It's The Same Old Rosh Hashana

President Obama yesterday kicked off his new bombing campaign of ISIS in Syria for the first time.  But Rush and Hannity say that ISIS isn’t getting any weaker but just as strong and dangerous as ever.  It’s funny how politically acceptable it is to bash a President just because he has a D after his name rather than an R.  If you analyze their words there is very little difference between what Bush says verses Obama.  The whole bombing campaign and war effort in general has been mocked by Rush Limbaugh, just as Rush mocked Clinton’s military efforts.  The Pentagon has put out a video of the bombings that just took place showing missiles being launched and bombs falling and cities being destroyed.  Clearly “we’re all pro war now”.   The President insists that he already has sufficient power to bomb Syria or any other military actions he elects to use.  Personally I’m not up on the notion of a twelve year old war resolution being sufficient- - given the Constitution and all, but those in the know insist it’s OK.  “But if you insist, then I must be wrong”.  Now there is a fifth beheading by ISIS.  This one was done to a Frenchman in Algeria, where France still has a strong link.  The President apparently gave a tough speech but no matter how tough he talks, the Republicans will never buy into it because they are actually taking out campaign ads accusing the president of jeopardizing our security, and indeed his foreign policy popularity has never been lower, and has now fallen more than his overall rating.  So the party tea leaf readers sense vulnerability.  Norman Goldman joked that these videos “show our tax dollars at work” and he has a point.  If the slogan works for highway improvement- - why not war?   One caller asked that since Turkey is a NATO country how come they don’t just consider any threatening of Turkey’s borders a threat on NATO?   I still have this intellectual problem of how you can “bomb an idea back to the stone age”.  Somebody needs to explain it to me.  Because no matter how many we kill- - as the right wing says “They will just call themselves something else.  So Al Qaeda has moved its headquarters first from Afghanistan to Yemen, and now they are headquartered in Syria and calling themselves Corizan or something.  I thought that was how the mafia referred to as their mistresses.  But they are just the Al Qaeda under another name, according to Rush and Hannity.   At this point I would think he’d be relieved he’ll only be in office for two more years.  Then it will be Hillary’s problem.

I guess some new Apple I Phone software update causes cell phone users not to be able to make outgoing calls.  Sean Hannity said “surely they must have Beta tested this- and it would be no time at all before Apple realized there was a serious coding flaw in the program.   You would think.  Now they say the I Phone six plus is an aluminum phone and prone to bending.  But on the good news front Apple stock is down less than one percent on the news.  OK Stop the Presses!  India has just put a space craft in orbit around Mars.  I wonder if they are going to do it for their gurus can have a nice quiet place to meditate.

\In Ferguson, Mo - - there were riots and protesting last night once again.  And they finally got around to telling us why.  It seems some memorial to Michael Brown was set on fire by someone wanting to cheese everybody off.  So I guess there were signs and teddy bears and flower arrangements people had done a labor of live over- - and now it was gone.   But now Sean Hannity informs us that the President should not have mentioned Ferguson at all, and in this I agree, but not for the reason stated by Sean.  He said “It is now an established fact that race had nothing to do with this shooting”.   In other news there are other features of proposition 46 besides the raising of the cap on medical suits to account for the inflation we’ve undergone in this state the past 35 years.  It seems that it’s easier for Law Enforcement to get medical records, and it also requires the drug testing of doctors, which I’m all for.  I think doctors are a crucial enough occupation to merit close drug testing to make sure these surgeons are fit for work.

Tonight Rosh Hashana starts.  Today is September 24, 2014 and of course the Jewish New Year begins at sunset.   Joe said “Well that’s another reason for Dr Levy not to come if he’s taking the next ten days off for Jewish holy days.”   I feel like singing “It’s the same old song - - “ because the term “New” is strictly in name only, because it’s a seamless continuation of the same old bad news.   In one bit of possibly good news however A T & T finally sent me a piece of mail I could act on profitably.  They want to improve my internet speed and “Bring me into the U-Verse family” for just $26/00 a month or something.  This would mean I would save about seventeen dollars a month - - every month for a full year.  So they will have locked themselves into that decidedly lower rate, and will put money in my bank account, and I can stop walking this financial tightrope I’ve been on so long.   Meanwhile in the racing industry now it’s OK to kill another driver.  I guess it’s “assumed risk” or some such thing.  The LA Dodgers can clinch the division tonight if they beat the Giants in the “rubber game” at Dodger Stadium, showing live on local TV on channel 56.  I’ll be watching.  “All of the models are now forecasting an El Nino now”.  First they said it was on - - and then it was off- - - and now it’s on again.  Fine!   I can’t remember the last time we got “more than normal rain” but it may have been in late 2010.  In other news, the military wants to be sure and pray for enlisted “man” Bradley Manning’s hormone therapy.  It’s just this “Brave new World” age we live in now.

Today’s message of the day is “Don’t get overconfident”.   Brought to you by Stephano Di Mira.  He sent a photo of Christine’s nemisis Susan today as kind of an advisory warning.  It turns out security at University Hospital is still as loose as a whore house in Tijuana and Teresa was able to march right into John Black’s room and shoot him up with a hypo of some drug she secured guaranteed to “put him down before he says anything” and in her mind nobody will be any the wiser.  She freaked out like a paranoid having a melt down with Brady saying all of what must have seemed to be “crazy stuff” about John Black.  It isn’t as if Brady isn’t fully able to put two and two together just as Christine and Daniel did.  That’s now three people that will “have her number”.   Unfortunately this time Samantha isn’t emerging from the closet with a smoking gun- - although that would be nice at this point.  But now for the important news.  I made it to Glen’s room for coffee before he left to go to the 98 cent store.  I told him a half hour and it was thirty-five minutes.  By the way I’ll make a deal with Christine Di Mira.  I’d like to be her prayer partner.  I’ll pray for her if she will pray for me.  God wants us to live in this world “for the duration”.  That’s the way it’s always been, “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen”.   I’ve thought about the words to that hymn- and it would “work” for the Church of Satan actually.  It is in my cosmic interest to rout for the LA Dodgers tonight, and no I’m not going to explain why.  I would just say that- - to paraphrase Clinton “The age of big left-wing protests is over”.   So it’s just a matter of settling in for the long haul.   Rush Limbaugh this morning really lit into a woman who expressed the sentiment that “There is just too much perpetual war and how come we can’t spend our tax dollars at home because we have a lot of problems, economic and otherwise right here”.  This was enough to hear for Rush to go on a long rant- - where he attacked “the lazy 47% who get some form of government assistance”.   Rush claims we have spent twenty-two trillion on “The war on poverty” in the past fifty years “and all we’ve done is to teach a whole generation on how to be lazy and unproductive and not look for opportunities when they come around”.  So I guess the short answer is “It doesn’t matter how much of our wealth we sacrifice for war.  Period”     Rush Limbaugh spoke of how “The democrats were always criticizing the war when Bush was prosecuting it- - and their grounds for complaint were groundless because Bush did the job he set out to do”.  I guess- - OK I’m not the brightest light bulb in the box but - uh - “Then how come we’re still fighting the same war eleven years later?”

Libertarianism verses Corporate Welfare

See news commentary below, but first here's this.

SNOOTY SOUNDING ENGLISH NAMES

Abercrombee

Argent

Atchison
Banebridge

Barkley

Bellingham

Belvedere

Bentley

Bradberry

Bradstreet

Brandice

Buckingham

Burlington
Canterbury

Carnegee

Chadwick

Chastane

Chesterfield

Churchill

Cornwall
Chromwell

Devenshire

Donnybrook

Dunlap

Eastwick
Ellingwood

Essex

Fabersham

Farthington

Finch

Hartford
Haulsey

Hugo

Kerrington

Kingsley
Laughlin

Littlefield

Longtree
Lockerbee

Lorrie

Maplethorp

Marquardt

Montenegro

Naragrasit

Newberry
Newcastle

Northrop

Northunberland

Oglethorp

Pendergast

Pennington

Plantegenent

Proctor

Quimby

Rockingham

Rothschild

Rutlege
Salisbury

Sorenson

Standish

Stubblefield

Sutcliffe

Thornberry

Tomlinson

Waverly
Wellington

Wentworth

Wesmorland

Westhaven

Whitcliff
Whitehall

Windser

Winthrop

Witherspoon

Yates

I'm not sure that Thom Hartman gave that libertarian guy an entirely fair hearing.  First of all we must realize that both James Madison and Thom Hartman are redefining the word "Faction".  The generic word is neutral and it applies to any "party" or following of perhaps an individual for leadership.  We have whored out the whole definition of political party in this country to mean - - corporatist party A and corporatist party B and nobody else, almost by design - - has any say at all.  All "personal interests" are not necessarily bad.  But James Madison was saying from the factions he observed- - most work against the populist or democratic interest or the "public good".   I would just advise my liberal friends that nobody considers health care part of the "public domain" or whatever.  To take "aminent domain" over an entire profession IS an encroachment of government; no doubt about it.  And it's a step I personally would not take unless I was very sure that I had an ideal plan to now assume the role of "overseer" in people's lives.  Nobody likes Obama care.  It's the worst of both worlds.  But the other point the same (?) caller made was about the Koch Brothers and the marchers in that very large New York City protest last weekend that was ignored by the news media.  The caller showed his true colors calling a public assembly of 400,000 people (wow - that's a high number) a constitutionally guarenteed right under the first amendment as "a faction" but he said that the interests of the Koch Brothers - - were NOT a faction.  Obviously the Koch Brothers ARE a faction so I don't know how he gets around that.  I have said that libertarianism might work in a perfect world.  If I were a Christian preacher I'd call Heaven a libertarian paradise because over (or up) there everyone has attained to a state of perfection, and it would thus be logical to assume that if the Free Market were exercised in heaven it would opperate flawlessly.   I consider the free market like the highway system.  You don't dig up a whole road system because of a few potholes or bridges washed out- - or Governor Christie is playing games with traffic direction with the George Washington bridge.  I believe as the libertarians do that properly policed- - - the Free Market provides a very efficient and (often) fair means of distributing goods to where they are needed, and promotes a spirit of competetion and a striving for excellence.  But the trouble is - - in reality- - back down here in the real world that doesn't work so well.  Some would say that "Money is not speech".   I would rephrase that to read "Money SHOULD NOT be speech".  Free speech and political discourse should be not something you can buy and sell.  Hence I believe this IS one area we can declare part of the public domain or "The Commons" as Thom Hartman calls it.  Back in business law somewhere- - maybe in my Senior year- - there was talk about "unfair business practices".  We know from the history books that "price pools" where businesses meet together and agree not to undercut each other- - is considered unethical.  But on a "King of the Hill" this practice was engaged in innocently by three business competetors not knowing that what they were doing was inherently wrong.  It's like a four year old kids who throws rocks at people innocently.  He hasn't been told yet that "bad things can happen if you do that".  But what Wall Mart engages in is WORSE than this sort of price pool- - because at least there was an avowed motive of "can't we all just get along' among your competetors.   But in this sense- - I would not say that "greed" is good, but rather "antagonism twords your competetors" is good.  You might say "It's the way God planned the free market system".   Unfortunately I suspect a lot of collusion between- - health care providers or the big oil companies.  And if you looked hard enough I bet you could find something where they violate some sort of law.  If it's "unfair business practice" to use your capital to bury somebody else- - because you under cut them in price for the SOLE REASON of NOT providing better service but to drive them all OUT of business so you can take over.  It's the perona fish sindrone.  This is what Wall Mart does.  I heard that in Hearne Texas the Wall Mart there drove all the other vendors OUT of business, and then Wall Mart itself went belly up because it couldn't stay in business- - probably because of the very economic damage IT had done to the town.  I hope all of this makes sense.  I believe in the principle of government being the referee in a contest and not participate as one of the players.  I agree with the callers that "Picking winners and losers" is contrary to the spirit of freedom or liberty- - or a healthy free market.  But of course I would also say the same thing to the Supreme Court.  Justice Roberts said at his confirmation hearing "I see our jobs on the bench as umpires calling balls and strikes" and in this I agree.  Unfortunately the High Court and the other courts have become political advocates- - and this has been considered wrong throughout our history.

In terms of working for the agragate good- - let me elaborate thusly.  If perhaps good people sometimes criticize your presence- - but the effect of your actions is to antagonize the bad guys and make them unconfortable to they squirm or are hesitent to put their plans fully in play with You in the picture, than You are an agent of Good- - even if not recognized by all.  In the same vein - - if all the rest of the good guys are constantly making excuses for you- - and would frankly opperate much more efficiently WITHOUT you- - as in the case of President Obama- - then you have ceased to be part of the solution and become part of the Problem.  President Obama's problem now is that HE in fact has Become - Part of the Problem.  The whole liberal picture and "seeing what we need to do now" would be a whole lot clearer with President Obama out of the picture.  This is my oppinion, anyhow.

In terms of the Cosmic perspective - - Sylvia Brown was of the "Miami DES RHO" group.   This is the same group that Jeane Dixon and Ruth Montgomery are members of as well as the church of Scientology and the Miami Dolphins and Heat.  It's also known as Baal and "The Weather God".   Normally it gets a cautious write-up in Federation publications- - however in this case not only are they allies against "The Texas Group" - - - but even more evil outfits are allies against "The Texas group" including the Alcyonnized Lanians, which were responsible for the death of both John Lennon.  And Stu Sutcliffe (as a dog) I'm now informed was done in by the Pittsburgh DES RHO - - who are responsible for the deaths of two of the Pretenders band members and also the fabled Randy Rhodes of Ozzy Osborne fame.  Don't count on this Pittsburgh cosmic group for much of anything though - - - Sting and Bono are NOT considered assets by the Federation.

Meanwhile I was walking the tightrope a couple of hours ago fearing that I would incur a $35.00 overdraft fee before the day was out if I didn't get to the bank before six.  I remedied that problem with the invaluable help of my brother, and we prayed that I would find the resolve to quit smoking so that cigarettes wouldn't be continually eating up my limited funds.

How Can You Spot "The Good Guys"?

"Hurray for the Red, White, and Purple"

"Oh the green rose of Texas - is the one I long to see"

"Please release me - let me go - 'cause I can't take it Anymore"

People who are dominated by a fear of failure will never grow as a person.  Politicians should keep this in mind.

"Is your TV political hue suffering from a Rightward Shift?"

"How is it a negro is considered "uppity" when one would think nothing of it if a White engaged in the same behavior?"  When a Christian puts his beliefs into practice, we call it "being a good witness" but when an Atheist puts his belief into practice- - we call them names - and lose all respect for them.

Just in case Norman Goldman is too stupid to realize it, one should always ask himself whether the net result of his conduct serves the Good or serves the Evil and the Adverse.  (more on this later)

This is a time when moral darkness has descended on our national politic.  Last night I was watching a replay of all things of “Meet the Press” in the big room, and in this case it was useful to hear that material again.  Sixty Minutes featured the way that all of Obama’s advisers think he’s crazy for (a) not leaving troops behind in Iraq, and they recommended ten thousand, and (b) also not funding the training of moderates in Syria a year ago.  And today on Sean Hannity’s show - - Sean was reiterating the reality of a situation where everybody is abandoning this President, even former administration officials, being very public and vocal in coming out against his confused foreign policy these days.  Hannidy says “All these people are giving the President a wake up call but he’s not listening”.   Meanwhile everybody is point out that all of these Democratic candidates for senate in particular, are running away from the President.  Even in Kentucky where Obama Care has been so successful- - his lady democratic opponent would rather be off shooting guns in her political ads rather than brag about Obama Care working out so well in Kentucky.  All these toothless hillbillies now may be getting medical care for the first time in their lives- - being helped for things like chronic diabetes.  They now live healthier, longer, and more productive lives- - yet no one dares raise their voice to praise the President’s policies.  Instead the people respond “Hell I’ve voted Republican all my life and see no reason to change now” and still other remarks like “You know I’ve got a good medical plan now.  It’s just too bad a white person didn’t pass it”.   It was suggested that Obama and Hillary are both seen as inherently “the other” being either the wrong race or the wrong sex.  And the media is protecting the rich.  Don’t expect these hillbillies to hear the truth when they turn on the nightly news.  The only place we ever heard about that climate change rally and march in New York City - - was on the Sean Hannity show.  He says “these rich people are hypocrites because they fly around in private jets”.   The logic is flawed.  For instance if I’m a devout Christian faithfully married to “the wife of my youth” and then I hear that Jimmy Swaggart was caught with a prostitute, the first thought to enter my mind would NOT be “Gee, my whole marriage has been a waste of time- - now I have an excuse to start going out and frequenting prostitutes”.   Thom Hartman almost cryptically quoted James Madison in Federalist Paper number ten- - and the words are so applicable to today it’s almost eery.  Madison wrote that “factions” are the thing where the danger to good government lies. It’s been factions that have been so toxic and brought about the deaths of many a populist government”.   Thom points out that when it comes to corporate pollution of the planet - - the people at large support “good government” meaning to address the problems we face on the planet.  It’s rather the Koch Brothers and groups that advertise on the media - - that are a self interested faction”.   Madison reminds us that “with factions, it’s always their self interest first - - but hopefully this constitution will all the strengths of good democratic government to prevail”.   I think the fifty cent word of the day here is “prescient”.

But instead we get treated to a movie version of “Atlas Shrugged”.  If Michael Moore had produced this movie people would be criticizing it for “absurdly over the top and exagurated”.   Now I know where people like Judy and Glen Beck get some of their ideas.  The way it goes is that the economy crashes- - and the people revolt and set up a new socialist government.  Suddenly all of the rich people move out into a settlement out west somewhere to a place called Golf Gulch or something.  But despite the fact that their “workers” (I’ll refrain from saying “slaves”) don’t follow their former overlords- - these people are just as neatly dressed and groomed as they ever were - - as they meet in their cocktail parties plotting their comeback.  And this “reunion” is where the movie focuses- - as though it’s the “good rich people” coming back to reclaim what is rightfully theirs which has been stolen from then.  Judy is constantly saying “You know if things get too bad under Obama the rich people will just leave the country” and my first reaction is “is that a promise?”   Ayan Rand came up with the “Greed is Good” gospel thirty years before Gordon Gecko did.  This is why Judy balks at the idea of ever “fixing” the problem of us jobs being shipped off to China.  After all it would violate a person’s natural right to unlimited greed, and when push comes to shove, greed trumps nationalism every time.  So even when the democrats offer up tax bills to “fix’ the problem in ways outlined by candidate Romney and other Republicans back then- - the Republican congress will balk.  They are that hell bent on making Obama look bad.  You will recall that Ayan Rand is one of the most A-moral and immoral people to walk the planet.  It is she who is the hypocrite while celebrating almost brutish force of “lone wolf” rule - - -and individual prerogatives- - while at the same time living out her final days on both Social Security and Medicare.  She’s not only A-moral but sociopathic and even psychopathic.  She champions the causes of the most violent rapists and murderers.  Even in “Atlas Shrugged” there is apparently a scene where a woman is raped by one man and then another and concludes- - “Well- - it’s a man’s prerogative and after all- - that’s kind of what women are for” or some such thing.  There is a scene about a train being scheduled to run through a quiet residential neighborhood at 65 mph and then a leader says “No, we aren’t going to do it at 65 mph but at a hundred miles per hour”.  These characters glory in evil and violation of laws of both God and man with impugnity.  Not since “Damn Yankees” has there ever been a character who relished sheer Evil so much.   We live now in this Orwellian reality.

I’ll make this paragraph short and sweet.  Not only is it cowardess for a person not to live by his moral principles- - but in the end "It doesn't work, either".  You end up being a nobody.  If President Obama had made an issue out of the Aurora theater shooting in July of 2012 during the campaign and took a strong stance on firearms regulation legislation, he might have lost, but he could look himself in the mirror without flinching, and be respected even by his victors.  I would put it more bluntly.  "If I lose an election for following my conscience on firearms legislation - -then I'd rather lose an election because for me anyhow, selling out such an important belief just wouldn't be worth it.  President Obama says he'll take action on Immigration but then balks in order to "cut his losses".  How many sports events have been lost for "Just trying not to lose, rather than focus on winning"?  It pertains to the idea that we Democrats ought to styfle our own ideals and get in line with whatever Norman Goldman’s definition of “conformity” and unity are.  How long are democrats going to drink this poison Kool-Aid of consiliation and “compromise”.   They say that insanity is doing to same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  There was this new show I forget which, where they said “These democrats who run away from the liberal policies of the democratic party - - are engaging in a strategy that has never worked in the past but they keep doing it”.  We hear the term “triangulation” that worked for Clinton and brought us complete deregulation of the media, and the financial system, and NAFTA and all the other trade agreements.  If a nation violates a UN resolution we’ll condemn them- - UNLESS of course it’s Israel doing it.  With the national media  it’s all running away- - running away from political corruption stories - - or abuse of power by republican Governors- - pension funds robbing- union busting- - lack of Wall Street enforcement - - getting into another multi year war in the Mideast - - keeping taxes low for corrupt corporations- - suspending pollution regulation - -  selling out our privacy and constitutional rights - -  giving these GMO food people a pass - no offence to Norman Goldman but I’m wondering what CORE ISSUE if any- - he’s ready to go to the mat for.  (Selah

I received that “The Week” magazine at the diner table.  It said that CO2 in the air in the world now is at a new all time high in 2013, and it doesn’t bode well for climate change being lessened any time soon.   Also there was a thing that said that - - people who smoke marijuana have a “sixty percent less probability of graduating High School”.  I tried to figure out that that meant.   If a pot head has a 60% probability of graduating then 36 is 60% of 60.   That would be 9 fours out of 15 fours, making a 96% probability for an upstanding student that never takes drugs.  The trouble is- - what if the next year the pot head score improves a bit to 65% - - this would put the level for the non drug user up over a hundred percent probability.    Here’s another way you can look at the same figures though.   Let’s say the non pot smoker has a 95% chance of graduating High School.  8 is 60% greater than 5.   So this would mean that the pot heads of the class still have a 92% chance of graduation, and to paraphrase Jack Nichelson “92% ain’t bad”.

So How Close Are We To "The End"?

I didn’t know that Psychic Sylvia Brown had died - - “cast off this mortal coil” or whatever.  But I didn’t need a psychic to tell me that Sylvia’s karma - - was in free-fall, kind of like Elvis the year or so before he died.   But in terms of playing footsie with news stories trying to guess “who will be found alive and who is dead” like in that mining case - - this is an elementary trap I never fall into because I don’t play that game.  I am ahead of the learning curve on news stories for sure.  If I have a preminission I’ll tell you - - and if I don’t - I’ll say that also - - and if I turn out to be wrong I’ll admit that too.  The last time I goofed and said someone was dead when they were very much alive was Patricia Hurst in the middle of 1974.  I remember writing the letter but I don’t know to whom - - of if I even sent it.   Sylvia claims she’s an expert on angels but tells us near nothing about a Video claiming “I could tell you all about the ranking and organization of angels but it would bore you”.  My response is “bore me a little because any information you told me would be new to me”.   I can however tell you she was “one of the good guys” and that she was “taken out” probably by the Alcyonized sutterans, although there are a few other candidates.  She and Bones have a lot of common enemies.  She died November 20^th of last year – which I don’t mind telling you was a bad period, cosmically.  In terms of her teachings on “vibrations’ and “tuning in” or “the plane of the after-life floats three feet off the ground” - - such things are not in keeping with my teaching- - because the aether as we know it is not involved in psychic travel or karma.   The only even tangential metaphor of “frequency of vibration” would pertain to “psychic down-shifting”, which we have discussed.   The reason why I felt led to check out her stuff again was because of one statement she made in 2007 or so that “most people are in their last karmic incarnation”.    So according to her “The End” would not be far off.   I remember the first time I took the whole idea of “past lives” seriously was in early October of 1981 on one of these “Unsolved Mysteries” shows on a Saturday night.  I was intrigued by the notion actually being a real possibility.  It was a month or so after that (after the dog died) that I bought a book I doubt I still have called “Discover your own past lives” where you are to relax and drain all the negative emotion out of your body- - and then allow your body to be alternately filled and then drained (emptied) by plasma liquids of various colors, each symbolizing some karmic quality of the soul.   I think the psychics in general have been run off by dark cosmic forces “in the air” lately, which these psychics are no match for.  (Selah)

This is Sunday September 21, 2014 and I was debating between the rose and the straight tan, and went with the tan.  It’s 3:30 and the SF ‘49ers are playing the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona Cardinals are winning on their home turf 20 to 14. And on the other channel we have Seattle and Denver in what could be called “The Sequel to the Nightmare”, which was the Super Bowl.   The news there isn’t good with Seattle beating Denver 17 to 3.  We had coffee break after two and I had two cups.  I am calling this file “finality” primarily because it’s completely clear that Dr Levy is not coming back since he’s missed the fourth weekend in a row, where he gave no hint he’d be taking even one week off but the last thing he said was “I’ll have more time on the weekends from now on” but obviously not for us.   He was talking about that twenty thousand dollar endowment he would get - - for months now, and brought it up the last time he was here and said he thought he’d be receiving that very soon.  Dr Levy is a big talker.  I watched Face the Nation on computer and have marveled how Bob Sheefer had tached to the right the past few weeks, from what he ever used to be.  He keeps saying “Shouldn’t have Obama refrained from telling the Enemy what we would NOT do”.   And all of the discussions involve getting that forty nation coalition to come together and bomb Syria.   Iran will not be helping us and doesn’t seem to care.  And Assad would rather bomb the moderates we refused to arm last year, than take on ISIS.  The thinking by Lieberman and others is that “If we do a lot of bombing and show we mean business the other nations will come around- - and the moderates in Syria, once they are armed and trained, will be a valued fighting asset.  I see a whole lot of wishful pie in the sky thinking here.  The underlying principle seems to be to forget any lesson we’ve learned from any of our other failures and forge ahead as if all was well - - once again.  But now there is at least one new terrorism group we have to worry about called “Corison” or something.  Despite the fact that I heard about three other terrorist groups mentioned besides ISIS, we seem completely fixated on defeating ISIS, as if they were the only game in town.  Have we learned nothing?  If somebody died and left me to be President I’d just end all hostilities in the area and get everybody out of there.  After all for a whole year- - we didn’t care- - nobody cared about the growth of ISIS as it was taking over all that territory to begin with.  Anybody who even hinted at support of any new Mideast conflict was considered crazy.  If by chance we HAD BEEN interested in the area then THAT would have been the time to take action, while the problem was still “Fixable”.  But now I see no way we can win.

Meet the Press this morning had Grover Norquist.  The whole fact about Governor Brownback being in political hot water in Kansas was up for discussion.  Norquist’s response was that “Well due to tax cuts and things like the quarantine of funds by the government- - the economy has shown signs of growth.”   So let me get this straight.  The stagnant economy is NOT the major driving issue with the voters this fall.  Strangely this is not the first time I’ve heard these sentaments from Republicans that “Well, if the economy has shown any growth at ALL, well it’s NOT because of Obama- - but measures of the red state governors.  But they showed a chart that revealed that there is no link between either cutting or raising taxes on economic growth- - and they showed this wavy line for the economy and various red and black dots- - seemingly at random - - placed on the graph showing hikes and cuts in taxes.  I could not see any trend- - but I didn’t have that long to study the chart.   In other news there is the latest guy jumping the White House fence.  This guy actually got inside the front door of the White House before being apprehended by the secret service.  It’s said that security was thinned out because they were all on the heliport or something on the south lawn of the White House, seeing the President and his family off.  Dianne Feinstein states that there is a SF ‘49er player who has been convicted of a felony on an assault and battery charge, and the guy is playing today.  I don’t see how this huge epidemic of domestic violence could come literally out of nowhere in the past few weeks.   I think it’s a good thing to keep in mind that the Media can make an issue overnight out of anything when they hype it all the time, just like they did with the four beheadings.

 I watched the Mc Laughlin report and wisely they avoided the top three topics we’re all sick of, mainly Congressional laziness, the NFL, and ISIS.  They talked about the Ebola virus in west Africa now in at least five countries.  There was concern for the safety of our troops.  Then it was Putin.  The Ukrainian president spoke before congress making a plea for Military and other aid.   Pat Buchannon said that if congress voted out any aid bill involving lethal aid that the President would veto it.  The question for me and the free world is “Do we really want to live the rest of our foreseeable existence in a constant fate of fear?”  It’s too similar to that boy in that Twilight Zone wishing people into the corn field and doing worse things to them but nobody dares complain about it.   There was a completely stupid article among many I read in the afternoon saying the key to defeating ISIS is “never get angry and never fight back”.  That only works with someone like Bill Halliday where HE has all the power and you don’t have any.  It’s something you haven’t talked about and if you confide to Dad or anybody about it, he takes the enemy’s side.   If someone points a gun at your head and says “Don’t attract attention to yourself - - stay calm” and you look and see nobody around, you pretty much don’t have a choice in the matter.   I don’t think ISIS is that powerful, and my reasons for being hesident to have United States involvement have nothing to do with this highly misguided psychological principle.  The final segment was on Hillary Clinton showing up at the Tom Harkin annual steak barbecue, and if I didn’t mention I saw video excerpts of that on line a while back.    I called Judy back at seven wishing to pick up the thread of our previou conversation when she called near the beginning of the program, but of course she was gone now.  With her and Paul it’s almost a case of “speak when you’re spoken to” and “Don’t call us- - we’ll call you - - and demand top priority when we do”.   It’s kind of a power trip.    I’m feeling like crap knowing I have very few cigarettes left and will be out for the next ten days.  And of course factors working against my quitting RIGHT NOW and making it stick are- - my attitude and anxieties and tensions - - their negative attitude- - and having no idea what basis they’ll figure out that I’ve quit and knowing if I smoke so much as one cigarette several weeks from now they’ll go “tisk – tisk - - weeks of progress all RUINED now”.  That’s how they operate.  Oh - - and also a coffee shortage and a food shortage - - and by the way what ever happened to those B vitamins that were  supposed to make me feel better.  Obviously those have been off the RADAR screen for a long time.   But this afternoon I was looking at George Washington’s blog and got bored.  Then there was some Washington journal on United States preparedness for war and that thing also bored me. 

I had the Ed Schultz show on a while and the Chris Matthews show on a while.  I also watched some of the Texas governor’s debate.  The climate didn’t seem as right wing as the vibes from the Kansas debate.    The Republican is pro life, which is actually a point in his favor.  But we don’t get much “news” that is actually that- - meaning news, that I haven’t heard before.   And I’m not much fonder of the liberal “echo chamber” than I am of the conservative one.   It’s coming up on five to two.   Dr Levy is listed as a regular “Senior topics” class Saturday’s at nine AM.  I wonder if Dr Levy ever told Sarah that at the beginning of the month.  Of course- - you know Dr Levy hasn’t been here since the week before Labor Day.   My mattress has never been NOT “too hard”.  Last night it was the usual.  I got coffee from Glen and paid him four cigarettes.  There the egg salad sandwich in the east wing from Donnie.  There was Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  Then it was two ABC comedies because nothing else was on - - not Dateline, not CSI, not Bones, and not Chef Ramsey. 

Should Liberals Learn To Live Without Hope?

Thom Hartman reminds us that the Arab Peoples themselves may voluntarily choose to do NOTHING about ISIS themselves if left to their own devices, and have shown a disinclination to act on their own even though they are awash in oil money and easily able to take on ISIS themselves  If the United States pursues this war with ISIS there is no way for us to win.  Even Samantha Brady today admitted that revenge is not all it’s cracked up to be.  We lost nearly three thousand good people on 9 – 11 but it costs us subatantially more than that in lost lives of our fighting men, and untold billions of dollars and a lot of heartache and suffering, lost limbs, eyes, brain damage- - what have you?   And we’ll just forget about innocent civilians that lost their lives.  But even from our own point of view it wasn’t worth it.   The war in 2003 was a mistake, and NATO going to war in Arab Spring of 2011 was a mistake, and we are about to make another mistake.  As Hartman pointed out- - what Islamic moderate who is a merchant or craftsman or something living in Syria or Iraq- - just a quiet family man who wants to be left alone - - why is that man going to sign up with the United States and have a target immediately on his back to be shot at from both sides- - not only ISIS, but worse yet, Assad’s murderous forces.   We expect the rest of the world to be as insane as we are.  But it was pointed out that Saudi Arabia has the fourth biggest defence force in terms of both manpower and budget - - in the world, exceeding countries like France.  The Saudis have funded ISIS - - and now people like Sean Hannity say “No, the Saudis are on our side”.  Well - - let them prove it.  ISIS represents no threat to us- - at least not yet.  Just as there were no Al Qaeda in Iraq prior to 2003 but our presence changed all that.  Certainly you’ve heard the expression a time or two in your life “Don’t Borrow Trouble”.  I think something like that is even in the Bible - - somewhere.   One scripture in the Bible reads “Don’t meddle to your own hurt”.    How many election seasons more to we have to have in the midst of a national war?   I’ve heard even Rand Paul has back-tracked on his so called “Isolationist” statements lately and is now on board with War.   Our country couldn’t be “Isolationist” if our life depended on it.  We have troops in every corner of the world, and have meddled in every corner of the world.   But let’s just sit this one out.

There has been another mass shooting and this one is in Florida.  This man had a felony on his record but was able to secure a firearm.  He killed six of his grandchildren and his daughter and then aimed the gun on himself.   Of course the NRA has nothing to say by way of response.  In the NFL on the Bill Carol show they had the head of the league and he fumbled around for 45 minutes or longer- - and Bill Carol was not the least bit impressed with ANY of the answers to questions this guy gave.  There is now a fourth assault case- - and this one is apparently an Arizona Cardinal.   How do you get four of these cases in the past month and say it isn’t high.  Norman Goldman says that the death rate from firearms is twice as high per capita for Blacks as it is for Whites.   Meanwhile congress is taking yet another extended vacation.  They had off five and a half weeks from late July to September 8^th.  They worked four days last week and four days this week and now they have left town.  Congress won’t again meet until mid November, after the election.   So to me this is an ideal issue for any democtatic candidate to raise in this campaign.   I watched “The Big Picture” and Thom Hartman was debating people who felt that it was important that we get the eighth or ninth Bengazi hearing going.   But of course - - basically congress will only have been in session for eight days from the period between late July and mid November.   Another factoid about media news coverage was revealed.  We know about Mc Cutchen and Citizen’s United- - and all the stuff with lax campaign laws these days - - or Ohio trying to roll back voting rights and was stopped from doing so by the Court.   Well - - - the Media at large in the past year and a half - - has only spent a total per outlet of about fifteen minutes covering these topics over the past year and a half!  This is absurd.  They are much more concerned about what outfit a celebrity is wearing at a function.   Today’s song quote:  “They way they want more freedom, but what they do not say, is that they want more freedom - - to take Your Rights away”.   Norman Goldman is not predicting there will be no indictment from the grand jury in the Ferguson police shooting case.   I can’t even by surprised by this anymore.

This is Friday September 19, 2014 and the I Phone 6 is finally for sale to customers today.  The vote on Scottish independence yesterday failed 55% to 45% so basically it wasn’t even close.  It was all sentimental media hype.   The quality of liberal talk shows has been going down on a broad scale in the past six months, which is no surprise.  Randy Rhodes of course flew the coop entirely.  Ed Schultz dropped his daily show and maybe I’ll check out “The Ed Show” soon.  I confess to not having done that.  And Norman Goldman seems to be suffering from some sort of burn-out, and I’m suspecting he’ll be the next to announce he’s getting out of the business.   It used to be that talk shows were news driven shows that had a lot of caller input.  But the caller input on all shows right and left- - appears to be rapidly diminishing.  And a lot of the time the host is not up to the job of “filling the time”.  Even Stephanie’s show quality has undergone a downgrade since Jim Ward left- - and John Fugelsang, who used to be a regular guest- - can hardly be seen at all now.  We continue to hear the relentless drum beat that the election is lost, that we’ve heard for months.   But let’s look at it.  They say that both FOX news and Rush Limbaugh only have about nine million viewers, but let’s be generous and make it fifteen million.  This is five percent of the American population.  If you eliminate those not qualified to vote let’s say it’s seven and a half percent of the voting population.  If you tell me “Only fifty percent of the people vote” and lets assume that ALL of those people NOT voting are something other than conservative.  This brings the tally to fifteen percent.  Now assume only 35% of the voters turn out   We have now cut the number by a third and so the VOTING number rises to 22% or so.   You can’t win elections with 22% of the vote no matter how you slice it.   The demographics, if they are at all to be believed- are on our side.   In order to fit the FOX profile you have to be Not urban, NOT poor, NOT under thirty-five, ARE main-stream Christian, NOT single, NOT gay, and NOT a minority.   And every one of these demographics that bode well for the democrats is on the rise and every one that bodes well for the republicans is shrinking.   But we don’t have one man one vote in this country due to gerrymandering.   Also in the senate- - perhaps a bunch of red state senators from North Dakota or places like that- - can block any legislature at will.  Because we have the 40% rule - - - and most of those Senators are from sparsely populated states, so that even in the first Obama congress, there was a lot that got passed in the House but blocked in the senate.   We have other bad news.  It seems that the Government had all but cleared Governor Christie of any wrong doing in “Bridgegate” and now have drawn their expert conclusion that Christie knew nothing about ordering the closing of the George Washington bridge.   And of course increasingly cases in Federal Courts are decided by judges hand picked by the Koch Brothers over the eight years of the Bush 43 administration.   Nobody dares complain about anything for fear of losing their job, and if you do protest the media will either ignore you completely, or else side with the Police.    Such is the state of the governmental world we live in today.

 It used to be - - by possible way of explanation why I have never prayed for Israel’s “salvation” as a nation even back when I was a lot stronger in the Faith, and that is because back then we all were told that it was impossible for Israel to get “saved” until the Rapture of the Church with all of the Christians removed and Israel having to fend for itself in the tribulation.  I was reading the Daniel 8 prophecy last night about the ram with two horns, and the he-goat, and how the he-goat went throughout the surface of the whole earth “and his feet never seemed to touch the ground” and when confronted with the he-goat, the Ram lost all power before him and its two horns were broken.   There may be multiple applications of this imagery only to say that the Ram is seen as good and the he-goat is seen as bad.  I checked out all the other “bits” in the book of Zachariah from chapters nine through thirteen.   Last night it was Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune and then “Vampire Diaries” and I dozed off before nine- - and roused during the next program.   Next week - - I guess we’ll get Dodgers and Giants baseball on channel 56 because they got their contract thing straightened out.  I would only note that from September 24^th on you can begin looking for any strange supernatural omens, because I am informed by “the other side” strange events are destined to transpire.  I won’t have any money the past week as it is- so a Rapture would be ideal for me.   Next week at last will be the main Season Premier week for TV programming- - which is always forever that we have to wait for.

I tracked the roomer down about Pat Robertson getting out of combat during the Korean War.   Pat Robertson came from a privileged family in Virginia and had lots of political connections, as follows.  In 1948, the draft was reinstated and Robertson was given the option of joining the Marine Corps or being drafted into the army; he opted for the first.  In his words, "We did long, grueling marches to toughen the men, plus refresher training in firearms and bayonet combat." In the same year, he transferred to Korea, "I ended up at the headquarters command of the First Marine Division," says Robertson. "The Division was in combat in the hot and dusty, then bitterly cold portion of North Koreajust above the 38th Parallel later identified as the 'Punchbowl' and 'Heartbreak Ridge.' For that service in the Korean War, the Marine Corps awarded me three battle stars for 'action against the enemy.'"^[8]  However, former Republican Congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey, Jr., who served with Robertson in Korea, wrote a public letter which said that Robertson was actually spared combat duty when his powerful father, a U.S. Senator, intervened on his behalf, and that Robertson spent most of his time in an office in Japan. According to McCloskey, his time in the service was not in combat but as the "liquor officer" responsible for keeping the officers' clubs supplied with liquor. Robertson filed a $35 million libel suit against McCloskey in 1986.^[9] He dropped the case in 1988, before it came to trial and paid McCloskey's court costs.^[10] According to a newspaper report from 1986, Robertson confirmed elements of McCloskey's allegations and said that he never saw front-line duty.^[11] A lot of these Televangelists came from this limbo period being just too young to see combat in World War II, I’ve noticed.  I guess you could call them GINOS or great in name only, or perhaps denoting femininity such as in gyno sperm.   Gene Scott and Chuck Smith are from this same time period sliver.

I decided to check in on Last.FM and played “Smells like Teen Spirit”, “Heart Shaped Box” and a live and electric version of “About a Girl” and also “Joan Crawford” by Blue Oyster Cult- - where I was amazed how many lyrics I still remembered though I haven’t heard this song in ages.   Suicide was a good “life move’ for Kurt Cobain- - because Grunge wasn’t destined to last that much longer anyhow.   It was the first time I had checked in on Last.FM in a long time, and they seemed to have changed their format a little.  But they still remembered me referring to me by my strange call-letters.  Some may say that Kurt Cobain was the quintessential Generation X person.   I assign the generations to a slightly earlier time period than others.  I consider the boomer generation from about the late thirties- - - to about 1960 inclusive.  I say it started if you were young enough to have been in high school when rock and roll first became all the rage.  I would say that Generation X ends- - at that point where a person was too young to remember a period when computers were not in general usage.   I think the term came because this generation considered themselves X’d out from society.   I remember in 1996 during the Clinton Campaign when they first announced in the news the advent of “The milenial generation” - - interviewing a group of then ninth graders, and I thought “What kind of strange species will these people turn out to be?”