TWO CONFLICTING COSMIC VIEWS

The partisan polarity continues. Yesterday the economic stimulus bill passed in the House strictly along party lines. Not a single Republican house member voted for it. Clearly the Republicans are not heeding Obama's words to try and work together. This is dug in trench warfare, but thank God we are on the winning side. Eric Holder's name is working its way through the Congressional approval process and it looks like as of now that Obama will have the attorney general he wants. Once again people like Randi Rhodes and myself lament that a possible deal has been cut so that Holder will promise not to look into the misdeeds of the Bush Adminestration. As of now, Karl Rove is scheduled to testify before some congressional committee on February 2nd. about the Don Siegelman affair. This is a guy who was maliciously prosecuted by the Bush Adminestration for strictly political reasons. People would like to think that History has turned a page. But now we still have Rush Limbaugh to worry about. Rush Limbaugh is more political and polarizing now than he has ever been in the past, certainly more than he was at this equivelent period of the Clinton Adminestration where I and others still regarded him as an "entertainer". He was funny and cute to listen to. But now charges have been raised that Rush Limbaugh is a paid shill for various Corporations. Certain large corporations have engaged in a latter day "payola" scandal where they pay Rush Limbaugh money to affect his "independant analisis" of the world today and the role of corporations in it. I don't know what legal precident there is to bring Rush Limbaugh up on any charges, but people like Randi Rhodes and myself would sure like to know. What we have today is two entirely different world views of "The Way Things Ought to Be". Because in a world I envision, CEO's of big banks don't get bonuses from the money congress appropiated to help out the poor with their mortgage defaults. This to me seems flat out immoral under any yardstick. People will rage against the poor getting food stamps, but food stamps help out the economy and for every dollar of stimulus here- -it reaps dividends in the economy of a dollar seventy or something. So even if you're morally against the poor getting decent food, you should be glad that the economy is being helped. Rush gets paid a hundred million in salary, apparently, and essentially all Rush Limbaugh talks or thinks about is preserving his own pampered way of life with his women, his viagara and his Oxy Conten. I don't think he can continue to stay on the radio much longer once the non rich, who happened to have bought into Conservative right wing doctrine, figure out just what Rush Limbaugh's idea of Nirvana is. It's pointed out that conservatives of a previous era such as Barry Goldwater, would never gone for such a wholesale program of Walfare for the Rich. Thom Hartman says he once flirted with libertarian doctrine, untill he saw its moral pitfalls and economic impracticalities.

Some people such as Christians would look at the Poor who call for some sort of economic relief and their other misfortunes and just say "They only suffer on account of their sin. Because God has nothing to do with people suffering the natural consequences of their acts". First of all I defy you to say there is anything "natural" about our economic situation today. But also there is a new breed of Christian today who thinks that the sermon on the mount is an evil hericy. Back in mid 1981, Gene Scott began a rant against Cecil Rhodes and his "Sermon on the Mount" political views. This is the same Cecil Rhodes who is responsable for the Rhodes scollarships, which Bill Clinton got, and also I believe for "Rhodesia". John Kennedy in a speech once said, "If a society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich". Most people when you talk about "Religion", certain concepts come into their minds. They think of a whole supernatural realm- - a whole unseen "cosmos" out there and that sin and the consequences of sin are all tied up in these supernatural karmic forces. But Jesus of KFI as you know is virtually devoid of any belief in supernatural forces. So the idea to him of getting a "fresh start" with a "clean slate" because you got Baptized - is alien to him. If you tell him your personal problems, which these days are more than likely economic, he will shrug his shoulders and go "It's just the natural consequences of your act and God has nothing to do with that. But you or I would say, "Yeah but if God is God he sees everything. He sees the seen world and he also sees the unseen world. After all He created the visable and the invisable. And if sin could be "seen" then God sees that. God even sees the sin of those pastors and radio commentators who think they are perfect. Many people such as the Maharishi believe in the Teological view of creation. That is the idea that there Exists an Ideal state of the Universe. I have in the past used the image of the plackard held up at a football stadium where if you get enough of them showing, people are actually able to read the message, and as more people put their plackards up the message becomes clearer and clearer. And yet there are certain lines in scripture Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Ted Haggard and whoever take solice in. Because these passages say that we are to HATE the Cosmos. This is not only hatred of the physical matter of the world, but hatred of the whole Universe- - everything that God created- - even "The Heavenlies" themselves. People sometimes speak of getting "religion" as "becomming more spiritual". Not Jesus of KFI, but traditionally- - people look to this higher dimension of viewing the cosmos. But there is a scripture that also says we are to have emnity against the "powers of the air". This isn't refering to birds, but rather the "spirutual realms" - supernatural entities- - spirits, angels, ect. in general. Rush Limbaugh said once he was never going to use the phraise "The Planet" because Green people use this. People who love the planet are at emnity against "What's Right for America" according to some people. These people may speak of "consequences for actions" but they also look at certain groups like the poor, the blacks, those with AIDs, and see not people but "corrupt states of being" that one is to purge himself from contact with. If you are "the poor" you are not a person in need of compassion but you are "one of them" who is out to "corrupt your way of life". As such being Rich is seen as almost a Holy State of Virtue. In the eutopia of Rush Limbaugh the world is populated only by that one tenth of one percent- - the Ultra Rich. Nobody else matters- - not those people working sixty and seventy hour weeks to make ends meet, not small businessmen, not nobody. Only Themselves. (Selah)

FINISHING WHAT YOU STARTED

Well now it's come to "when push comes to shove" time in congress. There is a showdown on the long awaited Obama economic stimulus package of some 825 Billion. Obama met with Republicans yesterday not because he needs their support for the thing to pass, but because he wanted to appear "bi-partisan". Of course Republicans are not above spreading roomers. The big one seems to be that this stimulous package won't work because it doesn't get enough money to the right people soon enough. It's said that construction project funding won't be "shovel ready" for a year and perhaps longer and that it could be several years before all of this money is appropiated to where it should go. If this is the case then it's time we get moving on it now because every day of delay is a wasted day. At World Net Daily they are saying- - - or that guy "Reishshsh" is saying- - that they want to give out construction jobs to blacks who are not qualified so that when all these freeways and bridges do get built they will collapse due to faulty workmanship. If there is "good news" for these Republicans is that most economists see no light at the end of the economic tunnel and that each passing day brings new bad news, of problems that wern't there yesterday. They say that this recession will take up most of Obama's first term. I don't know how we're going to pay for it. When the bill comes due things will only be worse in the future than they otherwise would be.

Last night on a CNN channel, congress was debating this bill to forstall the ending of analog TV as we have known it all these years. After being told of this February 17th 2009 date now for over three years they want to extend it to June 12th. But the fact is I think the US population has been more than warned in advance, and there is no guarentee that one delay of date won't lead to another and then another. People will think the government is not serious if they keep delaying things. Meanwhile police and fire and other emergency services are empariled. They need these frequencies in the low one hundreds MC band. They've been counting on these frequencies opening up and don't see why they should have to wait for June. This delay will engender more confusion. So I say let's stick to the original February 17th. 2009 date.

This whole elephant exhibit thing at the LA Zoo is another example of not finishing what you started. There is an elephant exhibit half built and now they want to cancel the project under the rationalization that there "should be no elephants in zoos". Of course the cancelation of the exhibit that is already under construction, will only result in the sheer waste of millions of dollars. Governments waste enough money as it is- - and I say "Why should they waste even more". The children of LA deserve to be able to go to their Zoo and see an elephant.

On a personal front, I am re-thinking my position about quitting smoking. Not smoking would sure solve a lot of problems. Now people I borrow fron want to be paid back in cigarettes that costs me almost double the price of these cigarillos I've been smoking lately. It's like God somehow stirring up hostility with people whom I used to consider friends, but now I'm considering them only people to avoid. If they're like my family, even if I pay them everything they say I owe them (and even that is in dispute) and our debt is settled beyond anyone's dispute- - - they won't remember that the "issue" has been settled, all they will remember is that it was once an issue and so still must be now.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a copy of the video game "Left Behind" to install in my computer. I haven't done it yet, because this "role playing" game seems really complicated, and even the book that comes along with it I can't understand. But "2010" is sort of a mystic, fantasy year in other ways. It's the year of the "2010" novel and movie. That's when the moon "Europa" was declared off limits to humanity and belongs exclusive to "God" or whoever. The thing is the Federation actually says the same thing. "2010" is also another "Year of the Beast" on the Satanic callendar. These come in 28 year cycles. The previous two years, 1954 and 1982 were marked by sharp economic upturns soon after though the years themselves came in an economic troff. There are fundamentalists who said that all the "rock and roll demons" descended on earth in the year 1954 even though Rock had been around a couple of years. This whole "Beam me up, Scottie" thing is a nice fantasy. A lot of us would like to call out to some Force and say "Take me away!" You know, "What to get away?" As you know around Columbus Day of 2010 is when I set a probable date 42 months earlier in 2007. This whole "rapture of the faithful" or whatever belief stems from some mystery passages in the Bible where it ways "Two men will be in the field, one taken and one left". It goes on to talk about two women grinding at the mill, or a married couple (presumably) in a bed and one taken and the other left. I've never heard what the "traditional theological position" is with these passages. Maybe they were just put there to blow our minds because some Church Father thought we needed sometying mysterious we couldn't understand, in the Bible.

TEAR DOWN THESE BARRICADES!

We’re using the same color scheme as we used back in early April of 2005 in the file “Exposed”, I believe was the title. People don’t like it when their way of life is infringed on or their freedoms impaired. Israel has made being a Palintinian on the West Bank’s life virtually intolerable what with all their armed men stationed in apartments and all the various walls they have erected to slice up the West Bank like a flank steak, and all the check points the Palistinians have to go through just to visit a relative in the next town. One man who lived all his life in Jerusalem moved away to a city just ten miles distant, and now he can’t go back to Jerusalem. The troops funnel all the water and other needed supplies to the Jewish settelers and the Palintinians get what’s left over, if anything. They say that in Israel they will soon be down to three equally unpleasant alternatives. Since the Palistinian population will soon be a majority in Israel, they will be able to accomplish something they’ve never done before, and that is to win at the ballot box. Democracy will be their new found best friend, just as it was when the people of Gaza elected Hammas. Suddenly the Bushies don’t see democracy for the Arab race in such rosey hues. The next alternative is racial genocide. Will Israel like Sudan suddenly discover “ethnic clensing” as a needed tool to help restore order in the land? This seems unthinkable. The third alternative, and the one they will probably settle on is the one Jimmy Carter talked about in his book, Apartheid. They have de-facto apartheid in Israel now. They consider it a security breech to let your own children return to your own house after school. Perhaps Hammas “got to them” while they were away. When you talk to these Jewish settlers they say it’s no matter to them is the Army will remove some settlements as part of some peace treaty. They will opt for civil disobedience and rebuild and say “They’re going to have mutiny in the army if this keeps up”. But the Army will tear down Arab buildings erected in Israel proper. The army has no moral scruples about that. Basically what the bottom line is is that Peace is now Impossible and Obama is just whistling Dixie if he thinks he can make a few phone calls on Inoguration Day and get the ball rolling for peace. Of course the Arabs as a people are becoming disillusioned with Obama any how calling him a “House negro”, spelled N I G G E R. Blacks throughout the ages have at times done the bidding of the White Man thinking that somehow they would receive some special compensation or notice, like Edward G Robinson in “The Ten Commandments” who bragged that he got where he was today by “bowing lower than his brethren”. Of course you know this whole Gaza thing is a little smelly anyhow. When you see kill ratios upwards of a thousand to one or what not it ceases to be war, and now falls under the umbrella of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by the Israel government. Sometimes people go to pains to ignore the obvious.

But I wasn’t going to talk about that when I started the paragraph. You know people like their jobs and when they lose a job that’s supported their way of life and who they are as a person they begin to question their own manhood. Howard Beale in the movie Network was scheduled to be fired in September of 1975 but on his next to the last broadcast announced over the air that he was going to Kill Himself. But then he negotiated getting back on the air, where he spent several nightly broadcasts talking about “Bullshit” on the air. This phenomenon lasted for a week or so and the people soon grew tired of it. That’s when he came up with this “Last night at 2:30 in the morning God came to me and told me my mission” bit, and Howard was off and running. Last night after it was dark I was out on the patio. I was out of cigarettes and needed to borrow my first one for the week. I found getting cigarettes this week was no easy feat. I was lectured by Nancy and Marsha about “running out of cigarettes so soon”. But I eventually got one. We were talking about Raymond and I said he hadn’t been eating well and I hope his lung cancer isn’t getting worse. When Nancy chimes in about [name withheld to protect the guilty] and how she’s now selling cigarettes for $3.50 a pack, which is more than I’m paying. And that she’s “giving up smoking”. The question is is [name withheld] also giving up sex? Nancy chimed in with the remark about “[name withheld] has gone through all the men in this place” and she rattled off a number of names, and I could have added one more to her list. But in this case it’s no disgrace not to be on “Schindler’s List”. [name withheld] is so devoid of the usual feminine charm I have no idea why anybody would want to have sex with her. Her breasts are her sole attribute. But this morning after breakfast I was again with Marsha and Nancy on the patio. I needed another cigarette. Marsha said she would give me one but that I’d have to pay her back in cash. That means a quarter for every one I borrow. I haven’t got that kind of money. This is a “change in terms” that doesn’t sit well with me. How am I going to get through the next day?” Life in this place is so depressing that if you don’t smoke, what do you do? I could get Dr. Messina to put me on Zyban or some other anti-depressent like Zoloft or something. But then there is a situation of people being “too depressed to comit suicide” and when they pop a pill they “find the strength” to do what they’ve wanted to do all along. I wish I had the “Eternity option”. My current religious beliefs prevent me from seeing Eternity as a way out. Back on August 11^th. 1991 I remember thinking that suicide seemed like a romantic notion. You’re saying “You’re not going to commit suicide over a pack of cigarettes are you?” Lamentably not. What is that line in the Declaration of Independence? “People are inclined to endure injustices and slights – while such injustices are Endurable”. (Selah)

Then we have the town of Wilmington on Sixty Minutes where all these people who worked for one German shipping corporation were thrown out of work. It’s as though the entire town of Wilmington were in economic mourning. Maybe they could get jobs as census takers. I hear there are positions opening up next year. And then we have the red wine drug and “The French paradox”. And now there is this drug that sounds like resperidol, but it’s got a V in it somewhere. Anyhow this drug has the mystery ingredient in red wine concentrated a thousand times stronger, and when people take the pills their life expectancy is extended by twenty years. They develop none of the diseases of old age and when they do die, they slip away peacefully in bed. This drug apparently can’t be had merely by eating the grapes the red wine is produced from. Apparently the substance is on the skin of the grape and helps repel insects. They say the drug turns on the “survival gene” in the body, so that even fat mice are much more physically fit and can endure the treadmill longer. Now, the same effect can be achieved by starving yourself so that you are perpetually hungry. I’ve given up alcohol and smoking and sex, and now I’m being pressured to give up food? I don’t think so. Could it be that science has indeed found the “Youth drug” that just might even overtake Viagara in initial sales figures? You never get diabetes or high blood pressure or cholesterol or any of the diseases of the heart. Maybe this pill is something that your children will take as a matter of course, like the Sabin vaccine for polio. You will have grammar school kids lining up- - and maybe they will look like Flintstones vitamins.

Sometimes they want to pass people off as nuts when you were “best buds” with them only yesterday. Like Lisa Simpson with that British little girl, who together wrote a novel about the land of “Equalia”, which is sort of a Thomas Moore Utopia. Perhaps I do that with you-know-who. Yes I will listen to them and yes I will admire their imagination but then again- - I’m really not that hot on reading too much of what they have written in the way of stories. Now people are saying Blogoiavitch is a little off his rocker if he thinks that merely bocotting his own Impeachment in Illinois that he can “make a statement” about his case being like Gandhi or Martin Luther King. I think there are such things as sacrificial lambs. These are people who are sacrificed in some form of token justice where we ourselves know darn well we are guilty of the same thing. (Selah)

The Reigellian alphabet is kind of a short, curly looking but jagged line script with enough parellels English - that, like Greek font on Microsoft, it has been trans-litterated into English sounds and letters by Sirius A. The chief conflict talked about the most is the reversal of the I and E verses E before I rules. Romulans pronounce "ie" as an "Eeee" sound and "ei" as an "I" sound. The Reigellians do it in reverse and when the Federation spells a word they use the Reigellian syntax. (Dardanian writing is much less easy to learn) Both Reigellians and the Sirius B star people have that "green blood" because of the copper compounds in the blood. Both are cold blooded. The Romulans use semaphore the same way we (Earth) do but the Sirius A has the exact same code bit it's exactly in reverse. I've been notified that the Reigellians say that "Little Badgad" in Anaheim has had zero impact on the "terriestrial realm" as they refer to it, of the local Reigellians. We use "terriestrial real" in a similar manner to how Sylvia Browne uses "earth-bound spirits". In terms of Lisa Simpson's name "Equalia" as you know I'm a fan of "ballance" in spirit. There is no real connection to Geddy Lee's use of the term "Ballance". There is a Cygnus "star system" as they label themselves, that has a reputation for a fierce military and they and the Federation try to stay out of the way of each other.

Thom Hartman today was reviewing the Two Santa Clause theory. You of course remember the skit of George Carlin’s “Ice Box Man” how putting away leftovers gives you two separate good feelings. First you say “I’m saving food”, and three weeks later when the food is reeking to high heaven and growing a half inch of mold, you get a second good feeling when you throw it away, “I’m saving my life!” Well in the “Two Santa Clause Theory” by Jude Waniski in 1974 the Republicans needed a way to sell old fashioned Hoover economics in the modern world without appearing to be laughable reactionaries. The theory goes that Republicans can cut taxes- - AND give the people everything the democrats were promising them, and then some. Then when the democrats come into power as with Bill Clinton they will be in the role of Scrooge by having to cut things like Welfare and also be in the position of raising taxes to cover the deficit. The hope of George Bush in spending like a drunken sailor (in insult to drunken sailors everywhere) was that Berock Obama would find the nation so bankrupt when he came into power that he again would have to be put in the role of a Scrooge and a Humbug and as such the people would become disillusioned with him.

MAKING YOUR WILL THE LAW OF THE LAND

You all remember the conversation George W Bush had back in Texas in 1999 before he ran for President. He said "My father invaded Iraq and had all this political capital and squandered it. If I ever get elected President, I'm going to use my political capital and have a successful outcome", referring to invading Iraq. One wonders what Obama is going to do with his political capital. Suppose God appeared to you and handed you a book of blank checks issued by the Bank of Heaven and each page had God's personal signature on it, and all you had to do was fill in the ammount and make it so- - - wouldn't you take advantage of it? It's interesting that both Christianity and Judaism ran into similar historic crossroads but handled their respective situations very differently. Do you remember the scene where Nefritiri told Moses "After you become Pharoah, your will will become law". This was in response to Moses saying that God did not hear the cries of his people. Let me tell you if a beautiful woman with all kinds of money and power fishes me out of a mud pit and asks me to row her barge for her and in exchange I get to be made Pharoah of Egypt, that's a deal I'm not turning down. Christianity was "wiser in the ways of the world" than their Jewish bretheren on this issue. When Christianity had the chance to take over the world and rule for a thousand years in 312 AD, that's a deal they did not turn down. Constantine had it all. He had all worldly power plus the blessings of his God and instituted the rule of the son of God - whether you call Him - Mithras - Sol Invictus - Issu - or Yeshuah - - for over a thousand years, which is something Adolph Hitler only dreamed of. Christian hegemony over the world did not end until in the 1400's when the Moslems brought gunpowder from China with them and destroyed Constantenople with cannon balls. There is one difference that bears noting however. While my recounting of Christian history is proven historic fact, the view that Jews were ever in Egypt or that two and a half million of them were in the Sinai wilderness wandering for forty years- - there is not one historic shread of proof of these incidents, so we can conclude that this is a Choice that the Jews never had, to have one of their own ruling the most powerful empire in the world like the Christians had.

Suppose I told you that this morning, as I lay in bed, God appeared to me and he told me a number of things. He said that it was His will that Obama's economic stimulus package get passed- - all of it. And that the Bush Adminestration criminals be prosecuted right now- - to the fullest extent of the law because it mattered what this nation stood for in the ways of Justice and Purety and that we had to set an example for the World, and that any uncaring religious denomination out there who robs the poor and calls it donations- - that such a religious organization by wiped from the face of the earth" you would probably think I'd been watching Howard Beale in Network too much. OK I'll tell you how I can make such a claim. Yesterday morning I was looking at some old files from just over ten years ago. Among the incidents covered were related how I and Kurt Cobain and Dennis Wilson and Richi Vallenz were all having Christmas dinner together. Shades of last night's "secret" Simpson's episode. But also one line that came up twice in the text was Dennis Prager's assirtion that "We know God is a caring God because he made caring people. Why would an uncaring God make caring people?" This is a beguiling argument, with all sorts of philosophical ramifications. So I could infer that since God made me- - than according to Preger's logic any concern or desire that I have, then God also has. Thus we must conclude that God is a liberal. What Dennis Prager is doing is using what's known as the Ontological Argument for God's existance. Stated simply, it goes "If you can think of it, then it must exist". The thing is most of Dennis Prager's ideas could be philosophically ripped to shreads either by conservative Christians or by liberal secularists, leaving Dennis "between the Devil and the deep blue sea". The thing is- - if Dennis isn't annointed by God then he shouldn't even be on the radio because his ideas lack the philosophical foundation to stand on their own.

I guess I find it frustrating to watch a Chris Matthews video yesterday where he's on with two guests- - and neither guest seems particularly confident that the Bush Adminestration will ever be successfully prosecuted for its war crimes and crimes of abuse of power. To paraphrase an obscure Elvis Costello song, "They talk and talk and talk- - - untill they talk themselves right out of it". How can we as a People have the Prise literally in our grasp, and yet allow it to slip away like so much sand? It would seem that Eric Holder is seen as a threat to the Bush Adminestration because he wants to prosecute old offences. But Arlen Specter is trying to actively block his nomination. Eric Holder is one man the Republicans are deathly afraid of. How odd that we have the White House and a majority in both houses of congress, but we are still running in fear of the Republicans and trying somehow to appease them. You need to write your US Senator and tell him you want Eric Holder confirmed as Attorney General. Also I would like to talk a little about Rod Blagoiavitch. They have an eighteen minute video of him defending against charges made against him- - and I watched it. It would seem that like Jesus before him, Blagoiavitch is not entitled to call witnesses on his behalf to the trial. But even if he were able to call all the witnesses he wanted there is some law that says that the grand jury's decisions are to be regarded as legal FACT and cannot be countermanded. So like Jesus before him, since a decree has been issued that he is in fact Guilty- - no other evidence is admissable. Personally I'd be interested in who Blagoiavitch would call as a defence.

I was watching an old Dateline show yesterday, and new legal precident has been set in that you can convict them of premeditated murder and send them away for life merely because "You just don't Like them". They're a little creapy. This one husband who supposedly forced his wife to drink anti freeze and kill herself- - is kind of a creap. He has a good motive for wanting to kill his wife. He'd gain monitarily. But there is no evidence connecting him with the actual murder. Even though he's a liar and a jerk and a con man and all of that- - I didn't think in this country you could convict a man merely because "You don't Like them". But now, maybe you can.

IS THREATENING SPEECH - "HATE SPEECH"?

Never let it be said that we liberals aren't "compassionate" and "understanding" and all that other highly touted stuff. I even feel pity for Rush Limbaugh. He's like a kid who just found out that the rich man whose been doting on him isn't really his father. He may go through all the same bragadocio and bluster with his chums, but it just isn't the same; the plug on his Power has been pulled. Clearly Rush Limbaugh feels threatened with Obama now as President. He's used to being treated like family by the Bush adminestration as one of the corporation boys. Too bad George didn't invite Rush to fly back with him to Crawford, Texas. Rush rightly points out that he has no real power. No government empowered him as it did President Obama. He was doing this "What? Little old me?" argument in saying he's as harmless as a bee that has lost its stinger. The word for this for you in Rio Linda is "impotent". And that's a terrible thing to be. Rush is afraid that the Bush Adminestration criminals just might be brought to justice. He's scared spitless of all these executive orders on prisoner torture that Obama is undoing. It's like Bush is melting in a pool before him saying "How could you destroy all my wonderful rotenness". And Rush fears the masses. Political leaders who has support of the masses are called populists, and eletists such as Rush have always been afraid of populists. It galls Rush that the mear fact that Obama is still alive and not gunned down by a whacko- - his mere presence in Power is a threat to Rush because people like Rush, who opperate on fear, are threatened by Hope. That is, a Hope engendered by masses of the population who are looking to President Obama.

It kind of gets you wondering about the believability of the life of Jesus Christ. People who listened to Jesus's words would be noting things. Jesus praises prostitutes and hangs around with them. "Jesus wants to undermine society morals". Jesus taught on the workers in the Vinyard. "Jesus thinks you ought to play it smart and work as little as possible. Jesus uses the slothful to shame the dilligent. Jesus believes in unfair pay". Also they would note all of the parables about a King and those who doubted his right to rule, and often of vengence taken by the King against the people. The people knew of only one king and that was Caesar, or more to the point, Pontious Pilate. In other words, stripped of the supernatural componet, which the "holy host" on KFI wants us to do, Jesus would not be at all that popular with the people, and news of his demise would not come as all that big a disappointment. Thom Hartman brought out an interesting fact. Sometimes big "Institutions" do things and decree things, perhaps not for the reasons you'd anticipate. For instance torture was instituted not to extract the truth from those subjected to it- - but rather to instill terror among the populace. In like manner the Church's attitude twords "forgiveness offered any time" is not all that "gracious" as one would suppose. They know as long as the people have hope- - there is that "thing" hanging over their head and guilt may induce them to make a monitary donation even if they don't feel "saved".

Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration for Hillary Clinton's senate post. I am somewhat surprised by this. But it seems Hillary people want Andrew Cuomo to fill the post and no matter what the media says about her that's glowing and positive, or no matter how she primps herself into perfect political posturing- - it seems as if some unseen hand will be ruling the day and Camelot won't be extended in the Senate chamber any time soon.

You can learn a lot from soap opera characters. Being a man there are things I am good at and things I'm not so good at. I'm really bad at saying one thing and having an altogether alternate agenda to what I'm professing with my words. As such I'm make a poor Evangelist. Duplicity is their bread and butter. Women go at things differently then men. If a man were to confront another man who had backed out on a deal they made together he'd flat out say "Did you lie to me? Why are you going back on your word? What in the hell posessed you?" and also slip in a few lines about how the guy has no character. A woman, say who wants to adopt the unborn baby of another would take an alltogether different approach. She would empathise with her new found comrad. But sometimes this can backfire on even an expert manipulater. For instance Nicole was going on and on about "You'll never know the pain of having had a live baby inside you and feeling its life, and then having it taken from you. It's an awful, horrible feeling that nobody should have to go through". The response was apt. The other woman said "Well, if it's really that awful, why would you wish such a horrible thing on me? I happened to think of Jesus and his crusifiction. It's spoken of in the most superlative terms as something no man other than Christ would possiblly be able to endure, and the unique pain of it all. One may well come right back with the retort, "Well, if it's that awful, why to pastors routinely damand that I continually atone for sins by dying to my fleshly desires, as if I could earn my own salvation? Of course you've heard the carrots analogy. One hundred percent of the people who ate carrots who lived during the Civil War are dead now. Therefore carrots cause death. But then they will go on to say "Of course people will eat carrots. We can't prevent that entirely. However if you buy this magic charm and rub it before meals, it will save you from the deadly consequences of carrots. In like manner Bush and Mc Cain brag how the Republicans have kept us safe from terrorist attacks - knock on wood - ever since 9 - 11. And this is all due to the fine policies of the Bush Adminestration. This in a nut shell is the beginning of rule by Fear. In soap operas characters who dominate others motivated by various resentments usually "show their true colors" sooner or later, often becomming psycho-killers. The trick is to spot these despots before they go psycho on us and get out of control so that the situation can't be remedied by any other way than violence. Clark Kent one said that descretion is the better part of valor. I won't pass judgement on that. I think God tests people's metal in various ways and perhaps he gives people a choice. You can deal with manipulative despots early, or wait till a more "serious testing" of a man is called for to deal with them, as intoned in the Lord's prayer "Lead us not into temption" or in other words "Putting us to the test". Thank God we wern't put to the ultimate test with George Bush. He left of his own accord on the appointed day. We can take solice in this.

HISTORY TURNS A PAGE

This is January 20, 2009 and Berock Obama is officially the 44^th President of the United States. They have been stressing today all the varied Inogural traditions that have grown up. Apparently Franklin Roosevelt instituted one about when the prayers and invocations were said. Lady Bird Johnson started the tradition of holding the Bible that the President is sworn in with. Of course Ronald Reagan started the tradition of holding the ceremony on the west side of the Capitol rather than the more traditional east side. There is a tradition about kissing your wife after you give a speech. Eisenhower started the tradition of the Inogural luncheon. There is some “departure tradition” that has sprung up only recently. Of course Thom Hartman has spoken extensively of the status of Freedom that sits atop the Capitol dome. I remember hearing something about that in grammar school somewhere. Apparently the status was adapted from a plaster statue of the Goddess Columbia or something, but it was only a Negro slave that knew how to cast such a statue in bronze. I guess Hartman was troubled by the headlines in the newspapers back in early February 2003 that “Columbia Dies Over Texas” and exclaims, “My God, Bush has killed Freedom”. Supposedly the original plaster cast had the statue wearing a hat of the abolitionist but Jefferson Davis, who was on the committee had that changed to some Roman garland. One thing that struck me was the whooping it up of the crowd at what seemed to me to be inappropriate to the solemnity of the moment- - including the famous “Obama” chant. Michelle is six feet fall. Melia seems to be really tall for a ten year old inheriting her mother’s height. Now we hear that Obama will not change the Presidential seal rug in the Oval Office. Just as long as it’s not the one that Bill Clinton and Monica made love on- that’s all I care about. Apparently Lyndon Johnson did not use a Bible when he was first sworn in in November 1963 but the only thing they could find was the Book of Common Prayer. The festivities ran late because is the endless introductions of the Vice President, the wives and children, the congressmen, and whoever else they felt like announcing. By my watch the speech did not begin till eight after nine. Though I should note that Obama kind of muffed his own oath in a way that will be remembered for the ages. There are no re-takes. So the festivities got off to kind of a late start and they had Rev. Wright and I was impressed with his invocation. Aritha Franklin’s voice is shot. She should retire now. She’s lost it. The coldest inoguration was Ronald Reagan’s second one when it was only seven degrees. I remember they moved the ceremony indoors because they were afraid the brass player’s mouth pieces would stick to their lips so it was a “safety issue”. Obama gave an impressive speech. He borrowed from Kennedy’s talking about “to those who would wish us ill” and a lot of those “to those people” type statements. The emphasis on national security surprised me a little. There was a lot of emphasis on the sacrifice of others who went before. I must say that it was a conceis speech- - one that he’d obviously honed to perfection.

In my life on this momentous day, we had pancakes for breakfast with sausage, for the first time in a while. Sometimes what you invision isn't always the case. As I said before, it was on the evening of May 29th. 1967 that I predicted all the presidential elections in this country up to 2004 and I was unable to go beyond that. Four years later in June of 1971 I refined that "prediction" to predict the end of the world on June 16th. 2007 at 3:13 in the afternoon. I always envisioned on that day I'd be sunning myself on the beach for some reason. Then it's an interesting note to learn just what I exactly did on that day. It was one of the last times I saw my father alive. It was just the five members of the "nuclear family" as they call it, without the wives- - and we went down to parent's house on a Saturday afternoon. I had been a bit reluctant to go but was told it was important. On that day we all kind of ganged up on my Dad, who was having definite "substance abuse" issues. It's also another interesting thing to note that none of the people I predicted would be president were Black men. I did predict one woman who otherwise unidentified I said was an older, attractive brunette, and a Republican and she won. About the clossest thing we ever came to that in 1996, the year I predicted, was Elizabeth Dole, who keeps changing her hair color. Interestingly, and others have noted this- - Obama is the first President who is younger than I am. People say they can hardly believe a Black man is president. I remember one class in grammar school tossing the idea around of either a black or a woman President. It didn't happen till I was in my late fifties. I am what you call on the down-side of life now. It's young kids who will have fascenating stories to tell of this day to their grandchildren. The thing is- - it almost didn't happen even this year. The event was far from inevitable (from a non Calvinist point of view) There were various forces arrayed against Obama from many different directions, as you all well know. To my Federation friends who said this day would never happen, they are obviously wrong. I don't really think of Obama as "the Black candidate". I just associate his political belief and his temperment and personality. It took his cool as a cucumber personality to win the day over.

Some of you may wonder what happened to Diedre Hall since we mentioned her on December first, saying that she'd left the soap opera. Well, she is still around, with no indication at all of her leaving any time soon. Of course I've been wrong about these things before. I'm going to flash back into some of my writings now but I'm not going to comment on the "Days of our Lives" plot now, but I might- - very soon.

I see my title pick for this file has not been used yet. Last night I watched the network news where we’ve been having Obama up the wazoo. There was a big concert in the Washington Mall with lots of pop celebrities performing yesterday afternoon. Don’t they know football finals were in progress? How inconsiderate! We are getting security on a paranoid scale like nobody’s business setting all records closing bridges to traffic in case there is some terrorist emergency the bridges are open for evacuation. That limozine is right out of James Bond, only James Bond isn’t as paranoid. It had super armored sides that withstand bomb and rocket attacks. They won’t even let reporters see the inside of it for fear or some security violation. They say that this limo will never be left unattended for Obama’s tenure in office. Heaven forbid some teenager might soap the windows. And Obama has already “test out lines of his speech”. To my way of thinking borrowing from Abraham Lincoln in so many ways seems to be jinxing yourself. Do we forget that Abraham Lincoln his whole term in office presided over thee bloodiest war this country has ever gone through. His second inaugural was some kind of vague explanation, or rationalization for that war. I wouldn’t care to duplicate anything about that period including the train trip from Philadelphia where they picked up a suddenly aged Joe Biden in rout. I’m going to get really sick of the endless comparisons between King and Obama by Tuesday night.

We have some Romulan news that is months old. But lately I’ve been hearing Phil Wrigley’s name flashed around quite a bit and I think he’s “making news” somehow. As you know he was the bass player back in the mid sixties for the Detroit Romulan combo that on CMK albums featured Cabrillo on drums, and “Dion” on guitar and Richie was known as “Ricardo” and Phil Wrigley was on bass. In our son “Cold Turkey” recorded very soon after the original was out in the fall of 1969 it featured FH on lead vocal, Richi on guitars, Black Bart on drums and Phil Wrigley- - rather than Black Bart’s brother on bass. This is the only track I’m aware of it being this combo. Phil Wrigley also plays bass on our version of “Are You Happy?” the Iron Butterfly song with Richi on guitars and Cabrillo on drums. I am typing this paragraph “blog friendly” in case we’re that hard up for material. [added just now] Also a few months ago, Richi Vallenz publicly admitted that "He was Zachery" for the first 26 months of his life through November 1977. This is significant because it means that Stewart Sutcliffe never met the 2nd. Zachery. I met the 2nd. Zachery but not the third Zachery. There was one Beatles spoof that said "Every Beatle died EXCEPT Paul, and ther Ringo died twice, so that there were actually three Ringos. ( ? ) How's your semafore you Jeopardy fans?

This morning we had oatmeal for breakfast but they ad least put sugar in it, which is at least the second day (and perhaps third) day in a row we’ve had hot cereal rather than cold. I was hoping we’d have waffles since we’re due. We had a fried egg and cinnamon toast. I poured myself a second cup of coffee for both lunch and dinner. Sarah offered me and William more toast and she ended up giving me both pieces of cinnamon toast, because William was leaving.

I watched Meet the Press and Chris Matthews. I had Beatles on a while and they were reviewing recording sessions from the latter half of 1963. This is a period where a lot of songs came out that Romulans take credit for. At ten I looked for football but only found this rehash stuff on CBS. Neither CBS nor FOX appears to be offering us the playoff games. So I turned on Leo Le Port on at eleven and he only repeated his opening line from the previous day. He talks about Circuit City and all these “electronic stores” that are the “first to be hit” by abandonment of the geeks who used to frequent these stores. Book and record stores of course are going by the way side. But there comes a point in my mind where this trend seems rather groundless. Leo has said CD’s and DVD’s may become a thing of the past, too as more stuff is downloaded online. It doesn’t make sense. We live in a real world and believe it or not certain people would like certain tangible entities that they own and can’t get lost in cyberspace, or have the software develop a glitch.

We’re on page six right now. We’re on Sunday January 18, 2009. Another thing that’s passé now is “old media” that is “passive media”. I don’t know- - “passive media” and “mass media” has served mankind now for the past century and I see no pressing need to abolish it even though in StarTrek they predicted TV died out soon into the 21^st century. Howard Beale tells us “Turn off your television. We are a bunch of illusion. Your own lives are what’s real”. In terms of all this “circus” business, it’s the TV evangelist watchers that need to learn this most.

I went out for coffee in the courtyard and got seconds. We had tuna sandwiches and a green salad for lunch. Of course then I wanted something else to drink and a cigarette from Joe to get the “cat food taste” out of my mouth. The weather continues warm and pleasant. Leo says to mind your P’s and Q’s when it comes to what you post on the internet. My word to any potential employer is that it’s none of your fucking business how I choose to express myself in my free time.