Time to look

Don't Buy Gift Cards

Not all gift cards are redeemed,
which can be for a multitude of reasons.
Common reasons may include loss of the card,
time decay (expiration and fees),
personal uninterest in the store
that the card is accepted, complex
rules of redemption, and the attempt
of the recipient to save money for the giver.
It has been estimated that perhaps
10% of cards are not redeemed,
amounting to a gain for retailers
of about $8 billion in the US in 2006.

Gift cards may seem attractive but
they are just another marketing device
designed to drain you of your cash,
you are giving your money away
for free when you choose gift cards.

$$$$!!!! 8 Billion !!!!$$$$

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash

Question Everything

"There is nothing new in the world

except the history you do not know."

Harry S. Truman

What You Don't Know

Those who control the present...

control the past...

And those who control the past...

control the future.

...Niccolò Machiavelli...

(1469-1527)

Dr. Kilde on Swine Flu

Pablo Picasso

Picasso with Centaur

Vallauris, France

by Gjon Mili

1949

Can You Handle The Truth?

(Sgt. Karl Wolf)

(lunar structures)

Dream Big

You

can do


anything,


what will

you do?

Coup d'état

Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation
January 17, 1961 (excerpt)

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Dallas Texas, November 22, 1963

Ignorance Is Bliss

It is not the "government"

that has you bound...

it is the $ingle-minded

corporate "entities" that control it

What Is It Good For?

♫We Gotta Get Out of this Place ♫♪

rogue
n.
1. An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.
2. A wandering beggar; a vagrant.
3. A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd.
4. An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard.
adj.
1. Vicious and solitary. Used of an animal, especially an elephant.
2. Large, destructive, and anomalous or unpredictable: a rogue wave; a rogue tornado.
3. Operating outside normal or desirable controls: "How could a single rogue trader bring down an otherwise profitable and well-regarded institution?" (Saul Hansell).
v. rogued, rogu·ing, rogues
v.tr.
1. To defraud.
2. To remove (diseased or abnormal specimens) from a group of plants of the same variety.

I checked dictionaries from several publishers, and found they more or less agreed in their definitions. The lone exception I found in the Unabridged Concise True American Dictionary, Murdoch Mifflin, Inc., New York-London-Melbourne published last week which gives

rogue n.

1. a mischievously refreshing conservative
2. an innovative advocate of traditional values
3. one who is playfully responsive to corporate stewardship

Abra fucking cadabra.

The Great Beyond

Death on a Pale Horse

Joseph Mallord William Turner

1825-1830

Kill Shot-Frame 313

It is clear to me that

the kill shot did not come

from the schoolbook depository






And this was just a coincidence?

Mother's Milk

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with solids gradually being introduced around this age when signs of readiness are shown. Supplemented breastfeeding is recommended until at least age two, as long as mother and child wish.

The Nestlé boycott is a boycott launched on July 4, 1977, in the United States against the Swiss based Nestlé corporation. It was prompted by concern about the company's marketing of breast milk substitutes (infant formula), particularly in less economically developed countries, which campaigners claim contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of babies, largely among the poor.

In order to sell more of its infant formula in third world countries, Nestle would hire women with no special training and dress them up as nurses to give out free samples of Nestle formula. The free samples lasted long enough for the mother's breast milk to dry up from lack of use. Then mothers would be forced to purchase the formula but, being poor, they would often mix the formula with unsanitary water or "stretch" the amount of formula by diluting it with more water than recommended. The result was that babies starved all over the Third World while Nestle made huge profits from this predatory marketing strategy.

Groups such as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), and Save the Children claim that the promotion of infant formula over breast-feeding has led to health problems and deaths among infants in less economically developed countries. There are three problems that are said to arise when poor mothers in Third World countries switch to formula:

Formula must normally be mixed with water, which is often contaminated in poor countries, leading to disease in vulnerable infants. Because of the high illiteracy rates in developing nations many mothers are not aware of the sanitation methods needed in the preparation of bottles. Even mothers that can understand the sanitation required do not have the means to perform it. UNICEF estimates that a non-breastfed child living in disease-ridden and unhygienic conditions is between six and 25 times more likely to die of diarrhea and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than a breastfed child.

Many poor mothers use less formula powder than is necessary, in order to make a container of formula last longer. As a result, some infants receive inadequate nutrition from weak solutions of formula.

Breast milk has many natural benefits lacking in formula. Nutrients and antibodies are passed to the baby while hormones are released into the mother's body. Breast-fed babies are protected, in varying degrees, from a number of illnesses, including diarrhea, bacterial meningitis, gastroenteritis, ear infection, and respiratory infection. Breast milk contains the right amount of the nutrients that are essential for neuronal (brain and nerve) development. The bond between baby and mother can be strengthened during breastfeeding. Frequent and exclusive breastfeeding can also delay the return of fertility, which can help women in developing countries to space their births. The World Health Organization recommends that, in the majority of cases, babies should be exclusively breast fed for the first six months.

Advocacy groups and charities have accused Nestlé of unethical methods of promoting infant formula over breast-milk to poor mothers in third world countries. For example, IBFAN claim that Nestlé supports the distribution of free powdered formula samples to hospitals and maternity wards; after leaving the hospital, the formula is no longer free, but because the supplementation has interfered with lactation the family must continue to buy the formula. IBFAN also allege that Nestlé uses "humanitarian aid" to create markets, does not label its products in a language appropriate to the country where they are sold, and offers gifts and sponsorship to influence health workers to promote its products. Nestlé denies these allegations.

Are You Ready?

Junk Yard Man

You are not content with

polluting your planet

Now you have made your

outer space a junk yard too

Within the vast debris field

there are tens of millions of

small fragments and an estimated

19,000 at 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) or heavier

The Kessler Syndrome will soon render

space exploration, and even the use of

satellites, infeasible for many generations

Ideas Are Bulletproof

What's New Pussycat?

What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
Pussycat, Pussycat
I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you.
So go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!
Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat nose!
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
Pussycat, Pussycat
You're so thrilling
And I'm so willing
To care for you.
So go and make up your cute little pussycat face!
Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat face!
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
Pussycat, Pussycat
You're delicious
And if my wishes
Can all come true
I'll soon be kissing your sweet little pussycat lips!
Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat lips!
You and your pussycat eyes!
You and your pussycat nose!

...Tom Jones...

(video clip)

Welcome To The Real World

The Matrix has you...

The Seven Deadly Sins and The Seven Virtues

Whether one is religious or not, there is much symbolic power in the concepts and language used by the Church (indeed a plurality of churches as splits inevitably developed to cater for divergent views.) For the present writer, religious language is purely metaphor. For him the Bible is a superb compendium of stories rich in metaphor and indeed meaning. He has long left behind any trace at all of literalism in religious or biblical matters. However, he still respects all religions and those that espouse them provided they do not seek to thrust their views down the throats of others or indeed harm others by following misguided beliefs.

There is not a little psychology in the Scriptures and in the traditional teaching promulgated and promoted by the various churches and organised religions. Whether one is religious or not, one can access this wisdom through looking at and contemplating what religious categories sought to represent metaphorically. To cut to the chase here, the category of sins called The Seven Deadly Sins represents a deep insight into human psychology. Even if you are not convinced that such a concept as sin exists you could recast them as The Seven Deadly Desires. For me they represent a deep insight into human psychology.

One of my favourite contemporary philosophers is John Gray who quite simply believes that we overestimated the importance of humankind's place in the universe or in the scheme of things. He prefers to call us "human animals" rather than "human beings" as he feels this latter term is loaded with presuppositions and indeed prejudices. Of course, we are a special kind of animal - a human animal, but an animal nonetheless. We are heir to many animal instincts and desires. These for the erudite Sigmund Freud, the founder of Psychoanalysis, make up that part of the human psyche which he referred to as the "Id" which for him was literally a cesspit of desires.

Where, you may ask, is this post going? What is it getting at? Well, it is my contention that the present world economic crisis is been caused by the deadly desires of the human animals that live upon this little blue planet in the middle of the frightening infinity of space. Let me list the the seven for you, though I am sure you are really very well acquainted with them. They are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. These, you will agree, are deadly desires when they take hold of us. Lust, Gluttony, Greed and Sloth are sins or desires of excess. We literally want to possess everything - we cannot get enough of anything. The Eastern religions see this as a clinging onto things and to people - all of which belongs to the world of impermanence anyway. An international Irish politician, Mr Pat Cox, a former president of the European Parliament has stated rather wisely that what caused the present international global monetary crisis was "the tsunami of greed that gripped the western world." How right he is and how perspicacious of him. Yes, we poor human animals, often at the mercy of our desires do succumb to lust - for power, for wealth, for boundless happiness, whether sexual or otherwise. We do like to glut ourselves in the best of restaurants. We do like to do things to excess. To that extent we become possessed by our possessions and overwhelmed by our passions - if not virtually smothered by them.

Then, envy and pride are rather pitiful and base desires. It is surely a sign of a considerable lack of self-esteem that pushes us to envy the achievements of others. Then, the old saying that "pride precedes a fall" is ever so true. I am reminded here of the famous Biblical story of the Tower of Babel - a wonderful and wondrous allegory full of metaphorical delight. The early human animal was so besotted with his own prowess that he sought to build the greatest and highest tower ever - one that would reach to the very heavens but alas and alack its destiny was that of destruction. I remember a lecturer calling this the "hubris" of humankind. Hubris is the Greek word for pride.

However, the Church (or churches) did have a balance to this teaching. For each of the Seven Deadly Sins there were, of course, The Seven Virtues which were the cure or antidote, to use a medical metaphor, to each of the evil desires listed above: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility. The religious virtues can, of course, be recast as positive human behaviours capable of being executed by the Ego under the influence of the Superego (Conscience) to put this religious language in Freudian terms.

Above The Seven Deadly Sins or The Seven Deadly Vices by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The Original Sin

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.

The Temptation of Adam and

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Sistine Chapel

The Problems Of Peace

The enemy is fear

the enemy is hate

the enemy is ignorance

the enemy is intolerance

the enemy is violence

the enemy is war


"War is a cowardly escape

from the problems of peace"

...Thomas Mann...

A Conservative View

Another country

President Obama has decided on a settlement between the Navajo and Hopi Indians during his first year in office. Imagine that. I wonder when the last time a sitting president could make that claim. Marijuana production is definitely on the rise around here. The Mexican Cartels are moving their operations to the US. It’s especially apparent in California. This doesn’t surprise me much. It’s common practice for US businesses to set-up shop closer to their market. The border community between the U.S and Mexico is becoming another country. They even have a name for it: El Tercer Pais. Literally ‘the third country’. It’s a place where people go about their business without much regard for what legislatures decide on either side. Meanwhile, smugglers are using cranes to lift cars, filled with marijuana, over that scary fence we built ..reinforcing the notion of how adaptable humans can be. If you build it, they will climb it. I wonder when we’re going to end this crazy charade that has transferred so much wealth to the drug cartels that, pretty soon ..they’re going to declare sovereignty over El Tercer Pais ..and defend its borders with more than just a wall.

Prisoner Of War

You are a prisoner of a

permanent war economy,

you are a prisoner of war.

know thyself

Do you know /
integrity knows

War

Strident pronouncements from the
pulpit of state
proclaiming superiority,
demanding loyalty,
stirring the shimmering
caldron of fear,
a tsunami of emotions
assaulting the senses.

War grinds on
poking desperate holes in
the fabric of reason.

Humans stand astride
the abyss of the damned
and plunge without reluctance
into the chaos of their own making.

War shreds humanity
under the staggering weight
of bountiful corpses
left bloodless,
discharged from the living
in a torrent of metal and fire.

Cycles of endless violence and
retribution,
falling upon the sharpened spikes
of hatred
ignorance
fear.

War glorifies pointless death
upon the altar of
the unrelenting darkness

I mourn for all the pointless death,
for the gravestones piled high upon
the beleaguered hearts of all the mothers
who have wept over the ashes
of their vanquished children.

Wars’ hollow victories
give succor to the void
and offer the promise
of future grief upon the bones of
fractured peace.

I mourn for needless suffering,
for the compendium of horrors,
for the blood and sinews of the
armies of victims who
fall to the earth so thoroughly broken.

War is carnage
unredeemed by the rhetoric of
shallow righteousness or
the politics of punishment and retribution.

I long for a time when peace is
no longer a sentiment
reserved for the prophets,
not just a word used on
special occasions,
not simply a sweet turn of phrase
laced within the rhetoric of
the politics of deception,
but a way of being
within the substance of humanity.

Regarding the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - UAV

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is now a standard component in the arsenal of warfare used by United States military forces. They have been used extensively in Iraq to “pacify” the insurgents without risking the lives of U.S. troops; this was especially case in Sadr City. Currently, UAVs are being used in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

These highly technical devices require a complex infrastructure involving satellites and GPS and communications channels able to handle staggering amounts of information Images from a drone can be relayed instantly to a laptop with the ground unit, a command center located miles away, and to imagery analysts thousands of miles away. They are products of the technological age.

Currently there are over 1200 UAVs within the staggering U.S. military arsenal (in one estimation the US military budget – 607 billion dollars – represents forty-one percent of the world total and higher than the combined expenditures of the remaining nine countries in the top ten). These devices can deliver lethal weapons of mass destruction to targets from instructions sent from a laptop half a world away. The command and control procedures for these weapons have been compared to playing video games.

UAVs are not simply a technological breakthrough; they represent a new concept in the very idea of warfare. The death and destruction that is the obvious outcome of war can be sanitized, for the carnage that is unleashed by these robotic killing machines can be viewed dispassionately from great distances on LCD monitors. Those who produce mayhem and death can accomplish this through keystrokes and are “spared” the unwholesome prospect of seeing the results of their labor – the blood and bones and shattered skulls and viscera, the stench of death and the anguish of mothers over the death of their children. These technicians, who take their orders from the military strategists who project military power, can go home from a day of work without having to come to grips with the stark reality of what they do. The act of destroying life and creating suffering without feeling any emotional or ethical repercussions is, in my mind, the essence of evil.

Warfare of this nature foretells an ominous trend in the future prospects for mankind. War made easier and less costly for those who possess the economic power to devise and produce such weapons will make the prospect for a peaceful world even more remote than it currently is.