What I'm Doing Right Now

The whole area of encroaching government on personal and privacy rights has come to the fore again.  I’m not sure where I heard what, but governments can take your property away from you without charging you with a crime or even arresting you.  If you have tinted glass or wearing expensive jewelry or your car has a lot of trash in it- - or if you are too talkative, or too quiet- - all these actions are “suspicious” in this day and age and a cop may detain you- - and a lot worse.   It’s been pointed out that loss of privacy is bad for commerce.  It discourages both creativity and innovation.    Washington’s blog has a whole list of reasons why this new government snooping is bad for commerce.  Also the whole idea of our system of commerce- - interstate or otherwise- - is that our mail system is secure- - and it used to be.  Tampering with the US Mail used to be a federal crime.  But now, of course, the government does it itself, as well as spying out all our activities- - and may I risk things saying ANYTHING about my personal lives.  I know if I’m anything other than squeaky clean- - I could be eves dropped on in a manner I won’t like.  I’ve always figured that my life was far too Boring for the government to bother with anyhow.   Of course this drug testing of vast segments of the population and gathering vast data bases of information on vast segments of the population - - are both highly counter productive and a vast waste of resources.   And this government definitely loves to waste resources, and in this I can’t help but agree with Senator Rand Paul.

Well even a pro Russian blog admits Vladimir Putin has gone too far by persecuting this anti Russian movie maker, or whatever.  So has anything changed in fifty years?  Russia is still a gigantic gulag.  They still crush dissenters just like they do in China and of course in most Islamic countries.  But I would allow "Religion" a little more lattitude than I would Putin, who is an egomaniac and anyone who interferes with the grandios vision he has of himself and Russia- - is going to feel the weight of vengeance coming down really hard.

I watched Jeb Bush give a speech on C-Span.  It was the most warmed over cliché speech you’ve ever heard.  It’s just FOX news in an every slightly more intellectual package.   We are approaching the year of the Sheep.   The topic comes up about- - - Chris Matthews and a lady administration guest he had on the other night.  The point of contention was her saying “We can’t kill our way to eliminating ISIS.  We have killed plenty of them and we will kill lots more.  We’re good at killing.  But we have to think in terms of the root causes of why otherwise promising young people would put down their text books and pick up a gun”    To me this was a very relevant conversation to have, and to be frank, we should have had it before now.  But it unleashed a firestorm on FOX news and on the Sean Hannity program.  You’d think it was the most extreme statement any one had made.   Also I think this battle over whether they are Islamic terrorists- - - or some other kind of terrorist- - - is really hair splitting.   Parenthetically, you don't find many terrorists killing and maiming in the name of Atheism.  The President alledges these terrorists are frauds and not Moslems at all.  I dispute that fact, as long as we have to nit pick.  Because I know if it were Christians blowing up buildings or whatever and waving the Bible around and quoting scripture and saying “Jesus” this and “Jesus" that- - I would definitely be calling them Christians.   In answer to Sean Hannity's point about "identifying your opponent" I agree with his premise.   Some would say "It doesn't matter WHO is delivering the threat to you".   But you and I know that pragmatically WHO is presenting the threat to you affects the prognosis of the outcome and how you will handle it.  Of course FOX news and the right will argue about anything.  Howard Dean called Governor Scott Walker uneducated because he dropped out of college.  Maybe it was Governor Walker’s remark about evolution- - and not being able to go along with it- - and Howard Dean said something like “Maybe he doesn’t believe in evolution because he never studied it in school”.   I wish all of these right wingers would indeed “study” evolution and get the facts, rather than just throw their opinion around willy nilly.  And I would add if you’re going to come down in favor of an intelligent designer- - - you even heve to “study” – and plenty - - to even arrive at that conclusion.  But you know these people.  They aren’t known for what they’re FOR but what they’re against.  In fact if you asked them if they believed in an Intelligent designer if they were taking truth syrum or something they might say “Well- - whoever it is just better not be more intelligent than Me”.   Because when push comes to shove it’s “All About Me” for these people.  They do things to put themselves in the seat of power.

This is Ash Wednesday February 18, 2015, and we had sliced pork for dinner with rice and mixed vegetables.  We had banana pudding for dessert.   I got done early.  I actually woke this morning with the thought “What thing can I do today to honor God” not even knowing what today was.  Then at nine or so they were about to procede with some Catholicf Ash Wednesday ceremony and I actually thought about participating.  I have no problem receiving the sacrament but perhaps they might have a problem with me since I was baptized into another denomination.   Paul Evans and Nancy Bell got the ash mark on the forehead.  It occurred to me that one obvious thing I could to for Lent to honor the Lord would be to quit smoking.  I actually thought about that for an hour or so.  I went to coffee in the courtyard and had two cups.  Then I broke down and went and bought a pack of cigarettes, but then regretted buying them after I’d done it.

I got a second baked apple from Paul.  It was Sean Hannity on till about 12:22 or so because he was making a fool of himself so I switched to Bill Carol.  They still have not found one piece of wreckage from that doomed Flight 73 or whatever from Malaysia from almost a year ago, and that’s a little odd.  It was soap time and Jack Junior is beginning his descent into perdition once more.  He seems to not care.  Melanie actually solicited Nicole’s help, which is an honor to Nicole.  She had to contact someone devious enough.  Hope’s going along with the total cover-up of whatever crimes that took place the night Aden lost his wife - - or the night Aden scored big on the lotterey of life inhereting all his estranged wife's money - - - I regard as strange, and rather unlike Hope, and contrary to the Police instinct that she and Bo had always cultivated and lived by.   The way that Aden went psycho I definitely would have been fearing for my life and wishing I had a firearm or something to defend myself with.  You can’t “forgive” someone who may be lying like a rug even as you console him and tell him everything is all right.   I began putting the clothes away a little before two.  Everything was there.  I got two cups of coffee at coffee break. 

I got in the short Money Draw line and got in to see Tess.  But {name] still didn’t know where my money was and I’m getting an increasingly uncomfortable feeling about that.  Because if I write them another check, once things get back to normal with the computer BOTH checks will be cashed.  This raises the question of why ANY bank would cash a check with insufficient funds knowing that when they did their client would be overdrawn and get dinner for thirty-five dollars, and I just answered my own question.  I got the five dollar bill and grabbed two chocolates and then left.  I bought one pack of John Black cherries.  I then stood in the line to see Dr Saran and I even brought up a chair to sit in.  I wasn’t feverish but actually below normal, and my blood pressure was quite low.  Still I complained of feeling both feverish and with tightness in the chest and coughing spasms, and explained how this cold has dragged on for two weeks and counting already.  Dr Saran wrote out a prescription for both cough medicine and anti biotics, and I hope both arrive expediciously.  The attendant or somebody took the form.  I forgot to ask about the lamisil or drug coverage in general and if the doctor has any theories on why I don’t seem to be as well covered as before.   I then went out and smoked another cigarette.  I got on computer and killed a little time before it was Norman Goldman time.  I listened to that show for the hour.  Dousing my head with water was a rare occurrence today, which means I must be getting better.   We had enchaladas for dinner.  Teresa had some tortillas and gave me one I used to mix the beans and beef mixture next to it, and a little lettuce in with it.  I ate the rest of the lettuce as the vinegar salad intended.  We had one oatmeal and one chocolate chip cookie for desert.  I met with Lishia again, as before dinner.  At that time she gave me a push lighter, and I complained to her about my arthritic thumb.  We went to the room and the computer was still on and we went to facebook.  Lishia explained the whole sag saga to me about her mother and her two daughters and the whole giving gifts thing and that she couldn’t remember what nasty thing she wrote one daughter on facebook.  We never found that - - but I guess that was one of her young granddaughters with big boobs in the pool- - or that was another video?   I wanted to look at more videos and click things but I didn’t want to get off my mission.  Lishia figured the post was deleted.  I asked about logging out, which was for her benefit because it cost me access to her personal account in the future.  But I looked at the regular facebook with stuff on Italy. 

"Well - - What Did You Expect, Anyway?"

I had Ron Paul on C-Span and he told tales of government waste and employee laziness.  Apparently closing down the World War II memorial and Mt Rushmore actually COST the government money but according to Ron we had to do it, otherwise no one would notice the government had been shut down.  And he says two-thirds of it runs on auto pilot anyhow He said the two worst disasters of the past six years were passage of the Dodd Frank bill- - and Bengazi.  According to him, President Obama was going all around raving about what a military success Libya was.  And then we put weapons restrictions on the security staff at the embassy, which of course we didn’t use to have.  So we sent various contingences of troops home.   But it was a busy weekend what with the 21 beheadings of Coptic Christians in Libya.  Sean played the English translated tape saying that this act of brutal death was a demonstration of God’s grace to the world- - or something.  Then there were the two terrorist incidents in Denmark and that guy was already taken out by authorities.  Both of the venues were the shootings occurred were Jewish activities.  One was a seminar on "Free Speech" and what it means.  When I heard the tape on the radio it sounded like someone hammering on a table. The other was a Bat Mitzva.  Now a Norman Goldman called comes along and claims that all ISIS is- - is nothing to do with Islam but it’s “Soldiers of Fortune” or mercenary troops by the Saudis, and he said something about Dick Chaney wanting to build an oil pipeline in the Golan Heights.  But the phrase of the day is a good one - - “What did you expect?”   I “expect” I’d have been doing more blog postings over the weekend if I wasn’t so sick, and still am.   Like I say- - I expect I’ll be seeing Dr Saran tomorrow, but as far as I’m concerned- - one day is too long to wait.   “What did we expect” with the dismanteling of Libya in 2011?

This weekend was (or is) known for a lot of things.  Of course they don’t show the NBA all star game any more, and there was no game at all on KABC.  There was some skiing thing on KNBC till three.  They were doing qualifying times for the Daytona 500 differently this time in heats of five cars each, which the drivers don’t like, because before they went individually, I guess.  Fifty Shades of gray had record grow profits at the Box Office for any President’s Day weekend.   The Writers Guild hat their academy awards last weekend.  The Ukrainian cease fire went into effect yesterday and we should all pray for the success of that one.  Whichever side breaks the agreement will be the side that is guilty.   And the FAA is proposing new regularion for drones that are a little strange.  This is because you can fly them up to 55 pounds, which is pretty major.  You can fly them when you turn seventeen, but nobody is checking to see how old you are.  Like radio planes of old- - pretty much you are limited to line of sight.  If you can’t see it, you’ve gone too far.  The businesses that want to do deliveries don’t like this provision.  And you are limited to an altitude of five hundred feet.  I disagree with this only in that it seems so restrictive that all of these new drones will be compressed into a really tiny area of the sky.   Stephanie Miller was of course talking about her Valentine’s Day activities.   Her album is doing well in sales.   Of course I wish I didn’t have this marathon illness- - but really just Saturday and Sunday were the really horrific days.

This idea about a CEO buying up stock shares and doubling the stock price - - -seems just a little exagurated.  Yes having a strong buyer will increase the overall demand for the stock.  But it’s the stock which benefits from the fresh money more than the person buying it.  Besides- - if I knew for a fact that the price of my stock would double the minute after I sold it- - I wouldn’t sell it.  You see for every buyer- - someone has to be there to SELL it to him.  So if a CEO comes to me and offers me money for my stock I would tell him “Well you see, the thing is this.  There’s a rumor that a really rich person is going to buy up a bunch of stock in this company, and I want to wait till ten minutes AFTER he buys that stock, rather than ten minutes BEFORE he does it.  It’s kind of along the same principle of “A rising tide lifts all boats”.  Capish?

By now you know that ISIS executed a bunch of Coptic (Egyptian) Christians along the Libyan shore.  Allarently all 21 were construction workers.  Now ISIS has two Mideast countries mad at them- - Egypt and Jordan.  To that list you can add what’s left of Syria, and of course Iran.  There must be some way for the US to come to some accord with Iran to - - if not to be best buddies- - at least be civil to each other enough to mutually cooperate to bring down ISIS.  I see no need for the sort of bluster Netenyahoo does against Iran.   Hopefully Iran is sticking to their anti Nuke treaty.  Otherwise all bête are off.  But if Iran can prove itself worthy or our trust- - this would indeed be a good thing.

I had C-Span on next and there was a chorus of endless whining about Islamic terrorism of all kinds, it didn’t matter what sect of Islam, it was all bad, and they’re all out to get us.  Again the theme was picked up that “And if any nation isn’t as stalwart in their resolute disdain of Islam as we are, then we should break off diplomatic relations with them”.   This is their version of “weeding out the disloyal ones”.   Only one speaker says we should cultivate relations with governments of a more moderate nature, that are also Islamic.  It was a pretty robust chorus of doom and gloom, however.   Stan Chambers died.  He was famous as channel 5 news director for years and years.  I thought he was already dead.  Gary Owens also just died.  That’s another one I thought died decades ago.  Now they are talking about the absurdly warm weather on the news.  Paul said the weather was hot but “the water hasn’t gotten the message yet”.   I had the Norman Goldman program on for the hour. They had an electoral map of Ukraine that is a sea of colors by district as to who got what percentage of the vote.  It would seem a partition line could be drawn right down the middle from the south-west to the north-east.  Obviously Ukraine is a much more polarized country than I had thought up to less than a year ago.  Stephen Hawking posed the question to the internet whether mankind could survive for another hundred years.  He fears either a nuclear war or a genetically engineered virus.  He says contact with Space Aliens should be avoided – even if we should come across any.  This would not be an appropriate spot to inject any of my remarks.

This is Sunday February 15, 2015, which is Luprical if you read Julius Caesar.  Yesterday I got only sicker as the afternoon and evening progressed, and was in no shape to type anything.  I swallowed mouthwash to try and ease the fever that was spiking.  I drank water, but not all that much at one time, and I repeatedly doused my head with cold water.  I was breathing heavily, continually short of breath.  I went to dinner and it was a long wait.  We got pieces of pork and rice and a green salad.  I ate most of the pork pieces and consumed the green salad, but then I was feeling too sick to continue, no matter what dessert was.  It was of course the usual ABC news.   I got needed medication from Donnie at five thirty.  The Mc Laughlin group doesn’t merit any particular commentary.  I did not attempt to get coffee from Glen.  I borrowed exactly one cigarette- - from Zach, a little after seven when Jeopardy was on.  It was Wheel of Fortune and then “Burn Notice” till nine.  I began feeling better but still didn’t sleep that soundly.

What the Nation of Israel Is All About

An Attempt to Drag America Into Israel’s War

The following text speaks for itself.

On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked the American naval vessel USS Liberty in international waters, and tried to sink it.

After checking the Liberty out for 8 hours – and making 9 overflights with Israeli jets, within 200 feet … close enough for the pilots and the sunbathing Liberty sailors on deck to waive at each other.

Yet the Israelis attacked it with Mirage fighter jets, torpedoes and napalm.  The USS Liberty suffered 70% casualties, with 34 killed and 174 wounded.

The Israeli attack spanned two hours … as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor. The air attack alone lasted approximately 25 minutes: consisting of more than 30 sorties by approximately 12 separate planes using napalm, cannon, and rockets which left 821 holes in the ship.  The Israelis fired 30mm cannons and rockets into the boat.

Following the attack by fighter jets, three Israeli motor torpedo boats torpedoed the ship, causing a 40 x 40 foot wide hole in her hull, and machine-gunning firefighters and stretcher-bearers attempting to save their ship and crew. More than 3,000 machine-gun bullet holes were later counted on the Liberty’s hull.

After the attack was thought to have ended, three life rafts were lowered into the water to rescue the most seriously wounded. The Israeli torpedo boats returned and machine-gunned these life rafts at close range. This was followed by the approach of two large Israeli Army assault helicopters filled with armed commandos carrying what appeared to be explosive satchels (they departed after hovering over the ship for several minutes, making no attempt to communicate).

The Israelis clearly knew it was an American ship, tried to sink it, and tried to frame the Egyptians for the attack, as shown by the following evidence:

(1) The Liberty was flying a huge, brand new American flag. The flag was 5-by-8 feet.  The weather conditions were ideal to ensure the flag’s easy observance and identification, because it was clear and sunny, with a wind-speed which make for a constant ripple in the flag.  After the flag was shot up by the jets, the Liberty’s crew replaced it with a 7-by-13 foot American flag, which flew during the entire duration of the attack.

(2) The Liberty had a unique profile and didn’t look like any other boat, since it had more and bigger antennas – including large, high-tech dishes and giant towers – than any other boat in the world (it was an NSA spy ship).

(3) The Liberty was marked with uniquely American numbering and colors in front.

(4) The Israeli pilots shot out the Liberty’s communications equipment first, and specifically jammed the ship’s emergency radio signal … unique to American naval vessels in the 6th Fleet. The ships from other fleets and other nations used different frequencies, which the Israelis did not jam.

(5) The Israelis used unmarked fighter jets and unmarked torpedo boats during the attack.

(6) Recently-declassified radio transcripts between the Israeli attack forces and ground control show that – at least 3 times – an Israeli fighter jet pilot identified the craft as American, and asked whether ground control was sure he should attack.  Ground control repeatedly said, yes, attack the vessel.

(7) The Israeli torpedo boats methodically destroyed all of the Liberty’s liferafts one by one (which is a war crime).

(8) The only reason the Israelis did not successfully sink the Liberty and kill all of its crewmen was that one sailor duck-taped together antennae – and took many bullet wounds in the process – which enabled an emergency SOS to get out from the Liberty to American 6th Fleet.

(9) The Israelis later claimed that they mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian vessel.  But the Egyptian ship – the El Quseir – was an unarmed 1920s-era horse carrier out of service in Alexandria, four times smaller than the Liberty, which bore virtually no resemblance to the Liberty.

(10) President Lyndon Johnson believed the attack was intentional and he leaked his opinion to Newsweek.

Other high-level Americans agreed:

Sean Hannity of course has had gun permits all his life and has a "gun attorney" as one of his new sponsors.  Sean Hannity also mentioned that when he gets into a fight- - there are no rules.  Sean's goal is to win.  And apparently with all of the karate and other fact moves he knows Sean isn't sure whether four minutes would be enough to incompacitate his opponet.  As he told the sort of things he would do in a fight he mentioned eye gauging and kicks to the groin.  So if his gun doesn't get you you can bet Sean will fight dirty as hell.  In terms of the three year limit on today's War resoolution- - Sean doesn't think THAT is enough time to 'respond" to the ISIS threat.  In other words the mid term electionf of 2018 isn't long enough for a protracted war Sean envisions.  But keep in mind MOST wars do not last that long.  The War of 1812 didn't last that long.  Neither did the Mexican War.  Neither did the Spanish American War.  The Korean War lasted just about three years and 55 thousand Americans died in that time period, if you're curious.  You can do a LOT of damage in three years, just as in a street fight you can do a LOT of damage in four minutes- - particularly if your enemy became incompacitated in the first twenty seconds.   Now here are other thoughts from earlier.

Then it was Marco Rubio as an over-inflated gas bag going on and on about how the security of the whole world will be threatened if the democrats don’t attend Netenyahoo’s speech before congress.  Rubio was concerned about what our Allies will think of us.  Well let’s take a look at some of these UN votes where “the whole world voted against the United States” except for Israel.  You'll have to excuse me if I ask just how nations mentioned like Japan or South Korea voted on matters pertaining to Israel,.  The way Rubio tell it if you don't vote with us then you, too, are the Enemy. The way Rubio tells it it’s a mutual support system.  Israel supports us in votes we want passed and we support Israel in votes they want passed.  But I’m not sure whether there is a solid “mutual friendship” between nations or whether Israel is only some kind of a stalking horse, a pawn to be used at the convenience of the Republicans in the house.  I’m afraid this whole speech invite will degenerate into a mutual campaign rally.  Netenyahoo supports the Republicans in votes they want passed to stick it to the democrats, and in turn- all this publicity helps Netenyahoo at home in his election in two weeks.  I would have recommended hearing the speech but after all that bloviating of Marco Rubio- - I’m thinking if I were the senator or whatever I’d boycott the speech.  Rubio concludes his speech by saying, “I detect the absence of a quorum in this assembly.

Norman talked about Ted Cruise and his speech today against democratic led filibusters.  And Ted Cruise is correct.  These Democrats should NOT be filibustering.  What’s bad for one is bad for the other party.  Personally I would not want to stoop to the level the Republicans descended to in the fall of 2013 by denying votes for Homeland Security funding, as part of some political “statement” when all it will cause is chaos and harm the government.  There comes a time when you need to recognize that your side has lost and to throw in the towel and pass the darned thing.  Let me refresh your memory.  Mitch Mc Connell had as avowed goal to make Obama a one term president.  Mitch Mc Connell FAILED in this.  We all thought "Well, the Republicans have been taught a lesson.  Maybe they'll cooporate now.  But as liberals on the radio point out- - unlike we democrats - - the Republicans don't slink away with their tail between their legs after one defeate.   They don't "play by the rules" to to speak.  And why should they?  Rush Limbaugh has terrible ratings.  He's "too big to fail" as the credibility deficet of right talk radio balloons.  (pun intended)  But frankly on the matter of this revenue bill for homeland security, the democrats should be civilized about the whole thing and allow a vote to take place, just as we have been telling the Republicans to do for six years.  Moral consistency is a valuable thing and I don't want to cede the moral high ground and sink to the Republican's level.  Then the President has the option himself as to whether he wants to veto the thing or not. 

- - - and then the soap opera.  Jack Junior spent the entire night over at Eve’s.  He lied about his still made bed and wearing the same clothes as yesterday to his mother and sister.  Sister is smarter than mother in cases like this.  Sisters know these things.  For the first time Hope has evidence that it really is Aden’s wife speaking on that tape because Aden is calling her on the tape.  And also the big thing of Anti Freeze was exactly where his wife said it would be.  I confess to a little puzzlement because who KNOWS they're being slowly poisoned by anti freeze and still allow it to go on and not call the cops?   Nicole seems to have turned the tables on Serena by catching her in the act of stealing Eric’s artwork statuary.  Nicole could catch a credibility break here, and I hope she does.  But you never know about these soap writers.

Staples Hates Competition For Your Business

Staples is at it again.  They are cutting back employee's hours before they get to the thirty hour per week limit so they have to be covered by the Affordable Care Act.  This thirty hour provision in the law needs to be dealt with one way or another.  We were told that there WAS no massive cutting back of employee's hours to thirty hours in the overall wage labor market.  But Staples is one of these "Unreconstructed" money mad corporate entities.  Of course Mitt Romney's money financed the start-up of Staples.  (It's one of the corporations that got a thumbs down meaning they weren't slain in the arena of sudden death)   But now we have the saga of Staples wanting to buy out Office Depot, who in turn had bought out Office Max not that long ago.  We clearly don't want a monopoly in the office supply retail market.  Every time I hear about a ruling of the EPA or the FTC or Justice Department- - I wish I didn't get that feeling of unease, as though the Bushies still controled these commissions.  It's like some foreign entity ruled our government and President Obama was only allowed to exist as a powerless figure head.  All of Obama's speeches are so lame it's pathetic.  Rather, for instance, than just talk about race relations, why not get Eric Holder to indict Officer Darren Wilson and the Ferguson Police Department.  As some point if I were the President I'd just say "If you don't do what I tell you to do then I'm just going to have to make one of those "executive decisions" and fire you".   Ditto for the FTC.  Some caller asked why the hell the Shermon Anti Trust Act stopped being enforced.  Yes, Reagan stopped enforcing it.  But rather than be seen as some flook anamolly- - every other President, even President Clinton- - dxecided that Reagan's "decision" had the force of a Supreme Court precedent ruling- - as though if Ronnie said it, then every other President has to follow suit.  We managed to stop the phone company mergers.  Whether it's Comcast or Time-Warner or whoever who wants to merge just say a firm "No".  Clearly it's been shown that there is much more spirited competition in the cell phone industry now after the merger was turned down.  This is a clear indication that competition is good because it drives down prices and improves service.  But sadly there are many corporations who if they had the choice would NOT have competitive prices or keep up good service, if they didn't absolutely have to. 

There is a mentally unstable atheist anti Muslim guy who wasted three men of the Islamic faith in an underground parking lot.  It’s a case of “parking lot space rage”.  But his web site is disturbing.  There are times when he sounds like your normal progressive, but then there is all this weird stuff mixed in with it.  Another story of the day is that John Stewart is leaving “The Daily Show” on cable in July, or maybe September, and has no idea what he’ll be doing.  I had the Norman Goldman show on and Hillary Clinton’s name came up.  Sean Hannity says that these days Hillary has gone into hiding granting neither one on one interviews, or press conferences.  She has given few public speeches, and any speeches she has given have been for a stiff speaking fee.  She’s the furthest thing from a Roosevelt Democrat.   She can be beaten, just as President Obama could have been beaten by a better candidate in 2008.  It's a crying shame that John Edwards had all those personal problems in 2008 because barring those, he was the odds on candidate to win the party's nomination that year and would have been the best candidate to put forward.  Someone said the only thing the Clintons have in common with FDR is that both got elected to President four times.  I just don't think we need either another Bush or Clinton in the White House.  Hillary is stale, the same way that candidate Obama was already getting stale in his rhetoric in 2008 when Hillary was beating him in all of the major primary races that year.  I think the idea of annointing someone with no conflict is silly.  We need to prove the metal of our candidates in advance.  Before they face conflicts with other nations, we need to see if they can face conflicts with their fellow travelers in the Democratic Party.

What you really want to know is what does the Orion Federation think of the "Declaration of War" that President wants congress to enact.  They think it's a very bad idea.  They point out that ISIS is entrenched and not going anywhere, and to a large degree have the support- - loyalty of a lot of people who will fight for them if needed.  It was pointed out that it was less bombs, for instance that defeated the Nazi party of Germany as much as the contrast between the kindness of US servicemen, and the brutality of their own government.  When the German people were made aware of all the concentration camps in their midst- - the normal reaction is "We didn't know".  They "Awoke" as if from a giant slumber.  Clearly the Japanese had to be shown that Hirohito wasn't incarnated from the Sun God or whatever.  The United States gave Japan the tools to rebuild their own country economically.  In contrast- - in Iraq the United States destroyed the whole infrastructure of Iraq and put back nothing in its place, except more bombings.  We were like the unwanted guest who has overstayed his welcome.  We had their enthusiastic support when we toppled Saddam Hussein, but then lost it as the war ground on year after year.  We somehow have to show them that ISIS is not worth making an Idol of to worship.  This will not be an easy job at all because if Americans were attacked by- - say Mexico or Columbia- - we would be up in arms too, attacking whenever we could with sniper attacks or whatever.  The only reason why President Obama wants this War Powers act is that he's trying to "prove his manhood to the Republicans".  That's about as bad as me trying to "Prove I'm a good fundamentalist Christian" to certain people in the Jesus movement.  At this point it's never going to happen because we are just too different.  President Obama is like the guy in the Pink Floyd song "Banging his head up against some mad buggar's wall".   He'll never win.  The Republicans won't even LET him pass this resolution right now but are going to stall for weeks on it.  That's what John Boehner does best.  He procrastenates to the n'th degree- - when everybody has lost their patience with him and just gives up- - then John Boehner says "If you had been just a little more patient- - you'd have gotten what you wanted". 

Joe was listening to this radio of this Boston University professor advising against going to war full scale with ISIS.  Thom Hartman stated that ISIS was like the Black Panthers or something as an organization acting almost charitably with women’s centers and making sure everybody has food, water and electricity.  This is hardly the image the West portrays them as.  On C-Span there were these Democratic congressmen who wanted to make sure the war declaration or whatever of 1982 was repealed.  Since military funding by constitutional law can’t be for more than two years, this resolution would have been null and void a long time ago.  But then I saw this Senator Corker guy from Texas who is like John Mc Cain’s younger brother, who went down the litany of all President Obama’s failures in foreign policy.  He spoke of the “red line” case in Syria leaving out an important detail.  He failed to point out that the President wanted Congress to approve his proposed actions and congress never even took it up.  It also should be noted that the Republicans did not approve a war resolution last year because election antics and game playing was more important to them.  They would get more votes calling President Obama a failure than they would than complying with an explicit request he made to them.  And the Democrats didn’t call them on it.  In terms of Ukraine and Putin there’s a little fact people have forgotten.  Putin has the bomb, and he’s one of the few foreign leaders who has stated openly that “If I have to use it, I will”.  But this Boston professor pointed out that Obama gets sucked into all these wars he never intended to get in (or so he says).    We touched on this with our Super Bowl story about the “New war with ISIS the President got us into”.

It's bordering on the strange- - how little normal "winter weather" ie chili and moist- - we've had this winter.  We've had these hot Santa Ana winds and yesterday set a near heat record- - from 1971 where we had a heatwave just after the February 9th earthquake.  This morning when I got up it was downright hot in this room - - but I didn't open the window because of the Santa Ana winds blowing.  These dry, hot Santa Amas are common in October and early November around here- - but not in February.   Dry heat waves have become to be known as "earthquake weather" around here.  We had the Whittier Narrows earthquake- - where I was living in the Bosc House with Frank at the time on October 1st 1987, and it was a protracted heat wave.  We have the Northridge earthquake of February 17th of 1994 with some very unseasonably hot and dry climate.  Then there was the June 28th earthquake of 1992 but of course it was summer time then anyhow.  But this hot weather is all the stranger because it's been so cold in the eastern part of the country with places like Miniapolis and Chicago having sub zero wind chill factors, and New York itself will be a zero degree wind chill.

Bob Simon, one of the Sixty Minutes crew- - was killed last night in a car crash in New York City on the west side near the Hudson river.  He had been with CBS since the days of the Viet Nam war and joined CBS in 1967  Simon was 73.  The buzz at the Federation is that "Simon died a Good Death" meaning he is now with the Federation.  In other news there is a pending Peace agreement between Russian rebels and Ukraine.  A cease fire goes into effect this Sunday, although fighting has continued during the whole period of the negotiations.  It would be truly nice to have one less conflict in the world - - at least for a while.  There was a rumor that Whitney Houston's daughter was "going to be taken off life support" on the third anniversary of her mother's death.  This assertion is, of course, completely false.  The daughter is doing much better now.   That UNLV coach who died at age 84 or something won a bunch of championships or whatever, but ran afowl of the NCAA when he won - - a legal suit against them years back.   We have that Chicago Little League team being stripped of last summer's American championship victory because the team (made up mostly of Blacks) is accused of having illegal "ringers" on the team that are inellagible to play from that zone.  I think opperative here is the term "little" and these kids were teenagers well into their growth spurts.  I thought the cut-off age for little league was twelve, but times have obviously changed.  I think as much as being stripped of the championship hurts, for the sake of the integrety of the game, that this disqualification insures the integrety of the Little League franchise for future championships.

Ruiner Rouner Goes On A Rampage

Illinois Governor Bruce Rouner is at it again.  This time he’s issuing an executive order that wants to make labor in the entire state an “Open Shop” as they refer to it, meaning that anybody can choose whether you want to join the union or not.  He’s starting with the government employees, but only because he thinks that’s where he has the most power and influence.  He’s like to do it with all Union employees.  There is a fee called a “fair share” fee that Open Shops have the right to charge non union members, but Rouner doesn’t want the Unions to get that money.  No doubt he wants to pocket the money himself.  Of course Open Shops are a way of weakening unions as a whole, and he and Scott Walker’s goals are to destroy the labor movement as a whole.  Since 1935 under the Wagner Act, unions have had a lot of legal power in this country.  Taft Hartley pruned that back a bit saying that “You shouldn’t have to pay dues that go to any political contribution by the unions that you disagree with”.   I have a question.  Since the Republicans only ruled Congress those two years, why didn’t the next congress just haul off and repeal the Taft Hartley act?  That’s one of the mysteries of life.

OK you heard it here first.  The price of crude oil is falling to twenty dollars a barrel within the next year.  During the month of January we saw a "short covering rally", which is KWHY speak for a rally in an over-all bear market.  I was thinking a similar thought already because it's just certain refinaries shutting down temporarily now to make way for their summer formulation, that will be out in a month or so.  I think the worm is definitely turned as far as crude oil prices, and we won't be seeing hundred and ten dollar a barrel oil prices again.  When people just realize THAT will never happen, this realization ALONE will trigger another selling panic, like an avelanche.  Banks aren't shy about publishing these prognostications openly these days.   So - - a word to the wise is sufficient.

The news used to be that Brian Williams had volentarily stepped down as news anchor on NBC news.  Now we hear that NBC is considering replacing Williams with Savannah Guthrie, who- - I'm guessing is considerably younger than Williams.  Of course now the number of questionable stories has climbed to four.  We had the hilocopter one being shot down by rockets.  We have the Hurricane Katrina one where Williams says he saw a dead body floating the water around his five star hotel.  We have the story about the puppies.  And now we have one about flying as an embedded reporter with the Israeli air force.  One wonders why news Anchors would take such assignments.  Other grunt reporters complain "We can do just as good of a job reporting on stories, but it adds status to the network to have the head hauncho go.    Sean Hannity was continuing to discuss the Brian Williams controversy.  Now there is a fourth event from 2006 involving the location of rockets shot up from the Palestinians, as embedded BW was flying with Israeli pilots.  How do these reporters like Hannidy get such “up close and personal” experiences with the military, when for the rest of everything is classified information?  Williams first claimed that he saw rockets being launched from six miles away, to which I'm thinking "He's got a real hawk eye to pick that out".   That's given my bad vision.  But then a month later he says that the rockets were being fired from right under his plane.  With these four stories coming to light in just the past week or so, one wonders just how many stories like this there are.  Others defend Williams saying 'It's part of the tallent that got him where is today that he's good at telling these dramatic action stories where he puts himself in the center of the action.  I don't know.  I'll leave it to NBC to decide his fate.

You already know about the ruling on gay marriages.  Clarence Thomas was kind enough to inform us in advance the court would be ruling favorably on gay marriages this June.  There was a Supreme Court case today that was a preview of the homosexual marriage case that will be dealt with fully in June.  Today in a 7 to 2 decision, the court said that Alabama had to go gay whether they wanted to or not.  Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Allito dissented- with Thomas actually writing that opinion.  Of course we old timers from fifty years ago remember Alabama Governor George Wallace standing at the front enterence to a college where two Black students were to be admitted, and Kennedy had to send in the national guard.  So my emotions are definitely mixed on this issue.  Local Judges and one in particular- - are ordering their county clerks NOT to issue marriage licenses for homosexual couples.  There IS no discussion or definition of "Marriage" in the Constitution.  In any other time, this topic would be clearly viewed as a matter in the domain of the states.  But we don't live in normal times.

It’s now official that Kayla Muller is dead.  She is no longer among the living.  Of course Kayla’s parents have been corresponding with ISIS on the subject and the parents reminded ISIS “You told us that you regarded Kayla as a “guest” in your country.  So as a guest under Islamic law she is entitled to be treated with respect and be protected from all harm”.  You see I know a thing or two about Mideast culture.  It doesn’t matter on the specifics on how Kayla died - - the responsibility for her death falls on ISIS.   According to Sean Hannity- - Jordan has done a lot more to destroy ISIS in the past couple of weeks than the United States has done in the past year- - not that Sean would lie or anything.

71 inches of snow, or nearly six feet of the stuff, have fallen in Boston and in that general storm track area of Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate New York by Albany, in the past three weeks- - than usually come down in a year.  They have every manner of snow removal equipment out there like back-hoes and snow melters, and tremendous amounts of salt and people working overtime with shovels.  Schools have used up all their snow days- - and now will have to cut into their summer vacations by more than a week to make up for it.  So the expression “Boston Strong” is still being tested.

I have been in increased anti psychotic medication now for the past three or four months and I believe my blog writing is less creative now.  I'm beginning to wonder whether the family isn't right and I should be completely OFF Resperidol.  It really isn't solving my basic problem of some vague underlying mental anxiety which manifests itself in mental disorganization.  Just think if I were on no psycho-tropic medication I might have a LOT more mental energy to do a lot of things such as reorganize all my writings.  These next few sentences I could edit out, but - - .  I went for coffee in the courtyard both in the morning and in the afternoon.  They were changing the linens on the other side of the hall.  I was quite drowsy before lunch.  For lunch we had corn chowder and some very poor tasting sloppy Joes I didn’t like, because they left some kind of after-taste in my mouth.  The question isn’t whether the mixture cane out of a can, but whether or not that can was found on the pet food aisle.

It turns out Paul’s blood wasn’t entirely compatible with Sonny’s despite assurances - - and he had a reaction to it and all the readings went haywire.  Sonny appeared to go into shock, and we all thought it was from seeing Will Horton.  Page is moving out from her mother’s place and into a dorm, and now she’s on the verge of finding out whom Jack Junior has been having the affair with.  The whole situation with Hope and Aden in the cabin remains up in the air.   I was thinking that Hope make like a Missouri cop and keep her gun out and ready to fire.  Victor Kiriacus heard a voice behind him in the chapel while he was praying- - and it was Clyde Weston saying “It’s a crying shame about what happened to your nephew, Sonny.  That would be enough to put me in therapy for weeks.  You aren’t telling me the guy has returned from the dead, like Nick, are you?   The body was never found but he was freezing in the snow and had three bullets in his brain.  We know that.

False Flag Opperation's Greatest Hits

There is a myth propigated by Christians that "It doesn't matter" who was responsible for "sins of the past" that are austensively "under the Blood of Jesus" now.   Take Brian Williams.  If he really wanted to impress us he could tell us the real inside story about what happened to "Building 7" on 9 -11 - - and ditto for all those snippits of spontaniously reporting of strange events on 9 - 11 that were suddenly DROPPED from any further reference because they contradicted the "official story" being developed about 9 - 11 by the Government.  There are some sins for which I believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to "un ring the bell" or to undo or even adequately Atone for the sin you comitted.  Neil Savedra of KFI has openly stated he agrees on this point that some sins are able to achieve what the Holy Spirit would deny many human souls, and that is a state of achieving Immortality.  Aren't there certain "Questions" you would have loved your parents or perhaps other family members to honestly and completely answer- - if you could bring them back from the dead to do it?   Let me use the example of today's soap opera.  Page a virtual teenager - - said she blames the breakup with her boyfriend on her mother, Eve, and in this she is more correct than she knows.  But Eve the mother only says- - in essence "Forget about how I have labored and schemed to make you Miserable, but now I'm going to get on my high horse and tell you that old chestnut of "You're only hurting Yourself if you dwell on such things", to which the daughter, Page wisely said "No.  YOU hurt me, and my Boyfriend hurt me and the girl he fornicated with hurt me- - but I am NOT hurting myself!"

We return to the notion of False Flag opperations themselves.  These are some of the sleeziest, slimyest opperations of international War.  And the strange things they are grevious lying Sins that in most cases the Offenders seem to get away with, most of the time.  In fact the perpitrators of these offences can often portray themselves as victims, and perhaps even heroes.  I know, for instance, that our the entire Foreign Policy of the United States is completely morally bankrupt.  And yet we call defenders of this completely Sick system of ours- - Patriots.  These days it seems- whether it's Brian Williams or John Doe- - that "Anything that plays well in the Media works for ME!"

 (5) The Russian Parliament, current Russian president Putin and former Soviet leader Gorbachev all admit that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered his secret police to execute 22,000 Polish army officers and civilians in 1940, and falsely blame it on the Nazis.

            (6) The British government admits that – between 1946 and 1948 – it bombed 5 ships carrying Jews attempting to flee the Holocaust to seek safety in Palestine, set up a fake group called “Defenders of Arab Palestine”, and then had the psuedo-group falsely claim responsibility for the bombings (and seethis, this and this).

            (7) Israel admits that in 1954, an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind “evidence” implicating the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to identify the bombers, and several of the Israelis later confessed) (and see this and this).

            (8) The CIA admits that it hired Iranians in the 1950′s to pose as Communists and stage bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected prime minister.

            (9) The Turkish Prime Minister admitted that the Turkish government carried out the 1955 bombing on a Turkish consulate in Greece – also damaging the nearby birthplace of the founder of modern Turkey – and blamed it on Greece, for the purpose of inciting and justifying anti-Greek violence.

            (10) The British Prime Minister admitted to his defense secretary that he and American president Dwight Eisenhower approved a plan in 1957 to carry out attacks in Syria and blame it on the Syrian government as a way to effect regime change.

 (12) In 1960, American Senator George Smathers suggested that the U.S. launch “a false attack made on Guantanamo Bay which would give us the excuse of actually fomenting a fight which would then give us the excuse to go in and [overthrow Castro]“.

            (13) Official State Department documents show that, in 1961, the head of the Joint Chiefs and other high-level officials discussed blowing up a consulate in the Dominican Republic in order to justify an invasion of that country. The plans were not carried out, but they were all discussed as serious proposals.

            (14) As admitted by the U.S. government, recently declassified documents show that in 1962, the American Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan to blow up AMERICAN airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. See the following ABC news report; the official documents; and watch this interview with the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.

            (15) In 1963, the U.S. Department of Defense wrote a paper promoting attacks on nations within the Organization of American States – such as Trinidad-Tobago or Jamaica – and then falsely blaming them on Cuba.

            (16) The U.S. Department of Defense even suggested covertly paying a person in the Castro government to attack the United States: “The only area remaining for consideration then would be to bribe one of Castro’s subordinate commanders to initiate an attack on Guantanamo.”

            (17) The NSA admits that it lied about what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 … manipulating data to make it look like North Vietnamese boats fired on a U.S. ship so as to create a false justification for the Vietnam war.

            (18) A U.S. Congressional committee admitted that – as part of its “Cointelpro” campaign – the FBI had used many provocateurs in the 1950s through 1970s to carry out violent acts and falsely blame them on political activists.

            (19) A top Turkish general admitted that Turkish forces burned down a mosque on Cyprus in the 1970s and blamed it on their enemy. He explained: “In Special War, certain acts of sabotage are staged and blamed on the enemy to increase public resistance. We did this on Cyprus; we even burnt down a mosque.” In response to the surprised correspondent’s incredulous look the general said, “I am giving an example”.

 (25) Senior Russian Senior military and intelligence officers admit that the KGB blew up Russian apartment buildings in 1999 and falsely blamed it on Chechens, in order to justify an invasion of Chechnya (and see this report and this discussion).

            (26) According to the Washington Post, Indonesian police admit that the Indonesian military killed American teachers in Papua in 2002 and blamed the murders on a Papuan separatist group in order to get that group listed as a terrorist organization.

            (27) The well-respected former Indonesian president also admits that the government probably had a role in the Bali bombings.

            (28) As reported by BBC, the New York Times, and Associated Press, Macedonian officials admit that the government murdered 7 innocent immigrants in cold blood and pretended that they were Al Qaeda soldiers attempting to assassinate Macedonian police, in order to join the “war on terror”.

            (29) Senior police officials in Genoa, Italy admitted that – in July 2001, at the G8 summit in Genoa – planted two Molotov cocktails and faked the stabbing of a police officer, in order to justify a violent crackdown against protesters.

            (30) Although the FBI now admits that the 2001 anthrax attacks were carried out by one or more U.S. government scientists, a senior FBI official says that the FBI was actually told to blame the Anthrax attacks on Al Qaeda by White House officials (remember what the anthrax letters looked like). Government officials also confirm that the white House tried to link the anthrax to Iraq as a justification for regime change in that country.

            (31) Similarly, the U.S. falsely blamed Iraq for playing a role in the 9/11 attacks – as shown by amemo from the defense secretary – as one of the main justifications for launching the Iraq war. Even after the 9/11 Commission admitted that there was no connection, Dick Cheney said that the evidence is “overwhelming” that al Qaeda had a relationship with Saddam Hussein’s regime, that Cheney “probably” had information unavailable to the Commission, and that the media was not ‘doing their homework’ in reporting such ties. Top U.S. government officials now admit that the Iraq war was really launched for oil … not 9/11 or weapons of mass destruction (despite previous “lone wolf” claims, many U.S. government officials now say that 9/11 was state-sponsored terror; but Iraq was not the state which backed the hijackers).

            (32) Former Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo suggested in 2005 that the US should go on the offensive against al-Qaeda, having “our intelligence agencies create a false terrorist organization. It could have its own websites, recruitment centers, training camps, and fundraising operations. It could launch fake terrorist operations and claim credit for real terrorist strikes, helping to sow confusion within al-Qaeda’s ranks, causing operatives to doubt others’ identities and to question the validity of communications.”

  (34) Undercover Israeli soldiers admitted in 2005 to throwing stones at other Israeli soldiers so they could blame it on Palestinians, as an excuse to crack down on peaceful protests by the Palestinians.

            (35) Quebec police admitted that, in 2007, thugs carrying rocks to a peaceful protest were actually undercover Quebec police officers (and see this).

            (36) At the G20 protests in London in 2009, a British member of parliament saw plain clothes police officers attempting to incite the crowd to violence.

            (37) Egyptian politicians admitted (and see this) that government employees looted priceless museum artifacts in 2011 to try to discredit the protesters.

            (38) A Colombian army colonel has admitted that his unit murdered 57 civilians, then dressed them in uniforms and claimed they were rebels killed in combat.

 (41) The former Ukrainian security chief admits that the sniper attacks which started the Ukrainian coup were carried out in order to frame others.

            (42) Britain’s spy agency has admitted (and see this) that it carries out “digital false flag” attacks on targets, framing people by writing offensive or unlawful material … and blaming it on the target.