I was a big fan of Oswald Spengler. I thought The Decline of the West was one of the most prescient books ever written. Everything does come and go in cycles. You can think of the world as a big washing machine doing the same load of laundry over and over. Eventually the spin cycle comes and everything gets pressed into everything else. Some of it may even get hung out to dry. Somehow the laundry always gets dirty again without ever leaving the machine. There are different kinds of dirt and then there’s filth.
If you’re like me you’ve been walking long stretches of bad highway more than you’ve been drinking Martinis at The Ritz. Half of the world hasn’t even had the good fortune to be on my stretches of bad highway. Most of them might have considered themselves fortunate to have been able to. It’s selfish to complain when the low points in your own life are uniformly higher than the high points in the lives of so many others. Most of us lack perspective. Every level of comfort accommodates some degree of denial about the world around you.
If you were free of self interest and... very few of us can make that claim... the world would look like a seething madhouse of runaway appetites. The plague of vanities would turn you into a recluse unless the state did that for you. I push hard and harder to see more clearly but I cannot. I am limited by my own personal darkness and sometimes I can’t even help myself, much less anyone else. I’ve come to see that there’s no point in looking at the world and its serial injustices with anger. A blinded world is feeling its way along an endless wall to nowhere. They encounter each other in the darkness and having no capacity to see or understand, they tear each other to pieces.
Most of those who read here know by now who the enemy is. At least we know the face of the enemy. We’ve seen the handiwork of the politicians, the bankers and the corporation heads and most certainly the Zionists who are one of the premier criminal organizations on Earth. We’ve seen the religious peacocks parading around as if they were the thing they were meant to represent. Yes, the juries out on whether there’s a God or not but I’m pretty sure he/she doesn’t wear a Rolex.
We’ve seen the apparent face of evil in David Rockefeller and his protégé, Henry Kissinger. We’ve seen it in Bush and Cheney. We’ve seen it in Rupert Murdoch and his diligent armies of orcs and trolls who pander to the lowest common denominator in everything they do. We see it in the former heads of Lehman Brothers and A.I.G. We see it in the ruthless mimicry of every hustler who wants to be like them and who move among us everywhere we go.
These are the faces but they aren’t the source. Sometimes I imagine that there is a malevolent spider, like a massive Shelob that squats in the darkness of the collective human mind, spinning out dark fantasies that the individual imagines are his own.
I like physic and metaphysics. I enjoy history for the lessons and the books of arcane wisdom that tell me there is something more than what we see. Something tells me that there is a bright land somewhere whose rays seldom fall upon us here. Because I have seen great art and heard great music; because I have read great poetry and books along with various media that bespeaks a powerful inspiration and genius that appears here and there, I know there is a wellspring in the human heart that continues to awaken and inspire so many of us who come across the evidence of its presence. I’ve seen the evil but I have seen the good as well. The origins of both of these are shrouded in mystery.
The biggest problem we have is Materialism with his consort, Glamour. They bring out the worst in us... they do. They blind us to the requirements of what makes us human. What makes us great and truly human is our capacity to see the circumstances of others and to have compassion for them... and to demonstrate it when we can. The Honorable Rupert Murdoch and all of those who operate according to that ancient software of Corruption 1.0 are busy as bees, informing us that we are not human but beasts and that the fulfillment of appetite is our appointed destiny.
They’re old hands at this. They know how to manipulate our attention and activate our desires. It’s the medium of the marketplace to make us consumers of things which need to be replaced. The first rule of the propaganda mill is that a stiff dick has no conscience and the second rule is that the enjoyment of any hard to obtain item is increased in direct proportion to the amount of people who do not possess it.
Now... everything is a business. Art is controlled by business which means the well goes immediately dry. Business knows as much about art as I know about business. Religion is a business. Charity is a business. That’s why they have Charity Balls. It’s their business to ball Charity and often not in the primary opening.
While some few build dream empires for themselves like Henry Nicholas and show us what comes with the package... most of the rest of the world waits for their turn and even when they see the consequences... well... consequences be damned. That’s insanity but you can’t fix it without destroying the system that made it happen and that brings us back to Spengler and even this post is cycling... cycling back to the point.
Today in Palestine and in Zimbabwe; in Western Papua and Darfur, in The Congo and in places wide and far and even in The Shire now... The Nine... the horsemen are afoot. You hear about Zimbabwe and Darfur because the interests that caused the problems want control of the space but are being denied by forces like themselves. You don’t hear about Palestine and Western Papua because they’re already underfoot and may soon be stamped out altogether. In the meantime... for the portion of the world that eats every day and looks at horizontal expansion as a sign of well being... these things are no more than scenery seen through the window of a passing automobile. It’s not real. It’s like TV.
I realize that my passion here has given the impression of occasional anger on my part. I’m not really angry. Anger is futile and the best weapon that I can give the enemy against my own peace of mind. As Lao Tzu said many centuries ago, “Compassion is a weapon from the sky against being dead.” There’s no future in anger. There’s no future in what we’ve built because we built it wrong and it all has to come down and be replaced by something that better reflects what we intrinsically are and not what we have become. Whether we will accomplish this or see some of the better dreams that are possible is not a call I can make. I can say that our track record isn’t good but I am forever optimistic and I know that even if I can’t have the world community that I long for, I can certainly have one of my own as time goes by.
What I want to say is that, yes, the faces of evil are obvious to the opened eye that processes for the awakened mind but that is not the primary evil. Those are merely the instruments that were weaker than us and became what we still have the dignity and self respect to refuse. The essence of the evil lies in the shared ignorance seated in the hearts and minds of every one of us and until we root that out we will do no good in this world. You might say that that is the greatest good we can do and the real meaning of Jihad and other terms that have been perverted for the manipulation of those who were most inclined to twist the landscape out of shape.
The sooner we do our own laundry, the sooner these people won’t be doing it for us while we’re still wearing it.
'Gone Too Far in Front' is track no. 2 of 13 on Visible's 2007 album
'The Sacred and The Profane'
About this song (pops up)
![The Sacred and The Profane by Les Visible The Sacred and The Profane by Les Visible](http://lesvisible.net/LVDC/AlbumArt/The%20Sacred%20and%20The%20Profane.jpg)
98 comments:
good luck w/your harvest :)
love
k*
I, for one, will stand silently and in solidarity with you -- for there's really nothing to add to what you've said.
Peace to you, bro.
That, visible is a masterpiece and what you do so well. The song is one of my favorites too. I'm one of the few who come here who have met you and hung out with you. Man, imagine their surprise if they ever do the same and find out what you are.
I hope you will stay with this type of expression. It is much more to the heart of what you are.
I could tell tales here and show how much I owe you in a crimes scenes way but I won't do that. I thought that you being labeled a drug runner and whatever else was truly amusing. I'm going to say a little about that.
I know you won't mind if I say that you consumed a record amount of drugs and everything else that was in reach and that you walked away from it for a good period of time. Then you began to use K to treat your depression and the Amazonian produce for visionary exploration.
I know you don't sell drugs because you give them away on those occasions that have merit. That does not happen much since you are harder to see than The Pope- all your invitations aside.
You can post this or not but I got a real thrill out of reading this one. That's more like you. You have to fuse Origami with Mirrors. Let others do the outrage.
Shit, this was just beautiful.
Vis
That's the perfectly cracked vase in the heart of the Hope Diamond. For those who don't know what I'm talking bout check you Chuang Tzu.
Almost a year now and still counting. Keep me in your prayers.
Bruce
Less is more ... like a disco ball, turning in colored lights, each facet radiating differently but all from one source.
Friends...
I just got a letter from The Truthseeker indicating to me that someone from an 'intelligence service' has brought charges against me. Why Truthseeker who is in the habit of exposing intelligence services would entertain such a thing is beyond my ken. We live in a time of knife edge ironies.
Apparently Maestro, who talks like someone with brain damage has managed to reach The Truthseeker guy because he doesn't like drugs... although which drugs we don't know since we don't see much about alcohol or prescription drugs talked about there and since they kill more people in a hundred years than illegal comestibles kill in one year it beggars my imagination to figure this out.
Friends, I'm under attack... and this is only part of it. I've known for quite some time that the shitheel republic is after my ass. The truth is that I don't care if The Truth seeker prints my work. I get nothing from it. The only beneficiary is them. There's no dollars coming my way. I don't even get an ad at the site. All that said, the guy who runs it is a good man and a friend of friends of mine but if all it takes is for someone who can hardly put two sentences together without resorting to present herself as James Bond with a Mata Hari implant then... the world really has gone mad.
Evil flourishes when it is not recognized as such, and in our secular world, evil is said not to exist, but it is a product of a bad environment or social wrongs.
In this Orwellian world, evil done by the elite does it's deadly work while pretending to be doing good, and perhaps they even believe they are doing good since they believe evil was created as a force to do good.
Truth is the only weapon against the lies and deception which con people into believing the emperor is wearing fine clothes that never get dirty and need no laundering. Unfortunately, the greatest obstacle to the truth is the illusion that one already knows it, and the blind trust people have in their political parties to the point that the President is treated as a deity by the right or the left, depending on who is President, and makes it unlikely the truth will be enertained by the masses. Obama is being made into a Global Messiah to supplant Bushs role as the leader of the Christian Right. The right who saw Bush as being a force of Good see Obama as a force of Evil, while the left who saw Bush for the Demon he was, see Obama as almost Godlike.
As for cycles, the oldest esoteric traditions which are being obliterated from modern history taught that, before Adam, many races of human beings had lived and died out, each civilization giving place in its turn to another. Modern science has provided little evidence to support this, but then, how much of science is being controlled and withheld from us, or altered to fit a political agenda. Look at the Global Warming scam which is being foisted on us to support the carbon trading enrichment of the banksters. Science has been politicized and militarized to the point of not being a reliable source of the truth.
Looking at the Great Pyramids, surely the humans 5000 years ago were unable to build this despite what we are taught, so one wonders if the pyramids were built by the remnants of a previous race and concealed the Ancient Mysteries that only our elite today know. Today we have Bill Gates/Monsantos Doomsday Seed Vault in the Arctic, Mt Weather and other safe havens, so one wonders if our elite are preparing for the end, as the Ancients likely did, with a controlled end of Modern Civilization so the cycle can begin anew, and preserving what they can so it won't take another 5000 years to get to our present level of development.
From an evolutionary viewpoint, this civilization seems to be toast, so they might be thinking of hitting the reset button someday.
Given the talk of illegal drugs here the following online book might be of interest to those not familiar with it. Larouche paid a heavy price for this one since he named the names of those who should not be named.
http://www.archive.org/details/DopeInc.
Evil flourishes when it is not recognized as such, and in our secular world, evil is said not to exist, but it is a product of a bad environment or social wrongs.
In this Orwellian world, evil done by the elite does it's deadly work while pretending to be doing good, and perhaps they even believe they are doing good since they believe evil was created as a force to do good.
Truth is the only weapon against the lies and deception which con people into believing the emperor is wearing fine clothes that never get dirty and need no laundering. Unfortunately, the greatest obstacle to the truth is the illusion that one already knows it, and the blind trust people have in their political parties to the point that the President is treated as a deity by the right or the left, depending on who is President, and makes it unlikely the truth will be enertained by the masses. Obama is being made into a Global Messiah to supplant Bushs role as the leader of the Christian Right. The right who saw Bush as being a force of Good see Obama as a force of Evil, while the left who saw Bush for the Demon he was, see Obama as almost Godlike.
As for cycles, the oldest esoteric traditions which are being obliterated from modern history taught that, before Adam, many races of human beings had lived and died out, each civilization giving place in its turn to another. Modern science has provided little evidence to support this, but then, how much of science is being controlled and withheld from us, or altered to fit a political agenda. Look at the Global Warming scam which is being foisted on us to support the carbon trading enrichment of the banksters. Science has been politicized and militarized to the point of not being a reliable source of the truth.
Looking at the Great Pyramids, surely the humans 5000 years ago were unable to build this despite what we are taught, so one wonders if the pyramids were built by the remnants of a previous race and concealed the Ancient Mysteries that only our elite today know. Today we have Bill Gates/Monsantos Doomsday Seed Vault in the Arctic, Mt Weather and other safe havens, so one wonders if our elite are preparing for the end, as the Ancients likely did, with a controlled end of Modern Civilization so the cycle can begin anew, and preserving what they can so it won't take another 5000 years to get to our present level of development.
From an evolutionary viewpoint, this civilization seems to be toast, so they might be thinking of hitting the reset button someday.
Given the talk of illegal drugs here the following online book might be of interest to those not familiar with it. Larouche paid a heavy price for this one since he named the names of those who should not be named.
http://www.archive.org/details/DopeInc.
What intel service? What charges? Or accusations? Why go through another website involving someone else not a party to the situation? Unless Rixon has a split personality ...
It isn't logical.
Nina...what I said was true. Ask Rixon.
The letter I got made me think that in this age even idiots are entertained. I cannot print Rixon's letter but it was revealing to say the least.
That was like listening to a friend that you have not seen in a while.
The kind of friend that it was just like yesterday you were together—a timeless friend—no rules—no set dates or times—just happens—and when it does, it’s good.
Just pickin’ up where we left off—another time ago.
I’m not one of those people who are written about—There a lot of us who don’t get written about.
When our boys were little they asked me one day after leaving a store: “Dad, how do you have so many friends”? I was surprised at the question because I really didn’t know anyone in the store-- so I asked them why they thought I had so many friends? Their response was “because you were making all those people in line with us laugh and the lady (who was overwhelmed behind the counter) too. “You do it everywhere we go”.
I still do.
Guess I always have.
Hope I always do.
There are a lot of us “out there” who are good people. Nice folks who give you a smile instead of a “fuck you” look—there are those, but for some reason, I don’t seem to come across them as much any more.
There are a lot more of “us” than “they” want you to think there are.
I don’t have any guilt that I have what others don’t have
I am not jealous of others who have “more” than me.
I DO have more than I ever really thought I would—
A twenty year-marriage/adventure that my whole family was betting wouldn’t last a month (because of me)—and they didn’t mind “joking” about it, to all in attendance, on our wedding day.
We smiled through a butt-load of smirks and fake “knowing” smiles through all the years we home schooled our boys.
We got the “you’re nuts” look from many, if not all, when we handed out videos and sent articles and links—post 911—just felt like something we should do—so we did.
In the early years we sat through bible studies asking questions but never got any answers—half the county probably prays for our lost souls—
If you have read any of what I write in here, believe me, I was just as “persistent” with the preacher man and the minions—from church to church—and I’m a pussy compared to my wife when it comes to not just seeking truth, but demanding it.
So much more to people than what we can see in here at mirrors—from just the comments. But most of that comes from our reactions and opinions about certain subjects—it is not who we are.
As I said before, I stopped by a few of our fellow contributors blogs yesterday and I felt more calm, and in sync, than I had been the past couple of days.
Poets, writers and artists who perhaps won’t be auctioned at Sotheby’s or be on the New York Times best seller list--- but I have never bought anything at Sotheby’s and I couldn’t tell you what is on the New York Times bestseller list---ever.
When it moves you, it moves you—I guess it’s just that simple--
Thank you.
Just honest and sweet offerings from some fellow travelers that presented themselves the way they are—in their ways—just as Les does day after day.
Much thanks to you all for your sharing!!
Hey, look--it's a beautiful dawn.
Jj
v
before truthseeker you were. Before WRH you were and before SOTT who dropped you and thepeoplesvoice that dropped you we were. We are your conscience baby and your true support. I know you don't give a fuck who reprints you but consider your base. If you weren't true we would not be with you. You got that right?
erin
Les... It is part of the sad history of Man than Truth speakers are eventually threatened or sanctioned, but those of us for whom the blinders have been lifted are compelled to remain steadfast in the face of generational Evil. We can do no less.
There is an awakening now in this world and, I believe - perhaps naively - that it cannot be stopped. The Old Evil and all of their Orcs and Trolls cannot long stand against the light of Truth and Justice...
Their end is near and they know it - feel it - and lash out with our last fading energies to hold on to their illusory powers. Even were we all here destroyed, they cannot win...
Thanks for your steadfastness and your bravery.
In Peace, Hope, and Solidarity...
I have consistently listened to your songs and that is the best I have ever heard. I don't know what's happening here because I haven't been here in awhile. FUCK THE MAN!!!
fuck evrything that keeps us down. This is a testimony to the Christ I believ in. You shine when you say the evil is within. That is what we should master. We are the thing that keeps us down. Among all the things you do you are a poet more than any other thing. Fuk'em if they can't take a joke and remember that it is the quality of the ones who hear as opposed to the ones who scoff that make the message false or true. So for me and so for you.
R.
Great post, vis...
As for Maestro - who'd have thought she was anything other than a nut-jobber? Fuck it... It's not like we don't all know we're being watched. That firefox account at Ft. Stewart...NSA. All the .gov's, .mils, and other nefarious sources - they know who we all are. They count on fear. The illusion of control is predicated on that same illusion, which is fear. (I know you're not afraid, vis - this is for all of us)
I am not anonymous to them. They know me. They trained me. They visit my blog. Hi, dickheads!
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. Liberty is a tree. She must be refreshed, or she withers. The worlds' liberty tree hasn't been watered in quite some time. I say stand up - and speak out!
You assholes know my name, where I live - hell you even have my dna - and I refuse to be terrorized by my own public servants. I claim for me and my family those rights which remain ever sovereign to each man, himself!
I am not afraid of your false boogey-man. I am not afraid of your economic meltdown. I fear not your inflation, because I am a human being and of right may determine what and where and how I will pursue happiness! I am a man - first - and foremost, and I hereby proclaim my sovreign right to live without fear and trepidation.
The battle remains, as ever (in the Gathas)... between asa & druj. Your words bear themselves out as the truth... Be well, friend.
Stacy
That was so cool Jj, maybe your best yet. We're not alone, merely unknown.
Remember...Aragorn said "there is always hope". Thanks, Les, what you say is true. And there is always hope where there is truth. We are with you!
Willow
Les -
So what...somebody is talking shit and trying to intimidate you? Give me a fucking break. There is no law against blogging about Ketamine or mushrooms or whatever the fuck else you want to blog about. What do they have on you? Nothing of substance. Nothing. I think your next blog post - maybe your next few blog posts - should have at least one drug reference per paragraph, preferrably two. Maybe even change the name of this blog to "Bongs and Shrooms"...oh wait, I think that one's already taken. I'm sure the cops are beating down their doors for that outlandish "illicit" blog name. Let's not forget the folks over at Mycotopia.Net...I know the Feds are getting ready to put the smack down on those illicit bastards. Fucking ridiculous.
(I bet Maestro has me on some sort of watch list for all that profanity I just used in that comment; I'm probably blacklisted by "Focus On The Family" now. Maestro and James Dobson are plotting to wash my mouth out with soap.)
It's all inside us, isn't it? All the good, and all the evil. All the creative energy of the universe, and the sucking black maw of entropy that keeps it from getting out ... for those, like me, who still struggle with desire and self-importance. Ahh, I'm in a bleak mood today. Numb. Drained. Like the cold dead hand of winter has a grip on my soul. 500,000 Americans are out of work and 70,000 of my own countrymen, 1.3 million Iraqis slaughtered, 1.5 million Gazans surrounded, starved, and dressed for sacrifice ... the Congo festers, Zimbabwe burns ... the Greeks are rioting ... South American 'revolutionaries' are planning a regional currency ... while Dubai's shining towers grow ever higher and more resplendent.... the litany goes on, and on. Everywhere you look vultures are circling under gathering storm clouds, while jackals sniff around and cackle in the bushes, heard but not seen - not yet - save for those brief flashes in the corner of your eye.
In the midst of all this, I feel as though I'm just hiding, tense, paralyzed with fear, hoping against hope that the jackals won't sniff me out. It's possible to see to much, perhaps? To obsess on the dangers. What to do? For it's not enough to stand against something - hell, that just makes that something stronger - no, you have to stand for something. But what? Everything smells of rot.
Hard to believe as all this unfolds that it's all part of a plan, that everything is happening as it must and that in the end, it's all for the best. I know that in my head (do I? do I really?), but in my heart? Icy winter winds of midnight fear howl over a dead landscape, and it's only the fire of my rage that keeps me warm. But it does not let me see.
And far, far away - so far there's no reasonable hope of ever reaching it - the shining light of a gibbous moon illuminates the landscape. By it's light I navigate this treacherous landscape, and if I'm lucky by it's grace I'll get to see the dawn ... see the Source whose light the moon reflects.
(and yeah, Les, that's right. You? You're that moon.)
It's a great piece, perhaps the best I've read here. I'm not a writer or well educated but I'll try to express some thoughts. So how do we break the cycle, and how do we guard against the materialistic trap. In some ways you can't. Say we evolve into a society of helpful, caring people living peaceful community lives, having just enough and not to much. Great, I'm ready for it, but what happens a few generations later? I'll tell you, the new generations won't appreciate what we have been through to realize the vanity of this present materialistic system. It will cycle again, and they will rebel.
Yet although you have no certainty what your sons and daughters will do, you have great potential in keeping them from a life of vanity by teaching them the truths of life. (And keeping them insulated from lies of death such as from violent and human degrading TV, etc) So what is the truth of life? It best summed up in a quote I read once, "We are not physical creatures with a spirit, but spiritual creatures with a body." Until we put the values of the spirit, such as love, above the values of the physical world we will not be happy or content.
So in this present time and realm you might say there is no hope. Man is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over as the philosopher of history Hegel remarked, "What history and experience teach us is this: that people and government never have learned anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it." Hegel was paraphrased by Winston Churchill, who said "The one thing we have learned from history is that we don't learn from history." It doesn't count or matter when or where in time or history you were born, what matters is your spirit, and the choices of love you make during your sojourn here. If you lighten someone else load, your journey will be lighter too.
brucetim1002000 at yahoo
It's a great piece, perhaps the best I've read here. I'm not a writer or well educated but I'll try to express some thoughts. So how do we break the cycle, and how do we guard against the materialistic trap. In some ways you can't. Say we evolve into a society of helpful, caring people living peaceful community lives, having just enough and not to much. Great, I'm ready for it, but what happens a few generations later? I'll tell you, the new generations won't appreciate what we have been through to realize the vanity of this present materialistic system. It will cycle again, and they will rebel.
Yet although you have no certainty what your sons and daughters will do, you have great potential in keeping them from a life of vanity by teaching them the truths of life. (And keeping them insulated from lies of death such as from violent and human degrading TV, etc) So what is the truth of life? It best summed up in a quote I read once, "We are not physical creatures with a spirit, but spiritual creatures with a body." Until we put the values of the spirit, such as love, above the values of the physical world we will not be happy or content.
So in this present time and realm you might say there is no hope. Man is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over as the philosopher of history Hegel remarked, "What history and experience teach us is this: that people and government never have learned anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it." Hegel was paraphrased by Winston Churchill, who said "The one thing we have learned from history is that we don't learn from history." It doesn't count or matter when or where in time or history you were born, what matters is your spirit, and the choices of love you make during your sojourn here. If you lighten someone else load, your journey will be lighter too.
Hi Les,
have You ever came across the work of"Seven Star Hand" ?
Regards D.A.
Dear Readers;
Maestro is officially a nutter now and her efforts came to naught so we can close that chapter. In concert with that I took a couple of steps to protect against further harrassments and unless she's truly loony she'll demur after this. I hate to get tough but I have to look out for all of our interests here and nothing works quite as well as danger to one's pocketbook and internet connection so let's move on to whatever is next.
D.A. I've never heard of Seven Star Hand, I'll look it up.
The awakening of humanity is undoubtedly happening across the world but whether its spreading fast enough to put a stop to these f**kers sadly remains to be seen...
One day they will all be hung from lamp posts for their wickedness...
BG
..SO MAESTRO´S GONE. BUMMER! IT ALREADY BEGAN TO SPUR MY PARANOIA.
´EVIL & GOOD´- TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.
CAN´T SEE THEM BOTH INSTANTLY UNLESS THE COIN IS SPINNED AROUND ITS AXIS AND BOTH TRAITS ARE BLURRED INTO NOTHINGNESS. SOMETIMES I DESPISE OUR DUALISTIC WORLD AND ITS INHABITANTS IN SUCH AN ANGUISH THAT I HAVE TO CONTAIN MY EMOTIONS IN ORDER NOT TO FURTHER AGGRAVATE MY HYPERTONIA. IT IS SAID THAT BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION OF BABEL (WHICH ACTUALLY MEANS CACOPHONY) THE PEOPLE HAD ONE COMMON LANGUAGE. I PONDER WHAT SORT OF LANGUAGE THAT WAS.
TELEPATHY ?
LES, I ENVY YOU THE FRESH OLIVES.
IS THERE ANY BETTER THAN OLIVES, CHEESE AND WINE ...& A DOOBIE ?
SINCERELY
MARTIN
"A SAVAGE" OF HUXLEY´S
This is worth 1000 words
"The sooner we do our own laundry, the sooner these people won’t be doing it for us while we’re still wearing it."
Hi All-
Rather than sending this only to Les, I think some others may be interested in the comments that the entity posting as marxist-socialist left on my blog.
marxist-socialist comments on TheNewAgriculture
Regards-
m_astera
Les your words were interesting and profound but I hope in future you will talk more about redemption. We know about the ills and ailments of our condition and the blood suckers who we have to breath the same air with, but this stuff will send as all loopy if we can't put it all into some context of a master plan and redemption for humankind.
There has to be a plan. A beginning a middle and an end and thats where the ultimate truth we seek lies. I personally believe in a supreme being. A God of goodness and infinite wisdom who is involving us all in a plan of redemption otherwise we would have been extinct from this planet long ago. This is nothing to do with religion. This is to do with making sense of this stuff and groping towards the truth of our creation, fall and redemption. Keep up the good work. PB
Along the lines of recognizing the best in us, check out this link. Millions have watched and heard this incredible moment, but in case anyone here hasn't, do yourself a favor and watch.
This is a British talent show; they'd been seeing some horribe acts all week - then this guy shows up and blows evryone away...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Peace
"THIS IS NOT A DRILL"
Very few of us have actually heard these words seep through the muffled crackle of a field radio. If you have, you know that heightened level, that overload in the area of the brain that registers both fear and excitement equally. You're ramped-up no matter what you call it.
Some of us have looked at personal and group annihilation square in the face, and caught a glimpse of forever. Literally in a flash, the thought-form of your past present and future rush up the spinal cortex looking for some place to hide.
And, in that moment, you see the "Purpose"-- not of your "duty", your politics, your religion, even your own survival. You see the Motive. You see what even 'ol Richard Dawkins admits to: "collective self-sufficiency," in his words. COMMUNITY in mine.
This whole exercise that is currently transpiring in your world (and simultaneously in many others as well) is really about Community. It's the first step in actually creating one. For example, but not necessarily for comparison, Gandhi’s "group's" reaction was non-resistance. Don't give energy to the in-coming force by reacting. That's what it wants from you. It wants a fight. Don't give it that pleasure.
Stand on your principles ... no matter what. Right now, that's your rhumbe line, your path of constant bearing. No matter what energy is thrown/ propelled at you, you, Les, are finding (as many are simultaneously) your true core "voice". The voice we are all pursuing is not reactive, complaining or pseudo in any way. It's as natural as thunder, calm as water and as naked as fire.
Above Thunder (chen), below water (k'an) is the hexagram for "Liberation" or "Deliverance". From where we are right now, isn't that our collective "destination"?
Don’t let it go to your head, but you are appreciated more than you know.
You're one hell of a writer RML. When I put up the Blog list I went looking for yours without saying anything because of what I have been getting from you for some time. This most recent (comments to me aside) put me right into the situation you were talking about. That's a gift.
As for anything going to my head. God make sure to kick my ass up and down the sidewalk more times than I can count and I pitched in and did it for him when he wasn't engaged in it so... There's a constant hesitation in me to believe any of these things because I know myself better than anyone here does; which isn't a whole lot and my limitations hit me every single day. Not a day goes by that I don't fuck up some how and I notice. But thanks for the warning because that particular animal you are talking about NEVER goes away.
PB... I don't talk about redemption here as much as at Visible Origami which is the spiritual metaphysical blog. This one is socio-political and also, if I talk too much about this then a certain website that sends me a lot of traffic is likely not to print the particular post. I know that's a little compromising of me but you will note that I sneak these things in pretty regular. You will note the reference to a bright land in this very post and other allusions as well.
However, I do address this at Origami so... and my next piece just happens to concern that. I don't usually know what I'm going to write but this time I have an idea because of some recent events.
Greg... I'll check that out. I'm in the middle of harvesting my olives at it looks like I'm going to get as much as four tons so that's a lot to do.
Thanks.
This seems to mirror exactly what was on my own mind when I got up this morning. Synchronism?
Beautiful.
Please keep on keeping on.
Wonderful inspiring piece of writing. I was obsessed with Spengler as a young man - read and re read Decline of the West many times tho that was 40 years ago. The parts that fascinated me were his descriptions and cycles of the processes of art - morphology - and how they panned out in each culture. I recognized existentialiasm as a terminal phase in the 50's though that was quite constructive compared to what's out there now.
I, aged 15, used to tell my Dad that we were in the middle of western civilization's collapse.
Yes, Americans have nothing to compare their way of life and comparative good fortune with -save for an occasional visit to a third world slum experienced from behind gates of a first world hotel.
Perhaps Les is one of those rare folk who has plumbed the depths and returned with a shining gem - the knowlege of good and evil. Through suffering - and faith - has come out the other end bringing glimpses of immortality. Something along those lines. Most Americans don't have that capacity.
I was raised in Rhodesia on a farm - a so called tobacco baron family of the 50's - so I grew up "privileged" - but as a kid was well aware of evil and black magic - tagati - all around me. A few farms away Doris Lessing has grown up in rather different circumstances 20 years earlier but she embraced the evil and reached great heights in the Judeo market place of ideas and Eng. lit. All very interesting in restrospect. Les raises so many excellent points.
Les Visible: just tell Maestro like a The Butthole Surfer song says: "I Don't care about the FBI, I don't care about the CIA."
.
Les,
Is this the same kind of olive oil business the Corleones were in? :o)
I really envy you living in Italy. I'm of Italian descent (all my Grandparents were born in Italy) but I've never been there! I even discovered that I could get Italian citizenship based on my heritage. Maybe someday, I hope.
But do check out that video (above) when you can- a truly magical moment.
Les Visible: Besides, the US fascist government doesn't block free-speech. You can insult Bush's mother in USA and nothing will happen to you. They let you talk to give the illusion that USA is a real democracy. But talking freely is not what democracy is all about. Real democracy is participation in economic and political power thru workers and citizens ownership of the means of production. So even though you can talk all you want in USA we are still in a totalitarianist-plutocracy of the rich by the rich in favor of rich people.
What US fascist government do is that it goes after potential political leaders that have political-parties or movements and that are *electoral* threats to the bipartycracy capitalist dictatorship our 1 fascist party system (Demo-rats + Republic-rats)
So don't worry about the Maestro, who i think is the real drug-addict in this forum, because you are not a potential political, electoral threat to the USA fascist system.
The US fascist government is busier going out after Ron Paul, and leftist parties, not the millions of bloggers exposing the corruption and the capitalist zionist USA system.
RML: Hi, but beware, US society is so individualist, so egocentric, that any thing that resembles communitarianism, cooperativism, and a united society would brand you as an enemy combatant, terrorist or commie.
However when hyperinflation strikes USA americans will wake up from their state of narcissism and delirium that this country has been for 300 years
.
Well Greg;
I could definitely make you a salad you couldn't refuse.
Italy is even better than I expected (southern Italy). A remarkable place.
M.S. Who? and that's the name of that tune.
Les Visible: wow, i didn't know you lived in Italy, Europe. Cool, Europe is real nice and its people are real cool, nice and open-minded. I would like to visit Spain some day !!
.
The voice is of individual consciousness-a purity that is not of human making but from that which allows our being in order to experience and grow--exponentially-a part of all that is-- and the collective self sufficiency is of spirit. Don't pour your offering into the human cup but into the cup of life that sustains all.
The mistake is made in what has always been the mistake--looking for a leader--banding together to fight or flee--and where has that gotten us?
The answer is not outside of us but within us--always has been.
It is in the untold stories, the unknown victories of spirit over ourselves and adversity.
Therein is how the universe expands itself--all that is, always will be.
We simply revert away from the forms that encase us, and limit us, when we refuse to honor beauty and the creation itself.
It is now and always has been now.
Jj
Good one LOL
Hi Les, your tying together Glamour and Materialism is well put.
During the '60s and '70s in the US there were many who opposed and spoke out against materialism. I remember reading in the late '60s an article which stated that certain big business interests were quite concerned about the growing anti-materialist sentiment held by many young people. I'm hoping that the "bailout", the military's actions in Asia and the economic uncertainties faced by ever growing numbers of people bring this anti-materialistic consciousness back.
re : "These are the faces but they aren’t the source. Sometimes I imagine that there is a malevolent spider, like a massive Shelob that squats in the darkness of the collective human mind, spinning out dark fantasies that the individual imagines are his own."
well put and you are much closer to the truth than you think.
You quote Lao; I quote Paul "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Brother Lawrence
greg 1:43 PM, fantastic and while you are there have a listen to this talent, 6yo.
Think of the discipline required to accomplish this at such a tender age.
Tony
Les, you keep getting better and better at elaborating so very eloquently on the human condition. Like two kindred Spirits, I only wish I could manifest these things in words as well as you do. When push does come to shove, I proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with you and other Spirits who shine light into this otherwise dark time which we all live in!
My humblest support & admiration for all your unwavering efforts, Sir!
4 tons of olives, that's a lot of olives Les.
I know stripping the trees is a lot of hard work so I won't make any olive jokes- although a few come to mind.
Where I live many of the small farms >50h have an olive grove or two. The bigger acreages grow macadamia nuts as far as the eye can see but predominantly it's sugar cane- very boring.
Tony
I am moved, and that's good. I am and was gifted and am thus a gift. As an infant I readily understood everything adults in the heavens around me would say. I even heard the heart voices. I still hear these perfect words when I'm here with all of you sharing this as it all comes down in four part harmony. If we really want to stop the madness we each must Go spiritually rogue in to that fog out (and in) there where angels fear to go. Lets be linkage apparatchik in the actual realm of peaceful and compassionate gnosis. Its not what we do but what we are that makes the earth tremble and the cowardly run to their holes. Thursday evening I was watching the cspan refeed of the Graham-Roemer- whats his name commissary. The dazed and confused expression on Roemers face as he re- rehearsed the fictional sanitized story is priceless. I wager that he cant sleep without narcotics and by the way these substances only permit an illusion of sleep for this kind of trash. Would someone like to help me carry out the trash? My guide tells me this is the time, not tomorrow, not next week but now. If you want guidance, discover the guide that's in your very heart. Do it in the prayer-meditation-yoga closet. Once you find the guide, then you become the guide, its what-who already is you know. Stop listening to little-fixed men-women who are self enslaved in-the cycle of disparagement and negation of ordinary egoism. You have heard it before but (if) it didn't make it through the purple haze, lets try it one more time. The worst enemy and cause of all time-space consternation is the procrastinate mind that looks outside for whats already there inside us. Look inward angel.
Tony,
Yes, I heard little Connie before- amazing for a 6 yer old. My daughter (12) loves her.
Paul Potts has some kind of voice quality that just goes right to the heart- brings tears every time!
It's interesting to me that the acronym being used for the "banksters" bailout is TARP. And what does one usually do with a 'tarp'? Things are covered, i.e. 'hidden', under a tarp. It will be fascinating to learn in the coming years just exactly what was 'covered' and 'hidden' under TARP.
The thing about cycles is that they might break, even if until now they never have. Technology is reaching such a level that something which has never happened before might happen. It is an opportunity, but also a danger and risk. It might be a step up on the path of humanity, or it might be the beginning of another similar cycle, or it might be the last fall of man, this time with no mercy--everything depending on how we take our next step.
Lafferty of course writes about that with much more sophistication (and humour!) than I in his novels, esp. "Past Master" and "Fourth Mansions". No original thoughts from me.
Excellent post Les. I agree with many of the other posters with regard to this article... this is the essence of what needs to be said and heard. It could not have been written better!
Hello Les,
Great post.
I am only human but I have come a long way in my life to waking up (as best I can) to the world around me and trying to learn how to think. That`s much more than I can say for most people I have known or encounter every day. A while back when I was in school we had to do a dissertation on transactional analysis and how that applied to one`s everyday economic decisions but the applications to life in general are tremendous.
The greatest challenge for humanity in the 21st century is to extricate ourselves from the non-human entities that seek to increasingly dehumanize us. I suppose we all have our own ideas on how to do that but if enough people could do so on an individual basis then the future will be much shinier than the past.
FWIW, if you post out of Europe you have to be a bit careful about the Hate Crime laws there which make certain groups a protected species, and supposedly someone with an axe to grind in the US and the right connections could cause some trouble. But I have not seen a lot of hatred here other than in some comments so they would need to stretch it.
Of course, bogus claims may allow someone to go on a fishing expedition, even in the US the FBI no longer needs probably cause to open up a file and begin an investigation, they just need someone filing a report with unfounded allegations to do so.
Hi Les: here are some thoughts for you:
Man shall be trained for war and woman for the procreation of the warrior. All else is folly." -Thus Spoke Zarathustra
"Ye shall love peace as a means to new war, and the short peace more than the long. You I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace but to victory.... Ye say it is the good cause which halloweth even war? I say unto you: it is the good war which halloweth every cause. War and courage have done more great things than charity." -Thus Spoke Zarathustra
"A daring and ruler race is building itself up.... The aim should be to prepare a transvaluation of values for a particularly strong kind of man, most highly gifted in intellect and will. This man and the elite around him will become the 'lords of the earth'." -The Will to Power
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." -Luke 4:18-19
"The proletariat must carry to completion the democratic revolution by allying to itself the mass of the peasantry in order to crush by force the resistance of tbe autocracy and to paralyse the instability of the bourgeoisie." -V. Lenin
By our best enemies we do not want to be spared, nor by those either whom we love from the very heart. So let me tell you the truth! My brethren in war! I love you from the very heart. I am, and was ever, your counterpart. And I am also your best enemy. So let me tell you the truth! I know the hatred and envy of your hearts. Ye are not great enough not to know of hatred and envy. Then be great enough not to be ashamed of them! And if ye cannot be saints of knowledge, then, I pray you, be at least its warriors. They are the companions and forerunners of such saintship.
I see many soldiers; could I but see many warriors! "Uniform" one calleth what they wear; may it not be uniform what they therewith hide!
Ye shall be those whose eyes ever seek for an enemy--for YOUR enemy. And with some of you there is hatred at first sight. Your enemy shall ye seek; your war shall ye wage, and for the sake of your thoughts! And if your thoughts succumb, your uprightness shall still shout triumph thereby! Ye shall love peace as a means to new wars--and the short peace more than the long. You I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace, but to victory. Let your work be a fight, let your peace be a victory! One can only be silent and sit peacefully when one hath arrow and bow; otherwise one prateth and quarrelleth. Let your peace be a victory!
Ye say it is the good cause which halloweth even war? I say unto you: it is the good war which halloweth every cause.War and courage have done more great things than charity. Not your sympathy, but your bravery hath hitherto saved the victims. "What is good?" ye ask. To be brave is good. Let the little girls say: "To be good is what is pretty, and at the same time touching." They call you heartless: but your heart is true, and I love the bashfulness of your goodwill. Ye are ashamed of your flow, and others are ashamed of their ebb. Ye are ugly? Well then, my brethren, take the sublime about you, the mantle of the ugly! And when your soul becometh great, then doth it become haughty, and in your sublimity there is wickedness. I know you.In wickedness the haughty man and the weakling meet. But they misunderstand one another. I know you. Ye shall only have enemies to be hated, but not enemies to be despised. Ye must be proud of your enemies; then, the successes of your enemies are also your successes. Resistance--that is the distinction of the slave. Let your distinction be obedience. Let your commanding itself be obeying! To the good warrior soundeth "thou shalt" pleasanter than "I will." And all that is dear unto you, ye shall first have it commanded unto you.
Let your love to life be love to your highest hope; and let your highest hope be the highest thought of life! Your highest thought, however, ye shall have it commanded unto you by me-- and it is this: man is something that is to be surpassed. So live your life of obedience and of war! What matter about long life! What warrior wisheth to be spared! I spare you not, I love you from my very heart, my brethren in war!
Thus spake Zarathustra.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He has anointed me to tell the revolutionary, marxist news to poor people. He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners. He has sent me so that the blind will see again. He wants me to free those who are beaten down by capitalist opression. And he has sent me to announce the year when of the world socialist revolution when he will set his people free." Luke 4:18-19
Hey, not all bad guys wear a Rolex! Besides, just might get me through unscathed at the next road block.
"Your papers, pleeeze."
Ahh, would you take this Rolex?
Be Kind. Be Simple. Stay Rested.
Truth alone Triumphs!
Jeffrey A. L.
Thanks for the hand of friendship nota, but I will decline. I don't like people and you are after all 'people' and to make things worse you're American people; spoiled rotten from birth purely by that fact (look at the state of your country mate, proofs in the puddin’).
If I were to ever meet The Creator face to face that would be one of the first things I would bring up in our confrontation (probably just prior to Him smiting me asunder – that about right godsend?), ‘Why produce the universe (and possibly more than one) with all its wonder, beauty, intricacies and completeness and then manufacture something so seemingly insignificant that would wreak the havoc that we do?’ We don’t just tip toe through the tulips of the universe, we stomp through them swinging the biggest broadest sword we can possibly find- no prisoners!
I do however like Les’ writings. I consider him as ‘not people’ with what he does; he is the moon (as someone said just recently).
Now before Jj jumps on me and abuses the crap out of me and tells me Aus. is in the same boat; listen to what our wonderful PM has, just this week, done for all the little children and all the old folk in our wonderful land (I can hear nobody upchucking as I speak).
He has given (we don’t have to pay it back) AU$1000 to all the little children and AU$1400 to all the single old people and AU$2100 to all the old couples. And he tells us he is going to do it again next year!
I believe your George gave you lot US$2000 last year and now you’ve got to pay it back. What a rotter.
Tony
nb: however, in all honesty I must tell you this; the Aus. Pensioner Watchdog Group (not part of the govt.) tells the pensioners they are being short sheeted at least AU$4000 each year with the pension they receive at the moment.
Hello Smoking Mirrors!
Don’t often comment as my comments are not very contributative..
Just wanted to tell you another’s opinion on your Truth Seeker/ Maestro fiasco.
Rixon is a stupid brit, maybe cop, definitely disinfo agent. This is pretty obvious to me as a fellow brit, but may not be obvious to an American: his pseudonym is a dead giveaway. “Dixon of Dock Green” was a TV series of the supremely tame variety, broadcast in brit homes during the sixties. I was a little kid then and went to bed at 6 o’clock every night (!!! Imagine that today ...) My Dad almost never let me watch it, said it wasn’t suitable for small children — and it was the tamest most innocent of dectective programmes, by today’s standards, anyone could possibly imagine! Bit of a joke I suppose, but if you doubt Rixon’s insincerity in his choice of name ask any brit.
As for the “stupid” accusation: well, since I know this, obviously it isn’t a very clever choice of name, is it.
Watch these guys on Truth Seeker: don’t trust the choice of background colour — nice navy-blue just like a cop site. The reason for these sites is, as you well know, to get us to go there because they print the truth, sort of, bit muddled sometimes, and then, like sticky fly-paper, they get the gullible like me to log on and get my IP.
Baah. They can do this all they like because we are more than them. They can’t keep up. Can’t employ enough agents to monitor the net.
It’s all just to create fear. They thrive on it, feed on our uncertainty.
Keep going Mr Visible. Just don’t give them too much on the “I take drugs line”, it just creates a false pandemonium. They can neither do nor prove shit, but it gets us all worked up and they win.
Thanks for all you do, you are a good soul.
Salialioli
ps Don't post this. I don't want them to know they are so obviously sussed. Just between you and me they are stupid shits.
Have a great day!
Les, hi.
Great writing again, fella. Will paste it to all my (half a dozen!) buddies. Hey, maybe they'll post it to 6 more. We'll have a worldwide tyranny of Les readership in days!
Most days I think we're dead in the water. Then, a coupla days a week, I KNOW were are not. Whatever's planned for us is gonna get trumped. The ol' spine is tingling. The DNA is switching on. It ain't junk DNA at all.
Peace and love to all...
Mark - Worc's, England
I watched part of an interview on PBS last night—BillMoyers show. The guest was Glenn Greenwald of salon.com.
Greenwald was on a roll talking about the Bush administrations illegal use of torture, the wiretapping of Americans, etc and that they should be brought to trial as any American citizen should be.
This guy is a writer and an attorney—very bright and articulate—I just waited for what I knew was coming—
The guy was like he was presenting a case in front of a journey—never saw him breathe in—
And then the bomb I had heard whistling in—
He suggests that Obama appoint a “blue-ribbon” committee or a “911-type commission” with carte blanche to investigate these evil misdeeds-----Perhaps the newest Elliot Ness—Patrick Fitzgerald
Maybe Earl Warren could do it from the grave—
Same result.
For those so inclined, you can Blog over at Moyer’s site on PBS or contact Greenwald at GGReenwald@salon.com
So close yet so far away.
Jj
Someone called me an ;'anti semite" today.
I told them I just loved Curly so much...
Hi out there
Les has been off-line for two days. So you won't be hearing from him until the connection is fixed. I just posted your comments for him.
Susanne
Iraqi reporter throws shoes at 'dog' Bush
He wasn't a bad shot either- someone should recruit him.
Tony
Bernie Madoff--The "New" King of the Jews!!!
Jj
This is good, this is very good. I guess you could say I've been out of the loop. Surfed the net and been to the "regular" alternative sites, but when I arrived here the other day, I thought to myself, "This is it!"
When one "tells the truth" it's often difficult to speak the "sweet truth," but the gentleman whose site I am having the pleasure to write on seems to be one of those rare individuals able to weave into each sentence a profound connection with the whole (of the topic), while never loosing touch with the true essence of life's profoundly meaningful qualities. When dealing with a world that seemingly has gone mad it would be easy to participate by getting sucked into that same madness of spewing out that same infectious dis-eased "vibe" that seems to be running rampant, but Les seems beyond that and THAT is what I find so refreshing.
It seems so strange and bizarre that we have to bring up topics with roots so tightly woven and formed in such evil and dark places; wasn't this planet suppose to be a vacation place? What the heck happened here? But for whatever reason we all manifested this time around, and, for sure, THIS is the big one.
I run on high octane inspiration. Find me someone who, with an integrated heart and mind, speaks the truth and by golly, you've got my attention, especially on the feeling level. In this case, I believe we are about to enter an era unlike anything I can remember, and I'm talking about going back, way back. It's time for a Revolution and it's in my genes and I suspect it is in all those who have participated on this site, no matter what side they are on, to enter the game and be willing to go all the way. The lines have been drawn and it's time for Clarity, Purpose and Fortitude, mostly fortitude, so as to accomplish our Goal.
I would venture to say the Darkness has a very tight grip on most of humanity and continues to ratchet up the pressure, but personally I'm ready for the battles, However, I want to align myself with those who I have trust and respect for, and from what I have read (and I tried to bring myself somewhat up to speed on the articles and interactions that are available here) so far, there is a "liveliness" here that both nourishes and heals, and, as far as I'm concerned, the only, the ONLY reason we are on this planet is to heal ourselves and to heal the planet, by "whatever" means are available. Thanks for the opportunity to express myself.
Truth alone Triumphs!
Jeffrey A.L. aka European American
Presently Anonymous but soon to select a profile that seems to get me out of that forbidden zone.
"Spoiled rotten from birth", am I? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...I wish someone would have told me that while I was sleeping on a piss-stained matress, with no sheets or blankets, in a room with 4/5 other kids! We just didn't understand how "good" we had it. It was great when our mother would disappear for days/weeks...strung out on crack and/or methamphetamine. Or the 'jolly good time' those 2 Mexicans robbed us at gunpoint while she was in Vegas trying to marry some hardleg she'd only just met (turns out she couldn't marry him, cuz she was already married).
Oh, Oh...I almost forgot when the DEA/local police raided the house and put us kids in a state homes/foster care... Those were good times. She went up for racketeering and distribution of narcotics. Little kids never had it so good. Oh the ass-beatings from 'Wally", the twins dad. He was a 'nice crackhead'. I long for the days when he would lock us outside and shoot us with a bb gun.
And the going hungry... fuhgedduboudit! They were just doing their part to prevent childhood obesity :)
You know what? When I talk about a man being able to keep "that for which he has worked", or how the welfare system breeds a slave mentality whereby the people become dependent upon there master, or that nothing good comes from giving someone something for nothing... I do so out of experience. I'm not some pissed off college kid in his mom's basement bitching about the man and his oppressive ways. I'm a guy in the real world who worked his fucking ass off to get a little something for himself and ensure that his children never know what it feels like to go to bed hungry. I abhor the idea that my money should be taken for any reason. The fruits of my labor are taken against my will, and that my friends - is thievery!
Thank you for posting the comments Susanne. I know I am not alone in my appreciation.
NOTA-
Good post; very descriptive. I went through a different hell, but the same sort of insanity and abuse from those one thinks of as knowing more than one's self when one is a child. Took me a long time to realize that they knew less than I knew, even when I was very small.
Early lessons in how not to be.
As for Tony, I think I have him pegged now: Those whose essential nature is to be truthful naturally assume that others are truthful too, while liars assume everyone else is lying all the time just like they are.
Think about it: If you knew that everything you said was a lie, and therefore not to be taken seriously, wouldn't you automatically take the same attitude about whatever others said? You wouldn't bother to pay much attention, read carefully, try to understand, or expect to learn; you would just assume it was all lies just the same as your own words were.
Maybe I'm on to something here. If one is obsessed with sex, perhaps one assumes everyone else is too. Those who have never done anything, only read about things, take it for granted that the same applies to others. If one always hides one's true feelings and motives, everyone else must be doing the same; if one is a phony or a fanatic, etc. etc.
THE GHOSTS OF CAPITALIST CHRISTMAS, AND THE EXCESSIVE EATING OF PECAN PIES, TURKEY, FIG-BARS, AND WEIGHT-GAIN IN THE AMERICAN MASSES IN CHRISTMAS SEASON, WHEN JESUS SHOULD BE THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS SEASON, NOT TURKEYS, PECAN PIES AND CHOCOLATES !!
By Charles Sullivan
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18785.htm
11/28/07 "ICH" - --- Everything about America is done to the max—super sized—including ourselves. Americans are fond of excess, fond of glitz and glitter, the bright beads and trinkets of capitalism; the symbols of conspicuous consumption. Millions of us live in McMansions, drive fast cars and hulking tanks and work at high stress glamorous jobs that provide enormous financial reward but leave us spiritually empty.
We tell ourselves that these events signal that we have arrived and achieved greatness worthy of respect and envy. They are a declaration that we have played the game and won; that we have acquired economic power that results in elevated socio-economic status and disproportional influence over the lives of the less successful; and those who have utterly failed or refused to participate.
We love to consume and waste with an appalling sense of entitlement. Our lives are enacted amid heaping mounds of swelling garbage and filth, while some of our fellow human beings pass lives of quiet desperation in cardboard boxes beneath our nation’s highway bridges, like beetles that move beneath the bark of trees: out of sight, out of mind, inconsequential—or so we think.
It’s a jungle out there where only the fittest survive. Those who cannot compete must not survive to reproduce; they must be expelled from the gene pool. Modern capitalism is economic Darwinism carried to the extreme.
America is a land of extraordinary contradictions. She has produced not only George Bush and Dick Cheney but also George Carlin, Upton Sinclair, Eugene Debs and Howard Zinn. This is a land of extremes; enigmatic even to itself. It is a place of posh surroundings with all of the amenities money can buy; but it is also a land of unknowable hardship and destitution that often exists in close proximity to stupendous wealth.
Just as the continent holds lush temperate rain forests, so it also harbors deserts where only the strong and well adapted survive the harsh conditions of heat and drought and oscillating cold.
Surely the national pastime must be shopping, which has acquired the stature of a genuine addiction; a disease on a par with alcoholism and played with the passion of a competitive sport. Witness the insanity of black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year where people are annually trampled at the doors of Wal-Mart in the quest for the latest incarnation of the X-Box. He with the most toys wins and the losers are trampled underfoot, ground into dust. Possessions matter more than people.
And we are a restless, fiercely competitive people—constantly on the move; a people that cannot countenance open spaces or unmanaged nature.
Hundreds of thousands of shopping centers and strip malls bear ample testimony to our excess, as do the mountains of debt that rise out of our spending habits like a newly spawned volcano swelling above a rising column of molten magma. Eventually they will become our gravestones—monuments to our lack of empathy and testaments to our unbridled greed and contempt for the earth.
The developers cannot relax until every inch of the earth is urbanized and paved and there is a McDonald’s and Wal-Mart on every street corner; a development in place of every orchard and farm. We cannot relax until everything wild and natural has been eradicated or imprisoned in zoos and admission is charged. Imagine a continent sized gated community for the well-heeled and the wealthy. The poor and destitute need not apply.
More than democracy, more than liberty, more than life—give us our shopping malls so that we can purchase happiness and fill our empty lives with possessions. Our senses are incessantly assaulted by merciless commercialism—we are programmed to consume and to be consumed by our programmers in the advertising industry whose job it is to plant the seeds of want in our all too receptive minds. Conspicuous consumption is the cornerstone of mature capitalism and no people in history have been more prominent consumers than we Americans—as measured by the girth of our waistlines and the girth of our mounting debt.
But as much as we are the products of Madison Avenue advertisers, we are also products of arrested psychological and spiritual development. We exhibit extreme pathologies because our lives are not rooted in nature and community; nor are they rooted in reality. Like spoiled adolescents, we have locked ourselves away with our box of toys and we call the world our own. We are a danger not only to ourselves but to the entire world. Quarantine should be drawn around us lest we infect the rest of the world with our madness.
Oblivious to the consequences of our own excess, our sphere of caring rarely extends beyond the self and our immediate families to the communities in which we are embedded that in turn spill into the great world beyond. We have erected psychological and physical barriers that isolate us from the rest of the world which have given rise to pathological visions of grandeur and exceptionalism. And, like a run-away virus, we are replicating our madness to the rest of the world which is, thanks to the disciples of Milton Friedman, seeking to emulate our example.
Better the world turn away and run for their lives as if we were infected with a new strain of pox or rabies. Better they should save themselves and let us perish, as will surely occur when we are consumed by the festering sewers of our swelling vanity.
We call ourselves a free people but we are prisoners of our own petty desires; prisoners of greed and excess and manufactured want; the products of capitalism taken to the extreme—replicating with the ease of cancer cells unrestrained by reason or empathy for others and for the earth. The world cannot tolerate another America . She cannot much longer sustain the one she already has. We have a carbon footprint vastly disproportional to our numbers and we are not only blotting out the sun; we are stamping out countless species of plants and animals and casting them into the abyss of eternal extinction. The ecological cost of our excess is incalculable.
We go on as if there are no consequences to what we do, ignoring the wolves baying at our door and the grim reaper peering at us through the curtain. We tell ourselves they are only apparitions of conspiracy theorists and alarmists, the ghosts of misplaced conscience.
Millions of Americans are experts at self-denial and delusional to the extreme, while others are realists and components of active resistance. But, cause and effect rarely enters our vocabulary. History, science and ethics are not our strengths—we prefer to go shopping or watching television, giving no thought to the kind of world we are leaving our children and their off spring, much less the offspring of other species. We hold that the universe turns on its axis and we are its center; but it is not so.
As a result of our excesses, terms such as ‘peak oil’ and ‘peak water’ have come into existence. Gluttony occurs on one end of the supply chain at the expense of the other; just as food webs are affected by events occurring at all parts of an ecological web the size of the world. One cannot pluck a flower without also troubling a star. All things are interconnected.
How easily we forget that commercial exuberance rests on the broken bodies of the exploited worker; it rests on the scrolls of flora and fauna that have been pushed out of existence because there isn’t enough room for them and us with all of our precious, energy consuming toys.
Thus we live in a world that is not enriched by our example but is diminished by us. Injustice is a byproduct of commercial exuberance as manifested by declarations of superiority through class warfare and other avenues of inequality. And it is felt in the dimly lit sweatshop somewhere in the belching slums of industrialized China , engulfed by the droning hum of sowing machines that never cease behind bolted doors; and guided by gnarled hands attaching Nike labels to athletic apparel destined for upscale Target and Macy’s stores in the US .
True, capitalism has made cheap products available to the voracious American consumer; but it has also given the world preemptive war and famine, global corporatism, pestilence and wage slavery; it has stoked the fires of mass extinction, global warming and ecological collapse—all of which have acquired an unstoppable momentum of their own with unimaginable consequences that extend indefinitely into an already uncertain future. There are consequences to everything we do, just as there are consequences to inaction.
Yet it is increasingly obvious that too few of us care enough to take action, as long as we are free to buy and to consume. We keep the consequences of gluttony out of sight and out of mind and pretend they aren’t there. But they are present and they matter.
And this brings me to the main point of my essay: it cannot go on. The age of exuberance—like the age of cheap oil—is mercifully drawing to a close. So I will say what was never meant to spoken aloud in the land of excess; and I will say it loud and clear so that it cannot be mistaken: Americans must dramatically simplify their lives to want less and learn more. We constitute less than five percent of the of the world’s population while usurping more than a quarter of her bounty. This is not acceptable—nor is it ethical.
No one has a moral right to take more than their fair share when that taking jeopardizes the chances of others of living a decent life, or makes nil their chances for survival—including other species.
Contrary to what one might think, we do not have to live like third world nations or like the hunters and gatherers of the past. But we must dramatically reduce our consumption and shrink our carbon footprint. Not only must we live within our own means but within the means of the planet to support us.
The majority of our food should be locally grown and mass transit must supplant the gluttonous and polluting automobile that proliferates on our nation’s highways. Moratoriums on development and urban sprawl must be enacted in order to protect critical habitat and rainwater recharge areas. Cities and towns must be redesigned and revitalized with sustainable industry. Goods and services, including work and jobs must again, as they were in the past, be rooted in vibrant, small scale local economies; and free trade agreements revoked.
Technological advances—no matter how boldly they are touted as saviors of humankind cannot increase the world’s carrying capacity and they cannot invoke justice. The latter is entirely up to us as sentient beings endowed with conscience. And this brings me to a second point: we must reduce the human population through adoption and cease to procreate for at least one generation—so that the earth can recover her carrying capacity. What better way to save the world, literally.
Simultaneously simplifying our lives by wanting less and reducing the human population will allow room for other people and other beings to share the bounty of the earth. And it will almost certainly have a beneficent rather than pathological social and psychological consequence: it will end our isolation and reconnect us to the rest of the world. We could finally realize our enormous potential to become world citizens and good neighbors worthy of respect and love.
Rather than an economy based upon savage greed and exploitation, let us create an economy based upon justice and equality, need rather than excess; a society that does not leave people behind but invites the full participation of everyone and recognizes that, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Let it be all inclusive and worthy of respect: where every woman, man, and child, every being of this earth is the same under the law and equally respected and valued—a great global community seeking harmony rather than competitive advantage.
In the end, equality is beholden to the system we choose. Did we ask that the world be run on the profits of greed, or the prophets of wisdom? Where was that democratic choice? The profits of greed have given us voracious greed, consuming everything in sight; but they didn’t give us a choice; they took away our freedom and made us into lesser beings. But, if we are to muster ourselves to call ourselves Human one last time, where the prophets of wisdom really did have something to say, where people and the planet are put before profits in the Golden Rule, and where we have one large collective foot standing on the profit of greed then maybe, maybe YES we will turn this thing around: http://www.planetization.org/.
Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, free-lance writer, and community activist residing in the Ridge and Valley Province of geopolitical West Virginia . He welcomes your comments at http://us.f362.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=csullivan@phreego.com.
echoing nina..
thanks susanne for attending to admin drudgery:)
k*
Michael, I love your mind.
Thanks from here too Susanne!!
OK, my next question is where is the 51 billion? If this guy scammed it, he must have bought something with it-actually, a lot of somethings-it didn't just disappear. Somebody has it--or a group of somebody's---
Let me guess........
Jj
Hey people, some of you have read my prior posts blithering on about "the tech" that the Controlling Criminal Elite have. Well, a good general introduction and explanation can be read www.educate-yourself.org under "The Sound of Silence", which is a new post under "recent articles". Tip of the ice-berg here. Good luck with it.
Dr.F
Hello fellow honest preverts....
Jj
Master_a: "Early lessons in how not to be." I always look at my mother as a negative role-model. If she did it...it's not acceptable behavior for a parent. She has since cleaned up (clean since '98), she still smokes the occasional herbal medicine, but I don't fault anyone for that. She lacks the capacity to love people properly. I still don't know if that's a product of her environment/upbringing or some genetic/spiritual malady, but the problem exists, either way.
Marxilist: That thing I mentioned before, about "a thought of your own, someday..." - forget it. I was wrong.
Susanne - thanks for picking up les' slack. We all know how lazy he is... ;-)
Tony - the olive branch remains outstretched... You're wrong about Americans, sir. You need to quit watching so much of the tele. Sure, we're a fucked up lot. Greedy, wantonly ignorant, self-interested, hopelessly blinded by conspicuous materialism, and much worse. There also happens to be an incredible amount caring, loving, wonderful people in this country, who though misguided, give of themselves every single day for the betterment of mankind. It's popular to hate Americans. I understand it. Hell, I hate them alot of the time, but invariably, when I think things are absolute shite... and humanity has left the world... someone shows up to prove me wrong. Someone sacrifices their self, or their time, or their energy to make another persons life better. (as an aside, what better definition of success could there be than "to know that someone else is better off, that you have lived")
Boo.Hoo. Fellas, didums have an unhappy childhood. And an extra sniffle for nota.
What you boys write I can *smell* as horseshit!! That's how blatant it is.
Yet I get no pungent odour from what Les writes; why is that?? Mmm?
Tony
Merely tolerated
A pimple on the ass of life
As the earth sits
He is still down under
In close proximity
Asshole
Coward
Not smart enough to be dangerous
Hides in the bushes
Pants down
Living in his sisters basement
Amongst the empty vegemite bottles
The odd guy in the neighborhood
Seen
But unseen
Watch out for the children
Yells at passersby
After they have gone
It’s safe in the basement
And lonely
Join the other side
Are you the other side?
No, they wouldn’t have you either
No heart
No balls
No worries—
Mate
Jj
Oh, Jj... My sincerest thanks to you sir. Not unlike the sock on the doorknob, you kept me from walking into something I shouldn't have. You're an absolute gem, sir.
Tony, the olive branch remains outstretched, sir... In direct opposition to your vile, hateful attitude. Thank you for showing me how one ends up, if they choose to let their hate and fear consume them. I will cherish your lessons, always!
Love,
NOTA :-)
Bugger Jj, you've pegged me.
Tony
nota, I don’t hate anyone. I do *hate* evil though.
You (wtp USA) are no different than most current western civilisations and because we are the way we are we have a responsibility to the rest of the world for our actions; because we can. Not like the sociopaths or the psychopaths; we can be responsible – and we are not being those things that we should be- responsible, accountable, etc.
The places you, as a civilisation, have trashed should be paid and supported by you to rebuild their country regardless of political persuasion to the level of workability that they desire not to some twisted standard that you want!!!
That will be your penance and more than likely your children’s as well.
However, you’re American- it won’t happen. Shame.
If/when you get out of your current mess you’ll continue on regardless. I don’t want to see that. You shouldn’t want to see that! I’m sure the majority of the rest of the world don’t want to see that either. If you do and you let this happen between now and then, you deserve the same treatment as that which you have dished out to the countries you have raped (if only) in the recent past.
Tony (from the basement, down under)
ps this' all been said before
The best part about my childhood was that the safest place was outdoors and alone; Nature took me in and cared for me, which is how I ended up a combination of Mowgli, Euell Gibbons, and Tarzan.
Anybody been to http://truthseeker2473.blogspot.com/ this guy has a weird ideology, he says that there was a connection between Islam and Hitler, and he seems to me too zionist. He has a mixbag of libertarian, conservative right-wing free market conspiracy theory, along with anti-UN, anti-New World Order, like most right-wing white-nationalists.
Tony, the US is a crypto Commonwealth nation run by the money power in London. Our leaders like Bush and Sir Bubbles Greenspan get knighted by the Queen. The British Empire lives on through it's proxy agents in America. Americans only think they won the revolution, we only won the freedom of the crown to not pay for our security or pay for the costs of expansion to the Pacific and the genocide of the native population.
Our debts outstanding were still required to be paid as well as the tribute in the form of gold, silver and copper mined in accordance with the Virginia Charter, which was never rescinded in the Treaty of Paris.
Since the Fed was established in 1913 the money power has asssumed complete control, why do you think we entered WW I on the side of the British and forgave their war debts. The Great Depression was triggered when the Fed went bankrupt and we were obligated to surrender our Gold to the money powers in London, and to enter WW II on the side of Communism which was created by the same money powers (had to get Japan to attack us in order to do this) .
The slave trade and drug trade still lives on in the spirit of the British East India Corporation that was owned by the money power and these operations now underground are still run covertly by the same folks, and the US provides free protection services, and the profits that are laundered in the tax havens are tax free. Nice deal they got.
Susanne. I bet without you, we`d have Les Miserable, and not Les Visible.
Three cheers for you, baby!!
As long as I'm waxing loquacious on the subject of human foibles, there's another category worth the mention that I know well, as it was the most difficult for me to finally grasp.
In our Western society we have been exposed to the ideals of the golden rule, turn tho other cheek, and love your neighbor as yourself. Naturally if we wish to live up to our own highest ideals, we do our best to practice these concepts, and usually they work pretty well. There is, though, one type of person they do not work on.
These are the people who are, at heart, worthless pieces of shit and know that they are. They know that they are unworthy of respect; that they are shit and deserve to be treated that way. Their reaction to being treated respectfully and kindly is to assume that the person treating them with respect is even more of a piece of shit than they are, and stupid to boot.
The only effective way that I have found to deal with such is to let them know, very clearly, that you fully grasp what worthless pieces of shit they are, and that if they fuck with you, you will fuck with them much worse. This attitude must be maintained at all times and in all dealings with them; it is what they know they deserve, what they expect, and the only thing they understand.
JESUS IS THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS, NOT TURKEY, NOT PECAN PIES, NOT CHOCOLATES, NOT PARTIES !!
JESUS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST REVOLUTIONARY-SOCIALISTS !!
http://socialism-only-solution-for-usa.blogspot.com/2008/12/jesus-is-reason-for-christmas-not.html
Blessed are you poor -- for yours is the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now -- for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now -- for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you and reject you and insult you and say you are evil, all because of the Son of Man. Be glad when that happens and dance for joy, because a great reward is kept for you in heaven -- for their ancestors did the very same things to the Prophets.
How terrible for you who are rich now -- you have had your easy life.
How terrible for you who laugh now -- for you shall mourn and weep.
How terrible when all men speak well of you -- for their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets.
But I tell you who hear me:
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
If anyone strikes you on the one cheek, let him hit the other one also.
And if someone takes away your coat, let him have your shirt as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you.
And if someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back again.
Do for others only what you would have others do for you.
If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing -- for even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing -- even sinners do that.
No, love your enemies and do good to them. And lend expecting nothing back. And then you will have a great reward -- for you will be sons of the Most High God. For He is good to the ungrateful and to the wicked.
Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
Judge not and you will not be judged.
Condemn not and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and it will be given to you -- for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
One blind man cannot lead another. If he does they will both fall into a ditch.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brothers eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye.
Woman: How happy is the mother who bore you and nursed you.
Jesus: Rather, happy are those who hear the Word of God and obey it.
Since the Marxilist is quoting Jesus by proxy of that other guys blog (again, no thoughts of his own), I felt it apropos to quote Jesus, myself:
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (King James Version)
10For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Have a Merry Christmas, and remember: natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" are the reason for the season! (Dec25th)
Ahh, you can almost smell the paganism...The origins of the Christmas date and customs (gift-giving and merrymaking = Roman Saturnalia; plants, lights, charity, etc = Roman New Year; Yule logs and various foods = Teutonic feasts),
NOTA
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
by James Quinn
December 16, 2008
http://financialsense.com/editorials/quinn/2008/1216.html
“If y ou tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” (Joseph Goebbels)
Truth is the mortal enemy of the lie. This is a profound observation from such an evil man. The definition of truth is, being in accordance with fact or reality. The Nazis were masters of using propaganda to manipulate facts and produce the reality that suited their wicked purposes. Other states have attempted to repress dissent and rule by using the Big Lie. The Soviet Union and Communist China come to mind. Our country was created with a Constitution that attempted to insure tyranny that occurred under British rule could not happen in the United States. Truth and freedom of speech are essential for a Republic to thrive. In the last two decades, facts and reality have been obscured, twisted, manipulated and obfuscated by our government, corporations, investment professionals and media. The Big Lie can be perpetrated by states, corporations, or individuals. The multitude of lies has made Americans increasingly dependent. The State gains more power as citizens become more dependent.
The following quote attributed to Scottish history professor Alexander Tyler in 1787, seems to portray an accurate reflection of what has occurred during our 200+ years of existence as a democracy.
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage
These words were written two years before George Washington became our first President. There is so much truth in these words it makes me shudder, especially since we are clearly in stage 7. An honest appraisal of our country’s downward spiral is necessary to begin the process of redemption. We have continually voted ourselves increased benefits, dependent upon the printing presses of the Federal Reserve to sustain our country’s ponzi scheme. We have pawned our future and the bill will eventually come due.
The Great American Republic
My assessment of the chronological sequence our democracy has progressed through, follows.
From bondage to spiritual faith (1760 to 1769)
King George III becomes King of England
Currency Act, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Act passed by Parliament
Sons of Liberty formed by John Adams, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, among others.
From spiritual faith to great courage (1770 to 1783)
Boston massacre
Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence
Parliament passes the Tea Act
Boston Tea Party
The First Continental Congress
Battle of Bunker Hill
Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense
Revolutionary War rages for six years
British surrender at Yorktown
Treaty of Paris ends Revolutionary War
From courage to liberty (1784 to 1865)
Constitutional Convention
Constitution ratified by 13 states
George Washington elected President
Bill of Rights passed
Fugitive Slave Act passed
Louisiana Purchase
Robert Fulton invents steamboat
War of 1812
Monroe Doctrine
President Andrew Jackson battles bankers which leads to the Panic of 1837
U.S. Mexican War
California gold rush
Compromise of 1850
Dred Scott Decision
Abraham Lincoln elected President
Confederate states secede from the Union
Emancipation Proclamation
Civil War rages for four years
Union is restored
13th Amendment abolishes slavery
From liberty to abundance (1866 to 1969)
Civil Rights Act of 1866
First Trans-Continental Railroad
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
Industrial Revolution
General Electric founded
Spanish American War
U.S. Steel founded
Airplane invented
Automobile invented
Federal Reserve created
World War I
Great Depression
New Deal programs implemented by FDR
Golden Gate Bridge completed
World War II
Holocaust
Atomic bomb used to end war with Japan
Marshall Plan rebuilds Europe & Japan
US emerges from the war as the only great economic power
Cold War
Korean War
Interstate highway system built
Civil Rights Movement
John F. Kennedy assassinated
Vietnam War
Great Society programs implemented
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Martin Luther King assassinated
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
From abundance to complacency (1970 to 1989)
Roe vs Wade
President Nixon resigns in disgrace
Oil embargo
Ronald Reagan elected President
Military buildup and tax cuts
Fall of the Soviet Union
From complacency to apathy (1990 to 2000)
Gulf War
Bill Clinton elected President
Stock market boom
Gridlock between Congress & President leads to budget surpluses
President Clinton acquitted in impeachment trial
From apathy to dependence (2001 to 2007)
George W. Bush elected President
Nasdaq stock bubble bursts
9/11 attack
Alan Greenspan lowers rates to 1%
Invasion of Afghanistan
Department of Homeland security created
Invasion of Iraq
Hurricane Katrina
Home prices double
Financial derivatives grow to over $100 trillion
From dependence back into bondage (2008 to ????)
Housing prices collapse
Financial firms collapse
Government and Federal Reserve intervene to prop up the worldwide financial system
Government bailouts of financial firms and auto manufacturers
Federal Reserve & U.S. Treasury commit over $8 trillion of taxpayer funds
Barrack Obama elected President
Immediate borrowing & stimulus packages exceeding $1 trillion are discussed
Federal Reserve lowers rates to below 1%
Fact is Fiction and TV Reality
I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes
And make it go away
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
U2 – Sunday, Bloody Sunday
The greatest fraud in the history of our country was exposed in the past week. Bernie Madoff perpetuated a $50 billion ponzi scheme fraud on his formerly wealthy investors. The size of the losses is mind boggling, three times the size of the proposed bailout of the US automakers. His entire investment fund has been a big lie for decades. The immorality of his actions is incomprehensible. Charities have been wiped out, the life savings of entire families have been lost, and innocent lives have been ruined. The potential sentence of 20 years in a country club prison and $5 million fine is not nearly equal to the pain caused by this man’s immoral evil actions. This man was well respected by the Wall Street investment community, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, and part of the wealthy high society crowd located in West Palm Beach. This begs the question, if this man has been running this type of scam for decades, how many more cockroaches are out there on Wall Street? After a year of never ending tales of scandal, fraud, lies, greed and mismanagement, this episode should be the final straw which convinces the American public the investment game is rigged and they do not have a chance.
This tragedy is a failure of morality, a failure of regulation, failure of unbridled capitalism and a failure of common sense. Bernie Madoff started his firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in 1960 with $5,000. It started as a classic American success story and is ending as an American tragedy. Mr. Madoff had a spectacular rise on Wall Street. His firm was one of the founding members of the NASDAQ. He emerged as one of the key leaders in the rise of the NASDAQ and eventually became Chairman of its Board. Madoff served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, as well as Treasurer of its Board of Trustees. An college class in ethics in his youth may have benefitted Mr. Madoff’s clients. His firm was one of the top market makers on Wall Street. His estimated net worth grew to between $200 and $300 million. He adapted easily to his rise from humble beginnings to immense wealth. He owns estates in Roslyn, N.Y., Montauk, Long Island, a luxury apartment that occupies the entire12th floor on Manhattan's Upper East Side valued at more than $9 million. He also owns mansions in Palm Beach and France and is a member of the Palm Beach Country Club. He also possess a 55-foot fishing boat named "Bull." After this week’s revelations, it seems appropriate that one of George Carlin’s words you can’t say on TV should have been added to “Bull”. His offices were located in the famous “Lipstick” building in NYC. The building is famous for being shaped like a lipstick case. The building could be considered shaped like a less flattering sexual object, and is more fitting to what Mr. Madoff did to his investors.
Source: Wikipedia
The words on Mr. Madoff’s website now seem gravely ironic. "In an era of faceless organizations ... Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC harks back to an earlier era in the financial world: The owner's name is on the door. Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark." It is doubtful that the words “high ethical standards” will grace Mr. Madoff’s gravestone. Even as his ponzi scheme was unraveling, his high ethical standards led him to try and distribute his $200 to $300 million to family, friends, and employees before the victims of his crimes could attempt to recover some of their money. It is too soon to conclude what the long term effects of this scandal will have on our financial system. It is likely that the name Bernard Madoff will go down in the history of ignominy with Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and Dennis Kazlowski as examples of the most disgraceful behavior in the history of our financial markets.
How can a man live such a Big Lie for decades and sleep soundly at night? Aspects of Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel An American Tragedy are evident in this heartrending story. Dreiser’s theme of the desire to rise up socially and financially in modern America holding the very seeds by which such desires are denied is clearly apparent in this tale of woe. The lure of materialism isn't solely the acquisition of wealth and goods, but the attraction such wealth and goods holds over people, often at the expense of other values. As Mr. Madoff’s success grew, his desire to attain ever higher social status must have led him to take more risk and use illegal means to continue up the social ladder. This overwhelming aspiration for acceptance and accolades in the wealthiest high society of Manhattan and West Palm Beach, led this man to risk everything. The result has been a tragedy of epic proportions. This fraud is reminiscent of the 1938 indictment of the respected former President of the NYSE Dick Whitney for looting his firm, friends, relatives, and charities of millions to fund his high society lifestyle. Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.
The definition of a ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by the business. Mr. Madoff’s investment firm ponzi scheme was incredibly unsophisticated. He was spectacularly successful at marketing his fund to the ultra-rich Jewish communities in New York and Florida as well as Europeans at ski competitions attended by the rich ruling elite. His fund generated returns of 12% to 13% per year consistently for decades. The fund only had five losing months since 1996. The market has had dramatic monthly moves over this time. It is a virtual statistical impossibility for an investor to have such a consistent record through bull and bear markets. Madoff refused to provide his clients online access to their accounts. He sent out accounting statements by mail, whereas most hedge funds email statements and allow them to be downloaded via computer for easier analysis by investors. His books were audited by a three-person accounting firm, Friehling & Horowitz, operating out of a 13-by-18 foot location in an office park in New York City’s northern suburbs. A $17 billion fund could not possibly be audited by one partner and one accountant. These facts were all warning signals that many skeptical investment analysts had pointed out years ago to the SEC and in articles in Barron’s.
It was not topnotch undercover investigating that revealed this fraud. The SEC investigated Madoff’s firm twice in the last eight years and found nothing. Madoff’s son-in-law was an SEC official. The SEC has an annual budget in excess of $900 million and has failed miserably in its mission to protect investors. The oversight of hedge funds has been virtually non-existent during the Bush administration. Again, Alan Greenspan, the patron saint of free markets, proved his prescience in 2000 when he campaigned before Congress to not regulate hedge funds. He described hedge funds as “a vibrant trillion-dollar industry dominated by U.S. firms. They are essentially free of government regulation, and I hope they will remain so. Why do we wish to inhibit the pollinating bees of Wall Street?” These killer bees have contributed greatly to the biggest financial destruction of wealth in history. What are the odds of one man being on the wrong side of every major financial debacle in our country in the last ten years? Mr. Greenspan wins the grand prize again.
What brought down Bernie Madoff was not his guilty conscious, but redemptions of $7 billion from investors that overwhelmed his ability to pay them from new funds. The story that he wants everyone to believe is that he was the only one who knew about the fraud. His brother, two sons, niece, and other family members held high level positions in the firm. It is beyond believability that none of these people knew what was going on. A $50 billion fraud can not be perpetuated by one man acting alone. It certainly appears that as a 70 year old man, he is attempting to shield his family members who should also be spending 20 years in prison. If he was truly remorseful, he would have done the world a favor and taken a swan dive off his 12th floor balcony. Instead, he will hire high powered lawyers, using his phony wealth, to extend his life of luxury secluded in his 12th floor hideaway. This is a man who gives Ponzi a bad name.
Ultimately, Mr. Madoff will be judged by his Maker. A special place in Hell awaits him, next to Hitler, Stalin, and Timothy McVeigh. The victims of his crimes are many. The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation has lost its entire $8 million endowment; The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and the Texas-based Julian J. Levitt Foundation have lost millions; the town of Fairfield, Conn. has seen 15 percent of its retiree pension fund totaling $42 million vanish; Maxam Capital Management run by Sandra Manzke has been wiped out; Tremont Capital Management has lost millions; and thousands more have lost their life savings. A personal story told by Minyanville writer Justin Rohrlich about his grandfather addresses the true heart braking tragedy of this man’s immoral actions.
“Last night, it happened to my 88 year-old grandfather Carl. World War II veteran, Captain in the Army, saw combat in the Philippines. His father was a dry-cleaner, his grandfather was a fabric dyer on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century. My granddad was scheduled to go into the invasion of Japan before we dropped the bomb. Instead of going into certain death, he came home and went to the City College of New York on the GI Bill.
Armed with a mathematics degree, my Grandfather eventually landed a job at Neuberger Berman. Became a CFA. Was a director of Tishman Speyer. Helped build Roosevelt Raceway. Ran the pension fund for Price Chopper supermarkets. I had dinner with my grandfather on Wednesday night. Over sushi, he told me about how amazing Bernie Madoff was. This was a common refrain in our conversations. “While the rest of the market is tanking, Madoff is up for the month.” Today, I bought the New York Post on the way to the subway. Bernie Madoff was on the front page. His fund was described as a “Ponzi scheme” that lost $50 billion. My phone rang. It was my mother.
“Your grandfather just lost everything,” she said.”
This blackest of marks in investment history will forever alter the faith that investors have in investment managers, financial advisors, mutual funds, and hedge funds. Americans are being buried under a blizzard of lies. This is truly an American Tragedy.
The Sun Will Set For You
And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey
And the sun will set for you
Linkin Park – Shadow of the Day
There is a reason old sayings become old sayings. They have an underlying truth that spans the test of time. Some old sayings that apply to our current economic and investment environment are:
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
The cards are stacked against you.
The Madoff affair illustrates that rich people can be just as gullible and foolish as poor people. In their quest for social status and fitting in with the “smart” money crowd, affluent people all over the country put their life savings into the hands of this criminal. No investor can generate positive returns using the same strategy through all market cycles. Warning bells should have been going off. Diversification is the golden rule of investing. The foolishness of these people putting every dime with one man is maddening. Mr. Madoff’s nickname, “the Jewish T-bill”, is fitting today with T-bills providing negative yields.
Another American Tragedy is in the making. A much bigger Ponzi scheme that will shock every person in America is still operating. It is being conducted by the U.S. government and your elected politician leaders. It is called our National Budget. With most of our spending on automatic pilot, the aging of the baby boom generation will put tremendous strain on our economic system in the coming years. As you can see, Medicare costs will explode over the next 40 years. The increasing debt will result in interest payments on the debt becoming the largest expenditure in the federal budget. The longer we wait to address this unavoidable train wreck, the more likely it will result in generational war between the baby boomers and younger generations. Mandatory spending for agriculture subsidies, unemployment benefits, civilian and military pensions and health benefits continues to grow. The ponzi aspect of this system is that we continue to pay out benefits by printing money. We are obligated to pay $53 trillion that we do not have. Social Security has run at a surplus since its inception. The money is not in some lockbox. Your trustworthy leaders have spent all of the surpluses ever generated by Social Security to keep the ponzi scheme going.
The following chart proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we cannot use the Republican Big Lie of growing our way out of this problem. As entitlements and net interest grow, discretionary spending gets squeezed. Non-defense programs, which include, activities related to children, transportation infrastructure, education, training and research that should promote future economic growth and prosperity, are crowded out. We are forced to pay no heed to investments in the future in order to honor commitments made decades ago. The short term focus of Washington politicians has ruined our fiscal future. Children don’t vote, and younger people are less involved in the political process. As a result, the political gain from immediate increases in spending or reductions in taxes outweighs the eventual economic benefits of more politically costly but fiscally responsible choices. This is a criminal and immoral act upon our future generations. President-elect Obama is about to embark on the largest unfunded expenditure program in the history of our country. This will move us closer to the point of no return where the ponzi scheme implodes.
The Government Accountability Office provided a troubling deficit forecast in January 2008 which showed we would reach a fiscal deficit of $1 trillion in 2016. Democrats and Republicans have proven that when they truly work together they can accomplish anything. The $1 trillion deficit will be reached 7 years early, in 2009. Adding enormous new spending programs is like being trapped in a deep hole and deciding to dig deeper. Something called shared sacrifice for the benefit of future generations is essential to avoid another American Tragedy. Shared sacrifice is something that hasn’t been asked of U.S. citizens since World War II. They are known as the Greatest Generation. Now is time for the Next Great Generation.
Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme came crashing down when investors requested their money back and no one was willing to give him the funds to pay them off. The American ponzi scheme will come crashing down when our foreign creditors decide to no longer fund our foolish ventures. Foreigners own more than 50% of our existing government debt and have been buying 70% of our new issuances. The Treasury bills and bonds are paying less than 2.5%. Our unfunded liability of $53 trillion increases by $3 trillion per year. Our National Debt exceeds $10.6 trillion. In 2009 and 2010 we will run annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion. The Federal Reserve is printing dollars as fast as humanly possible. Every dollar printed makes the previous dollars less valuable. As our currency is debased, it will eventually collapse. Foreigners will refuse to pour more money down this rat hole. The biggest ponzi scheme in the history of the world will be over.
Friends ask me why I’m such a pessimist. These questions made me consider what I thought would happen over the last few years. I thought that the housing market would decline 10% to 20%. It has declined 30% to 50%. I thought the stock market could decline 30%. It has declined 40% to 50%. I thought our deficits due to wars could reach $500 billion. The deficits will easily exceed $1 trillion. I thought gold might reach $600 an ounce. It reached $1,000 an ounce and is poised to go much higher. All of my pessimistic projections have been surpassed to the downside. Examining Alexander Tyler’s stages of democracy, I am optimistic we can avoid the final stage of Dependence back into Bondage. It seems inconceivable to me that our country could fall under the rule of a dictator. But in the midst of a total economic collapse, I guess anything is possible. Let’s hope my worst fears are not realized. If enough Americans seek the truth, the Big Lies can be exposed before it is too late. Truth is the mortal enemy of the lie.
© 2008 James Quinn
Bio: James Quinn is a senior director of strategic planning for a major university. These articles reflect the personal views of James Quinn. They do not necessarily represent the views of his employer and are not sponsored or endorsed by his employer. He can be reached at quinnadvisors@comcast.net.
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Notamobster: at least i take a scientific approach to US economy and politics, and don't let myself be guided by the dumb, redneck ideology of libertarian white-nationalist rightists who hate neocons, democrats and the US left, and leave us with no viable alternative. What a waste of time you are. To tell you the truth, right-wing libertarianism has no future. I'd take 10000 Bushes over 1 Ayn Rand.
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See...here you go again with the false dichotomies. You are so blinded by the right-left, demotard-republicrat, arguments that you fall right into the trap which was so carefully laid, for people just like you. Maybe you could do yourself a favor and let go of your most strongly held beliefs, and do some critical thinking. (I'm not holding my breath, here)...
Inre: democracy - this is not a Democracy, you hard-headed *&^%*! IT NEVER WAS!
It is a limited constitutional republic! Democracy just means that 51% of the people can force 49% to do as they wish. I prefer being able to choose for myself, though we do agree that that doesn't happen here. I long for a society where man can work, earn, and live freely.
I am not bound to, or by any nation or flag. I support the right of man to dispose of his labor, income, and property as he so chooses (so long as the free excercise of his rights doesn't impede upon someone else's rights), with ABSOLUTE disregard to the majority.
Fuck the majority, most of them are imbeciles! I think there are certain rights which man, by nature, may freely excercise...
I took an oath to support and Defend the Constitution, not the flag, not the leaders, not the corporations, and most certainly not the fucking bankers!!! I abhor communism and socialism. I've tried to see things 'their/your' way and even asked you to convince me, but it doesn't work for me.
So long as there is injustice in man... there will be injustice in the ruling class. So long as that exists, I will stand by my individualist belief, and politely ask the collectivists to go fuck themselves. The collective is a mass of dumb sheep, so blinded by their desire to consume that they will eventually have no alternative but to aquiesce to the demands of their rulers, because they'll be too busy slurping down sugar water to notice the rug has been pulled out from under them! I agree with your assertions inre: this society. I adamantly disagree as to the solution! The solution is NOT, NOT, NOT further consolidation of power and distribution into the hands of the same assholes that got us into this mess! This is not a free-market society. This is a society which has been bent over and plugged repeatedly, for the past 95 years by the same bankers who run the rest of the world!
Why don't you seem to understand that? It's the bankers, dumbass! This is not the system as intended in the constitution! The people were to have control of the money supply, via congress. Without fractional reserve banking, there never could have been the huge mega-conglomerates which you and I so despise! Respectable society has a responsibility to take care of the infirm (those who can't take care of themselves), but taxing income is not the way to do it. Did you know that the $950 billion collected in personal income tax in 2005 went entirely to pay the debt owed to the Federal Reserve? Every single dollar ever printed (since 1913) was loaned to the government at 3% interest. Our congress sold us out and the people were too stupid and/or lazy to change it. They sub-contracted their responsibility to control the money supply to private entities! What don't you understand about that? Barack Obama or any other politician on the planet doesn't give a fuck about you, me, or anyone but themselves!
You want to talk about justice and truth? Justice comes at the end of a rope! "Truth" will continue to be manipulated to suit the ends of whoever happens to have the pulpet(preacher/politician/professors, etc, etc,)!
Human nature is to be lazy and complacent and follow others. We don't need leaders. We need people who are willing to do for themselves! Our government was designed to be a system of administrators, not leaders! The people always look for someone to follow. The people as a collective are stupid! The people could never have voted themselves benefit if they had followed the constitution and administered a little justice with their rope!
As for dumb, redneck ideology of white-nationalist rightists....blah, blah, blah.... I choose none of the above! I think for myself, sir! I right my own thoughts! I speak my own mind! I'm from Detroit - so the redneck thing is out the window... I'm not a nationalist... but you pegged me on the libertarian thing (though I am a member of no party). I'll leave you with this one quote from the American Bankers Association (1924)... let it soak in and remember that this is not a free market, but a secret cabal who runs a controlled market....
"Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through the process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance. It is thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished."
notamobster- Paul was part of the conspiracy of the House of Herod to subvert the emerging Christianity movement by conforming it to occult doctrines. Any quotes attributed to Jesus from Paul should be taken with a grain of salt. He was an agent of the elites at the time whose descendants gave us guys like Stalin. Stalin was also quoted "If you don't work, you don't eat". This has always been an elitist mantra and it seems this quote comes from a Old Testament perspective.
Anyways, if people knew how both the Old and New testaments were put together and how their integrity was maintained, or should I say, not maintained, between translation errors, transcription errors and intentional revisions, not to mention the fact much of it was written by folks who were writing long after the fact or based on 3rd hand information, and anything that contradicted the message of those cherry picking the texts for inclusion was burned, they would not take it so seriously.
It's prime purpose is to present the Globalist plan in code for the elite, and to get people to willing submit to evil on Earth in the hope for salvation in an after life. Our elite giggle a lot over this.
Destroy the BADGE whatever it me be or say it steals your freedom.
Some may find it sad that they can't have a badge that says down with the badge.
Think not just of badges that get pinned to your chest, but all forms of labels, general names and titles.
For everything that tries to DEfine a person takes away from their individuality and changeability.
Resist all forms of oppression and separation by grouping.
Be truly free and be the best you you can be. :)
I'm wearing a virtual badge that says "Their aint no badges on me."
pot - I don't believe the bible (least of all of it - Saul!)... I was making a point inre: Jesus being the reason for the season, and marxilist quoting him. I am very well versed in the history of the bible. I find it most effective to meet someone on their level, so I perform my due diligence, and use their books against them. As soon as he afforded the opportunity to use the christ' quotes against his argument for marxilism, I took it. :)
Good points, though...Thanks.
Hi Les Visible!
Do you still live in Europe with the other cool people? Don't know if you've noticed that there is someone posting writings by other cool people from Europe like Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche and some other guys. I guess they are mostly posted because you need to know about them. One was by some guy named Zarathustra even. Wow, that's a cool name. Did you ever see the movie 2001? I think he's in that movie too.
I pretty much already know about them, and I think it's great that you are getting the chance to learn about them too. Rather than read them again, I had a little fun with my calculator and the word count function of my word processor.
The whole page has only 94 comments so far, adding up to 27,615 words. Yet in just the four posts that are dedicated to fixing the holes in your education I counted 7,515 words. That's great, I think. The rest of us can discuss your blog topic and other silly stuff, while you are gifted with a full 27% of the comment section just for your own pleasure and learning. Why, the last paste job from your admirer and tutor came to over 4,000 words all by itself! You must be learning a lot!
I sure hope you are getting a bunch of education out of them, and the rest of us really don't mind skipping over them to read each other's lame attempts at writing.
Remember that education is better than opium for the masses! (I think Jesus said that)
Somalia becomes a free for all who choose to raid her resources.
Zimbabwe starves - not even the inclination to revolt occurs.
Gaza is tortured - and the felon that stole 50 billion dollars, is under fucking house arrest and has sent the money to Israhell.
It goes on and on.
And the snow falls are falling thicker.
The planet cools.
Meteor showers abound.
Other mysterious lights seen.
All the many many earth cycles, ending round about now.
Nothing to do to change it, it obviously has to happen.
And watching this whole show, feeling it in fear sometimes, but increasingly with awe and wonder, I wanted to acknowledge each and every one of you on here for the journey that it has been.
May we all be touched, nay embraced by full scale humour.
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