Funky Zen Monkey Grin

Crossjostle Gospel

2009-12-05T23:40:00.001-08:00

We've moved to "The Book..."

Clutch - 10001110101

2009-10-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click title link above for discussion of what the lyrics might mean.

10001110101

Ribonucleic acid freak out, the power of prayer.
Long halls of science and all the lunatics committed there.
Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
Did you not know that the royal hunting grounds are always forbidden?
Are you rolling tape now? Bits and pieces large and small
Sector, vector, eat them all.
It’s already in the rice!
Among the mental ones a messenger will soon arrive.

10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.
10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.

Ain’t nothing you can do about it. Gonna be a big brawl over it
Like them little bitty babies in the king cakes.
Bonnie & Clyde the whole dome,
The shackles of automaton will shatter like their bones.

10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.
10001110101
Periodic table with a center piece of mind.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.

Ribonucleic acid freak out, the power of prayer.
Long halls of science and all the lunatics committed there.
Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
Did you not know that the royal hunting grounds are always forbidden?

10001110101
Half a mind to double up, baby. Three times is jive.
10001110101
Half a mind to double up, baby. Three times is jive.

Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.
Man alive the jive and lyrics,
Radioactive, don’t come near it.
Temple of Syrinx having the bake sale of the year.

radiofreedoghouse - "Tucson Blues"

2009-10-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

This, the Equivalent, or Whatever Would Be Better

2009-10-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

"When we release our deliberate intention, we rest in the willingness to receive "this, the equivalent, or whatever would be better," which settles the matter in our mind about further expression, including expression in fact.

It reminds us to release our will and stay released.

Now, this does not mean that we're to accept anything that comes along as automatically better, even if we don't feel that it is. Rather, it means that we're willing to release all willfulness, all urgency, all attempts to coerce or manage the form and timing of corresponding fulfillment in fact.

There are cases where, for reasons we may not see, not getting what we've deliberately intended would be better than getting it; keen Field training students recognize the paradox here: Release of deliberate intention means we're both willing to have what we've intended and willing to not have it. This isn't a contradiction, because being willing to not have is not the same as not being willing to have.

Receptivity must be there; we must be willing to receive. Resolve must be there---the resolve to remain true to the fulfilled identity no matter what may speak against it. But there's no way around the need for the unconditional release of our will, which means there can be no clinging, as clinging keeps the project within the limited jurisdiction of Particle will.

This may be challenging in cases where we don't believe that anything else could be better. Nevertheless, complete release of the will is essential---a release facilitated by our remembering that if the corresponding fulfillment turns out to be something better than we've envisioned, then we'll recognize it as better, and as the fulfillment of our deliberate intention."

(Field training)

http://fieldcenter.org/resources.html

The World as Inkblot

2009-09-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

...from the Field Center

If you want to develop your non-local awareness,
begin approaching the world as representing
your consciousness.

For example: If a billboard catches your eye,
consider how its meaning may go beyond the obvious.

Regard it symbolically, and see if this provides
a new angle of vision or insight
into whatever’s going on in your life.

Remember, the Field is holographic.

Another idea: When you’re listening to songs, hear the lyrics
as though either you’re talking to the Field
or the Field is talking to you.

It may surprise you how directly the meaning of the words
will speak
to a specific situation you’re facing.

The key to living non-locally is to realize
that everything is metaphor,
and that nothing that gets your attention
is insignificant.

G.K. Chesterton writes that fairy tales describe apples of gold
and rivers of wine
to remind us how amazed we were the first time we discovered
that apples were red and rivers ran with water.

The ability to see the world as metaphor, with new eyes,
marks a return to innocence and receptivity
that can never be experienced
within the endless replay of old conclusions.

The world is new each moment.

The only question is, do we have the eyes to see,
and the ears to hear?

source

Jed's a Millionaire - "Eyes"

2009-09-20T22:26:00.001-07:00

Your Beliefs Influence Matter

2009-09-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Beat Your Drum

2009-09-20T14:55:00.001-07:00

Question: "Do I have a responsibility to make the whole world beat to my drum?"

Abraham: No, nor could you. You beat your drum,
and the Universe will respond
to the drum that you are beating…

There are as many different worlds being lived
by as many different perceivers of the world
as there are.

Abraham-Hicks

The Instant Classics take "Low" to New Heights

2009-09-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Woolytooth - "Recipe 4 Indifference" (bootleg)

2009-09-17T18:26:00.001-07:00

Keep the Faith; Lose the Hope

2009-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

...from the Field Center

Many of us may spend long stretches hoping for something—
hoping that things will work out with someone else,
hoping for the best, hoping against hope, and so on.

And, while hope certainly is better than hopelessness
at least as far as the attendant feeling goes,
it has nothing to do with deliberate creating,
and in Field training terms, it actually works against
our deliberate engagement of our creative authority.

Because the world around us and everything we see in it
is the effect of our inner life,
hoping for something amounts to waiting for the world
to utter a magic word that only we can speak.

So, our waiting may keep us from outright despair,
but the problem is that the world also is waiting,
and must wait exactly as long as we do.

Florence Scovel Shinn tells the story of a young man
in one of her classes who always tried to come up with
questions she couldn’t answer.

One day, he asked, “Why is it then that a lot of women
who have hope chests never get married?”

(A hope chest is the traditional store of linens
and other household goods
that women used to acquire in anticipation of marriage).

Florence replied, “Because it is a hope chest,
and not a faith chest.”

Anticipation, like hope, looks to the future,
and in this respect alone,
abandons the only time that reality can be claimed,
which is right now.

Faith claims the thing as already done,
and rests fully in the feeling of that now
—and it is this claim, now, in the living present,
that has the power to fulfill itself.

Hope not only misses the creative opportunity of the present
but also exports the authority of creatorship to the thing created.

Imagine a writer who sits at his desk all day
looking at a blank piece of paper,
and when asked by friends what he is doing,
replies, “I’m hoping a book will be written.”

We may laugh at this writer’s confusion of cause and effect,
but aren’t we doing the same thing when, for example,
we hope that we will recover from an illness,
or that someone else will like us in a special way,
or that money will show up before the rent is due?

In the great story of our life, each of us is the writer.

We cannot dictate the timing, ways and means,
or exact form of fulﬁllment,
but we can choose who we are and refuse to settle for less.

We can stop hoping for happy endings along the way,
and instead, write them deliberately in the language of our belief.

By doing this, by aligning inwardly
with whatever fulﬁllment we want,
we not only immediately feel good, but also set into motion
everything needed for the realization of whatever we’ve claimed.

source

Jed's a Millionaire - "Nothing"

2009-09-13T17:28:00.001-07:00

The Very Best Time

2009-09-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

Your desires are eternally yours,
and they will come to you at
the very best time.

You can influence the very best time
by saying things like,

---
"The Universe knows the bigger picture."

"I'm going to let it deal with the timing of this."

"Meanwhile, I'll just do everything I can
to keep moving happily along."

Abraham-Hicks

Caroline Myss - "Stand Up to These Carnies"

2009-09-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

There is such a thing as a crime against the soul of a nation.

A person or a political party can deliberately incite actions that diminish the strength, the integrity, and the overall well-being of a nation's inner core.

America's soul is in a fragile state. It has suffered severe violations over the course of this past decade and to lesser degrees, in previous decades. Through the years, the essential integrity of America has been eroded for various reasons but never was it so violated as during the Bush administration. The endless lies, the deceitful years of propaganda that flowed from the West Wing that fed the media, the bogus reasons for setting the Middle East on fire, and converting this country into a corporate state for personal gain are crimes that shattered the soul of this nation more deeply than we have even begun to realize -- if we ever will.

The consequences of puncturing the soul of a nation are witnessed in countless ways.

For example, there is a decline in the integrity of leadership and a growing apathy on the part of the public to care about keeping watch over its leaders. The nation ceases to produce statesmen or stateswomen. The best the public can do is to send semi-qualified individuals to Washington whose capacity to hold to their promises collapse within minutes of unpacking in their new offices.

As for the old guard, they are worn out good old boys mixed in with a few new and not-so-new women on the block, who continue to fall into their same old patterns of deal making and breaking. But nothing of great significance ever happens unless motivated by a catastrophe. Any truly positive ideas for change baffle the Congress. What could this be, they wonder?

But of all the crimes covertly and overtly committed by the Bush administration against the soul of America, none is as vile as the deliberate efforts they poured into turning American against American.

We see that in the near hatred between the Republicans and Democrats, between liberals and conservatives, between free-thinkers and evangelicals that continues to fester. This crime was a strategic one, a well thought out plan to fragment the people of this nation in a type of contemporary replay of the Civil War. And sadly, the Republicans succeeded. Thank you, Karl Rove.

The result is that the soul of America is exhausted, wounded, mistrusting, suspicious, fearful -- and compromised. This is not a soul that can rebuild a country, not if you know anything about the laws of nature and the fundamentals of healing.

So let's apply this to the Republicans present attack on Obama and his plan to address the children in the classrooms of our schools.

First, a comment on how education is respected in general by our Congress -- it isn't. And this crime against the soul of America is a travesty for which both Republicans and Democrats should hang their heads in shame.

Consider, for example, how the education system through the years has corroded into little more than a mindless competition for grades. And the "No Child Left Behind" program (which should be left far, far behind) is nothing more than an insult to a true educational system that holds in high regard the passing on of knowledge and wisdom and not just technical skills and information.

But such a program is in keeping with the insidious goal of the "dumbing down" of America plan that was consciously set in motion under the Reagan Administration (check out The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt).

Aside from all the many travesties that have resulted and continue to result from the covert dismantling of America's educational system, let us consider the equally significant if not more tragic consequence of the clever removal of courses that provide students with the essential language required in order to learn how to navigate through the deep and profound matters of the soul.

And note that my use of the word "soul" refers to that part of a human being that is more than matter, more than blood and bones. I am not using the word "soul" within the context associated with the politics of right-winged religious fanatics. Rather, I am referring to the essence of what makes a human being truly human, the inherent part of us that is more than meets the eye.

Students on a path toward becoming high functioning human beings must be guided in matters of their soul, namely, how to recognize and respond to a moral crisis; how to formulate a personal ethical code and to withstand challenges to that code within a society that thrives on predator instincts; and how to form and maintain an honor code within a society in which any sense of honor is now held together by legal contracts rather than the integrity of a person's word.

Giving our students a common ground for discussions of their fears and insecurities concerning emerging into adult life and how to cope with those difficulties is as much a part of their education as is math and the liberal arts (remember those?). If this is not the role of the classroom, then what is?

Should they take their forums into the streets so as not to upset the righteous Right? Should they continue to leave their souls at the doorway of their school buildings, sending in only their bodies and minds to attend their classes?

Where should they warehouse their consciences? Where should they store their moral crises that strike with such force during the teen-age years? Perhaps this is the comfort they find in drugs.

It is through discussions such as these that skills of introspection are awakened and a foundation is put in place for the wisdom arts: personal reflection and accountability, discernment, personal virtue, and stamina of spirit.

Is it any wonder that as a result of the horrendous decision of the American Congress to "dumb down" our educational system, we now have a public that cannot discern lies from truth?

Are we really surprised that we are now living in a society in which the news media saturates us with entertainment instead of actual news and that most of America was too asleep at the wheel to even notice?

Should we really have to wonder for more than three seconds as to why so many media reporters have turned into nothing more than gossip mongers and paparazzi, lacking all courage to do actual hard core news, substituting their own hysterical opinions for informed reporting? I'm not surprised at all.

A conscious effort to "dumb down" the education of this nation qualifies as a crime against the soul of America. And dare I say this? If there was something as grievous as a mortal sin committed by a group against its own people, then the Republicans -- with Reagan at the helm -- and all the Democrats who stood by, or worse, backed this catastrophe -- committed that sin when they choreographed how they would dismantle the intellectual power and potential of our own children. (You should check your age -- you could be a product of this crime.)

So is it really any wonder why the Republicans would stage this outlandish outcry over President Obama addressing the schoolchildren of America?

You would think that everyone would support the President's desire to inspire our children to want an education. Who would not want to see their children enthusiastic about an education?

Hum ... Well, could it be that education intimidates them? I mean, given their history with education and their experience with their recent president as well as their recent candidate for vice-president, you can appreciate that the education of President Obama would engender a bit of jealousy.

Consider that when Bush showed up in a classroom, they gave him My Pet Goat to read to the students. Why was that, ya think? Perhaps his team feared a more sophisticated book would be a bit too much for him. Or maybe he was providing students with an example of how "dumbing down" works.

Or maybe, just maybe, given Bush's overall success and reputation for brain-power, Republicans fear Obama would inspire students instead of generating the jokes and comedic responses Bush did every time he opened his mouth.

I can't begin to count the number of times I listened to Bush joke about his own lack of intelligence before an audience. The audience members that included some now former as well as present members of the Congress and Senate, actually laughed as he made these comments. Whether they were laughing with him or at him, I couldn't tell. I know I was laughing at him, but I was also embarrassed and ashamed that this man was leading our country.

How could he possibly joke about his lack of intelligence before a State Dinner? How could he laugh about his inability to comprehend matters of great importance?

Why would he think that the public would find that funny? And if the public did find that funny, shame on them.

The vice-presidential candidate that the Republicans ran in the past election against Obama was of equal educational quality. We all know who I mean, Miss Lipstick-on-a-Pig. Even her humor is low-class, in keeping with her intelligence.

One has to ask, "So this was the candidate Republicans believed could handle the cosmic-sized dilemmas we now have facing this nation?" Sarah Palin? Are they nuts?

Listening to those Republicans lie about their support of her in the face of the crises facing this nation was a crime against the soul of America. Why? Because they did not believe a word of what they were saying and that was obvious. Most of them could barely cough up their contrived words of support. How they could possibly live with themselves is beyond me.

But that is the blessing, I suppose, of having no conscience whatsoever. You're free to say whatever is required in the moment.

But if you want to talk about an educational violation, Palin is the poster child.

She is a perfect example of the success of the "dumbing down of America" program. No wonder she is a Republican. Birds of a feather, as the saying goes.

But you have to give credit where credit is due, yes?

So no wonder they fear Obama coming near the classroom. Republicans have little experience with a refined intellect. (They probably are wondering how Obama escaped the, "dumbing down" system. They certainly didn't. Check out Eric Cantor. There's a "dumbing down" success story if I've ever met one.)

I don't blame them for being upset, really. They actually owe America an apology for their actions and for their choices of candidates and for their overall quality control when it comes to who they believe qualifies for leadership positions.

Truth is, the Republicans are embarrassed by their own actions and they are poor losers, not to mention unethical and immoral opponents. We just have to get them to own that, right?

We have to hold all Democrats to the same standard as well. If a Democrat is unethical or immoral -- burn them at the stake. (That will probably clear out most of the Congress, but in the end, we'll all be better off.)

There comes a time when we have to just stand up to these carnies (slang for carnival barkers) and tell them to stop polluting the soul of America with their constant and endless transmission of psychic free radicals in the form of lies, negative press, ridiculous criticism, overall lack of intelligent ideas and comments, and complete absence of creative thought. We should just blast them with emails and tell them to stop polluting the soul of our nation. Just stop it. We've had enough. I know I have.

And I deeply believe the soul of our nation can't take much more of their strategy of deliberate division against the people of their own nation. That is a true crime -- and perhaps their greatest crime -- against the soul of this great nation.

source

#37 in Healthcare song...

2009-09-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Jed's a Millionaire - "Gotta Believe"

2009-09-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Don't Worry About Others

2009-09-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

Don’t worry about this world;
it is not broken.

And don’t worry about others.
You worry more about them than they do…

Don’t try to protect people from life;
just let them have their experience
while you focus upon your own experience.

-Abraham-Hicks-

Mice Levitated in Lab using Magnetic Fields

2009-09-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

Scientists have now levitated mice using magnetic fields.

Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in mid-air before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets.

Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside warm enough at room temperature and large enough at 2.6 inches wide (6.6 cm) for tiny creatures to float comfortably in during experiments.

Disoriented

The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.

"It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating.

A plastic cage was also designed by physicist Da-Ming Zhu at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, to keep the mice in during levitation. Its top remained open to let in air, food, water and video surveillance, and its bottom was filled with small holes to allow waste removal.

From time to time, mice would kick the walls of the cage, causing it to briefly drop off from the levitation zone before re-entering it and floating again.

Although the researchers could levitate mice with or without the cage, "it's easier to house a mouse in a cage when you bring it to the levitation zone," Liu explained. Also, if you want to run an experiment comparing mice living inside and outside the levitator, you want to set up exactly the same living conditions to match results up as best as possible.

Results

Repeated levitation tests showed the mice, even when not sedated, could quickly acclimate to levitation inside the cage. After three or four hours, the mice acted normally, including eating and drinking. The strong magnetic fields did not seem to have any negative impacts on the mice in the short term, and past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields.

"We're trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity, and also what kind of countermeasures might work against it for astronauts," Liu said. "If we can contribute to the future human exploration of space, that would be very exciting." They are now applying for funding for such research with their levitator.

The researchers also levitated water drops up to 2 inches wide (5 cm). This suggests the variable gravity simulator could be used to study how liquids behave under reduced gravity, such as how heat is transferred or how bubbles behave.

Liu, Zhu and their colleagues detailed their findings online Sept. 6 in the journal Advances in Space Research.

Blooper Scooper

2009-09-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

The 13 Funniest Local News Segments Of All Time (VIDEO)

When Reporters Are Attacked...By Animals (VIDEO)

The 17 Best News Bloopers Ever: Pick Your Favorite! (VIDEO)

the hugs anD rugs experiment

2009-09-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

Japan's first lady: "Venus is a beautiful place."

2009-09-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Miyuki Hatoyama . . . 'While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO'.

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

As Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, agonises over the formation of his government, he is unlikely to be losing much sleep dreaming up a role for his first lady. While Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni and Sarah Brown have all had to strike an awkward balance between supportive wife and public figure, Miyuki Hatoyama has cultivated a third role – that of pedlar of new age bunkum.

With the dust barely settled on last Sunday's election, Miyuki – whose husband will officially become Japan's leader on 16 September – is already emerging as a gloriously eccentric foil to her humdrum hubby. While he reassures the US that his country is committed to the bilateral alliance, she regales the media with tales of interplanetary travel and, er, solar breakfasts.

"I eat the sun," Miyuki says, raising her arms as if to tear pieces off an imaginary sun. "Like this: yum, yum, yum. It gives me enormous energy. My husband has recently started doing that too." Clearly, this is where Gordon Brown has been going wrong.

When she isn't tucking into the centrepiece of our solar system, the 66-year-old former dancer pens cookbooks with humble titles such as Hatoyama Miyuki's Hawaiian Spiritual Food. She makes her own clothes (including a skirt made from hemp coffee bags) and, as she demonstrated during the election campaign, can also do a very passable Moonwalk.

But it is her extraterrestrial experiences that have triggered an avalanche of media coverage her husband could never hope to match. In a book entitled Very Strange Things I've Encountered, his wife has claimed that she was abducted by aliens as she slept one night 20 years ago, then whisked off to the final frontier. "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," she wrote, adding: "It was a very beautiful place, and it was very green."

By happy coincidence, Miyuki is married to a man whom his parliamentary colleagues once nicknamed "the Alien", a comment on his sometimes otherworldly manner and an unkind reference to his prominent eyes. His wife's revelatory book was published last year, but only now have her foibles become staples of daytime television. Perhaps revealingly, she says that when she recounted her Venusian encounter to her first husband, he suggested it had probably been a dream. But her second, the 62-year-old Hatoyama, is more accommodating: "He has a different way of thinking and would surely say, 'Oh, that's great.'"

Michelle Obama, too, will surely be delighted to learn that Miyuki sees in her a kindred spirit. "I think she is so natural and has a kind of sensibility similar to mine. If I get the chance to meet her, I'd look forward to it."

Hatoyama appears admirably unruffled by his wife's idiosyncrasies, saying: "I feel relieved when I get home. She is like an energy-refuelling base." Miyuki, too, paints an idyllic picture of life chez Hatoyama, where her husband indulges his love of animal movies and feeds his addiction to prawn crackers.

She honed her theatrical delivery back in the 60s when performing for the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female theatrical troupe that specialises in kitsch adaptations of classics such as Guys and Dolls and The Sound of Music. After six years on the stage, she moved to the US with her Japanese restaurateur husband. It was there that she met Hatoyama, then a graduate student of engineering at Stanford University. They married in 1975.

The popular notion that Japanese women are demure and subservient is a lazy stereotype, but Miyuki's behaviour would seem bizarre in any country. Judged by the standards set by previous Japanese first ladies, it borders on the impertinent. In a TV interview earlier this year,she claimed she had met Tom Cruise in a previous life, in what must have been an unnerving meeting of Scientology and new age spiritualism.

"I have a dream that I still believe will come true, which is to make a film in Hollywood," she said. "The lead actor is Tom Cruise, of course. Why? Because he was Japanese in a previous life."

Cruise, whose closest professional brush with Japanese culture was a leading role in the ludicrous 2003 film Last Samurai, "would recognise me when I see him and say: 'Long time, no see!'" Michelle Obama may not be quite so effusive.

---------

Stealing the show

Tim Dowling rates world leaders' partners for their 'colourful' personality traits.

Joachim Sauer

Married to Angela Merkel

Wacky rating 0.1 out of 5

Quiet and reserved, Sauer rarely appears in public and didn't even attend his wife's 2005 inauguration. Holds certain views about the nature of the universe that most ordinary people would find incomprehensible, in keeping with his job as a quantum chemist. No pictures of him with Tom Cruise.

Sarah Brown

Married to Gordon Brown

Wacky rating 1 out of 5

The very picture of common sense, British reserve and tireless discretion. May have married the only person in the world in contrast to whom she could be described as devil-may-care. And she picks out his ties for him.

Michelle Obama

Married to Barack Obama

Wacky rating 1.5 out of 5

Consistently down-to-earth, even when interviewed by Oprah. No known new age proclivities. Like Miyuki Hatoyama, claims to have met Tom Cruise - but photographic evidence would appear to support this. Did not say if she thought he was weird.

Carla Bruni

Married to Nicolas Sarkozy

Wacky rating 3 out of 5

Formerly given to pronouncements about being "bored by monogamy", and claimed her husband had "five or six brains which are remarkably irrigated", though she may not have meant it literally. The only G20 spouse (so far) to have nude photos and sex tapes stolen. Author of some decidedly flaky song lyrics ("I'm that time slipping by is a bastard making coats of our sorrow . . .")

Cherie Blair

Married to Tony Blair

Wacky rating 4 out of 5

The only G20 spouse, past or present, capable of giving Mrs Hatoyama a run for her mystical money. The crystal-pendant wearing, con-man consulting, magic-circle casting QC was said to have sought the help of the late Jack Templeton, a "homeopathic dowser healer" whose clients also numbered Jerry Hall and Princess Diana.

Miyuki Hatoyama

Married to Yukio Hatoyama

Wacky rating Off the scale

This professional "life composer" claims she once flew on a triangle-shaped UFO to Venus, and says she met Tom Cruise in a past life when he was Japanese. Makes her own clothes from hemp sacks and starts every morning by pretending to eat bits of the sun. "I get energy from it," she says, adding helpfully, "my husband also does this."

Just Deal With Today

2009-08-31T09:17:00.001-07:00

You don't have to go back
and deal with childhood issues,
because those childhood issues
produced a vibration within you
that you are still offering
-- which is producing today issues.

You can shift your vibration
a whole lot easier
when you're dealing with today issues,
than trying to deal with childhood issues.
...
It's the same vibration.

That vibration that was creating
childhood issues,
now it's creating today issues.

Deal with it in your now.
...
"Which thought feels better?
Which thought feels better?
Which thought feels better?"

Abraham-Hicks

2009-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Emerson Crossjostle - "I wonder if I could take it pass/fail?"

Occidental College Offers Course In Stupidity

We honestly don't know what's funnier the class title or the hyper-deconstructionist language used in the course description. Only in the bubble of the academy is it acceptable to use these words and phrases: organicity, post-modern discourse, Beavis and Butthead.

Flashback: Republicans trying to scare seniors with page 425 of health care bill otherwise known as HR 3200

2009-08-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

And, they succeeded. It was removed from the bill.

Below is an article from last month explaining the truth
about Section 1233 of HR 3200.

It seems Republicans are sinking to a new low in their all-out attempts to stop health care reform from happening.

First Republicans called it socialism, then they said it would raise costs, now they say it will force the elderly to have end of life consultations.

In a recent interview with between Fred Thompson and Dr. Betsy McCaughey claims are made that the elderly on Medicare will be "forced" into a consultation every five years to decline services and basically end their life. So basically Republicans are making HR 3200 out to be and enactment of euthanasia for the elderly.

The Republican claims are of course false.

Page 425 can be found in Section 1233 of the full text of HR 3200 here.

The Republicans chose to misconstrue the section and focus in on only that section but a broader reading is key to understanding statutes.

You will notice that Section 1233 is actually under the larger category of "Miscellaneous Improvements" to Medicare Beneficiaries. There is a simple explanation for this.

Section 1233 actually provides more benefits for seniors rather than denying any benefits.

You can read the full section for yourself but nowhere in the language of the bill does it say seniors are forced to undergo end of life consultations.

In reality, what the section does is expand benefits to include advanced care planning so that if seniors want to see a doctor or nurse to, for example, be consulted on how to make a living will they can do so but are not forced to do so.

The bill expands Medicare benefits to include such consultations.

So in reality HR 3200 lets seniors, by their own choice, go to practitioner to find out about living wills, power of attorney, or health care proxies and have such visits covered by Medicare.

Does that sound controversial to you?

To me it sounds entirely practical that someone the age of 75 would want to see a doctor or nurse so they could let their wishes be known about end-of-life care.

However, in order to scare people from reform the Republicans are twisting and torturing the language of this section to mean something it does not.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5738-St-Louis-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m7d27-Republicans-trying-to-scare-elderly-with-page-425-of-health-care-bill-otherwise-known-as-HR-3200

Cool Headlines

2009-08-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Obama did cut taxes for 98.6% in US

IKEA fans pissed at font change

Denver mulls $1 fine for marijuana

Ends Less Love

2009-08-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

The poster for Michael Moore's upcoming movie,
"Capitalism: A Love Story,"
has just been released.

Moore has said of the film, which opens nationwide October 2:

"I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make." And, on the film itself, "It's got it all - lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day."

WATCH the trailer:

And here is a discussion of the movie on MSNBC featuring Dylan Ratigan and Courtney Hazlett:

Jake LaBotz - "Grandma's Photographs"

2009-08-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Abraham-Hicks: "An Eruption of Clarity"

2009-08-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

...Like Believing in the Postman

2009-08-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Most witches don't believe in gods.
---
They know that the gods exist, of course.
They even deal with them occasionally.
---
But they don't believe in them.
They know them too well.
---
It would be like believing in the postman."

Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

Emotional Health In Down Times: 5 Steps To Staying Positive And Productive

2009-08-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

In these troubled economic times, when everywhere you look there's more and more evidence of how bad it is "out there," we have to remember that how successful you are and how peaceful or distressed you are is a result of what you focus your attention on. Remember that fear is self-created by focusing on something in the future that hasn't happened yet.

A student in a recent seminar had been living in fear for the last year that he would lose his house. His family is still in that house. Every single minute of fear that they were experiencing was self-created by imagining being thrown out of their home. The truth of the moment is they were safely in their home. Stop imaging the worst and focus on your own personal present reality. Even if you are unemployed, you are still alive, still living somewhere. Focus on what you do have, and be grateful for it, rather than on some future negative scenario that has not happened yet. A wonderful acronym for fear is Fantasized (future) Experiences Appearing Real. Turn off CNN (Constantly Negative News) and turn on your own inner movie of that which you want to create in your life. Live from your vision, not some externally created "reality" piped into your brain by the media. Look for the positive in your life and celebrate it.

Here are 5 more things to keep in mind that will help you keep your emotional wellbeing in check no matter what's going on:

1. Keep Dreaming Big. Don't let your inner critic inhibit you from dreaming big. As soon as you commit to a big dream, visualize it daily, and really go after it, your subconscious creative mind will come up with big ideas to make it happen. It will also help you to problem solve your way through challenges and create positive outcomes beyond your temporary struggles. As you continue to dream big, you'll start attracting the people, resources, and opportunities you need into your life to weather any storms and make your dreams come true. Big dreams not only inspire you, but they also help you to get through tough times and put certain things into perspective. And remember this, it doesn't take any more time or effort to dream a big dream than a small dream. So if you are going to dream anyway, dream big.

2. Believe in Yourself. If you are going to be successful in maintaining your emotional health and creating the life of your dreams, you have to believe that you are capable of making it happen. Make the decision to believe that you create all your experiences--both your successes and your failures.

3. Stop Complaining. As you commit to believing in yourself, also make a commitment to toning down the blame and complaint department. Look at who you are blaming and what you are complaining about. I'm fat. I'm tired. I can't get out of debt. I won't ever get another job (or a better job). I can't stand the relationship I have with my father. I'll never find a soulmate in life. The economy is to blame. My spouse is the cause of my unhappiness. My boss is ruining my life. Really examine your blaming and your complaining. More than likely, you can do something about them. They are not about other people, other things, or other events. They are about YOU. Decide what you want, and create a plan to get it.

4. Turn Paranoia on It's Head. Imagine how much easier it would be to succeed in life if you were constantly expecting the world to support you and bring you opportunity. Successful people do just that. Don't assume the world is a brutish, unwelcoming, and a difficult place to be. Try thinking the opposite! And turn paranoia inside out.

5. Use Affirmations to Build Self-Confidence. One of the most powerful tools for building worthiness and self-confidence is the repetition of positive statements until they become a natural part of the way you think. Create a list of 10 to 20 statements that affirm your belief in your worthiness and your ability to create the life of your dreams. Here are some examples of affirmations that have worked for others in the past:

I am worthy of love, joy and success.
I am smart.
I am loveable and capable.
I can create anything I want.
I am able to solve any problem that comes my way.
I can handle anything that life hands me.
I have all the energy I need to do everything I want to do.
I am attracting all the right people into my life.

No matter how well you plan and how well you execute your plan, you are bound to meet with disappointments, adversity and failure along the way to your ultimate triumph. Adversity is what gives you the opportunity to develop your inner resources of character and courage. Adversity is a great teacher. It will test you and make you stronger, but you have to hang in there and not give up!

More than 4,000 years ago in China, Confucius wrote: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

Abraham-Hicks: "Time and Space Reality"

2009-08-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

At Least 500 Million Years Worth of Gas Left?

2009-08-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Abiotic Oil

Addressing the theory in circulation that oil is not solely of organic origin, but that there may be another mode of origin as well from deeper in the crust, involving magma.

There is a substantial body of evidence to support this theory. That does not negate, however, the quest for getting away from dependence on fossil fuels. The greenhouse gasses produced by the burning of such will continue to be a pressing matter that must be addressed. Now that the world has achieved a consciousness about how we treat our planet, this news that we are not so far from depleting our oil reserves is a welcome breath of fresh air, removing some of the panic effect that can foster unrest.

Supporting Evidence, Briefly

Oil being discovered at 30,000 feet, far below the 18,000 feet where organic matter is no longer found.
Wells pumped dry later replenished.
Volume of oil pumped thus far not accountable from organic material alone according to present models.
In Situ production of methane under the conditions that exist in the Earth's upper mantle. (PhysicsWeb; Sept. 14, 2004)

Expounding the Theory

Titan's Organic Hydrocarbons Dwarf Earth's Oil Reserves - Data from the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn has shown that the ringed planet's moon has "hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth." (Wired; Feb. 13, 2008)

Confessions of an “ex” Peak Oil Believer - F William Engdahl says Peak Oil is not our problem. Politics is. Big Oil wants to sustain high oil prices. Reviews the discovery of abiotic oil. (OilGeopolitics.net; September 14, 2007)

Stalin and Abiotic Oil - Or How Ruppert's 'Peak Oil' Pile is Gaining Tonnage; by Dave McGowan (Educate Yourself; March 5, 2005)

Russia Proves 'Peak Oil' is a Misleading Scam - In 1970 the Russians started drilling Kola SG-3, an exploration well which finally reached a staggering world record depth of 40,230 feet. Since then, Russian oil majors including Yukos have quietly drilled more than 310 successful super-deep oil wells, and put them into production. Last Year Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest single oil producer, and is now set to completely dominate global oil production and sales for the next century.

'Oil Shock' Looming - What are the Alternatives? - "My conclusion is that there is much about oil (and natural gas) that we have not been told, including how much of the stuff is available, and how it continually develops, even to this day." At the end of the article is a list of sites and articles on peak oil, but the interesting part is a second list of the contrary view -- could oil reserves be virtually unlimited? (by Sepp Hasslberger, NEC; 2004)

Data >In situ Production of Inorganic-Derived Petroleum - Scientists in the US have witnessed the production of methane under the conditions that exist in the Earth's upper mantle for the first time. The experiments demonstrate that hydrocarbons could be formed inside the Earth via simple inorganic reactions -- and not just from the decomposition of living organisms as conventionally assumed -- and might therefore be more plentiful than previously thought. (PhysicsWeb; Sept. 14, 2004)

Peak Oil: Can 3D Exploration Postpone The Peak? - Ability to find reserves more readily may postpone the "peak" phenomenon; general discussion of "peak oil" factors. (MSNBC; Sept. 23, 2004) (Alt Energy Blog)

Follow-up > More Evidence For Sustainable Oil - (Rense.com; July 10, 2004)

PhysicsWeb - Science gets hot under the crust

Thomas Gold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Book > The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels - by Thomas Gold, Ph.D. (originally published 1999)

The Deep Hot Biosphere - by Thomas Gold, Ph.D. (2001)

Amazon.com Description of Thomas Gold's book [link above]:

Suppose someone claimed that we are NOT running out of petroleum. . . . Or that life on Earth began below the surface, in the dark airless pores of our planet's rocky crust. Or that oil and gas -- so-called "fossil fuels" -- are not the product of biological debris. You might expect to hear statements like these from an author of science fiction. But what if they come from a renowned scientist, someone who has been called "one of the world's most original minds"? In THE DEEP HOT BIOSPHERE, Thomas Gold sets forth truly controversial and astonishing theories: First, he proposes that Earth supports a subterranean organic domain of greater mass and volume than the biosphere -- the total sum of living things -- on its surface. Second, he proposes that the organisms inhabiting this Deep Hot Biosphere are not plants or animals but heat-loving bacteria that survive on a diet of hydrocarbons -- natural gas and petroleum. And third and perhaps most amazingly, he advances the stunning idea that most hydrocarbons on Earth are not "fossil fuels" but part of the primordial "stuff" from which Earth itself was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The Deep Hot Biosphere may seem difficult to believe at first glance, but its theories are supported by a growing body of evidence, and by the indisputable stature and seriousness Thomas Gold brings to any scientific enterprise. In this book we see a brilliant and boldly original thinker, increasingly a rarity in modern science, as he develops revolutionary conclusions about the fundamental workings of our planet, the origins of life on Earth, the nature of earthquakes, and even the likelihood of life on -- or within -- other planets.

For Further Study

The Mystery Of Eugene Island 330

Odd Reservoir Off Louisiana Prods Oil Experts To Seek A Deeper Meaning

Fuel's Paradise

No Narrow Profit Margins

Big Oil's obscene profits - Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, announced a 32 percent boost in second-quarter profits, the third-largest increase in company history. Royal Dutch Shell, the world's third-largest oil company, reported second-quarter profits up 34 percent. British Petroleum's were up 29 percent. ConocoPhillips, America's third-largest, reported profits that skyrocketed by 51 percent. (Cincinnati Post; Aug. 4, 2005)

God Help Us: Pitt and Maher Discuss Religion :o)

2009-08-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

The Power of Stillness

2009-08-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Most Field training students understand stillness as that fertile starting point of practice characterized by the self-evident, inner apperception of one’s own being.

The inner stillness, however, is only one form that stillness takes in our practice, the aim of which is alignment—that state of friendly agreement between desire and belief—and not manifestation, as it is typically in the popular approaches to the subject of consciousness-as-cause.

Another profoundly useful application of stillness lies simply in not reacting to things. Of this, the ancient Tao Te Ching states, “The sage cannot be beaten, because he does not contend."

In a more modern rendering, the renowned metaphysician Florence Scovel Shinn writes, “I do not move, so the situation moves.”

In other words—and this can be a revelation in practice—the reactions that seem to us all but second nature in this or that situation really are choices, and we are free to choose the stillness of non-reaction instead at any time.

The effect of making this choice often startles others, and can be powerfully transformative.

Simply by choosing to remain still and unreactive in the face of some factual invitation that previously we might have allowed to upset us, we may find the situation coming right on its own with a remarkable efficiency. Such stillness has the power to elicit or reveal the truth, calm the ruffled spirit of others, disclose a way on when no way is apparent, and many other benefits.

Of course, given a lifetime of reacting, we may find the stillness option difficult at first. The things that are worthwhile often are difficult at first—which is why we talk in terms of “practice.

” With practice, we find that the flashpoint of reaction slows down. Stillness gains entry to the moment and works its magic.

And this magical moment, the moment in which we wake up and see that we can refrain from agreeing with unwanted facts—even this much—opens doors where there were none a moment before.

Technorati Tags: Field Center, Consciousness, Metaphysics, Reality

Planting the Seeds

2009-08-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Woodstock at Forty

By PAUL KRASSNER

Along with 499,999 others on a countercultural pilgrimage 40 years ago, I was heading for the Woodstock Festival of Music & Love. I was wearing my yellow leather fringe jacket for the first time. In one of the pockets there was a nice little stash of LSD. If you happen to be brand-name conscious, then you’ll want to know that it was Owsley White Lightning.

The CIA originally envisioned using LSD as a means of control, but, without anybody’s permission, millions of young people had already become explorers of their own inner space. Acid was serving as a vehicle for deprogramming themselves from a civilization of sadomasochistic priorities. A mass awakening was in process. There was an evolutionary jump in consciousness.

The underground press was flourishing, and when LSD was declared illegal on October 10, 1966, the psychedelic San Francisco Oracle became politicized while the radical Berkeley Barb began to treat the drug subculture as fellow outlaws. Acid was even influencing the stock market. Timothy Leary let me listen in on a phone call from a Wall Street broker who thanked Leary for turning him onto acid because it gave him the courage to sell short.

As I wandered around the Woodstock Festival, I was overwhelmed by the realization that this tribal event was in actuality what the Yippies had originally fantasized about for Chicago. No longer did so many of these celebrants have to feel like the only Martians on their block. Now, extended families were developing into an alternative society before your very eyes. I had never before felt such a powerful sense of community.

The soundtrack was live, and the Hog Farm commune provided meals, servicing the largest Bed & Breakfast place in history. Actually, they had been hired to provide security. But to Hog Farm leader Hugh Romney, security meant cream pies and seltzer bottles. He planned to wear a Smokey Bear costume to warn people about putting out fires. This was not merely a three-day outdoor concert. This was a Martian convention. Or, as Abbie Hoffman called it, Woodstock Nation.

The political contingent was encamped in a huge red-and-white-striped tent christened Movement City. In the afternoon, a mimeograph machine was churning out flyers proclaiming that the outdoor concerts should be free. At night, several festival-goers were busy unscrewing the metal-wire fencing that had been put up during the day. Yippie Roz Payne was among them. She helped take down the No Trespassing sign and changed it into a sign that read Peoples Bulletin Board.

On an afternoon when Abbie, Roz and I took a stroll down Merchants Way, which led to the stage that was still being constructed, they took down the Merchants Way sign and put up a sign that read Ho Chi Minh Trail. Lights had not yet been strung up along the path, and as it got darker, we kept walking and stumbling until we got lost in the woods. After a couple of hours, we saw a light through the trees, realized that we were right back where we started, and we laughed ourselves silly.

Abbie would get serious later on, though, ebbed on by his sense of justice and fueled by the tab of White Lightning that we had each ingested. While The Who were performing, he went up on stage with the intention of informing the audience that John Sinclair, manager of the MC5 and leader of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for the possession of two joints; that this was really the politics behind the music.

Before Abbie could get his message across, Peter Townshend transformed his guitar into a tennis racket and smashed him on the head with a swift backhand. Townshend had assumed that Abbie was just another crazed fan. When The Who played at Fillmore East the previous week, a plainclothes cop rushed on stage and tried to grab the mike. He intended to warn the audience that there was a fire next door and the theater had to be cleared, but he was able to do so only after Townshend kneed him in the balls.

Now he shouted at Abbie, “Get the fuck off my stage!” To the audience: “The next person that walks across the stage is going to get killed.” The audience laughed. “You can laugh, but I mean it!”

I inadvertently ended up with a political mission of my own at Woodstock. For a while, I was hanging around the Press Tent, which later turned into the Hospital For Bad Trips. A reporter from the New York Daily News asked me, “How do you spell braless?” I replied, “Without a hyphen.” He pointed out two men with cameras who were from the Criminal Intelligence Division of the Army.

And a free-lance writer who knew someone with a source in the White House told me how the Nixon administration had assigned the Rand Corporation think tank to develop a game plan for suspending the 1972 election in case of disruption. I decided to mention this at every meeting I attended, every interview I did, every campus I spoke at and every radio show that I was a guest on.

A year later, the story was officially denied by Attorney General John Mitchell. He warned that whoever started that rumor ought to be “punished.” I wrote to him and confessed, but he never answered my letter. Actually, investigative journalist Ron Rosenbaum was able to trace the “rumor” back and discovered that I was the fifth level down from the original White House source. I believed it to be true, and even rented a tiny one-room apartment I could escape to when martial law was declared. It had a fireplace so that if the power went off I could cook brown rice.

My favorite moment at the festival was Jimi Hendrix’s startling rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” His guitar wailing of our national anthem brought me to tears. It was a wordless version of what I interpreted to mean, “It’s not that we hate America, it’s that we feel the American dream has been betrayed, and we will live our alternative.” On the other hand, my least favorite moment was when I discovered that my new yellow leather fringe jacket had been stolen from the Movement City tent.

The ’60s were coming to an end, and the quality of co-option would not be strained. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” became a slogan for the Bank of America, and later for Total breakfast cereal. More recently, Tampax advertised its tampon as “Something over 30 you can trust.

Hippies became freaks. Negroes became blacks. Girls became women. Richard Alpert became Baba Ram Dass. Hugh Romney became Wavy Gravy, and his wife, Bonnie Jean, became Jahanarah. Yippie organizer Keith Lampe became Ponderosa Pine. My sister Marge became Thais. San Francisco Oracle editor Allen Cohen became Siddartha and moved to a commune where everybody called him Sid. They thought his name was Sid Arthur.

But the seeds that were planted then continue to blossom now. The spirit of Woodstock continues to be celebrated at such annual events as the Rainbow Gathering, Burning Man, Earthdance, the Oregon Country Fair, the Starwood Neo-Pagan Festival, Pete Seeger's Clearwater Festival, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, and the electronic magic montage of musicians and singers around the globe performing "Stand By Me" on YouTube.

Paul Krassner edited Pot Stories For Soul, available at paulkrassner.com.

Abraham-Hicks: "...In Your Life For A Reason"

2009-08-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

The Holographic Universe and the Mayan Calendar

2009-08-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

“We are in the midst of a collective transformation,
at least at this level of perception,
although I don’t believe it’s the one the New Age and others
talk about.

I would suggest there are actually two ‘transformations’ and one is a fake designed to mislead us.

The year 2012 would appear very significant to the Illuminati and this is also the point at which the Mayan Calendar says there will be a transformation to a new world.

The ancient Mayans, in what is now Central America, developed their own measurement of time and observed repeating cycles that they detailed in the calendar.

They said that a Great Cycle began on August 11th, 3114 B.C. and would end on the winter solstice, December 21st, 2012, the point when a ‘Great, Great Cycle’ of 26,000 years would also
come to a conclusion.

It relates to the New Age belief about moving from the astrological Age of Pisces to the ‘enlightened’ Age of Aquarius.

This is the moment when new cycles will begin, it is said, and humanity will be infused with love and light.

A Mayan Calendar website summarized this basic theme:

‘There is no reason not to take a leap of faith into imagining what may be in store. We may trust that it is time for humanity to awaken in to a true partnership with each other, with the earth, and the Cosmos. By accepting this partnership we may claim our birthright and become Galactic Citizens who care for and sustain the planet, thus sustaining ourselves. This is clearly the challenge of our times. Yet, arriving just in time and on schedule is the Winter Solstice dawn on the day we may remember that we are truly Children of the World.’

At the risk of upsetting many in the New Age,
I say this is the fake transformation.

I have no problem with the fact that 2012 is
significant in Time Loop terms,
nor that the Mayans clearly had a remarkable grasp
on the planetary and cosmic cycles they related to time.

I just say they were measuring the computer program,
the cosmic planetarium,

and that the predicted transformation is as illusory
as the rest of this holographic reality.

It is another part of the DVD, another diversionary subplot.

There is no time.

And, anything that identifies with it is not a transformation to Oneness.

We are not ‘truly Children of the World’, we are truly Infinite Consciousness.

Identifying self with the ‘world’ is identifying with the Matrix.
It is a belief system that still relates to form,
with being ‘human’, ‘Galactic Citizens’,
and sustaining a holographic illusion we call ‘earth’.

Millions are caught by the Matrix in the fake transformation.

The Mayan Calendar is one example…”

(David Icke)

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

2009-08-10T11:57:00.001-07:00

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

-- Walt Whitman--

As You Put Light Around Yourself...

2009-08-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

A very powerful use of light is

to imagine that you are putting up a sphere
or cocoon of light around you,
which extends above your head

and below your feet.

Do not think of light as a protection,
but as an energy that is so strong
it raises the vibration of everything around you.

Use this image to create within you
a feeling of strength, harmony, and love.

When you surround yourself with light,
you do not have to build a wall around you to keep things out.

Your light will transform everything around you into a
higher vibration.

You raise your vibration when you surround yourself
with the image of light.

Your higher energy will set a tone
that others around you can pick up.

Not everyone is capable of responding to your higher vibration,

---

but as you put light around yourself,
---

you make a higher vibration available to others.

You will be able to stay calm
and centered,
and will find it easier
to keep your heart open
and be compassionate
and loving.

(Sanaya Roman)

Resist Not

2009-08-09T10:23:00.001-07:00

Rest seems like a nice contrast to overwhelm-ment.

But, enthusiasm is always chosen over rest.

The only thing that ever makes you tired
or bogs you down
is
resistance.

Abraham-Hicks

Federal Reserve Caught Inflating the Stock Market

2009-08-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

by Tyler Durden

It seems these days any time a pundit is cornered by facts indicating the deplorable state of the economy, the traditional fall back is "...but the tons of money on the sidelines is just waiting for a 0.003% pullback to pour back in."

It makes sense to consider this argument.

I present Exhibit A: a chart of the Net Wealth of US Households. This is defined as the total amount outstanding in U.S. money market Funds and the total market cap of U.S. listed stock. All else being equal, one can see why the administration is so concerned with the market decline impact on the psychology of the U.S. consumer: confidence is the name of the game. Net Wealth declined from a peak of $22 trillion to just under $12 trillion in early March, and now, compliments of the bear market rally, has bounced higher to $15.4 trillion, a 30% decline from the peak.

Of course, and much more troubling, is that "all else" is nowhere close to being equal. When considering consumer wealth, one also has to look at the right side of the balance sheet, and as the Fed's Flow of Funds Report indicates, consumer debt has not budged, and has stayed essentially flat as the equity market: the key component of consumer wealth has gotten decimated.

Exhibit B: Total Household Debt:

Alas it does not follow the chart in Exhibit A, not even closely. So the question is: what has been the bottom line impact on household "equity": i.e., taking the debt component of balance sheet and superimposing it vis-a-vis net wealth. The result is scary.

Exhibit C: Household Equity.

From the end of 2007 through Q1 of 2009, household equity has declined by 94%. Is it surprising that today's GDP number would have been a complete debacle if the consumer had been left alone to prop the U.S. economy, on whom 70% of the economy is reliant? Obama pulled a Hail Mary with the stimulus: without it there would be no debate America is in a depression right now. The only remaining question is how long can Congress and Senate extend such Subsidy programs as Cash for Clunkers before the rest of the world throws up in America's protectionist face.

But back to the money on the sidelines.

Exhibit D indicates the historical progression of the market cap of U.S. listed stocks versus money held in Money Market accounts.

What becomes immediately obvious is that the positive correlation between equities and money markets was purely driven as a result of cheap leverage. As households used up their rapidly "appreciating" homes as HELOC-based piggy banks, they invested in the market, only to see that capital get destroyed while putting more and more cash away in safe (well, safe only until a global run on money market accounts occurs, such as the one that was barely avoided on September 19th of 2008) places such as money markets. Most interesting is the correlation between Money Market totals and the listed stock value since the March lows: a $2.7 trillion move in equities was accompanied by a less than $400 billion reduction in Money Market accounts!

Where, may we ask, did the balance of $2.3 trillion in purchasing power come from? Why the Federal Reserve of course, which directly and indirectly subsidized U.S. banks (and foreign ones through liquidity swaps) for roughly that amount. Apparently these banks promptly went on a buying spree to raise the all important equity market, so that the U.S. consumer who net equity was almost negative on March 31, could have some semblance of confidence back and would go ahead and max out his credit card. Alas, as one can see in the money multiplier and velocity of money metrics, U.S. consumers couldn't care less about leveraging themselves any more.

The truth is that money market accounts, which currently hold about $3.6 trillion dollars, will not decline much more, as this is the only perceived safe haven for U.S. household capital. The U.S. consumer has seen how volatile the equity market is and is unwilling to transfer substantial amounts of capital from safe to risky investment vehicles. The fact that household equity has declined by 94% is also a very critical concern. And, even if Money Market accounts get depleted and all capital moves to stocks, it is obvious that without Federal backing the market will never even get back to 2007 levels purely as a function of capital flows.

The only motive the households would have to invest more freely in the markets is if their underlying debt were to decline. And as the Z.1 indicates it has been flat at $13 trillion for over 2 years now. Of course, banks would have no interest in taking impairments on household debt as that would mean their balance sheets are solidly capitalized - a lie that is being perpetuated by the likes of the GAAP, the FDIC, the regulators and the Federal Reserve. So while U.S. consumers and U.S. banks are stuck in this vicious loop, it is foolish to make any judgments that the money on the sidelines will spark any additional rallies.

If pundits wish to find out where any new equity buying interest will come from, they need to look at the same place that was responsible for the market move over the past 4 months - the New York Federal Reserve.

Integrity of Federal 'Organic' Label Questioned

2009-08-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

At the standards board's meeting last month, Chairman Jeff Moyer noted the growing tension.

"As the organic industry matures, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a balance between the integrity of the word 'organic' and the desire for the industry to grow."

High Speed Rail: The Next Industrial Revolution?

2009-08-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

A national high-speed rail network up and running by 2030. Yes we can? (image courtesy of USHSR)

President Obama strongly supports high-speed rail, environmentalists are behind it (well, at least some of them) and the Federal Railroad Administration is already reaching out to other countries that have had success with it. High-speed rail looks like it's going to happen. The question now is what kind of system will be built - how extensive, how fast and how integrated?

Last week, a new organization was founded which aims to help answer those questions. The US High Speed Rail Association, based in Washington DC, plans to lobby for a state of the art rail system that covers the entire country and provides service on par with the most advanced systems in the world. It has already unveiled its vision for high-speed rail in America - a significantly more ambitious vision than what has been floated by the Administration in Washington thus far.

"Our main objective is to organize the industry and to build public and political support for a nationwide high-speed rail network, built within 20 years," USHSR President and CEO Andy Kunz told TreeHugger. "We see this as the next industrial revolution in America and our chance to convert our country to true sustainability and prosperity."

The organization's first move was to unveil a map showing what a complete national system, built in 4 phases and completed by 2030, would look like (see map above; for the animated version, click here).

The map bears a certain resemblance to the "Vision for High-Speed Rail in America" unveiled by the Obama Administration in April. Both are based on the same 10 regional corridors, but USHSR's plan seriously raises the bar. Calling for 17,000 miles of track, multi-modal stations and travel speeds of 220mph, the proposal bears a greater resemblance to rail maps in Europe.

USHSR plans to generate support for the plan and help advance the rail industry in America by organizing a series of public events and conferences (the first one is scheduled for October 22-23 in Washington DC). A partnership with the International Union of Railways in Paris has also taken shape, and USHSR plans on hosting tours of European and Asian high-speed rail systems in the future.

Said Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of the International Union of Railways and a member of USHSR's Advisory Board:

“The ambitious plan recently publicized by President Obama in the framework of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act announces a fascinating time for railway development in America. A competitive high performance railway system – including a large network of high speed links – will constitute one of the pillars of US policies for transportation and sustainable development.”

Self-Confidence

2009-08-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Audit the Fed

2009-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

www.TravisKelly.com

Page the Village Idiot - (Sheriff) "Joe R' Piehole"

2009-08-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

Dylan, Arianna & Eliot Discuss Financial Crisis

2009-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bill Maher: Love American Style (Sanford v. Foley)

2009-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Masterpiece Theatre: Explaining Junk Rated AAA

2009-08-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

A key actor in causing the financial crisis were the credit rating agencies. In a setup doomed to cause major problems, rating agencies were paid by banks to rate the mortgage packages the banks wanted to sell. By design this would give the agencies more incentive to rate loan packages higher than they deserved, otherwise the banks would just take their business, and the fees they paid, to another rating agency.

Perhaps due to a feeling that reform of the agencies is not getting enough attention, the panel at "Morning Meeting" decided to try to change that with some Masterpiece Theater, acting out the corruption inherent in the ratings system.

WATCH:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Who Did the Ousted Honduran President Piss Off?

2009-08-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Who didn't like Manuel Zelaya, and why?

A few clues:

The business community didn't like Zelaya
because he raised the minimum wage.

The average wage of a worker in free trade zones
is 77 cents per hour.

Conservative evangelicals and Catholics
--including Opus Dei, a formidable presence in Honduras--
detested him because he refused to ban
the "morning-after" pill.

The mining, hydroelectric and biofuel sector didn't like him
because he didn't put state funds and land at their disposal.

Pot Jonesing: The Need for Weed

2009-08-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

"New thinking on old scientific research has now prompted the American Psychiatric Association to consider including 'cannabis withdrawal syndrome' in its next Diagnostic and Standards Manual for Mental Disorders, due to be revised in 2012."

See the Good

2009-08-05T21:31:00.001-07:00

...from the Field Center's "Realities" blog.

There was a great spiritual master, Kirpal Singh, who taught, among many other wonderful things, that we ought to see the good in situations and especially in each other. His philosophy emphasized the family of humankind. Even in situations where someone may be falling short of our expectations or ideas about how they should be, he emphasized seeing the good, recognizing whatever might be there that could be appreciated and valued in its own right.

Seeing is creative. Indeed, the etymological root of the word eye also is found in the word fountain, suggesting that our gaze upon something showers it with our vision, so that our seeing, far from being something passive, interacts creatively with the thing seen.

To see the good, then, is to invite the good, to bring it forth, to summon it into expression. What we see always reflects who we have chosen to be. As Field training teaches, identity is creative.

This week, if you’re willing, consider looking at some problem differently. Try seeing the good, and watch what happens. Undertaken earnestly, it can have a profound and dramatic effect. Such seeing can work like a key to open our closed heart, and even the closed hearts of others.

Technorati Tags: Field Center, Consciousness, Metaphysics, Reality

One Happy Cactus

2009-08-05T21:13:00.001-07:00

Bill-o the Clown irked by Keith; Attacks G.E. Again

2009-08-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Now it's Bill O'Reilly's turn to destroy the last shred of any truce between the Fox News host and his prime-time nemesis, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

On Monday night, Olbermann denied reports of a truce and tried to prove his point by slamming O'Reilly, giving him the silver medal in his "World's Worst Person" segment. To up the ante, he then awarded Fox News head Rupert Murdoch the gold medal.

On Wednesday night, it was O'Reilly's turn, staying true to his favored tactics in this media melee: refusing to say Olbermann's name and attacking MSNBC's parent company, GE.

In a segment titled "Corporate Corruption," O'Reilly took aim at GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt for raising money for President Obama and advising the administration while his company was paying $50 million in fines to settle SEC charges of accounting fraud. He also fired away at GE over the company's environmental record, citing its pollution of the Hudson River.

Watch the video:

Rat Park Sits Empty

2009-08-05T14:48:00.001-07:00

LAB HABITS: Do depressed lab rats dictate
international drug policy?

2005-06-02, The Guardian
Posted: 2009-08-02 23:14:55
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jun/02/farout

The predominant model of drug addiction views it as a disease: humans and animals will use heroin or cocaine for as long as they are available. When the drugs run out, they will seek a fresh supply; the drugs, not the users, are in control. These conclusions, repeated frequently by politicians and the media, are based on experiments carried out almost exclusively on animals, usually rats and monkeys, housed in metal cages and experiencing a particularly poor quality of life. What would happen, wondered psychologist Dr Bruce Alexander, then of British Columbia's Simon Fraser University, if these animals were instead provided with a comfortable, stimulating environment? In 1981, Alexander built a 200sq ft home for lab rats. Rat Park, as it became known, was kept clean and temperate, while the rats were supplied with plenty of food and toys, along with places to dig, rest and mate. Try as he might, Alexander could not make junkies out of his rats. Even after being force-fed morphine for two months, when given the option, they chose plain water, despite experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms. He laced the morphine with sugar, but still they ignored it. Only when he added Naloxone, an opiate inhibitor, to the sugared morphine water, did they drink it. Alexander simultaneously monitored rats kept in "normal" lab conditions: they consistently chose the morphine drip over plain water, sometimes consuming 16-20 times more than the Rat Parkers. Alexander's findings - that deprived rats seek solace in opiates, while contented rats avoid them - dramatically contradict our currently held beliefs about addiction. Nobody seemed to care. Rejected by Science and Nature, Alexander's paper was published in the obscure Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, where it was summarily ignored. Two decades later, Rat Park sits empty; addiction remains a disease and the war on drugs continues.

Note: Is it possible the powers that be want us to believe addiction is much worse than it really is?

Abraham-Hicks: "Eternal Becomingness"

2009-08-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Shit Happens

2009-08-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Nance Klehm, 43-year-old urban forager and grower, transforms human excrement into nutritious soil
one bucket at a time.

Poop.  

A generally fecal-phobic society reacts to the thought with a mix of snickering interest and fearful aversion, all dispatched in a single flush. But Nance Klehm, 43-year-old urban forager and grower, transforms human excrement into nutritious soil one bucket at a time.  

Klehm’s Humble Pile, a local do-it-yourself human waste composting project, introduces a backyard alternative to the machine-churning, power-draining waste-processing facilities tucked away in remote locations.  

“I’m not treating it chemically. I trust microorganisms to do it for me,” Klehm says.  

In early 2008, Klehm sent letters and humorous surveys to households in six Chicago neighborhoods, calling on potential participants to help “transform waste into fertility, pollution into resource, and isolation into connection.”

With no need for “Compost 101” instruction, complex machinery, electricity or water, Humble Pile asked its 22 volunteer “nutrient loopers” to opt for dry buckets with snap-on toilet seats when nature calls.  

To the surprise of Lora Lode, whose household participates in Humble Pile, her two teenage children Kira and Charlie were the most eager to take part in the minimalist procedure. The family of four made room for a bucket in the bathroom and for storage drums on the back porch of their Logan Square apartment. “I was interested in this as an experiment,” says Lode, who works with artists to combine art, activism and environmental concerns. Her 19-year-old son Charlie is not put off. “I just think that if I didn’t have a house, this is what I would do,” he says.

In place of the routine flush, Klehm supplies the “nutrient loopers” with sawdust to cover stools after each deposit, both to dispel odor and to facilitate composting.

In the summer of 2008, Klehm personally collected the feces from the Lodes and other households and composted the material in 32-gallon drums, stored at a secret location outside the city so as to avoid prosecution for violating ordinances on waste disposal and storage.  ”As an ecologist, I don’t expect law to keep up with me -- it’s more important to get this done,” Klehm says. 

Nature doesn’t seem to heed law either: Shit happens, and then goes through a two-year-long natural composting process that burps out nitrate-rich soil that smells like wet basement. The soil will cycle back into Chicago gardens, which include a 5,000-square-foot greenhouse at a homeless shelter and several additional gardens scattered throughout the city.  

“I’m just interested in people understanding that their body is producing soil all the time,” Klehm says, “and there’s no reason not to return it back to earth.”

According to Klehm, the locally produced Humble Pile compost is as nutrient-rich as sludge “fertilizer” from municipal sewage plants. “Good soil is so hard to have in the city. I’m concerned about the state of our soil -- they’re affecting our health, they’re depleted, or they’re contaminated or poisonous,” Klehm says.  

Deemed a fertilizer by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the controversial sludge is a concoction of everything that goes down the drain -- a heavy-metal laden medley of industrial, pharmaceutical and human waste. (In an attempt at linguistic detoxification, the EPA renamed sewage sludge “biosolids.”) 

Klehm’s composting method has another home: an abandoned World War II-era U.S. airbase. In the salt flats along the Nevada and Utah border, Klehm and other artists and researchers of the autonomous living system Clean Livin’ use urine-diverting dry toilets and a combination of composting and dehydration to process their waste for later agricultural use.  

Long before Humble Pile, the waste-to-fertilizer process was discovered inadvertently by our nomadic ancestors, who flung waste onto piles that eventually became fertile soil. Later, the Sumerians and Romans hired delivery boys to carry feces in “honey wagons” to nearby fields for fertilization. The Chinese even commoditized “night soil” from wealthier households as a valuable good -- the feces of the rich being more abundant in nutrients due to their better diets.  

But now, just as the Western commode is making its widespread debut in China, Klehm is showing at least two U.S. communities that there may be a better option than the water-hungry modern flush toilet. Producing soil and fertilizer locally helps conserve energy and water, and whereas the composition of municipal sewage sludge is to a large extent a mystery, what goes into Klehm’s buckets are participants’ own work. What’s more, Klehm ensures that her DIY fertilizer is safe by testing it for E. coli bacteria.  

For Klehm, Humble Pile is not a novelty. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she says. “Other people think it’s crazy. I just accept it as a way of life.”

Olbermann's Non-Denial about Corporate Muzzle

2009-08-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

by David Sirota

On his show last night, Keith Olbermann essentially issued a non-denial denial about the GE-MSNBC-Fox story, saying that he himself was "party to no deal" - exactly what he said in the original New York Times article. There's no reason to doubt Olbermann - however, as journalism prof Dan Kennedy suggests (h/t Glenn Greenwald & Jay Rosen), Olbermann's own personal lack of involvement in a "deal" is far less important than the simple fact that GE started trying to give blatant news-content orders to MSNBC's newsroom - orders that may have been followed in places well beyond Olbermann's control.

Certainly, the fact that Olbermann resisted those orders is good news - but again, as I said in my original post, this story wasn't an indictment of Olbermann - it was an indictment of the entire corporate-news structure of the networks in question.

Indeed, in Olbermann's non-denial denial last night, he didn't refute the quotes from General Electric management, he didn't refute that MSNBC execs told its producers that they "wanted the channel's other programs [to] restrain from criticizing Fox directly," and he didn't refute this report from TV Newser saying that the parent companies for Fox and MSNBC have been in negotiations for months.

Where Olbermann really shined yesterday is in his DailyKos blog post. After MSNBC management said they'd be happy to still have on corporate PR spokesman Richard Wolffe as a "political analyst" - a blatant insult to journalism ethics - Olbermann put his foot down:

As to Richard Wolffe I can offer far less insight. I honor Mr. Greenwald's insight into the coverage of GE/NewsCorp talks, and his reporting on Richard's other jobs. I must confess I was caught flat-footed. I do not know what the truth is; my executive producer and I have spent the last two months dealing with other things (see above) but what appears to be the truth here is certainly not what Richard told us about his non-news job.
I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised - he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show - but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing.

As I said originally, beyond the benefit of MSNBC providing a much-needed counterweight to Fox News, it's clear there are definitely individuals at MSNBC like Olbermann and Rachel Maddow who have a healthy respect for journalism ethics. And it's good to see them using the leverage they have to try to make sure those ethics are publicly respected. Though they cannot pretend that the media's corporate parents have no influence in news decisions, they can - as Olbermann has in the Wolffe matter - do their part to root avoid the worst transgressions.

So in sum, on the non-denial denial, I'm not that impressed. But on the journalism ethics score, I'd say good on ya, Keith. Oh, and especially good on ya for your health care Special Comment last night.

Joe Jonas Dances to Single Ladies

2009-08-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Finally, a redeeming quality in regards to The Jonas Brothers.

10 Truths About Vaccines

2009-08-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Truth No. 1

Vaccinations cause high numbers of severe reactions, permanent disabilities, and deaths as well as an enormous personal and public cost. Virtually none of this gets reported.

-

Truth No. 2

Evidence shows that vaccinations are an unreliable and dangerous way to prevent illness and disease.

-

Truth No. 3

No evidence links vaccines with infectious disease declines. Proper hygiene and diet practices may be far more effective.

-

Truth No. 4

Many supposed vaccine truths have, in fact, been proved false.

-

Truth No. 5

Childhood disease dangers are greatly exaggerated to scare parents into getting their children vaccinated with unsafe drugs.

-

Truth No. 6

The Salk vaccine proved highly dangerous. Information about it was suppressed, and declines in the disease were well underway when mass-immunizations were begun. In Europe, they occurred in countries that used, then rejected the vaccine proving it was never needed in the first place. Showing also that the same is true for other diseases, including Swine Flu with the WHO and CDC admitting that most cases are mild, unthreatening, and generally pass without treatment, let alone risking dangerous unneeded vaccines.

-

Truth No. 7

Long-term vaccination reactions have been suppressed and ignored in spite of the alarming correlation between their use and the rise of autoimmune and other diseases. Vaccines aren't for protection. They're for profit and other nefarious purposes. Avoiding them is essential to protecting human health and well-being.

-

Truth No. 8

Alternative treatments and remedies have been safe and effective for generations, yet the medical establishment and governments attack and spurn them.

-

Truth No. 9

Some vaccines are mandated, but most, perhaps all, US citizens may use legal exemptions to avoid them. In a recent article, however, Phillips states:

"All non-medical exemptions in the US are ultimately provided conditionally. That is, states have the right to require immunization for everyone, legally exempt or not, during an (emergency) outbreak, other than (for) those" with medical exemptions.

-

Truth No. 10

Public health officials approve dangerous vaccines on unsuspecting recipients and profit handsomely for their efforts.

---

Final Comments

All vaccines are biological weapons that weaken or destroy the human immune system. They often fail to protect against diseases they're designed to prevent and often cause them. The H1N1 vaccine is experimental, untested, toxic, extremely dangerous, and essential to avoid even if mandated.

In a December 1994 Medical Post article, Dr. Guylaine Lanctot said:

"The medical authorities keep lying. Vaccination has been a disaster on the immune system. It actually causes a lot of illnesses. We are actually changing our genetic code through vaccination....100 years from now we will know that the biggest crime against humanity was vaccines."

Dr. Viera Scheibner is internationally known as perhaps the leading expert on adverse vaccine reactions. Her analysis concluded that "there is no evidence whatsoever of the ability of vaccines to prevent any diseases. To the contrary, there is a great wealth of evidence that they cause serious side effects."

Nonetheless, immunization programs proliferate because the profit potential is enormous despite growing numbers of reputable scientific figures citing concerns.

Currently, over 200 new vaccines are being developed "for everything from birth control to (curbing) cocaine addiction." Around half of them are in clinical trials using human guinea pigs putting their health and safety on the line unwittingly.

New delivery systems are also being developed that include nasal sprays, mosquitoes, and genetically engineered fruits containing vaccine viruses. With every country in the world a potential buyer, health and safety considerations are suppressed for the sake of profits. Unless somehow this madness is stopped, the harm to our children and society will be catastrophic.

-

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Janeane Garofalo Criticizes Douchebaggery

2009-08-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

Former quirky romcom queen Janeane Garofalo has braved the last few years as Fox News' token leftie punchbag. James Kettle meets the fiery comedian as she faces down a new adversary: Edinburgh hecklers

"What am I getting my head blown off for? For speaking out against an immoral, illegal and unjustified invasion and occupation? What they did was cowardly. To try and get yourself off the hook by saying we're equal-opportunity offenders, it doesn't mean shit to me."

Janeane Garofalo is talking about how it felt to have her head blown off by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in Team America: World Police. "I didn't like that at all," says the actor and comedian. "I didn't see it, but I know about it. The only upside to it was I was given far more credit for being famous that I've ever been given in my life." A long-standing opponent of the war in Iraq and the Bush administration, Garofalo was portrayed in the movie as an empty-headed harpy, joining Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins as appeasing stooges to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

It's very easy to caricature Janeane Garofalo as an outspoken, self-important leftie liberal drone, and Parker and Stone aren't the first to have done so. But when you speak to her, what you hear is not windbaggery but carefully-argued polemic, put for the most part in an extremely gentle and reasonable way. Her modus operandi isn't about shrill grandstanding, just politely but firmly cutting the crap.

What really moves her to anger aren't slights against her ego, but the more fundamental evils of hypocrisy and intolerance. Over in the US, she's recently found herself at the centre of one of those five-minute media storms, in this case due to her claims that the "Tea Party" demonstrators against Obama were nothing more than "teabagging rednecks". She's absolutely unrepentant. "Fucking redneck douchebaggery. Unmitigated douchebaggery. Why are they holding signs that say, 'Whatchoo talking about, Willis?' These people are called 'racially sensitive', what they should be called is racist, backward motherfuckers."

Unlike many left-and-proud celebs in the States, Garofalo has in the past been unafraid to put her head in the lion's mouth and make appearances on the uber-rightwing Fox News Channel. "Fox News is like an infection. Unfortunately, there are people that get their news there, and they vote." Garofalo used to be booked by Fox News as an easy target, a token leftie to be shot down. "They only book people who are easy to mock and marginalise. I kind of thought, 'Someone's got to do it.' But talking to those assholes is a drag. It's a drag meeting the same assholes from high school when you're 40."

A dislike of conservative policies and attitudes doesn't exactly chime with Janeane's most recent TV work as FBI agent Janis Gold in the not-exactly-liberal dystopia of 24. How does she square that circle? "Initially when I was asked to do the show I had reservations about it because of the politics. And I thought further and realised, I don't have a job. So I put my reservations on the back burner. And I did enjoy working there, it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've had." There was nothing that made you go, 'Whoa there'? "Besides all the torture? Sure, that made me go, 'Whoa there.' Luckily they allowed my character to voice her distaste for the violation of the constitution, but then they'd have Jack yell at her." Garofalo isn't bitter about it, but doesn't think she'll go back. "Objectively speaking, I don't think my character served any purpose. I don't think they needed Janis Gold."

Instead, she's back in the world of stand-up. While she doesn't romanticise the UK compared to her home country ("the British media and the American media share a lot of the same failings"), Garofalo seems to be enjoying the change of scene as she prepares for a two-week Edinburgh run. Despite a live career that goes back to 1985, this will be her first time on the Fringe. I ask her if she's prepared to be this year's exotic American import, following in the swaggering steps of icons like Bill Hicks, Denis Leary and Doug Stanhope. The idea seems to unnerve her a little. "I feel that if that were the case it almost sets the bar too high, you know what I mean? That people would think, 'Wow, this American comic, we expected more.' Let's hope for the best but keep the bar at a moderate level, how about that?" Garofalo's recent walk-off at the Latitude festival - reports say she bombed, her people insist she was drowned out by music - might help diffuse the sense of expectation.

Garofalo is fond of a lot of modern British comedy. She's met Ricky Gervais, and has a passion for the work of Armando Iannucci - she has watched her videos of The Day Today "over and over and over". Yet she herself played a part in shaping that school of comedy, via her central involvement in the hugely influential Larry Sanders Show, where she played acerbic booker Paula. She tells me that Gervais claimed to her that he based the character of David Brent on Sanders's foil, Hank Kingsley.

Larry Sanders was Garofalo's first high-profile work, and it led to a string of movie roles during the 90s, in a series of (and she's the first to admit it) largely unmemorable films like Reality Bites and Romy And Michele's High School Reunion. She'd play "the part-frumpy, part-cool best friend". So closely identified did she become with this role that film execs and journalists began to talk about "the Janeane Garofalo type" as a phenomenon. For Garofalo herself, it was a mixed blessing. "You're only asked to do one thing and then they say you're not versatile."

One positive thing about this whole period was the establishment of her long-standing working relationship with Ben Stiller. Over the years they've written a book together, collaborated on unsung masterpiece The Ben Stiller Show and appeared alongside each other in movies such as The Cable Guy and Mystery Men. Garofalo believes he's very much underrated as a straight dramatic actor, and says another of his strengths is his "bizarre" work ethic. "I have a much more casual attitude towards discipline and working, which I think can in part explain the vast differences in our career trajectories." She clearly has a lot of respect and affection for her friend. "Of course, if he isn't working, he hits the gym. He wants to look his best. Like, that's a whole other thing I don't want to do. And then he takes his shirt off. It's ridiculous; he shouldn't have that body for comedy. It's difficult to relate to Ben when he takes his shirt off!"

After Edinburgh (and a couple of London shows in September) Janeane's future is somewhat up in the air. She's happy to carry on gigging, and is hoping for more TV work - she's currently attached as the lead to a drama series, but says it's "very early days" and the pilot is yet to be accepted ("I wish I had a more interesting thing to tell you"). She's happy to wait and see what turns up, really. Oddly enough, one thing she would like to receive is a further communication from Messrs Parker and Stone. "I ran into them in the street, Trey and the other guy, and I said to them, 'The least you could do is send me a puppet.' And they said OK, took my address down ... and never sent me a puppet! So while Team America bothered me, the fact they didn't send me my puppet, that bothered me even more."

Janeane Garofalo appears at The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh from 8-15 Aug, and the Bloomsbury Theatre, London on 28 Sep (two shows)

General Electric Silences Keith Olbermann

2009-08-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

GE's silencing of Olbermann and MSNBC's sleazy use of Richard Wolffe

Two new major MSNBC scandals reveal much about how corporate journalism functions.

Glenn Greenwald

Aug. 01, 2009 |

(updated below)

The New York Times this morning has a remarkable story, and incredibly, the article's author, Brian Stelter, doesn't even acknowledge, let alone examine, what makes the story so significant. In essence, the chairman of General Electric (which owns MSNBC), Jeffrey Immelt, and the chairman of News Corporation (which owns Fox News), Rupert Murdoch, were brought into a room at a "summit meeting" for CEOs in May, where Charlie Rose tried to engineer an end to the "feud" between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly. According to the NYT, both CEOs agreed that the dispute was bad for the interests of the corporate parents, and thus agreed to order their news employees to cease attacking each other's news organizations and employees.

Most notably, the deal wasn't engineered because of a perception that it was hurting either Olbermann or O'Reilly's show, or even that it was hurting MSNBC. To the contrary, as Olbermann himself has acknowledged, his battles with O'Reilly have substantially boosted his ratings. The agreement of the corporate CEOs to cease criticizing each other was motivated by the belief that such criticism was hurting the unrelated corporate interests of GE and News Corp:

The reconciliation -- not acknowledged by the parties until now -- showcased how a personal and commercial battle between two men could create real consequences for their parent corporations. A G.E. shareholders' meeting, for instance, was overrun by critics of MSNBC (and one of Mr. O’Reilly's producers) last April. . . .

In late 2007, Mr. O’Reilly had a young producer, Jesse Watters, ambush Mr. Immelt and ask about G.E.'s business in Iran, which is legal, and which includes sales of energy and medical technology. G.E. says it no longer does business in Iran.

Mr. O’Reilly continued to pour pressure on its corporate leaders, even saying on one program last year that "If my child were killed in Iraq, I would blame the likes of Jeffrey Immelt." The resulting e-mail to G.E. from Mr. O’Reilly's viewers was scathing. . .

Over time, G.E. and the News Corporation concluded that the fighting "wasn’t good for either parent," said an NBC employee with direct knowledge of the situation. But the session hosted by Mr. Rose provided an opportunity for a reconciliation, sealed with a handshake between Mr. Immelt and Mr. Murdoch.

Though Olbermann denies he was part of any deal, the NYT says that there has been virtually no criticism of Fox by Olbermman, or MSNBC by O'Reilly, since June 1 when the deal took effect. That's mostly but not entirely true. On June 17, after President Obama accused Fox News of fomenting hostility towards his agenda, and Fox responded by saying that the "other networks" were pure pro-Obama outlets, Olbermann did voice fairly stinging criticisms of Fox as "more of a political entity than is the Republican National Committee right now, only it's fraudulently disguised as some sort of news organization."

But a review of all of Olbermann's post-June 1 shows does reveal that he has not ever criticized (or even mentioned) Bill O'Reilly since then and barely ever mentions Fox News any longer. And on June 1 -- the last time Olbermann mentioned O'Reilly -- Olbermann claimed at the end of his broadcast that he would cease referring to O'Reilly in the future because ignoring him (and "quarantining" Fox) would supposedly help get O'Reilly off the air ("So as of this show‘s end, I will retire the name, the photograph, and the caricature").

So here we have yet another example -- perhaps the most glaring yet -- of the corporations that own our largest media outlets controlling and censoring the content of their news organizations based on the unrelated interests of the parent corporation. In light of that, just marvel at what the supreme establishment-power-worshiper Charlie Rose said dismissively in March, 2003, when he had Amy Goodman on his show as a condescending example of someone who opposed the Iraq War, after Goodman touted the vital importance of "independent media" in America:

ROSE: I don't know what "independent" means -- "independent" in contrast to what?

GOODMAN: It means not being sponsored by the corporations, the networks -- like NBC, CBS, ABC: NBC owned by General Electric, CBS owned by Viacom, or ABC owned by Disney --

ROSE: My point in response to that would be that we do need you . . . . Having said that, I promise you, CBS News and ABC News and NBC News are not influenced by the corporations that may own those companies. Since I know one of them very well and worked for one of them.

That's the very same Charlie Rose who sat there with the CEO of GE and the CEO of News Corp. as an agreement was reached to order their news employees to stop criticizing the activities of Fox and GE in order to protect the corporate interests of those parents.

It makes no difference what one thinks of O'Reilly's attacks on the corporate activities of GE or Olbermann's criticisms of O'Reilly and Fox News. Whatever one's views on that are -- and I watch neither show very often -- those are perfectly legitimate subjects for news reporting and commentary, and the corporate decree to stop commenting on those topics is nothing less than corporate censorship. A reader last night put it this way by email:

It's interesting and somewhat shocking to me that a NYT article wouldn't even mention the effect on the hosts' journalistic freedom. . . . I assume that both Olbermann and O'Reilly would not have agreed to the truce, as the battle is ratings gold for both of them, and I'm sure they frankly hate each other and enjoy it.

The sad truth is that what Olbermann and O'Reilly were doing in this particular instance was one of the rare examples of good journalism on these types of shows. Olbermann was holding O'Reilly's feet to the fire about his repeated falsehoods and embarrassing positions. In turn, O'Reilly was giving the public accurate and disturbing information about General Electric, including extensive technology dealings with Iran. In my personal opinion, this was one of the rare useful pieces of information O'Reilly ever presented to his audience, and Olbermann was there to show how lousy the rest of O'Reilly's information was. Though it was in the context of a bitter feud, the two men were actually engaging in real journalism, at least in this case.

So now GE is using its control of NBC and MSNBC to ensure that there is no more reporting by Fox of its business activities in Iran or other embarrassing corporate activities, while News Corp. is ensuring that the lies spewed regularly by its top-rated commodity on Fox News are no longer reported by MSNBC. You don't have to agree with the reader's view of the value of this reporting to be highly disturbed that it is being censored.

This is hardly the first time evidence of corporate control over the content of NBC and MSNBC has surfaced. Last May, CNN's Jessica Yellin said that when she was at MSNBC, "the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this [the Iraq War] was a war that was presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation"; "the higher the president's approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives ... to put on positive stories about the president"; and "they would turn down stories that were more critical and try to put on pieces that were more positive." Katie Couric said that when she was at NBC, "there was a lot of undercurrent of pressure not to rock the boat for a variety of reasons, where it was corporate reasons or other considerations" not to be too critical of the Bush administration. MSNBC's rising star, Ashleigh Banfield, was demoted and then fired after she criticized news media organizations generally, and Fox News specifically, for distorting their war coverage to appear more pro-government. And, of course, when MSNBC canceled Phil Donahue's show in the run-up to the Iraq war despite its being that network's highest-rated program, a corporate memo surfaced indicating that the company had fears of being associated with an anti-war and anti-government message.

And now we have an example of GE's forcibly silencing the top-rated commentator on MSNBC -- ordering him not to hold Fox News accountable any longer -- because, in return, News Corp. has agreed to silence its own commentators from criticizing GE. The corporations that own our largest news organizations have extensive relationships with the federal government. Anyone (like Charlie Rose) who denies that those relationships influence how these news organizations "report" on the government -- driven by the desire which corporate executives have to avoid alienating the government officials on whom their corporate interests depend, or avoid alienating potential customer bases for their products -- is completely delusional. GE's forcing Keith Olbermann to cease his criticism of Fox News and Bill O'Reilly is a clear and vivid example of how that works.

* * * * *

On a very related note: this week, former Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe was a guest-host on MSNBC's Countdown while Keith Olbermann is on vacation. When Olbermann is there, Wolffe is a very frequent guest on Countdown, where he is called an "MSNBC political analyst" and comments on political news. All of this, despite the fact that Wolffe left Newsweek last March in order to join "Public Strategies, Inc.," the corporate communications firm run by former Bush White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett, its President and CEO. According to the Press Release they issued to announce Wolffe's joining the company:

Wolffe, most recently Newsweek's senior White House correspondent, officially assumes his new position as a senior strategist on April 13, 2009. He will be based in the firm's Washington office, where he will advise several of its top clients. . . .

Public Strategies, Inc. is a business advisory firm that serves a diverse clientele including some of the world's largest and best-known corporations, nonprofit organizations, associations and professional firms. Public Strategies helps forward-thinking organizations assess public opinion and risk, and develops strategies for managing corporate reputation and uncertainty. Much of its practice involves managing high-stakes campaigns for corporate clients, anticipating and responding to crises.

Having Richard Wolffe host an MSNBC program -- or serving as an almost daily "political analyst" -- is exactly tantamount to MSNBC's just turning over an hour every night to a corporate lobbyist. Wolffe's role in life is to advance the P.R. interests of the corporations that pay him, including corporations with substantial interests in virtually every political issue that MSNBC and Countdown cover. Yet MSNBC is putting him on as a guest-host and "political analyst" on one of its prime-time political shows. What makes that even more appalling is that, as Ana Marie Cox first noted, neither MSNBC nor Wolffe even disclose any of this.

This is a conflict so severe that it's incurable by disclosure: who wouldn't realize that you can't present paid corporate hacks as objective political commentators? But the fact that they don't even bother to disclose that just serves to illustrate how non-existent is the line between corporate interests and "news reporting" in the United States. Then again, Wolffe himself -- when it was previously revealed that he was exploiting his position as a Newsweek reporter covering the Obama campaign to leverage access to Obama in order to write a glowing book about him -- said this:

And [Wolffe] suggested he’s not that different from other reporters in an era in which the business and the profession of journalism have gotten closer and closer.

"The idea that journalists are somehow not engaged in corporate activities is not really in touch with what's going on. Every conversation with journalists is about business models and advertisers," he said, recalling that, on the day after the 2008 election, Newsweek sent him to Detroit to deliver a speech to advertisers.

"You tell me where the line is between business and journalism," he said.

That's who MSNBC is presenting as a host and "political analyst" on one of its news commentary programs: someone who is paid by large corporations to propagandize the public and who explicitly says that "journalists are engaged in corporate activities." Then again, MSNBC itself is censored by its corporate executives to ensure that the parent company's corporate interests are advanced by its "news reporting," so in many ways, Wolffe's sleaze and corporate whoredom are the perfect face for this network.

These dual stories of GE/Olbermann and Wolffe reveal what NBC and MSNBC really are about as vividly as anything since the "military analyst" scandal. Remember that indescribably informative NBC News/MSNBC scandal: when it was revealed that both news outlets (along with most other major television outlets) were presenting as "independent military analysts" a whole slew of former Generals with substantial, undisclosed corporate interests in the policies they were promoting and doing so in coordination with a secret Pentagon propaganda program? Despite front-page NYT promotion, Congressional investigations, and even a Pulitzer Prize awarded to the NYT's David Barstow for uncovering all of that, NBC's Brian Williams (like virtually every other news outlet) to this day has never so much as informed his viewers of this story, and they continue to use some of those very same former generals as "analysts."

There are many reasons why our establishment press exists to do little other than serve the interests of the political and financial establishment and to mindlessly amplify government claims. The virtual disapparance of the line between large corporate interests and journalism (as Richard Wolffe himself noted) is certainly one of the leading factors.

---

UPDATE: On Richard Wolffe's bio page at Public Strategies, Inc., the role he plays on MSNBC and NBC News is actually touted to the firm's corporate clients and potential clients:

In addition, Wolffe is an NBC political analyst. He provides political commentary on several MSNBC programs, Meet The Press, and TODAY.

They're basically telling their clients and prospective clients: if you hire us to control and disseminate your political messaging, you'll have someone working for you -- Richard Wolffe -- who has a regular platform on MSNBC and NBC News, where he's presented as an independent "political analyst." And this is how they describe what he does for the firm: "Wolffe provides high-level counsel and insight to our clients on how to manage their reputations in a complex public environment." How much more blatantly sleazy could that be?

Also:

General Electric Censors Keith Olbermann,
Propagandizes News Reporting on MSNBC (...continued)

Eliot Spitzer Takes on The Fed

2009-08-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Comedian Offers Israeli/Palestinian Solution

2009-07-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Facts About Goldman Sachs

2009-07-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

Did you know that...

"For the first half of 2009, Goldman set aside
$11.4 billion for compensation,
---
34 percent more than for the first half of 2008,
---
keeping them on target for a record bonus year
---
even though they still owe the federal government
$53.6 billion,
---
a sum more than four times
that bonus amount."

... ?? ...

Big Banks: Heads We Win, Tails You Lose

2009-07-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

(CBS) Several financial giants that received federal bailout money in the last year paid out bonuses to employees in 2008 that greatly exceeded the amount of profit generated by the banks, according to a study on executive compensation released by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Thursday.

Despite claims by bank executives that bonuses are tied to the company's performance, the report states that "there is no clear rhyme or reason to how the banks compensate or reward their employees."

Cuomo's investigation "suggests a disconnect between compensation and bank performance that resulted in a 'heads I win, tails you lose' bonus system."

According to the report:

• Goldman Sachs, which earned $2.3 billion last year and received $10 billion in TARP funding, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses in 2008 - more than double their net income.

• Morgan Stanley, which earned $1.7 billion last year and received $10 billion in bailout funds, handed out $4.475 billion in bonuses, nearly three times their net income.

• JPMorgan Chase, which earned $5.6 billion in 2008 and received $25 billion from the government, paid out $8.69 billion in bonus money.

• Citigroup and Merrill Lynch lost a combined $54 billion last year. They received a total of $55 billion in bailouts and paid out $9 billion in combined bonuses. ($5.33 billion for Citigroup; $3.6 billion for Merrill Lynch, which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America.)

Click here to read the full report

A Glass Already Broken

2009-07-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Via Whiskey River:

“You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.”

- Mark Epstein
Thoughts Without a Thinker

Not the Beach Boys, Not Kokomo

2009-07-29T20:18:00.001-07:00

Woolytooth Escapes from Lab to Wake Planet

2009-07-29T11:24:00.001-07:00

woolytooth

Graphics by Michael Burkholder

City Without Limits

2009-07-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

from the Field Center's "Realities" blog.

The other evening, I watched a wonderful Spanish film, “El La Ciudad Sin Limites” (”City Without Limits”), directed by Antonio Hernández, which tells the story of a Madrid family that convenes in a Paris hospital to be present for the end-state treatment of a dying husband and father. Among many powerful details rendered by brilliant actors, masterful directing, and stunning cinematography was a passing reference to the “city without limits,” a phrase used to describe a city that has begun growing wildly in order to thwart the attempt of certain citizens to escape it by train. It is at once a reference to the cancer that has begun growing “without limits” in the brain of the dying father and a political metaphor of oppression that also belongs to the story—chilling in both respects, this idea that something dark, something evil, may begin spawning itself until one has no way out.

One thing that struck me about this reference was the fact that, despite its obvious power, it comes and goes in the film with no more attention to itself than a sigh. It is offered as an aside in a note penned by the dying man to an old friend, an obvious homage to a book written by the friend bearing the phrase as its title that also shows up in the story, and I was touched by the poetic self-restraint of the writers, Enrique Brasó and director Antonio Hernández. Clearly, they trusted their audience to get the metaphor without repetition or explanation, and I thought that American screenwriters would do well to follow their example.

The other thing that struck me about the “city without limits” is how apt the metaphor can be experientially. Sometimes, when we feel trapped in a situation, we may feel that we are on a train that simply can’t convey us to safety, that the situation has taken on a life of its own and is now growing without limits. No matter what we do, we find we are still within the city of our suffering. The train is going as fast as it can, but the city has no limits.

When I talk to students who are feeling this way, I offer them something that I’ve learned—that every city has limits, and that there is always a way out. One may be on the wrong train—that is, a new and surprising track may be needed, but such tracks become available the moment we become willing to doubt and question the power of the problem. The track that cannot escape the city, it turns out, is the track of a one-track mind, a belief, a way of being that leads to a train of thought and action and fact that then seem to exist independently of the beholder. Our suffering becomes convincing, overtakes our desire, and then seems to move with a life and authority of its own. Nevertheless, its roots lie within ourselves. The way out of the city of suffering, in the end, is as close as our willingness to question what we have taken for granted, a questioning that has within itself the power to grant something else.

Madonna: Fame, Fortune ... Only the Beginning

2009-07-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM — Israel's biggest daily newspaper is boasting a new international correspondent
– Madonna.

The Material Girl's byline is on the front page of Wednesday's issue of Yediot Ahronot with an excerpt from her upcoming article headlined: "
How My Life Changed."

The paper translated her words into Hebrew.

Madonna's full article is to be published Friday.

Madonna isn't Jewish but she has adopted
the Hebrew name of Esther
and studies Jewish mysticism.

She made a private pilgrimage to Israel in 2004
and plans two shows in the country in September
as part of her Sticky & Sweet tour.

In her article, the 50-year-old entertainer describes her religious awakening almost 14 years ago, saying she realized fame and fortune were not the end but only the beginning.

Found in Translation

2009-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Is Sarah Palin secretly a beat poet?

Do her words make little to no sense
because she is so immersed in language and lyrics
that she operates on a plane we cannot grasp?

We sincerely doubt it,
but that was the implication last night
as William Shatner appeared on the "Tonight Show"
and read Sarah's resignation speech in his typical Shatner way,
with all the lilting and soft drum beats we've come to expect.

It was quite magical.

Eliot Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, ...an inside job’

2009-07-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve — the quasi-autonomous body that controls the US’s money supply — is a “Ponzi scheme” that created “bubble after bubble” in the US economy and needs to be held accountable for its actions, says Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney-general of New York.

In a wide-ranging discussion of the bank bailouts on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, host Dylan Ratigan described the process by which the Federal Reserve exchanged $13.9 trillion of bad bank debt for cash that it gave to the struggling banks.

Spitzer — who built a reputation as “the Sheriff of Wall Street” for his zealous prosecutions of corporate crime as New York’s attorney-general and then resigned as the state’s governor over revelations he had paid for prostitutes — seemed to agree with Ratigan that the bank bailout amounts to “America’s greatest theft and cover-up ever.”

Advocating in favor of a House bill to audit the Federal Reserve, Spitzer said: “The Federal Reserve has benefited for decades from the notion that it is quasi-autonomous, it’s supposed to be independent. Let me tell you a dirty secret: The Fed has done an absolutely disastrous job since [former Fed Chairman] Paul Volcker left.

“The reality is the Fed has blown it. Time and time again, they blew it. Bubble after bubble, they failed to understand what they were doing to the economy.

“The most poignant example for me is the AIG bailout, where they gave tens of billions of dollars that went right through — conduit payments — to the investment banks that are now solvent. We [taxpayers] didn’t get stock in those banks, they didn’t ask what was going on — this begs and cries out for hard, tough examination.

“You look at the governing structure of the New York [Federal Reserve], it was run by the very banks that got the money. This is a Ponzi scheme, an inside job. It is outrageous, it is time for Congress to say enough of this. And to give them more power now is crazy.

Spitzer resigned as governor of New York in March, 2008, after news reports stated Spitzer had paid for a $1,000-an-hour New York City call girl.

At the time, Spitzer had been raising the alarm about sub-prime mortgages. In the wake of the economic meltdown triggered last fall by sub-prime loans, some observers have suggested that Spitzer may have been targeted by law enforcement because of his high-profile opposition to Wall Street financial policies.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast wrote that federal agents’ revealing of Spitzer’s identity as a call-girl customer was no coincidence.

Palast wrote that the principle of “prosecutorial discretion” is often used to keep the names of high-profile persons out of the media when they are tangentially linked to a criminal investigation. In the case of Spitzer, the Justice Department chose not to invoke prosecutorial discretion.

Funny thing, this ‘discretion.’ For example, Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, paid Washington DC prostitutes to put him in diapers (ewww!), yet the Senator was not exposed by the US prosecutors busting the pimp-ring that pampered him.

Naming and shaming and ruining Spitzer – rarely done in these cases - was made at the ‘discretion’ of Bush’s Justice Department.

Spitzer recently told Bloomberg News that President Obama’s regulatory reforms of the financial sector are “irrelevant” because regulatory agencies have not been enforcing corporate laws to begin with.

“Regulatory agencies already had the power to do everything they needed to do,” he said. “They just affirmatively chose not to do it.”

– Daniel Tencer

The following video was broadcast on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, Friday, July 24, 2009:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sparks

2009-07-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

...from White Light Black Light

"Thoughts and images are formed into physical reality and become physical fact. They are propelled chemically. A thought is energy. It begins to produce itself physically at the moment of its conception.

Mental enzymes are connected with the pineal gland. Chemicals as you know them, body chemicals, are physical, but they are the propellants of this thought energy, containing within them all the codified data necessary for translating any thought or image into physical actuality. They cause the physical body to reproduce the inner image. They are sparks, so to speak, initiating the transformation.

Chemicals are released through the body through the skin and pore systems, in an invisible but definite pseudo-physical formation. The intensity of a thought or image largely determines the immediacy of its physical materialization. There is no object about you that you have not created."

- SETH -

Through the Gumdrop Mountains w/ FoxGOP

2009-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Attempting to make sense of what he called “scary-looking, disingenuous healthcare reform pop-art” on Thursday night, Daily Show host Jon Stewart zeroed in on perhaps the best analogy so far for the Republicans’ latest anti-health reform strategy: A dildo rolled in glitter.

Stewart was speaking specifically about the nonsensical, intentionally confusing “flowchart” created by the GOP which they say illustrates the complexity of President Obama’s proposals.

“[And it] somehow found its way to Fox News, where it’s treated as intellectually-honest gospel,” jibed Stewart.

“I call it candy-land,” said one Fox host standing before the chart which loomed large on a massive screen behind him. “I don’t know what that means. You have this thing and that thing,” he said as he drew large, red circles on the chart for no apparent reason. “And what’s that? Well, that’s a lot of circles!”

It went on, next with a mysterious, meaningless blue marker: “Let’s see if we can get through candy-land through the gumdrop mountains to your doctor! You gotta go over here, gotta do that, gotta do this, go over here, over here, now I’m lost, don’t know where I am and then, woah!”

www.GoldmanSachs666.com

2009-07-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Goldman Sachs Caves In to Critical Blogger

"In a surprising conclusion in what has been a real life David vs Goliath battle, Florida-based estate agent and investment adviser, Mike Morgan, will be allowed to keep his GoldmanSachs666.com site up and running. The bank, which on Tuesday reported a 65pc rise in second-quarter profits to $3.4bn (£2.07bn), has backed down after earlier threatening to shut down the site, which is designed to discuss what Mr Morgan considers to be the the bank’s failings."

Was Jesus a Stoner?

2009-07-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

"This holy anointing oil, as described in the original Hebrew version of the recipe in Exodus (30:22-23), contained over six pounds of kaneh-bosem, a substance identified by respected etymologists, linguists, anthropologists, botanists and other researchers as cannabis, extracted into about six quarts of olive oil, along with a variety of other fragrant herbs. The ancient anointed ones were literally drenched in this potent mixture."

Gidget the Chihuahua Dies

2009-07-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

Gidget the Chihuahua, the bug-eyed, big-eared star of 1990s Taco Bell commercials who was a diva on and off the screen, has died. She was 15.

NPR

Iron Maiden - "Journeyman"

2009-07-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Jupiter Gets Slammed

2009-07-21T21:16:00.001-07:00

Apparently Hit By Object,
According to NASA Images

NASA's Masonic Space Circus ??

2009-07-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

.........@.. (caterpillars wearing sombreros) ..@........

Rendezvous with Freedom

2009-07-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

It does not matter what the culture is.

It is only the feeling of vulnerability
that ever puts you into a vibrational harmony
with that which you fear.

Once you realize that...

...By working to achieve your feeling of Well-being,
it is then impossible for you to ever rendezvous
with anything other than Well-being.

That is the only place that freedom will ever be.

Abraham-Hicks

Distracted by the Celluloid Shadows on the Wall

2009-07-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

excerpt from ... The Man in the Mirror
by Chris Hedges

"The fame of celebrities masks the identities
of those who possess true power
—corporations and the oligarchic elite.

And as we sink into an economic and political morass,
as we barrel toward a crisis that will create
more misery than the Great Depression,
we are controlled, manipulated and distracted
by the celluloid shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave.

The fantasy of celebrity culture is not designed
simply to entertain.

It is designed to drain us emotionally,
confuse us about our identity,
make us blame ourselves for our predicament,
condition us to chase illusions of fame and happiness
and keep us from fighting back.

And in the end, that is all the Michael Jackson coverage
was really about,
another tawdry and tasteless spectacle
to divert a dying culture
from the howling wolf at the gate."

Matt Taibbi Talks Goldman Sachs, Regulation (VIDEO) on "Breakroom LIVE"

2009-07-20T08:40:00.001-07:00

Note: Mysteriously, the show, "Breakroom LIVE," was abruptly cancelled by Air America Radio within 3 days of this video.

Commercial: Sprite's Big Finish

2009-07-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

Attention to What Feels Better

2009-07-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

You cannot change things
for the better
by acknowledging things
that need to be changed.

You only change things
for the better
when you turn your attention
to what feels better to you
in the attention of it.

Abraham-Hicks

Thoughts from a Stone Bench in Venice

2009-07-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

"I sit on this bench and look
at the sea and the freaks and the
lovers.

I need new eyes a new mouth new
pillows, a new woman.

every old stud with half an eye in
his head loves to charm and ride
a new young calf.

when I think of womenless men mowing their
Saturday lawns and playing football,
baseball, basketball with their sons
I feel like vomiting into the far
horizon.

the family stinks of Christ
and the American Stock Exchange.
the family stinks of safety and
numbness and Thanksgiving turkeys.
the family stinks of airless packed
automobiles driving though
redwood forests.

I need new eyes a new woman new
ankles a new voice new betrayals

I don’t want a long funeral
procession when I die.
I want to move on without weight
or obligation.
I want just the sullen darkness I want
a tomb like this night now:
me here undiluted --
solid, cranky, immaculate.
I hold fast to me. that’s all there
is."

Charles Bukowski

Goo Goo for Sarah? ... Moo Goo Goo Goo?

2009-07-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Huge blobs of mysterious "goo" are floating in the Arctic sea off the coast of Alaska, according to local reports.

The "goo", which is believed to be formed of organic matter, is reportedly floating in strands of up to 15-miles long.

The US Coast Guard told the Anchorage Daily News that the strange find is not an oil product or a hazardous substance
of any kind.

"It's definitely, by the smell and make-up of it, some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism,"
said Petty Officer 1st Class Terry Hasenauer.

"In recent history I don't think we've seen anything like this,"
he added.

London Telegraph

The Drunken Origin
of the Bob Newhart Drinking Game

TV Guide rated the “Over the River and Through the Woods” episode of The Bob Newhart Show at #9 of the 100 Greatest Episodes Ever.

It’s also Newhart’s personal favorite.

Emily is going home to Seattle for Thanksgiving and Bob decides to stay home because his “patients might need him” (when in reality he can’t bear the thought of skipping stones across Puget Sound with his in-laws).

His friend Jerry brings a large jug of vodka and cider, and starts taking slugs from it every time his alma mater (William and Mary) is scored against during the Big Game.

Joined by Bob’s neighbor and a patient, the quartet plays the drinking game throughout several more televised football games until they realize that they should probably eat something.

Bob drunkenly tries to order Chinese food on the phone:

“I’d like some Moo Goo Gai Pan. What do you want, Jerry?”

“I, too, want the Moo Goo Gai Pan.”

“Another Moo Goo…Goo Goo…”

“Bob! You said ‘Moo Goo Goo Goo!’”

“Maybe I’m ordering Chinese baby food!”

This episode inspired the “Hi, Bob” drinking game, where participants down a shot every time those words are spoken during an episode of the show.

Is Goldman Sachs Pumping Its Ride?

2009-07-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

by Bob Chapman

Goldman Sachs is in big trouble, but the media refuses to dig and get the same story the alternative media has dug up. As usual the SEC is looking in a different direction, as far away from the real action as possible.

The latest allegation is front-running their own client orders, never mind everyone else’s.... They are using a government created program.

A good question is are they front-running for both themselves and the government, which might make it semi-legal? Of course nothing can be semi legal. It is either legal or it isn’t.

Goldman has been confronted on the issue and refuses to answer detailed questions, just saying, “your suggestion that we monitor our website to facilitate front-running is untrue and offensive.”

Unfortunately, this confirms our worst suspicions.

If we were using the Goldman 360 portal for trading we’d stop until we at least investigate to make sure we were not being cheated.

Where may we ask is the SEC? Camping out on the moon most likely.

This episode is just beginning.

This is another example of cross corruption and arrogance by both our government and Goldman.

The International Forecaster

Urban Dictionary: PPT

Plunge Protection Team - Stealthy members of the President's Advisory Group, who are responsible for ensuring that, by any measures possible, the U.S. Stock Markets do not "plunge" to frightening depths.

Example: The PPT had the Treasury Department secretly purchased baskets of stocks of companies in the S&P 500 Index to avert a panic, as the market started to precipitously fall today.

The Little Drummer Boy's Distress

2009-07-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

"[We have noticed] a new resentment of rich people in this country ... We have experienced [a situation] where coming in and out of the country at certain times is made more difficult than it should be — not only for us, but for a lot of wealthy people ... The better-off (are) being sort of humiliated.”

- Larry Mullen, Jr. -

No Una Pieza

2009-07-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

From Quick TAKES & tasty tidbits

Thom Hartmann renewed his challenge for people
to provide one piece of legislation
offered by Republicans to help real people --
not corporations, not rich people.

Thom said that he had earlier posed a similar question
to then-Congressman Tom Tancredo.

"Can you please name for me one piece of legislation
that the Republicans have sponsored that has become law
whose primary beneficiary was the average person in America
as opposed to a corporation or the rich?"

He couldn't.

Thom said he had a contest for the better part of two years,
and to the best of his knowledge,
no one ever came up with an answer.

Something that primarily benefits the middle class,
the working poor,
or people out of work altogether?

Can you?

Think about it.

Kicked Upside the Headlines

2009-07-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Dowd: Sweet, Tweet Revenge

Krugman: U.S. On Way to Being Boiled Frog?

Former Insurance Exec: Michael Moore Hit the Nail on the Head with movie, "Sicko"

Study: 'Cussing' is Powerful Painkiller

Is the U.S. Government an Arm of Goldman Sachs?

41% Now Support Legalizing Pot

Ironic Ads from Before the Bailout: AIG, Countrywide, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America

9 Stupidest Products of All Time

The Secret Sacred Use of the Belly Button

Have you had your hugs anD rugs today?

Forbidden Israel: Sex and the Settlers

2009-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Forbidden Israel: Sex and the Settlers

History As It Might Have Happened

2009-07-12T00:27:00.000-07:00

History As It Might Have Happened

Iron Maiden - "For the Greater Good of God" (live)

2009-07-11T23:06:00.001-07:00

Citizen Jimmy Dore: Librarians with Tattoos

2009-07-10T22:03:00.001-07:00

Jokes.com

Jimmy Dore - Tattoos

comedians.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day

Stand-Up Comedy

Free Online Games

Adventures of the Stumblebum Gang

2009-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

(Drunken Stumblebum Tour photos, 1990)

http://www.myspace.com/sleepyheadrockband http://www.myspace.com/jedsamillionaire
http://www.myspace.com/thehugsandrugs
http://www.myspace.com/woolytooth

http://www.myspace.com/thenewwesterns
http://www.myspace.com/radiofreedoghouse

Hot Chicks Eating Burgers

2009-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Matt Taibbi vs. The Great Vampire Squid

2009-07-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

by Jonathan Russell

You may have heard some of it before but words of this quality are always worth airing one more time.

It was started in a Rolling Stone article by Matt

Taibbi

in which he described the world's most famous investment bank as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything
that smells like money".

The bank's uber-spinner Lucas Van Prag hit back, calling the article an "hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories".

He went on to ask why Goldman Sachs hadn't been implicated in the shooting of JFK and faking the moon landing.

More to the point he said the bank "rejects the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts".

What fun.

You couldn't ask for anything better to liven up the quiet summer months.

The ongoing row has been required reading for everyone in the City, er, apart from the masters of the universe at Goldman Sachs. I hear the Rolling Stone website has been barred by some at the bank.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/citydiary/5734899/Rolling-Stone-gathers-no-readers-at-Goldman-Sachs.html

Twitter Update: Jed's a Millionaire's new CD

2009-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

(6/29/09)
Danny Western:

"New Jed's a Millionaire record
is being tracked as we speak.

Look for mixes later in July.

Thanks for all who came to the Alamo."

Funky Zen Monkey Grin

Crossjostle Gospel

Clutch - 10001110101

radiofreedoghouse - "Tucson Blues"

This, the Equivalent, or Whatever Would Be Better

The World as Inkblot

Jed's a Millionaire - "Eyes"

Your Beliefs Influence Matter

Beat Your Drum

The Instant Classics take "Low" to New Heights

Woolytooth - "Recipe 4 Indifference" (bootleg)

Keep the Faith; Lose the Hope

Jed's a Millionaire - "Nothing"

The Very Best Time

Caroline Myss - "Stand Up to These Carnies"

#37 in Healthcare song...

Jed's a Millionaire - "Gotta Believe"

Don't Worry About Others

Mice Levitated in Lab using Magnetic Fields

Blooper Scooper

the hugs anD rugs experiment

Japan's first lady: "Venus is a beautiful place."

Stealing the show

Just Deal With Today

Emerson Crossjostle - "I wonder if I could take it pass/fail?"

Flashback: Republicans trying to scare seniors with page 425 of health care bill otherwise known as HR 3200

Cool Headlines

Ends Less Love

Jake LaBotz - "Grandma's Photographs"

Abraham-Hicks: "An Eruption of Clarity"

...Like Believing in the Postman

Emotional Health In Down Times: 5 Steps To Staying Positive And Productive

Abraham-Hicks: "Time and Space Reality"

At Least 500 Million Years Worth of Gas Left?

Abiotic Oil

Supporting Evidence, Briefly

Expounding the Theory

For Further Study

No Narrow Profit Margins

See also:

God Help Us: Pitt and Maher Discuss Religion :o)

The Power of Stillness

Planting the Seeds

Woodstock at Forty

Abraham-Hicks: "...In Your Life For A Reason"

The Holographic Universe and the Mayan Calendar

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

As You Put Light Around Yourself...

Resist Not

Federal Reserve Caught Inflating the Stock Market

Integrity of Federal 'Organic' Label Questioned

High Speed Rail: The Next Industrial Revolution?

Self-Confidence

Audit the Fed

Page the Village Idiot - (Sheriff) "Joe R' Piehole"

Dylan, Arianna & Eliot Discuss Financial Crisis

Bill Maher: Love American Style (Sanford v. Foley)

Masterpiece Theatre: Explaining Junk Rated AAA

Who Did the Ousted Honduran President Piss Off?

Pot Jonesing: The Need for Weed

See the Good

One Happy Cactus

Bill-o the Clown irked by Keith; Attacks G.E. Again

Rat Park Sits Empty

Abraham-Hicks: "Eternal Becomingness"

Shit Happens

Olbermann's Non-Denial about Corporate Muzzle

Joe Jonas Dances to Single Ladies

10 Truths About Vaccines

Janeane Garofalo Criticizes Douchebaggery

General Electric Silences Keith Olbermann

GE's silencing of Olbermann and MSNBC's sleazy use of Richard Wolffe

Eliot Spitzer Takes on The Fed

Comedian Offers Israeli/Palestinian Solution

Facts About Goldman Sachs

Big Banks: Heads We Win, Tails You Lose

A Glass Already Broken

Not the Beach Boys, Not Kokomo

Woolytooth Escapes from Lab to Wake Planet

City Without Limits