Kiss The Ass You Can Not Kick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Citizen Hussein

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

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

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

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

The Unbelievable Proposition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Family Values And The Department of Homeland Security

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

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

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

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

The Great Zionist Cospiracy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Eclipse Of Reason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Cult That Never Was

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Autum Ashante

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

24-The Martha Logan Conspiracy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like they always say-stay tuned.

Killing Illussions

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

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

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

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

Well, I guess that settles that, huh?

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

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

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

Vacation Aruba-Will It Ever End?

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

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

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

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

Eddie Baker Sr.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trespassers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Afghan Dilemna

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Debra LaFave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kentucky Pride

Ask a native Kentuckian what he is most proud of about his state, and you will get several different answers, depending on who you ask. Some might even get defensive about it. Others might honestly tell you that, these days, there is very little to be proud of. But there would be a list that, surprisingly, would be quite remarkable. Some would be predictable. Like almost all states, a native Kentuckian would list as among the states assets, it’s natural, scenic beauty. Of course, this is a given for almost every other state as well. Still, this would be toward the top of the list for Kentuckians, if not at the top.

Others would include Kentucky's remarkable history, from being one of the first two states admitted to the union after the original thirteen, to it’s dominant role in the two wars preceding the Civil War in terms of volunteers, on to it’s obviously important role in that last mentioned war.

Others would talk of it’s reputation as the originator, and main producer, of bourbon whiskey, at it’s standing in the world and history of throrouhbred and harness horse racing. Some might even point with pride, still today, over it’s most controversial contribution, that being one of the largest producers of burley tobacco in the world. And naturally, though this too has been the center of controversy, it’s standing as one of the largest coal producing states, and the fact that this might well become of even greater economic importance in the decades ahead, not only to Kentucky, but to the nation.

Still, if you were to make a list of the things Kentuckians are most proud of, I have no doubt what the one thing is that would stand out as the thing that Kentuckians have by far the most pride in, at least by average. The University of Kentucky Wildcats.

I’ve never quite been able to figure out exactly why this is. It’s certainly understandable why this should be the case with UK alumni, students, and Lexington Kentucky area residents. But take my word for it, this extends nearly statewide. It goes beyond a mere love of sports. If you are a native Kentuckian, you have to support “Big Blue”-it is almost a patriotic and religious duty. It is a matter of state pride,and has been from the earliest days, from the days when Coach Adolph Rupp expanded on what was already a winning tradition, on through Coach Joe B. Hall, on through the days of the Traitor Rick Pitino, who went on to a failed career as a pro basketball coach before returning to Kentucky, and further his memory, and that of UK, by becoming head coach of the hated Louisvile Cardinals-UK’s main Kentucky rival. Now, Coach Tubby Smith carries the mantle, and the awesome responsibility, of carrying on the Big Blue tradition.

Basketball is indeed a passion and a religion here in Kentucky. It used to be quite common for rival high school teams to produce fights between their respective student supporters, one thing that all but turned me against the sport. It was similar in spirit, if not quite the intensity, of fights that break out in Europe between fans of rival soccer teams. Only this is high school students we are talking about here.

And the University of Kentucky represents Kentucky basketball in all it’s glory and full blown tradition. Whereas a scholarship to play on the University of Kentucky football team is nearly the kiss of death to a football career, a scholarship, or even the acceptance onto the second squad of the Wildcats, is tantamount to membership in an elite club. On the University of Kentucky campus, you are not just a basketball player. You are the next closest thing to a god. For just a little while anyway. You have to prove you are worthy of this honor, of course, for the adulation to hold up for long. If you accomplish this task, then it’s settled. You definitely ARE a God.

And when Gods play, nothing else matters. On Sundays, pastors are kindly informed that they should not let their services run over the allotted time when the Wildcats are playing. Especially during tournament time. The SEC tournament is a sacred festival. If you can’t be there, you should damn well be watching if at all possible. After the SEC, of course, comes “March Madness”.

This has been a colder than average March, but it is even colder this year. The beloved cats lost their game in the second round of play, the the top rated University of Conecticutt. They almost pulled off an upset, despite the fact the Big Blue, this year, had their worse season in a long, long time. Still, I found myself rooting for the “home team”, quietly excited at the prospect they might pull off an unexpected victory. This year, it didn’t happen. The Cats didn’t even make it into the Sweet Sixteen.

Kentucky’s glory, therefore, is in the dust, for the next year. Their pride shattered. And that is what it is all about. Kentucky pride. Not so much pride in the Wildcats. Just pride in something bigger than ourselves, that is at the same time, a part of our heritage and tradition. The following typical conversation will serve to illustrate the point.

Jim and Bob were at the Rockcastle River, having just pulled up in thei pick-up, and opened a couple of beers.

Jim: Damn those cats. What about that? I could have swore they were gointo beat those damn Uconn punks. Those refs should be investigated, I’m tellin’ ya.

Bob: Naw, it’s that damn Tubby, they should fire his ass.

Jim: Well, hell, we’ll get ‘em next year, just wait.

Bob: Yeah, guess ya can’t win every year. Shoud’ve at least made the Sweet Sixteen though.

Jim: It’s even too cold to fish, dam, I’ll be glad when it warms up.

Bob: Who the hell cares about fishing at a time like this. Guess you’re right though, it would at least be something to look forward to to take our minds off all this. Damn,this has about ruined my whole month.

Jim: Well, lets get this over with.

(Our heroes climb out of the pick-up and head to the back of the truck, staring morosely at their cargo)

Jim: This was a damn good refrigerator in it’s day, huh? If the new one lasts half as long as this one did I’ll be satisfied. It’s chilled a lot of beers for a lot of Big Blue games.

Bob: Yeah, well nuthin’ lasts forever. Here a good place?

Jim: Naw, see those tires over there? Waters way too shallow here. Let’s drive on down a ways to where the waters deeper.

A Community Project

Mt. Vernon Kentucky has just been turned down for a grant from the Stateof Kentucky, and I have to wonder if they have even figured out why. I could tell them, though, not that they are asking. But somebody should, because I have the idea sometimes that they either don’t know, or don’t really care.

A few years back, Governor Paul Patton initiated a Kentucky Communities revitalization project, aimed at restoring and revitalizing small towns. Small communities have taken a hit in recent years wtih the expansion of large shopping centers and superstores such as Wal-Mart and Target. It’s easy to see why, everybody wants to get out of town for a while, so even as much as a twenty mile drive to Wal-Mart can seem like an excursion, and in the long run you can even save money shopping there despite the gas expenses, at least until recently.

The money granted to small towns that qualified was meant to spruce up the downtown areas, make them attactive to business investment, and to the communities populations, many of whom on the one hand longed for a return to the “good old days” of small town prosperity, while on the other hand taking their business elsewhere. This was meant to change all that, at least up to a point.

Mt. Vernon received their grant in 2002, and one of the first things they did with it – officially – was use it to repair and renovate the old Brown building, one of the oldest buildings in Mt. Vernon, which had stood proudly on the edge of town for over a hundred years. As the oldest landmark in the town, I guess for well over a hundred years, as everything else that had been older had either been tore down or burned down.

The Brown building had quite a history. At one time, back in the 1920’s,going back perhaps to the last century, it had been a private school for girls. Follwing this, beginning in about the 1940’s, it had been a grocery store owned by the Mr. Brown by whose name it became known. Following this, beginning in about the 1960’s, it became a boading house.

At some point in time, it was bought by a family who shall remain nameless. Suffice it to say they eventualy let it fall into a state of disuse, disrepair, and ultimatley to the point where it was no longer habitable, and should have been condemned, really-as was the case with all the properties owned by this particular family.

When the town finally acquired the property, they set to work restoring it, and used jail work release prisoners at least in part to paint it, repair the doors and windows, and haul out all the garbage. It had in recent years become a hangout for the indigent, a place to drink, shoot up,and hang out. But it was soon fixed up to where it looked almost as good as new-at least on the outside. Still, two or thee years had passed, and it was utilized for nothing. It’s main function seemed to be that it was no longer an eyesore or a health hazard. No businsses moved in, no offices opened in it, and no one dwelled theirein, at least not officially and legally.

Then, over the last few months, a new round of grants became availiable, and of course Mt. Vernon applied for their share. Sometime during the waiting and evaluation process, the old Brown Building, by all rights an historical landmark, suddenly burned to the ground, leaving in the totality of the destruction nothing save the old chimney. It was totally destroyed by the fire, right on the spot where it had existed for over one hundred years-

Not so much as half a block from the Mt. Vernon Fire Department and City Hall!!!

They were tuned down for the latest grants. They were also refused grants for the purpose of improving the city water system. Should anybody wonder why?

Incidentally, just across the street from the City Hall and Fire Department is a road that goes to the Rockcastle County Hospital and Respiratory Care Center. Not too long after you turn onto that road, the first thing you will notice is the road to the right could use something it has never had-a guardrail. Of course, to construct a guardrail, you would have to finally get around to cutting the waist high weeds which, from the road, hides the drop off that leads straight down onto the railroad tracks, more than six feet below.

A High Stakes Gamble

Gambling is a worthless endeavor that can get you killed, or otherwise ruin what you might have left that passes for a life. So to that extent I can understand the reluctance of Kentucky legislators to pass bill 600, which recently got moved to committee. This was a way some few legislative supporters had of holding off what had been the almost certain defeat of this bill , which would allow some Kentucky race tracks to operate as casinos. The main proponents of the bill is an organization called KEEP, for Kenucky Equine Education Project, and it is an obvious boondoggle. Racetracks in Kentucky have traditionally been opponents of any measure to extend any form of legalized gambling outside their purview, but this was meant to be to their benefit, in fact, it was meant to insure a monopoly on the gambling industry, aside of course from the state run lottery.

This was only one of the reasons it ws doomed to failure, there was also the very real and legitimate concern about the impact on society, especially among the poor, who are traditionally the heaviest investors in the gambling industry. Casinos would only be seen as exacerbating the problem, opening up doors to prostitution, increased crime and alcohol related problems, etc.

Still, the main point is that the state could definitely use the money which is now being spent in neighboring states by those who will gamble regardless. The bill should pass,. but the racetracks should not be the only benefiiaries. The current consideration of the bill is a proposal to extend the range to thirteen casinos in as yet unspecified ares of the stae, with only five or six of these being racetracks.

I definitely agree with KEEP on one thing. They should let the people decide. Then again, maybe they shouldn’t. The religious right will probably just flood the airwaives and newspapers with a deluge of ads, most of them misleading and exxaggerated, in an effort to defeat the bill,and their efforts would probably be succesful.

Instead, the legislators should decide to have some backbone and vote for the bill. After all, no one that I know of lost an election in Kentucky by supporting the state lottery, and I have no doubt the same would be the case here.

I’m not much of a gambling person myself, though I have done it from time to time, a pick three here, a pick four there, a Powerball ticket every now and then. I’ve even played some penny ante poker a few, a very few times. My gambling drug of choice is, in fact, the throughbred races. There, you do have a chance of winning, and I don’t believe for a minute that the races are rigged, not the major stakes anyway,though this was a minor problem in the past. Regardlss, it is fun, as long as you don’t let yourself get caught up in the excitement of a few wins and end up losing your winnings and more, as I did once to the tune of 200 dollars on one race. I bet on one of the best jockeys in the business at the time to come in third, or show, in a field of five, in a race where he was ranked fourth, which is what he came in at.

So, I put my hand up to the burner and learned the consequences, and that is a lesson that has stayed with me to this day. And, though other people may not be so adaptive, the opportunity should be legal and availiable, which it is in Indiana, which is draining millions of dollars in sorely needed revenue from the state.

With all it’s potential downside, bill 600 should still be passed, but it probably will not be. Our state legislators and governor though will gladly pass bills such as the one recently signed into law that allows the Ten Commandments to be erected on the Frankfort state capitol grounds. In the context of a “historical display”, of course. I don’t expect, however, to see any statues of Hammurabi in any Kentucky courthouses and schools anytime soon. And that of course is where this is all eventually heading, if this bunch has their way.

That I would almost bet the farm on.

Mythic Proportions

It occurred to me, after my last post, that some may misunderstand my views on mythology, so I thought that I should take a little time to expand on them more thoroughly. To begin with, I have nothing whatsoever against mythology. It can be enlightening, an important aspect of the life of a devotee of any spiritual path. As a matter of fact, it is actually an essential component of it. And I say this not only as regards the actual ritual practices that are part and parcel, the inner workings of any cult or religion, thought this is certainly true, it is actually an indispensable means of understanding and achieving communion with the deities by means of ritual conscouness (though certainly not the only such means).

My problem with mythology is, in fact, the point that it is not used as effectively as it should be. Most people tend to take myths at for the most part their face value, without trying to look beyond the outer surface presentation down into what is actually the kernal of truth it contains, that deeper meaning wrapped in symbolism. That is pretty much akin to judging a person solely by the clothing he or whe wears. It may tell you a little about them. It may in some cases even tell you quite a lot about them. But it’s not the entire story. For that, you need to look beyond the outer appearrance, by looking deeper inward.

Some mythologies, in fact, served the people in the time in which they were developed well, but have little meaning for us today. But that is because they haven’t evolved with the times. And in order for them to remain relevant, that is essential, and inescapably so. I am currently at work on a revision of the myth of the birth of Athene, which I intend to one day publish as part of a collectionof such retellings. This too, as has been pointed out to me, can be dangerous.

One recent example of a self-serving retelling that was pointed out to me by a friend that I communicate with prvately on a somewhat regular basis, is the recent change in the personality of the Goddess Artemis. This deity is of course the pure and chaste virgin Goddess of the Hunt, and in Classical Hellenic art was generally depicted with a bow. She was one of the Twelve Olympians, one of those Goddesses who were of paramount importance among the anciet Greeks. She had many attributes, and possibly chief among these was her status as the Patron Goddess of hunters, and of the hunt itself.

She was invoked for other reasons as well. She was the patron Goddess of several cities, was a Goddess of fertility, and was invoked to insure ease of childbith. But mainly she is remembered as that Goddess whom hunters invoked to insure a successful hunt.

But for some odd reason that I have never been able to wrap my mind around, she is invoked by a good many mainly eclectic Wiccans these days, a great many of whom are vegetarians, and vegans. These are staunchly environmental types. I am too, but I am talking here about extremists,some of whom might even make the folks at Greenpeace look like Neo-Cons. These are the type of environmentalists who are outraged at any encroachment of mankind upon nature, however slight or even unnavoidable, and decry with a passion the killing of any animals. And this extends from the slaughter of farm animals to the hunting of wild animals, not only for sport, but for food as well.

To them, the Lady Artemis has suddenly evolved into “the gentle protectress of animals”. WHAT?!!!! Yes, it’s true, now if this isn’t an evolution, there is no such thing. This is off the charts. For one thing, yes, Artemis is the protectress of animals, and of the environment in general. Unfortunately, a great part of that protection comes in strengtening the herd by means of thinning it out. The art and science of responsible hunting therefore isn’t an abomination to her, in fact, it can be viewed as a sacred act. It is actually aiding in the process, which without that aid would be even more bloody, torturous, and ultimatley catastrophic. Most hunters when killing their prey aim at precision, in a clean, fast, and relatively merciful kill. Even the slaughtering of livestock, as heartwrenching, and to the animal terrifying, as this can be-and the methodology here should definitely be improved-even this is a vast improvement over what would normally be the fate of these animals were they allowed to roam free as many of these radicals would hold that “nature intended”. In the wild, natures way of thinning out the herd usually involves the old being left behind to be ultimatley torn to pieces by predatory animals. Or even worse, to die a long drawn out death of starvation and thirst as they are, before death, gnawed away at by insects and rodents.

So no, Artemis is not “gentle”, by any stretch of the imagination. She is, in fact, quite feral. And for any group to develop a mythology that asserts otherwise is not true mythology. It is wishful thinking. It is self-serving aggrandizement on an arrogant scale.

Still, mythologies, again, do have to evolve to fit the times in order to be and remain relevant to them. But you have to be true to the basic nature of the God or the Goddess involved or they are meaningless, and in fact all the more irrelevant, even to a degree deceptive. That is why you have to exercise a degree of caution when reworking these myths. I think of it more as a prospect not of changing the myths, but of expounding on them explaining them more fully than an ancient adherent might have been capable of. The beautiful thing about the ancient Hellenic myths are, to a point they contain the seeds for growth and evoltuion within their own paradigms.

Furthermore, I am really not talking about anything new here. Even ancient socieities reworked their own myths. They themselves evolved and expanded on their ancient myths. The conquering Achaeans, the Dorians and others who infiltrated ancient Greece and eventually gave rise to the Hellenic civilization that we know as Classical Greece, did this themselves with the myths and folklores of the preceding Mychaenaeans, who likely themselves did the same with myths borrowed from the earlier Minoans.

Nor do you even have to study the ancient past to see an on-going modern day example, in the mythology of the Hindus of India. I am thinking here specifically of the myth of the elephant headed God, Ganesh. According to present day Hindu mythology, Ganesh was the son of Shiva, The Desroyer. One day while Shiva was out, Ganesh’s mother decided to take a bath, and cautioned her son Ganesh to guard the house from intruders. He dutifully stood watch at he door, and when Shiva returned home early, he did not recognize him, and so refused him entrance into his own home. In a rage, Shiva sliced off the head of Ganesh. Seenig what he had done, he determined to bring ganesh back to life and supply him with a new head. Coming upon the first animal he saw-an elephant, of course-he took off the unfortunate creatures head, and attached it to the body of Ganesh.

Anybody should be able to discern what is going on here. In fact, I would submit that Ganesh was seen as always having had the head of an elephant, to his devotees this was nothing unusual. It was symbolic of the power of this particular God. This was a common attribute of deities in ancient Egypt, less so in India, but Ganesh is one of these examples. But somewhere along the way, as times progressed, people started to question this remarkable oddity. Why did Ganesh have the head of an elephant? Perhaps the worship of Ganesh preceded the arrival of what came to be the predominant population on the continent, who needed something in the way of an explanantion, and so invented one.

Whatever the case, this rather fanciful explanation I hold to be a relatively recent innovaton. An evolution of the myth, if you will, and not a very good one at that, in my opinion. The earlier devotees of this particular deity obviously viewed the elephant as sacred, a divine manifestation of the God. The latter day observers, whether native or foreign, had to have an explanation.

At any rate, the point is that all things must change, must grow and evolve, in order to remain relevant. And this is equally true of mythology, maybe more so. But you have to proceed, again, while being true ot the natue of the Deity in question, and while keeping the faith with the spirit of the original myth in question. Otherwise, you are just making shit up. And that is something I do not ever intend to do.

As for those who might take exception to my thoughts on this matter, I will address the two of you.

To the “Fluffy Bunnies”-It’s not all peaches and cream, no matter how much you might wish that were the case.

And, to the “Recons” - No, I am not going to go to hell for violating the ancient myths. Since you believe so strongly in the inviolability of the ancient myths, you DO believe in hell, don’t you? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Secret Societies

There is a disturbing trend amongst Wiccans and other Pagans which exhibits itself in the form of a yearning for religion. I guess this is natural, in a sense, since Paganism is a religion, right? Well, I guess that all depends on how you define the term religion.

Bear in mind that the majority of pagans, at least American ones, come from a religious background, in one form or another. Even if they themselves were not regular churchgoers, or otherwise religously inclined, there is a better chance than not that there is some degree of religious influence in their background. Face it, it is just the way our society has been structured, if it’s not a family tradition, it is at the very least an environmental and a societal influence.

As such, there are various pagan organizations that feed off this influence, in a variety of ways and forms. I don’t know how often I have been either an observer of or a participant in conversations that revolve around the aspect of transforming Paganism into a religion, with at least the implication of all the hierarchical structuring this entails. Well, it’s a rocky road, with lots of hills and deceptive curves. And many of the would-be leaders of such movements can at times exhibit undue frustration at their lack of progress.

“Leading pagans is like trying to herd cats,” I have heard more than one of these people complain. Then follows the usual litany of woes- the backbiting, jealousy, suspicion, stubbornness, uncooperativeness, etc., etc.

Yet, most pagans seem to be looking to be led. Many of them in fact betray at least a hint of fundamentalism, of literalist interpretation of the ancient pagan mythologies, that are at least naïve, if not borderline psychotic. And I fear there are more than ample opportunities for them to be taken advantage of. I am talking here about the kind of people that will throw their money into useless endeavors such as illustrated by, for example, charlatans such as Miss Cleo. They are obviously looking for something in their lives that has been lacking. But what is it?

They are to an extent conflicted about spirituality, about religion, and yet are superstitously inclined. And so, there is a lack of wholeness. They are looking to be accepted into a group that will give them meaning, and guidance, but Wicca and Paganism can only afford this to a limited extent. And that is why it will never be a major religion. And why is that? Well,the answer to that will be surprising, but it is a really simple concept.

Paganism was never a religion. Think about that. I know it sounds crazy, coming from a pagan, but it is the truth. Again-Paganism was never a religion.

That is because, in any given culture you consider from the long ago past, paganism was never one religion, but a mixture of them-a mishmash, if you will. Take ancient Greece, for example, and the ancient Hellenic deities. This is the Pagan philosophy to which I have gravitated. But look at it closely. There was never an overreaching, monolithic Hellenic Pagan hierarchical structure, as such.

The closest you came to this was during certain festivals, in which the communities would gather to feast and celebrate, and worship as a community, in celebration of one or in some cases more of the deities. Certain calendar dates were sacred to certain deities. That, folks, is as good as it gets. Even at this, there was no overarching common standard that bound all the various Hellenic communities. Here, the closest you might come would be in the celebration of the Olympics.

As for the various mythologies of the different deities that many will point to as evidence of a common religous structure, this has for far too long been taken at face value. These mythologies were meant mainly for public consumption. They offerred evidence of the values of moral living, for example. After all, if a God or a Goddess could bring harm or disaster or shame upon him or her self by engaging in immoral activities, then how more so should this be taken as a warning to mortals as to what their fate would surely be by doing likewise? It also offerred explanations as to various natural phenomenon, theorized how the universe came into being, and any number of other such things.

Still, it’s important to realize that, as valuable as these old mythological stories are to a point-they are not religion. And here’s where we get right dow to the nitty gritty.

All the various deties, the Goddesses and the Gods, had their own cults. Their own individual priesthoods. Their own-well, their own religions. Now, people could, and did, go to their various temples and partake of prayer services and made offerrings to these deities at their temples in the hopes of gaining this or that good fortune. And, as mentioned earlier, there were various community festivals in honor of these deities that were officiated by their individual priesthoods.

But to be an actual practising member of a religious cult entailed far more than merely showing up to temple, offerring a few prayers and a song or two and listening to a sermon here or there. This was true regardless of the sincerity of the worshipper. Being a member of the religious cult involved usually the payment of a fee, along with a requirement of a minimum of social standing within the community. It also required the regular payment of dues. Finally-and this is perhaps the most improtant point of all-it required a degree of secrecy. You wee, after all, a member of an exclusive sect.

Some cults were more rigid about this than were others. There is still little known for example about the cult of Demeter. Yet, she was a very imprtant Goddess, one of the major twelve Olympian Gods considered of the utmost importance. She was originally perhaps a barley goddess, but eventually came to be viewed as the Goddess of agriculture in all it’s forms.

The cult of Ares, God of War, is even more of a mystery. Almost nothnig of the beliefs of his cult has survived. Almost everything that has survived concerning him on a mythological level is negative, in some cases to an almost absurd degree. And this brings up another interesting point concerning the Hellenic Pagan religious cults. They were very competitive. The cults of Ares and Athene are sterling examples of two cults which were evidently as competitive in their own way as, to give a more modern example, Islam might be seen by many as being a competitor to Christianity, or as Protestantism was until the not too distant past seen as competitive with Catholicism, and to a degree still is.

So there you have it. Even those cults which were most widespread in their respective lands and cultures-Zeus to the Greeks, Amon Ra to the Egyptians, and Vishnu to the modern day Hindus, are themselves manifestation of one religious cult. A cult which recognizes and affirms the existence of other lesser deities, and allows even for honors to them, yes. Still yet, they were and in the case of Vishnu is, religions that are sacred to that one diety to whom the priesthood, and devotees, owe their allegiance.

The wealthier classes of course could afford to belong to more than one cult, and oftentimes did. In this case, of course, they were members of multiple religions. So what is this all leading up to? Simply put, if there ever is one umbrella “Pagan Religion”, as many would assert, they are creating an animal that has never before existed, or at least was extremely rare, to say the least.

This is not to say that it can’t be done, of course, nothing is impossible. But is it practical. Is it even desirable?

I have always been attracted myself to the concept of coven worship. Also, to the idea of Secret Societies. In such a society, you do not come “just as I am” and are accepted with love and open arms. In fact, you do not come at all without an invitation. Even at that, you are by no means assurred of a place in the order. And if you are accepted into it, you are definitely expected-make that required-to contribute, either in money, talent, or time.

Does that mean we consider ourselves better? No,we just consider ouselves members of an exclusive club, who share the same common interests and heartfelt beliefs. Otherwise, we would like to be responsible members of our society and contribute to the welfare of it. Hell,you might even see us in your churches from time to time. After all, a tue pagan does believe in giving honor to all deities of all peoples. Even to those who might be presented in an overly ostentatous fashion by those who take him, and themselves, a bit too seriously.

But of course, all religions take themselves seriously, as do their adherents, and were paganism ever to be transformed into a hierarchical umbrella structure-assumming for the moment that were even possible-I contend it would quickly dissove into factions, rival ones, in many cases, just like in days of old. And, even if this did not occur, the overall result would be just another hierarchical power sturcture opting for socal and politcal power and influence. Soon,it would fall to the same degree of corruption and decadence as all the others. The signs are there, in fact, that the seeds have allready been planted for this.

That is just a fact of human nature, unfortunately, inherent as well, I fear, in mankinds innate spiritual cravings.