Improving On Mother Nature-The World's Oldest Endeavor

Speaking of PETA and, as per the subject of the last post, the prospect of Ben And Jerry's making their ice cream out of human breast milk as opposed to cows milk, the question occurred to me-

WOULD YOU BUY A MILKSHAKE FROM THIS WOMAN?





Evidently a lot of people are concerned that the upcoming W Magazine cover, which features Angelina Jolie breastfeeding one of her two newborn infants, will be perceived in a sexualized manner. I've seen the picture, and of course this is nonsense. You barely see just a hint of breast, and even less of the infant. All you see is a tiny hand-well, clutching something.

The idea of this picture perceived in a sexual manner is absurd enough, but the other end of the extreme seems to hold that this might do wonders for promoting breast-feeding.

"Breast-feeding in public reveals a whole lot less than what has been revealed on the red carpet. ... I think we do need more role models like Angelina Jolie willing to be photographed and say, `Hey look, it can be done, it oughta be done,'" said La Leche spokeswoman Jane Crouse.

Unfortunately, while this might be a viable option for many mothers, a significant amount of them do not produce the vitamins and nutrients in their breast milk sufficient for the needs of a newborn infant. Even in the best of circumstances, the healthiest of mother's breast milk could not hope to compare with the formulas created and approved by pediatricians. Although it is expensive, in most cases for a mother to produce something remotely in that range of nutritional value would require significant consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Over time, of course, this would amount to a similar expense.

The best that could be said for breast feeding is that it enhances the bonding between a mother and child, and might have other additional physical and psychological health benefits as well. Therefore, perhaps it is to be encouraged for this reason, and to help moderate the expense of formula feeding, but it should remain a supplementary nursing measure, not the primary one.

Of course, the nuttiest among breast feeding advocacy groups insist, among other things, that mothers should continue to breast feed their children as long as the child wishes to continue the practice-even if the child happens to be seven or eight years old, or older. Surprisingly, going by this it would seem that a woman produces breast milk for as long as her child engages in regular feeding.

I guess their point is this is a function of nature. Luckily, in the case of most women, mother nature will also kick in at least by the time the child reaches the terrible twos and, just like your average house cat, the mother will eventually say enough is enough. In almost every case this will be well before we are treated to the sight of a prepubescent child nursing from his mother's breast in a stall of your local MacDonalds.

I guess what irks me more than anything is that this is yet more proof that, in the minds of people that promote almost any movement, the idea that a famous celebrity endorses it is enough to make everybody else go along with it.

If I ever become a dad I would just as soon fork my money over for baby formula. I can easily make it up by cutting out unnecessary expenses. Eliminating movie and concert attendance is one thing that comes to mind.

PETA Urges Ben And Jerry's To Use Human Breast Milk

Can you imagine how expensive Ben And Jerry's ice cream would be if they actually did this? Not only would it be inordinantly expensive due to the relative scarcity of human breast milk, but there would by necessity be health screenings involved that would add to the expense. Where do they think the breast milk would come from? Half of it would probably be from HIV infected crack whores or other addicts needing a fix.

Then you would have the added expense of the different additives required to modify the taste, which is probably significantly different from cow's milk, especially in the case of those donors selling their breast milk for the unsavory purposes I mentioned.

This is just a stupid idea, and I doubt many people would go for it. It shouldn't really come as a surprise to anybody that PETA would come up with something like this. The only really surprising thing is that Ben and Jerry rejected the idea, as they are about loony enough in their own right to jump right on this. I would have expected them to at least test market the idea.

To tell you the truth, I thought this was a joke when I first heard about it, but it's true. Here's the actual letter written to Ben Cohen And Jerry Greenfield, co-founders and owners of Ben And Jerry's.

September 23, 2008

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President

I want to add one more thought. It is true that cow's milk might have a connection to certain health problems, but this is mainly due to people overindulging in the product, not because cow's milk is itself inherently unhealthy for human consumption.

The Swiss example aside, this is a problem that is best solved by engaging in moderate consuption, like almost everything else diet and health related.

Blogrrolling Hacked

If anybody makes it here before Blogrolling recovers and you wonder what the hell has happened to it, this is only a partial answer.

On the other hand, I just realized that this site-while it is probably correct in pointing out that the claim of credit for the hacking of Blogrolling in the name of Islamic Jihadists is probably false-at the same time makes a claim which is even more preposterous. They suggest that it is actually the work of the Israeli Mossad.

It's silly enough to imagine that an organization such as Mossad would not only take the time to hack a relatively insignificant two-bit blogging software platform, but to do it in such an obviously false and amateurish manner is especially ridiculous. If Mossad had done this, there would be no doubt in the minds of the average blogger that it was, in fact, the work of Islamic Jihad. It would look that apparently genuine, even to the average trained law-enforcement officer.

Of course, actual intelligence experts would quickly look into the matter and would soon enough learn the truth, or at least would know enough to raise legitimate suspicions. Why would Mossad commit such a stupid, risky, and potentially counterproductive act of sabotage against such a relatively insignificant entity? Of course these are probably the same kinds of people that think Mossad was behind the 9/11 attacks, and swallow every claim by Islamic apologists that every evil that points to an Arab or Islamic origin is actually the work of Israeli intelligence, their American political pawns, and their Zionist backers.

Whatever the case, this is also unlikely to be the work of Islamic radicals. Yet, evidently somebody thought it would be cool as shit to hack the Blogrolling site and pretend to be Islamic Jihadists. What the point to that is I can only guess at, but its pretty obvious that Blogrolling should no longer be considered a safe and dependable site. I am seriously thinking of removing it from my blog. Luckily, I don't use the same password here that I do there.

In the meantime, I figure I need to trim down the Pantheon Of Blogs Blogroll anyway. Most of the blogs I have listed I rarely if ever visit. The ones I do visit on a regular basis I will put back on my own private blogroll, if I do drop Blogrolling.

My guess is that the problem is some former employees of Blogrolling. If this true, it shouldn't be too hard to narrow it down, because I don't think they ever had very many to begin with, which is a part of the problem. I almost wonder if anybody there even knows there's a problem yet.

The 75 Reasons Why Obama Is Probably Going To WIn

Those seventy-five reasons are the mix of Democratic and Republican Senators who voted in favor of the bailout package, and included in that mix are, of course, Obama, McCain, and Biden. Not a popular vote with conservatives, who have now great reason to feel as great anger at their own party as they do the Democrats. Out of the twenty-four Senators who voted against this monstrosity, fifteen were Republicans. In other words, out of the entirety of the Senate Republican caucus, more than two thirds of them voted against the wishes of their constituents. As though to rub salt in the wound, not only did the current Republican nominee, John McCain, vote for the bill-twice-but he put on a big show of suspending his campaign to do so, with great fanfare.

Then he gets up in the middle of the debates and brags about how bi-partisan he is. Twice now he has extolled the virtues of his "beloved friend" Teddy Kennedy, one of the many examples of bi-partisanship he presents that will win him not one single vote, but could lose him many-not only from among conservative Republicans, but from among all sectors of the Republican Party. It could also cost him votes from among conservative independents, and yes, even among conservative and even moderate Democrats.

EARTH TO McCAIN: The only people that like Teddy Kennedy are not going to vote for you no matter what you say for him or against him. Saying he is your friend is not a recommendation. You could say "I like to smell people's farts" and not do your campaign any worse harm than you are doing with this hokey show of bi-partisanship. You might think you are setting a good example, but the only good example you are actually setting is that of a stubborn old man who thinks he knows it all and doesn't really know jack shit. Knock it off or you will lose. You are getting enough help as it is. The ignorant motherfuckers in the Senate weren't content to give a great big old hearty fuck you to the American people and so put your campaign in jeopardy, they had to bully the hold outs in the Republican caucus of the House of Representatives (or in some cases they bribed them) until they went along with it as well.

Then, as if all that weren't enough, you now have the spectacle of AIG executives spending 400,000 plus dollars on an extravagant junket, after being bailed out by the American taxpayer. Let's face it, fair or not, nothing says Republican to the average American better than a bunch of corporate executives living high on the hog while the average American struggles to hold his head above water. You, sir, are toast, and Sarah Plain is the jelly that made you more attractive for awhile, but you spread it too thin. Now, thanks to you, not only will you lose this campaign, but you have probably ruined what chance she might have had to get the Republican nomination either in 2012 or 2016. The big money of the Republican Party simply will not back her and will insure she never makes any headway even if she does bother to pursue it.

When the average American sees Barak Obama in the context of the current financial crisis, all they see is a fresh-faced, eager, positive voice of hope and the potential for real change. I know it's bullshit, and so do you. Why then don't you tell them in no uncertain terms? Could it be perhaps you know you're not the right person to deliver the message?

Is it because you know that, when the average American sees John McCain, they see a tired old man? That they see the same old duplicitous shit?

Or worse-maybe they see somebody who just doesn't get it.

Invocation Of My Demon Brother

WARNING: Watching the Kenneth Anger film I’ve included in this post might make you pregnant. Of course, it might only make you feel like you’ve just been fucked.

It’s hard for me to take Kenneth Anger seriously, or to view him as anything other than as a pretentious poser living off the sales of a successful book, Hollywood Babylon, in order to indulge the pastime of creating experimental, underground films of short duration. Most of the ones I have seen so far are forgettable, or as one commenter on YouTube noted about one in particular, “execrable”.

My brief take on the ones I’ve seen so far-

Rabbit Moon is possibly the most bizarre rendition of the old Italian art form of commedia del arte you could possibly conceive, and is made all the more incomprehensible by the inclusion of a soundtrack that sounds like something thrown together by a group of studio musicians and engineers for a kid-friendly Halloween “House of Horrors”. It’s not just bad, it’s silly-but so is the film.

Scorpio Rising purports to reveal the homoerotic undercurrent hidden beneath the tough-guy neo-Nazi facade of the early nineteen sixties biker sub-culture, but we get the idea that Anger is having us all on-including the subjects of this “documentary” snip-and-splice job that ends with the sound of police sirens somewhere in the distance. One might wonder if the sirens are an artistic yet obviously artificial device that Anger thought would constitute an appropriate ending. I wonder whether he simply called the police.

Even Lucifer Rising is a great disappointment, including (though perhaps understandably so) the soundtrack by Bobby Beausolleil. Although this, like Scorpio Rising, is of historical interest, it is unfortunately unwatchable, despite the presence of Marianne Faithful.

This brings us to the best of a pretty bad lot-Invocation Of My Demon Brother. Ignore the irritating Moog Synthesizer "soundtrack" by Mick Jagger and you can begin to fathom the reason for Anger’s reputation, beginning with his alleged influence on the likes of David Lynch on down through his visionary techniques of film making that has made him an underground cult favorite since-well, since the publicity connecting him with the Manson family.

I present here Part One of a two part You Tube upload, courtesy of Adrian Seelbruder.



Once you’ve seen part one you’ve pretty much got the gist of it, but if you have a hunger for more-



It helps to understand one thing about Kenneth Anger. He’s more than just your garden variety pretentious elitist underground avant garde poser. He’s very possibly an outright liar. For example, he claims he played the part of The Changeling Prince in the film A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Yet, not so fast-it turns out the part was actually played by a little girl named Sheila Brown. This is not only verified through the extant credits to the film, but is affirmed by Mickey Rooney himself, who played the part of Puck in the movie.

Anger explains this discrepancy by explaining that his mother, who allegedly worked as a seamstress on the set, got him the part by dressing him up like a little girl with a little girl’s pseudonym.

Okay, there are a couple of things wrong with this explanation.

1. Why would it be necessary for a little girl to play the role of a little boy to begin with, especially to the extent that a little boy would have to lie about his gender in order to secure the role-of a little boy, mind you?

2. If this was the case, why didn’t Anger just say this from the beginning, as opposed to waiting until someone questioned his dubious claim?

The only legitimate conclusion to arrive at is that Kenneth Anger-real name Kenneth Anglemyer (and even this is by no means proven, it seems) is a frustrated would-be child star who never quite made it through the front doors of the Hollywood mansion. Perhaps his bitterness at this is reflected in his nom de plume, simplistic as that sounds. Yet, what is known of him serves only to add to the speculation as to his true intent. He claims to have been in dance class with Shirley Temple, and seems to have a solid Hollywood connection, yet his first claim to real fame was Hollywood Babylon, first published in France in the late fifties, yet never released in the states until the mid-nineteen seventies. A sequel followed. I have never read the book, but wonder now whether the information contained therein is trustworthy except for that already known.

Yet, he includes pictures of crime and accident scenes previously never released to the public. One example of this is the accident site and the wreck that claimed the life of Jayne Mansfield, as well as the cadavers of other dead stars. He obviously has connections, but with who and how? I suspect that his cordial relationship with the late Church of Satan founder and High Priest Anton Szandor LaVey might provide a partial answer. LaVey had previously been a crime scene photographer and may have maintained some contacts within that community.

Invocation Of My Demon Brother might well be Anger’s tour de force and his major contribution to film, which might otherwise be as minimal as the length of his average project. Still, at least in this one work, if in no others I have so far seen, he created what might well be a legitimate masterpiece that lends great credibility to the claims regarding his reputation and his influence.

Some interesting facts about this film-

Bobby Beausolleil is in this one, in footage taken from the original now lost Lucifer’s Rising, in which Beausolleil played the title role. Anger grafted the footage of Beausolleil onto this one, which interestingly enough he made in 1969-the year of the Tate-LaBianca murder. Beausolleil had a dispute with Anger shortly after filming the original Lucifer Rising and took off with the film in a huff. Supposedly, Anger and Beausolleil had been roommates-another unproven Anger allegation.

This is all the more bizarre when you consider some of the scenes of the film, some of which hints of some violence as viewed from the distance, from outside of an upstairs window. In another scene, there is a girl smoking what seems to be a bong with some other participants, one of whom is, I think, Beausolleil. The girl looks disturbingly like Patricia Krenwinkle, one of the most vicious of the Manson Family members, though the name given for the actress was Lenore Kandel.

Also in the film is Anger himself, playing a ritual leader, and Anton LaVey, playing the horned ritual leader. There is also old footage of the Rolling Stones, and also what appears to be old newsreel footage of military personnel disembarking from a helicopter, maybe from old Vietnam news archives.

The most eerie of all the scenes however, involve an albino whose name, I am told, is Speed Hacker, and who was a 1960’s era hippy from Haight-Ashbury.

By all means, watch the film and enjoy it, but be warned ahead of time. In regards to Anger’s films, judging by what I have seen thus far, it really does not get any better than this.

As for Anger, he has recently revealed that he is dying of prostate cancer, and, being the Thelemite occultist that he claims to be, has announced that his impending death will transpire this coming Halloween.

I don’t know about anybody else, but do you know what I think? I think he might be lying.

Saturday Night Live Gets It Right On The Money

UPDATE: I don't want to make too much out of this but, as you can see, the video in question is no longer available. It could just be that they are only on the SNL site for a limited time, but it does seem suspicious that others from the same show-not yet three days old as of the time of this update-are still around.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is a downer and a more than sufficient reason to avoid SNL videos in the future.

Finally, somebody points out the very real contribution of the Democratic Party in regards to the financial meltdown that has slammed the nation, and they do so to great affect, raking Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank over the coals as well as defending George Bush, incredibly enough, who warned about this years ago. They still portray him as a moron, but at least here he is a well-meaning moron, while Pelosi and Frank are portrayed as they culpable societal vultures that they are.

This is actually a fair and balanced piece of satire, one of the most stinging and effective SNL has done in years. They produce symbolic representatives of the many examples of the cancre sores of humanity that contributed to and benefited from this mess that just might yet bring us all down.

I urge you to watch this video, and make note of their arcane and very possibly prophetic assessment of who might well be the ultimate beneficiary.



Well, there you have it. SNL has just regained my respect. By the way, I don't know if this is intentional or not on her part, but Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin actually makes me like Palin that much more.

One Thing That Still Stands Out

About last night's debate. The more I think about it, the more I think about it. It's nothing that Palin said, and that's just the point. She said nothing at one point where she should have put the hammer down. Who knows, maybe by that point she was tired of beating a dead jackass, but this was almost beyond the pale.

Biden made the statement that both he and Obama not only wanted to renegotiate mortgage payments, they wanted to renegotiate the actual original principals involved. You know, that would be the original price of a house, for example.

I think in the real world they refer to campaign promises like that as "vote buying".

Maybe Palin sensed she was walking into a trap and let it go, and maybe she was wise to do so. However you slice it, the GOP is in a real bind in this election. If they really let loose on the realities of the current housing/mortgage/Wass Street/ financial/banking/Bailout fiasco, they run the risk of looking like they are against the poor, the working class, and middle class, and also run the risk of being painted with that tried-and-true Democratic brush of racism.

It reminds me of an old Batman movie I saw once that was based on the old campy series from the sixties. One of Batman's villains-I think it was the Penguin-was running for mayor of Gotham City, against Batman. The villain did everything he could think of and pulled every trick in the book to win, while Batman insisted on running a positive campaign based solely on the issues. Batman stayed out of the gutter and above board, and acted in an honorable way in every respect. He even refused to kiss a woman's baby on the grounds that it was possible to spread germs and cause a cold. Of course, the woman was hurt and insulted. The polling showed Batman was headed for a certain defeat.

All turned out well in the end, of course, but I don't expect a story book ending to this election. In this election we have the "Old Bat Man" who just refuses to get down and dirty. He thinks he's above it, and I'm afraid his arrogance might well cost him the election. He doesn't seem to care.

The Unbelievable Story Of Adolfo Pena

Adolfo Pena, a US Navy veteran of World War II, now claims that the re-election campaign of Kentucky US Senator Mitch McConnell, the current Republican Minority Leader, twisted his words and took them out of context in a recent ad that criticized Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford’s involvement with Valor Healthcare. Lunsford is the former CEO, and still in on the Board of Directors, of the company, which contracts through the VA for retirement homes that specialize in health care for veterans. In the following ad he makes it clear that he is now satisfied with Valor, and by extension it would seem therefore with Lunsford.



Therefore, the McConnell campaign removed Pena from its ad, which now runs in revised form here, without Mr. Pena.




So, what is the truth of the matter? Is it a simple matter of miscommunication? Did McConnell or his staff purposely misrepresent Mr. Pena’s words? Is the old veteran himself somewhat at fault for the misunderstanding. Is it really a misunderstanding at all? Were his words in the original ad accurate after all? If so, was he then actually telling the truth? Is he telling the truth now?

Is it even slightly possible Lunsford or his campaign coerced the old man into making the retraction? After all, if he is, as has been reported, still a recipient of health care from Valor, and so yet dependent on them, that might be easy to accomplish. Perhaps the Lunsford campaign used the carrot-and-stick approach. I can see it now-

“Help us clear all this up you old geezer, because if you don’t we will give you a bunch of damn good reasons to complain. But if you do, we’ll give you a nice good hairstyle and makeover.”

Fortunately, Bruce was kind enough to supply us with a before-and-after at the beginning of his retraction video. Check out the image taken from the original McConnell spot at the beginning, and then check out the old man’s new perm in all his shots throughout. What else did they give him, a free five-year supply of Viagra and his own private nurse?

You be the judge, and in the meantime, check out the old man’s original Letter To The Editor to his hometown Galveston newspaper-The Galveston Daily News-which led to his contribution to the original McConnell spot. Courtesy of Elephants In The Bluegrass-


Veterans Should Have Their Own ‘Bill Of Rights’

In reference to the article by Marty Schladen (“Veterans complain about clinics,” The Daily News, April 13): I am a veteran of World War II and we veterans do not have any idea what the contract with Ray Lanier, president of Valor Healthcare, says.

So it puts us veterans in a weak position to discuss the treatment we get.

Schladen’s article said the Veterans Administration pays Lanier’s company $400 for each veteran it sees annually. Once we register with Lanier’s company, he has no incentive to see us because the more times the company sees us the more money it loses.

That puts us veterans in a very weak position and at the mercy of the company. The company received a good contract — but bad for us veterans.

Lanier said his company’s clinics have enough resources to provide good care and that there are more than enough staff and providers for its patients.

I do not doubt this! He continued to explain that his company intentionally leaves open three or four slots in each doctor’s schedule each day to accommodate patients without appointments.
That is something hard to understand because, if you do not have an appointment beforehand, you just do not see any doctor. Clinic employees will make an appointment for you but you have to wait at least three months. This has happened to me.

The clinics should have a Bill of Veterans Rights on the wall for us to read so we are able to ask intelligent questions when the opportunity arises.

On the same token, the Veterans Affairs Department should inform us veterans of our rights.
Adolfo PiñaDickinson

This is a strange case, to say the least.

Tarot Reading The Palin-Biden Debate: The Bright Knight Versus the Fire-Breathing Gas Bag

UPDATE: Oh, without a doubt, Governor Palin won this thing hands down. She was on her game. I wasn't too far off the mark in my reading, but I erred in reading perhaps too much in the fact that I drew the cards upright. I should have stuck to the method I originally learned from the Mythic Tarot, to wit-each and ever Tarot card has its own unique positives and negatives regardless of the position in which they appear. The key is to reading them in context, especially when it involves spreads.

I should have stuck to that, because if I had, my interpretation would have been far closer to what actually happened tonight. Sarah the Knight in Shining Armor did not exactly "slay" the Fire-Breathing Gas bag, but she damn sure kept him chained in his lair. Hey, didn't I say that though, in so many words? Well, what's going on here is even though I predicted that Sarah would do good, even I was very surprised at how good she actually did.

As for Biden, he did not make any serious mistakes and seemed cordial enough. It is hard for me to dislike Joe Biden, who I see as an affable and well-meaning sort, though I disagree with him profoundly on most of his positions. Aside from all that, Palin owned the stage tonight. Against any other opponent, Biden might have emerged the victor in this debate at least on a tactical level. Against our Sarah, however, he comes across as just another tired old business as usual Washington poll who has been in the Senate roughly ten years longer than anybody should be. Sarah was fresh, eager, positive, engaging, quick-witted, knowledgeable, and utterly charming as hell. Just as important as any of this, however, perhaps even more to the point-and this is the one thing the media and Washington elites and pundits just cannot seem to grasp-

She is authentic. She is one of us. I don't mean she is just one of us in the sense of rank and file Republican or a conservative, or a Christian, though she is certainly all of those, while I am in all honesty none of those. I am not even what you could call a "true blue conservative". No, what I mean is that she is authentically one of us as an average American who knows what most of us live through every day of our lives. I have no doubt she even understands many of the frustrations of the left, which probably helps her take their criticisms in context as well as with a big old grain of salt.

In all fairness, Joe Biden did pull even with Governor Palin in one respect. They both demonstrated that each should be, by all rights, at the top of their respective tickets.

Other than that one similarity, however, Palin distinguished herself tonight as a one of a kind politician all too rare in American politics, somebody who is actually from and of the people. There are more of them than you realize in public life, but even most of them soon seem to, as the old saying goes, forget where they came from. Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and even Ronald Reagan belong to this class. Another one that fits this description is Joe Biden.

There are others who walk among the people and empathize to a point with their concerns, but are yet strangely in a world of their own, among them and yet apart from them. Obama would seem to fall into this category.

There are even those rare individuals who, though they come from an elite class, find themselves thrust by way of unforeseen circumstances into situations that give them a unique insight into the more gritty realities of everyday life in ways they might not have otherwise ever conceived. John McCain would seem to fit into this mold.

And of course there are those who wrap themselves in the persona of the common man and play the part to the utmost while never really having a true anchor in that world aside from their unfortunate personal foibles. George W. Bush would be such an individual.

Palin however is one of those rare individuals who up until now has risen to the heights of power and influence and emerged onto the national spotlight while never losing her true sense of self, remaining anchored in the reality of life and the world of which she is a part. I would compare her to Harry Truman in this regard.

However the election turns out, she scored a very definite victory tonight-not only for her, but perhaps most importantly, for the common American man and woman. Yes, we have a voice.

END OF UPDATE

The debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden is tomorrow night, and I decided to do a tarot reading to try to grasp what might conceivably happen. The results were quite interesting.

For Sarah Palin, I drew the Knight of Cups upright.



That I drew this card in the upright position is a good sign and also for her a good card. It is also a very significant one in the context of recent events. Due to certain missteps and misunderstandings, I've had the feeling McCain has treated his running mate as though she were a damsel in distress that needs protection from some malicious fire-breathing dragon. By this I don't so much mean their Democratic rivals as I mean the press and the more vocal far left fringe detractors of Palin. First we had the highly and obviously edited interview conducted by the arrogant ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, which was followed by a shameful display of "gotcha" "journalism" by CBS News anchor Katie Couric, who in my opinion lulled Palin into a false sense of security by engaging in a "heart-to-heart" period of "girl talk" before proceeding to lower the boom. I can't prove that, of course, and it doesn't really matter in one way, because even if it is true Palin should have known better than to fall for it.

Now, some conservatives are feeling anxious about her presence on the Republican ballot. Some are even suggesting that she find a way to step down "with dignity". Of course, most of these so-called conservatives are doubtless pursuing their own agenda and were never too happy with Palin's overt displays of Christian faith. More importantly, they doubtless have serious reservations about her reputation as a fighter of government corruption, a persona she brought to beat against Republican officials within her state probably far more often than she did Democrats. Let's just say that their reasons might be construed as self-serving ones.

It would be a drastic error in judgment for Palin to be removed from the ticket, and I don't think that is going to happen. For one thing it would be heralded as an admission by the McCain campaign that her pick demonstrated poor judgment on McCain's part. For another, it would be seen as a victory by the far left who have gone overboard in their personal attacks on Palin, saying things about her and her family that would conceivably result in widespread city riots if similar things were said about Obama.

Palin should not be viewed as some damsel in distress, however, but as the white knight riding in on her horse to rescue the fair maiden-or perhaps more appropriately the fair prince-of American conservatism. I think she will do this well, and to great effect. I just hope she isn't too hamstrung by McCain's desire to run a "positive campaign". She should give no quarter and not be afraid to go on the offensive.

Her opponent in the debates has a good many weaknesses which she could and should exploit. She would be foolish not to do so, and I am hopeful that she will. The evil fire-breathing dragon of the Democratic Party has a lot to answer for regarding their contribution to the current home mortgage crisis and the resultant financial turmoil in the markets, and she should stand firm and bring this all out in the open. Republicans have been afraid to do so publicly thus far out of a misguided fear of appearing to be against the poor and "anti-minority"-in other words, racist. But it is a fact that the governments involvement by way of Democratic initiatives to mandate the extension of credit to the poor, and especially minority borrowers in an attempt to increase the percentage of poor and minority homeowners despite their questionable ability to make good on their payments is arguably the greatest cause of the current crisis. The Democratic party has not been held to account for this mess they are for the most part responsible for creating.

To rub salt on an already festering wound, some of the major players involved in causing the problem, such as Barney Frank in the House and Chris Dodd in the Senate, are the ones now charged with leading the initiative to solve the problem. That to me is rather like putting Jack the Ripper in charge of the Whitechapel Murders. You're right. That doesn't make any sense. Neither does this.

Being a shining knight in armor is not always easy, if it ever is. Palin can do it with a smile and be the shining bright heroine of the Republican Party she was first greeted as. And this is just one example of how she can do it. There are many others she can pursue.

What can the fire-breathing dragon do about it, besides fume? Well, in Joe Biden's case, let's examine the card I drew for him, which is, appropriately enough perhaps, the Ace of Wands, also upright.



The fact that I drew the card upright might well mean no major missteps on his part, but by the same token, it demonstrates that he might be unable to take his call for "hope and change" to any specificity within the context of this debate. He might sound sincere, but aside from assuring us that the team of Obama and Biden represents the real change in Washington that he has fought for all his life, he will be hard pressed to convince any outside his own base of support that he as a United States Senator of more than thirty years duration is an appropriate agent of that change that will almost certainly be his oft-repeated talking point during the debate.

Aside from that, don't expect any major gaffes from the Washington gaff machine during the debate. Though this particular fire-breathing dragon has a reputation more as a gasbag than as a real fire-breather, he tends to be more focused and disciplined during debates than he is when engaging in speaking directly to crowds in speeches or in off-the-cuff remarks to the press. Don't look for him to compliment Palin on her looks or talk in a condescending tone such as calling her "little lady, and don't expect him to gaze at her ass.

Still, though he will consciously avoid such stupidity, and though he will come across as sincere in his promises to assist Obama in initiating change and reform regarding first one or another policy or problem, he is unlikely to offer anything definitive in a manner that will be convincing. He is unlikely to convince undecided voters that they should vote Democratic based on his presence on the ticket or based on Palin's alleged lack of qualifications.

He will not be so much a fire-breathing dragon as a flame of undefined promise and hope, but with nothing in the way of an indication as to how that fire can be properly channeled to significant effect. Put more succinctly, by the time he is through, we might be convinced that he sees the need to bring about change, and maybe even that he sincerely wants to bring it about.

Still, though he will probably sound sincere, we just don't believe he or Obama can do it, or will do it, nor will he be able to provide any convincing examples of how he or Obama can regarding anything specifically.

There is a lot at stake in this debate for both sides, especially for Sarah Palin and the McCain campagin. If she can just hold her own, and pull even, she is a big winner. If she really does good, and symbolically slays the great fire-breathing gas bag, it might be the ultimate checkmate on the Obama campaign.

Dawahares-An All Too Typically American Success Story Gone Bad

Today marks the end of the Dawahares debacle, which might have been one of the first and most obvious warning signs of the imminence of our current financial crisis. With a life span of a century that spanned two world wars and the great Depression, the Kentucky clothing store chain Dawahares would have seemed to some almost as immune as Lehman Brothers, but it now seems obvious that an archaic for the times business model doomed it in an economy to which it could not or perhaps would not adapt. The picture above is from the Grand Opening of one of its many stores, this one in Hazard Kentucky in 1947. It like all the others are gone forever.

I blogged about this phenomenon here, and received quite a few interesting comments from some individuals directly involved with the old family business that was a staple of the economy of Kentucky.

One such comment was from Lee, who blogs at Digital Nicotine

Hey, found your place by googling Dawahares. Intersting place, to be sure.

I worked there for three years '02 -- '05, at the Mall St. Matthews location, so I have a perspective, trust me. There are many reasons Dawahares failed, but I have limited space before I lose attention, so in bullet form...

~ You are right about going cheap. The bulk of merchandise was under $20, and most of it was knock off.

~ They paid crap. I couldn't tell you how many talented people left that company because not only were they not being well, they weren't even paying well by retail standards.

~ They made stupid moves. A perfect example was they cut out completely commissions on suit sales. This caused Syd, an old Jewish man who had worked for 27 years in the company to retire out of frustration at the inexplicable paycut he just got. That man had more connections in the Louisville Jewish community than you could imagine, and they lost them when he left. And Allen, an elderly black gentleman who also worked in Suits for the past 15 years quit as well soon afterward, and the company lost all his connections in the black community, which he had several.

~ Finally: "A house divided among itself shall not stand." That family was dysfunctional to put it mildly, and what the previous generations had built up, the current one was rapidly tearing it down with infighting, bickering, jealousies, and all of this fairly visible to even the part-time teenagers working after school.

There are many more, but space and interest are limited. This current economy was merely the strong wind that knocked the old and diseased tree down.


I am still receiving comments from other such former employees and customers. The following appeared in my in-box just a few days ago.

I live in the Eastern Kentucky town that Dawhares started in and to see the store closed and empty is very sad. I worked at the store when in school and will miss having such a nice clothing store to go to that is close to home.


By far the most compelling comment, however, comes from Amina Dawahare, a member of the family, who presented her own unique perspective as follows-

As A Dawahare family member and the only grandchild of William Dawahare, the Syrian immigrants oldest son, I will say that you are right, there was poor merchandise due to the fact that people could no longer afford the high end brands we used to carry. And I will say that the family is extreemely disfunctional as on of you other comments said, and unfortunately the jealousy and stupidity of some ruined everything for the rest, it is sad when you feel so conflicted not wantin gto fight your family for your inherited right, and in trying to be kind and loving you get essentially screwed up. My mother and I, she is also an only child, have now lost everything as all we had was invested as stock in this company, and we had absolutely no fault in the downfall of the company as after my grandfather died we were pushed out completely, and we allowed them ,to do it to try to keep peace in our very turbulant family.


This of course initiated what amounted to an angry rebuttal by yet another of the Dawahares family members, who in letting it be known that he had no sympathy whatsoever for her plight gave a perfect illustration of the dysfunctional nature of the Dawahares family which Lee had earlier alluded to-

Anonymous said...

As another member of the Dawahare family, I just want to point out the fact that Amina Dawahare has never worked a LEGITIMATE day in her life for the company. Sure, you might have worked in the office as a summer job here or there, but you know as well as I do that you have never actually put any blood, sweat, or tears (until now) into the company. Her mother, W.R. Dawahare, has never been involved with the company either. Their father was a great man and left a nice inheritance for them to live on. I find it quite amusing to see her come on here and act like she has any clue what she is talking about. You were pushed out -- yeah right. You were BOUGHT OUT. Big difference.

You're an adult. If you're not able to stand on your own two feet now, it's nobody's fault but your own.


All of this led to this comment by yet another former employee of the family who cares nothing it seems for the current generation of the family.

wow - amazing posts by the family members.

i grew up with a number of the 3rd generation members of the family

they were very outspoken and very arrogant people

the members of the 2nd generation that i knew - by contrast - were classy people. i feel very sorry for them.

the 3rd generation folks deserve a little humiliation - this is great news !



This is the kind of thing that might soon play out in towns and cities across America. What is truly disconcerting is that we should have viewed the failure of Dawahares as a warning sign that all was not well with out economy, even when we were being told that everything was fine. Spend, spend, spend.

Allow me to toot my own horn here for a second. I’ve been saying for years, to anybody that cared to listen, that our economy was headed for a sobering reality check, at the very least, and more than likely a painful period of, let us say adjustment. I warned people about the coming end of the tech bubble two years before it actually happened. And I have been warning about the tenuousness of the housing bubble since 2005 at least.

Bottom line is there are some good components to it. Houses will now be cheaper. To be more precise, housing prices will be more of a true reflection of their actual worth. True, it will be harder to get a loan to buy one for some time, but that too will pass. Yes, times are going to be rough for a while whether there is ever a bail out or not.

What, then, is the main thing we should worry about? Oh, that’s an easy one.

We should worry because, as surely as night follows day, we are going to be doing this all over again. It won’t be a long time coming either. People never learn.

If there really was a just, merciful God, You Tube would have been invented in the nineteen twenties. Then, we could all watch old videos of nineteen twenty era stockbrokers jumping out of windows and splattering on the streets below.

We might get a chance to see it yet.

I can't help but wonder if our economic system has become as overall dysfunctional as the Dawahares family. If that is the case, fixing it is going to be a tall order, and I'm not sure Congress or any other branch of government is the right source for a cure. I wonder if anything can fix it.

Calling It Like I See It-Obama Wins By A Song

Well, uuhhhh, you ask, aahhhh, look now, what that did win the debate? Obama or McCain? Uhh well, I have to uuuhhh say, well since Obama didn't uuhhh, you know, do this shit here, uuuuhhhhh, well I guess he won it.

Seriously, Obama presented himself well tonight and held his own, and did not allow McCain to rattle him. There were no major mistakes of gaffes tonight. McCain did ok. Well, he almost did ok. Well, no he didn't. He probably had his own base cringing from his opening statement which was an expression of sympathy for his recently re-hospitalized "beloved friend" Ted Kennedy "the Lion of the Senate". Who in the hell is running McCain's campaign anyway that lets him do this stuff? Do these people really think this bilge is going to win anybody over?

It only got worse for Big Mac. Here we are at the beginning of one of the biggest financial disasters in the nation's history that, when all is said and done, will likely add a trillion dollars-at least-to the national debt. If we don't pony up, the entire economic engine of the United States could utterly collapse. George Bush is asking for 700 billion dollars to bail us out of the mess while hundreds of billions of dollars have already been targeted for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and AIG. Lehman Brothers, a one hundred and fifty year old firm that survived the Great Depression, vanished overnight. Another major bank failed today. More are likely to follow.

John McCain is worried about a ninety million dollar earmark to study the mating habits of bears in Montana. I understand that was just supposed to be an example. But, to use a phrase he seemed stuck on tonight, he "just doesn't understand". In the grand scheme of things, John McCain ended up sounding like an old geezer waxing nostalgiac about the long ago days when five dollars would get you two or three big bags of groceries and gasoline was twenty five cents a gallon.

He looked and sounded old, and tired. I hate to say it but he almost came across as senile, where Obama looked young, fresh, energetic, determined, and hopeful-and yet somehow disarmingly realistic.

McCain seemed to get some of his old fire back when the debate phased over into what is his forte, national security and international affairs. Unfortunately for him, not only did Obama hold his own in this segment as well, but he delivered the most devastating line of the night during this period, specifically in response to McCain's complaint about Obama's earlier asserted intention to target Pakistan in relation to a pledge to get Bin Laden and finally defeat Al-Queda and the Taliban.

"You don't say things like that publicly", McCain said chidingly of what he characterized as Obama's naive and irresponsible pledge to pursue an action that he held would further destabilize Pakistan, our already uneasy ally in the war on terror.

Obama clarified his position and said he actually agreed with McCain, but then he went on to add, and I paraphrase-

"You said you would annihilate North Korea and you sang about bombing Iran, so I'm not so sure that's such a good point coming from you."

Ouch.

It went on from there to what is exactly the best way to meet with a foreign leader who might be considered "the enemy". McCain criticized Obama's statement that he would meet with such leaders without pre-conditions. Obama once again clariifed that there would be lower level diplomatic meetings first. McCain said we already do that. Obama said that, in fact, George Bush has recently done that. Blah-blah blahdaddy blah.

By the time it was over by my calculations McCain won on points in this round, but it was one of those thing that if it had been a boxing match it would have been his by a split decision made by an expert panel of judges while the audience is left scratching their heads wondering what the hell happened.

Obama won the the overall match anyway, and though this too was by points, it was certainly a clear cut victory. True, there were no knock-downs, knock-outs, or TKO's. McCain however needs to get it together for the two rematches. I have a feel for these kinds of things, and so far, it don't look good for the home team.

"He just doesn't understand" might well go down as the most ironic statement of the night, one that McCain delivered the first time or two to great effect, but after that, what was obviously intended as a refrain meant to stick in the viewers mind started to sound redundant, and even a little petulant. Worst of all, however, it sounded condescending.

He may as well have looked at his watch and sighed real loud at the same time.

Lakeview Terrace Review

There are several good reasons to see this film, but by far the most important one is the performance of Samuel Jackson in the role of Abel Turner, an African American of Ethiopian descent who is a patrol officer of the LAPD. The story takes place somewhere on the outskirts of the city of Los Angeles in a middle-class neighborhood, with the backdrop of a slowly and yet surely approaching forest fire that threatens to consume everything in its path. Within this setting, the widowed cop and his two children (Jaishon Fisher, Regine Nehy) have new neighbors-an interracial couple to whom he takes an immediate dislike.

Jackson’s performance is not riveting so much because the character of Turner is an evil bigot corrupted by power. In fact, his character is much more complicated than that and, despite the impressions you might have from the movie’s trailers, such a description is simplistically inaccurate.

Turner is a loving, protective, albeit strictly disciplinarian father who wants to teach his children, as he explains to his new neighbor, to “respect themselves and respect where they came from”. He does not take kindly to the fact that his children saw the couple frolicking late at night in their swimming pool from the upstairs window. When he walked in on the middle of this, however, his immediate reaction was not so much anger as it was one of obvious sadness.

He goes out of his way throughout the movie-starting well before this incident, in fact-to make life as uncomfortable for the young couple as possible. He makes sure a bright floodlight shines though their bedroom window. When Turner makes excuses for not disabling the light right away, the husband turns the tables on him by installing a mirror in the bedroom window that sends the light glaring through Turner’s own bedroom window.

Though that seems to take care of the problem, it re-emerges in other forms. Turner surreptitiously slashes the tires on their automobile and blames it on unknown hoodlums from an adjacent area. When the environmentally aware husband transplants some medium sized trees along the fence that separates the adjoining properties, Turner takes a power saw to them, resulting in a shouting match that almost turns violent. When Turner sees his young daughter at the swimming pool of the young wife, dancing and laughing, in response to an earlier invitation by the woman (though of course without her father’s permission) he flies into a rage. In the course of the argument, he removes his pants and shirt and stands there in mocking disapproval of his daughter’s skimpy dress. When she defies his orders, he strikes her in front of the woman.

When the children go off for a two-week visit with his sister-in-law, Turner really lets loose, inviting his fellow officers to celebrate the upcoming marriage of a colleague at his own home, complete with bachelor party. The excessive noise and raucousness of the party in the wee hours of the morning induces the young husband to go to Abel’s house to complain. When one of Abel’s guests shuts the door in his face, he enters the party through a side door where, after an initial invitation by Turner to have a beer, he is sexually assaulted by women dancers at the party, aided and abetted by the cops, until Turner finally tells them to “get his ass out of here.”

All through the movie, however, Turner manages to maintain his rage to within manageable levels, though he channels and utilizes it unabashedly. This is the mastery of Jackson’s performance. It is not what he does. In fact, most of what he actually does is relatively minimal in comparison to the sheer menace with which he performs, and which he exudes like some ancient, primeval archetype.

When he acts on an earlier proffered invitation to the couple’s housewarming party, he takes center stage and in very short order turns what is supposed to be a cordial, gracious occasion into more of a police state atmosphere. After literally wrecking the party and ruining the evening for the hosts as well as their other invited guests, he takes his leave.

When we see Turner on the job, we get glimpses of his personality and you find yourself looking for clues as to what he is about as defined by his job description. However, there is no sign of corruption, only the evidence of a devoted police officer who willingly pulled double shifts, all the overtime he could muster, and took on extra work as a security guard in order to be able honestly to afford to move his family to a better neighborhood.

When Internal Affairs calls him to account in regards to a civilian complaint they inform him that, due to a number of past similar complaints through the years, he might want to think about retirement, and tell him to take some time off until the investigation concludes.

However, the complaint in question is from a man who had violently beat his wife and held her and their child at gunpoint. Abel and his partner saved the wife and child and Abel himself arrested the man after chasing him through an alley and disarming him after the man threatened to take his own life. He did go somewhat over the line in taking the man’s gun and threatening to kill him with it if he did not straighten up, which was perhaps a little rough and provocative. Yet, we can easily infer that, taking everything in context, the man’s complaints are without merit, to put it mildly. He accused Abel of three broken ribs, though Abel insisted to Internal Affairs that he did not do this.

We are then left with the image of a man who is a basically not only a good cop, but completely ethical, if a little rough and jaded by years of wading through the sewers of humanity. He has seen it all, and has his own official dealings with Civilian Informants, whom you get the impression he barely tolerates. Jackson plays the role to the hilt of a man who is nearing the end of the line, and who sees the newly arrived interracial couple next door as the final insult to everything he ever cared about, a slap in the face to every value he ever held dear, and a mocking reminder of his own personal failures.

The reason for Abel’s seething hatred for the couple will come as no surprise, but the movie makes up for this by getting it out of the way somewhat early in the movie. What would have been a letdown if delayed until closer to the end of the movie therefore serves instead to move the film along at a pivotal moment, while at the same time providing a major influence regarding the climax of the film.

There are unfortunately some minor inconsistencies. When the husband goes to the bachelor party at Abel’s house, he manages surreptitiously to make a recording of the proceedings, including the sexual assault, which the wife then sees. For some reason, the film never pursues this angle. Although the movie never picks up on it, we might see this as a minor inconsistency, and maybe even a realistic one. After all, this couple does not want a fight. They just want to live their lives. They are not the type to react to every opportunity to roll in the gutter by doing so.

The husband and wife-Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington)-themselves are unfortunately almost reduced to secondary characters, and though the two actors who portray them are technically good, by no means are these stand-out performances. Although they manage to portray the gamut of emotions of concern, regret, fear, anger, relief, and determination when appropriate to the scene, we do not get the main impression that we should get, which is that they really, really regret moving to this house. Although the wife states as much, in so many words, we do not believe her or her husband-possibly because they are too happy to be where they are, and it shows. I am talking about the actors, of course.

As for the characters they portray, all we really know about them is she is the daughter of a successful black businessman who lives miles away and who seems to have some reservations about the marriage and the prospect of the couple having children. The couple themselves have some angst over the issue, and when the woman becomes pregnant, due to having neglected to taking the pill for a couple of days, the husband is even more fraught with anxiety and it comes more openly to the fore. He even seems to accuse her of deliberately getting pregnant, which she denies, though not very convincingly. We wonder whether this is because the wife is indeed duplicitous, or whether the actress that portrays her just does not put the point across. By this point, it is irrelevant.

What is relevant is the dark shadow cast by Officer Abel Turner, as it becomes the impetus behind the exaggerated concern of the husband as he feels a sudden, threatening rift grow between him and his wife, one that seems now to focus from inside her womb. Yet, his despair might well be the bastard child of Abel Turner, whose influence on the lives of the couple has turned what should be an occasion for joy into a matter of considerable dread.

However, Officer Turner is the one spiraling out of control, despite his skill, self-discipline, and the perverse, almost obsessive professionalism by which he goes about the business of destroying two lives. As terrifying as he is as an enemy, his controlled and channeled wrath can only accomplish so much at containing and dealing with unexpected contingencies. When it finally falls apart, there is only one way it can go.

There is a mild amount of political correctness in this film, which is annoying. The husband is an unabashedly liberal graduate of Berkeley and proponent of Global Warming activism, while Abel Turner is an equally unabashedly conservative traditionalist. Although this is never explicitly stated, we are led to surmise that if Turner had gotten some therapy to help him with his inner turmoil, not only would he have been a better father and happier person, but he, too, would be a liberal “tree-hugger”, as he once called his antagonist. However, this and the few similar and thankfully brief liberal add-ons are minor components of the film that doesn’t take too much away from it.

Jackson’s performance is Oscar worthy, and due almost solely to him nets the film a rating of three pentacles out of a possible five.

* * *

* Samuel L. Jackson as Officer Abel Turner
* Patrick Wilson as Chris Mattson
* Kerry Washington as Lisa Mattson
* Jaishon Fisher as Marcus Turner
* Regine Nehy as Celia Turner
* Jay Hernandez as Javier Villareal
* Keith Loneker as Clarence Darlington
* Ron Glass as Harold Perreau
* Caleeb Pinkett as Damon Richards

Directed by Neil LaBute
Produced by Jeffrey Graup
James Lassiter
David Loughery
Will Smith
Written by David Loughery
Howard Korder
Starring Samuel L. Jackson
Kerry Washington
Patrick Wilson

Screen Gems
Alliance Films

An Unfortunate Update And Coorection

I was going to post Mysterious Ways by U2 as the special song for Mabon, but I just discovered it can not be embedded by request, either by the person that posted it or possibly by the label that recorded the song. That is unfortunate, but I have nothing to use as a suitable substitute. I could link the page, but why bother?

The Autumn Equinox is today at somewhere between 3:39 and 3:44 p.m., depending on who you believe, which means I was off in my earlier estimation, which I based on the Khaldea Ephemeris, which listed the Sun entering Libra at some unstated time during the 23rd.

To those interested in the astrological aspects, the major adjustment to make is in regards to the lunar aspects. The Moon will at the time of the equinox actually be in a very strong square to the Sun and in waning mode, being somewhere close to the first degree of Cancer, and will as well be in trine to Venus. Any other aspects, such as to Uranus, Neptune, Mars, and Mercury, will be very minor ones at best, and if at all. They can be pretty much ignored at any rate.

However, the other planetary aspects I pointed out are yet valid, especially the Mars-Mercury conjunction, all the more so since Mercury is stationary and preparing to go retrograde. They have a weak conjunction to Venus, and their trine to Neptune and quincunx to Uranus is also still applicable.

I'm particularly glad I caught all this, especially the waning moon aspect square the Sun, as this is in perfect harmony with the period of the Autumn Equinox and the shortening of days and lengthening of nights that it heralds. A waning moon will also assist in augmenting any kind of banishing magic or ritual that might be performed during this time.

Sorry about the confusion, and for the lack of the YouTube video I promised. I'll see if I can come up with a suitable substitute, one as good or not better-which of course is a subjective criterion at any rate.

Until then, enjoy the remainder of the day and the night ahead.

Mabon Tarot Card

Before I begin this Mabon reading I would like to extend a big thanks to Tarot Girl for the image of the Page of Pentacles. I just placed her site, which does a one card reading everyday, on my blogroll. I'll probably be pilfering her Ryder-Waite tarot pictures from time to time.

The Tarot card I drew for this coming Mabon was one I would never have suspected I would draw, but the more I think about it in the context of the recent housing and sub-prime mortgage crisis, the more sense it makes. I will elaborate somewhat without falling into the usual habit of throwing a political based tantrum, which is something I fully intended to avoid for the duration of the Sabbat.

The Page of any suits represents a fragile new beginning, and in the case of the suit of pentacles, this new beginning is basically of a physical nature. It can have to do with health, fertility, or money, among other things.

Naturally, we are entering a period of grave uncertainty due to the housing crisis. Steps have been proposed tentatively to deal with the problem, but if these steps are taken, it will be at considerable expense, and it is by no means certain an agreement can be reached. Even as Congress speaks of bipartisanship in an effort to meet the problem head on there are those who even now express disagreement on the extent of what the government can and, for that matter should do.

We are all going to pay the piper regardless due to the reckless actions of a few who have been aided and abetted by certain members of Congress.
You have Democrats who have twisted the arms of banks to issue loans to people of questionable at best credit for political reasons in an attempt to insure access to home ownership to the poor and minorities (whether they actually had the capacity to pay off the loans or not).

You have Republicans who have with almost religious zeal dismantled the regulatory system which should have put the brakes on the system before it got too out of hand.

You had corporate honchos of the two largest mortgage firms, who were in fact quasi-government agencies in their own right seemingly created at least in part for this purpose, who took advantage of both parties as they doled out the bribes to high-ranking politicians and even the chairman of the committee assigned to be their watchdog.

You have predatory lenders and banking establishments who took advantage of housing laws and who approved as many loans as they possibly could, and then sold them as bundles to Wall Street brokerage firms who seemed to be as clueless as anybody as to what they were pushing on their investors (or maybe in some cases they were not so clueless).

You had the investors themselves who had no idea of what they were letting themselves in for-they just knew if they acted quickly enough they could make a quick buck and maybe even get filthy rich. Finally, you had the private homeowners themselves who leveraged their homes to a ridiculous extent, taking out mortgage after mortgage for everything from new automobiles to expensive vacations and unnecessary toys.

For every homeowner that took out a mortgage on their home in order to renovate or otherwise improve said home, or who paid off other bills or invested in college funds for their kids, there were seemingly as many or more who used them to buy trips to the Bahamas and five foot plasma screen televisions and a second or third automobile-more than likely a Lexus as opposed to a more moderately priced vehicle.

Many of them, fairly unsophisticated in the ways of finance, were seduced by the prospect of low interest loans, whose interest rates were not fixed. When things started getting out of hand and the rates rose to astronomical heights, most of them were left holding their dicks.

I warned about all this quite some time ago, and the dangers of our credit card economy in general. Unfortunately I'm just one small voice mostly unheard and rarely heeded when I am.

To be sure, this is not all bad. This is probably one of the best times in a good many years to invest in a home, if you have reasonably good credit. The artificial bubble has had a good lot of the air let out of it that had been causing hardship for a lot of elderly, fixed income and working class homeowners. They were facing ever increasing property taxes through no fault of their own, depending on the area of the country and the neighborhoods in which they lived.

When house values reach up to four times higher than their original worth, and more, you know you are looking at an untenable situation. It had to come to an end, and however cathartic, it is a good thing that it has. In my opinion, the government should do nothing aside from repeal the law that forced bankers into making what they knew to be bad loans, and then they should apply reasonable regulations on the industry-and enforce them to the letter.

What the government is doing is a short term fix that is geared toward the present political season. What both parties are doing is trying to stave off the well-deserved wrath of the American public that would soon come down upon the heads of both parties.

I started writing this post as an encouragement to remember the poor and the homeless this Mabon season, with a donation to some worthwhile agency such as the Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or to some local Christian church or mission that feeds the homeless and poor. Perhaps you know somebody yourself to whom you could perform some personal act of kindness, someone less fortunate than yourselves.

After all, if you are in a position to give, it is obviously because you have worked hard and managed your money and other resources wisely. A good many others might not be so fortunate. Or, they might have let their greed and avarice get the better of them, not realizing that they were contributing to a problem that could very well be more profound than we even now suspect it will become.

Come to think of it, you owe it to yourselves and your family. Go out and buy yourselves that big plasma screen television you've always wanted.

Power Animals

Do you want to learn what your power animal is, or what power animal you can attune with for any specific purpose in mind. This site might give you the answer.


Mr. Squirrel, above, is my power animal for this specific period of Mabon, according to this site, which then went on to offer to sell me a "power animal squirrel stone" for a slight charge. Yes, this is a commercial site, but its still fun.

I also found out what power animal I needed to help me in my personal romantic life, with one particular woman. We're not supposed to do this, of course, but, alas, I have always had heretical tendencies). Strangely, I found out that the power animal I most need in order to help me in my would-be relationship desire with a certain woman whom we shall call Melissa (cos that's her name), is-the Rhino. Which made sense, as it promises that by attuning with Mr. Rhino, I will learn to develop a thick skin and the power to lower my head and charge full speed ahead when the time comes to accomplish my goals with power, determination, and fearlessness-all of which will come in handy.

A power animal is a shamanic concept. By attuning with a power animal, you take on the qualities of that animal and make them your own, or perhaps more precisely, you bring those qualities within yourself to the surface and develop them to their full potential.

Mr. Squirrel is going to help me utilize my resources to greater effect and enable me to make my endeavors more productive and profitable. The squirrel a perfect power animal for Mabon, especially here in Kentucky, where squirrels are abundant. Now I just need to figure out what I most need to "squirrel away" for a rainy day.

To use the site, you meditate on your specific need while looking at the image of the forest. Allow your mind to relax as you do so while moving your mouse over the image. When the time feels right, you click your mouse on the page, wherever you most feel drawn. Your power animal will then present itself.

For Mabon-Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

Since Mabon is a harvest festival, nothing goes better at this time of year nor is more appropriate than a recipe which makes use of a variety of fresh farm produce. Of course, if it is impractical to use fresh produce, frozen vegetables is fine. Avoid canned products if at all possible.

This recipe can be doubled or tripled, depending on need, and is suitable for families or for larger gatherings. It goes well with crackers, peanut butter or grilled cheese sandwiches, or chips and dips.

It is also relatively easy to make, and makes for not only a very tasty meal, but a healthy one as well.

Another great thing about this soup is you can freeze the leftovers if you decide to save them for some later date beyond the next two or three days. It is in fact almost as good thawed and reheated after frozen for some time as it is freshly cooked and served.

Note-Do not when cooking allow to overheat. The soup should cook at a slow boil at all times, and should not be allowed to come to a harsh, "rolling boil", as this can cause the tomato juice to scorch.

Ingredients:

Rump roast-about two pounds, cut into small pieces, boiled and drained.

Vegetables and herbs-
Potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters, about two pounds.
About three carrots, skinned and sliced
Corn kernels extracted from three ears, fresh or frozen
8 ounces of fresh green beans, fresh or frozen
4 ounces of peas, fresh or frozen
2 or 3 broccoli stems, fresh or frozen
one fourth of a large celery stalk, sliced thin
One large white or yellow onion, diced
one half of a large bell pepper, diced
About one third of a medium sized head of cabbage, finely chopped

Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

One large can of tomato juice

Boil rump roast in pan of water for about twenty minutes, or until meat is slightly browned. Take out of water and lay on paper towel and pat dry to drain excess fat and additives. Transfer meat into a large pot with tomato juice and about sixteen ounces of water, and add potatoes, onions and bell peppers. Let come to a boil over medium hear. Add salt and pepper to taste. let boil for about thirty minutes, stirring every now and then.

After thirty minutes, add corn, carrots, broccoli, green beans, and peas. Continue boiling over medium heat for about twenty minutes.

Then, add cabbage and celery, and continue to boil over medium heat for about ten minutes.

Reduce heat to simmer and cover kettle with a lid. Continue to simmer for about an hour, stirring about every twenty minutes or so.

When ready to serve, increase heat until desired temperature, serve with drinks and accompaniments.

Astrological Guideposts For Mabon

This won't mean much to people who are not pagans or not familiar with astrology, but to those of you who are one or another, or both, I thought it might be of interest. This coming Mabon, on September 23rd, features some fairly unique astrological alignments which you might want to take into consideration when planning any rituals or celebrations. As such, I figured it might be good for you to be aware of them ahead of time in order to consider what the proper preparations might be. It's an individual matter, of course, or a group matter if you are going to be celebrating in the context of a coven gathering or what have you, but however you choose to recognize it-if you do-could potentially enhance your Mabon celebration to an appreciable extent.

To begin with, we have a triple conjunction involving Mercury, Mars, and Venus. In the case of Mars and Mercury, they are in exact conjunction occurring within the 22nd degree of Libra, which of course is the sign the sun will enter at the exact moment of the Autumn Equinox. What makes this particular conjunction between these two planets significant is that Mercury, for its part, will be stationary, seeming to stand still as it prepares to go retrograde.

Venus is a little farther down the line, at 28 degrees of Libra, which is still close enough to qualify for a minor conjunction with the other two.

Add to this the following factors-

First, the Moon will be in Cancer, starting at about the tenth degree meaning it will be, at some point through the day, in waning mode to the three planets of the triple conjunction.

Perhaps just as significant, two of the three planets mentioned-specifically Mercury and Mars-will be in nearly a perfect trine with the planet Neptune in the 21 degree of Aquarius. The trine of Neptune with Venus will be a minor one.

Also, Mercury and Mars (though not Venus) will be quincunx with Uranus in something like the twentieth degree of Pisces. Though this is a fairly minor aspect, it's impact can be of considerable temporary importance at the relevant time, signifying some degree of immediate difficulty. This can be further augmented by the fact that Uranus will will also be in trine to the moon at some point during the day.

The Neptune trine with the planets can provide enhanced illusory qualities to the day, night, and time in question, yet it too offers some degree of difficulty through a quincunx with the moon. Though this aspect is even more transitory in nature due to the relative speed of the lunar orbit, it can be considerable during its time of greatest effect, which will be during the time of the equinox.

All of which of course means nothing if you choose to ignore it, but if you choose to tap into those very subtle energies, and have the expertise and patience to do so, it can certainly add to the days and nights festivities.

UPDATE-Aaaargghh I missed some things. Not only are both Neptune and Uranus also retrograde, but early in the day the Moon will be in opposition to Jupiter in the 12th degree of Capricorn.

Okay, I guess that's all.

News And A Special Announcement

Before the announcement, just a few quick notes, what you might call random shit. I just got through defragmenting my discs, and man oh man what a fucking hassle. Hopefully it will be worth it because I don't want to have to go through that shit again in a hurry.

I've spent the last few days trying to get the bugs ironed out in my computer, and turned to Dell Support. They did a bunch of shit for me, but just when they were going to defragment my discs, the Microsoft program took that chore over.

I downloaded a bunch of other shit, most of which I fairly quickly decided I didn't want, didn't need, and had absolutely no use for. But, on the plus side, since I'm now on high speed internet-well, it's not the highest speed but it's at least about eight and a half times faster than what I had-I was finally able to download java, which was cool, and a few other things like flash players and the like.

Probably the coolest thing I've downloaded though is Open Office from Sun. It's a lot like Microsoft Word, only maybe better. One small inconvenience is there's nothing for deleting large passages, but that's no big deal, I guess you can use your keyboard for that.

The coolest thing about it is you can make your own PDF documents with it. I might be wrong here, but I don't think you can do that with Microsoft Word. Or if you can I sure missed it.

Finally, an announcement. Since I can now watch and listen to YouTube, and can download them onto the blog without them slowing me down, I have a very good one, a music video, that I plan to download as a Mabon Sabbat special. Mabon is of course a special day for many pagans, especially Wiccans, and takes place during the Autumn Equinox. It marks the beginning of the fall, when the days grow shorter and the nights longer. It marks one of the three harvest festivals, and heralds the approaching death of the god and his descent into the underworld at Samhain (Halloween), from which he will be reborn at Yule (Winter Solstice).

In the material "underworld", Australia and all countries south of the Equator, the coming day of the Autumn Equinox actually marks for them the Vernal Equinox, called Ostara-the first day of spring. At any rate, the music video that I have chosen to post in celebration of this day could easily fit in with either of the two Sabbats.

I won't say what it is right now, but I'll give you a hint. It is in my opinion one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded, though ironically by one of the most pretentious bands in all rock history. I don't let that, however, nor the fact that this band is technically Christian (in fact, they are Catholic) discourage my appreciation for this particular song. It is that good. It rocks. It kicks ass. And it's the perfect theme for the coming Mabon (or Ostara) Sabbat.

Coming here in just a very few days.

Herod's Revenge

It looks like we might get Benjamin Netanyahu back in Israel here pretty soon. According to most polls his Likud Party would win handily in the next elections, which might come in about four months if current would-be Prime Minister Livni, of the Kadima Party, is unable to form a coalition government. The major obstacle to this is the ultra-right wing Shas Party. The major sticking point-the status of Jerusalem. Shas demands that it not be divided and remain totally under Israeli control. Livni, a former Mossad agent, has pledged to work toward peace with the Palestinians be negotiating a withdrawal from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in return for guarantees of Israeli security.

She won the last election, held in the aftermath of the resignation of Ehud Ohlmert, but she did so by the skin of her teeth, by just something like 500 votes.

Whoever the next president is, he is going to have a full plate of Middle East delicacies by the time he unpacks and settles in. I can pretty much envision the two different scenarios. Obama will send Joe Biden on a "fact-finding" mission, and within a few months a "peace deal" will be agreed upon, complete with a signing in the White House Rose Garden that will all fall apart in a matter of months, not years.

McCain will probably send Joe Liebermann, who will use pretty much the same approach, though there is less likely to be any artificial and pretentious "peace" deals.

This is going to turn into a big mess and there will be no easy answers, nor in fact any answers for a good time to come.

So why are we involved? The answer to this, of course, is that this is yet one more example of a fucking European mess that the US is expected to clean up, and which we will be excoriated for not doing so-by Europeans as much if not more than anybody else.

I have an idea. The European countries should take in nine or ten million more Arab/Muslim refugees. Really, they should.

Manson Sings

First we have the Beach Boys in a television appearance singing "Never Learn Not To Love", which is the song Dennis Wilson bought from Charles Manson for five hundred dollars and was originally titled "Cease To Exist". It appeared on the album 20/20 with Wilson credited as the songwriter. This was allegedly in return for Manson trashing his house and one of his girls giving Manson the clap.



Wilson changed a few words in the song as well as the title. "Cease to exist", in the Beach Boys version, becomes "cease to resist", while "give it to your brother" becomes "give it to your lover".

Below is the original version as sung by Charles Manson.



He sounds quite different than I imagined he would.

Give Me The Fucking Keys You Cocksucking Motherfucking *#&@(A(A#@#)@_@_

Does anybody have any idea what happened to Steven Baldwin? I mean, seriously, its one thing to be a Christian and to live that life to the fullest extent, but it’s something else again to turn into a serious nut job. I get it, that he thinks he’s got to be extra extra hardcore in order to prove to his fellow conservative Christians that he’s not like those “other” Baldwin boys, but really.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, Baldwin appeared two days ago at the Values Voters Forum, where, among other things, he declared jihad on-Gossip Girl, the CW television show. For those interested in hearing his remarks in their entirety, this link will take you to the YouTube page where you can view his remarks, separated onto several separate videos.

Now, I want to make it clear, I actually agree with him up to a point. The CW markets this show to young teens and tweens in what many might legitimately say is in very inappropriate ways. The answer to that problem is don’t let your kid watch the show. If it makes you feel better, organize a petition drive and a letter writing campaign and threaten a boycott. Before you do all that, though, watch the show. It might actually not be that bad. It might even be positive on balance.

Okay, I doubt that myself, at least about this show in particular, but here’s the point. Sex sells, and sex is indeed a marketing tool. I’ve heard cars referred to in television ads as sexy. That doesn’t mean auto companies are promoting backseat sex in highway rest stops. Therefore, you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that you can judge all television programs solely by the way in which they are marketed.

I mainly hope this doesn’t turn into another resurgence of advocacy of censorship. That’s one thing I can’t stomach, either from liberal Democrats or from conservative Christians/Republicans. And yes, liberal Democrats have their own particular brand of censorship, which has been over the years actually more successful than the conservative variety. If you don’t believe me, ask Don Imus.

Nor am I against Conservatives/Christians/Republicans pushing for "decent" programming. In fact, I encourage them to do that, and to support them when such programs are aired. I just hope they don't think they should try to saturate the market, nor expect the rest of us to like it if they try.

After all, this holds the danger of turning into another extreme if not held in bounds. Steven Baldwin even made the statement that you shouldn’t watch The Usual Suspects, a show in which he was one of the main stars, and which is one of my all time favorite flicks.

I’ve searched my memory high and low to try to fathom what his reason was for making this very deliberate and serious statement, and I don’t get it. There is no pornography in the film, nor in fact is there any sex whatsoever. I am kind of thinking that this particular segment is what is eating at him.




There is also considerable violence, in addition to cursing, but he himself said at the conference that this was acceptable as long as there was some greater point, because that is how “the world” is, therefore contradicting himself and possibly revealing a degree of self-loathing that is troubling. He even announced he would soon be appearing in such a movie, one that had “cussing” and yet had “values”.

So, what exactly is he getting at here? Is he saying that movies and television should preach values? Isn’t that what these people usually complain about the left doing, using television and film to promote their agendas? How is this any different from a practical perspective?

Frankly, I think he is letting certain people screw around with his head, and I’m not too eager to let them inside my own.

The Usual Suspects was one of the greatest movies ever made, excellently written, directed, acted-you name it. It was one of the most effective and creative crime dramas/mysteries of all time.

When it comes to the movies and television, that's the only kind of "values" that I care about.

Biden Floats A Trial Lead Balloon

And what does he get?