All The Political News Fit to Print

Lindsey Graham is at the Iowa State Fair.  Gram is not married and has no kids.  He wants to send ten thousand troops back to Iraq and enlist the Saudis, the Turks and the Egyptians and other sunnis, and go in there in there and kill every last member of ISIS.  Of course he is against the Iran treaty.  “I won’t be a President who allows the USA to be walked on.”   He believes, “We are in a religious war” and would kill everybody here if they could.   Well I guess the silver lining in all this inflamed rhetoric, is that Lindsey is only one percent in the polls.  He said “When I’m president we’re going to drink more, like Reagan and Tip O Neil.”   He says it’s necessary to raise the age of retirement, and if you’re drunk enough, that’ll make sense.

I must confess I didn’t listen to Donald Trump’s exposee that carefully with Chuck Todd on Sunday.  So let me right now downgrade my “term paper” grade of Donald Trump to a “D”.  I didn’t realize how bad the totality of the immigration policies were.  Not only does he want to steal the birthright of people born on American soil, which is unconstitutional, but he wants to conthiscate or impound all the money that illegal aliens earn, and want to send back to their poor relations in Mexico.  He also wants to pay for this boarder fence “the Trump wall” with terrifs and other fees from Mexico.  (Terrifs are taxes WE pay)  But worst of all more than “self deportation’ that Romney proposed, Trump wants to massively deport twelve million aliens whose legal status is in question and make them reapply and ‘let the good ones back in’.  So his solution to “keeping families together” is to send ALL the family members back to their country or origen at a cost of billions of dollars of US taxpayer money.  Other republicans such as Lindsey Graham have referred to this series of Trump proposals as “gibberish”.

An official court ruling states that Northwestern University football players are not allowed to Unionize.  As you know I’ve always felt the idea was insane to begin with.  After all they are supposedly primarily ‘students’ with football as just an extra-curricular activity.  These players have it made already with free auditions to the NFL and stand the prospect of earning millions of dollars when they graduate, and at times BEFORE they graduate.  But the specific ruling the court made was that they lack the jurisdiction which is properly the NCAA who sets the rules for ALL the college football players and not just one team.  So the court reasoned that if ONE team was unionized, then logically they’d have to unionize All the NCAA teams.

Julian Bond died over the weekend.  I thought I heard his name as the head of a delegation at the democratic convention in 1968 or something.  Julian Bond was born on Jaunary 14^th 1940 and he co-founded SNCC at age twenty in 1960.  SNCC (student non-violent coordinating committee) has been associated with Malcolm X in the past.  Julian Bond attended the legendary March on Washington in late summer 1963.   Julian Bond ran and won a contest as Georgia State legislator but in January of 1965 the racist state house refused to seat Julian.  So Julian Bond took them to Court and won.  Julian Bond was head of the NAACP from 1998 through 2008 (ten years) and now he is dead at age 75.  A Civil Rights hero.

The I Phone and I Pad get their value (cost) not from parts and labor to assemble, but rather the value of the “intellectual property” and marketing.  Only ten or twelve dollars of each I Phone or I Pad go into the Chinese property.  The rest is sheer profit for Apple.   Perhaps Apple should start paying the Beatles their due royalties on the name Apple Corp itself.

If we’re going to be political realists, at some point we have to admit that neither Trump nor Hillary are going anywhere.  Political demise of both is predicted on an almost daily basis but Trump’s poll numbers only increase.  And in a 2008 head to head contest with Joe Byden, Hillary demolished him in whatever primaries both of them were in together.   None of Shawn Hannity’s thundering against Hillary has dented her in the slightest in a popularity polls.  And Trump has only risen from 23% to 25% largely at the expense of Jeb Bush who is now fizzling into political oblivion along with Lindsey Graham and Bobby Jindell and Rick Perry.

 Right now Thom Hartman is arguing with a Black conservative who is kind of trying to say he agrees with Thom on a number of issues.  He says that Dodd Frank is racist because the small community banks where Black people got the majority of their loans, were being driven out of business because of the solvency requirements of Dodd Frank..But in general the Black guest is resorting to word play to make his point.  Patches had her kittens last night.  Phyllis has heard them meowing and everybody thinks there are five of them.  It’s apparently on the north side of the shed or the NW corner of the property.  I saw the cat briefly this morning as she walked past.  Phyllis heard the kittens meowing but she said she hadn’t actually seen them.  Phyllis has been making sure she’s been well fed.   I had Stephanie Miller on who had the Rude Pundit and other gueses, and Jim Ward was in the studio.  We had corn flakes for breakfast followed by toast and butter and jelly.  The coffee was drowning in milk.  Phyllis believes Yadera would be a good sales person to give away the kitties when it’s time, but this might be after Phyllis leaves in a couple weeks.  I got a Clipper from Dan and Phyllis gave me a long short.  Last night I stood in line for medication from Donnie at the med room.  They had getaway time on “Eye on LA”.  You repelled down a rock cliff with a rope in Zion Ntl Park.  They there was cable sliding in Catalina, and ballooning in Tenecula at sunrise.  America’s Funniest Home Videos was on.  I was out around dusk and Phyllis said “It’s too hot now but patches will have her kittens tonight”.  Glenda gave me about half of her cigarette, which was the last one I had this day. 

Three "Deal Breakers" with Donald Trump's Positions

Donald Trump was interviewed extensively on Meet the Press this morning.  If it were a term paper on America’s problem I’d give him a polite C minus.  He’s got the trade thing correctly, and he has a point that these sanctuary cities for aliens have spawned a certain amount of crime.   My worries about excessive immigration center on the depressed wage base- - and NOT on this so called “cultural contamination” Pat Buchannon talks endlessly about.  And as to his idea of “just taking the oil away from ISIS so they can’t make money on it”, I’d do that too, if there were a way to do it.  His point is well taken that we have sunk an awful lot of money into making Iraq “whole” and haven’t seen any political dividends.  As President I’d consider it.  And I am in agreement with him about abortion.  I think we as a society need those three exceptions of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.  Many people across party lines admire a rich person who isn’t politically tied to a donor and can say anything he likes.  He’s his own man.  He’s fearless.  This is a good thing.  But there are three “deal breakers” with Trump.   The first is changing the fourteenth amendment so that people born in the US can no longer for this reason alone be regarded as American citizens.  This opens up a whole constitutional can of worms.  And I strongly disagree with him on saying that he would not raise the minimum wage above the national current rate of $7.50 or wherever it is.  This is not a “living wage”.  And third he says with Iran, even if Iran did everything we could conceivably ask of them in terms of concessions and even gave back the four hostages, Trump said he would NEVER pay Iran the money that this deal will give them.  Trump added that if the US and the five nations are bound in a contract with Iran, that “He knows how to break a bad contract”.  I’d be interested to know how.

Lindsey Graham is the man you want if you want to go the military security rout.  He sounds good on a number of issues in the sense of being articulate.   John Kasech repeated the Gingrich lie in saying that Clinton CUT taxes and eliminated the deficit.  In truth those brave democrats who voted FOR a major tax hike- - walked the plank for the President.  And in November they were turned out of office, but we as a society reaped the benefits of their courage.  TV news outlets have gone down the horrific list of deductions and things that would “go away” if we didn’t extend the Bush tax cuts.  We as a people paid more taxes under Clinton than under either of the Bushes.    O’ Malley wants to curb the excesses of Wall Street and reinstate glass Stiegel that President Clinton abolished. 

On the Today show they talked how President Warren G Harding had an out of wedlock daughter and they proved it with DNA testing.  During his Presidency he was writing multiple page poetry- - some of it quite steamy- - to one woman he was carrying around with, but then fathered a daughter by another woman, who was scorned after the President’s death.  The public didn’t believe her.  Then there was Grover Cleveland.  The saying in 1884 was “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?  Gone to the White house, ha ha.  I thought that George Washington didn’t father any children because he had the mumps.

It was breakfast with the Beatles at nine.  They played improved quality tapes of the concert at Shea Stadium, because some new tapes just cropped up.  They interviewed two people connected with the Shea Stadium concert.  They said it was Sunday night.  I had always had the impression it was Sunday afternoon because I thought some D J was giving a running commentary on just which Beatles song they were playing at the moment.  Perhaps I misunderstood.  John Lennon said the control room of Ed Sullivan looked like the inside of a German Meserschmidt.  John and Paul wanted to hear how the sound had been mixed.  But as I recall John’s microphone wasn’t working for song songs and the vocal on certain songs sounded unbalanced.   My vote for number one song of the day was “What’s New, Pussy Cat?” by Thom Jones, but even then I knew my odds of getting the right answer were slim.  It was “I Got You, Babe”.  Actually, I would have supposed that the number one song would be “Help”.   The Single was at its peak of radio air-play.

PHONEY ECONOMIC RECOVERY:  The government issued their monthly retail sales this past week and four of the biggest department store chains in the country announced their quarterly results. The year over year retail sales increase of 2.4% is pitifully low in an economy that is supposedly in its sixth year of economic growth with a reported unemployment rate of only 5.3%. If all of these jobs have been created, why aren’t retail sales booming?  The year to date numbers are even worse than the year over year numbers. With consumer spending accounting for 70% of our GDP and real inflation running north of 5%, it’s pretty clear most Americans are experiencing a recession, despite the propaganda data circulated by the government and Fed.  If inflation is indeed double the amount of cash sales it would suggest that retail outlets are actually selling LESS.   The chart provided actually indicates that retail sales gains have been steadily declining since 2011.  The only people not experiencing a recession are corporate executives enriching themselves through stock buybacks, Wall Street bankers using free Fed Bucks while rigging the the markets in their favor, politicians and government bureaucrats reaping their bribes from billionaire oligarchs, and the media toadies who dispense the Deep State approved propaganda to keep the ignorant masses dazed, confused, and endlessly distracted by Cecil the Lion, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, Ferguson, and blood coming out of whatever.   You won’t hear CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal or any corporate mainstream media outlet reference the fact retail sales growth is at the exact same levels as when recession hit in 2008 and 2001. Their job is to regurgitate the message of economic recovery and confidence in the future, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Retail sales are actually far worse than the 2.4% reported number. Excluding the subprime debt fueled auto sales, retail sales only grew by 1.3% in the last year. The automakers are practically giving vehicles away as their lots are stuffed with inventory. The length of auto loans and the average amount of auto loans are now at all-time highs. The percentage of subprime auto loans is surging to record levels, as defaults begin to rise. The percentage of vehicles being leased is also at an all-time high. To call these “auto sales” strains credibility. These people are either perpetually renting their vehicles or just driving them until the repo man shows up. 

The Media Lies To Us About Foreign Policy

This is Saturday August 15, 2015 and I did not do a blog entry Friday.  I have “Hardball” on right now discussing Donald Trump.  Trump was against the Iraq War- - but he’s still attacking Rand Paul.  There’s a regular back and forth feud going with them.  Last night I watched a couple videos of how the media controls news coverage of our foreign policy.  Apparently as far back as the Church committee in 1975 the CIA admitted to influencing the American media as to how they covered stories.  The Sixty Minutes interview with Mike Wallace and Akmadenijab was critiqued, as I’ve heard this interview critiqued before.  It got Mike Wallace an emmy for telling a lie about the answer to “Israel has a faked government” and then edited the statement at that point and the next thing we hear is Mike Wallace saying “Yeah, just as all the reports of the holocaust was faked”.  It was red meat to the Jewish base.  I’ve always liked Mike Wallace but could it be that “Mike can’t help it.  He’s Jewish and those people are all alike.  They’re all liars”.   The rest of the response of Akmadenijab covered letting members of the West Bank and Gaza vote in a regular election to determine their face, and he added “We will abide by whatever the result is”.  That’s a very reasonable response but we didn’t hear it.  Of course there is a standard lie about the Iraq War that goes something about how President Obama “Made good on a campaign promise and pulled all of the troops out of Iraq leaving Iraq to the mercies of ISIS”.   (This is strange because I thought “Living up to your campaign promises” was a Republican virtue)  Apparently not. The truth is that Obama had nothing to do with the withdrawal of our troops which was already “baked into the cake” because of a deal President Bush had signed in 2008.  President Obama wanted to stay in Iraq longer but he wouldn’t do it without Iraq granting legal immunity to our troops in case they commit atrocities”.    ISIS to a large extend is made up of people from Saddam Hussein’s old army officers- - which is was because we disbanded (abolished) the Iraqi Army and destroyed the infrastructure of that nation in 2003.  So you had chaos and ISIS moved into the power vacuum.

Gun run-down dot com is an “agrigator” of all of the senseless shootings in this country including cop shootings as well as shooting where one kid kills another.   Norman announced that ISIS had pledged allegence to the Talliban.  Really?   An eleven year old Paraguay girl was raped by her 42 year old step-father and both mother and daughter are OK, physically.  Paraguay forbids any form of abortion.   A church in Alabama has a gun range behind the church.  They used to collect snakes there.

Now Trump is being criticized by women for saying “I’ll take care of the women” and these feminists say “We don’t want to be taken care of; we want to be respected”.  The trouble is Trump HAS said he would planned Planned Parenthood, and also that this country would be so rich under a Trump presidency, that funding Social Security and apparently a robust federal health care system- - is an issue where money is spent- - a lot on women.  Also Hillary is “taking care of the women” with sick leave and maternity leave as well as free college”, which is becoming increasingly dominated by women.  And now Trump is getting more specific on issues and people are saying that this is a “new, more serious phase of the Trump campaign” justifying his high poll numbers.  Trump says he has a plan to deal with ISIS but it’s a secret because he doesn’t want ISIS to know what it is”.  He also said something about dealing with Iran and  “Iran won’t know what hit them- - because I’m a businessman and know how to enforce contracts”.

Ben Carson has now risen to fourteen percent in the polls behind Trump.  Dr Ben Carson used to work with fetal tissue in the old days calling it vital to research.  Ben Carson is reminding us that Planned Parenthood is the direct product of Margeret Sanger, who was a eugenicist- - - which doesn’t mean “eutopian researcher”.  A eugenicist is someone who’s into racial genocide, and Margeret Sanger never cared particularly for Black people, and there are a lot of abortion centers in Black neighborhoods.  He says “Planned Parenthood wants to control the Black population”.

I just watched Lincoln Chaffee at the Iowa State Fair in front of the Des Moines Register sign that all the candidates have spoken in front of.  It’s a pretty small stage.   Chafey touched all the bases saying that he’s run local, he’s run national in the Senate, and he’s served one term as Governor of Rhode Island.  He’s worked with the six New England states and the five eastern provinces of Canada on bringing hydro-electric power to the area, which is a form of clean energy.  He voted against the Iraq War and he also voted against the Bush tax cuts.  Both of those votes took a lot of character.  Chaffee prides himself on never had a hint of scandal in his public service.  This posting has been modified slightly since this morning.  The weather continues hot.

This is Friday August 14, 2015 a little before three.  By standards around here it was a half eventful day.  I went down the north hall and Lishia was still here at ten talking to Brenda.  I asked her when she had to leave and she said “immediately”.  I went to the courtyard but seemed limited to one glass of iced tea from Dora.  Hartmann had a guest who spoke of various types of pot.   First there is Canibus Sativa and Canibus Indiga.   The guest disagreed that one brand had more canabinol than the other but said that the presence of “turpines” determined how much of a mental buzz you got from the drug.  Because these “turpines” block the “party high” you’d otherwise get.   He also spoke of another substance called mercine, which is in hops, which produces sleep, so in the old days they filled pillows full of hops to aid in troubled sleep.   I noticed Lishia was still on her bed in the open door at eleven.  Lishia also showed up at lunch.  Now Sarah is announcing the kerioke sing along.  We had a good soup with spinach among other vegetables in it.  The main course was a “casserole” of cheese and ham.  We had a good salad with Romaine lettuce with that and a banana for dessert.  My cigarette luck soon changed when Lishia showed up out back and gave me a while white cigarette and Joe said “A whole on one”.   But Lishia thought she had to leave so hugged everybody good bye.  She hugged me around the corner of a bench.  But then soon afterward she knocked on the door and wanted to get the phone number to Bellflower Christian retirement.  This puzzled me and I advised her that there were any number of places where the computer could stall out when it was warming up, and maybe she should sit down.  We got the site and I read the number in big print to her.  Then we hugged again and this time I kissed her.  The room was still darkened from when Bill shut the shades.  Then I played a speech by Marco Rubio he gave on foreign policy and some woman with water glasses asked him questions.  Then it was Jeb Bush’s turn to speak at the Iowa State Fair and like O Mally it was a brief speech- - but then someone turned down the volume.  I had KNBC on from about a quarter of one.  Somewhere along the way I got a cigarette from Paul, and then when I was out at one thirty I got another cigarette from Paul.  The soap opera is proceding.  Chad had a dream Abigail felt trapped by the marriage and told Chad she wanted to marry him.  Who knows?  Page paid Jennifer a visit warning her that J J was getting involved with dealing drugs again.  I saw Lishia one more time when she was with people ready to take her to her new place.  I sat on the east side a while.  I got two cups of iced tea from Dora. 

Hillary Surrenders E Mail Server

The FBI has taken control of Hillary Clinton’s E mail server.  They’ve had it for a week and are just getting around to telling the public.  Hillary now claims she “gave it to them” but as Rush says “The FBI doesn’t make requests; they just come over and take the item”.  It would seem as if Hillary is guilty of indictable offences and could get jail time if they really want to press the matter.  Bernie Sanders is leading Hillary now in New Hampshire and is close to her in Iowa.  People have a theory that Bernie Sanders will or has “peaked” because once all the progressives discover he’s out there- - he will reach a natural ceiling.  Others say that hard campaigning like in New Hampshire will continue to raise his poll numbers..

The judge in the Tom Brady “deflate-gate” case is leaning hard on the NFL because they may have over-charged - - made allegations they can’t prove.  This Judged ignored the fact the reason why there is so little evidence is because Brady destroyed his cell phone.  I didn’t know just how long the period was.  The first game Brady will be able to play is deep into the season on October 18^th.  This is partially because the season starts later this year, and there also must be a bye week in there someplace.  I’m on the fence on this one.  I haven’t decided.

Former President Jimmy Carter has cancer.  The cancer started in his liver and has now spread to other parts of the body.  I think Glenda has the same condition.  Carter is 91 so he was the first president to be just younger than Dad by a few months.  We wish him well.  Carter is the most moral president we’ve ever had, something the Christian community conveniently forgets.  He has worked tirelessly for habitat for humanity and has written a lot of books, including his later one, “A Full Life” or something.  They showed clips from his carrier as though they were reviewing the life of someone who had just passed on.

Donald Trump brags he's the only republican candidate running that was against the Iraq War when the war was being discussed.  Bernie voted against the war; Hillary voted for the war.  It would be funny that on health issues and women's issues- - that Trump actually ended up garnering the most votes from women on the Republican side.  Judy doesn't like Trump and it's understandable that anybody would question Trump's "presidential timber" for running his mouth the way he does.  The mantra is repeated now by the media (and they've played all the clips) that "Trump isn't specific on issues".  But often the Media will run away with a catch phrase or sequence of words- - and they play the same words by ten or twelve sources almost as if they'd all been written by a master script writer.   Trump answered the charges saying that when you "take on" a business or plan a deal- - you have to be sensitive to the pulse of the moment and read other people and constantly reassess and revise your plans.  You can't walk in there with a bunch of ten step Dr Levy notes that will guarantee you a victory.  If it were me- - I have specific ideas what I'd do.  So what does Donald Trump think of MY ideas?

Jesus was the ultimate hyper-legalist.  Jesus said for everyone to tithe ten percent, which is something the Apostle Paul never officially required.  Jesus taught that if you marry a divorced woman, both she and you are guilty of adultery.  Also if you merely look at a woman lustfully you are guilty of adultery.  Jesus taught if you were angry at someone without cause, or even call them a name, you are guilty of damnation and hell fire.  It’s utterly ludicris to suppose that Jesus of the Bible would go along with either homosexuality or abortion.  In fact the ONLY area where Jesus went against the law was in constant skirmishes about keeping the Sabbath.  Jesus never condemned the Sanhedrin or claimed they had no right to judge him.  Jesus, if you will remember said not one point of the OT law would pass away without “all things being accomplished”.   This is the “Syrian Church” view of the law.  Jesus never condemned the Priests per see.  He condemned the pharicees and scribes and doctors of the law.  But remember Jesus said “When you are cured of leporacy, show yourself to the Priest as the law requires.”  Justin Martyr was the spokesman for this type of legalism.  Justin never spoke of a bodily resurrection from a tomb, or a rolling stone.  He always made it spiritual.   The other wing of Christianity was Marcionite Christianity, which came against “The Law”.

 We had dense vegetable soup for lunch but not the creamy variety we’ve been having.  We had home made pizza with a green salad and honeydew for dessert.  I’m not aware of seconds.  I had Shawn Hannity on.  I intended to go to the front room and sit there for a while till Dr Levy’s class.  However the eye doctor was still in there.  Once again I had failed to get my name on the list even though it’s been seven years.  (2008)  I informed Dr Levy that I had finally gotten a letter from Tim in an E mail.  Dr Levy said he received it.  Tim gave me his number but otherwise indicated he hadn’t tried to contact Dr Levy.  Dr Levy said he hadn’t been contacted by Tim.  We talked on Creative Aging for the millionth time and contrary to what was said last week, we were not given a choice in the matter.  But class participation was good even while Sarah and Augustine were there.  We met in the back TV room.  Joe and David left.  Lishia showed up and sat next to me though it was a tight squeeze on that couch.  Dr Levy worked off his notes the whole time and we were given an outline I recognize portions of from before.  I did not have the opportunity to bring up how desperate I was to get money.  There was no “check in”.  Teresa was in this class.  We broke up at a quarter till two keeping the class short.  I went out back.  I got two glasses of iced tea from Dora in the courtyard- - and for once there were no classes she had to dart off to with the cart. Then I finally got around to putting away the clean clothes.  Everything was there.

My name was called for seeing Dr Messina.  I caught the line when there was just one person (Larry Barton) in with the doctor.  I brought up dropping the Celexa because it did me no good at all and suggested switching to an entirely different drug as Dr Levy had hinted about the week before.  I asked about a nicotine substitute such as Zyban or Chantex.  Dr Messina said of the two he thinks Chantex is better but “In you it could cause side effects”.  He also said that perhaps I’m not giving the increased Celexa a chance to work.  He raised it from 20 to 30 mg, so it was not doubled.  He said that the money problems I had mentioned and the fact I was getting less coffee now - - were “external factors” and “When things improve in your life then the full effect of the drug will kick in and you’ll feel a lot better.  I disagree of course because the money situation has been getting steadily worse on an almost downward straight line for eight years now (since late summer of 2007 when I got my last rebate check.  Lishia will be leaving on Friday and Phyllis may be taking the cat when she leaves, though she said Yadera might take the cat as a pet.  Glenda is leaving here also because she and Andrew are getting married soon.  I didn’t know that.  So the visit wasn’t exactly a “success”.  I decided not to turn on Norman Goldman or the computer at all but turned on “Millionaire” on KABC for the second half of the game, and watched the first half of “Jeopardy” before I decided to hang out outside.  We had baked chicken not prepared in any fancy way.  I started with two drumsticks, and got a third one from Dora.  We also had sliced potatoes (not exactly “scalloped”) and broccoli with orange Jell-O for dessert.  Bill had fed the cat his chicken and she was already done by the time I got out there.  Later the cat came back looking for more food.

Why Mass Protests Don't Work These Days

This video on Washington’s Blog is singing my song.  He says that protests of the sort of classic sort- - don’t work any more.   He divides the causes of successful revolution into four categories.  One is the classic protest movement, which is called volunteerism in this essay.  But there have been some of the largest protests in the world that have done nothing to effect world change.  So Thom Hartman’s basic premise is wrong.  Thom was wrong in 2008 when he said that “Revolution comes from outside of government” and the theory is Barock Obama won over Hillary because Hillary preached that “For every Martin Luther King, you need a Lyndon Johnson to carry the vision through- - to bring it to fruition.  I was in agreement with Hillary on this issue and came to believe as the 2008 campaign unfolded that Hillary was the better candidate BECAUSE she was an insider and knew how to work with congress and knock heads.  (There is a lot I know now that I didn’t know then)  Of course “Occupy Wall Street” was a major failure.  The media didn’t cover it and the people simply gave up protesting.  The winter was coming on and there was talk of “even bigger protests in the spring”.  Those never happened.  Even Dodd Frank passed BEFORE the fall of 2011 - - was never put into full effect.  I only wish that it had.  Apparently there was a February 15^th 2003 world wide protest that was supposed to ut a stop to the Iraq War before it started.  But there are three other ways Revolutions can be successful.  One is - - changes in climate.  There are floods and droughts which can be remarkable molders of popular opinion in terms that measures government should take.  Then there is the Wayne Dyre method of just sit back and meditate and “Imagine the dream you have into Reality”.  They say “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at - - - Change - - before your eyes.  The final method of successful revolution is something like Christianity’s spread throughout the world.  It’s just considered “An act of God” or miracle, if you will.   We in the Federation would consider it a fifth dimensional standing energy wave intervention.  That is - - energy from another Universe gets trans-muted into this world we see.

 I had Norman Goldman on from three to four.  I would have handled that “Black lives matter” call differently from the way Norman did.   I would have demonstrated my belief in free speech by letting the guy speak his peace and then responded.  Norman was combative with this caller from the git go.  The plain truth is that protests that used to work fifty years ago don’t work today.  People have developed resistance to them.  The media doesn’t cover them and people’s beliefs are so hardened as some sign of machoness that nobody changes their minds.  I agree with the “producing discomfort” part but you don’t attack people who are on your side.  In this I agree with Norman.  Norman says the four right wing publications he reads every day are the National Review,  Brite Bart, The Drudge Report, and a thing called Red States dot com.   This Eric Erickson guy was the one who made it a point to say he wouldn’t invite Trump to any debates.  I think he’s trying to purge the party of outside influences and make sure every single candidate marches in lock step to the Koch Brothers’ beat.  Hartman says the health or one or both of them is in question and rather than repent of their deeds like Lee Atwater did, their notion is to double down and do as much damage as they can before they kick the can.  So they are “troopers to the end” for their cause.

[we join the paragraph in progress]  - - - We had mixed fruit for dessert.  I asked for and got more black coffee following Fernando’s lead since the cup was just half full.  They had sugar for the tea drinkers and even I, with lemonade, was asked if I wanted some sugar.  Shawn Hannity was on from twelve to one and I picked up after two and at that time Shawn had a lady guest from Assyrian Christians association.  She reminded me of that Star Wars scene where the holograph says “Help me Obe Juan Kenobe before it’s too late”.   She thinks the US has betrayed Syrian Christians and that groups pledge to protect the Christians have instead slaughtered them.  She named the Kurds in this.  While the Syrian Church dates back to the second (not the first) century in my book- - the Kurds have this strange religion which is a combination of Zoroastrianism and Judahism, which goes back many centuries earlier.  Bones said “She’s lying.  And she has her own agenda.  Everybody has an agenda”.   If the situation is as she says, I can’t imagine the media blacking out all news reports of Christians being “abandoned”.

Though Iran has been ruled by its Shiite clerics ever since the 1979 overthrow of the 1953 American-installed stooge there (the Shah), Shiia Islam is opposed to Islamic jihad, which is a strong component of Sunni Islam, including of the various Sunni sects that have been trying to overthrow the Shiia ruler of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who is a member of the Alawite Shiia community.   Islamic jihad is based upon the Sunni emphasis on there being only one acceptable source of law, the Quran, and the Sunnah that’s based on the Quran (thus “Sunni”), and the Ulema that’s based on the Sunnah. Thus, Sunni Islam is itself based upon the conviction that there is no other valid basis for laws than Allah, or “God” as it’s called in the West. (The way the fundamentalist Roman Catholic Antonin Scalia put it is that “government, however you want to limit that concept, derives its moral authority from God.”)  With this as the foundation of Sunni Islamic nations, there is necessarily a conflict between the government and the clergy if a given Sunni nation, or actually its aristocracy (the people who hold the real power over the government), tries (unlike people such as Scalia) to base the given nation’s laws upon anything else than religious Scripture, such as upon a secular constitution, or upon some different religion’s holy Scripture or body of beliefs. (It’s one reason why many Sunnis have difficulty integrating into European or other non-Islamic-majority nations. Whereas Christian-majority nations tend to be secular, a Sunni-majority nation cannot be — that’s a profoundly different type of culture.) One result of this fact is that Sunni nations don’t merely require their own laws to comply with the Quran and its various traditions of clergy, but they also demand that other nations base their laws upon the Quran — thus, for example, the “Caliphate.”  This is the reason why Sunni Islam is often referred to as “the orthodox version of the religion.” Just as in fundamentalist (or “orthodox”) versions of Christianity, Judaism, and other religions, the fundamentalist version of Islam demands that the government derive all of its laws from its religion’s canonized Scripture, which is the Quran. (In a fundamentalist-Christian nation, it would be the Bible.)

By contrast, Shiia Islam is far more tolerant of non-sectarian (i.e. “secular”) bases for the laws, such as, in the United States, the U.S. Constitution. (“We, the People,” are sovereign here; no “God” is even so much as mentioned, notwithstanding Scalia’s particular theological conviction.)  Russia is (like the U.S.) a secular nation, one whose Constitution is no particular religious Scripture, but is instead, entirely and avowedly, “Man-made” or derived from humans, instead of from some supposedly inerrant “God” (or “Allah”) as embodied in that deity’s supposedly inerrant (and therefore non-amendable, unlike a constitutional republic) Scripture. The real basis for the laws in a Sunni Islamic republic is the Quran (and the Quran, of course, cannot be amended). A Shiite Islamic republic (such as Iran) is less extreme, even when a fundamentalist such as Khamenei is in charge, and the reason for this is that the sect itself is less fundamentalist: it doesn’t have the religious-imperialistic feature built-into it. The Sunni center, Saudi Arabia — specifically Mecca — is the center of all Islam, but only for Sunnis can it be also the center of global empire. For Shiias, it can only be the religious center, never the center of government.

Are Political Parties Really Dictatorships?

The latest buzz is some people think Carley Feurina is a trans sexual, she's really a man.  After all how else are they going to get a woman to be in a Republican debate?  But I"d like to address this thing with Donald Trump.  The Republican establishment meaning Reinz Previs- - wants Trump OUT of all future debates.  They like the fact that Trump brings the other candidates ratings they'd never get in terms of TV viewing.  You can't buy that kind of media exposure.  So the other candidates don't want Trump out of the debates because they get to portray themselves as "the sane ones".  But Reinz Previs and that other joker who wouldn't let Trump appear in the next debate- - see Trump as dangerous, and that "There has to be a way to steal all of Trump's supporters and tap into all that negative bigoted energy- - and have all that "negative emotion" be applied to some other candidate such as Marco Rubio.  People are returning to saying that Marco Rubio looks like the best candidate now to be the standard bearer.  In terms of the scuffle with Megan Kelly- - trump said "Blood coming out of her eyes or from - - wherever" and everybody thought they were referring to Megan Kelly having a bad period or something.  Trump said "Only a deviate would think of something like that".  Of course the word "Deviar" is a Romulan word for self indulgence, and a Deviate or Divertado- - is some good time Charlie sex, drugs and rock and roll kind of guy.  The word may have in its roots deviating from the holier than thou Christian straight and narrow.  Personally I think Trump is Irreplaceable because he has other attributes on trade and sound negotiating- - and that "business sense" that other candidates can't duplicate.  Trump's appeal transcends a particular point on the political spectrum.   But at times Trump can suffer from an excessive dose of frank honesty.  You aren't supposed to speak so blatantly about buying votes and influence with your money but Trump speaks matter of factly about donating to the Clintons and all.  Clearly Trump wants to throw the race to Hillary Clinton just as Ross Perot's presence on the ticket in 1992 turned the race tword Bill Clinton, and I voted for Ross Perot.

In terms of the Iranian nuclear treaty I may be having second thoughts on my approval of the treaty.  I keep going back and forth on the subject.  But that's what the sixty day discussion and review period is for.  We don't have to make up our minds right this minutes.  We have sixty days to roll the topic around and discuss it from all aspects.  I respect Chuck Schummer.  If Schummer comes out against the deal I want to know all the reasons why.  The only thing I've heard is "I'm still afraid that Iran will never change".  He has a point.  Iran may NOT change but go back to their sneaky ways.  But now the Democratic party wants to punish Schummer by denying the natural right to be the next Senate Majority leader.  President Obama didn't take Chuck Schummer's decent well at all.  President Obama wants everything his way and he considers it almost an afterthought whether congress or the American people agree with him.  His point of view is "Your President knows best, both on this anti nuclear treaty and on the trans Pacific partnership".   President wants to stampede issues through such as on immigration.  He issues these executive orders and thinks because he's the President he can get anything done by doing end runs around the usual governmental processes.

The topic has come up about the Korean War and one blog suggests that the Korean War has really been going on seventy years, since the final shots of WW II were fired.  I don't see why we couldn't have let General Mac Arthur just go on and "prosecute" the war in his own way.  He was having success in going right past the 38th parrellel and going right up to the Chinese border.  Then the top brass told him to cease and desist.  And suddenly he begins losing ground.  If we had let Douglas Mac Arthur bomb the military supply lines he wanted to take out- - we might have an entirely free Korea today.  But people back in 1950 were afraid that China might get the Atom Bomb from Russia and use it on Americans.  But there were people in this country who passed military secrets on the Atomic Bomb to the Soviets so they got it years before they otherwise would, and as far as I know- - these parties have never been prosecuted for that act.  It's as though our foreign policy had a suicide urge or something.  The blog talks a lot about how many bombs were dropped in Korea.  But the bombs would have been put to better use- - had a better outcome, if the entire peninsula of Korea were free of communist control and that way there would be no North Korea today and with it - -there would be no nuclear threat from North Korea.

On a personal note- - - Dr Levy has made a reappearence around here after nearly eight months and then pick up as though nothing had changed in nearly eight months.  But with Dr Levy it's like seeing an ex wife again after an absence and maybe it's an argument over custody of the kids or whatever.  But you look at her and wonder whatever it is you saw in her that made you want to marry her in the first place.  She's like Clowie on Days of our Lives.  She stirs up a lot of memories you'd just soon not re-live.  You're a little older and wiser and have less tollerance for all of the bullshit you used to be expose to from her.  Because it's not as though things were perfect when Dr Levy left.  The farthest thing from it.  The class was floundering around directionless.  I've mentioned that in some ways Dr Levy has a very shallow personality.  You've gotten good and tired of the "stuff" Dr Levy does.  You can stay tuned for this little Soap Opera chapter.  He made an appearence out of the blue last Wednesday and he will be back this Wednesday.

Trump May Run As a Third Party

Let’s talk about last night’s debate even though I was forced to sit it out because I don’t have cable.  Thom Hartman alledges that FOX news “set up” Donald Trump to run for a third party by antagonizing him and stirring up his supporters into more of a frenzy than they already are, because statistically right wing outlets do better with a Democrat in the White House.  There’s showing it now that Trump was the only candidate who refused to pledge to support the Republican Candidate.  Trump said “I pledge to support the republican candidate if I’m that candidate”.   The FOX reporters were hard on Trump.  They mentioned the Bill Clinton phone call.  Some said “Trump is hedging his bets”, so he donates to democrats.  And Megan Kelly mentioned about Trump’s hostile references to women over the years speaking in sexually very off color terms.   Rand Paul and Chris Christie squared off on the fourth amendment, with Christie saying that Paul was soft on terrorism.  Christie wants to investigate every American whether they have probable cause or not.  Thom Hartman said “Rand Paul lost because he comes off as rather squirrely”.   Carly Feurina won the “kiddy table” debate because she referenced Bill Clinton’s phone call to Trump, and some say “Feurina and Rick Perry may be promoted to the adult table next time.  Bush and Walker were playing “not to lose” and I haven’t heard any quote from Jebbers.  Scott Walker said he would not allow an abortion even to save the life of the mother but that the life of the fetus is more important.  John Kesech talked about compassion for gay people- - and compassion is what the Republican party needs, and got applause.  Many people say Trump was on the defensive and that Trump is declaring war on Megan Kelly.  Pundits say “The winner of the debate was FOX news”.  FOX news reporters were especially hard on the debaters at the kiddy table early debate.  Lindsey Gram made some pretty solid statements in terms of having a hard line and pro war foreign policy.  This “No quarter – take no prisoners” foreign policy is something many including Trump and Shawn Hannity can agree on.  But there was a host of questions that apparently weren’t asked at all.  There was nothing on trade policies, or economic income equality, or global warming, or “Black lives matter”,   And there were no express question on election financing reform or Citizen’s United.  And apparently Donald Trump was shielded from questions about religion, as though his answer might not be pleasing to this right wing crowd.   Ben Carson and Huckibee complained that they hardly got time to say anything at all.  The decision was made to place the candidates with the higher poll numbers at the middle of the table and these would be Bush and Trump.

  One posting in Washington's blog was saying Israel has NEVER been a democracy, and it referenced another that I read going into the history of Israel calling itself “Jewish” but neither a “Republic” nor a “democracy” because they just don’t like those words and are incompatible with the Jewish notion of theocracy- - believe it or not.  I would add to these observations that they engaged in scare tactics in the last election stampeding conservatives to vote because they said "Arabs are being bussed in to vote".   If you're lucky enough to actually be an Israeli citizen it's OK if you're an Arab, I guess.  But nobody is talking about a "One state solution" because that would mean that all the occupied peoples on the West Bank and Gaza- - would be full fledged citizens and have the right to vote, and this would obviously be an intollerable state.   No candidate, even Netanyahu, wins a majority of the vote as it is- - and having Palestinians voting would insure that people like the current Prine Minister would never win another election, otherwise known as the Dick Chaney of the Mideast.  But it is odd you never hear the phrase "The Republic of Israel" and I'm wondering why.  Israel is also developing a concentration of wealth at the top problem and twenty families control half of the government.  There was another blog on how President Obama has crafted and orchestrated the hostility the whole world feels toward Russia now, and certainly since his reelection in 2012 the President has worked tirelessly to get people in this country to hate and distrust Russia.  And he has certainly succeeded.  But if I lived in Ukraine I’d just must to myself “Thank God it was Russia that Obama set his sights on and not us, because the President could have just as early found reasons to hate us”.  I imagine this is what people like Bones are saying.  One GW blog talked about Bernie Sanders and his scant references to the military and the DOD on his web sites.  Someone said “It’s as though 54% of the discretionary budget did not exist.”  OK.