Sunday, May 06, 2007
Radu-Part One Of A Novel By Patrick Kelley
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Saturday, April 28, 2007
Special Announcement
I had fully intended last Monday to post a portion of a novel I'm writing. Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten as far along with it as I had hoped to be by that time. Moreover, I wasn't satisfied sufficiently with what I had written to where I felt comfortable posting it.
However, I am far enough along now, and am sufficiently satisfied that I can promise that it will be posted sometime over the next couple of days. Like I said, it won't be a complete novel, just a portion, what I will have completed up to that time. As of now, I have 47 pages. I assume that to be the equivalent of 47 typewritten pages. By the time it is finished it will be somewhere between there and 50 pages, probably closer to the latter. It will be roughly 40,000 words. Yeah, a lot for a blog post, I know. Hopefully it will fit into one blog page.
After I post it, I will resume working on it after a couple of days rest. I won't be posting any more blog posts for a week or so, maybe two. But this big a blog post is probably better served by allowing it to remain at the top of the blog for more than two or three days anyway.
Feel free to comment if you feel inclined. Any constructive criticism is of course welcome. Just be gentle please, remember this is my first time. I won't be posting any more of this novel regardless, still I thought it would be something different. Plus, the idea of doing this is the incentive I need to actually stop thinking about writing a novel and actually start writing the damn thing. So far it's worked.
Otherwise, I am not going to say anything here about what the novel is about, the kind of novel it is, or anything else about it. I'm not even going to tell you what the title will be. For one thing, I haven't really decided on that yet. The title I give it will probably be a working title. Maybe I'll keep it, maybe once it's finally finished I will call it something else.
Well, that's it for now. The next post you see will be the novel, then that will be it for awhile. Feel free to read at your leisure, and leave whatever comment you want.
Later.
However, I am far enough along now, and am sufficiently satisfied that I can promise that it will be posted sometime over the next couple of days. Like I said, it won't be a complete novel, just a portion, what I will have completed up to that time. As of now, I have 47 pages. I assume that to be the equivalent of 47 typewritten pages. By the time it is finished it will be somewhere between there and 50 pages, probably closer to the latter. It will be roughly 40,000 words. Yeah, a lot for a blog post, I know. Hopefully it will fit into one blog page.
After I post it, I will resume working on it after a couple of days rest. I won't be posting any more blog posts for a week or so, maybe two. But this big a blog post is probably better served by allowing it to remain at the top of the blog for more than two or three days anyway.
Feel free to comment if you feel inclined. Any constructive criticism is of course welcome. Just be gentle please, remember this is my first time. I won't be posting any more of this novel regardless, still I thought it would be something different. Plus, the idea of doing this is the incentive I need to actually stop thinking about writing a novel and actually start writing the damn thing. So far it's worked.
Otherwise, I am not going to say anything here about what the novel is about, the kind of novel it is, or anything else about it. I'm not even going to tell you what the title will be. For one thing, I haven't really decided on that yet. The title I give it will probably be a working title. Maybe I'll keep it, maybe once it's finally finished I will call it something else.
Well, that's it for now. The next post you see will be the novel, then that will be it for awhile. Feel free to read at your leisure, and leave whatever comment you want.
Later.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Obsessions
I’ve been asked to do a meme by Sonia Belle, so I’m going to do it, because I need a break anyway. I’m not going to tag anybody though, because most of the time that I tag anybody they ignore me. So I’ll just let my end stop with me. But this particular meme is kind of interesting. It’ a request to do a list of things that you are obsessed with.
At first, I thought it would be hard to come up with much of a list, but it didn’t take me long to start thinking about it before the list really started to flow in my mind. The following list, however, is not made in the order of importance. That comes and goes.
1. Politics-I hate it, and the polticians who politic it, and the government(s) they aspire to. They poison society and culture. And in those rare instances when a true leader arises, one that might really be more than just a shill, a demagoque, it’s hard to view that person without a degree of cynicism. Of course, this might be the one healthy aspect of politics in general. On the other hand, a leaders political enemies will try to destroy him, come what may. I’ve come to the conclusion that Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and John McCain might be collectively the greatest leaders the world has ever known, because there are always some people somewhere that are trying to destroy them. Same with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
But then I take a deep breathe and say, well, that’s just politics. By the same token, it’s hard not to draw comparisons in the way George W. Bush-commonly called “The Chimp”-has been treated, to how similar was the treatment afforded Abraham Lincoln-commonly called a “gorilla”. Especially when you consider that both were as much hated by the European elites as they were by their political and journalistic enemies at home, both for pretty much the same reasons, in essence.
2. Religion-Both my own and others. What really makes it interesting is I realize that mine is fucking absurd, but few other people make the connection. How can people buy into this crap? People have allowed themselves to be enslaved by a set of dogmas that might at one time have been an aspect of evolutionary necessity, and as a result it has become so much a part of the human psyche that you just can’t shake it off. As a result, we all have allowed our own natural, innate human social bonds and drives to be hijacked and held for ransom in a fantasy world that is slowly unraveling with each successive period of advancement. And of course it is going to be traumatic, but in the end, people have got to say, “look, there is good and bad, right and wrong. We don’t have to have a god to know that.” Admittedly, religion when it is utilized right adds to the charm and mystery of life and provides a great deal of comfort and symbolic inspiration. But when you really literally believe in shit like the great flood, or The Tower of Babel, or in gods swallowing their children whole and then regurgitating them alive years later, fully grown, then you have transcended common sense. No matter how much you try to pretend otherwise, you are a fucking nut.
3. Political Correctness-Anybody that knows me in the least knows that if you want me to not take a word you say seriously, start spouting this shit off to me. I hate it no matter who spouts it off, and how. I hate it when the “left” spouts it. I hate it when the “right” spouts it. I hate it when the “middle” spouts it. Mainly because I see it for what it is, a means to stifle debate and dissent, and to categorize opposing points of view in derogatory terms. Like politics and fundamentalist religion, it poisons society and culture. When I hear common, ordinary people say it, I know that nine times out of ten they are just repeating what they’ve read or heard and accepted it either to fit in or because it fits their own preconceived world views. Rarely do they ever try to pick it apart and separate the valid aspects of it from the bullshit aspects that make up the bulk of what it is. Sometimes I feel sorry for them. Sometime I hope their own shit blows up in their faces just so I can have the pleasure of seeing how they cope with the inconsistencies of belief to reality. When I hear politicians and pundits do it, I want the same thing to happen to them, and more. I want them to shit all over themselves in public. When I catch myself doing it, I want to slap myself silly.
4. Prison Break-My favorite television show, by far. Nothing else comes close, even though in some respects it is ridiculous. Inconsistencies abound compared to the reality of prison life, or life on the run. Not that I know from experience, but still, some things are just obvious. But still, this is one of those programs that is so well written, despite the inconsistencies, I find myself glued to my seat while it is on. The characters are great, as are the actors that portray them, and the dialoque, action, suspense, and overall plot development is so well thought out, so gripping, it would easily qualify as an addiction. I guess that is because of the adrenaline rush. When it’s over, I find myself thinking out scenarios as to how the next episode is going to go, though I rarely end up being close. But that is another good thing, the surprise element. It is coming back for a third season, on August, either the 27th or 29th.
5. Love-It amazes me how people make jackasses out of themselves over it. I used to be one of the worse offenders, and if I met the right person, probably would do so again. I don’t know though. Over the years, I have learned not only the value, but the pleasure of solitude. It translates as PEACE. But people that are obsessed with love don’t seem to regard PEACE as highly as they do PIECE. Until of course it gets old and then there they are, tied down to a bunch of obnoxious brats and their lives are shit, precisely because their lives are no longer their own, and so they live them through their kids by trying to turn them into decent worthwhile human beings. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to work, anyway. But let’s face it, nobody would buy into this shit if they weren’t lured into it by the fantasy of love. Then, when the fantasy fades, there you are-TRAPPED. Of course, it can still work out, the kids can grow up worthwhile, you can retain that love and it can grow and blossom, I know all that, and how it’s the building block of society and culture, etc. My only question is, is it worth the risk on the off chance that it is going to end up like well over half of the relationships that are just nothing but crap? I guess it depends on your perspective.
6. Goth Chicks-If I ever do fall in love again, it will probably be to a woman with purple hair, multiple piercings, and tattoos. Admittedly, I could never fit in with the Goth Culture, I just think it’s cool and artistic, even though I concede a lot of the people in it are probably pretentious little nerds and some might be a little on the psychotic side. But hell, you find that in every culture-and sub-culture. And I’ll probably never have a Goth girlfriend, and I’m not sure I want one. The novelty would probably wear off, for one thing, and it would end, probably badly, or she would cross over to my dull and boring lifestyle, or I would make a complete ass of myself and have my tonque split. But I do, in the meantime, think they are pretty, and sexy, and provocative, and alluring. So, on the off chance that anyone reading this is a Goth chick, do you want to watch me jack off?
7. My Cat-This is the one living thing that I love besides myself and my mother, and a few friends and family members. But I list the cat as an obsession because I know it’s dependent on me, especially seeing as how it suffers from epilepsy, which is something I myself used to struggle with. It’s dependent on me, and loves me. Now I know some people are going to say, it just loves you because you feed it, stop feeding it and see how long it stays around. My response to that-stop feeding your kids and your wife. Stop supporting them. At the very least, don’t provide for anything more than their absolute basic necessities, and spend all the rest of your money that you want to or can just on yourself. See how long they “stay around”. Same with everybody else in your life, don’t give them shit that you absolutely don’t have to. Your best friend is in a bind through not fault of his own and he can’t feed his family or pay the rent or bills. He asks you for two hundred dollars. You could easily afford it with little or no problem but you tell him, “sorry, I’m going to buy me and ipod and a case of beer and some cigarettes and catch a movie. Besides, your family is not my responsibility.” Yep, you can kiss that friendship goodbye. So don’t fuck with me about my cat.
8. Magic-I know how it works. I’ve done it. I’ve practiced it, sometimes successfully, sometimes with mixed results, sometimes with no effect whatsoever, and sometimes it’s blown up in my face. But it’s real, and that is because if it is done right, it involves a certain kind of energy that everyone possesses naturally, and with training, study, and practice can utilize it. You just have to know how to utilize it. Yes, a lot of it involves psychology and self-hypnosis. But it is also a real energy that has nothing to do with deities or spirits. Like I said, it’s natural. That’s all I can tell you. Well, unless you want to pay me. A lot.
9. Books-I’m the kind of person that judges them not so much by their covers, but by their titles. If a book has a catchy, compelling title, I want to to read it. Of course, if it turns out shitty, that’s a different story, but of course I don’t judge by just that criterion, I also go by author, subject matter, and genre. I’m obsessed with writing my own, and one of my goals is to write trashy literature. That doesn’t mean what it sounds like. I mean to be able to write something that is appealing on several different levels. I want it to have commercial appeal, be trashy, smutty, violent, mysterious, engaging, humorous, inspiring, gripping, seductive, thought provoking, irreverent, and subversive. And I want it still to qualify as literature. Think of a collaborative effort involving John Grisham, Mark Twain, Steven King, John Steinbeck, Elmore Leonard, William Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and the Marquis de Sade, and you’ve pretty much got the general idea.
10. Mythology-Yeah, Sonia Belle, you called it right when you guessed one of my obsessions would be paganism, but maybe not in the way you think. I appreciate the genius of mythology and how it speaks to everyday life. That applies to Christian mythology as well as pagan varieties, and yes I know this might sound like I’m repeating myself in that I’ve already listed religion as an obsession. But true mythology and ritual transcends religion. What I am referring to recognizes the difference between mythology and literal fact. One that recognizes the deities as real in a distinct way, as representing universal energies and distinct, separate yet interconnected powers that exist throughout nature, and as components that are indwelling within the human psyche, or what Jeung called “archetypes”. There are many ways of viewing them, actually. All of them have certain degrees of validity. At the same time, all of them are bullshit. But mythology is a way to connect with them in a way that is inspiring and uplifting. Until you take them too seriously, at which point you have crossed that fine line over into first neurosis, then psychosis, and then pure unadulterated insanity. So that would be the difference in the obsessions of religion and mythology. Both can be positive, but it is when the mythological aspects are discounted that the religion itself becomes dogmatic, oppressive, corrupt, and insane.
11. Science-Something I don’t know shit about, still I am obsessed with it. But that provides me an advantage. Because I’m on the outside looking in, I can recognize the bullshit from the true, even if I don’t know how to explain it even in layman's terms. Science, like religion, can be dogmatic. And the world of theory is something I am very much at home in. To give you an example-someone once proposed studying ways to transmute matter, to break it down by it’s molecules and then reassemble it elsewhere, like the matter transmitter on Star Trek, or “The Fly”. Not being a scientist, I still knew this was a boondoggle to get federal money from the government. It’s impossible. So is time travel. That is because there is, in my opinion, no such thing as a past or a future, there is just a now. Even if you could theoretically go back to the past, say for example to the time of Christ, there would be nothing there, because the world has left the point in space and time where it was in that past. Same with the future. The world hasn’t gotten to that point in time or space yet, so you would end up in a vacuum. This makes sense to me if to no one else. The past is written in stone, but the future is a blank slate, dependent on countless trillions of decisions to be made that could go in any number of ways, with no assurance whatsoever as to the actual choices, or consequences. How can you transcend that process? The answer in my opinion is, you can’t, at least not physically, and that is probably a good thing. It was probably wholly unintentional. But it’s still just the way it is. No god or whatever planned it that way. It’s just natural. I know people, including scientists, will disagree, but I don’t care. I know I’m right. Just don’t expect me to be able to explain it any better than I just now have.
12. Mysteries-All kinds of mysteries. Murder mysteries. The paranormal. Spirits. UFO’s. Psychic phenomena. Conspiracy theories. The Kennedy assassination. By the way, yes, it was a conspiracy, involving a small handful of people knowingly involved, none of who are probably who you think they were. Yes, Oswald was a part of it. Ruby was not. Not until after the fact anyway. No, the mafia was not involved in it, though one mafia member in particular was originally intended to be the fall guy, until he got out of a jam he was in that put him in a better position to protect himself. No more fall guy. That’s why the whole thing ended up looking like shit. The government was also not involved. Neither was the military industrial complex, the KKK, foreign governments or cabals, intelligence services, the oil industry or big business, LBJ, the Bush family, or anti-Castro forces, or pro-Castro forces. So who was? I’m not saying, because I can’t prove it. And though the fucking nut that was the head of the conspiracy is dead and gone, the man that actually did the bulk of the work is still alive and kicking, the last I heard. Most of the other people that were involved were just manipulated in ways that they didn’t realize what was really going on, and once they found out, nothing could be done about it. One guy thought he was involved in a plot to get Castro, for example. So there you have it. Anyway, that is the extent for the most part of my belief in conspiracy theories. A lot of the other things I listed are things for which there are probably natural, scientific explanations for, and that is how I approach them, as mysteries to be solved. Not as “supernatural”, but as perfectly natural forces that just haven’t been explained yet. Or maybe in some cases as delusions, mass hysteria, or outright bullshit. But those are possible explanations as well. As for real life crime and murder mysteries, chalk that up to an addiction to Mickey Spillane.
13. Jack The Ripper-The murder mystery to end all murder mysteries, the granddaddy of them all. After a great deal of study, I’ve come to the conclusion that he probably wasn’t the artist Walter Sickert, but he probably was instead somebody that had at one time in his life got into some kind of trouble that caused him to be kicked out of the Masons, more than likely for some kind of sexual misconduct that at least bordered on perversion, if not outright violence. There is also of course the slight chance the person knew Masonic lore through a relatives' involvement. Do to the use of several Americanisms in his written communications, and the fact that what are referred to as the canonical murders ceased sometime late in 1888, I have decided he-or they-might well have been an American with a connection to the embassy in London. There was a change in Administrations after that American election year, when the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland was defeated by the Republican Benjamin Harrison, after which of course a new ambassador was appointed, who brought with him his own staff. Whoever the person was might well have had a connection to Sickert, who himself was an associate of the American artist and expatriot Whistler. It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but at least I’m not destroying artistic masterpieces as a means of trying to prove my theory. It might well be worth looking into, however, certain possibilities, like for example the occurrence of similar Ripper like murders in proximity to persons who might have been associated with the American embassy in Britain during the first Cleveland term. Or to people known to have been banned from the Masons.
14. History-Love it. Nuff said. I also love sausage, and don’t give a shit how it’s made or what it’s made of. I will make it myself, and then I will eat it. That is how I look at history. I want to know all of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. That includes, but is not limited to, American history. I don’t want to see it though rose colored glasses, but at the same time, I’m not interested in anything that is driven by any kind of anti-American bias, or any other kind. I just want the fucking truth, no matter what it is. Is that too much to ask for? I guess you can include my love of archeology and anthropology, and I guess sociology, as a subset of my obsession for history. Who knows what answers these sciences together might one day reveal? Sometimes, I wonder if maybe the Great Pyramid of Giza might in reality turn out to have been no more than a grandiose, massive beer or ale brewery. Or at the most, nothing but a mortuary center for use by anyone who could afford the service, or willing to put themselves in thrall to somebody that could, just for the sake of assurance of a blessed afterlife. By the time all is said and done, belief in God, religion, ethics, morality, etc., might all eventually turn out to be based on nothing more profound than some guy at some point preventing some atrocity, not for any foreseeable gain on his part, but perhaps because he himself had previously barely survived a similar circumstance. Who knows?
15. Society-To be more precise, social pretensions, manners, the general pecking order we all bow down to. It’s ridiculous but we all do it, me as much as anyone, but at least I see through it. I honestly believe we are all nothing but animals. The highest level of animal on this planet, no doubt of that, but animals all the same. Anything that bursts our bubbles of pretentiousness in that regard is to be applauded. Anytime some arrogant asshole cuts loose a rip-roaring fart, or slips and falls on his ass on the ice, or literally shits his or her pants full, or anything. Some people are mortified if they so much as burp or hiccup. The more embarrassed they are, the worse it becomes, thus the more hilarious the results. That is because when that happens to somebody else, especially some person that considers him or herself to be the pinnacle of the utmost standards of behavior, we see that person distilled down to his or her true essence, an animal, no better or no worse than the rest of us, and they see it too. This is the entire essence of the story of the Garden of Eden. We are no more than animals, no matter how high in esteem we hold ourselves and wish to attain, and if we fail to see that, that truth is going to manifest itself, one way or another, until you eventually fall down to the level that you are and always were. A miserable fucking beast.
16. Music-I especially used to be obsessed with rock music, couldn’t get enough of it, and it is still my favorite, but now I like all kinds. Country, blues, jazz, metal, alternative, even rap and hip hop (though, by the way, I’m not sure I understand the distinction in those two related though apparently different genres). I can appreciate rap on an artistic level while not overlooking the reputedly pernicious influences on black urban youth and the white middle class suburban youths as well. Hopefully this can be addressed in ways that do not amount to censorship, and in the meantime, I like it, have ever since a friend convinced me to sit through the entire CD of Tupac Shakur released under the name Makavelli. I loved it, and started hearing rap from a different perspective from that time on. I also like classical, by the way, and though I can’t say I love opera, I am enthralled with the possibilities the genre contains. I would like one day to compose an opera based on the myth of Aradia, for example. Of course, I’d better learn something about writing and composing music first, something I don’t know shit about. Maybe a rock opera instead. Yep, rock remains far and away my favorite.
17. Food And Drink-Though I’m a barbarian at heart, I am obsessed with one day experiencing fine cuisine and wine and other drink. I love a good mixed drink, and have been known to invent my own. Here’s a good one. Mix to suit your own taste some vanilla ice cream and peach schnappes, add a dash or two of grenadine syrup, and garnish with two or three cherries. As for food, it doesn’t really have to be anything extravagant, I just love a good meal. And I love to prepare them. By the same token, I have to admit I doubt I’m going to be running any four star restaurants anytime soon.
18. Creative endeavors in general-Fashion (sorry, Sonia), art (though I don’t understand diddly squat shit about it, I still enjoy it), architecture, television, movies, drama, poetry, and even in some cases commercial advertising.
19. Technology-I’ll never be an inventor of anything great or important, but I like to keep up on new shit that comes out, and this includes the fields of medicine. It seems like every time I come up with my own ideas for an invention, I end up finding out somebody has already done it, so I’ll just shut up. I also like the idea of cloning, provided it is done with oversight, to prevent such abuse as, say, somebody purposely creating a race of subservient slave laborers, as the Soviet Union was once accused (probably falsely, but who’s to say) of tinkering with. By the same token, I admit to being fascinated by the concept of the creation of races of animal people. Bird people, cat people, snake people, etc. Yeah, it would probably be a bad idea, I guess. But I bet somebody eventually does it, just because at some point it time, they will be able to do so. When you stop to think about it, if you see somebody lounging around and suddenly he reaches over and starts licking his balls, or he walks up to you and starts sniffing your ass, well, I guess it’s just how you look at things. Just say “no, no”, pet him or her on the head, and go about your business. After all, they might just think they’re being polite.
20. Animals, Nature, Environment-Yeah, I’m obsessed with it. I’m just not a fucking nut about it. Of course I want a clean environment, a thriving world ecosystem, abundant rain forests, and a solution to global warming. Of course I believe in animal rights, and human rights. But you have to be reasonable as to how you go about things. Sometimes moderation is not only the best policy, it might in many cases be the only one that can hope to work in the long term. And unfortunately, like it or not, there might come a time when people just have to face the facts that there is nothing they can do. They can do so, or they can go around wiping their asses with one square of toilet paper. In the long run, the result will probably be the same, only you’ll have dried shit caked on your ass.
21. Charities-Some of them do good work, needed work, work that the government and others can’t or won’t do, but at the same time, I am resentful of the fact that most of them have become de facto big business entities. They pay their directors and VPs, etc., huge sums of money amounting in many cases to seven figure yearly salaries in addition to bonuses, an expense account, and other perks. Some are even given their own homes and a new automobile every year. It’s obscene. And some of these companies have a list of salaried personnel as long as your arm, while employing bottom level wage earners that make little more than minimum wage, and in some cases less than that. They get by with this by keeping them as “part time workers”, without benefits. And in a good many cases, once you add up all the overhead and other expenses, very little of what they raise actually goes into the charity they purport to raise all this money for. It has turned into a sham and a shell game. Then there are the ones that run the PACS and influence legislation, the most atrocious ones of all in some cases. I think they should all pay taxes. Yes, that includes the churches. Not on money that goes to the charities, just on the money they raise that goes to other things. Especially salaries. Plus, they should be required to pay overtime and all their wage earning employees should have to be counted as full time employees. Yeah, I’m a hardass, sue me.
22. The National Debt-It should be the governments highest priority to pay this shit down to a manageable level, in fact, it should be a long term goal to pay the fucking thing off, and enact legislation to where it would be a criminal offense to ever allow it to get any higher than 500 billion dollars, ever again. I don’t care how they do it. Just do it. Put all that money back into Social Security, which is exactly what the money to pay it off will be coming from if it’s not paid off in other ways. If there really is such thing as a “right wing conspiracy”-this is it. This leads me to another obsession.
23. Foreign Affairs- Bring our soldiers home from all over the world-not just Iraq, but every fucking where, including Europe, and let the fuckers fend for themselves. Then we can cut the Pentagon budget in half and still pay for our needs and our veterans needs. It’s time for the rest of the world to grow the fuck up, and they want us out of their lives anyway, right? Well, so be it. Let the Europeans solve the Darfur crisis, after all, they are the ones that paved the way for it, it’s frankly not our problem. They also started half the other shit in the world, including most of what has happened in the Middle East, another of their former group of colonies, after the fall of The Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey-another European country, come to think of it. So they want to bitch at us to solve these problems that they started and caused to fester. Fuck them. The chickens have come home to roost, and the crowing is just barely started. It’s only the US’s problem if we allow it to be. If we want to be involved in another country’s problems, let’s declare war on Mexico, overthrow the corrupt white descendants of the Spanish conquistadors that have run roughshod over the mixed Indian majority of the population. Then we can help them build that country, to where they don’t feel they have to flood in over here and bring our country down to a third world level. We can gradually start building a level of advancement throughout Central and South America. Not run roughshod over them, just help them develop, and establish a fair trade policy with them, based on real economic growth and rule of law which benefits all the people. Then they can immigrate over here legally if they want, and we there, and as their economies develop, we won’t have to worry about our companies abandoning American workers to get slave labor from those indigent populations. And we won’t really have to invade the country to accomplish this, just secure our borders, stop propping up the ruling elites of Mexico, and fund a true democratic movement among the people there. Let the rulers and their families suffer the consequences of their actions, one thing we won’t have to supply is the rope or the will to hang them with it. By the time all that comes together, maybe fifty years from now, maybe we can buy the great works of art and architecture from Europe and have the best of it shipped over here, before the ruling caliphs and mullahs decide to burn or bulldoze them. Jerusalem? Again, not our problem. There will be Jews from all over the world immigrating to America from Europe over the course of the next few decades, four or five million more won’t make that big a difference. I think they might like Utah, or maybe the Virgin Islands. Or Mexico. Or wherever. It will be interesting though, to see how much the Right supports them when they start coming over here. Who knows, though, maybe after a few more decades have come and gone, they’ll be able to go back to Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and learn how to process nuclear energy from the ruins of Mecca, and other surrounding areas.
24. Energy-Not particularly worried about it, because I know it’s a problem that can and will be solved. The major cause of the problem is increased population, which results in ever increasing energy needs. If we don’t solve it, nature will. She has a full-proof plan to deal with overextended populations. It’s called death. She does it all the time, sometimes en masse. In the meantime, know that most energy supplies you can envision have temporary lifespans their own selves. That includes, by the way, nuclear energy. Think about it. If there are limits to how much oil there is in the world, then how much more limited do you think the supply of uranium is? And this is not to be interpreted as a discouragement of the use of nuclear energy. Far from it. Just that, like everything else, it has it’s benefits, it’s drawbacks, and it’s limitations. Even the fucking sun is going to go out one of these days, believe it or not.
25. The Constitution-Most people haven't caught on to the simple fact that the Bill of Rights were written in order to limit the power of the Federal Government over the states. It then evolved to where it limited the power of both the federal and state governments over private citizens, after the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment. This just doesn't mean that the First was meant to do so, and then the Third through the Tenth, and the Second was something that should be interpreted a different way. It means what it means. Private citizens are a potential militia, and have the right to keep and bear arms, as a means of keeping the power of the government in check. Of course, sometimes shit happens, some nut gets a gun and kills a bunch of people. Shit happens with the First Amendment as well. If you're going to chuck one, then by god chuck all of them. Otherwise, leave them all alone, including the Second Amendment.
26. How The Universe Was Formed-No, I don’t believe it was a product of any kind of blueprint, or intelligent design, and yes, I do think it formed naturally, and evolved. But I always wondered how. How does something come from nothing? Well, it had to somehow, right? Even if you accept for the sake of argument there is a Creator or Creatrix, a God or a Goddess, who created everything, then you are left with the enigma of where He, or She, or They came from. So you’re back to square one. Well, I don’t believe in an intelligent creation, I believe in the formation, not creation,of the universe. Some people, maybe a majority of the scientific community, at least, take it back to the “Big Bang”, others believe that another natural force is at work. But one thing I do know, there was never at any time in history “nothing”. There has always been “something”. So what could that have been, that one original form of energy which eventually developed into other, more complex forms, which then evolved from there into others? Some people just say “oh, there was these swirling gases and”- but that misses the point. What were these “swirling gases”? And where did they come from? Yep, I know, arrogant as that might sound. Not that big a deal. If you think long and hard about it, you can pretty well figure out what that first and original form of energy was, and you don’t really have to be a great scientific intellect to figure out the basic manner in which it evolved, and from there, how all else was eventually formed. Maybe not in every exact detail, but enough to where it becomes easy to see in general terms. It might even start to seem all too obvious. Some of you would probably smack yourselves on the forehead and say, “so that’s it”. No, I’m not going to say it. Well, unless somebody wants to pony up maybe ten million dollars, then I’ll tell, but you’ll have to be satisfied with it. No refunds.
At first, I thought it would be hard to come up with much of a list, but it didn’t take me long to start thinking about it before the list really started to flow in my mind. The following list, however, is not made in the order of importance. That comes and goes.
1. Politics-I hate it, and the polticians who politic it, and the government(s) they aspire to. They poison society and culture. And in those rare instances when a true leader arises, one that might really be more than just a shill, a demagoque, it’s hard to view that person without a degree of cynicism. Of course, this might be the one healthy aspect of politics in general. On the other hand, a leaders political enemies will try to destroy him, come what may. I’ve come to the conclusion that Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and John McCain might be collectively the greatest leaders the world has ever known, because there are always some people somewhere that are trying to destroy them. Same with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
But then I take a deep breathe and say, well, that’s just politics. By the same token, it’s hard not to draw comparisons in the way George W. Bush-commonly called “The Chimp”-has been treated, to how similar was the treatment afforded Abraham Lincoln-commonly called a “gorilla”. Especially when you consider that both were as much hated by the European elites as they were by their political and journalistic enemies at home, both for pretty much the same reasons, in essence.
2. Religion-Both my own and others. What really makes it interesting is I realize that mine is fucking absurd, but few other people make the connection. How can people buy into this crap? People have allowed themselves to be enslaved by a set of dogmas that might at one time have been an aspect of evolutionary necessity, and as a result it has become so much a part of the human psyche that you just can’t shake it off. As a result, we all have allowed our own natural, innate human social bonds and drives to be hijacked and held for ransom in a fantasy world that is slowly unraveling with each successive period of advancement. And of course it is going to be traumatic, but in the end, people have got to say, “look, there is good and bad, right and wrong. We don’t have to have a god to know that.” Admittedly, religion when it is utilized right adds to the charm and mystery of life and provides a great deal of comfort and symbolic inspiration. But when you really literally believe in shit like the great flood, or The Tower of Babel, or in gods swallowing their children whole and then regurgitating them alive years later, fully grown, then you have transcended common sense. No matter how much you try to pretend otherwise, you are a fucking nut.
3. Political Correctness-Anybody that knows me in the least knows that if you want me to not take a word you say seriously, start spouting this shit off to me. I hate it no matter who spouts it off, and how. I hate it when the “left” spouts it. I hate it when the “right” spouts it. I hate it when the “middle” spouts it. Mainly because I see it for what it is, a means to stifle debate and dissent, and to categorize opposing points of view in derogatory terms. Like politics and fundamentalist religion, it poisons society and culture. When I hear common, ordinary people say it, I know that nine times out of ten they are just repeating what they’ve read or heard and accepted it either to fit in or because it fits their own preconceived world views. Rarely do they ever try to pick it apart and separate the valid aspects of it from the bullshit aspects that make up the bulk of what it is. Sometimes I feel sorry for them. Sometime I hope their own shit blows up in their faces just so I can have the pleasure of seeing how they cope with the inconsistencies of belief to reality. When I hear politicians and pundits do it, I want the same thing to happen to them, and more. I want them to shit all over themselves in public. When I catch myself doing it, I want to slap myself silly.
4. Prison Break-My favorite television show, by far. Nothing else comes close, even though in some respects it is ridiculous. Inconsistencies abound compared to the reality of prison life, or life on the run. Not that I know from experience, but still, some things are just obvious. But still, this is one of those programs that is so well written, despite the inconsistencies, I find myself glued to my seat while it is on. The characters are great, as are the actors that portray them, and the dialoque, action, suspense, and overall plot development is so well thought out, so gripping, it would easily qualify as an addiction. I guess that is because of the adrenaline rush. When it’s over, I find myself thinking out scenarios as to how the next episode is going to go, though I rarely end up being close. But that is another good thing, the surprise element. It is coming back for a third season, on August, either the 27th or 29th.
5. Love-It amazes me how people make jackasses out of themselves over it. I used to be one of the worse offenders, and if I met the right person, probably would do so again. I don’t know though. Over the years, I have learned not only the value, but the pleasure of solitude. It translates as PEACE. But people that are obsessed with love don’t seem to regard PEACE as highly as they do PIECE. Until of course it gets old and then there they are, tied down to a bunch of obnoxious brats and their lives are shit, precisely because their lives are no longer their own, and so they live them through their kids by trying to turn them into decent worthwhile human beings. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to work, anyway. But let’s face it, nobody would buy into this shit if they weren’t lured into it by the fantasy of love. Then, when the fantasy fades, there you are-TRAPPED. Of course, it can still work out, the kids can grow up worthwhile, you can retain that love and it can grow and blossom, I know all that, and how it’s the building block of society and culture, etc. My only question is, is it worth the risk on the off chance that it is going to end up like well over half of the relationships that are just nothing but crap? I guess it depends on your perspective.
6. Goth Chicks-If I ever do fall in love again, it will probably be to a woman with purple hair, multiple piercings, and tattoos. Admittedly, I could never fit in with the Goth Culture, I just think it’s cool and artistic, even though I concede a lot of the people in it are probably pretentious little nerds and some might be a little on the psychotic side. But hell, you find that in every culture-and sub-culture. And I’ll probably never have a Goth girlfriend, and I’m not sure I want one. The novelty would probably wear off, for one thing, and it would end, probably badly, or she would cross over to my dull and boring lifestyle, or I would make a complete ass of myself and have my tonque split. But I do, in the meantime, think they are pretty, and sexy, and provocative, and alluring. So, on the off chance that anyone reading this is a Goth chick, do you want to watch me jack off?
7. My Cat-This is the one living thing that I love besides myself and my mother, and a few friends and family members. But I list the cat as an obsession because I know it’s dependent on me, especially seeing as how it suffers from epilepsy, which is something I myself used to struggle with. It’s dependent on me, and loves me. Now I know some people are going to say, it just loves you because you feed it, stop feeding it and see how long it stays around. My response to that-stop feeding your kids and your wife. Stop supporting them. At the very least, don’t provide for anything more than their absolute basic necessities, and spend all the rest of your money that you want to or can just on yourself. See how long they “stay around”. Same with everybody else in your life, don’t give them shit that you absolutely don’t have to. Your best friend is in a bind through not fault of his own and he can’t feed his family or pay the rent or bills. He asks you for two hundred dollars. You could easily afford it with little or no problem but you tell him, “sorry, I’m going to buy me and ipod and a case of beer and some cigarettes and catch a movie. Besides, your family is not my responsibility.” Yep, you can kiss that friendship goodbye. So don’t fuck with me about my cat.
8. Magic-I know how it works. I’ve done it. I’ve practiced it, sometimes successfully, sometimes with mixed results, sometimes with no effect whatsoever, and sometimes it’s blown up in my face. But it’s real, and that is because if it is done right, it involves a certain kind of energy that everyone possesses naturally, and with training, study, and practice can utilize it. You just have to know how to utilize it. Yes, a lot of it involves psychology and self-hypnosis. But it is also a real energy that has nothing to do with deities or spirits. Like I said, it’s natural. That’s all I can tell you. Well, unless you want to pay me. A lot.
9. Books-I’m the kind of person that judges them not so much by their covers, but by their titles. If a book has a catchy, compelling title, I want to to read it. Of course, if it turns out shitty, that’s a different story, but of course I don’t judge by just that criterion, I also go by author, subject matter, and genre. I’m obsessed with writing my own, and one of my goals is to write trashy literature. That doesn’t mean what it sounds like. I mean to be able to write something that is appealing on several different levels. I want it to have commercial appeal, be trashy, smutty, violent, mysterious, engaging, humorous, inspiring, gripping, seductive, thought provoking, irreverent, and subversive. And I want it still to qualify as literature. Think of a collaborative effort involving John Grisham, Mark Twain, Steven King, John Steinbeck, Elmore Leonard, William Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and the Marquis de Sade, and you’ve pretty much got the general idea.
10. Mythology-Yeah, Sonia Belle, you called it right when you guessed one of my obsessions would be paganism, but maybe not in the way you think. I appreciate the genius of mythology and how it speaks to everyday life. That applies to Christian mythology as well as pagan varieties, and yes I know this might sound like I’m repeating myself in that I’ve already listed religion as an obsession. But true mythology and ritual transcends religion. What I am referring to recognizes the difference between mythology and literal fact. One that recognizes the deities as real in a distinct way, as representing universal energies and distinct, separate yet interconnected powers that exist throughout nature, and as components that are indwelling within the human psyche, or what Jeung called “archetypes”. There are many ways of viewing them, actually. All of them have certain degrees of validity. At the same time, all of them are bullshit. But mythology is a way to connect with them in a way that is inspiring and uplifting. Until you take them too seriously, at which point you have crossed that fine line over into first neurosis, then psychosis, and then pure unadulterated insanity. So that would be the difference in the obsessions of religion and mythology. Both can be positive, but it is when the mythological aspects are discounted that the religion itself becomes dogmatic, oppressive, corrupt, and insane.
11. Science-Something I don’t know shit about, still I am obsessed with it. But that provides me an advantage. Because I’m on the outside looking in, I can recognize the bullshit from the true, even if I don’t know how to explain it even in layman's terms. Science, like religion, can be dogmatic. And the world of theory is something I am very much at home in. To give you an example-someone once proposed studying ways to transmute matter, to break it down by it’s molecules and then reassemble it elsewhere, like the matter transmitter on Star Trek, or “The Fly”. Not being a scientist, I still knew this was a boondoggle to get federal money from the government. It’s impossible. So is time travel. That is because there is, in my opinion, no such thing as a past or a future, there is just a now. Even if you could theoretically go back to the past, say for example to the time of Christ, there would be nothing there, because the world has left the point in space and time where it was in that past. Same with the future. The world hasn’t gotten to that point in time or space yet, so you would end up in a vacuum. This makes sense to me if to no one else. The past is written in stone, but the future is a blank slate, dependent on countless trillions of decisions to be made that could go in any number of ways, with no assurance whatsoever as to the actual choices, or consequences. How can you transcend that process? The answer in my opinion is, you can’t, at least not physically, and that is probably a good thing. It was probably wholly unintentional. But it’s still just the way it is. No god or whatever planned it that way. It’s just natural. I know people, including scientists, will disagree, but I don’t care. I know I’m right. Just don’t expect me to be able to explain it any better than I just now have.
12. Mysteries-All kinds of mysteries. Murder mysteries. The paranormal. Spirits. UFO’s. Psychic phenomena. Conspiracy theories. The Kennedy assassination. By the way, yes, it was a conspiracy, involving a small handful of people knowingly involved, none of who are probably who you think they were. Yes, Oswald was a part of it. Ruby was not. Not until after the fact anyway. No, the mafia was not involved in it, though one mafia member in particular was originally intended to be the fall guy, until he got out of a jam he was in that put him in a better position to protect himself. No more fall guy. That’s why the whole thing ended up looking like shit. The government was also not involved. Neither was the military industrial complex, the KKK, foreign governments or cabals, intelligence services, the oil industry or big business, LBJ, the Bush family, or anti-Castro forces, or pro-Castro forces. So who was? I’m not saying, because I can’t prove it. And though the fucking nut that was the head of the conspiracy is dead and gone, the man that actually did the bulk of the work is still alive and kicking, the last I heard. Most of the other people that were involved were just manipulated in ways that they didn’t realize what was really going on, and once they found out, nothing could be done about it. One guy thought he was involved in a plot to get Castro, for example. So there you have it. Anyway, that is the extent for the most part of my belief in conspiracy theories. A lot of the other things I listed are things for which there are probably natural, scientific explanations for, and that is how I approach them, as mysteries to be solved. Not as “supernatural”, but as perfectly natural forces that just haven’t been explained yet. Or maybe in some cases as delusions, mass hysteria, or outright bullshit. But those are possible explanations as well. As for real life crime and murder mysteries, chalk that up to an addiction to Mickey Spillane.
13. Jack The Ripper-The murder mystery to end all murder mysteries, the granddaddy of them all. After a great deal of study, I’ve come to the conclusion that he probably wasn’t the artist Walter Sickert, but he probably was instead somebody that had at one time in his life got into some kind of trouble that caused him to be kicked out of the Masons, more than likely for some kind of sexual misconduct that at least bordered on perversion, if not outright violence. There is also of course the slight chance the person knew Masonic lore through a relatives' involvement. Do to the use of several Americanisms in his written communications, and the fact that what are referred to as the canonical murders ceased sometime late in 1888, I have decided he-or they-might well have been an American with a connection to the embassy in London. There was a change in Administrations after that American election year, when the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland was defeated by the Republican Benjamin Harrison, after which of course a new ambassador was appointed, who brought with him his own staff. Whoever the person was might well have had a connection to Sickert, who himself was an associate of the American artist and expatriot Whistler. It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but at least I’m not destroying artistic masterpieces as a means of trying to prove my theory. It might well be worth looking into, however, certain possibilities, like for example the occurrence of similar Ripper like murders in proximity to persons who might have been associated with the American embassy in Britain during the first Cleveland term. Or to people known to have been banned from the Masons.
14. History-Love it. Nuff said. I also love sausage, and don’t give a shit how it’s made or what it’s made of. I will make it myself, and then I will eat it. That is how I look at history. I want to know all of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly. That includes, but is not limited to, American history. I don’t want to see it though rose colored glasses, but at the same time, I’m not interested in anything that is driven by any kind of anti-American bias, or any other kind. I just want the fucking truth, no matter what it is. Is that too much to ask for? I guess you can include my love of archeology and anthropology, and I guess sociology, as a subset of my obsession for history. Who knows what answers these sciences together might one day reveal? Sometimes, I wonder if maybe the Great Pyramid of Giza might in reality turn out to have been no more than a grandiose, massive beer or ale brewery. Or at the most, nothing but a mortuary center for use by anyone who could afford the service, or willing to put themselves in thrall to somebody that could, just for the sake of assurance of a blessed afterlife. By the time all is said and done, belief in God, religion, ethics, morality, etc., might all eventually turn out to be based on nothing more profound than some guy at some point preventing some atrocity, not for any foreseeable gain on his part, but perhaps because he himself had previously barely survived a similar circumstance. Who knows?
15. Society-To be more precise, social pretensions, manners, the general pecking order we all bow down to. It’s ridiculous but we all do it, me as much as anyone, but at least I see through it. I honestly believe we are all nothing but animals. The highest level of animal on this planet, no doubt of that, but animals all the same. Anything that bursts our bubbles of pretentiousness in that regard is to be applauded. Anytime some arrogant asshole cuts loose a rip-roaring fart, or slips and falls on his ass on the ice, or literally shits his or her pants full, or anything. Some people are mortified if they so much as burp or hiccup. The more embarrassed they are, the worse it becomes, thus the more hilarious the results. That is because when that happens to somebody else, especially some person that considers him or herself to be the pinnacle of the utmost standards of behavior, we see that person distilled down to his or her true essence, an animal, no better or no worse than the rest of us, and they see it too. This is the entire essence of the story of the Garden of Eden. We are no more than animals, no matter how high in esteem we hold ourselves and wish to attain, and if we fail to see that, that truth is going to manifest itself, one way or another, until you eventually fall down to the level that you are and always were. A miserable fucking beast.
16. Music-I especially used to be obsessed with rock music, couldn’t get enough of it, and it is still my favorite, but now I like all kinds. Country, blues, jazz, metal, alternative, even rap and hip hop (though, by the way, I’m not sure I understand the distinction in those two related though apparently different genres). I can appreciate rap on an artistic level while not overlooking the reputedly pernicious influences on black urban youth and the white middle class suburban youths as well. Hopefully this can be addressed in ways that do not amount to censorship, and in the meantime, I like it, have ever since a friend convinced me to sit through the entire CD of Tupac Shakur released under the name Makavelli. I loved it, and started hearing rap from a different perspective from that time on. I also like classical, by the way, and though I can’t say I love opera, I am enthralled with the possibilities the genre contains. I would like one day to compose an opera based on the myth of Aradia, for example. Of course, I’d better learn something about writing and composing music first, something I don’t know shit about. Maybe a rock opera instead. Yep, rock remains far and away my favorite.
17. Food And Drink-Though I’m a barbarian at heart, I am obsessed with one day experiencing fine cuisine and wine and other drink. I love a good mixed drink, and have been known to invent my own. Here’s a good one. Mix to suit your own taste some vanilla ice cream and peach schnappes, add a dash or two of grenadine syrup, and garnish with two or three cherries. As for food, it doesn’t really have to be anything extravagant, I just love a good meal. And I love to prepare them. By the same token, I have to admit I doubt I’m going to be running any four star restaurants anytime soon.
18. Creative endeavors in general-Fashion (sorry, Sonia), art (though I don’t understand diddly squat shit about it, I still enjoy it), architecture, television, movies, drama, poetry, and even in some cases commercial advertising.
19. Technology-I’ll never be an inventor of anything great or important, but I like to keep up on new shit that comes out, and this includes the fields of medicine. It seems like every time I come up with my own ideas for an invention, I end up finding out somebody has already done it, so I’ll just shut up. I also like the idea of cloning, provided it is done with oversight, to prevent such abuse as, say, somebody purposely creating a race of subservient slave laborers, as the Soviet Union was once accused (probably falsely, but who’s to say) of tinkering with. By the same token, I admit to being fascinated by the concept of the creation of races of animal people. Bird people, cat people, snake people, etc. Yeah, it would probably be a bad idea, I guess. But I bet somebody eventually does it, just because at some point it time, they will be able to do so. When you stop to think about it, if you see somebody lounging around and suddenly he reaches over and starts licking his balls, or he walks up to you and starts sniffing your ass, well, I guess it’s just how you look at things. Just say “no, no”, pet him or her on the head, and go about your business. After all, they might just think they’re being polite.
20. Animals, Nature, Environment-Yeah, I’m obsessed with it. I’m just not a fucking nut about it. Of course I want a clean environment, a thriving world ecosystem, abundant rain forests, and a solution to global warming. Of course I believe in animal rights, and human rights. But you have to be reasonable as to how you go about things. Sometimes moderation is not only the best policy, it might in many cases be the only one that can hope to work in the long term. And unfortunately, like it or not, there might come a time when people just have to face the facts that there is nothing they can do. They can do so, or they can go around wiping their asses with one square of toilet paper. In the long run, the result will probably be the same, only you’ll have dried shit caked on your ass.
21. Charities-Some of them do good work, needed work, work that the government and others can’t or won’t do, but at the same time, I am resentful of the fact that most of them have become de facto big business entities. They pay their directors and VPs, etc., huge sums of money amounting in many cases to seven figure yearly salaries in addition to bonuses, an expense account, and other perks. Some are even given their own homes and a new automobile every year. It’s obscene. And some of these companies have a list of salaried personnel as long as your arm, while employing bottom level wage earners that make little more than minimum wage, and in some cases less than that. They get by with this by keeping them as “part time workers”, without benefits. And in a good many cases, once you add up all the overhead and other expenses, very little of what they raise actually goes into the charity they purport to raise all this money for. It has turned into a sham and a shell game. Then there are the ones that run the PACS and influence legislation, the most atrocious ones of all in some cases. I think they should all pay taxes. Yes, that includes the churches. Not on money that goes to the charities, just on the money they raise that goes to other things. Especially salaries. Plus, they should be required to pay overtime and all their wage earning employees should have to be counted as full time employees. Yeah, I’m a hardass, sue me.
22. The National Debt-It should be the governments highest priority to pay this shit down to a manageable level, in fact, it should be a long term goal to pay the fucking thing off, and enact legislation to where it would be a criminal offense to ever allow it to get any higher than 500 billion dollars, ever again. I don’t care how they do it. Just do it. Put all that money back into Social Security, which is exactly what the money to pay it off will be coming from if it’s not paid off in other ways. If there really is such thing as a “right wing conspiracy”-this is it. This leads me to another obsession.
23. Foreign Affairs- Bring our soldiers home from all over the world-not just Iraq, but every fucking where, including Europe, and let the fuckers fend for themselves. Then we can cut the Pentagon budget in half and still pay for our needs and our veterans needs. It’s time for the rest of the world to grow the fuck up, and they want us out of their lives anyway, right? Well, so be it. Let the Europeans solve the Darfur crisis, after all, they are the ones that paved the way for it, it’s frankly not our problem. They also started half the other shit in the world, including most of what has happened in the Middle East, another of their former group of colonies, after the fall of The Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey-another European country, come to think of it. So they want to bitch at us to solve these problems that they started and caused to fester. Fuck them. The chickens have come home to roost, and the crowing is just barely started. It’s only the US’s problem if we allow it to be. If we want to be involved in another country’s problems, let’s declare war on Mexico, overthrow the corrupt white descendants of the Spanish conquistadors that have run roughshod over the mixed Indian majority of the population. Then we can help them build that country, to where they don’t feel they have to flood in over here and bring our country down to a third world level. We can gradually start building a level of advancement throughout Central and South America. Not run roughshod over them, just help them develop, and establish a fair trade policy with them, based on real economic growth and rule of law which benefits all the people. Then they can immigrate over here legally if they want, and we there, and as their economies develop, we won’t have to worry about our companies abandoning American workers to get slave labor from those indigent populations. And we won’t really have to invade the country to accomplish this, just secure our borders, stop propping up the ruling elites of Mexico, and fund a true democratic movement among the people there. Let the rulers and their families suffer the consequences of their actions, one thing we won’t have to supply is the rope or the will to hang them with it. By the time all that comes together, maybe fifty years from now, maybe we can buy the great works of art and architecture from Europe and have the best of it shipped over here, before the ruling caliphs and mullahs decide to burn or bulldoze them. Jerusalem? Again, not our problem. There will be Jews from all over the world immigrating to America from Europe over the course of the next few decades, four or five million more won’t make that big a difference. I think they might like Utah, or maybe the Virgin Islands. Or Mexico. Or wherever. It will be interesting though, to see how much the Right supports them when they start coming over here. Who knows, though, maybe after a few more decades have come and gone, they’ll be able to go back to Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and learn how to process nuclear energy from the ruins of Mecca, and other surrounding areas.
24. Energy-Not particularly worried about it, because I know it’s a problem that can and will be solved. The major cause of the problem is increased population, which results in ever increasing energy needs. If we don’t solve it, nature will. She has a full-proof plan to deal with overextended populations. It’s called death. She does it all the time, sometimes en masse. In the meantime, know that most energy supplies you can envision have temporary lifespans their own selves. That includes, by the way, nuclear energy. Think about it. If there are limits to how much oil there is in the world, then how much more limited do you think the supply of uranium is? And this is not to be interpreted as a discouragement of the use of nuclear energy. Far from it. Just that, like everything else, it has it’s benefits, it’s drawbacks, and it’s limitations. Even the fucking sun is going to go out one of these days, believe it or not.
25. The Constitution-Most people haven't caught on to the simple fact that the Bill of Rights were written in order to limit the power of the Federal Government over the states. It then evolved to where it limited the power of both the federal and state governments over private citizens, after the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment. This just doesn't mean that the First was meant to do so, and then the Third through the Tenth, and the Second was something that should be interpreted a different way. It means what it means. Private citizens are a potential militia, and have the right to keep and bear arms, as a means of keeping the power of the government in check. Of course, sometimes shit happens, some nut gets a gun and kills a bunch of people. Shit happens with the First Amendment as well. If you're going to chuck one, then by god chuck all of them. Otherwise, leave them all alone, including the Second Amendment.
26. How The Universe Was Formed-No, I don’t believe it was a product of any kind of blueprint, or intelligent design, and yes, I do think it formed naturally, and evolved. But I always wondered how. How does something come from nothing? Well, it had to somehow, right? Even if you accept for the sake of argument there is a Creator or Creatrix, a God or a Goddess, who created everything, then you are left with the enigma of where He, or She, or They came from. So you’re back to square one. Well, I don’t believe in an intelligent creation, I believe in the formation, not creation,of the universe. Some people, maybe a majority of the scientific community, at least, take it back to the “Big Bang”, others believe that another natural force is at work. But one thing I do know, there was never at any time in history “nothing”. There has always been “something”. So what could that have been, that one original form of energy which eventually developed into other, more complex forms, which then evolved from there into others? Some people just say “oh, there was these swirling gases and”- but that misses the point. What were these “swirling gases”? And where did they come from? Yep, I know, arrogant as that might sound. Not that big a deal. If you think long and hard about it, you can pretty well figure out what that first and original form of energy was, and you don’t really have to be a great scientific intellect to figure out the basic manner in which it evolved, and from there, how all else was eventually formed. Maybe not in every exact detail, but enough to where it becomes easy to see in general terms. It might even start to seem all too obvious. Some of you would probably smack yourselves on the forehead and say, “so that’s it”. No, I’m not going to say it. Well, unless somebody wants to pony up maybe ten million dollars, then I’ll tell, but you’ll have to be satisfied with it. No refunds.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sheryl Crow-The Nasty Ass Of The Year
People that have read my blog might recall from time to time I've mentioned a late uncle by marriage. He was badly injured in World War II, and never quite recovered. In his last years, he suffered from two serious conditions-prostrate cancer and Alzheimers disease. It was the first one that killed his body, but the second one that caused the gradual, long term disintegration of his mind.
No, this isn't another rant about the Veterans Hospitals that have suffered severe funding shortages. It would hardly be fair to blame them for the mental deterioration he suffered, which manifested in many ways.
Once, he looked for a chain saw in the drawer of the microwave cabinet. Another time, he looked for a set of bed rails in the cab of another uncle's pick-up truck. His perspective in many ways was that screwed up.
It only got worse with time. But perhaps the grossest, nastiest way it manifested itself was in the way he went to the bathroom, and most especially in the way he wiped his ass afterwards. With one square of toilet paper.
He was that much of a tight ass. I shit you not.
Diarrhea? No difference. One square. A normal, healthy shit? One square. Just passing gas? Hell, one square, just to be on the safe side. Just in case there was a little turd hanging around up there somewhere, I guess.
Sounds nasty, huh? Yeah, it does to me too. I didn't know it for a while, but since I learned of this peculiar behavior, I still get sick when I think of all the times I shook his hand. Wouldn't you?
So is Sheryl Crow that much of a nasty assed bitch? Or does she just think all the rest of us should be? Is she really that determined to save trees that she wants to ration toilet paper, with no regard for just how unhealthy and fucking nasty that would be? Isn't there a better way?
Can you imagine how chapped that ass would have to be, and all that shit caked on it. Listen, you know she doesn't really do the crap she's advising.
On the other hand, well, she did start out as the opening act for Michael Jackson, and according to her, her friends a communist, so I guess this all makes a degree of sense.
For me, even a normal healthy shit requires the use of, oh, about three squares per turd. Make that four. Otherwise, I would have no other option than to drop my pants and drag my ass on the ground about four feet like a dog with worms.
I don't intend to do that, nor do I intend to limit myself to one square of toilet paper per shit, or even per turd. Fuck that. If Sheryl Crow really wipes her ass that way, she's welcome to be a nasty ass all she wants. I think she's full of shit myself.
As for anybody else that might buy into this crap, well, you know, if you insist. If it makes you happy, I guess it can't be that bad. Just don't take it hard if I keep my distance.
In the meantime-earth to Crow: When Rosie O'Donnell makes fun of you, you know you've made an ass of yourself.
No, this isn't another rant about the Veterans Hospitals that have suffered severe funding shortages. It would hardly be fair to blame them for the mental deterioration he suffered, which manifested in many ways.
Once, he looked for a chain saw in the drawer of the microwave cabinet. Another time, he looked for a set of bed rails in the cab of another uncle's pick-up truck. His perspective in many ways was that screwed up.
It only got worse with time. But perhaps the grossest, nastiest way it manifested itself was in the way he went to the bathroom, and most especially in the way he wiped his ass afterwards. With one square of toilet paper.
He was that much of a tight ass. I shit you not.
Diarrhea? No difference. One square. A normal, healthy shit? One square. Just passing gas? Hell, one square, just to be on the safe side. Just in case there was a little turd hanging around up there somewhere, I guess.
Sounds nasty, huh? Yeah, it does to me too. I didn't know it for a while, but since I learned of this peculiar behavior, I still get sick when I think of all the times I shook his hand. Wouldn't you?
So is Sheryl Crow that much of a nasty assed bitch? Or does she just think all the rest of us should be? Is she really that determined to save trees that she wants to ration toilet paper, with no regard for just how unhealthy and fucking nasty that would be? Isn't there a better way?
Can you imagine how chapped that ass would have to be, and all that shit caked on it. Listen, you know she doesn't really do the crap she's advising.
On the other hand, well, she did start out as the opening act for Michael Jackson, and according to her, her friends a communist, so I guess this all makes a degree of sense.
For me, even a normal healthy shit requires the use of, oh, about three squares per turd. Make that four. Otherwise, I would have no other option than to drop my pants and drag my ass on the ground about four feet like a dog with worms.
I don't intend to do that, nor do I intend to limit myself to one square of toilet paper per shit, or even per turd. Fuck that. If Sheryl Crow really wipes her ass that way, she's welcome to be a nasty ass all she wants. I think she's full of shit myself.
As for anybody else that might buy into this crap, well, you know, if you insist. If it makes you happy, I guess it can't be that bad. Just don't take it hard if I keep my distance.
In the meantime-earth to Crow: When Rosie O'Donnell makes fun of you, you know you've made an ass of yourself.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Dragon Girl
She's not there yet, but hopefully she will be. She's not the skinny, anorexic type of model that has become the standard over the course of the previous decades, but she's not exactly a fat ass sweat hog either. In fact,at a height of 5'7", she is a scrumptious 110 pounds. She calls herself Dragon Girl.
Me, I love the modeling industry, and I dig models, which is why I am involved in this, I kind of dig the idea of helping somebody possibly make an impact in this industry. So, vote for her. Since you can only vote once, cheat and go to your local library or other public access and vote for her again.
In fact, you can do it here-
That way, if she wins, you can say, "hey, I am one of the ones that helped her get to where she is today." And who knows where that will end up being.
And don't worry, as to the policies of Smashbox, they do not conduct animal testing.
So why am I doing this outside of what I said? Well, I for one really dig the cosmetics industry. They have added immensely to the attractiveness of society. And it is an ancient industry as well, steeped in a tradition that at one time involved ritual religious and magical practices as well as enhancement of personal attractiveness.
It was condemned in the Bible. In one of the Books of Kings, the Tyrian Jezebel, who married the Israelite King Ahab, was an idolator, and lead her husband astray to the worship of idols. This lead to his downfall, and for her reputed wickedness, Jezebel paid a heavy price. She put on make-up one morning and, as she gazed out a window, she was made to fall to the ground below, where dogs tore her to pieces.
Ancient Israelite prophets though were an exception as regarding the attitude toward this most ancient of practices, which can be traced back to prehistory. It was discovered that by utilizing the skins of animals, hunters could get close enough to their prey to enhance their chances of making a successful kill. Scent had as much to do with this as anything, and over a period of time it was ascertained that the utilization of scents held other advantages.
Especially, it so happened, when people started gravitating more and more into villages and cities. People reacted favorably to the pleasing scents of nature which were becoming ever more rare, and so the fledgling industry might well have stumbled upon a way to satisfy a subconscious longing, almost a primal urge to return to it's roots. Of course, it helped that they found themselves more and more repulsed by the dirty and sweaty odors resulting from prolonged exposure, due to constant close contact, with ever growing numbers of humans.
Perfumery became a method to disguise natural human body odor, and it advanced from there to the techniques of applying make-up to enhance physical appearance, and to hide the ravages of age.
And as I said it was invaluable in ritual and temple sacrifices. Linear B tablets discovered in the ancient Greek town of Mychenaea relates how untold thousands of pounds of incense were burned to certain deities in just one day, for certain religious festivals.
Sandalwood, frankincense, cedar, cinnamon, etc., were among many examples of scents that have been utilized for religious ritual purposes throughout the years, not only by pagan cults but during ancient Hebrew sacrifices as well.
The application of other cosmetics was possibly developed at about the same time. The application of make-up for religious ritual purposes might even predate the use of scent. But it as well evolved beyond ritual use, and became a standard method for the enhancement of physical appearance and attractiveness. It was doubtless a luxury reserved for the wealthiest aristocrats and royalty in the earliest days, but it soon became more widespread.
It soon became common usage in the context of temple prostitution, which was probably the main reason for the objections to the practice raised by the Old Testament prophets.
Now, of course, it is used today by pretty much everybody, to some small degree. If you bathe with a bar of soap, or shampoo and condition your hair, or use an underarm deodorant, then you too are taking part in an ancient ritual.
But if you go beyond those daily commonalities to the point that you use cologne, perfume, make-up, rouge, eye-liner, blush, etc., then you can legitimately say that you are a part of a long historical heritage of the art of cosmetic enhancement. One that is in reality one of the most ancient of all the traditions of mankind.
Okay, shit, I just like this model. Vote for her, alright? Sheeesh!
Me, I love the modeling industry, and I dig models, which is why I am involved in this, I kind of dig the idea of helping somebody possibly make an impact in this industry. So, vote for her. Since you can only vote once, cheat and go to your local library or other public access and vote for her again.
In fact, you can do it here-
 |
 |
 |
That way, if she wins, you can say, "hey, I am one of the ones that helped her get to where she is today." And who knows where that will end up being.
And don't worry, as to the policies of Smashbox, they do not conduct animal testing.
So why am I doing this outside of what I said? Well, I for one really dig the cosmetics industry. They have added immensely to the attractiveness of society. And it is an ancient industry as well, steeped in a tradition that at one time involved ritual religious and magical practices as well as enhancement of personal attractiveness.
It was condemned in the Bible. In one of the Books of Kings, the Tyrian Jezebel, who married the Israelite King Ahab, was an idolator, and lead her husband astray to the worship of idols. This lead to his downfall, and for her reputed wickedness, Jezebel paid a heavy price. She put on make-up one morning and, as she gazed out a window, she was made to fall to the ground below, where dogs tore her to pieces.
Ancient Israelite prophets though were an exception as regarding the attitude toward this most ancient of practices, which can be traced back to prehistory. It was discovered that by utilizing the skins of animals, hunters could get close enough to their prey to enhance their chances of making a successful kill. Scent had as much to do with this as anything, and over a period of time it was ascertained that the utilization of scents held other advantages.
Especially, it so happened, when people started gravitating more and more into villages and cities. People reacted favorably to the pleasing scents of nature which were becoming ever more rare, and so the fledgling industry might well have stumbled upon a way to satisfy a subconscious longing, almost a primal urge to return to it's roots. Of course, it helped that they found themselves more and more repulsed by the dirty and sweaty odors resulting from prolonged exposure, due to constant close contact, with ever growing numbers of humans.
Perfumery became a method to disguise natural human body odor, and it advanced from there to the techniques of applying make-up to enhance physical appearance, and to hide the ravages of age.
And as I said it was invaluable in ritual and temple sacrifices. Linear B tablets discovered in the ancient Greek town of Mychenaea relates how untold thousands of pounds of incense were burned to certain deities in just one day, for certain religious festivals.
Sandalwood, frankincense, cedar, cinnamon, etc., were among many examples of scents that have been utilized for religious ritual purposes throughout the years, not only by pagan cults but during ancient Hebrew sacrifices as well.
The application of other cosmetics was possibly developed at about the same time. The application of make-up for religious ritual purposes might even predate the use of scent. But it as well evolved beyond ritual use, and became a standard method for the enhancement of physical appearance and attractiveness. It was doubtless a luxury reserved for the wealthiest aristocrats and royalty in the earliest days, but it soon became more widespread.
It soon became common usage in the context of temple prostitution, which was probably the main reason for the objections to the practice raised by the Old Testament prophets.
Now, of course, it is used today by pretty much everybody, to some small degree. If you bathe with a bar of soap, or shampoo and condition your hair, or use an underarm deodorant, then you too are taking part in an ancient ritual.
But if you go beyond those daily commonalities to the point that you use cologne, perfume, make-up, rouge, eye-liner, blush, etc., then you can legitimately say that you are a part of a long historical heritage of the art of cosmetic enhancement. One that is in reality one of the most ancient of all the traditions of mankind.
Okay, shit, I just like this model. Vote for her, alright? Sheeesh!
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