A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All

Ramsey’s Diner, on Brian Station Road in Lexington Kentucky will no longer be holding happy hours at it’s restaurant, though owner Bob Ramsey promises the tradition will continue at the other four restaurants owned by him. His reasons for stopping the practice at the Brian Station diner are due mainly to liability concerns. According to him, happy hour drew a large crowd, especially on Friday nights, that was becoming increasingly boisterous. Additionally, though the diner was conceived primarily as a famiy type restaurant, it was, according to Ramsey, becoming more like a bar.

Before finally taking the step of ending Happy Hour for good, Ramsey had over the previous weeks barred a good many patorns from his establishemnt based on their conduct. A lot of these customers were black, though according to Ramsey, a good many of them were white as well.

So,naturally, as you might have guessed, Ramsey has been accussed-of course-of racism. “You could just tell it was a racial thing”,opined one black former patron. No word on any lawsuits, as of yet, due to the previous barring or for any other discriminatory policy, real or imagined. Still,of course, this story went public doubtless due to bitterness from former patrons who evidently have elected to play the race card.

Ramsey seems generaly unperturbed about this. He knows he will lose out on the licquor sales, but insists the liaility concerns were never worth it, to say nothing of the trouble it was causing. Moreover, he expects the restaurant buisness will pick back up. And, as stated, his other four establishments will continue the practice of Happy Hour.

Funny, I must have missed that part of the Constitution that made Happy Hour a constitutional and a civil right.

An Open And Shut Case

John Michael Montgoemry might get a reprieve on his coming day on court, despite the fact that, after leaving a lexington area bar, he war arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated, and had in his possession, in addition to a concealed handgun, some prescription drugs out of their proper containers.

So why might he get off? Is it because he is a celebrity, a well known and admired Kentucky native, and so the prosecutors are inclined to give him a break?

No, it is because of five different Lexington police officers who made the mistake of posting jourals, some with photos, on the popular internet site MySpace. Not just personal stuff, either, but work related information as well. A good many of their posts contained derogatory views as to a lot of their suspects, in partcular noted was insulting comments relating to gays and the handicapped.

One of these officers, a Joshua Cromer, was the arressting officer of John Michael Montgomery, and he and his fellow officers openly discussed the case on Cromers journal, with the others congratulating him on such a high profile arrest.

Yet another officer, Gene Haynes, on his own journal, posted a photo of John Michael Montgomery, which had been altered by Cromers face being superimposed on the body of a fan in the picture.

As a result of these antics, Montgomery’s attorneys have stated that this could have a tremendous impact on the case, as the motives for arresting Montgomery appear to be questionable.

Haynes forrhis part has since apologized for the affair, though he and all the other five have been placed on leave and have been administratively charged.

One Hundred Years-A Lot Could Happen Yet

It has been one hundred years and a day since the great San Francisco earthquake that destroyed the city in the year 1906. According to official estimates, a similar quake today would result in property losses of hundreds of billions of dollars, though loss of lives might not be so great as one might expect, numbering potentially in the thousands, though not the tens of thousands. This is due in part to the stuctural improvements mandated by strict building codes, and even many of the older buildings have been refitted to meet these codes. Yet, a good many of them are behind, and so are vulnerable. Many more that have been “retrofitted” would doubltess still be damaged,some severely, and others doubtless yet destroyed, depending on the severity and the exact locsation of the quake. Then, of course, there are power lines, water lines, sewer lines, gas lines, roads, bridges, tunels, railroads, etc., wich would doubltess be impacted. Thankfully, due to improvements in the abilities of seismic measuring instruments to predict the onset of a quake, there is a better than just a good chance, I am guessing, that the Golden Gate Bridge could be cordoned off, and hopefuly emptied of traffic, befor the coming quake might well send it collapsing into the Pacific.

And when I say coming quake, make no mistake about it. It is coming. Acording to experts, it is not a matter of if,it is a matter of when.

I wish that I had the pwer to turn myself,just for tonight,into a million different people. I would send all one million different copies of myself out to all the various church denominations that meet on Wednesday nights, especially themor conservative churches. It would be interesting to hear just how many frothing at the mouth preachers would be preaching the words I know that at least a large percentage are going to speak.

San Francisco, that modern day Sodom, will one day be doomed, just as that great anient city was destoryed by fire,so too will San Fancisco, when all it’s gas lines erupt into a blazing inferno, burning people who are trapped inside their crumbling buildings, which cannot withstand the wrath of God’s holy judgement, no matter how well buildt they are, before they finally join all San Francisco as it tumbles into the ocean.

The only thing missing will probably be Lot’s wife, and who knows, she may end up in the scenario as well. But even if she does not, even if there are no angels for the evil denizens of San Francisco to attempt to rape, doubtless the Far Right Cristians can coneive of no other punsihment than for San Francisco to collapse, erupt into flames and burn, then slide into the ocean, completely destroyed with, as Sodom, no hope of ever being recovered, left with nothing whatsoever.

Of course, it just has to happen before Bush leaves office.

I Love A Tattoo

I would never get a tatoo my own self, but for some reason almost nothing turns me on like the site of a woman with a well placed tatoo. Whether it’s a snake coiling around an ankle and slithering coyly up a well shaped inner thigh,or a colorful hummingbird or butterfly on a flat and tight abdomen, or flowers or a fountain that spring up from, well, wherever. Darker, more ominous symbols are not unbecomming either.

Add to this the technique of piercing and you have a double turn on. It started out with nose piercings, in addition to multiple piercings of earlobes and upper ears, in rows, then came the tonque piercings, the nipples, and the navels, and I said to myself, okay now they’ve gone too fucking far. This is sado-masochistic to an unfathomable degree, and painful to look at, let alone what it must be to endure. Not for me. What about the threat, the very real danger, of infection of these most sensitive areas?

I will admit I did once entertain the notion, and sometimes I still do, of having my tonque split in two,up to about the halfway point of my inner mouth, between the lips and the tonsils. Not pierced,mind you, but split. Yes, like a snake. I wouldn’t do this just for the looks, mind you, but for the – well, put it this way, split tonques have an inherent functionality that can’t be matched in certain areas. I’ll leave it at that.

Nevertheless, I changed my mind. What if I lost my tongue due to a raging out of control infection that couldn’t heal? What of the inherent dangers of infection that might present themselves to perhaps some people more than others in any of the more unorthodox areas favored by the piercing faddists that abound to ever greater numbers?

It has always been at the backof my mind-what are they going to start piercing next? Their pussies? Wellll, make a long story short, the included picture is just one of a number that you can see in the link provided in the title of this post. It is by far the most atractive example of the photos therein, which includes more specific examples of piercings of the inner labia, the outer labia, the clitoral hood, and, yes, even the clitoris itself. Not for the feint hearted.

I have to admit though, if a woman were to present to me in real life a pussy as attractively tattooed and pierced as the one in the photo above, I would doubtless be unable to resist, after staring some time in appreciation, jumping all over it like a –like a-oh hell, never mind.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

The big time had come to my little town of Mt. Vernon Kentucky, in the form of “Silver Stars” a photography studio that had recently opened up under the ownrship and management of a photographer, a Martin, oriignally from Alabama. He seems to have specialized in teenage and pre teen youth, and seems to have had quite a lucrative business in preparing agency submission photographs of children whose parents had fuzzy little dreams of their little darlings becoming stars, the idols of millions, and, of course, rich enough to insure mommy and daddy would forever live in the comfy and cozy lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Unfortunately, he seems to have run afoul of the law when it turns out the media that his clients were aiming for were not exactly, shall we say, on the up and up. The up and in, now that’s a different story. Yes, Mr. Martin, as I’m sure you have guessed by now, made photographs of some of his clients engaginging in sexual acts. At least three of his clients, in fact, have been “victimized” in one way or another.

Of course, this begs the question, just how does a man from another state, not even a bordering one at that, with no apparent connections to the area, proposition teenage clients in this fashion?

“Hey, do you think you might be interested in making porno movies? Pays not the best to start out with, but it pays real well if you stick with it, you can even be rich and famous. Of course, you have to be willing to have all different styles and varieties of sex with anybody your boss tells you to.

Somehow, I doubt that it was quite that way, I have an idea that some of his clients, including possibly the parents, were casually shown, included amongst his portfolio, examples of his “art”. Having seen these examples of his work, doubtless of adults, I have no doubt that they then approached him, not the other way around.

Not that I’m excusing him, or suggesting that he be let off the hook. Fa from it. I am saying, however, that, despite what one interviewee in town stated, these girls are not going to need therapy. Not because of this anyway. They needed therapy a long time before this, and it is probably way too late for it now. They should be considered exactly what they doubtless were-willing particiapants, juvenile offenders who may indeed need help, but should not be coddled.

Of course, I can’t prove any of this, and I claim to have no proof, it is just my opinion. But if I am right, and if the parents of these teens were as well willing particiapants, what they need may well best be fitted in the barrel of a gun.

Brainchildren

Who could help being awed by the sight of twins, by triplets, as an awesome mainfestation of the miraculous power of nature? Evidently, the Everson family of Maryland made that decision when they decided to turn to the public for help with a web-site that pleaded to it’s readers to “Help the Emerson Six”-Sextuplets, four girls and two boys, new born children of a family that were in dire need of help to pay medical bills. Some of the children were in poor physical health due to being born some three months premature. They were doubtless hoping to be the benieficiaries of the publics sympathetic largesse, as many parents of multiple birth children are often presented with gifts, certificates, money, food, toys, etc. In due course of time a local Maryland tv station picked up the story.

Only thing was, it turned out to be a hoax, a sham perpetrated by the “parents” on what they hoped would be a gullible, non skepticle public. It may have worked, had the tv station not picked up the story, which brought the couple more attention, and notorieity, than they had counted on.

So much for them. They are not the point anyway, other than to ilustrate the fallacy in peoples thinking. I have always wondered at how people could so foolishly donate so much money to so many people who are so undeserving. Yes, I am talking about those parents who are legitimate parents of multile birth babies.

After all, these parents know the risks when the vast majority of them engage in fertility treatments in order to conceive children. The risk is very great that these multiple births will occur under these feritlization treaments, and more to the point,there is also a very good risk the children will have various degrees of medical problems, some of them serious. Yet, people throw money their way. Why?

Maybe I’m cold hearted, but it seems to me that, if you want to reward bad behavior, you will never have any shortage of it. Instead, why not set up a special fund to reward those parents who limit their childbirths to two or one, if you have to reward anyone at all. Make it a ten year contest, any couple who have no more than two children over a ten year period will automaticaly qualify for a 100 million dollar prize, add in a second, third and fourth prize, on down to a tenth prize of 1 million dollars, then have like a thousand lesser prizes of ten thousand dollars each. Anybody that qualifies at the end of the ten year period can submit their names in the drawing, with references to the proper documentation. The drawing will be completey random and have nothing to do with race, religion, or economic status.

But at the end of the ten year period there will be a handful more wealthy individuals who will make up, I suspect, a larger percenage of the population.

The Cleansing Power Of Ajax

Was Ajax real? Hell no. But don’t let that get in the way of a good story. It makes a good tease as the title for archaeological articles a great many might otherwise pay no attention to. Recently, an ancient palace was unearthed on the island of Miletus, some miles from the coast of Greece near Athens, attesting to the reality of the island kingdom of some formidable power during the height of Mychaenaean Greed times, which preceeded that era known as Classical greece.

Of course it has long been pretty much known that Miletus was at one time a thriving, powerful kingdom in the region during the time in question, no one ever disputed that. But this discovery is hardly proof of the existence of a giant warrior king and hero who, after falling into a quarrel with other Greek leaders during the height of the Trojan War, purportedly committed suicide.

However, something interesting seems to have transpired. Prior to the eventual fall of the Mychaenaean Kingdoms, the people of Miletus, for whatever reason, migrated to the island of Cyprus, whereupon arriving there they founded a town named after their former kingdom, which retains the name Miletus to this day.

So, is their some truth behind the symbolic story of Ajax and his demise? Was his suicide actually a coded and vaque reference to the peoples abandonment of the island? As it happens, it was mainly the aristocratic people of the island who left for Cyprus, the poorer peasants to a great extent seem to have remained behind. The reasons for the departure seems to have been due to some trouble with a foreign interloper, though this seems not to have been traced back to either the time of the “Peoples Of The Sea” (who ravaged the entire Mediterranean coast and ultimately settled in Philistea after being finally repulsed by the Egyptians) nor does it seem to coincide with the overall fall and demise of the Mychaenaean Kingdoms in general.

Who were their enemies then? The Mychaenaeans themselves? All that is known for a fact is that they dissappearred and did indeed migrate to Cyprus, as enough architectural evidence, in the way of textiles and jewelry, etc., has been found to confirm this.

As of this writing, however, no news of any giant sarcophagus. Probably after I post this I will receive some news of the discovery of the name Ajax, but I’m ready for ‘em.

AJAX : Ancient title roughly translated as a “King” or other such royal office holder of the ancient Mychaenaean city state of Miletus.

The School Of Tough Shit

The University of the Cumberlands is a Kentucky institution which has recently qualified for grants amounting to roughly ten million dollars, as decided by a recent bill which passed both houses of the legislature and now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher. The dean of the school is Dr. James Taylor, wo seems to have decided to embroil the school in controversy right at this most innorportune time. For Dr. Taylor has seen fit to suspend a sophomore of the school on the grounds that the former deans list student is gay, a fact the student revealed himself recently in a MySpace journal.

As Doctor Dean himself has explained, the school makes no secret that it holds it’s students to a higher standard than does society in general, and there are plenty of other places for students who might want to engage in the homosexual lifestyle, from San Francisco to “The Left Coast” (his words), and many others as well.

Gay and lesbian rights groups have correctly pointed out that no school that receives state money has a right to pursue any kind of a discriminatory policy in regards to any of it’s students, including as regards to their sexual orientation, but it remains to be seen whether Fletcher has enough backbone to veto the provision in the bill. On the off chance that he might, he has been presented with a petition to do just that, though he has reportedly made no decision as of yet.

As it turns out, the Governor of Kentucky has the power of the line item veto. In the unlikely event that he does find his spine, look for his decision to be challenged in federal court on the grounds of the constitutionality of the line item veto, though I don’t think the federal courts would have any standing in this matter.

Obviously, the dean of the school has made a political move as a challenge to Fletcher, who plans to run for re-election to office in November of next year, in what may well be the most closely watched off year election in the nation in quite some time.

Because of the nature of Kentucky’s gubernatorial elections, being one year ahead of the suceeding national presidential elections, it used to be said that Kentucky was a good bell weather of the current national mood. During these off year elections, if no other time, it could legitimately be said that, as goes Kentucky, so goes the nation. Hopefully, in this next coming case, that will not turn out to be down the toilet. But with the obvious propensity for close elections to be decided by a very small sliver of the voting public that vote mainly if not entirely on wedge, so called “hot button” issues, this recent action by the dean of the University of the Cumberlands might well be the latest, and possibly most ominous yet, salvo fired in the nations “culture wars.”

Because if Fletcher refuses to veto this bill, and is yet re-elected due in large part because of this decision, it might well be said that a majority of the voters of the state of Kentucky has actually voted in approval of state sanctioned discrimination agaisnt an unpopular minority group. Look then for more Republican lawmakers to utilize this issue the following year.

So goes the Republic.

Glutton For Punishment

There might be a kind of trend going around regarding women in the adult entertainment business- those dance artists and masseusses who are availiable at the dial of a telephone number and for a fee will travel to your home and put on a private show, for various amounts of money. Some of these women are well aware of the risks, I’m sure, and in order to assuage their fears they are advisd in a great many cases to keep their cell phones in reaching distance, or some kind of signalling device whereby they can signal their driver bodyguards in the event of a problem.

Everybody is of course aware of recent events at Duke University, where the members of the LaCrosse team there have recently been charged with the rape of a female dancer and stripper, a case which in addition to the rape charge has racial overtones as well. A lesser known case, an all but unknown one, in fact, occurred just recently in Northern Kentucky.

There, a Mr. Streichling of Erlanger was the sole assailallant of one girl who came to his house, whereupon he proceeded to accost her. Luckily, she had her cell phone handy, and let it be known to her waiting driver that he had broken the rules of the contract. She could touch him if she wished, but he must never lay a hand on her.

She got away from him, though it seems that he did rape her, and made it to the car of her bodyguard, wherupon Streichling pursued them both by vehicle. He was later arressted, and according to his own mother, this was not the first incident. A year before two different victims made a similar complaint, but the charges were dismissed when they decided to drop the charges.

Evidently, as of last account two more charges in addition to the latest have been filed, though it is unclear whether this is the peviously stated victims. One thing is for certain, this is obviously a dangerous profession, and may in some cases be as dangerous for the client as it is for the performer.

A good rule of thumb would seem to be, if you are going to be involved in it from either angle, keep friends close by.

Smells Like Team Spirit

I had an idea it wasn’t going to be a simple matter when I heard about the LaCosse team of Duke University being accussed of the rape of a dancer/stripper at a private party. I figured that it would be unravelled in time, but it seems to have gotten messier.

The minute race was brought into the equation, this was a guarantee that emotions were going to run high, as the alleged victim is black and the allegged perpetrators are white sutudents from upper middle class backgrounds. The fact that this event took place at Duke University, a North Carolina, and therefore southern, university, doesn’t help; despite the fact that the majority if not all the accussed asaillants may have been from mid-western and northeastern areas of the coutnry. What is particularly troubling is the accussation made by a number of other black female students who were said to be passers-by of the apartment house where the assault in question took place. According to them, a number of the white male students asaulted them with “racist language” as they passed by.

This is itself an inflammaory accussation, and if it ever does come to trial, will probably not be admitted into evidence. It doesn’t take much of a lawyer to understand the reason for this. For one thing, there is no way these “passers-by” could know if these two or three verbal assaillants to them were even members of the LaCrosse team or were visitors at that particular time, nor can they then know for sure whether they were even in the apartment during the time of the alleged assault. They certainly can’t speciify as to whether they themselves were the actual alleged rapists. Racists, yes (and even this is an unproven allegation), but the two words, while similar, are not necessarily synonomous.

I would actually be surpirsed now if there were even a trial at all, seeing as how the DNA evidence collected has ostensibly cleared all members of the Duke team of the charge of rape. The DNA, whatever it was, came from none of them. Yet, the DA, sensing a potential backlash among his African American constituents-and he is indeed up for reelection this year-has promised that he intends to proceed, that he believes that there was indeed a rape.

In the meantime, the Duke LaCrosse teams season has been cancelled, and there has been an outcry from African American and other minority and some white students demanding that justice be done. Why do I have a feeling that justice to them might well be spelled vigilante? All I’ve seen so far seems to indicate this is far from a cry for justice, and more a demand for a human sacrifice to the gods of political correctness.

The Devil In The Diamond

People will and have killed for diamonds, and I don’t know why. Sure they are valuable, and so are a lot of other things for which people will and have killed, but diamonds are in a special class, all by themselves, more so arguably even than gold. And far far too long diamond merchants in Europe have turned a blind eye to the lengths that some people will go to control areas that are noted reservoirs of diamonds. I understand their value as an investment, they retain their value regardless of the state of any economy of any part of the world, or the entirety of it. Or that’s the theory anyway. It sounds like a lot of hogwash to me, in a way, but in a way it makes sense. If the world economy collapsed tomorrow, then the more diamonds you have the more likely you are to be able to purchase the necessary means of survival. Everybody would accept your diamonds as payment, knowing they would be just as good once the economy was restored, or reestablished, as they were when they were first purchased. Of course, the downside that is rarely mentioned is that you are also a mark, and you might not really be able to trust your broker in such an unprecedented situation. So you may not be so much better off after all. Therefore, the security that diamonds supposedly bring might be as much of a myth as the permanance promised by the gift of a diamond to a bride to be in the form of a engagement ring. The devil is in the details, and it might well be in the diamon as well. They have a bloody history, a history of repession, murder, intrique, and wanton savagery. All based on greed. The romance attached to them is an irony, an insulting one to the people that have toiled in slavery due to the lust for them, to the peope that have been butchered for them.

Misery, murder,despair,greed, and mayhem are kinds of energies that,when sent out and absorbed can do little in the way of good, and remember, diamonds absorb energy, but very little of that energy escapes. So in a way, wearnig a diamond might well be tantamount to attracting into your life the energy of all the negativity diamonds have inspired. No wonder so many marriages are dismal failures. No wonder so many of those failures are due to lack of communication because of self-centeredness and ego-or from financial problems. At the very least, buying a diamond is contributing to the problems and sufferrings of untold numbers of innocent victims.

Personally, I prefer sapphies anyway,or rubies, or any number of other precous stones. They can be just as valuable as an investment, and for romance and marriage. They are tainted as well, in some respects, but their history is nowhere near as dismal as that of the diamond,regardless of the hype pushed by it’s self serving promotors.

Innocent Monsters

There are thousands of West African boys right now, as we speak, whom the world would probably be well well served if they were rounded up and executed. I know that seems harsh, but so did they, when they were assaulting defenseless villagers in the nation of Sierra Leonne, hacking off arms and legs, mutilating their victims in unspeakable ways. They did all this, to countless people, on the orders of the followers of Charles Taylor, former strongman leader of Liberia. They were hopped up on cocaine when they did all this, and were purposefully addicted. The cocaine was the method of subduing them, of corrupting them, and of insuring their loyalty. The cocaine, in addition to food and shelter, was their reward for the bags of limbs they would return to their adult commanders. They showed absolutely no mercy to anyone, whether man, woman, or child, and no entreaties of mercy was sufficient to acquire any slight amount of mdiation in their cruelty, their sadism. In fact, pleas of mercy and the sight of their victims filled with terror towards them probably inspired all the more cruelty, like a vicious animal whose appetite is heightened by the smell of fear, and by the taste of blood.

Taylor of course is no longer in power and may soon face justice in the Haque, who will doubtless refuse to execute this piece of human excrement. But he should be executed, and a consortium of his surviving victims should be given the opportunity to each take a piece of him. I know it sounds barbaric. So what? This is exactly the kind of justice these kind of people understand, and it should be meted out to them, slowly. Torturously. One might make the case the death penalty doesn’t really serve as a deterrant to crime. I think it does, but even if it doesn’t, it’s beside the point. I can promise you with every damn assurance I can muster it would damn well be a deterrant to dictators that might consider using these vile and abominable methods. It would at least give them some pause.

As for the child soldiers that Taylors forces employed, in my view they are worthless now. They are worthless to themselves and they are a danger to civilized society on any continent. No, they should not be allowed to immigrate here. Yes, they are children. But once you go so far down certain roads, at any age, there is no turning back in anything like a meaningful way.

Kiss The Ass You Can Not Kick

Why should the legality or illegality of intercountry adoption of Romanian children be of concern, or a matter for debate, in the Congress of the United States? Heck if I know, but it is. Evidently, Romanian children are popular here, more than likely with white would be adoptive parents who don’t feel comfortable with the idea of adopting Southeast Asian, Indian, Latin American, or African children. Or it could be a simple matter of the overwhelming numbers of Romanian children availiale, and in dire need.

Yet, the European Union seemingly has a problem with the idea, and the ostensible reason is the prevalence of child traffciking, the implication here being the on-going child sex trade. If so, this is indeed a problem, and so it is a legitimate reason. The unspoken reality is there are doutless other reasons as well, and I tend to suspect that one of those reasons-probably, in fact, the most important one-is health concerns.

In the early 1990’s, immediately folliwng the overthrow and execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and his wife Elena, it was discovered that approaching 100,000 Romanian children had been orphaned and placed into state run orphanages, dire places that were filthy and underfunded, and as a result greatly understaffed and underequipped. Over course of time there developed a need for blood transfusions, and, as fate would have it, a great many Romanian children became infected with HIV-and then full blown AIDS. This was supposed to be due to the lack of adequate care and supervision in the hospitals as to the quality of the testing for the virus.

Which of course begs the question, how many Romanian children needed blood transfusions, and why? Was there also blatant disregard for the basic rules of hygiene and sterilization techniques, to the extent that needles were infected, and rarely cleaned. Was there some degree of sexual abuse at these orphanages that resulted in aiding in the spread.

Finally, was Ceaucescu himself responsible? His wife Elena entertained pretensions of being a great scientist and researcher, though as it turns out her credentials were all “honorary”-and thus fraudulaent. Having throughout the years o ftheir misrule encouraged Romanian couples to have as many children as possible, which resulted in this horrendous number of orphans (as wel as, presumably, great number of children who were simply given up due to their parents inability to care for them) I have to wonder if the Ceaucescus might not have been involved purposefully with the Romanian AIDS epidemic. Might they have been purposefully testing possible AIDS cures and using the nations own children as guinea pigs-literally?

It would not be that unusual for them. Ceaucescu himself was always on the lookout for ways to enhance Romanian status in the world, and to this end, under his rule, Romania became the fourth largest donor of international aid in the world. He was constantly offerring his diplomatic services to such endeavors as mediation in Middle East peace talks, for example. Not a year went by that he was not nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, though this was due to the efforts of his supporters. His personailty cult was the most extensive and pervasive in all of Communist Eastern Europe, during his heyday. Even Richard Nixon made references to Ceaucescu as “the good communist”. He went out of his way to establish his personna among his people, and the world, as a maverick who would not be intimidated by the Kremlin. He would insure that Romanias interests would come first and foremost insofar as both domestic and foreign policies were concerned.

Unfortunately, his grandiose spending and totalitarianism combined to suck the life blood from Romania and it’s economy. He was in every conceivable way a modern day Romanian Dracula. Where the harshness of Vlad The Impaler may have been a necessary catharsis, however, in the face of Ottoman oppression, the repressive regime of Nicolae and Elena Ceaucescu served to set developent back by decades. Romania has yet to sufficiently recover, and as a result, there are still tens of thousands of children, at least, either in institutions, or homeless.

There should be a way for these children to be adopted while insuring that adoptive parents, here and elsewhere, are aware of the status of their health. More importantly, a fresh influx of development capital and humanitarian aid into the country,with the proper oversight, should be tantamount to solving this problem to whatever extent is possible-not just containing the problem, but solving it.

This shouldn’t even be a matter for U.S. concern. But no doubt it will become so. The nations of Europe should be at the forefront of taking the initiative to solve it. Unfortunately, much as in everything else, they are probably waiting for the U.S. to take the lead. Until we do, it looks like European policy will not be one of changing the regime of misery, but of containing it.

Citizen Hussein

Saddam was cross examined yesterday in his trial and during the course of it said that the trial and the court was illegitimate. Nothing new there, but in the meantime, John Kerry has proposed that if the Iraqis have failed to form a governemnt by May 15^th, the U.S. should begin withdrawing it’s forces. Well,this might be an incentive to the Iraqi parliament, if not the people it would represent, which is just another rexample of the disconnect between the people and their leaders-seemingly as much a tradition there as it is here.

I had this strange thought. What if Saddam were to actually run for office. I’m not talking about a waste of time by trying to win the office of Prime Minister or President, of course he would be soundly defeated. But if he were to run as a delegate, a representative from some district of the Sunni Triangle, I have little doubt he would win. Of course, he would have to settle for considerably less than the 100 percent or close to it of the turnout and vote he typically engineered when he was the nations “legitimate” ruler. Still, he would probably win handily. What would be the result of that?

Well, on the up side, it would definitely insure Sunni participation, and for that matter nationally it might actually result in a legitimate 100 percent turnout. Of coruse,there would be the matter of the trial, plus the question would have to be answered, is he legally eligible to run for office. Probably not. It would, however, be a better scenario than him being broke out of prison by his supporters and reinstated as the nations President, after which it would be back to business as normal-with a vengeance.

Could that conceivably happen? If we left there prematurely, while failing to install an adequate Iraqi military and police force, yes, it could. And it will happen, eventually, if we leave without stabilizing the country. The dictators name might not necessarily be Saddam Hussein, but that’s beside the point.

The Unbelievable Proposition

The American Taliban are at it again, serving to remind me of the reason why I long ago rejected Christianity as a religion dominated by liars and hypocrits. There’s one good thing about hate merchants and fear mongers,however. When you are on the outside looking in, aghast, in amazement, you can see clearly what they are about.

A recent proposal in California would make it a law to respect homosexual rights of high school students, and would require that the gay lifestyle be presented in a positive fashion, including by pointing out the many and varied contributions to society of homosexuals over the years. I’m sure the new school proposals are not perfect, and I would almost be willing to bet that included among their provisions are items included for the benefit of poltiical correctness, and little else. I would also go so far as to be sure that there is no provision or even allowance of any criticism of any aspect of homosexuality in even the slightest way.

While I can’t say for sure what those criticisms would or should be, I am sure there are some that are legitimate if kept in the proper context and devoid of demagoguery, politicalization, and religious badgering. Little things. Obvious things. Things like, you shouldn’t walk from one class to another with your boyfriends dick in your hand and yours in his. If you fuck each other in the ass, make sure you adequately wash off your dicks, especially before gym class. Leave your gerbils at home. Your home, not theirs. Oh, yes, and of course, while I’m at it-DON’T FLAUNT YOUR SEXUALITY WHATEVER IT IS.

But to hear the scions of the Chrisitan Right tell it, this is just another sign of the decadence of America and it’s declining moral values. You would think the schools might any day now require same sex dating for experimental and educational purposes-

Well,okay, I admit that wouldn’t be to me a surprise in some areas, San Francisco, Berkeley, et al. comes to mind. But until this is actually suggested, and proposed, then the Chrisitan Right should keep mum about such matters, especially when it comes to insinuating, and outright warning, that this is what the “radical gay lobby” has planned. No, the CristianRight has not done this yet, but give it time. What it has done,however, is bad enough, in fact, just as bad, and more to the point, it is an outright lie.

School bathrooms and lavatories, they insist, will if this proposition is passed into law, become gender neutral, for the sake of gays, lesbians, and-get this now-TRANSGENDERED STUDENTS.

All right now, to begin with-is there even such an animal as a transgendered high school student? Are we just talking about cross dressers? No, the implication is that there is an appreciable number or at least a small amount, of high school students that have undergone sex change operations, or are in the process of doing so, and as such are in need of bathroom facilities where they can feel comfortable. Seeing as how they are in the throes of the most life changing experience imaginable, I guess the implication is they wouldn’t feel comfortable in either facility for male or female, so therefore a special category should be estsblished just for them. Yet, rather than putting them on the spot by relegating them to a separate though equal facility, by making all such facilities gender neutal then no one is treated in non-discriminatory way.

Of course this is a lot of hogwash, and the purveyors of this obscene fantasy on the Christian Right know it is. They also know that a vast number of their parishioners, if not the majority of them, are stupid enough to believe it. No surprise there, most religous leaders think most of their parishioners are either uneducated morons, superstitous retardos, or educated idiots. I learned that quite long ago. This, however, is the culmination of years of belief through blind faith in the utterly absurd. Most followers simply stop thinking for themselves and using common sense, and their leaders become cocky and soon go way too far for any sane person to take them seriously. This is a prime example of that.

For one thing, I seriously doubt that it is legal, in California or anywhere, for an underaged child to undergo a sex change operation with or without parental consent, so the number of transgendered high school students are probably-well, none. If it is not illegal it damn well should be. Most high school students don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain if they can think of a trite enough reason to stay out in it. That is the reason why most states maintain the drinking age at 21, and those few that might have it younger than that find themselves in serious danger of losing federal highway funding. That is the reason why the legal voting age in America used to be 21 as well, and why in my opinion it should be so again. That is why campus military recruiters purposely target high school kids to join at the age of 18-because they are stupid enough to join at that age in greater numbers than if they wait until they’re twenty one to where they can actually, my God, think rationally about the potential consequences.

So all this crap that the Christian Right have been circulating the last few days about this California school proposition is a lot of nonsense meant to elicit an emotional knee jerk response from their followers. And it will probably work, I can just see them now collectively fuming at the thought that their little Johnny and Susie might actually have to be nice to a sinful, demon possessed queer, and worse, the schools are about to become a present day Sodom and Gomorrah, where boys and girls and everything in between are all forced to share the same bathroom-and learning to like it. And if they complain, they might be prosecuted for hate crimes. Their children might be removed from their homes on some made up charge of child abuse. Some of them will be stomping around the house,hitting the walls. And opening their wallets to contribute to this idiotic, demagogic, fear mongering campaign.

Like I said, I don’t know everything about the propoisition in it’s entirety. There could well be aspects that are worthy of criticism. But when it’s opponents get to the point of making shit up about it, I have to wonder just how bad it can really be.

Family Values And The Department of Homeland Security

The latest drama from the Bush Administration should be the last straw for anybody that considers the recent obvious and flagrant episodes of corruption to be relatively isolated incidents and not indicative of an overall systemic problem. Yet, while a former child porn “star” has been berating the Congress for not acting quickly or adequately enough to solve the rampant problem of child sex abuse as pertains to internet pornography, yet another member of the Bush Administration, an assistant press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security,has been busted for solicitation of sex from what he thought was a fourteen year old girl, but turned out to be an undercover agent. A clue, idiot-just because somebody puts a profile on an inernet site doesn’t necessarily mean they are telling you the truth, they may in fact lie about at least some things, like, well, let’s see now, maybe-THEIR FUCKING AGE??

In the meantime, yet another high ranking official from the same Department of Homeland Security was busted for exposing himself at a Florida mall. I mean, really, these are the people who are entrusted with protecting the country from terrorists, and on the one hand, they are engaging in the most vile and obscene criminal act imaginable, and on the other hand, these great terror warriors who are supposed to be intelligence agents are lured into walking right into this with their eyes-and in some cases their zippers-wide open.

I guess it should have sent off warning signals after all when Jeff Gannon, a male escort and scion of a homosexual porn site, was granted a press pass to White House press briefings where he was allowed to ask leading questions of a complimentary nature meant to put a good face on Administration policies. Yeah,some face. I used to shake my head with derision when the story was circulated that Gannon was actually in real life a Jeff Guckert, who was abducted as a child while on the course of his rounds delivering newspapers, and had been raised to be a male prostitute by those who abducted him. From there, it developed that there was actually a ring of these people,with White House connections.

Suddenly, the story doesn’t seem quite so absurd.

The Great Zionist Cospiracy

The hypocrisy and gall of political extremists knows no bounds, that is a given, but the latest example perpetrated by certain elements of the far Left deserve consideration for an alltime special award. Of course, I should have sen it coming, but this took even me by surprise.

One of the oldest known conspiracy theories known to man is the idea of a so-called vast “Zionist conspiracy”, which goes back well beyond theformationof the State of Israel, back to the formulation of a plot by the Russian Secret Police of something known as “The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion”. This was supposed to a seriesof documents which amounted to a secret plan by Jewish Financiers to control the world through their various governemnts. It was widel discredited as a hoax, but nevertheless has been used to varyng degrees of success toencourage anti-Semitism, resulting in pogroms of Jews, and not only in Russia, but throughout other places in Europe as well. All these crazy theories in time, of course, led to the Holocaust.

The Far Right elements have always had a grave distrust of the Jewish people, fo the most part, with the exception of certain fundamentalist Christian sects, and some of them have brought into it as well. It is an all but required belief among various Neo-Nazi groups, who still yet hold to the idea of a vast “Zionist” conspiracy to control the U.S. government, as well as the mass media, and banking, and business, and labor, etc., on behalf of the Zionist aspirationsof the Jewish people, particularly in regards to the well-being of the Jewish state of Israel. And of course various Jewish lobbying groups are yet another tool by which the Zionists control U.S. policy.

In the meantime, beginning especially in the sixties and on through the seventies, and eighties, Liberal groups typically denounced such ravings as elements of Anti-Semitism. From denying the Holocaust, to belief in Jewish domination of business and media, and governemnt, all of it, was an Anti-Semitic scourge believed by bigots and idiots, by Nazis and other assorted racists like the Klan. Anybody that believed in the “Zionist” conspiracy, to even a small degree, they insisted, were all alike.

Even to wonder at the existence of Jewish lobbying groups ws to risk being tarred and feathered with the label of “Anti-Semitism”. You were to all intnets and purposes no better than Hitler.

Then came September 11^th, 2001, and suddenly, a bizzarre parrallel universe has been created from whole cloth, it seems. Thee has ben a sudden disconnect between Jewish groups, and Liberal supporters of Jwish interests, and a good many others of the Far Left. Not just a disconnect, but an out and out rupture.

Incensed at the War in Iraq, and even in Afghanistan, and enraged by the prospect of the Patriot Act, and the ever widening aspects of George Bush’s “War on Terror”, on down through the concept of the Department of Homeland Security, they insist that this is in large part driven by Jewish interests. Some even rattle off that the Jews were actually behind 9/11, and the U.S. government itself was complicit. Some go so far as to say the Muslims were not truly involved. Others say that even if they were, they were lashing out in desperation, and eveything they do should be seen as their right to defend their homelands and culture from encroachment from American imperialism. And from the Jews. Cindy Sheehan is just one example of one person on the far Left who has promoted this. Believe me, there are plenty of others.

It is all part, they claim, of a “vast Zionist conspiracy”. This conspiracy, they insist, is driven in part by Jewish domination of government, the media, banking, and business. But that’s just the beginning. Next comes the really crazy part. Next comes the part that is ripe with hypocrisy, with a capitol H.

They are NOT Anti-Semitic. Yes, I know. That is also the laughable part. hen the Neo-Nazis and the Klan and other far Right-Wingers warnedof the dangersof Zionism, they were denounced as anti-semitic for doing so. Yet, when they do the same thing-they insist they are not anti-Semitic.

Maybe they are just a bunch of crazy fucking lunatics, then?

The Eclipse Of Reason

The eclipse, the first total solar eclipse since 2003, at least here I guess, is supposed to be a time of increased spiritual awareness, and we should all take the time to meditate over the universal oneness of humanity, and take the opportunity to pray for peace, and reach down inside ourselves to find that spiritual., divine spark, that will ignite,and unite us as one.

See now why I don’t like the idea of a universal pagan religion? Because this is the kind of horseshit that usually results from it. Why can’t it be a great day for the univeral enjoyment of chocolate, or sex, of old movies, or practical jokes?

Why has it always got to turn into a politcal message? Anyway, if you ever see these ads with the big eye, which is somehow in some way supposed to represent the solar eclipse, you would know what I was talking about. A day for universal peace and harmony. Of course, it would never work. Even if it did, it would do little or no good, as the next day people would just go back to their usual bellicose bullshit.

That is not to say that observations of the solar eclipse and a spiritual meditation would not be valuable. But not this. This is just another boondoggle made up by people wanting to assert their positions as the leader of some kind of movement that isn’t a real movement at all, just a hodge podge assortment of Wiccans and Pagans with some assorted others thrown into the mix. Tomorrow they won’t even be able to get along with each other, let alone bring about world peace.

But if you do want to take advantage of this astronomical and astrological phenomenon, you can do so, but first you have to see it for what it is. To begin with, you look at the sign in which it will be occurring, the sign of Aries. This is the sign that represents self-interests, selfishness, ego, pride, and self-actualization.

Moreover,this current astronomical year beginning on December 21^st,the day of the Winter Solstice, marked the sign of Aries in, at the exact moment of that same Winter Solstice, as being in the Twelth House-the House of Secrets, Sorrows, and Self-Undoing.

So, to mediatate upon this eclipse, especially in a group format, should be done with an eye to focussing on this aspect of the life an individual, as well as the group, and what it might mean for the coming year, and how that might indeed carry over into all aspects of your life. You should do the dame thing when engaging in private meditations, with a mind also to where exactly the Sign of Aries falls within your own personal astrological chart. Into which of the Twelve Houses it is found, that is. Also, what sign exactly is in your Twelth House within your astrological chart. A mediation on those two aspects, during the eclipse, will be far more conducive to spiritual growth and self-realization and will do you far more good while doing no harm whatsoever to world peace.

Just grab a white candle, a magic mirror, a good stick of Sanlewood incense, and meditate in solitude and darkness under the glow of the candle, as you gaze into the mirror, which you turn into a “magic mirror” by ritually empowering it with your own personal power while utilizing visualization aimed at focusing on your desires for inner enlightenment. If you do this with patience and self assurrance, and allow yourself to feel everything and block nothing out, you might well learn a lot about yourself, as this is the perfect night to do so.

As for world peace-well, good night and good luck.

The Cult That Never Was

I had a friend once in Covington, Kentucky, who was a conservative Catholic, at least she was when it was convenient, maybe not so conservative when it wasn’t. I have heard some whacked out theories in my lifetime, but the one she hit me up with one day has got to be the all time topper.

According to her, if everybody in the world were to pray, all together, at the same time, for God and Satan to be reconciled, and for God to forgive Satan and take him back into heaven, that all the world problems would be solved, and there would, finally, be peace on earth, a kind of Eden restored-heaven, in efect, would be here and now, not some distant hope.

Of course, I was compelled to ask her how you could begin to go about accomplishing this. Even granted the extraordinary unlikely scenario where all the various members of just the Abrahamic religions were to play along with this mad scheme, what about the atheists, Hindus, Bhuddhists, assorted pagans, etc. I was amazed at her exasperation at this question, and even more amazed at her answer.

Well, they should be forced to, was her reply. Whereupon my reply was, well, even if they could be forced to, how do you know they would really do it, how do you know they would be seriously praying for this as oppossed to just playing along. Even if you forced them to pray this out loud, what makes you think they would be doing so sincerely, to say nothing of being madder than hell at being forced to do this, and filled with all kinds of negative thoughts at the very least.

Of course, I didn’t bother to remind her of the most obvious point of all. Which is, even if they did do all this sincerely, and willingly-IT WOULDN’T FUCKING WORK BECAUSE IT IS A STUPID FUCKING IDEA!!!

I didn’t get that far, though, as she had pretty much given up convincing me of the wisdom of her crazy idea.

On the other hand, I’ve been thinking lately-now, this is a religious variation of the Abrhamic religious delusions that a lot of people would probably buy into. Not the forced universal prayer, of course, but the idea that if enough people were to pray for the reconciliation of God and Satan, it might indeed work, and usher in a new spiritual age. How many people would join this new faith, would donate money to it, and go out and proselytize to gain new converts for it who would likewise do all the same.

What if I were to suggest that, in addition to donating money in any amount they can, they set aside ten percent of their earnings on a monthly basis into a special savings account-accessible to me, of course, as the High Priest-ostensibly for the purpose of acquiring property which would be the future headquarters one day of “The New Jerusalem”.

I could set a target date for the world prayer day as being something like December 21, 2012, the day that, according to some interpretations of ancient Maya prophesy, the world is to come to an end. Of course, once that day comes, and the world of course is still standing, that just means that the world is just now beginning to change. I’m sure they could all notice the difference.

I could make it fun, too. I could say, well, when Satan has you having group sex, just point out to God he didn’t mean no harm, he just wants us to have some fun out of life, we take things way too seriously. Of course, God will forgive them, while, instead of lambasting Satan, will just shrug and say, yes, he guesses Satan has a point in a way. He will just remind us through me, his Priest, to take care to make sure we don’t get any nasty diseases. That is all he is really worried about anyway.

Damn, the more I think about all this, the more pissed off I get. I could have been filthy rich by now.

Autum Ashante

Something I have realized for a pretty good while now is that a good lot of people just have no common sense and put way too much emphasis on the negative. I’ve been hearing lately about a seven year old black girl by the name of Autum Ashante, who is a budding poet. Actually, she has been descrived as a prodigy. I wouldn’t know, I am not familiar with her poetry, having only heard snippets here and there, and I probably wouldn’t be that good a judge anyway. So I will take the word that seems to be the general consensus, she is very good, especially for someone her age. And according to her father, whom it has been suggested has actually written her poetry, she wrote it herself. I will likewise take his word for that.

The problem is, her work is controversial, and seems to be at least heavily influenced by her father, a former Black Panther member. It is laced with what has been described as racist overtones, in fact it is said to be overtly racist. She seems to be, in addition to a poet, a budding black nationalist. And boy, are some people pissed. People have even threatened her. On one blog, it was intimated that she might well be “shut up”.

These kind of people come in three categories. There are the kind of people that will rant about this little girl while standing up for Lynx and Lamb Gaede. There are the kind of people that will stand up for Autum while criticising Lynx and lamb Gaede in the hatefullest terms imagineable. These two are the kind that you would commonly call “hypocrits”.

But these two are actually laughable when compared to the third kind, the most dangerous kind of all, the kind that think they get a vote on what any and every other human being thinks, writes, says, and feels. And they seem to be more strident about the children than they seem to have the guts to be to an adult that has much more of an ability to put them in their sorry places.

After all, you people that seem to think you have this moral authority are the ones that should put them in their places, right? Not the other way around, by any stretch. You just can’t cotton to anybody expressing pride in their heritage, whether that be White, Black, Latino, Jewish, or whatever. After all, you might disrupt the great American melting pot, and we can’t have that. To a bigot, any appreciation of racial culture and heritage is itself an invitation to the fostering and encouragment of bigotry, so it must be nipped in the bud. Never mind that this little girl is just now developing her talent, and has a long way to go, and who knows where it might eventually take her as long as it is allowed to blossom and thrive. If you don’t like the road she seems to be on at this exact moment,then you had better intevene. You know what’s fucking best for her, don’t you?

Answer: no, you fucking don’t. Her talent, whatever it is, should evolve to where it will, with guidance from her father, and from all the other influences she should come upon through her formative years, in a natural way. Not a forced, browbeaten one. You don’t like what she has to say? Then don’t listen.

Otherwise, if you are in an auditorium, and you hear her tell the black people to stand for the “Black Pledge”, and she then tells all the white people they should not stand but remain seated, keep your white honky fucking asses seated like she says, listen to the poem, listen politely, and applaud in appreciation of her talent, like you have some fucking sense. You might find that this will go a hell of a lot farther to giving her a better impression of white people in general than all the whining, moaning, bitching, and agonizing that’s been going on the past few weeks will ever hope to accomplish.

Oh, and by the way-since many of you people seem to have forgotten, let me be the first to remind you. When you encourage multi-culturalism, like some of you are so wont to do, you should know by now that you may not always like the manner in which it might manifest itself, whether that might be in the form of a White Racialist girls band, or as an African American Seperatist poet child prodigy.

24-The Martha Logan Conspiracy

I think I long ago figured out the mystery of this seasons 24, and after seeing the previews of next weeks episode, I’m all but sure I’m right. Martha Logan, wife of current President Logan, is the seasons mystery villainess.

It happenned and was over with so fast, it has probably by now been forgotten, given her recent displays of courage and character in the face of a weak and easily led husband, but early on Martha Logan was revealed to be a deeply troubled woman who is on medication to prevent her from losing it. Yet, her problem was never revealed precisely, just that it was of a seeming psychological, emotional, or neurological nature. Since she resumed her medication, there has been hardly any hint or mention of it, outside of a brief flirtation with Aaron,a Secret Service Agent. This, however, could easily be put down as a symptom of duress, in combination with gratitude for Aarons saving her life, which her husband was willing to sacrifice to thedemands of terrorists to supply them with the route of the Russian presidents motorcade. Had he not done so, they would release nerve gas within various metropolitan areas, killing potentially hundreds of thosands of American citizens. Still, she objected and of her own volition elected to accompany the Russian presient and his wife to the airport, whereupon Aaron saved them all from tragedy, along with CTU, who fond out about the plot.

So how could she possibly be nvolved in the plot, then? The question, is actually, how could she not? Why would David Palmer entrust her to try to warn Logan of the plot he had discovered? And how had he discovered it to begin with? And why did this knowledge cost him his life?

The answer is, she is the one who had warned him of the plot to begin with. She knew about it because she was herself involved in it at the highest levels the whole time. She was a willing pariticipant in it. Then, she took her medication, and suddenly, horrified at the knowledge she uncovered, though possibly unaware now of her own involvement, she warned the one person she knew she could trust-David Palmer.

Then, she went off her meds again. Suddenly, she knew that David Palmer had found out about the plot. He was a grave danger to her, and to the plans her and the others were inovlved in, whoever all they might turn out to be. She had to stop him, and so, she warned her co-conspirators, who put forth into motion the current seasons plot line.

She is, in effect, sufferring from a severe form of schiozophrenia. And if I am right,this will be revealed in the next episode to Aaron, and to David Palmers surviving brother, by Martha Logans personal assistant, who in the previews told them she knew who was behind everything that was going on,and why. So, how would a mere personal assistant, pretty much a maid, have privy to this knowledge?

In 24, nothing is usually what it seems to be, and I could be wrong. I wrongly predicted that Edgar Stiles was involved, acting out of a need to extract revenge on CTU and the govenrnment for his mothers death last season. Unfortunately, Edgar was killed in the twelth episode this season, so I guess I got that one wrong. But I think I’m right about this one, and should find out for sure, if not the next episode, not too long following.

Like they always say-stay tuned.

Killing Illussions

Some people can only live under the throes of an illsuion for so long, and a perfect example of this would be the Chuirch of Christ preachers wife who murdered her husband by shooting him in the back with a shotgun,then running off with their three young daughters to the Gulf Coast of Alabama. By the time it is all over an done with, it will probably come out that he had been having an affair with one of his parishioners, or molesting one of the daughters, or abusing them or herin some way-or one of those things or more might well be the excuse she dreams up. It could be of course she was the one having the affair.

Whatever the case turns out to be, it isjust another example as to how religion is alltoo often not a cureforlifes ailments. In fact, many times it is the cause. Sometimes it is a mere symptom of a deep seated psychosis. At best, it might be a crutch, a mere excuse to ignore reality by creating one with absolutely no basis in fact.

I am vey familiar with the Chruch of Christ-I used to be a member. This is one of those consevative, Bible believing churches that promote strict adherence to the literal interpretation of the New Testament, and avoidance of any doctrine which is not specifically spelled out on the pages thereon. For example, there is nowhee in the New Testament that permits the use of instrumental music during the courseof a religious service, therefore all musical performances are sung a’ cappello. Point out to a faitful Church of Christ member that musical instruments are not only permitted, but encouraged, in certai parts of the Old Testmanet, and they will immediatley pounce with a reminder that we are no longer living under the Old Testament. The old law they will say has been fulfilled by the New Testament, and we are to strictly adhere to it. Because of this, a member of any other Christian denomination is certainly in danger of the judgement of hell. Why?

“There is no other name given among men whereby we may be saved”, accordding to one New Testament scripture, in refernce to Christ. In another verse an addresses of an epistle is told by Paul, “The Churches of Christ salute you.”

Well, I guess that settles that, huh?

I am saddenned by what happenned to the preacher, saddenned at the obvious emotional state of his wife, whatever it was, that led her to this despicable act, for the parishioners who honestly felt they were pillars and admirable representatives of their little insular community, and now genuinely shocked and saddenned, I am sure, by the impact this is sure to have on it. Most importantly, I am saddenned by the three little girls, whatever role they may or may not have played, at having lost both a mother and a father in one fell swoop of insanity.

But it points out a problem with organized religion that I have known now for years. It is somewhat similar to what many doctors warn their patients concerning the taking of vitamin supplements. In moderation, they can be good, but taken to extremes, they still cure nothing, and worse, can serve merely to mask the symptoms of what might start out as a minor problem, and continue to disguise what might become a serious illness that might develop unbenownst as a result.

And, in some extreme cases, they can actually be the cause of the problem.

Vacation Aruba-Will It Ever End?

No, it looks like the bullshit will never end. And neither then should the boycott of Aruba. The authorities of Aruba seem bound and determined that the Van der Sloot family and the Kalpoe Brothers shall come to no harm, and so, to make it look like they are seriously still investigating, for pubic relations sake, have suddenly produced a witness, after nine months, who has led them to believe that Natalie died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and drugs. The implication, of course, is that she partook of all this conscously and willingly, so she brought it on herself. To this end, there is of course yet another show search of the island, at the spot of the infamous California Lighthouse, where it is said she may have been “reburied”. Of course, they will find nothing. The Van der Sloots may indeed be sucessfully sued by the Holloway family for wrongful death, but this will probably be unenforceable, and any damages decided intheir favor, if any, will be uncollected.

As for the crime inherent in covering up a death, and in hiding the body after the fact of the “accident”, the penalties in Aruba for this would probably be minimal at best, depending of course on whether this would even be classified as a crime. On this paradise island you can lie,after all, during the course of a poice investigation, and not be charged for a crime, why should this be any different. This place is truly beyond belief.

I still say there is chance that something was dumped in the Van der Sloots property well, probably not a body, but perhaps an article of clothing that might contain some clues. As fo rthe body itself, it is probalby beyond being found by now. I still say it was dumped right outin the open, in an out of the way place, in rugged terrain, surrounded by high growth, subject to the sun and wind and rain, and rodents and other sundry and assorted critters, till finally little if anything was left. A skull, a pelvis,a femur, etc., all scatterred and covered by weeds, hidden among the bushes, with little chance of ever being found.

It would be a cold day in hell before I would ever patronize this place.

Eddie Baker Sr.

Somebody should write a brand new folk song in hoor of Eddie Baker Sr. of Breathitt County Kentucky, even if he is an Oxycontin and Meth dealer as claimed by the people of Operation Unite-a task force made up of various local and Kentuclky state law enforcement agencies and officials began by Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers ostensibly in an effort to fight the all pervading menace of these and other drugs in Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky. As I pointed out in an earlier post, Rogers had donated the five thousand dollar contribution he had received from jack Abamof to this group, yet, despite their seeming eagerness to fightthe drug problem, they had, as of then, January of 2006, not updated their web-site since November or therabouts of 2004.

Yet, they make their presence known from time to time, usually in the course of busting lowlevel drug dealers and users. Butwhen they went after Eddie baker Senior at his home outside of Jackson Kentucky, they almost bit off morethan they could chew. They entered Bakers home, with him not there (I don’t know whether they had a warrant, I will just assume they did) and suppossedly found thousands of dollars in plastic bags, along with bags of assorted pills.

Yet, they failed to capture Baker, who shot at them as he fled the scene, getting away. Oneor two officers were wounded, but not seriously. They maintain that Baker and his son are two of the biggest drug dealers in Breathitt County.

Baker maintains he didn’t know who the hell they were when they came after him. And, according to Bakers attorney, thisis typical of Operation Unite. “They shoot first and ask questions later”, he said.

For two months,while on the run, Baker maintained his innocence, once during the course of a taped interview with a reporter from Lexington station WLEX, Channel 18. He had been hiding out in the woods, he maintained, but looked clean, with clean clothes, and seemed rested and refreshed. WLEX held up their end of the bargain. They did not turn Baker in and went to the pre-arranged location and shot the interview, which aired later. Operation Unite had to have been incensed at this action, and soon threw a cordon around Bakers home, questioning and harrassing Bakers neighbors, most of whom maintained they did not know where Baker was, but if they did they would not turn him in. Operation Unite made no friends among the fine people of Breathitt County during this period of time, at least not among Bakers friends andneighbors, many of whom held outthat he was a fine fellow, a good neighbor and friend.

“He’s like a brother to me” said one man during the course of an interview.

Baker was finally apprehended, though, after two months on the run. Maybe he is guilty of the charges as claimed by Operation Unite. If so, he needs to go to prison for as long as the law allows. I can’t help but have my doubts, however.

I know one woman who is a habitual drug user, and for years raised two dependant juvenile children whom she constantly kept out of school, until they eventually never went at all. Said to be on “crank”-meth-she one night burned down her house, while spending the night at a boyfriends house, her two children alone there with the adult male who dated the girl. It was said that she purposely had them burn the house, though the fire lazed well beyond their control and became uinhabitable. The purpose was, suppossedly, to get a quick insurance settlement, either for the purpsoe of buying more drugs, or for paying off a drug debt.

The last time I saw her she was walking up the road, pushing her daughters baby in a stroller. When I saw that sight, I could not help but wonder, what she would be willing to sell that baby for? Two thosand dollars? One? Less?

This is a woman who constantly had her water and phone shut off for non-payment, was constantly borrowing everything under the sun, despite being well cared for by the State of Kentucky Social Services for her two kids behalf.

To my knowledge she has never been harrassed by Operation Unite, who despite this goes out of their way to arrest a couple of guys in a trailor park for marijuana possession. Some things just don’t add up.

Trespassers

The Republicans have reached into their hat and pulled out the rabbit that keeps hopping across the border, thinking this migt save their asses in the upcoming 2006 mid-term Congressional elections. It might well do it, but it will come at the expesne of a lot fo pain and soul seaching for the party that created thisproblem to begin with. It started out with Southwestern Conservtive Republicans such as Barry Goldwater promting the nefarious Right To Work laws which were a blind for combating the ever growing and many cases corrupt power of Labor Unions. It was meant in effect to supply cheap labor to business, and had the effect of encouraging ever greater immigration from south oftheborder to fill jobs way too may Americans balked at performing for the wages offerred. Soon, Democrats as well, seeing the onrushingtide, decided to swimor surf along with it, seeingthepotential for votes to bolster their ever siening minority based net.

Now, we have real problems, and of course, just as in the case of the tobacco company fiasco, the peoplethat created and ourished the problem are hopingto benefit from it. They have sowed the wind, but the American voter will reap the whirlwind, I’m afraid. Now, hundredsof thousands of protestors are out in force these last few days expressing their dissaproval (or their urge to get out of school for a few days) against the new law to enforce and augment border security and crack down on illegal immigration.

The fact that they are prposing stiff penalties for employers who hire llegals is proof enough of their desperation. Stil, despite the wanton hypocrisy on display here, it might well accomplish it’s objetive. The Republicans might well maintain their hold on Congress, just on the stength of this bill, which most Americans, protestors to the contrary, seem to support.

As do I. I support limited legal immigration, but severe penalties for employers that hire illegals, and I support militarizing the border if necessary (though this is unfortunately not a part of the current bills provisions), to prevent any further illegal immigration, or otherwise any steps necessary to prevent it. I also favor raising the minimum wage and applying it to any work done by migrant workers, and in addition I favor increased farm subsidies to farmers who will have to pay them in order to keep food prices from skyrocketing as a result. Yes, I know, that’s a kind of socialism. Too bad, it might well be necessary.

Just as it might finally become necessary to implement some kind of reasonable health care reform which includes subsidized health care not only for migrants, but for all American citizens.

All this is just the beginning of what needs to be done to solve this serious problem, which this little production in the U.S. Congress will not accomplish. Even in the unlikely event it is passed by both Houses and signed into law by Bush, there will probably be a myriad of court cases that will keep it held up for years. But it still might accomplsih what I maintain is it’s main objective, which is to keep the Republicans in power.

That might be the best thing for the Democrats in the long run, depending on your perspective. Because, whoever wins in 2006, stands a good chance of being the ultimate loser by the time the 2008 elections are decided.

The Afghan Dilemna

So what do you do if your name is Abdul ahman, and you just don’t believe? Supposedly, according at least to Islamic Sharia law, you are suppossed to die. And so it goes that Mr. Rahman, at 41 years of age now a Christian for some twenty six years, having converted from Islam at the age of 26, may be put to death in about two months, depending on the verdict of the Afghan Islamic Courts. One Islamic judge and scholar was adamant-he should be beheaded-and was unapologetic about the matter.

Hamid Karzai could of course intervene,and has intimated that he may well do this, but he would be walking a thin line in tryig to do so in such a way as to not offend the Islamic imams, and their numerous followers of the very conservative and traditionally oriented country. At the same time a diplomatic solution seems the only way to keep from driving a wedge between him and the Bush Administration-or more to the point, Bush and his right wing conservative Christian allready eroded base.

I think we might be seeing yet anotehr fiasco similar to the Danish cartoon controversy. The Taliban is still very much a force to be reckoned with in the country as a whole, in fact evrywhere outside of the capitol city of Kabul. Some even hold the Taliban are as yet atually the de facto rulers of the country, and are a significant, if ot the main, beneficiaries of the resurgent and malignant opium trade, ninety percent of which is said to have origniated from that sorrowful nation.

And Bin Laden, of course, yet lurks in the shadows, if not as an actual presence, a least as an all enveloping influence.

If all this is true, then this business seems like another tailor made controversy. It is a rarity for any Muslim to convert to any religion, in fact it is all but unheard of. In all of Afghanistan, there are few non-Muslims, just a reative handful of Indian born Sikhs and Hindus. Now this guy comes out of the woodwork, and is remarkably unrepentant about his conversion to his stated belief in “The Trinity”, and in Christ as the sacrificial “Son of God” though at the same time he professes belief in Alah as the one true God. He has been, in fact, manifestly determined. So where exactly did he come from. And why?

Understand, I am not in the least bit questioning his sincerity, but I am wondering at the timing of his arrest, and his impending trial and eventual sentence, whatever that might turn out to be. There have been hints he may be found to be mentally incompetent, and so unfit to stand trial, and so may be sentenced to an asylum, to prison, or exile. I guess thereis also a chance he might be offerred the opportunity to repudiate his Christian adopted religion, but I would imagine that is an outside possibiliy at best.

Still, whatever avenue of escape is presented him, this has to be accepted, theoretically, in order to keep the peace, by the immams and their followers. If he is offerred this out, that could to at least some degree defuse Karzai’s dilemna, but not Bush’s with his own base, who might demand that Bush reitierate his assertion that all religions should be respected, and protection, including the rights of the converted, particularly of those Muslims converted to Christianity. Not merely his rights to not be executed, but also his rights to continue livng in the country in peace and freedom, and allowed to openly practice his faith.

Of course, this would be playing right into the hands of those radical Immams who I feel are tying to drive a wedge between America and the fledgling democracy of Afghanistan. But at this point, a lot of these Christian conservatives probably don’t really care about that, in fact, it probably suits them just as well as it does the Immams.

Debra LaFave

I feel some sympaty for Owen LaFave, it’s hard not to, only I shouldn’t feel for him, because, frankly, I shouldn’t even know who he is. He insists, though, in making himself the representative of Ameican cuckolds everywhere, or at least of those whose wives had been teachers that fucked their students.

LaFave. The name even sounds like something that might have been invented for some ribald , pornographic movie, one about a teacher lusting after her highschool-or elementary school-students at that. It even sounds French. If I had heard about it in a casual conversation for the first time I would have thought somebody made the whole thing up.

And it is something that probably would by now have been forgotten, save for the fact that Ms. LaFave, rather than pleading guilt in hopes of some leniency, pleaded insanity, beofre accepting a plea agreement, which was initially thown out. Now, the judgement has come down. Three years of house arrest, followed by eight years of probation, and a requirement for registration as a sex offender. Naturally, she will not be allowed to teach from here on out. Now that is a perfect example of cruel and unusual punishment. Why take it out on the poor kids?

All joking aside, however, I have to wonder what Owen LaFave could possibly get out of all the rounds of cable news appearrances. He obviously isn’t happy about what happenned, and I don’t see a career out of this. Maybe if he went to comedy school, he might parlay this into a career. After all, he is certainly the butt of jokes, why not cash in on it?

He seems to be saying, “please don’t judge my manhood-or lack thereof-by the fact that my wife was fucking at least one of her fourteen year old students behind my back. She is a sick, sick, sick woman, and that is why she did what she did. It had nothing to do with my sexual prowess-or lack thereof. And it is no reflection on my emotional maturity-or lack thereof-that a woman who is obviously attracted to little boys chose to marry me.”

Then, he will probably express disatisfaction with the suppossdly lenient judgement, and insist she should face the same penalties as an adult male teacher who does pretty much the same thing with an underage female student. Yet, she is a sick woman. An emotionally scarred woman, sufferring the effects of some past trauma. And again, it was not his fault, it had nothing to do with him. And of course, he would be right. It had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with him.

You can see Owen LaFave tonight at 9:00 p.m. est. on Larry King Live (CNN), in his entirety.