angers him is the golden calf and the people are partying. That should have been the least of his worries.

Another example, after Jesus rose from the dead why not go back to Pontius Pilate and the other crucifiers. Walk right up to him in front of all of his men and say, “Look at me, I was crucified but I am not dead.” If that would have happened there would be absolutely no questions by any doubters. Jesus should have shown everybody His resurrected body but why did He show only a few believers? That does not make sense to me at all. If you are proclaiming yourself as a God who can defy death and forgive century old sins, then show everybody. There should be no mystery or questions at all; just, “I am God and here I am, period.”

Another logical inaccuracy is the crucifixion. Why did He have to be crucified to forgive our sins? Why not just forgive them? After all, He is God so He could have done that without going through the whole torture and death sequence. It doesn’t make logical sense to me. Now if He would have used the crucifixion to proclaim He defeated death and to prove He was God in front of millions of people and the leaders at the time, like I stated in the paragraph above, then it makes sense. Otherwise, we are left with illogical reasoning which does not make much sense at all. Why be tortured and crucified, then rise from the dead and NOT show yourself to the people who killed you? It doesn’t make sense.

The whole book of Revelations also seems very flawed. It was written by The Prophet John during his exile on Patmos. It has been written that he was nearing madness during this period of his life. So why would God choose an exiled man near madness to deliver these important messages? Don’t you think He would have chosen someone more credible? Let’s put that decision in perspective in today’s world. It would be almost like God choosing David Koresh (or insert any other cultist whacko here) to deliver a similar message.

There are so many more hundreds of logical flaws within the Bible but the most compelling argument in my favor is the more than 2,000 years of silence. With all the turmoil and all of the radical splits the Church has endured why not make another appearance to clear up these misunderstandings. After all, we are honestly tying to get it right and a little help would be appreciated.

There is more we DON’T know about God than we do know, so enlighten us. If He is telling us that we are going to be punished with eternal damnation if we do not believe in Him, then at least give us the courtesy of a follow up visit every millennium or so. Especially since we are intelligent beings and our theories in science are becoming more advanced; that seems the least He could do. Or are we to believe He is just sitting up there in heaven watching us screw up time and time again without any leadership, knowledge or advice?

These faults within the Bible simply cannot be dismissed; they must be dealt with using the brain-power God gave us. All of these logical flaws point to human misquotes and misinterpretations of events. As intelligence beings, we must evaluate things using logic and common sense and then determine our beliefs and conclusions. These laws of logic are one of the primary ways law enforcement detects lies while questioning a suspect or a judge uses in court while listening to testimony. There are other ways too but if the laws of logic are broken then we are left with inaccuracies and falsehoods.

I do not claim to have all of the answers but I don’t think the correct questions are being asked by theologians either. They are the ones with the knowledge of the Bible but they are in too deep to answer any of these questions because they have already accepted these flaws and are able to look beyond them. I’m not a theologian but just a man trying to solve the mysteries of life, while asking what I believe to be the correct and proper questions to these theologians, who assume the Bible is 100% accurate regardless of what common sense, logic and science dictates.

Unfortunately, many of the theologians are also the fundamentalists which I have written about many times in this blog. Fundamentalists only see “black and white” and can never see any “grey areas”. In their minds the whole thing must be correct or the whole thing is wrong. Since they have already placed a high emotional value on the Bible being 100% correct, they cannot emotionally deal with these questions being asked, much less being able to have an intelligent conversation about them.

The one thing religion does is put limitations on imagination, creativity and ingenuity. Whenever science discovers something which conflicts with religious dogma, the scientists are met with hostility. So we were given this mind with endless abilities but we are expected to keep it closed and only accept certain teachings which have existed for thousands of years. This makes no logical sense to me at all.

I don’t believe a true God would have a problem with people not believing in Him. It sounds too egotistical and masochistic to be believable. Why would He care if these simple mortals believe in Him; if He exists then He exists, why punish the ignorant. But all religions believe the most important thing is to believe in their God above all other Gods regardless of the implications or the rationality. And if you do not believe then you will be endlessly tortured or damned for eternity. But then when You were here on Earth You left us with a bunch of riddles and stories which do not add up to modern theories.

Shouldn't God be more concerned with humanity and people treating the other living creatures with dignity, respect and care rather than who believes in Him? Here is a short list of things that are more important than believing in one God over another God: genocide, war, rape, murder, slavery, world hunger, education (or lack of), poverty, healthcare, and torture. Doesn’t it seem logical a true God would give priority over those things?

Tragically, many people have been tortured, killed and imprisoned through the years because of the Bible’s literal meanings or quotes supposedly flowing from the tongue of God. Fundamentalists are now trying to take over our Country and dictate rules based upon these writings. This is wrong.

If you are a theologian which questions common sense, logic and science, then I would have to say to you, why would God gives us this brain with these abilities and expect us not to use it?

Thanks for your comment.

Federal Income Tax Fraud

2007-01-08T11:46:00.000-08:00

“In substance, the court holds that the Sixteenth Amendment did not empower the Federal Government to levy a new tax.” New York Times on January 25, 1916.

So you were taught the 16th Amendment gave the government the power to collect an income tax on the people. Well I’m here to tell you we were taught wrong. The 16th Amendment only allows for corporate income taxes to be collected and not personal income taxes. I will explain how Income Tax is only for corporate America and how the Supreme Court has ruled several times supporting that. I will also explain that filing a tax return is defined as voluntary by the IRS code but illegal as defined by the Constitution. I will also tell you how the IRS operates out of fear and intimidation outside the boundaries of the law.

“If you examined the 16th Amendment carefully, you would find that a sufficient number of states never ratified that Amendment,” US District Court Judge James C. Fox, 2003.

Before we begin it is important to realize the federal income tax does not fund government. The primary purpose of the federal income tax is NOT to raise revenue for government but to redistribute wealth and control society. 100% of all income taxes collected goes directly to the Federal Reserve Bank as payment on the national debt. Not one nickel goes to the Federal Government or back to the taxpayer for any social programs or federal services.

“Give me control of a nation’s money supply and I care not who makes its laws,” Mayer Rothschild, FRB.

What is the Federal Reserve Bank? The FRB is a privately held corporation which steals money directly from the American people. The government has the power to print money and distribute it. Although the government has this power they allow this privately held corporation to print money and then pay interest to them on all of the money printed. The interest on this money is called the Federal Deficit. It’s not really a deficit at all but an elaborate hoax for the FRB to get all of the income tax money. This is the primary way in which the rich stay richer.

When President Woodrow Wilson served his last term he knew that the Federal Reserve Bank laws that he signed into law were a big mistake. He later said, “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

Woodrow Wilson was so unhappy because the government had the power to print its own money and not pay interest on it but he gave this power to someone else; a small group of dominant men known as the FRB. They would now take over and become the true owners of our Country. Today, they own Washington and can create any law they wish and can even prevent the Constitution from being enforced.

“The government should create, issue and circulate all the currency. Creating and issuing money is the supreme prerogative of government and its greatest creative opportunity. Adopting these principles will save the taxpayers immense sums of interest and money will cease to be the master and become the servant of humanity.” Abraham Lincoln

This is why the federal government will never provide us with any financial statements telling us where the income tax money goes. If the American people ever found out that all of this money goes to corporate American and NOT to fund any federal programs, they might take action. (Doubtfully, but you never know).

When you understand the majority of Americans spend most of their income on taxes, inflation and interest. You will then understand all of this money goes to the richest people in the Country; this is what keeps them rich. All of this money goes to the cartel known as the FRB and the government agency known as the IRS is the “mob” enforcer making sure everybody pays.

Without any federal laws giving the government the power to collect income taxes, they have resorted to common thugery and fear to collect this money from the American citizens. The lower courts are also to blame because they know about this scam but will not allow Supreme Court rulings to be admitted as evidence into trials involving taxes.

In fiscal year 1999 the department of defense had 1.1 trillion dollars in undocumentable adjustments. In fiscal year 2000 they had 2.3 trillion in undocumentable adjustments. Undocumentable adjustments mean the money is missing. All of this cash went directly to the FRB as a form of corporate welfare. Evidence of this corruption is known by many within the federal Government.

“Your income tax is a 100% voluntary tax, and your liquor is a 100% enforced tax. The situation is a different as night and day.” Dwight E. Avis, Head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Think about the law requiring us to file a tax return. It is unconstitutional. Under the Fifth Amendment no one is required to provide answers that might incriminate oneself but if your tax return is faulty you can be fined or put in jail. Also, the IRS Code specifically states the filing of an income tax return is voluntary. So why are people put in jail for not filing?

The Constitution allows only for two forms of taxation: direct and indirect. An income tax is neither one. The Constitution states a direct tax must be apportioned, which means it must be divided equally amongst all the people. The income tax cannot be a direct tax because it is not apportioned. An indirect tax is an excise tax like the ones collected on cigarettes or gasoline.

The 16th Amendment did not give the government the power to collect an income tax on the citizens of America. It only allowed a taxing on the earnings of corporate profits. In Stanton vs. Baltic Mining the Supreme Court explicitly states that the provisions of the 16th Amendment allows no new power of taxation. Income tax is being collected illegally by our government. They wield the IRS like a mob boss uses a cajole. People pay out of fear NOT because the law requires it.

There are several other Supreme Court rulings from the same time period stating the federal government does NOT have the power to collect an income tax on individuals or defining the term “income” as money earned by corporate America and NOT its citizens: Straton Independence vs. Hobarth, Peck vs. Lowe, Burnett vs. Harmel, Doyle vs. Mitchell to name only a few. In a letter by Daniel Inoway’s office of the United States Senate, he writes “Based on research by the Congressional Research Service, there is no provisions which require an individual to pay an income tax.”

The definition of income was given by the Supreme Court in the Eisner vs. Macomber and the Doyle vs. Mitchell cases. Income is defined as gains or profits resulting from corporate activity NOT wages or labor. The Supreme Court also said that your labor is your private property. In 2005 the illegal taxes collected on our labor added up to $927.2 billion. The legal corporate taxes collected were $278.3 billion.

There is nothing in the IRS provisions creating an income tax evasion crime or allowing them to seize property. These laws do not exist yet people are unjustly prosecuted and fined or jailed every year. This is illegal activity perpetrated by the government to scare people into submission. This is a form of judicial blackmail. If the IRS seizes all of your property and assets you can’t even get a lawyer because all of your cash was taken by the government. How can you mount a proper defense without any money?

You have to understand that an agency which imposes an illegal tax does not care about your rights NOR will they allow you to use the law for your protection. The IRS operates outside the boundaries set up by the Supreme Court. Lower Courts also operate outside the boundaries of the Supreme Court by putting people in jail for not complying with an illegal tax but since your assets are taken you can never mount a proper defense in court.

The Constitution freed our society by creating certain unalienable rights. The IRS tax codes have enslaved our society by illegally overstating its boundaries and trumping the most important document ever written, the Constitution. I think it is funny how we are in Iraq fighting for their “democracy” and helping them draft a Constitution when we won’t even defend our own.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson

I am preparing another post showing you how they plan to control the entire population of the United States within the next 50 years. In the name of terrorism they will will brush the constitution aside like and old dirty sock. They are working on a plan impose a new system of "protections" on us to deliver us from Al Qaeda. Some of the laws have already been passed but many more are to come. Stay tuned for more. I am taking my time with these posts to get them as accurate as I can.

We would all be better off if the FRB were disbanded. We can either choose to do something about this, or choose to go back to sleep within the Matrix. Which will you choose?

Actually, there is not much we can do about this. The income tax is garnished from our pay checks before we ever get a chance to protest. The system is set up so we don’t even have a voice. The FRB is the richest, most powerful corporation in the world. Not even our government has the power to defend itself against them.

New Year’s Revolution

2007-01-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

Ahh! The New Year is finally here. Out with the old and in with the new but in our case it’s out with the old and in the old again. It just seems like that anyway because I don’t make any stupid promises to myself. Oh sure, I would love to make a New Year’s resolution to win the lottery, lose about 10 pounds, grow more hair and screw Kate Beckinsale but that will not happen (maybe next year though, LOL).

People are flocking to join gyms to lose weight quickly to fulfill their empty-headed attempt at a New Year’s resolution. But the reality is, they will go the first couple of weeks and then pay the gym for nothing but sitting at home (or at the bar) on their asses. How foolish is this? If there is something you should be doing then you should be doing it already. Why do you need a new year to start?

I never have understood this stupid ritual. People think, “I gotta do this but I’ll put it off until next year, do it for a few weeks and then back to the same old shit. But at least I tried.” Yea right. Everybody eats a little more cake, cookies and pie during the holidays because it’s there. It’s usually not there the other months. But we should not need a new year to start eating right again; you should just do it.

A New Year’s resolution is one of those empty promises like the “American Dream”. What is the American Dream? To most people or if you listen to what the media tells us, it’s simply obtaining a mortgage. So you find a house, give it to a bank and then work the rest of your life trying to pay it off. So now you are a slave to the bank working for them. And then when the house is finally paid you’ll be paying at least triple of the original price on the house. That sounds more like an American Nightmare to me. The American Dream should be at least to OWN the home. (NOTE: owning means not paying for it or having paid it off.)

My idea of the American Dream is a little different from everyone else’s. I want to work less while earning more. If I average 50 hours of work for $50,000 last year, then I want to average 40 hours of work for $55,000 this year, and so on. That is my goal every year and if I do that, then everything else will work itself out.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have no debt other than my mortgage: no credit card, no car payments, no child support or alimony; just the house. I do use the credit card but at the end of the month it is always paid in full. Also, 10% of our total salary goes into a 401k and 25% into an interest bearing savings account. You should always pay yourself first before paying your bills. But then you have to make sure to keep your bills at an affordable level. This translates into living within your means. Translation, you cannot live like a rock star on a janitor’s salary.

I read someplace the average American carries $10,000 of credit card debt (at 12% or higher interest). They also spent $1.10 for every $1 they earn. How stupid is that? Living the way I do requires discipline but it is worth it not to be a slave to the creditors. I can’t imagine paying a $10,000 loan at 15% interest or higher.

Most people get themselves in financial trouble by buying a home they cannot afford. They think, “Well the bank says I can afford this and they wouldn’t lie to me, would they?” Yes they would. I remember shopping for a loan on the new house a few years back and the creditors telling me I could afford this enormo-house payment. I remember them saying, “Darth! You should buy a bigger house than that, you can afford it.” To which I would reply, “Just give me the freakin’ loan for this amount…..idiot!”

According to their calculations you can afford a house payment which is 25% of your salary. Well you can do that but its financial suicide. You still got to have money to live and you can’t do that when 25% of your gross income goes to the mortgage company. Our house payment is less than 10% of our salary.

For those of your shopping for a loan for a first-time home remember this. Do not listen to the bank or the real estate agent. Do your budget and buy a home based upon your calculations, not theirs. They aren’t the one who must pay off that enormo-loan. The only thing the real estate agent cares about is making their commission and the bigger the commission, the better. The only thing the bank cares about is getting those payments every month and the bigger those payments, the better. They don’t really care about you at all. And they don’t care about you at all with a BIG smile on their face.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

This is my last work day for the rest of the year and I've already shut down for the year. So I decided to put together something funny for the blog. Merry Christmas to all!

What do kids think about God? Find out below:

Question to Debate

2006-12-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

Something has been troubling me for quite a while and I decided to get it off my chest today. Is it possible for men and women to retain their friendships after one gets married? I don’t think so.

At one point in my life I used to have more female friends than male friends. But over the years I have lost touch with every female friend of mine except two, while retaining a relationship with almost all of my male friends. Well one of the two I used to be very close with but the last ten times (at least) we have made plans to do something she has cancelled at the last minute for a variety of reasons. We talk on the phone at least once a week and have for many years but when we plan to go to a movie or out to eat dinner she cancels every time.

She is still single and never wants to get married. We were friends long before I got married and my wife does not have a problem with me seeing her. I told my wife all about her before we got married and she does not feel threatened in any way. There is no animosity between the two at all either.

I feel like there is some secret code in which women will not hang out with married men or married women will not hang out with other men period. As soon as women get married it appears as they disappear from the face of the earth. I have run into other people which have known close female friends of mine who got married only to claim once they got married they never saw them again. Is marriage some strange cult to women? They must abandon their friends because of marriage and child rearing?

With this one in particular we used to go everywhere together. We would talk on the phone several times per day planning various activities, then at night we would go to parties or movies and afterward grab a bite to eat and debate various topics for hours. Then she got a boyfriend and we stopped spending time together and then I got a girlfriend and eventually got married while she broke up. I still made time for her but after I got married she acts like I have the plague or something.

I really don’t understand this and was hoping somebody could set me straight. Unlike most men, I actually enjoy the company of women and I don’t have to be screwing them to be enjoying myself. Maybe I’m getting too naïve in my old age or something.

If you are looking for a good news story for Christmas time, here is a good one. It's so disgusting I have absolutely no comment on it and it happened right here in good ole St. Louis.

The Dangers of Literal Meanings

2006-12-18T09:24:00.001-08:00

As a young boy I hated my Catholic grade school. Back then, bullies were not punished like they are today. I remember one kid pulling a knife on me in the middle of class and I quickly reported him to the teacher. But after it was all said and done I was the one made a fool out of by the teacher and later the principal; the bully was not even reprimanded.

That school did a great job of teaching us it is best to look the other way and not to get involved. They also instilled other values like: fearing God’s wrath, the rules are more important than the people, how to totally conform and how you should completely abandon your brain and accept blind faith in things, plus many other fascist ideologies which took me years to unlearn.

One of the few things I remember was when we were taught how a story changes while being spread from one person to another. The teacher wrote a couple of sentences on a piece of paper and whispered them to a student, who whispered to another until the entire class of about 20 kids had heard the message.

The final student wrote what was whispered to them and the teacher compared it to what she had originally written. They were not even closely related sentences. I was supposed to learn the dangers of spreading rumors about other people but what I actually learned was something else. This Catholic grade school gave me all the ammunition I needed to prove how fallible the Bible actually could be.

I am constantly befuddled by individuals who believe and worship the Bible literally as it is written, word for word. This is preposterous to me. The Gospels writers did not even know Jesus. They wrote the Gospels generations after Christ was crucified. I don’t think the apostles who followed Jesus ever carried a notepad to write His every word or to document what happened. I think they probably told other people about what happened and the stories were passed around much like in my grade school class. We all know how that turned out.

It is also possible that many things transpired without any of the apostles being around to witness them. Just imagine how many things could have happened to change the course of Christianity but are forever lost because no one was there to witness them. So even if the Bible was recorded as accurately as theologians believe, just think about how many things were accidentally omitted.

In my college years I was quite a hellcat. Every now and then I will meet somebody who remembers me from an event long past and tells me about something they remembered I did. We’ll have a laugh, shake hands and part ways and I am thinking, “What in the hell are they talking about? That did not happen that way, they are way off!” Now they were there and I remember them being there but the events they described did not happen as they remembered.

Later, I would talk with other friends who were there and they tell me they remember it differently from both of us. So who is right? I don’t know. I think it is more important to remember we had a party and everybody had fun. There are stories about me circulating that are not really true or at least not true as I remember them. Not that I mind because it contributes to my legend, but again we see how even eye witness accounts can vary and, in most cases, be very inaccurate.

Let’s get back to the Bible. So now am I to believe, as an intelligent human being, that 2,000 years ago those people could pass around stories by word of mouth while retaining all of the details. We are also expected to believe every word was written as words flowing directly from the mouth of Jesus onto their piece of paper. I think we should all be too intelligent to believe this is even possible.

People are fallible and people make mistakes; even people who wrote about Jesus 2,000 years ago and earlier. Imagine if they accidentally added a mathematical “typo” like 2 + 2 = 5. Today it would be a religious fact that 2 +2 = 5 and you would have theologians ignoring their common sense and writing essays about how 2 + 2 IS equal to 5 as according to God’s law. They would also ponder if the heathen mathematicians should be damned to eternal hell for spreading the heresy of 2 + 2 = 4. I wonder how many “typos” or misrepresentations are actually in the Bible. I also wonder how many of those contributed to a war or to somebody being killed.

It might be possible to accurately document something like this today if the events were recorded with a camera or some other device. The only risk would be someone inserting their bias into the story, which probably also happened back then.

In my opinion, it is more important to understand the big picture and not focus on the details of what Jesus might have said. Because none of us knows what he actually said, we never will.

I used to own fish tanks. When I would clean the tank the fish would sometimes freak out over my hand entering their world. If they had intelligence would their God be this enormous hand? Would they design temples containing statues of a giant hand and then sing praise to this “Hand of all Holiness”? The truth is we are living in a similar fish tank. We have no idea and no clue who God is, where God is, or what God looks like.

Even the God we have made contact with is still a mystery. We believe He is God because He said He is, but there is absolutely no evidence. Well what if the giant hand could talk to the fish and told them it was God. The fish might believe it, but would that make it true. And then, what if the REAL God caught wind of this hand pretending to be God, how pissed would He be?

I honestly really hope the Bible is true because some of the stories are beautiful and it would definitely make death much easier to contemplate. My heart tells me to believe but sometimes my brain tells me I’m just a fish in a tank, worshiping an enormous hand.

I often ask questions such as: “If I were God would I demand everyone worship me or damn them to an eternal hell? Would I exclude people from heaven just because they were different from others or believed something different? Would I damn people to eternal hell who ignorantly worshipped another god? Would I give people a brain but damn them for using it? Would I admit people into heaven who were mean pricks or murders or rapists just because they said they were sorry at the end of their life? Would I write policies which excluded women from important decision making roles within my church? Would I destroy an entire city including the children just because the adults were having consensual sex? Would I “test” the faith of my most devoted worshipers by taking everything from them including their families and then expect them to still love me?” The list goes on and on………………..

Then I seriously doubt a God who answers “Yes” to any of the above questions, because it sounds more like a devil than a God. So either we got the message wrong or the message itself is wrong. I prefer to believe that WE got it wrong.

Her Defect

2006-12-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

My Space account……….FREE

Your first date at the local theater……..$17.00

Bag of popcorn to share during the movie.... $5.49

Large Pepsi to wash down the popcorn.....$5.29

Showing a picture of the girl of your dreams to your kids only to have them point out her defect.....PRICELESS

Have a great weekend!

My Guiding Principles

2006-12-14T12:08:00.001-08:00

Chana recently made a comment that got me thinking about some things that I wanted to share with everybody. My response to her was: “I'm just a man trying to be the best husband and father I possibly can. I’m trying to learn from my mistakes and trying not to make the same mistake twice. If I can accomplish that then everything else is gravy.”

Below are some of the principles that I use to guide my life. This is a work in progress and is always subject to changes or revisions. My primary goal is to improve my life while enhancing the lives of everyone around me. I openly welcome all suggestions, criticisms or comments.

Accept responsibility for your mistakes and don’t make excuses for them.
This is the most important principle and why it was listed first.

Learn to apologize when you hurt others or when you make mistakes.
The second most important principle is to make amends for your mistakes. Not only do you want to apologize, but you should do it quickly and sincerely. Apologies are NOT a form of weakness like so many believe but a form of leadership and character which is missing from our society.

Listen to others before striving to be heard.
This is probably the best way to become a leader; by listening to others you gain power and respect. People who are always too busy talking and never listening make terrible leaders.

Never repeat a mistake.
The definition of insanity is repeating the same action while anticipating a different outcome.

Hold others accountable for their mistakes.
This is aimed at parents and is a contributor for instilling the ‘it’s not my fault” attitude from many within our society. Hold your kids responsible for their mistakes and, most importantly, make them pay for their mistakes. If little Johnny breaks a window don’t blame the window for being in the way. Also, make him earn the money to pay for the window.

Even in business, you must hold both your bosses and underlings responsible for their actions. I am not a big fan of giving free passes because they promote mediocrity. If excellence is to be properly rewarded then incompetence or failure must not be ignored.

Always follow through with what you say.
Always keep your promises; your words should always be the ultimate truth. Only when you are trusted will you be fully respected. When I tell my son he is going to be hit he either modifies his behavior or braces himself for impact (he almost always modifies his behavior - it only take a couple of times before they learn).

Don’t get locked into one way of thinking.
It is alright to accept ideas from a variety of ideologies. Whether you are liberal or conservative it is NOT alright to accept every item on the agenda. Likewise, it is alright to accept ideas from the opposing agenda. This principle is what made America a strong country and what is contributing today into making us a weaker country.

Allow opposing ideas to be heard within your family or group.
As a leader, whether it comes from my workers or my son, I openly accept and encourage criticism. This challenges me to be the best I can be and allows everyone to have input into situations. Remember the more ideas you get the faster and more efficiently you can resolve problems.

Always help people in need.
One of your primary roles in life should be to remove the obstacles which obstruct people from obtaining their goals. If you want to be an effective leader then you should also provide a healthy, nurturing environment for the people who follow you or work for you.

Never allow stupid, petty rules limit your options.
Always reward creative thinking even if long standing rules are broken. My son knows if he has a good reason for breaking the rules then he is allowed to break them as long as he is not deceitful and lets us know about what happened right away. This promotes free thinking and teaches a child to evaluate every situation as it materializes. I don’t ever want my son to be locked into one way of thinking nor do I want him following ridiculous rules just because they are the rules.

Accept your limitations but try to improve on them when necessary.

It is alright to say ‘no”.
I learned a long time ago that sometimes the best decision is “no”.

Learn to prevent disasters and when they occur learn damage control.
Speeding down the highway while talking on your cell phone and eating your lunch is probably going to result in an accident. It seems as if no one in our society ever thinks about their actions or the consequences of their actions.

Attitude will often get you farther than talent.
As an IT manager, I only hire people with a positive attitude because I can always teach the technical skills. A negative attitude, however, can kill or sabotage the morale of the entire team. If I am interviewing two people: one with a very positive attitude but with average technical skills and another with outstanding technical skills but a negative attitude. I’ll hire the positive attitude every time.

Surround yourself with quality people.
Life is too short to spend it with assholes; enough said.

Always give your best effort in everything you do.
People might question your level of talent but never your heart or your desire. You should be able to live with that.

Selling Bushels and Bushels of Shit

2006-12-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

I inherited Wahl clippers from my grandpa after he died. These clippers have seen a lot of action in their time. My grandpa cut hair in the army during WW2 with these clippers; then he brought them home and cut my dad’s when he was a boy and then mine and then I used them on my son when he was younger. So four generations of my family have been using these clippers and they are still running great today.

About a year ago while browsing through a Walgreens I noticed the newer Wahl clippers with some added features like a beard trimmer. The old ones still work but this new feature intrigued me so I bought them. These new clippers are already dying after only a year and it pissed me off so I decided to write about this.

Did you know many of the light bulbs made by Thomas Edison in 1879 still work today? Why is it when I purchase a new bulb, I’m lucky to get six months out of it before it dies? Because mediocrity translates into bigger profits while excellence does not. If a new light bulb lasted forever then no one would ever buy light bulbs. Companies started realizing that producing a product which quickly breaks makes more money than producing a more durable, quality product.

I’ve been taught my entire life that capitalism breeds excellence because somebody can always do it faster, cheaper and more efficiently. But what we are finding out is just the opposite. Companies repeatedly produce and sell sub standard items in order to keep the customer coming back buying more shit.

My brother used to work for a manufacturer who built ceiling fans and sewing machines. Early in his career he sold parts for these products. Well, certain models never needed parts. When the company launched an investigation to find out why sales were down on these particular parts and why the new models where not selling, it was discovered certain older models were too well built. They just didn’t break, so parts did not sell and newer models weren’t needed because the old ones lasted a very long time.

So this company changed and started producing sewing machines with parts rigged to break after so long. Also they were built NOT to last as long. This increased sales of the consumable parts and also increased sales of the actual units. Well this is the same plan corporate America uses in everything. Nothing is produced to last, it is only made to last longer than the warranty. Everything from clippers, to light bulbs, to sewing machines, to ceiling fans, to cars are built to expire when they could easily be produced to last a lot longer and cost much less. We line up to pay for this shit everyday and what we are taking home is, literally, shit.

Just think of the natural resources we could save if common everyday items were build better and to last longer. Imagine if your car lasted for twenty years instead of ten and used one fifth of the gasoline; times that conservation by millions of drivers in the US alone. Think about haw many hundreds of thousands of Wahl trimmers are thrown away every year when they could easily be built to last longer. If they could do it in 1950 then they can do it in 2006.

So let’s look at the healthcare industry. I’ve been saying for years this industry needs to be a non-profit industry to protect us. Profiting from the illnesses of the sick and suffering should only be done when the health of the person is the primary concern and NOT what is best for the profit margin of the company. This is exactly why health care costs are out of control today.

Why haven’t cures for diseases been made when we have so much technology? Simple, there is no profit in curing diseases. The last disease we cured was polio back in the 1960’s. Does anybody else find that ridiculous? We can’t even cure the common cold yet. What a company wants is to create a drug which keeps everybody coming back for more (a legal addict). If they cure people, then the long range profit forecasts are not looking too good. There are many new drugs to treat diseases like cancer, AIDS, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s but never any to cure.

In fact, cures are not even being researched by profit companies because they realize there is no money in it. They only research new drugs to treat diseases; to make them more manageable, to prolong life just long enough to squeeze a little more money out of you before you finally kick off. An outright cure is very unprofitable.

This is exactly why we need government money for stem cell research. Big companies are NEVER looking out for you and your family despite what the ad on TV says. They only care about getting filthy rich.

Another disturbing trend is the lack of competition. There is no competition because they all produce the same bushels and bushels of sub-quality shit.

Baker-Hamilton Report

2006-12-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week the Baker-Hamilton report was released with the bi-partisan panel’s advice on the best ways stabilize Iraq. I personally thought the panel did a great job in putting aside their differences to get this report finished. This bi-partisan concept was how America was founded and what makes us a great country. However, there has not been much bi-partisanship for the past couple of decades until now.

Well, I stupidly listened to Rush Limbaugh the day after the report’s release and, of course, he hated it. You see Rush is one of those fundamentalists that do not believe in compromise of any kind. Compromise is weakness. Compromise means nobody gets anything they want, so all sides loose. He is opposed to any advice other than “stay the course”. I also fear our President agrees with Rush.

Again we see the dangers of fundamentalism whether it is extreme right wing thinking or extreme left wing thinking. Fundamentalists will not ever compromise on any issue; it’s their way or the highway. In all honesty, these people do not belong in our country; they should all leave. Our country was founded on the principles of Democracy and compromising is one of the defining principles in this system of government. So if you are not wiling to compromise you should not even run for office because all you are going to do is contribute to the gridlock.

Unfortunately, our current President is a fundamentalist and there is not much we can do about it until 2008. In the meantime we should all learn from this valuable lesson. Learn about the candidates and the issues they support before voting for them. Most importantly if they give any hint of fundamentalism, either left or right, NEVER vote for them.

Fundamentalism is what we are fighting against in Iraq. Al Qaeda, the Taliban are all fundamentalists. There is not much difference from their way of thinking than Rush Limbaugh, President Bush or extremist liberals and conservatives.

Another flaw in fundamentalists thinking is their total lack of communication with people or organizations who oppose them. I was always taught keep your friends close and your enemies closer; which translates into how important it is to keep the lines of communication open with everybody. The President’s policy on Iran is very immature and reminds me of many grade school conversations, such as: “If they don’t like me then I’m not talking to them until they say they like me.” Or “If you don’t do what I say then I am talking to you. NAA! NAA! NAA! I can’t her you! NAA! NAA! NAA!”

Imagine the kind of country this would be if nobody communicated with people they did not like and if nobody every compromised. We wouldn’t have a Constitution. We would never trade with any other nations. We could never have a Democracy without compromise. We would still be debating slavery. Our neighborhoods would all be tightly segregated like a prison playground; association with other races would be strictly prohibited. What a great world that would be!!!

I think Rush’s new slogan should be EIB-Excellence in Bullshit instead of Excellence in Broadcasting.

In a recent interview about Iraq, Bush said, “I understand how tough it is and have been telling the American people how tough it is. And they know how tough it is.” I laughed my ass off. No you don’t know how tough it is!

Unless your daughters spend a year in Iraq with snipers shooting at them around every turn with no body armor, and Iraqi citizens running up to them trying to blow them up, you have absolutely no clue how tough it is. Until they finally come home thinking the worst is behind only to get called back for a second year, you have absolutely no clue how tough it is. Until you get a phone call informing you that your only son has been killed and now your family blood line ends with your generation, you don’t know how tough it is. Until you have to survive on a soldiers pay while raising a family with the head of household absent, you have no clue how tough it is. What a moron!!! In fact, the dictionary should change the definition of moron to: “see Bush.”

That little diatribe is Bush’s way of saying “stay the course”. Troops will never leave Iraq until Bush leaves the Whitehouse. If he could look both James Baker and Lee Hamilton in the eyes and say, “fuck off!” he would. We’ll see what he says when he addresses the American public next week.

Best Divorce Letter Ever

2006-12-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

My brother found this on Digg.com; it's priceless. There are several versions but this one is the best.

Dear Connie,

I know the counselor said we should not contact each other during our “cooling off” period, but I couldn’t wait anymore.

The day you left I swore I’d never talk to you again but that was just the little boy in me talking. Still, I never wanted to be the first one to make contact. In my mind, it was always you who should come crawling back to me. I guess my pride needed that. But now I see that my pride’s cost me a lot of things. I’m tired of pretending I don’t miss you. I don’t care about looking bad anymore. I don’t care who makes the first move as long as one of us does. Maybe it’s time we let our heart speak as loudly as our hurt.

This is what my heart says: “There is no one like you, Connie. I look for you in the eyes and breasts of every woman I see, but they are not you. They are not even close.”

Two weeks ago I met this girl at Flamingo’s and brought her home with me. I don’t say this to hurt you, but just to illustrate the depth of my desperation. She was young, maybe 19; with one of those perfect bodies that only youth and maybe a childhood spent ice skating can give you. I mean, just a perfect body. She is every man’s dream, right?

As I sat on the couch being blown by this stunner, I thought, look at the stuff we’ve made important in our lives. It’s so superficial. What does a perfect body mean? Does it make her better in bed? Well, in this case, yes, but you see what I am getting at. Does it make her a better person? Does she have a better heart than my moderately attractive Connie? I doubt it. And I never really thought of that before. I don’t know, maybe I’m just growing up a little.

Later, after I tossed her about a pint of throat yogurt, I found myself thinking, “Why do I feel so drained and empty?” It wasn’t just her flawless technique or her slutty, shameless hunger, but something else. I had this nagging feeling of loss. Why did I feel so incomplete? And then it hit me. I didn’t feel the same because you were not there to watch. Do you know what I mean? Nothing feels the same without you. Jesus, Connie, I’m just going crazy without you. And everything I do reminds me of you.

Do you remember Carol, that single mom we met at the Holiday Inn lounge last year? Well, she dropped by last week with a pan of lasagna. She said she figured I wasn’t eating right without a woman around. I didn’t know what she meant until later, but that’s not the real story. Anyway, we had a few glasses of wine and the next thing you know, we are banging away in our bedroom. And this tart’s a total monster in the sack. She’s giving me everything, you know, like a real woman does when she’s not hung up about her weight or her career and whether the kids can hear us. And all of a sudden, she spots that tilting mirror on your grandmother’s old vanity. So she puts it on the floor and we straddle it, right, so we can watch ourselves. And it’s totally hot but it makes me sad too because I can’t help thinking, “Why didn’t Connie ever put the mirror on the floor? We’ve had this vanity for what, 14 years, and we never used it as a sex toy.”

Saturday, your sister drops by with my copy of the restraining order. I mean, Vicki’s just a kid and all but she’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders and she’s been a real good friend to me during this painful time. She’s given me lots of good advice about you and women in general. She is pulling for us to get back together. She really is.

So we’re doing Jell-O shots in a hot bubble bath and talking about happier times. Here’s this teenage girl with the same DNA as you and all I can think is how much she looked like you when you were 18. And that just about makes me cry. And then it turns out, Vicky’s really into the whole anal thing, that gets me to thinking about how many times I pressured you about trying it and how that probably fueled some of the bitterness between us. But do you see how even then, when I’m thrusting inside your baby sister’s cinnamon hole, all I can do is think of you? It’s true, Connie. In your heart you must know it. Don’t you think we could start over? Just wipe all the grievances away and start over fresh? I think we can. If you feel the same way please, please, please let me know.

Otherwise, can you let me know where the fucking remote is?

Love,

Dan

My Conservative Roots

2006-12-06T12:44:00.001-08:00

For years people have been telling me I was too conservative. Conservatism, as I understood it, always favored the preservation of American values like a strong family, a strong work ethic, American made, meat and potatoes. The Constitution was revered and almost worshiped. I always believed that I was conservative until the past several years when the worst President in history took over and changed everything. Now people are always telling me I’m too liberal. How could that be?

This all prompted me to write Conservatism Under The Microscope last month in which I explained how the conservatives of today actually worship the liberals of yesteryear. And, if you really boil it down, many of the greatest people and ideas in history were liberal. Well I wanted to expand and enhance those ideas in this post.

In that last post I explained the definition of conservatism which means resistant to change and wanting to preserve the ideology of the past with strong traditions. Well the conservative of today is nothing like that. The recipe for today’s conservatism translates into protecting wealth with an artificial flavoring of Christianity. It is ridiculous how conservatives of today and Christians have joined forces because both ideologies are complete opposites. I’ll explain more about this later.

I listen to Rush Limbaugh almost everyday and he is constantly hammering the Democrats for being soft on terrorism because they do not support the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act. Both of these new laws contradict the Bill of Rights which has existed for centuries. So I would think conservatives by their very nature would want to protect the constitution, more specifically the Bill of Rights. It should be the liberals wanting to change things, right? How did this get so screwed up?

My conservative roots tell me the Constitution should be the fundamental dogma of all Conservatives, so why would they even hint at changing this sacred cow? The Bill of Rights is my fundamental dogma by which I lead my life. The majority rules unless the majority conflicts with the Bill of Rights, in which case the Bill of Rights will trump the majority every time. That is conservative ideology at it finest so why do they consider this ideology liberal?

My conservative roots tell me the family is the most important thing in my life – this should be another staple in the ideology of all conservatives. Instead, they want the needs of corporate American put ahead the needs of American families. Whenever laws are proposed that favor people or families versus corporate America, Corporate America always wins because of heavy conservative favor. Why? Because, again, conservatives of today are not really conservative anymore, they are pro big business fascists disguised as Republicans.

My conservative roots tell me the elderly are sacred and should be protected. So why do conservatives want to end Social Security or at least limit it when so many seniors are dependent on it to survive. Conservatism, especially if they are Christian as they claim, should believe that poor people come first before the needs of the rich or specifically the needs of corporate American, right? This is exactly how Jesus would want it; the needier should be protected and helped by those whose can provide (help your brother in need). This Christian ideology has existed long before the corporation was created but conservatives forgot about it. Actually they did not forget about it, they are just showing their fascist roots again.

If we apply the new conservative rules to Christianity then the Christian ideology is very liberal. Putting the needs of the poor before the needs of the rich is very liberal according to today’s conservatives. Jesus existed and served the poor people of his time. I don’t ever remember Him walking into Caesar’s palace and giving him wine or fish. Nor do I remember him promising a place in His kingdom if the correct contribution was made. I also don’t remember hearing Jesus speaking out in favor of war; He was a man of peace. So how Christianity and conservatism aligned is still a mystery to me.

My conservative roots tell me marriage has never been defined in our culture so wanting to now define it as only between a man and a woman and limit it is a very liberal idea. Conservatives should want to leave the law alone (remember earlier, resist change) but instead they want this unnecessary and sweeping change to marriage. This is only wanted to preserve their false Christian image. Republicans don’t really give a shit about this.

My conservative roots also want to protect American jobs. For some reason the conservatives of today are against this. I realize the market changes and jobs must change with this pattern but what I am against is when jobs are eliminated only to secure more wealth and higher profits. Conservatives, by their nature should also want to “conserve” American jobs. Whatever happened to the “Made in America” conservative image of a couple of decades ago? I’ll tell you what happened to it, it was outsourced for cheaper labor. Conservatives should be against outsourcing to protect American jobs and preserving the “Made in America” values of the Reagan area, but why aren’t they?

Today’s conservative is only concerned with protecting the wealth of the few at the expense of the many, with legislation designed to give an advantage to the few. I think I just defined apartheid. Anyway, the whole idea of a corporation exists only to protect the wealth of the investors within the company. Investors wanted a way to reap the benefits of profits without any risk. Hence the corporation was born. Now if a corporation goes bankrupt, the investors and the executives escape with no penalties or liabilities, leaving the employee behind to foot the bill with their pensions. A true conservative would want to stop this and help the working families but not the new fascist conservatives. The new bankruptcy laws are another example of corporate America being favored over American families.

Today’s conservative only uses Christianity as a “smoke and mirror” show to herd the mindless horde and trick them into believing they actually care. American’s today are too stupid and gutless to actually dig into the facts and discover what is actually happening. They willingly submit into the “Matrix” because it is safer there. It’s definitely more comforting than to accept what is really happening to them.

MPAA is Truly Evil

2006-12-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

It was amazing how close we came in the early to mid 1900's to becoming a socialist society. One of the reasons socialism failed was because communism was an abysmal failure. People associated communism with socialism and did not want to live in a restrictive society in which the government controlled everything. We chose capitalism as our mantra. Instead of a dictator controlling everything we have corporations controlling everything.

Another reason socialism was destroyed was because big business did not want the people to organize and form strong unions, so they did everything they could to prevent it. By backing McCarthyism and the witch hunts which followed, they further ensured America would remain their ripe territory and the people would have no recourse. It was also around this time in which corporations learned how much power they had and how easy and cheap it was to buy politicians. Buying politicians ensured no labor laws would ever surface and the balance of power has been tilted their way ever since. Only FDR with his New Deal was able to break this trend but conservatives have been trying to sabotage Social Security ever since.

In my opinion, a blissful situation exists when a society has a mixture of socialism and capitalism; both must coexist. Both compliment each other and also account for people which fall through the cracks. My definition of socialism does not call for bigger government but smarter government. It allows for tighter, more restrictive regulations on monopolies, such as, utilities and hospitals. It also puts tighter controls on markets by NOT allowing large corporations within the same market to merge and NOT allowing corporations to create markets which are unwanted by the consumer.

An example of an unwanted market situation was when I wrote a few months back about a remote control which does not allow the channel to be changed on a television while advertisements are playing. No consumer is going to want that so it should not be allowed. Only demand should dictate the market and not vise versa. When forces other than demand dictate markets, you have the same treachery as in a restrictive communistic society.

Capitalism is supposed to allow markets to set the pricing and production levels based upon demand (unless you have a monopoly). It’s a company’s knowledge of these markets which dictates profit levels. If you produce the perfect amount of your product to satisfy demand then your profits will be excellent. If you produce too many or too little then your profits will suffer. But the most important thing here is to realize demand is set by the consumer and NOT the company.

There are several markets in which the corporations have complete control so they can set pricing to whatever level they want and basically dictate how the market will operate. Utilities are a perfect example of this. This is why government regulations exist; so these monopolies cannot cannot completely suck our Country dry. This is also why these monopolistic companies lobby so hard to remove these regulations. Don’t ever be fooled by legislation calling to end government regulations – they always exist to protect the consumer. And remember YOU are the consumer.

The MPAA and the RIAA are a different kind of monopoly and they are constantly lobbying the government for more control by turning an average family into wanted felons with ridiculous rules. This article is the epitome of greed and a microcosm of the problem which plagues our society. Keep in mind that the article is pure satire but the point is well made. In this fake scenario, the MPAA wants to collect a fee from any home theatre system, which is defined as two chairs in a room with a television. If you don’t pay the fee then pay a fine of $500,000.

When a DVD is sold, it is only to be viewed by one person. Any other people watching the movie should pay a fee to the MPAA. I can actually imagine the MPAA sponsoring a bill like this. Then our Senators, who are paid by the lobbyists, could again show their true colors by easily passing it into law. Here is how the law would work:

Our scenario begins as a family (husband, wife, kids, dog and a cat) huddle comfortably in front of the television to watch the new Shrek DVD. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door, “Federal Agents, this is a bust!!!!” Then the front door bursts open and eleven or so men clad in black with hoods and guns rush into the house grabbing the family and throwing them onto the ground. The cat and dog are quickly tazed before they can react and left in a puddle of their own drool and piss. The rest of the family is quickly handcuffed and hauled away to stand trial before a federal judge. They are held without bail in this serious matter for one month before the trial begins. After a short trial they are quickly sentenced to ten years in jail and a $500,000 fine – they loose everything. The final scene is animal control putting the family pets into a barred van as the foreclosure notice is hammered onto the front door by the local sheriff. Another family destroyed to protect DVD sales. This successful and rewarding bust sponsored by the MPAA and the RIAA (I’m sure the RIAA will also want a piece of this).

Could this ever be possible? I think it could be. If so, is this what the market is dictating the consumer wants or is this the consumer dictating what the market wants? When our Congress votes on issues like this with the freshly printed money from the lobbyists in their pockets do they realize what they are signing into law?

Two Inches of Ice is a State Disaster?

2006-12-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

It happened again. For the third time this year, hundreds of thousands of homes in the St. Louis area lost power for more than three days (many are still out) as a another mediocre storm was again mistakenly classified as “one of the worst ever”. The only disaster was NOT the couple of inches of ice but the performance of Ameren, as they proved again incapable of handling the electricity needs of a large metropolitan area. If this utility cannot get customers back on the grid within 24 hours of a small storm, then the state of Missouri should find a utility than can.

This past July an average thunderstorm transformed St. Louis into a Stone Age town, last Thursday it was a small ice storm. What would happen if a real nasty storm hit St. Louis? I am talking about tornadoes or a blizzard with a few feet of snow, not some measly ice or a typical thunderstorm. What would happen is the St. Louis area would be without power for weeks and possibly months. How come none of the St. Louis politicians are calling Ameren out on this issue?

To further complicate the matter, Governor Matt Blunt calls a state of emergency. I can understand in Jefferson City where they received up to 16 inches of snow but why in St. Louis were all we got was a couple of inches of ice. The only thing I can think of is because Ameren could not restore the power within an adequate length of time so he had no choice but to get help for the people who could have frozen to death in their igloos. If he called for the state of emergency because of a corporate screw up, then he should state that but he is too much a corporate guy to ever call Ameren out in public.

Ameren claims to have 1500 electrical crews available to hang lines after a storm. What they fail to tell us is this 1500 covers a large area in Missouri and Illinois and not just the St. Louis area and they count the tree cutting crews as part of this 1500. How many tree cutters are included in this 1500? It is hard to say but it could be up to 50%.

At one time Ameren had almost 500 electrical crews working in the St. Louis area alone but fired them when they bought out Union Electric as a cost cutting action. So now when any precipitation falls in the St. Louis area we are all at risk to loosing power for days just so Ameren executives can take home a fatter bonus.

To compensate for the loss of those employees Ameren hires crews from neighboring power companies on a project by project basis. These mercenaries can take up to two days to arrive or longer if the roads are blocked due to snow or other hazards. My family freezing to death in my home is seen as just a “project” by Ameren, nothing more. If the amount of Ameren crews is not brought back up to acceptable levels then they should be forced to bring in the mercenaries BEFORE the storm so they are in ST. Louis and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

This is why Matt Blunt, who is in bed with big business, keeps up the charade by calling for a state of emergency after a thunderstorm and a mild freezing rain storm. What should be done is an investigation into the business practices of Ameren and discovering why they cannot respond faster to outages. City Governor Francis Slay is just as guilty by doing nothing. This is yet another example of our politicians not looking out for us by siding with big business over the people.

We were without power for three of the coldest nights of the year. What was even more frustrating was calling into the Ameren (no)customer service lines. First of all, the number was busy for the first 36 hours. Then when I finally did get through I was not even given a date when my power would be restored. Ameren had over a week lead time before this storm hit so there is no excuse for them not being prepared with CSR’s to answer the phones or crews available to fix the downed lines. At the very least they should have had the mercenary crews already in town and ready to go.

While on the phone with them I totally freaked out and had a "Clark Griswold" moment. The echoes of “f bombs” and GD’s are still resonating within the walls of my house. I almost smashed the phone when I slammed down the receiver. I was so bad I later apologized to my wife and son for my idiotic behavior. If there would have been an Ameren truck anywhere close to me at that moment I could have picked it up and threw it because I was so pissed off.

My particular case was different from the average downed power lines because the tree limbs pulled the weather box and meter from my house. Those are the responsibility of the home owner so I had to get an electrician to fix my stuff before Ameren could even reconnect my lines. Well, I had that finished the same day just in case but I was still out three days.

I’ve had enough of this crap; we are looking for a natural gas powered generator to keep our entire house powered in the event of another outage. When we moved into this house we were hoping not to need such a thing because we live in a large metropolitan area but our asshole power company can never restore our power within a reasonable time frame so now we have to get one. Maybe I’ll send Ameren the bill.

The Beginning of the “Kiss My Ass” List

2006-11-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to understand certain people. It is even more difficult when you learn the person in question understands they have a problem but fails to address it. Last weekend I was saw this happen twice.

The first situation was my uncle. He has type 2 diabetes but the only thing he does to help himself is take insulin. He still eats the same crap he has eaten his entire life and uses the insulin to compensate when he eats something bad. Well his kidneys failed last week and now he is on dialysis every other day for the rest of his life.

He is retired, cannot drive a car, on a limited income and rapidly chipping away at his savings to support his lazy lifestyle. What do I mean by lazy lifestyle? He refuses to cook anything because he hates to clean dishes. He orders carry out and delivery for every meal and supplements between snacks with junk food; hence the kidney failure. We all know how expensive it is to eat out as opposed to cooking your own meals.

I took him some food last Saturday from the grocery store. Lunch meat, cans of soup, cereal, some zero trans fat frozen breakfasts, some fruit, and some other necessities to last for about a week. Anyway, I walked into his apartment and was appalled. He never cleans anything and he had been living there for 15 years. Never throws anything away; he lives like a bum. I don’t think he showers very often either because the scent of ripe ass penetrated my nostrils almost causing me to vomit.

Three years ago my wife and I cleaned his apartment from floor to ceiling; throwing away trash, mopping floors, cleaning everything. Then, I showed him the few simple things he had to do to keep the apartment clean but he refused to do any of them. I made it very easy for him too. When we opened the doors to the interior of the building, the other habitants Gladed the halls because of the stench rising from his ground floor apartment. It was disgusting; I couldn’t believe a member of my family actually could live like that. We are all scrubby Dutch. We clean everything!! We are all fanatics about showering. I even own a water pick to keep my teeth sparkling clean. Not my uncle and the troubling thing is that he is aware of how he lives.

He told me that he knows he is a slob and lives in a pig sty but he does nothing to help himself. He realizes his eating habits are bad but refuses to change. He laughs about it. I told him there is nothing funny about living like brainless slob. Nothing funny about being so stinky, flies even refuse to inhabit the apartment. I don’t understand this, can someone please explain.

This story is even worse than my uncle. A while back I wrote Evil Descends about an actual haunting I have been investigating in the St. Louis area. Well the Thanksgiving holiday provided a rare day off for the entire paranormal team and gave us an opportunity to finally attempt a cleansing of this home. The mother (T) contacted me and said the situation was even worse. The entire family was still sleeping in the same room; everyone is still afraid to be in the home alone, they hear voices and see many ghosts roaming the halls.

Anyway the day we were to go into the home T stopped communicating with me, just like she has done about a dozen times in the past. I was furious with this moron! She claims never to have my phone number even though I type it at the end of every email. She says she will call me but never does. I called her Wednesday night (we were supposed to go into the home on Friday and Thursday was Thanksgiving) so she answers and then pretends to be someone else. I knew it was her the entire time but I was so stunned by the response I just told her to call me back. Did she call me back? Hell no!

How can she raise her kids in this type of environment? How can she allow these spirits to torment her family? She must not care at all for those kids. The oldest son already committed suicide about two years ago. There are at least two more daughters 12 and 10 years of age in the home and possibly a younger son. T claims she is sexually attacked by an unseen being, does she think her kids are safe there?? What a fucking idiot!!!

She sends an email telling me how bad things have become and then I give her a date to bring my team into the house to help and then she never responds. This is at least the third time she has done this to me so now she can kiss my ass if she thinks I am going to help her now!! I hate to abandon those kids but I am a believer in social Darwinism so what can I do?

I am starting a “kiss my ass” list and she has been added to the number one position for being the worst mother of the year. At least my uncle is the only one being affected by his laziness. But moronic mother T wins the loser mother of the year award for leaving her unprotected children in a home everyday with an evil spirit roaming free and tormenting them. I really hope she reads my blog.

To T: Get off your ass and do something, anything!!! Contact your priest, pastor or anybody who can help those kids!! Please stop bitching to me unless you want to do something about it!! I am tired of hearing your tales of woe and then see you not taking any action.

Why bring kids into the world if you don’t give a shit about them? Why bring kids into the world when you don’t take care of them? This is one of the worst examples of a shitty mother I have heard since the mom who drowned her kids in the tub. T is doing the same thing by her lack of action. Am I out of line here? What are your thoughts?

Darth's "Kiss My Ass" List
1. T
2. MPAA (I'll explain tomorrow)

More to come.........

Let the OJ Book Live

2006-11-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

There are two sides to every story. When I first heard the news that OJ Simpson was writing a book “theorizing” how he killed Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, I was appalled, angry and generally thought it was a very stupid idea. Why give this moron more time in the spotlight, which he desperately craves.

Then the news came that both the story and interview were both cancelled and I was elated. Finally, somebody with a sense of decorum intervened and stopped this madness. But a part of me wondered if we did not miss the rare opportunity to see into the mind of a sociopath, a killer and find out why and how they operate.

Then AndyR, a friend of mine, sent me this article written by Judith Regan, the publisher who masterminded the entire scenario, and, after reading it, I think the OJ book should be published. The interview should be broadcast as planned. Let this sociopath tell how he did it so the entire world can see this killer for who he truly is. Now all of the black men who defended him can now eat their words.

This is a must read article and I would implore anybody who was outraged by the announcement of the OJ book to read this before passing judgment. We did miss a golden opportunity to see into the mind of madness. Eventually, we will have to come to grips with people like OJ if we are to defend ourselves and our families from them. It’s ugly but it’s a reality that there are many people in the world just like him.

Hopefully, this book will still be published and will someday be hailed as a breakthrough, just as Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf is still published and read today. Then we must all remember to give Judith Regan the proper credit for her vision.

Again, please read the article before leaving comments so you know the reasons why Judith Regan came to the conclusion of allowing this story to unfold.

Also, everybody have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Retards With Sex Organs

2006-11-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

America is getting dumber.

An alarming study by the Department of Education found that 31 percent of American students were dropping out or failing to graduate in the nation's largest 100 public school districts. What the hell is going on here?

If I would have even hinted at quitting high school (which I wasn’t dumb enough to anyway) my dad would have sautéed my ass with a touch of onion and some high trans fat oil. Then he would taken whatever parts of my body that survived and kicked them back into the school. Have American parents lost their freaking minds?

I am willing to bet my paycheck a majority of these drop outs do not even have a father in the home and have a mother less than 20 year older than they are. Every time I hear some dumb ass woman spout off about how “she don’t need no man” I want to ring her freaking neck. Let’s applaud today’s single mom for raising tomorrow’s career criminal, drug dealer, crack whore, bum, and overall nuisance; because “she don’t need no man.”

This reminds me of a story from years past. Every year the company I used to work for choose one of the neediest families and raised money or bought gifts for them for Christmas. Well, the family they choose was run by an unemployed single mother who was thirty years old and already had 14 kids; one every year of her life since she 16 from a multitude of sperm donors. The fifteenth kid was spawned by her 15 year old daughter who contributed one kid and was knocked up again. No father in the house. Well, I just could not bring myself to contribute to that situation. By giving money I felt like I was condoning that stupidity and I couldn’t do it.

This is another reason why we need sex education in the classrooms and free condoms in every school. We all know that a retard with access to sex organs will only spell disaster for everybody. It seems like only the dumbasses breed and they breed at alarming levels, leaving their offspring for society to deal with. Intelligent people have children based on finances and provide a nurturing situation for the child. So they do not breed as fast nor have as many kids. One day we are going to wake up and be surrounded by dumbasses and that day is closer than you might think.

Democratic Agenda

2006-11-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

The Democrats released their agenda for the first 100 hours of Congress and the issues they want to address:

• We will start by cleaning up Congress, breaking the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go, no new deficit spending.

• We will make our nation safer and we will begin by implementing the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission.

• We will make our economy fairer, and we will begin by raising the minimum wage. We will not pass a pay raise for Congress until there is an increase in the minimum wage.

• We will make health care more affordable for all Americans, and we will begin by fixing the Medicare prescription drug program, putting seniors first by negotiating lower drug prices. We will also promote stem cell research to offer real hope to the millions of American families who suffer from devastating diseases.

• We will broaden college opportunity, and we will begin by cutting interest rates for student loans in half.

• We will energize America by achieving energy independence, and we will begin by rolling back the multi-billion dollar subsidies for Big Oil.

• We will guarantee a dignified retirement, and we will begin by fighting any attempt to privatize Social Security.

Very impressive! Now let’s hope that they stick to the plan and actually do something. Maybe it’s just my nature but I am waiting for gridlock or something else to prevent any of these from being accomplished. It hasn't happened in my life time yet, so I remain cautiously optimistic.

I also heard rumors of a deadline to get the troops out of Iraq. Under the circumstances I think we have to pull out. If we are not going to send adequate troop levels to safeguard the lives over there, then what it the point? My gut still tells me that we need some type of presence in case the violence spreads to the neighboring countries.

You should also notice a change to the blog. At the bottom of all posts there are now labels. If you click on any of them they will link to all postings within the category. For example, if you wanted to view all of the paranormal writings then find an article with paranormal writings as a label and click on it. You should get a list of all postings with paranormal investigations as a topic. I have added many different categories so you can search for specifics and get results. Labels include: creative writing, love stories, pictures, paranormal investigations, politics, religon, my life, sports, baseball.

As a follow up to the Charter Scum posting, AT&T cannot install a satellite dish on my house because of the trees. I have no choice but to stay with Charter so my email address will not be changing. I did keep the call notes service on my phone though.

Conservatism Under The Microscope

2006-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

I read excerpts from Bill O’Reilly’s new book which does a great job of describing the culture war in our country between liberals and conservatives from the conservative point of view. At one time I was deeply rooted within the conservative camp so I can relate to much of what he had to say.

In a recent town hall interview with Oprah, Bill O’Reilly made a point to categorize Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy as being a conservative. How ludicrous is this??!!! Even more frustrating is he believes Jesus Christ to be conservative too. Before we analyze why it is so ridiculous let’s take a look at the definition of both liberal and conservatism.

The definition of conservative is resistant to change and adhering to traditions. The word “conserve” is even in the word conservative. Liberal, by comparison, means tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition; a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties. Based on the definitions, which one of those words best describes Martin Luther King, and even Jesus Christ for that matter? If you said liberal then you are correct.

This may come as a surprise to the Right Wing but both Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ were liberals. They both fought against the established cultures and government in support of radical changes. They favored human right for everyone regardless of color, creed or sex. They supported the poor and the sick.

Let’s compare staunch Republican and Democratic ideology and see which side Martin Luther King and Jesus would be on: (click to enlarge)

*If certain neo-conservatives believe that God creates everything in His image and controls everything (free will does not exist in humans) then it is safe to say that God created gays too. So if He created gays then he would want them to have the same rights as heterosexual people. Neo-conservatives should then want this to swing Democratic, so I am giving them this one.

**You either believe that God gave us a brain to use and to think for ourselves or you believe that God gave us this brain only to behave as puppets under His command. So this could go either way based upon how you believe in God. My God gave me a brain to use and think for myself so this is Democrat.

***Amendment 2 was a heated debate in Missouri concerning tax money supporting stem cell research. Of course, Republicans are vehemently opposed to this but Democrats want to help find cures to help the sick. In a recent speech President Bush said he opposed Amendment 2 because he does not believe some people should die so that others can live. If he actually believes this, then why in the hell are we in Iraq???!!!! This was such a stupid thing to say that I am awarding this to the Democrats.

****This is the same argument as the gay rights issue. He either put the drugs and the plants here for us to use or not. Drugs, like alcohol, should be perfectly legal unless you abuse them. Then you should not be treated as a criminal but as someone needing help. Instead of going to a state or federal penitentiary to serve jail time you should go to a state or federal run rehab clinic to dry out. This makes more sense but the Republicans never want money to go to help people, they only want money to help corporate American get richer. This is the conservative mind-set in a nutshell; they will spend money to punish but never to help.

I could go one and on, listing hundreds of issues but I will stop with these. Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King will support very few Republican supported issues but the majority of the support will be Democratic. You can see how the Republican marketing machine has wrongly convinced Christians into believing they support Christian values. There may be a few but overall, the Democratic Party supports more of the Christian values.

Another important thing to realize is change is impossible to stop. It WILL happen!! Life changes everyday so you can either roll with it or resist it and be left behind. Just like running water over time will carve through rock, new ideas will constantly change our culture. Change cannot be stopped, only delayed.

Cell Phone Club

2006-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I finally joined the cell phone club. I have been resisting because I believe cell phone users are the rudest people on the face of the Earth so I did not want to join their crappy club. My boss tempted me with a new Treo 700w, complete with email and Internet access. He truly is the devil!! I accepted his offer and signed away my soul.

This phone is incredible and I now have a ticket to free, unending rudeness!! I can now ignore people all day long. At the store when I checkout I can make a quick call and force not only the checker, but also the people behind me, to wait while I chat aimlessly.

When I drive I can occupy my time with Internet access and dart in and out of lanes without looking. I don’t even see when people flip me off because I am staring at the phone and not the road. Stop signs and street lights don’t even exist to me anymore. The other drivers have breaks and they should learn how to use them. Besides, they should get out of MY way and the sooner they learn this, the better life will be for all of us.

Eating dinner with the family is also better now. I can ignore them and just talk with other people the entire time. The same holds true when I eat out at a restaurant, especially if I am there with only one other person. This is really fun as I can talk on the phone and leave the other person with me just sitting on the other side of the booth looking dumb. LOL!!!!!

I can walk down the street chatting on my blue tooth wireless headset. While I may appear to be talking to myself; I’m not. This helps with the whole ignoring thing too. I can talk even louder when I’m in a group and I don’t even see people give me dirty looks because I don’t give a shit.

I can’t wait until my first theatre experience so I see how well the phone works; it’s going to be fun to talk in the dark. I might have to talk a bit louder especially if all of the dimwits around me are chewing on popcorn and sucking on sodas. If I don’t get any calls, I can at least keep checking on the phone every couple of minutes. That small screen is very bright in a darkened theatre. Hopefully the movie will not be too loud because the sounds my phone makes as I turn it on and off are very audible if the theatre is quiet.

WOW!! In fact, my whole attitude has changed for the better! The world IS truly all about me now. Somebody should have told me a long time ago how much fun it is to have a cell phone.

“Tom Cruise" Stupid

2006-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

America is evenly split on most political issues and the split probably looks much like this: 30% hardcore Republican, 30% hardcore Democrat, 30% swing voters. Hardcore voters are “Tom Cruise” stupid and will blindly vote for their party’s candidates no matter how ridiculous. Proof of this is in Mark Foley’s district in Florida. He received over 100,000 votes even though it is proven he is a pedophile.

This means 100,000 people voted for this Republican Senator even though they knew he solicited kids for dirty pictures and for sex talk; every one of these people needs to do a bit of soul searching because they are supporting pedophilia. I’ll also bet these same 100,000 consider themselves part of the Christian coalition, thinking they were advancing the cause of Christians everywhere by voting for Foley. I wonder if Jesus would want His name associated with a known pedophile like Mark Foley.

The behavior of hardcore voting scares the hell out of me. This is the same logic I used when I dropped my support of Clinton after I discovered he lied under oath. If I continued to support him, then I am saying that perjury is alright and should be legal. Likewise, these 100,000 "Tom Cruise" stupid morons in Florida cast their vote in favor of pedophilia. This is why my vote shifted to Republican, most notably George Bush in 2000.

I consider myself a swing voter because I do not lock in on any particular party. Swing voters are the most intelligent because they learn the facts and cast their vote accordingly. They can also be easily tricked by false campaign ads, so getting the facts is a constant battle. They are not robots or ditto heads that blindly support one particular cause no matter how dirty or how bankrupt of values that cause becomes.

I’ll give you an example of a false campaign ad. In Tennessee when Harold Ford lost to Bob Corker, the Corker camp ran an ad stating Ford made calls to a sex line on a business trip and the tax payers footed the bill. The facts are one of Ford’s workers while trying to call an FBI tip hotline inadvertently dialed one number wrong and a sex line answered. He quickly hung up the phone and dialed the right number. Now the call logs supported this but the Corker campaign still ran the ads. Very dirty politics indeed but the "Tom Cruise" stupid swing voters in Tennessee bought it and elected Corker.

If we look at the number of Republican scandals then the sweeping votes for Democrats should surprise no one. The only thing I was worried about was the uneducated Christian coalition group continuing to cast their robotic vote for a party devoid of Christian values. Luckily, this did not happen but I still wanted to expose those who continue to lie and claim they are full of Christian values when essentially they are full of shit because they vote for a known child predator for Senator.

Essentially, being Republican or Democrat should say nothing about your religious values. Both parties are represented by a myriad of religions including Christians. The aforementioned Harold Ford Jr. keeps the Ten Commandments on the back of his business card. While I do not approve of this, I just wanted to point out there are staunch Christians running in the Democratic Party.

Even though I am Christian, I believe in the separation of Church and State within politics, so I vote with my brain and not my Faith. If I voted my Faith then the Ten Commandments would be written into law and you would be put in jail for coveting thy neighbor’s car or for not going to Church on Sunday, or for using a GD or two within a sentence. This society would then resemble the Taliban and not democracy. But since my brain tells me this is ridiculous, I am very glad I voted with the majority of Americans who used their brain cells.

However, the Christian coalition groups want to make you feel guilty for using your brain cells. No matter how absurd, they demand we disregard science and blindly follow certain outdated or illogical teachings. Don’t be fooled because these people are not Christians but fascists. They enslave minions into their institutions and fill their empty heads with lies and hate like an “overmind” controls an alien horde. Jesus has nothing to do with their world but they spread their fascism behind His name.

I encountered many people like this on a recent trip to Utah. The only way into their cult church is to abandon all reason and logic and succumb to their will. Don’t be “Tom Cruise” stupid by compromising basic logic and reason – if something sounds stupid then it is.

Take me out to the ballgame!

2006-11-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

"A Swing and Virginia hits a long fly ball into deep center field, this ball may go!! It is a grand slam for the Democrats, as Missouri, Montana and Ohio all score. They win the game and sweep the series!! That’s a winner!" If Jack Buck was still alive that is how he would have called the elections on Tuesday night.

In a fabulous coup d’etat, the American voters finally awoke from their eight year slumber and ran to the polls in record numbers. Not only did they elect Democrats, which ultimately swept both houses of Congress and the State Governors, but they saw through the lies and passed the much needed Amendment 2 in Missouri. This Amendment allows tax payer money to fund stem cell research giving hope to America that a separation of Church and State exists again in this important swing state.

Then the President stunned the nation by axing Donald Rumsfeld. In the press conference he looked humbled by the millions of American voices which cried out against his administration. It was the first time I have seen the President rattled. This proves he is out of touch with America; both he and his policies must change if the Republican Party is to have any chance in 2008.

The Democrats which won the elections are mostly moderates, so they should honestly try to work with the Republicans. The only trouble ahead is the Republicans still have plenty of ultra conservatives which will undoubtedly sabotage any attempt made at bipartisanship. These morons need to be replaced with moderate Republicans before gridlock sets in. Let’s hope they will play ball with everybody else next year.

My faith in the American voter is restored again. For the first time in this decade, Americans did not vote as their pastor instructed but how the politics of the situation demanded. When I saw McCaskill take the lead over Talent, for the first time in my life I actually jumped and shouted over election results. I pumped my fists in the air when I saw the Amendment 2 “yes” votes exceed the “no” votes.

I stayed up until 2am going back and forth from MSNBC to FOX and to my local station, as the graphic of the House and Senate got bluer and bluer. Yes! What a great year this has become! The Cardinals win the World Series and my country is closer to becoming my country again!!!

Did anybody else notice the gas prices rose sharply just one day after the election? Even though the price of a barrel of oil is under $53, gas rose over 20 cents a gallon. How in the hell can the price of oil keep dropping but the price of gas keep rising? I’ll tell you how, corporate greed. Even though the price of oil is down, those assholes are going to find a way to post record profits again this year. Let’s hope this new government can curb corporate greed and return a little order to this chaotic market.

Goodbye Charter Scum

2006-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well I finally blew a cog and switched all of my services away from Charter. When I received my recent bill and saw it went from $86.23 to $114.92, I finally reached a breaking point. Considering two months ago the same thing happened and it took me an hour on the phone being transferred between departments until finally I said that I wanted to cancel. Then I was transferred to a department that took care of me.

It only took Charter two months to screw it all up again. This time, the guy told me for the past two months they were giving me a special discount because my previous package expired and since I complained they did not want to loose me as a customer. I have been a Charter customer for the past ten years and I have never been late on a payment. I would have continued to be a Charter customer for another 10 years but they had to fuck with me over and over again. I understand you have to raise rates but $114 for TV and Internet is unreasonable. They have to at least remain competitive, which they are no longer anymore.

Charter Internet service 3MB: $45.93
AT&T Internet service 3MB: $24.95
Charter cable television (approximately 60 channels plus HBO): $68.99
AT&T cable television (approximately 120 channels plus HBO): $40.99
Those are not promotional rates from AT&T either; those are the normal rates. The promotions are just freebies and temporary discounts I got from switching from a competitor which I'll explain later.

Anyway, when I saw the bill this month I finally snapped. This is not something I ever wanted to do. I am quite comfortable with my email address. I have had it for several years so everybody knows how to reach me. I had to pull the trigger because of Charter’s continuous lack of customer service, and constantly raising of my rates to unreasonable levels.

I called AT&T and bundled phone, satellite, and Internet for $107. So I will save about $50 per month if you include the phone service and long distance. For the $107 I get every local phone option including call notes and caller ID, unlimited long distance, 3MB Internet and 120 television channels plus local channels and HBO. I also finally get a DVR and a true HD hook up to my big screen TV. Now I can finally watch football in high definition. No more shittty picture quality from Charter. Their dumb ass DVR has at least a three month waiting list and it costs an extra $10 per month.

Since I switched from a competitor I will get three months of Internet for free and they will also knock $10 off my satellite bill for the next ten months. So I will only be paying $72 for the next three months and after that $97 for the next seven months. When all of the discounts settle down the bill will be $107.

I have been getting screwed by Charter for years and only just realized it because they decided to get even greedier. So Charter can kiss my hairy white ass!!! They are CANCELLED effective friday!!!!

PS: Don’t forget to vote today. Even if you are some sort of weird conscientious objector, drop the negative attitude and exorcise your right as an American citizen. If you don’t want to vote then move to Cuba or North Korea; you'll fit right in with either of those countries.

Iraq – What Went Wrong

2006-10-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you have been following the war in Iraq as much as I have, then you might already know what I am about to write. With the elections looming it is important to review what has transpired so mistakes will not be repeated, but more importantly, to ensure certain individuals are held accountable.

Certain images from the past few years are burned into my brain. Most notable was the President flying to the air craft carrier with the “Mission Accomplished” banner blowing in the wind and the Iraqis toppling the Saddam statue while wrapping an American flag around the face. This was a happy time; we had over thrown Saddam Hussein and penetrated his palaces. The Iraqi people were supporting and even thanking our troops for delivering them from the tyrant. I remember seeing many images of the US troops celebrating with the Iraqi civilians. So what went wrong? The problem with Iraq can be summed up in two words; Paul Bremer.

Paul Bremer was appointed by President Bush as the President’s special envoy in Iraq. Basically, he was in charge of everything in Iraq; the rebuilding, the re-governing efforts and everything in between. Who is Paul Bremer, and if the President appointed him then he must be qualified, right? Wrong. Bremer was called a control freak- by Henry Kissinger, who is the master of all control freaks. He is a corporate executive, an accountant, another in the unending supply of leaderless people put in a leadership position by an unqualified President.

Bush should have left this decision to Colon Powell or somebody within the administration who is more intelligent and better capable of handling this type of situation. I still think this is the primary reason Colon Powell resigned (taking most of the brain power within the administration with him) because he saw the situation in Iraq spiraling out of control the minute Bremer was hired. So Paul Bremer takes over a situation in Iraq in which he knows nothing about the culture, the religion or the people. He is given a three week training course in Iraqi cultures and religions and then turned loose.

His first (dumb ass) order was to instruct the troops to start shooting Iraqi looters. Luckily, he had no control over the military and they denied his request. FYI, the military is under the control of Rumsfeld. It is difficult to gauge how many more of our troops would have died if these shootings happened and the Iraqi people fought back. Remember we are only 100,000 to their 25 million and there was no “green zone” yet to run into if trouble occurred.

His second (dumb ass) order was the de-Baathification decree in which the Baath Party was dismantled. The Baath Party was formed by Saddam Hussein; they were the leaders of many institutions and respected by the Iraqi people. Driving them underground, removed any hopes we had of stabilizing and controlling an enormous population. So now a military of 100,000 has to control a population of 25 million without any leadership on the inside. In an interview, Bremer claimed this order came right from the top. Although he would not give any names; we must assume he was meant President Bush. It is important to remember that he reported directly to President Bush through Donald Rumsfeld.

The third (dumb ass) order was to dissolve the Iraqi army. The Iraqi army was ready to join the American troops in stabilizing their country. Instead, we cut loose an enormous, well-armed army and left them with no job, no money and plenty of time on their hands. What did they do with all the time Bremer gave them? Well, within 72 house of this decree the first bomb exploded killing an American supply line and the situation has continued to spiral out of control ever since. This was also the time in which the leadership within our military retired and came home. They also saw Bremer as a problem and not a solution. Even worse, they saw another potential Vietnam, where politicians fight the war and use the military as their "special" police.

With the Baath Party dismantled there was no leadership within the country, and a well-armed Iraqi army growing itchy, plus no food, no electricity, no running water for the Iraqi people, the situation quickly turned ugly. Instead of looking like liberators we were now seen as occupiers so the population started attacking our troops. All of this could have been avoided if the President would have let Colon Powell or somebody with any intelligence handle post war Iraq.

Now there were some other failures mixed in with these, such as, inadequate troop levels. If President Bush would have gotten better grades and studied more history in college then he would have realized that in WW2 the military proved an intervening power would need a force of approximately 20 men per 1,000 inhabitants in order to maintain security and prevent the emergence of a resistance movement. Translating that to Iraq, it meant between 400,000 and 500,000 men were needed.

Senior Bush realized this which is why he never invaded Iraq during his presidency. He was intelligent enough to realize without these levels of troops, killing Hussein would only result in destabilizing an already chaotic country, thereby plunging it into a civil war. These statistics were presented to Rumsfeld just before the “Mission Accomplished” debacle and both he and the President ignored them. It is hard to tell who dropped the ball but there is plenty of blame for both men to equally share.

Another critical mistake was the sweeping operations which rounded up young Iraqi men and put them into Abu Ghraib prison just because they were young Iraqi men. Putting innocent men in prison will usually anger many people. Abu Ghraib prison quickly became a training ground for the Iraqi insurgents. These men went into prison as civilians and came out as pissed-off, well-trained terrorists.

Another mistake was the failure to stabilize security for the Iraqi people after the fall of Hussein. Because we did not protect them we never gained their loyalty. This mistake would have been rectified if Bremer would have installed the Baath Party quickly and let them call back the Iraqi military to stabilize the country. We would have been out of there already. If they only would have read the history books; it is all in there how the US handled the occupation of Germany after WW2.

So where do we go from here? The best idea which would save the most American and Iraqi lives would be to install Saddam Hussein back into power. What we have done is created an atmosphere of death and destruction by removing the power structure and causing a civil war. Leaving now would cause the death of hundreds of thousands of more innocent Iraqi civilians. Staying will result in the death of many more American troops. The only way to avoid either of these scenarios would be to let Saddam Hussein rebuild his country. We have already made two terrible mistakes so lets do the right thing now; the thing that will save the most lives.

Before you judge the idea of installing Hussein back into power as being very stupid, it is important to remember what we have created in Iraq. We started an Iraqi civil war which will probably last years and will probably cost tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis their lives. Arising from the ashes of this civil war could be a dictator deadlier than Saddam Hussein ever was.

We owe it to both our troops and the Iraqi civilians to fix this situation as best as we can. Failure to rectify this problem will only result in more bloodshed on this administration’s hands. Will this administration do the right thing? I doubt it.

One more important note regarding Iraqi prisoners; after the Hussein regime was toppled certain “terrorists” were rounded up and sent to Guantanamo Bay. When Iraqis were questioned regarding terrorists, the names that were given to US troops were not necessarily terrorists. The US troops just wanted names, so names were given. Many of the people imprisoned are not terrorists but just not liked by certain individuals who were questioned. The situation with Guantanamo Bay is similar to the Salem Witch trials.

It is possible that some of the detainees are terrorists but most probably are not. If they weren’t terrorists before they went into Guantanamo Bay, they will be terrorists when and if they ever get out. After rotting in a jail for years they will have an enormous grudge against the American government. Will this administration ever do the right thing? I doubt it.

Remember these important facts when you vote on November 11th. Remember all the incumbent senators and representatives who continuously do the wrong thing or do nothing at all. It is our turn for our voices to be heard, so let’s send a LOUD message to Washington.

Paranormal Investigations: The Beginning

2006-10-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Many people have asked how I got started with the paranormal investigations. Well, here is my story:

It all started when I was a little kid about 5 years old. While looking through the records I found this scary album titled The Chilling Sounds of the Haunted House by Disney. The picture on the cover scared the crap out me but I had to have it. So where does a kid go when he really wants something? You guessed it, right to grandma; she hardly ever said no to me. Well I played this record so much I wore the grooves out. Today I own about 5 copies of it. Whenever I am at flea market or an estate sale and I run across one in good condition, I can’t resist paying fifty cents for another copy.

I remembered staring at this cover listening to the scary sounds thinking about how I wished I lived in that house. I always wanted to explore the attic and find out who left that light on. It would be a stormy night and I would cross the graveyard in front of the house while the thunder roared and the lightning danced upon the horizon. The wind would howl with the waist high grass bowing in unison to the unseen horror that waited for me within the house. Incidentally, the house on this album cover resembles the McPike mansion except for the attic room.

The album peaked my interested in all things scary but it was the Chiller Theatre where, as a kid, I honed my paranormal skills. Every Saturday night my little brother and my mom and I would gather under a blanket, pop some popcorn, and watch the Chiller Theatre spooky movie of the week. I was scared to death but I couldn’t look away. When my mom and brother would hide under the covers I would stare at the TV with my heart getting ready to pound out of my chest.

The movie that used to do the most damage was “Die! Monster, Die!” starring Boris Karloff. After watching that one I had to change my routine for getting into bed. I would stop at the edge of the doorway and run towards the bed jumping to avoid any monster hands which attempted to grab me from under the bed.

My mom was awesome and always catered to my fascination with new age stuff. I still enjoy watching a scary movie with her.

Halloween was always a big event when we were kids. Every year my brother and I would attend all of the haunted houses in the neighborhood Churches, schools and where ever. Those used to scare the crap out of me but I would go to them every year. I remember one time I was about nine years old I got so scared I just started running through the house screaming, “I gotta throw up! I gotta throw up!” Needless to say all of the ghouls cleared a path for me to exit quickly.

In second grade I was accused of being possessed by the devil by one of the nuns. It all started during my First Communion when I received the Host for the first time. As soon as it touched my tongue I vomited it back all over the priest along with the Fruit Loops I ate earlier. The nun, which was the principal of the school, called my parents and insisted I was a demon child. It was a good thing the parish priest did not agree with her about me needing an exorcism; that might have gotten ugly.

In high school I read JRR Tolkien, HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King books regularly. I listened to bands like Ozzy Osbourne, who was my favorite rock star, also Rush, Triumph, Motley Crew and Black Sabbath.

When I was a freshman in high school, one of the nuns who taught science liked me because I was good with the experiments and got good grades. She asked me what I was going to do when I grew up. My response to her without missing a beat, “I want to solve all the mysteries of the world. I want to find a Bigfoot, live in a haunted house and talk with a ghost. Maybe even take pictures of a UFO too, but I gotta buy a camera first.” She smiled awkwardly at me and only managed to get out an “OOOOHHH!” She didn’t talk to me much after that.

Then in 1999 came my big break. A friend of mine, who was assisting with her sister’s book about the paranormal, invited me to attend an overnight at the Cheney Mansion, one of the local notorious haunted houses. At the time I knew nothing about orbs, EVPs, or any of the actual science. But in the following years I immersed myself in research and investigations. I wanted to find out everything I could from everybody who had ever visited or lived in a haunted house. I showed up with a video camera and filmed as much as I could. Right away I knew this was where I was supposed to be. I had no troubles walking into the dark basement or climbing into the crawl spaces.

This was also when I had my first psychic experience. There was one particular bedroom I refused to enter. When the group asked me why I stayed at the door I confessed to having a feeling like if I entered the door would slam and I would be trapped. The next morning when we met the curator she asked us if we felt anything strange. I told her about that one bedroom. She smiled and said that was the room they would lock PD Cheney into when he came home drunk. He was a mean drunk and would often break things so they choose that bedroom because there was nothing valuable in it. He would pound on the door for hours before passing out.

My second psychic experience came when I took a trip to Bowling Green to do some antiquing. I remember feeling the presence of a very unhappy old lady standing right next to me. She was unhappy because I was in her home. I could actually smell her!! As we were leaving I asked the owner of the store if they had a ghost. They sure did and when I found out it was an old lady, I knew something was going on with me.

We eventually went back to the Cheney Mansion a second time and then other places. I carried my video camera and filmed everything. I was Ghost Hunters before Ghost hunters existed. I wanted us to do a show on the local access cable channel in which we would play back our footage of the investigations. But the team at the time was not as committed to the research as me.

One of the best investigations involved the old funeral parlor at the top of the street where I grew up as a kid. I remembered the place was a big scary mansion and I always seemed to be in the alley when they would bring in the bodies. The old dark garage door screeched opened and the hearse slowly drove through, I knew what was happening and it scared me. It was like having Phantasm at the top of the street. When it was sold by the original family, they allowed us to spend a night investigating it. This house, which terrified me during my entire childhood and now I was going to spend the night there. I’ll post pictures of it later and show you what it looks like today.

In 2004 I started running ads in the local newspapers querying for stories about hauntings. I interviewed people, developed theories and now I ‘m ready to test some of them. I want to take paranormal investigations to the fringe and go places very few investigators want to go. I want to dissect a haunted location and make contact with spirits on a whole new level.

I believe I was “called” to do this work. There are people that need help and protection from bad spirits. I believe I can help them. It could be the “knight in shining armor” complex I have had my entire life or maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, I know I’m good at this because I feel comfortable in these environments. Just like Steve Irwin was comfortable jumping on a crocodile, I feel quite the same when confronting a spirit.

For more information, I posted the story a while back behind one of my ongoing investigations. It’s called Evil Descends. I live for this!!

Not So Neutral Anymore

2006-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Reading many of my posts, paranormal activities excluded, I realized I am breaking from the reason I created this blog. I started writing this blog for two reasons. The first reason was to bring balance to politics by providing both sides to the stories and exposing hidden agendas which can be damaging to us. The second reason was to provide an outlet for my writing both fictional and non fictional. Lately, I am starting to sound like some liberal lunatic and that is not who I am. I have always voted for the candidate and NOT the party affiliation. For the first time in my life, however, I am advocating voting a straight Democrat ticket and I want to explain why I am advocating this.

I actually voted for George Bush in the 2000 election and have been a staunch supporter of Republican candidates for many years. I have always believed we need a 50-50 split in govermnent to keep everybody honest. But my support of Republicans vanished after 9/11 when George Bush started a personal assault on our liberties and freedoms by claiming it was necessary for our “protection”. Then he poisoned Christianity by transforming it from a loving religion into a religion of hatred against gay people. Now the Republican Party has been hijacked by neo-conservatives spreading lies and calling it Christianity.

I live in Missouri and on the ballot this November is Amendment 2 which is for stem cell research. The Right Wing agenda is lying to Missourians by stating these stem cells will be harvested from naïve teenage girls leaving them with cancer. They are also spreading the lie that human cloning is supported by this Amendment.

In reality, Amendment 2 specifically prohibits egg cell harvesting and human cloning, so why all the lies? Because that is the way in which these people operate and I vehemently oppose their methods. Again, Amendment 2 specifically states only the cells from previous fertility treatments will be used. So we can either burn these cells in an incinerator or use them to enhance the quality of life for many Missourians.

These cells can be used to cure Diabetes and a host of other diseases. These cells can be used to help the crippled walk again and the blind see again. They could be a new hope for many people suffering with incurable ailments but these liars who call them selves Christians have a hidden agenda of hate. Until the Republican Party breaks the chain with these liars and hate mongers posing as Christians, I will vote Democrat.

For true Christians, I challenge you to analyze the facts and see through the veil of lies and deceptions. Your religion is not just about abortion and gay marriage but about many important subjects. We must see beyond these topics in order to provide a quality of life for everybody and not allow a small group of people to live the American dream whilst others are excluded. Sometimes sacrifices are necessary but we must remember the Bill of Rights is NEVER negotiable and NEVER to be compromised. Hopefully, you will awaken from your slumber before the weeds of fascism take hold and kill the roots of freedom. Don’t feel bad because many intelligent people have also been fooled by this campaign of hatred and deceit disguised as Christianity.

Another important thing to consider while you are watching these negative campaign adds during this election season. When somebody states a particular politician voted “no” for an obvious bill that was needed, it might not be because he or she disagreed with the headlining law. It might have been because the bill contained so much pork that the bill was contaminated. I remember the bill which called for better armor for the troops in Iraq also contained a HUGE tax break for the wealthiest Americans along with many other expensive pork projects for corporate America. Many politicians voted "no" because of the tax breaks and the pork projects and not because of the armor for the troops. But the ”Evil Empire” would have you believe these people voted “no” because they do not support our troops.

Here are a few more reasons why I am opposed to the new Republicans. Since Bush has been President, the personal fortunes of the extremely rich have grown by at least 40% but the personal wealth of the middle and lower class has barely grown by 1% and in many cases it has plunged into negative numbers if you account for credit card debt. The wealth generated by our economy goes directly to the richest people in the upper class, who continuously work very hard at cutting and eliminating middle class wages and jobs. They have tricked the American middle class into voting and supporting an agenda that is hurting them because they have disguised this pro-big business, anti-labor agenda within an artificial religious flavoring.

It is also important to recognize since Bush has been in office the homeless and very poor in the United States have grown by 5 million and there is no help on the way. To further complicate the matter, with all if the changes in the Estate Tax laws, the richest 1% are no longer giving to the charities to gain tax breaks. Now those tax breaks are built into our laws so the money which used to go to homeless shelters and food pantries is being pocketed.

Republicans like to focus on the low unemployment rate and the 6 million jobs that were created in the last three years of Bush’s Presidency. But if you consider the jobs that were lost in the first three years of Bush’s Presidency then the 6 million jobs total drops considerably. While the unemployment rate is low, the people working have not gained any wealth nor have their wages kept up with the cost of living. So every year the middle class looses ground while the ruling class keeps all the profits for themselves. Can you tell me anywhere in the last three paragraphs where Jesus would approve of the way the Republicans are handling things?

At the core I believe both parties to be corrupt, which is why a 50-50 mixture is needed so they can keep an eye on each other. The reason the Republicans have been involved in so many law breaking antics lately is because they have been in power for too long. When the scales are tilted very far in either direction for any length of time corruption begins. In order to have balance you must have an equal dose of both parties. This is why it is critical to vote in as many Democrats as possible. We must restore balance before this situation gets worse. Power in our government is like the One Ring in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings; it corrupts even when people try to use it for good.

Again, I hate this two party system because in all actuality it is one party system; the elite-class party system. They continuously change the laws to give unfair advantages to themselves while wrapping this poison within an artificially flavored Christian agenda, which is not even Christianity at all, only to appeal the masses. Christianity involves feeding the poor, providing healthcare to the sick, providing homes to the homeless but the Republican Party cares little for these Christian values. The Republican Party values are excessive profits for the wealthy, tax breaks for the wealthy. Their values further aid the wealthy by providing no labor laws for the middle class and supporting of a system which erodes the middle class by sending their jobs overseas for cheaper labor.

They have also eroded the very fabric of what this Country stands for; beginning with the Patriot Act, which allows for unconstitutional searches and seizures, and now with the new Military Commission Act. This law legalizes torture and gives the President the power to seize any American citizen and imprison them for any reason and for any length of time. Again you can see how the Bush Republicans have tilted our Country toward a fascist state for our “protection”. I wonder what Jesus would think about legalized torture and lifetime imprisonment without a trial? All done behind His name.

The Republican Party that I knew would never support laws like these. And the newly Bush-appointed Supreme Court Judges are bigots and fascists too. When laws were passed making the gay life style a crime, Justice Scalia walked out in protest when they were successfully appealed by the vote of the Supreme Court. So I guess in his mind, The Bill of Rights is only for straight people.

Anyway, I just wanted to explain why the shift in the blog. Hopefully you will remain with me on this journey of learning and discovery. I appreciate all of your comments.

Morons & Cheaters

2006-10-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to the Garden Ridge men’s restroom on Friday night and finally realized I am surrounded by morons. The bathroom was a wreck. As if the graffiti on the walls wasn’t enough, some idiot carved curse words into the actual toilet seat. The toilet paper holder was knocked from the wall, the coat hanger was ripped from the back of the stall door, someone attempted to rip the door from the hinges, and it appeared somebody took a hammer to the wall, door and everything else in the stall.

So I started thinking about what it takes to be a complete moron and I realized it takes extra effort. You could just walk into the bathroom, do your business and leave. But a complete moron takes extra time to carve curse words into the toilet seat, a complete moron puts in that little extra effort to rip the coat hanger from the door and then try to rip the entire door from its hinges. A complete moron must also put in a little extra effort to kick the toilet paper, soap and towel dispensers from the wall. By putting in this extra effort the person has established themselves to be a complete moron.

I just read an article stating the US population eclipsed some huge number which I cannot remember or find, and the population increases by another moron every 17 seconds. Has the human gene pool been completely saturated so the moron count increases while intelligent people are becoming extinct? Why are there so many more morons in the world today?

One reason could be because we have created too many safety laws which might be keeping too many idiots alive when, by the process of natural selection, they should be perishing. Like I have written many times on this blog; I am a believer in social Darwinism but when we pass dumb ass safety laws we interfere with Mother Nature.

You want to ride your motor cycle with no helmet while speeding at over 100 mph with your kid tucked within a backpack; then go right ahead. You want to shoot 1000 milligrams of cocaine into your veins per day; then do it. You want to chain smoke twenty packs of cigarettes per day; go for it. You want to drive with your newly born infant on your lap; don’t let me stop you. You want to try to climb the Arch and parachute off the top; go for it. All of these activities will trim the mentally inept from society and make life easier and better for the rest of us.

One day I was returning a movie to Family Video and this old pickup truck comes speeding into the parking lot and slams into a little concrete parking curb. Out pours this guy wearing a VERY dirty white tee shirt, reeking of alcohol with a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth. While yelling obscenities at his wife he flicks the smoldering butt into the middle of the parking lot, and then manages to stumble into the video store with about 10 kids under 10 years old following him and his wife (or significant other). No car seats or seat belt on any of the kids, they all squeezed into the front seat of the truck. Never once did either parent pay attention to any of the kids to make sure they were safe while walking from the truck into the store.

One of the younger kids wearing only a diaper was picking up rocks and throwing them at the parked cars. If some car had pulled into the lot there was no way they could see this small child and would have definitely hit him if he had not finally walked into the store. But I started thinking, it probably is a good thing this family does not have car seats because in 15 years I don’t want this kid breaking into my house, stealing my car or raping my wife. My only point with this story is to show how natural selection has been squelched with these stupid safety laws. It would be a very good thing for society if this family was downsized, starting at the top with daddy.

Before we leave this story, let's look at the mom for a minute. Does she actually think being with this guy is good for her or her kids? Does she actually lie in bed at night thinking, “Boy I sure am glad he is here, I can't wait to get him in between my legs tonight. Maybe we'll get lucky and I'll get knocked up again.” What is the thought process in dating or marrying a loser like this? At one time, was she actually thinking, “I cannot wait to have kids with this guy, he is a real keeper?” So if not, we must assume she is just as big of a dumb ass as her man. I just wonder if she makes him shower and brush his tooth before screwing him.

You might be thinking, but Darth these kids are innocent and they should be protected. No!!! Dumb ass people have dumb ass kids. The acorn does not fall far from the tree. If they are not intelligent enough to keep their kids safe, then their kids are not going to be responsible in protecting their kids either. Let’s just end this whole mess with one swiftly moving truck containing seatbeltless, drunk, smoking, dirty, meth-munching morons and one concrete barricade or cliff.

Enough about morons now lets move on to cheaters. I believe the little things define a person and their moral fiber. If I get into a person’s car and it’s filled with trash and a thick layer of dirt on the inside of the window, I know this is a dirty person. They might be dressed in a suit and tie but they are still dirty because if their car is dirty, I’ll bet their home is also filthy.

Looking at the baseball game last night, it was discovered Kenny Rogers had pine tar on this pitching hand. What should have happened was his immediate dismal followed by a ten game suspension as stated in the rulebook. Instead the umpires told him to wash his hands. What is happening with baseball?

I’ll tell you what is happening, baseball players, coaches, managers, and umpires condone or at least turn their heads and allow cheating. This has never been clearer than last night. They allow cheating with human growth hormones and now they allow pitchers to use pine tar with no penalties. My first question would be to ask why Tony LaRussa did not say anything. The answer is he and Jim Leyland are good friends. I’m positive if LaRussa knows which Tigers are cheating then Leyland knows which Cardinals are cheating too. So by exposing Kenny Rogers he would then be exposing his own team. That is why none of the Cardinals would say anything on camera, I’m sure LaRussa instructed them to stay silent.

The bigger picture, however, would show baseball as covering up and allowing cheating because the umpires should have thoroughly checked Kenny Rogers, his glove and his uniform. Instead, they send him into the clubhouse to wash his hands thereby giving him a "get out of jail free" card, thus allowing the cheating to continue. As Tim McCarver put it, "It's like catching a bank robber and telling him to put the money back and all will be forgiven." Anyone who has ever played baseball knows the pine tar on the hand comes from the glove. So even though he washed his hands, the glove still had an ample supply.

Even more evidence of cheating was in the first inning when the home plate umpire asked for the ball because the Cardinal hitter complained it was dirty and Ivan Rodriguez quickly threw it into the Tigers dugout. More evidence came before the start of the second inning when an overhead camera clearly showed a group of Cardinal’s players gathered around looking at a pine tar covered baseball and then one of the coaches quickly stashed it into his jacket pocket. Then after the game when Kenny Rogers was interviewed and asked what the umpire said about the “dirt” on his hand, Rogers claimed the umpire never even said anything at all about it, which is clearly a lie. We know this is a lie because in another interview, the chief of the umpires told the home plate umpire to tell Rogers to wash his hands. Why would Rogers lie if it was truly only dirt on his hand? Rogers then lied a second time during the press conference as did Jim Leyland when he was asked about it too.

The most damning evidence of all is when the umpire tells Kenny Rogers to wash his hands. If the substance was not illegal then why require him to wash his hands? And, again, if the substance was not illegal then why did Rogers comply.

Remember me saying earlier the little things define a person’s character. Well if Kenny Rogers has a cheaters personality by putting pine tar in his glove then he would also take performance enhancing drugs too. This explains why at 41 he is able to pitch better than when he was 21. But baseball clearly does not care. They have turned a cheek to steroids and now they are turning their heads and allowing blatant cheaters a safe haven. They also sent a clear message to all the kids watching the game last night, it is alright to cheat.

This has nothing to do with being a Cardinal fan either. I respect the game of baseball and this issue is larger than any one player or any one team. If Jeff Weaver had been caught with pine tar on his hand I would have wanted him and expected him to be thrown out and suspended too. I would also have expected afterward for the Cardinals to give Weaver his walking papers. Our society is ripe and filled with rampant cheaters and baseball is only reflecting this. It makes me sick and it should make you sick too.

Alton Tours Reviewed

2006-10-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

This is the third year I have attend the haunted tours of Alton. I attend the tours only to socialize and build a bigger network of friends. These tours are also a good resource for learning a detailed history of each location. I also wanted to run some new theories by a few of the other investigators and try to get into some of the more notorious haunted locations. This year I had an exceptionally awesome time visiting with both touring companies.

First of all I have to say that both tours are run by incredibly talented and professional people. With that being said there are some strengths and weaknesses of both companies. So here is my review of both touring companies.

Antoinette’s Haunted History Tours
Witching Hour Tour: $42 per person

Antoinette started the tours in Alton, and it is important to know this company was the first and undoubtedly still is the best. Antoinette and her daughter Alixandria are very knowledgeable of the history and hauntings of Alton. Their trolley tours offer the best value for your dollar.

The trolley tours give the best history and show you the most interesting places in Alton. The most important aspect of these trolley tours is that they change from year to year. So you get an opportunity to actually get off the trolley and visit at least three different locations every year. Last year was much better than this year as we got to visit the Milton School, a haunted Art Museum and McPike Mansion (three of the best hauntings in Alton). This year was not as good as the best place was a private residence but it was still exciting.

You can opt for a meal with your tour for an additional $13 or forget the meal and just get going. While the meal is excellent quality, I prefer to spend more time visiting the locations and listening about the history; so I prefer tours without the meal.

The only negative thing about the Antoinette Tours is their tour guides are not the best public speakers. They use family members and friends, which is alright as long as the individual is a good public speaker which is not often the case.

While their tour guide Gary is very knowledgeable and does not require a script, our tour guide David was not that good. They have four tour guides: Alixandria, Aurora, David and Gary but I have only heard the two guys. I have had the opportunity to talk with Alixandria and Aurora and find them to be very friendly and very knowledgeable of the area. I also hear they are both very gifted psychics.

Ghosts of The Prairie
Cost: $30 for the expanded tour per person

This group came around after Antoinette. This is still a good tour but it is important to note this is just a walking tour of the general area around their bookstore and is the same tour year after year. So once you see this one, there is not point at seeing it again. The best value for your money is the Antoinette tour.

Another problem with this tour compared with the Antoinette tour is we only got to visit two places with the best being the Unitarian Church. And while I really liked the Unitarian Church it just wasn’t the better value compared with the other tour which offered an additional visit.

The best thing about this tour is Len Adams. Len was our tour guide and although we just walked around the general area of the bookstore, his public speaking and stories are the best. He needed no scripts and added a touch of humor keeping everyone on the tour loose and smiling. He reminds me of my grandpa telling ghost stories around the fire during camping trips. He is just a very entertaining and likeable guy. I recommend this tour just to meet him and hear his stories.

By the way, he just released his first book, “And There I Was….” co written with Troy Taylor. I hear his second book will be entirely containing his exclusive stories. I can’t wait for that one; I know it will be good.

Conclusion

I really do not know how either one of these groups declares a location haunted other than to relay on the information and stories gathered from third parties. Len Adams offered personal accounts of situations and encounters but never offered any scientific data to back his stories. Antoinette’s crew did not offer personal accounts and focused on the stories of individuals actually living or working in a particular location.

While that might be good for the average person attending the tour, I want the scientific data. It doesn’t impress me if somebody feels threatened or hears a noise. That noise could be a loud furnace.

Another reason I like the Antoinette group better than the Ghosts of the Prairie group is Antoinette offers help for people under attack. I realize some people out there are under attack by evil spirits and I want to offer help for these people. This is the reason I felt “called” to be a paranormal investigator, because people often need help. Antoinette’s group offers this service too and I have heard stories of them cleansing locations and trying to help those in need.

Ghosts of the Prairie, on the other hand, is only interested in the investigation and never attempts to take the additional step of helping people. At least I have never heard of them offering or attempting this service. Ghosts of the Prairie is only concerned with selling books and additional tours but I truly believe the Antoinette group is truly concerned with helping people, which is what I believe in too.

So if you are in Alton and have time to attend two tours then attend both. But if you only have time for one, then I would recommend the Antoinette tour. You’ll get the most value for your money by visiting more locations. Plus you will get a chance to actually visit three locations as compared with two by Ghosts of the Prairie.

Alton Update 3

2006-10-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

This third update from Alton will focus on the Underground Railroad with a few words on a couple of other hauntings, and a few more pictures.

The Underground Railroad provided a means for escaped slaves to go north and become free men. The penalty for harboring an escaped slave was death, either by tarring and feathering or hanging. The secret rooms where these escaped slaves were hidden were dark, depressing places. I have visited several of these hiding places consisting mostly of brick, concrete and stone with no toilets.

Men, women and children were hidden in these small rooms and had to remain completely silent. Any noises could lead to their discovery which many times would mean death or at least a severe beating and then being send back to the slave pens. They were fed whatever scraps the host family could spare, which sometimes was not much.

A picture of one of the many Underground Railroad hiding places; this particular one is in the basement of the old Enos Tuberculosis Sanitarium.

The notorious McPike Mansion. The classic looking haunted house. This home is currently condemned so no visitors are allowed to investigate inside the house. The current owners are in the process of renovating the building and converting it into a bed and breakfast. In the wine cellars of this house a smoke cloud followed the current owner and was captured on video. I’ve seen it; it’s incredible!!

518 South. This home is a restaurant today. The strange happenings involve a particular table in the front left side of the house in which I had the privilege of eating dinner. Things disappear from the table which also has been seen levitating. At one time this place was a funeral home and at least one person has committed suicide in the house. Where? You guessed it; right where the levitating table sits today. On the night I was there nothing happened but the food was excellent. Maybe I will get a chance to spend the night here. HINT! HINT!

The Historic Hampton Mansion designed by the famous local architect Lucas J. Pfeiffenberger, who also designed the Fulkerson House, the Cheney Mansion and several other homes in the 1800's.

The William Fulkerson House is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Located in historic Jerseyville, IL, it is the twin to the Cheney Mansion, in which I have conducted two investigations.

A Shrek sighting and a view of the remains of the old Confederate Prison

The Confederate Cemetery

The Enos Tuberculosis Sanitorium. The third floor of this building was added to treat Tuberculosis (TB) patients who died at the rate of 100 per year. During this time the only treatment for TB was plenty of sunshine and food. Needless to say many people lived in agony on this third floor.
This building was also part of the Underground Railroad. On the roof is a turret room in which the residents could signal across the Mississippi River when it was safe to enter the city to hide more people.
Today it is an apartment building where residents hear furniture moving and people talking, moaning and screaming on the third floor, when the third floor is vacant. One night a bottle of wine vanished from a kitchen table only to be found hours later in a different room of the apartment.

A view of the turret rooftop

The infamous "Devil Face Photo" taken at the Milton School in 2004. Upon first viewing this picture within our camera displays, it looked liked a white angry face but when we blew up this picture at home on a large monitor it seemed to be just paint on the back wall. The insert on the lower left shows the picture as we saw it on our camera displays. Special thanks to AndyR for creating the insert.
We sent it to the touring company and asked them to check that wall. After the next tour they checked it out and told us there is no paint or white wash on this back wall. So now we don't quite know what to make of it.
Because of this we now wait to view all photos on a larger monitor at a higher resolution before passing judgement. You be the judge: devil face or something on the far wall?

Stay tuned, more to come tomorrow.........

Alton Update 2

2006-10-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Unitarian Church

“We meet again, at last.”

Last year I headed an investigation into the Unitarian Church. While the atmosphere was the best ever, with a severe thunderstorm passing over head, nothing of substance actually happened. During the séance the church rattled as the thunder roared and the lightning pierced the darkness throwing mass amounts of energy into the air. Everybody was on edge but no apparitions appeared.

This time I was anxiously anticipating entering the church again but it would be to help the tour guide handle the large group. I did get the opportunity to take some pictures and more orbs appeared but the EMF flat lined as there was no energy in the old church this time. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity to investigate the church again but this year I want to further investigate the old Meridian Coffee House and the Milton School.

The History and Hauntings

Phillip Mercer was the pastor of the First Unitarian Church in the 1930’s. He was found hanging in the sacristy, dead of an apparent suicide. It is rumored that he lingers behind to keep watch over the church. Church members cannot explain the weird things which take place here.

The old Meridian Coffee House is one of the most spectacular haunted locations in the town of Alton Illinois. The coffee house building was once located on the site of an America Red Cross hospital that was constructed during the influenza epidemic of 1918. Reports of women getting “goosed” and men being pushed have intrigued me. An investigator I know got the opportunity to spend the night alone in the location with some IR motion detectors. He fell asleep on the couch and woke to the IR detectors going crazy but he could not see anybody. He was so freaked out he left, leaving behind all of his equipment. (Not a very good investigator in my opinion.)

People on the first floor have reported hearing footsteps on the vacant second floor. Men have reported to have been grabbed by invisible hands. Women have reported having their hair grabbed and the butt pinched by an invisible assailant. Well I want to be the next investigator to try to find out who this ghost is and why he still haunts this location. Keep your fingers crossed; hopefully more to come.

ORBS

Just for the record, I consider orb pictures to be the worst form of evidence of a haunting unless they are coupled with other evidence. For example, my psychic friend tells me a spirit is in a location and I snap an orb picture. Even better is when an EMF gauge or an IR thermometer is showing some evidence and then I get an orb picture. Orbs alone are not very good evidence but orbs with something else are not too bad. Of course we all want a picture of a full apparition or some type of materialization but those are very rare.

Be wary of cameras below 4 mega pixels because they have a CMOS flaw that can draw artifacts into a picture. Artifacts are types of “noise” where the camera generates images on it own. Because of this I bought a 5 mega pixel camera without this known bug.

This comet appeared during an Antoinette tour of a private residence.

This orb from the Unitarian Church appears and then is seen again closer in the second picture. The EMF gauge was not around me during this time but I did have a PVR running in the back of the church. When I analyze that I’ll let you know if I hear any EVPs.

The old Meridian Coffee House

Stay tuned for Alton Update 3, which will focus on the underground railroad and other haunted locations. Also later this week, I will give a complete review of both tours.

Alton Update 1

2006-10-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

As promised here is the update on the tours and investigation from this year’s trip to Alton. This past weekend I gave this website out to many people I met on the tours so they could see the pictures. For those of you who are new to the page, you will find a collection of past writings on the right side of this page broken into categories. The paranormal writings are between the Political Essays and Funny Stuff.

Since so much happened I want to break the weekend into a few different posts. This first one I want to focus on the remains of the old confederate Prison, The Confederate Cemetery and Sunflower Island.

The History

The Alton prison was originally opened in 1833 as the first Illinois state penitentiary. It remained in service until 1860 when a new facility was built in Joliet on February 9, 1862. The vacant structure re opened as the Alton federal military prison. During the next three years at least 11,764 Confederate soldiers were held in this facility.

By all objective accounts, conditions in the prison were substandard. The mortality rate was high. Hot humid summers and cold damp winters undoubtedly contributed to the high death rate. Overcrowding, inadequate food and clothing and unsanitary conditions further compounded the prisoners misery. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers bur contagious diseases like smallpox and rubella were the most feared. The smallpox epidemic that began in late 1862 ultimately prompted prison officials to transfer contagious prisoners to a temporary facility a safe distance from civilian residents of Alton. This facility was called Sunflower Island.

In addition to being a tent hospital, when the Confederate cemetery filled with corpses the dead were buried in mass graves on Sunflower Island in trenches. Years later when the Army Corps of Engineers wanted to make the island into a wild bird refuge, they discovered they could only make to make minor changes to the island for fear of releasing hundreds of thousands of bones into the Mississippi River. When the trees were dug up on the edge of the island hundreds of human bones were imbedded within the roots and bark.

The Hauntings

Many residents of Alton report seeing vagrants within the remains of the old prison and within the Cemetery. Only those are not vagrants they are ghosts. One night a gentleman was walking his dog and bent down to tie his shoe when he looked up he saw a homeless man standing in front of him. When he looked away momentarily to make sure his dog was under control the man vanished.

Many of the bodies of the Confederate soldiers never even made it to the Cemetery. The Union soldiers were given the task of burying the dead but they did not want to do this strenuous task. So many times they would just push the bodies off the cart into a ditch along the way to the cemetery. There is an old haunted road called Hop Hollow Road were many of the dead were hidden. To this day when the residents along this road perform yard work they still discover bones.

The Pictures

Two orbs rising from the ground at the remains of the old Prison. I don’t put much weight behind orb pictures because they can be dust or bugs, but on this night it was 35 degrees and there were no bugs. In addition, my psychic friend kept telling me there were spirits here.

An Orb at the Confederate Cemetery. My psychic friend told me to take a picture of these trees and I would see a spirit.

Sunflower Island. Here is where the trees were dug up and the bones were imbedded within the bark and roots. Under the ground is a mass grave containing thousands of bodies.

A monument dedicated to the Confederate soldiers buried within Sunflower Island. Only a few names are on it, as we do not know the names of most of the people buried here.

More to come tomorrow..........

The Ghost Hunting Weekend

2006-10-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am off to Alton Illinois for a much needed ghost hunting excursion. I’ll give you all of the details next week. I’ve been developing a few theories on how to manipulate energy to either power up or power down spirits.

We are also going to gather some EVP’s at the old Confederate Cemetery and possible work on another experiment with that technology. Anyway, I probably will not make any significant breakthroughs but I might come closer to being where I want to be.

With any luck I’ll come back with some great photos and maybe some ghostly voices on mp3’s. See you all next week.

Age of Consent

2006-10-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

An interesting question surfaced at lunch yesterday. A few of my co workers and I were talking about the Foley scandal and about how the Congressional page flirted back with the former Senator. Which led to the point being made that a grown man should not even consider flirting with a 16 year old kid because they are only 16 and not yet an adult. Then somebody raised the question, at what age are we truly adults?

This is a very interesting question because our society sends mixed messages about this. You can drive at 16, drink at 21, vote and fight in a war at 18. Then to further complicate matters, a child of 14 can stand trial as an adult but is still too young to have sex. I am going to give you my opinion about these rites of passage into adulthood and then allow you to tear me up with opposing comments.

How did this get so complicated? You can drive at 16 but cannot drink until 21? This sounds stupid to me; you should drink first and make your mistakes before you can get behind the wheel of a car. Then at 18 you can grab a rifle, kill other people and die for your Country but you’re still not old enough to drink a beer? Then in some States, with parental consent an adult can marry a 14 year old. How ridiculous is that?!! There is no way a 14 year old can understand what it means to make a lifetime commitment such as marriage.

While I realize every child develops at different speeds, we cannot pass laws for individuals so we must pass them for everybody. I am from the KISS (keep it simple stupid) school of thought so the age of adulthood should be set at 18. At that age you can drink, drive, screw, fight in a war, get married and vote. You cannot stand trial as an adult under the age of 18 under any circumstances. I am completely opposed to minors standing trial as adults no matter what the crime. Also, no adult over 18 can have sex with anyone under 18 without jail time (even with parental consent) PERIOD.

But if you are under 18 and you have consensual sex with someone under 18 no charges can be filed. This is going to piss off many fathers with underage daughters that want to punish that 16 year old boy for deflowering their daughter. Let’s face it, the girls like sex too. So the old stereotype that only the boys "want it" is bullshit. I was in high school once and the girls were often more aggressive than the boys but it always seemed to be the boy’s fault when a pregnancy occurred. It was always the boy that was threatened or served jail time. Maybe that has changed today but I doubt it.

Even though I am opposed to children standing trial as adults, I am in favor of criminal records sticking with them through their life. Bad people are bad people and while you can rehabilitate some, most will begin a criminal career which will not end when they turn eighteen. In order to protect the public from these predators, it is important to provide law enforcement and the criminal justice system the tools to recognize patterns so they can take appropriate actions. Therefore, criminal records should follow you from day one.

We should put a statute of limitations on the criminal records of minors. So if they stole a bike at the age of fourteen and now they are twenty four with no more criminal activity, that old charge can be expunged. We should not let one stupid mistake follow good people for the rest of their life.

Now it’s your turn. Tell me what you think the legal age should be from childhood to adulthood.