Back in the darkest days of Stalinist Russia, for all intents and purposes American movies were banned. Of all the fans, and potential fans, of American cinema, one person watched American movies, on a regular basis, with impunity. That person was Joseph Stalin, who was a rabid fan of American western movies, and many times during his last days would invite those among his inner circle to attend viewings, private screenings, of some of his favorites.

Unfortunately, most of them knew little English, some knew none at all, and so many times Stalin would avail himself of the services of Lavrentia Beria, his feared and hated NKVD Chief, to provide the translations, which, according to Nikita Khruschev, amounted to little more than relating what anyone watching the screen could easily see for themselves.

"He's leaving now", Beria would explain, and then, "now he's starting to run", would be a typical example given by Khruschev in his memoirs.

The Russian movie industry has come a long way, and in a lot of ways has come full circle. Now, not only are American movies allowed, and even encouraged to be sent into the country, but American movie companies are more and more taking advantage of what is a promising atmosphere and growing industry, with a better than 400 million population, to actually film movies in the Russian Republic.

Many of them, such as Disney, are taking baby steps, wary of throwing too much finances into what might turn out to be a relatively unstable environment. Still, they recognize the fact that the Russian film industry is indeed experiencing a boom, and unlike other nations film industries-such as India, for example-foreign investors are welcome and encouraged.

This is all thanks in large measure to Vladimir Putin, who, recognizing the sorry morass the industry found itself in following the fall of the former Soviet regime, decided to change things for the better.

During the Yeltsin era, movies produced in Russia were few and generally poor in quality. What few exceptions there were to this general rule, and there were excpetions, found audiences not in movie theatres, but on VHS and DVD. The old Soviet era movie theatres themselves were for the most part turned to other uses, such as stores and auto dealership displays.

So what did Putins governemnt do that made the difference, that has caused this turnaround? They have reinstituted the Soviet era policy of subsidizing the industry. Of course, this has the potential disadvantage, in time, of raising the spectre of the possibility of censorship, which might be another reason for the reluctance of foreign companies to involve themselves too deeply in this vital yet fledgling market.

Still, it has it's advantages as well. A big budget movie in the US might cost around forty million dollars. In Russia, it might well be made for around two milion dollars. And Russia is a huge country, with a great deal in the way of scenic beauty. And the Russians are friendly, and eager to learn from Hollywood professionals, who themselves stand to gain in the way of this somewhat unofficial cultural exchange.

Finally, Russia has a long history in filmaking, even during the heyday of the communist era, when they produced such classics as "The Potemkin". Although there might be some degree of limitations, which is unfortunate, they have an established history of quality. It will be interesting to see the results of the present movie industry boom.

The only thing I'm wary of is the potentially negative effects on the American movie industries unions, especially such underlings as the grips, best boys, and all the other incidental workers and laborers who provide vital services in the production of American films, and who only make a relatively decent living due to the influence of their unions. True, this has contributed to the increase in ticket prices, and Russian imports are unlikely to be any less expensive, yet more profitiable to the filmmakers involved-doubtless another reason for their interet, possibly the main reason.

On the other hand, if Jack Nicholson were to settle for two million dollars for a thirty minute part as oppossed to ten million or more, it might be a big help to our own industry.

From Russia With Disdain

These last few days at the G8 Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin looked deep into George Bush’s eyes, and got a sense of his soul, and probably as well a verification of what he had doubtless long suspected-the American President doesn’t have a clue.

The fact that Bush actually encouraged Putin to try to adopt reforms for his country, and become more like the fledgling democray of Iraq, speaks volumes about this Presiedents naivitey. And Putins response, during the course of a press conference, practically shouts his disdain toward Bush’s policies. He laughed. It was not a good humored laugh. It was dismissive, even derisive.

To be like Iraq is the last thing Russia needs, he said.

We can learn two things from this exchange. One, George W. Bush honestly believes in the validity of his admnistrations Iraqi policy, and it’s war aims to help facillitate the hoped for results, of freedom, democracy, adherence to human rights standards, sectarian inclusiveness, and free markets.

He believes in all these things, and honestly believes the war is being won, that real progress is being made, despite the unquestionable roadblocks, which he can no longer seriously deny. He believes these things, but why does he believe them? Is it simply because he is in too deep, and has no choice but to put as good a face as possible on what has turned into a disaster of epic, tragic proportions? Is it because he honestly believes in the rightness of this cause? Does he feel he has been lifted up by his God for the purpose of spreading freedom throughout the Arab and Muslim world, to pave the way for the annihilation of Islamic Jihadist Terrorism? Does he simply believe it, perhaps, because he has been sold a bill of goods by Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the remainder of the Neo-Conservative cabal that has established a stranglehold of power over the nations capital, with George W. Bush nothing more than a well manipulated sock puppet?

The other thing we can learn, as pertains to Vladimir Putin, is that, whatever the reason for Bush’s faith in the Iraqi cause-Putin is simply not buying it, not for one second. To put it bluntly-he knows better, which isn’t surprising considering this is a man who began his political career on the heels of a highly placed position in the old Soviet KGB. The fact that he could treat Bush with such alarming a display of casual disregard, as to all but laugh at him in public, at a press conference, with the President in attendance, should give Americans great pause.

Bush had questioned Putins recent crackdowns, particularly on freedom of the press, in Russia, which was the reason for the Iraqi suggestion from Bush, in the course of a meeting between the two men. During the later press conference, Bush almost seemed apologetic in explaining how Putin made clear how he can not allow another country to dictate how they pursue their democratic ideals. Yet, he insisted the two of them were “good friends”.

Well, sometimes a good friend will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that you should mind your own business.

The G8 Summit, and in particular stories about Putin and Bush’s overall relationship, has taken on characteristics that seem almost allegorical in nature.

For example, there is the story about Putins dog, a large animal who jumped up aggresively on Bush and had to be restrained by Putin, who told the President that his dog could dispatch Bush’s little dog Barney with little effort,whereupon word emerged that at the visit to the Crawford ranch by Putin some years back, upon being introduced to Barney, by Bush, Putin made it clear that he viewed the little lap dog with disdain.

Whatever the reality of the story, it seems too obvious to pass up the parallel. Putin will never be a lap dog, to Bush or to anybody else.

This is a strange man. He recently vowed to track down and execute those responsible in Iraq for the recent murders of four Russian diplomats. He has unapologetically made clear that he will take whatever steps possible to crack down in the harshest terms imaginable on the Chechen rebels that have sought to engage in terroristic ativities in his own country.

He has made it abundantly clear that there will be limits to democracy in Russia, that it will be managed and regulated.

Yet, this is a man who, while on his way by foot to the Kremlin a while back, stopped at the sight of a group of children, lifted up the shirt of a small boy, kissed him on the stomach, and then ruffled his hair as he then continued on his way to the Kremlin in bounding strides. A mere display of sentimentality, perhaps, but possibly as well a revelation of what might be considered a streak of superstition, the same kind of good luck an American southerner long ago might seek to appropriate by rubbing the head of a black man.

Yet, he seems now to be popular in Russia, and this can be summed up thusly-he has in fact given the people what they want, which is, the promise of security.

As for the G8 summit, there doesn’t seem to be too much in the way of accomplishments, or long term agreements among the nations there, on such matters as trade or environmental concerns.

So far, the only decision of any importance is that, for now, Russia will not be brought into the World Trade Organization.

Tom Brokaw And The Dawn Of Doomsday

Tom Brokaw will tonight, on The Discovery Channel, host a documrntary, at 9:00 p.m. e.s.t., about global warming, about the very eral dangers it poses, as it posits the question, what can we do about it? Is it, in fact, too late to actually do anything about it at all. It purports to take a concise look at the causes, which have been upheld as valid by the majority of the scientific community. Foremost among these would be the effects of industrial pollution, as well as carbon emissions from autombiles and planes.

In addition, it presents a frightening cataloque of some of the more dramatic effects of global warming, specifically noting the effects on the polar regions, where vast glaciers can be seen to practically be melting before your eyes as huge sections of ice off the coast of Greenland and Antartica literally slide into the sea.

The long term effect of this, Brakaw notes, is the potential for devastating flooding. Practically the entire coastal areas of Florida, the North and Mid-Atlantic states, and even New York City itself, or at least huge portions of it, could end up underwater.

Although it wasn’t mentioned in the ads that I saw, one issue that would be impossible to avoid would be the detrimental effects of global warming on the weather, with the increase in numbers and intensity of severe storms, such as thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

The entire US has felt the effects this year. The western half of the country has experienced severe droughts, resulting in more forrest fires than usual, while the south and midwest has experienced increases in heat, humidity, and storms, resulting in tornadoes and flooding. Just last week, a number of tornadoes touched down in the Dayto Ohio area, seemingly just springing up from out of nowhere.

The Northeast, in the meantime, has experienced flooding on a scale heretofore almost unheard of. Finally, and remember, we are barely a third of the way through hurricane season, if that much.

That a newsman with the status and integrity of Tom Brokaw would agree to host this special speaks volumes about the validity of the science behind it. And, even if the science is to a limited extent debatable, just the possibility makes it a subject which is deserving of serious consideration, and national public attention.

Which leads me to my main question-why is this being shown only on the Discovery Channel? Why not on the NBC network, in addition to MSNBC? Would not a prime time network airing bring in sufficient ratings numbers? Surely a night can be determined for the showing on the network which would give it as great an impact as possible. Even if it didn’t bring in a lot of viewers, it would still be deemed a public service, and so would be worth the risk. And with the right amount of advertisement, it might even be a ratings bonanza, and for that matter, may serve to galvanize public attention and demands for action from what seems to be a reluctant, to say the least, Congress.

And, of course, I have already answered my own question. Look at who are the major advertisers on network television. Brtish Petroleum, Daimler Chrysler, all the other major oil companis in additon to auto manufcturers, airline companies, and all the major industries which depend to one extent or another on the products that in the course of their production send volumes of carbon emisions and other pollutants shooting into the atmosphere.

Ask yourself, why would they agree to sponsor a program which argues as it’s central theme that these very companies, in combination with the lifestyles of America and other industrialized developed nations, to say nothing of the other developing nations, such as India, Brazil, and China-are combining to end life and civilization on earth as we know it? It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to think they would, does it? The wonder to me is, that they woudn’t resist showing the program on a relativly minor outlet like the Discovery Channel.

By the same token, if you’re smart, you cut your losses without incurring more casualties, or suspicion of heavy handedness. To this end, they can’t engage in killing the program all together, and to their way of thinking the harm to showing it on Discovery would be minimal. The people that tend to watch these kinds of cable networks tend to already believe the scientifically accepted view of global warming anyway, so they are really not learning anything new. The impact on them will be minimal at best, as they are already, from the perspective of these corporate entities, giant pains in the asses.

They can, however, and I have no doubt they have, pressure NBC,who depends on their advertising dollars, from showing the program on a major network like NBC, which would result in massive exposure, with potentially devastating results for the companies.

These national, and in some cases international, mega corporations, control the media, and to a large extent they control political discourse in this country, and their reach and influence is global. It all boils down to what I have been saying for years. We are moving ever more rapidly toward a global feudalistic society, which cares for nothing whatsoever about our survival, or the long term survival of the planet, it cares for nothing but it’s own power and short term profitability.

Northern Kentucky Democrats Banned From Starbucks

You would think that if there were anyplace in the known universe where Democrats could meet in relative peace and serenity, it would be at a Starbucks.  This was probably exactly what was going through the mind of Campbell County Democratic Party Chariman Ken Mullikin, when two employees approached the group while he was speaking at abotu 6:00 p.m. on July 12th, and informed the group they would have to leave.

The employees explained to them that their regional managers said they couldn't have a political meeting or discussion there, according to one person in attendance, who replied that they had been given permission, had in fact had a previous meeting at the Starbucks, all to no avail.

"This could have been handled better", said Katie Henderson, president of the College Democrats at Northern Kentucky University. "It was humiliating."

Starbucks had not returned media requests for interviews, or responded to any questions forwarded to their regional offices. Yet, Ms. Henderson did say they receive phone calls from Starbucks Representatives, who apologized for the incident., that it was being looked into, and that it was blown out of proportion."

When I read that, I thought to myself, what a strange response to give to a customer complaint.  It is all the more remarkable in that at the time in question, there were reportedly only four other customers in the store, while attendees of the meeting assert that they were not being disruptive.

"It really feels terrible to be discriminated against in such a public place," said Kenton County Chairwoman Kahy Groob, who said she as well later received an apology, along with an assurrance that the group would be welcme back.

Groob then went on to ominously suggest that the employees should be dealt with.

Not exactly the kind of sentiments I particularly care to hear from a representative of a party that prides itself on looking out for the workingman and "the little guy". After all, every indication is that these two employees merely thought they were following company policy, and probably were at that.

At the same time I can understand the reluctance of the senior management to alienate the political group. If I had a restaurant that only drew in typically four custmers on a weeknight at 6:00 p.m., the last thing I would want to do would be to start turning customers away. Even if they are talking politics.

I also have to wonder about the state of finances of the Northern Kentucky Democratic Party, that they have to meet in a Starbucks. There were only somewhere between fifteen to twenty of them. Haven't they ever heard of The Anchor Grill?

Special Rights And The Federal Marriage Amendment

The Federal Marriage Amendment which has been touted recently in Congress, has little chance of being passed, and for the same reason the equally insane Flag Burning Amendment has-it’s supposed proponents would in reality prefer to keep it alive as an election year issue, election after election, and blame the Democratic Party for keeping it from being passed. And, just as in the case of Kentucky Senior Republican Senator and Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, when necessary they will find a Republican Senator for whom it is safe enough to “cross party lines” and vote with the majority, on some pretext or another.

There is, however, one major differences in the two proposed “conservative” amendments-

The Flag Burning Amendment should probably be allowed to pass, for no other reason than to keep this inane stupidity from ever again taking up the important, valuable time required to conduct the legitimate business of the American people.

Yet, I can promise you it never will be.

The Federal Marriage Amendment, on the other hand, is an abomination, a perverse distortion of American ideals that would enshrine discrimination into the American constitution of a disliked and reviled, by many, minority group, and it should never be passed.

Yet, there is a better than passing chance that one day, it will be.

As I was explaining today in a comment on a post on the subject by Pissed Off Patricia, in Morning Martini, the Republican Majority are under the gun this year to produce results, and the pressure grows ever greater with each passing year. To understand the reason for this, you need look no further than your local churches, and the mythology of their particular cults, as pertaining to, at least insofar as the more conservative of them go, the word of God as to the true nature of homosexuality.

It has been reviled in sacred scripture as the most heinous of sins, worthy of not only scorn, but even of death. Five entire cities were suppossedly destroyed at least in part, if not wholly, to this evil. It was stated bluntly, in palin language, that it was among the most abominable of sins.

Now, what is the natue of sin? The answer, of course, is that it is rebellion against the word and laws of God. That implies, at least, a purposeful conduct. Therefore, you are presented with the subject of choice. At least when it comes to such matters as homosexuality.

However, it is interesting to note that in most other instances of sin, it is said that people sin because they have a natural sin nature due to the fall from grace perpetrated by the first humans, Adam and Eve. This doesn’t make in any more excusable, only more to the way of presenting an explanation, flawed though it is, as to why human beings cannever possibly attain perfection. Human beings are fatally flawed.

The Apostle Paul seems to have recognized this, and talked of Nero and his Roman Imperial Court as being so debauched, that they were given over to a sin nature. They were so debauched, in other words, so rotten to the core, there was not any hope for them, as that God had given them over to a “reprobate mind”. In a sense, they no longer had any option, no true choice to act in any other way-still, they were evil, and evil is as evil does.

The Apostle Paul himself may have been a homosexual. The fact is he spoke of himself as being weak, frail, infirm, and in additon there is no record of him ever being married. Yet, it is his writings which have had by far the greatest impact on Christian morals, even to this day, in their singlemindedness and rigidity. And this would include sexual and marital matters. “ It takes Richard Nixon to go to China.”

So anyway, the point is that conservative Christians, as well as Muslims and probably Jews as well, honestly believe that to allow gay marriage would be tantamount to an open indication to either one of two things.

To those that believe it is a “choice”, a great many people might actually “choose” the homosexual lifestyle, that over a period of time it would be seen as natural, and this would lead to the wholesale desecration of the sacred rites of marriage, and to the ultimate weakening and eventual doom of society. Men and women, in ever greater numbers, would eventually decide to leave their spouses and engage in a legally recognized marriage with their same sex best friends.

Before long, thanks to radical elitist educators with some sinister “homosexual agenda” more and more innocent children would then be lead to engage in the homosexual lifestyle. Before long, America’s morals would be down the toilet. Seuxally transmitted diseases would explode, tradtional marriages would fall apart in ever more increasing numbers, and the entire culture would disintegrate into a morass of sinful vice and excess. America would, in short order, be a 300 million plus Sodom and Gommorrhah.

Those who believe that homosexuality is not a choice, but is naturally occurring, still are in agreement to an extent. They feel that homosexuality is a test, imposed by God on them, one which they should struggle with every day, with his divine help. To give in to this evil would be therefore to fail the test. To legalize gay marriage,then, would make it easier to give in to those evil urges God has decided to test them with. The net result would be the same, in their opinion.

People who adhere to this belief like to cite studies of the results of gay marriage in certain European countries where it has been made legal, in The Netherlands, for example. They cite statistics that purport to demonstrate how traditional marriages have faltered, have declined, since the legalization of same sex marriage, how there are more divorces, etc.

Without having seen these studies in depth, I can’t really say for sure, except to volunteer the opinion that they are probably skewed. There might be other factors for the decline in traditional marriages which might have as much to do with the high rate of income taxes as anything else.

But when worse comes to worse, I would have to offer the opinion that the true reason for the decline has most probably everything to do with the rights of non-married oppossite sex couples being put pretty much on an equal level as the rights traditoanlly, in times past, reserved for those couples who choose to engage in traditional marriages. If true, this would have nothing to do with homosexual marriages, per se’.

But this as well brings up a whole other issue. Why is it that a traditional, heterosexual marriage, should be afforded special rights? Isn’t that a lifestyle choice? Were they forced to be married? Were they forced to have a child? Or two, or three, or four, etc? Well, am I responsible for that? So they are having a hard time raising their children. How is this my problem? How is it that I or anybody else should be penalized for their freely chosen and engaged in “lifestyle choice”?

How is it that since they have freely decided, on their own initiative, to marry and raise a family, they now have the right to the better jobs, more tax breaks, while I in turn am taxed to pay for their childrens education, and in some cases food, shelter, and even medcial expenses? Aren’t all these “special rights”?

After all, they knew full well what they were getting into when they entered this avenue of their life. Why should anyone but them pay the price for it? And why should their needs be considered of paramount importance over the rights of either same sex couples, married or otherwise, or of heterosexual couples who might choose to share a life together without the benefits and responsibilities of marriage?

In my honest opinion, if a heterosexual couple can marry, raise children, and stand together through all the good times and the bad, while that is commendable, it deserves no special applause. If their marriage is based on reality, and entered into with maturity and reason, and they are willing to work on it, that marriage will last, and flurish and prosper, regardless of the status of same sex couples or of unmarried heterosexual couples.

But, on the off chance that it might effect certain marriages adversely, resulting in an inevitable split-it’s probably just as well.

Still, as I said close to the beginning, there is a slight chance this amendment, if not this year, might someday eventually pass. All it would take is enough demands by that socailly conservative Christian segment of society, enough conservative Republican legislators on the national level to start to realize they have to eventually produce promised results.

As more and more states enact amendments to their own states constitutions to the effect of disallowing gay marriage-many of which, by the way, also include provisions to forbid the recognition of the rights of unmarried heterosexual couples as being on the same level as traditionally married couples-the pressure will beccome greater on conservative legislators, which may as well include some Democrats in addition to Republicans.

One day, they might have to produce. And if and when they do, our country will be the poorer for it.

The Real Me

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

One Loony Conspiracy Theory-Mine-Bites The Dust

Yeah, I've been hanging around Far Left newsgroups for way too long, I've caught something contagious. I usually like to ridicule them for such nuttiness as the proliferation of Zionist conspiracy theories and how the 9/11 attacks were staged, but like they say, when you lie down with dogs, you can catch fleas.

When I first heard that the Hubble Space Telescope was due to be discontinued, the first thing I thought of was how this sounded like it might have an intentional relationship with George W. Bush's own coziness with the equally looney far right. In fact, this news was given out at about the same time that Bush was somewhat encouraging the teaching, as science, in public schools of what has been termed Intelligent Design-just another barely disguised (though this is denied) code word for "creationism".

It's proponents are quick to defend it by asserting they want to offer it as a scientific theory in addition to, not instead of, the teaching of evolution.

When I heard the news about Hubble being allowed to die, I made a connection between the two, and immediately jumped the gun by theorizing that the Hubble Space Telescope might prove to be somewaht of an embarrassment to Bush's major Christian backers. After all, it has already demonstrated what science has long ago claimed, that the universe was created billions of years ago, not the six to ten thousand years that many conservative Christians claimed, and to a large degree still claim.

What if it further established evidence of the Big Bang? There would be no further need for debate on that score. And I had an idea that Bush, for all his much vaunted religious faith, would not be counting on seeing God up there giving us all a high five in a billions years ago preparation for what he in his infinite wisdom would know would be our eventual snapshot into time and space.

Sure, the religous right could still spin it, but fewer people would believe the spin. More to the point, it would be an embarrassment to the people who have spent decades decrying and even ridiculing the theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory, should they suddenly be presented with photographic proof of the event.

The Hubble Telescope hadn't merely been eliminated as a program whose usefulness had run it's course, I decided-it had been assassinated. One of my formative posts on Blogspot was on this very subject.

I wish I had known Zandperl then, whose blog, Modern Science, is a member of the blogroll, she could have saved me the trouble of writing what I thought at the time was an interesting and provocative post. Come to find out, the Hubble is going to be replaced, in 2013, by an even better space telescope, and in the meantime there is one already that might in time outshine Hubbles vaunted accomplishments. But the new one in question, the one scheduled to be launched no earlier than June of 2013, will utilize infrared photography, in a cold setting shoelded from the sun, that will enable it to detect the formation of the earliest of stars.

Finally, I also understand that, as of this stage of the game, there is no way to view the actual Big Bang (itself, incidentally, probably an event of billions of years in duration), as the initial result of that event was a radioactive cloud that seems to have permeated the entire universe, making viewing past that point in time impossible.

In other words, this is in itself somewhat proof of the Big Bang. Who knows, someday we might eventually be able to pierce the veil. There would probably be really nothing to see but a vast explosion of light. Now that would be kind of hard to spin.

Will I Ever Live This Down?

You Are Most Like George W. Bush

So what if you're not exactly popular? You still rule the free world. And while you may be quite conservative now, you knew how to party back in the day!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

I find this very hard to believe, but then again the questionnaire is skewed and limited. I would have guessed Van Buren, frankly, or maybe Cleveland, or Truman. They realy need to give you more options on these questions, because this just ain't right?

Thanks to Cardianal Martini, who is soon taking a probably permanent leave of absence from blogging. Pay him a visit and wish him well. He's on the blogroll.

Pregnant Women And Their Sex Addict Babies

According to yet another scientifical medical study, it is not a danger to have sex during pregnancy, for the infant. Yes, I know that is old news, as far as the potential for causing miscarriages, or for injuring the child in the uterus. But this new directive has come down from on high from the clouds of academia evidently out of some expressed concern that see during pregnancy, or at least during late in pregnancy, might induce premature labor.

While that is certainly nice to know, no on has yet conducted any studies to determine the validity of my theroy as to sex during pregnancy, and it’s potential harm to the child. I posted this once before, and so, on the occasion of this newly and seemingly profound medical reassurance, I represent it here, in it’s entirety.

Sex During Pregnancy-Can It Cause Your Child To Grow Up To Be A Sex Addict?

Black Magic Lopez

To my way of thinking, Jennifer Lopez is a third rate singer and a fourth rate actress, who just happens to be very beautiful, so I could never quite figure out what the draw was. I mean, what is it with men? I'm hard up at times, but even at my worse I don't spend my time or money on such minimal talent. Except to wonder, what the hell gives here?

Well, as luck and Witchvox would have it, I may have stumbled upon the answer. Jennifer Lopez is, according to her ex-husband Ojani Noa, a practitioner of the religion of Santeria, as well as the even darker Brujeria. Both of these sects, similar to voodoo, involve the veneration of ancient African deities, brought over by black Carribbean based slaves, who disguised their deities as Catholic saints.

In the meantime, it involves animal sacrifice, such as chickens and goats, and ritual spirit possession.

Noa was earlier paid 150,000 dollas to keep silent after the divorce, but he has been lately anything but as he divulges how Lopez has used her practices in order to control all the men she has become involved with, including Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.

From there, it only gets stranger. Remember the tediously constant stream of "news" about "Bennifer"? Yeah, Ben Afleck was supposedly under Jennifers magical influence as well. He even has intimated the reason for the sudden breakup betwen the two. It was at the instigation of her spiritual advisor, one Merle Gonzalez, who advised her there was a bad aura that hovered over the relationship, and she should break it off, which she then did.

He must have seen the same episode of Entertainment Tonight that gave me the dry heaves.

Slayer

The metal band Slayer has learned well how to attract publicity by way of controversy, and that nothing is guaranteed to do the job better than the use of religion. Recent controversies over such movies as The DaVinci Code, and before that Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ most certainly didn't escape their notice. More to the point, they seem to have learned something from the bloody epic by Mel Gibson The Crucifixion Of Christ, that broke box office records worldwide, despite a raging controversy due to the films excessive violence, which many even in the Christian community viewed as horrific, gratuitous, and even pornographic.

This last film may have well provided some of the inspiration for Christ Illussion, or more specifically, for the cover art for the album, which is due out August 8th of this year on Rubins American Recordings/Warner Brothers Records.

The cover portrays Christ, his arms chopped off, standing in a sea of blood, surrounded by decapitated heads, and was painted by veteran Slayer album cover artist Larry Cornell, on a 4 ft. by 4 ft. slab of wood, using a combination of mediums. Kerry King, the guitarist for Slayer, was so taken with the artwork, he secured the rights to ownership of it.

It has already come under fire from some Christian groups, a month before it's due release date. If the artwork is as explicit as promised, the controversy is certain to grow, and as a result Slayers album sales.

I meant to include a link to the groups web-site, however, it's a shitty web-site, so I won't. Hopefully Slayer will make enough money fromthe proceeds of the album, in addition to their tour, they can afford to put up a decent web-site, hopefully one tht has a page that will load in under five minutes.

Failing that, I'm sure there is plenty of information to learn about the group, including their coming tour and dates and places for it. In the meantime, I will remain content to leave you with the above photo of the coming album, though I think this might be a milder version. One version was said to have been stolen from the web-site it was originally on. Personally, I think it was removed due to ISP complaints, but I could be wrong.

I know the grou8p was not satisfied with the first version, but were more than happy with the second. "It makes him look more like a drug addict" quipped one bandmember.

Just One Little Church In Abermarle North Carolina

Alan Dido, pastor of the Encounters Christ Church of Albermarle, North Carolina, seems to be on a jihad of sorts, a holy war, against what he terms Satanism, and drug addiction. I’ll give the good pastor credit for one thing-he has a clue as to one truth of pagan religions-it’s not like Hollywood, nor, does he stress, is Christianity.

In fact, Dido is not too happy with the status of Christianity as of now, he seems to think they aren’t truly living the life of Christians, they are present in body, you might say, but not in spirit. But his main problem with the church seems to be mainly that it isn’t A Church. He sees the predominence of the many different denominations as evidence of Satans work to divide the faithful.

Well, it’s not. The only thing it is evidence of is that people are too diverse and naturally independent to all be satisfied with any one faith, let alone any particular one expression of that one faith. If the good reverend was truly out to learn and teach the truth, he would realize that and at least accept it for the fact that it is, if not actually appreciate it, which would be even more preferable.

I will give him credit for one other thing though. He understands that Satnanists-which seems to unfortunately be his term for any pagan type religion-aren’t all the knifewielding psycopathic monsters engaging in ritual sacrifice and sexual orgies that people tend to imagine. He even goes so far as to give them credit for actually, for the most part, being law abiding citizens, possibly even of high moral character.

Unfortunately, he goes on from there to assert that this, too, is some kind of diabolical plot to infiltrate the body of Christ-the Church-from within, and so further the corrupting influence that has divided the church into all these varius divisions that seem to spring up, in his words, on every street corner.

So, in other words, Reverend Dido is chasing after imaginary monsters that exist within the dark recesses of his mind, while failing to appreciate the fact that he can’t seem to walk from one street to another without seeing evidience of the predominence of Christianity.

The road to heaven, Reverend, begins at the intersection of the body, the heart, the mind, and the soul-as does hell.

Religous Liberties

The World Overcomes Outreach Ministries of Memphis, the pastor of which is “Apostle” Alton R. Williams, can be easily found at the intersection of Kirby Park and Winchester, due to the recent addition of a 72 foot tall likeness of The Statue Of Liberty. The church also boasts a school, bowling alley, roller rink, bookstore, and according to the pastor, 12,000 members, predominantly black.

Dubbed The Statue of Liberty Through Christ, the statue holds a cross instead of a torch, and in the other arm, a tablet pair on which is engraved the Ten Commandments. According to the pastor, the statue was originally presented by France as a welcome to freedom for Americas recently freed former black slave population, and was only after received changed to represent a welcoming of immigrants.

Aside from this rather interesting historical revision, the statue seems to represent exactly what one would expect, the idea that America is a Christian nation, it’s laws were based on Judaeo Christian philosophy, etc. All of which is true, of course, but only partially so, I would submit only minorly so. But why quibble?

I am no expert, but if I recall correctly, one of the commandments on the tablet the lady holds in one arm has the admonition, “thou shalt make unto thee no graven images”. It goes on to explain that this is not a reference merely to human figures, but also to animals, birds, fish, and creeping things of the earth. Although the commandment states that you should not bow down to worship them, every word of this comandment was taken as a separate law unto itself, was believed literally, and for the most part adhered to rigorously.

A time traveller from today to ancient Israel in the time of King David, for example, would be hard pressed to find any statuary. In fact, it would be impossible to find any, not only in any public buildings or parks, but not in any private homes as well. Nor would you find any depictions of any kind of living thing in any kind of artwork whatsoever. The one sole exception seems to have been the two winged cherubim that rested atop the arc of the covenant, which of course was unavailiable for viewing by any save the priesthood, at least after the first temple was buildt.

Our hypothetical time traveller would likely even be stoned were he to present photographs from his wallet of himself and his family, for making a god of himself. Yes, I’m serious. They were that serious about these laws in those days, which all the more leads me to wonder why Christians today make such a big deal about displaying the commandments. Very few Christians actually observe them in the intended way, even the very fundamnetalists who want to force them on everybody else. For that matter, the vast majority if not all Jews no longer follow to the original intent this old prohibition against idols-which according to the original intent of the scriptures is what this and other such statues most surely are.

Now I know a good many Christians will object that ordinary statues are most certainly not idols, and they will vehemently deny that the Statue of Liberty or this likeness of her are idols as well. They will point out that no one worships the statues as though they were goddesses. They are symbolic representations of an ideal, which we can look upon and use as a channel to reflect upon that ideal, as a means of inspiring us to strive to be worthy of it. To which I would reply-

EXACTLY RIGHT!! AND THAT IS EXACTLY HOW PAGAN IDOLS WERE USED.

They as well were not actually living deities in and of themselves, but represented the god or the goddess and the ideals that diety represented, and by reflecting on them, in meditation, you sought to attune with the deity and those ideals, which you would hopefully be inspired to strive to be worthy of in some small way.

Sure, you can split hairs and point out the obvious differences, but it doesn’t matter. Acording to Mosaic law, a graven image of any kind was a potential idol, and held the danger of drawing you into idolatry. The good pastor of this church- the “Apostle” Williams- should reflect upon that the next time he gazes upon the likeness of the Goddess of Liberty.

And, by the way, Pastor Williams- should you by chance happen upon this post- kindly give my regards.

The Archaeology Of Myth

Just when you thought you would never hear it again, somebody else has decided they have found the remains of Noah’s Arc, nestled in the side of a mountain which is indeed within the range that would qualify it as a “mountain of Ararat”. This time the offender is one Arch Bonnema, of the Biblical Archaeology Search and Exploration (B.A.S.E.) Institute, a Christian organization dedicated to looking for Biblical artifacts. This discovery, 13,000 feet high on the side of a mountain in the Elburz Mountain Range of Iran is, according to Bonnema, potentially "proof that God is real”.

Ahhh, no. It doesn’t prove one thing, one way or another, it just offers a tantalizing little bit of affirmation to those who believe, and nothing to those of us who don’t.

My guess-what has been discovered is the remnants of an ancient temple, possibly to the Babylonian God El, known in later times as Allah and, to the Jews, yes, Elohim-or, to be clear, Yahweh. In his earliest incarnation, as El the Moon God, he was generally portrayed as riding in a boat that represented the crescent moon, was worshipped on mountains, and as such his temple might have well been made to resemble boats, probably in their time exquisitely adorned with such items as bronze, gold,silver, ivory, copper, and lapis lazuli.

There may as well have been animal stalls on these ships, where animals were maintained for the purposes of the conducting of sacrifices, and for the nourishment of the priesthood.

So why would I think this, why would I not at least consider the possibility that it might actually be Noahs Arc? Well, for one thing, there was suppossedly only one arc. So how many of these things have been found over the years? I know of at least one before this, for a fact, and I have heard there were more than just this one at the time I read about this one and saw the pictures of it. Assumming this book was not a complete fraud, which it might well have been, I have no choice but to conclude that all these findings are indeed archaeological treasures, and potentially brimming with scientifically verifiable information pertaining to the origins of the old Babylonian cult that gave birth to the three great Abramaic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

There may well have been a terrifying disaster of epic proportions that included flooding –not of the world, but of this specific Meditterannean region of it- which, in addition to lending the inspiration for the various flood mythologies of this region, may have actually lead to the fall from favor of the old cult of El among the Babylonian people, and his replacement by his son Bel Marduk, who was said to have overthrew his father after the latter sent a flood to destroy him, all the other gods, and all the earth.

The true shame of it is that when these discoveries are made, they are then appropriated by people with no serious scientific or archaeological backgrounmd, who then proceed to, I am very much afraid, discard any finding which don’t validate their own predetermined desires. This of course is even assumming they even notice to begin with. These people do not exactly strike me as professional archaeologists, or even as good amateurs. As a result, who knows what has been, or will be, destroyed, inadverdently or purposely.

Yes, true knowledge of the past, potentially and irrevocably destroyed,all in the name of seaching for a truth that never really existed.

Holy Moses!

The Double A baseball team the Tulsa Travellers have come up with what they consider the perfect gimmick to encourage attendance for their faith and family night during home town appearrances of the team. And according to General Manager Brain Carroll, it is catching on. The gimmick?

Moses bobble head dolls. Yep, Moses, clutching the Ten Commandments. Now, I can see where the novelty of this might be appealling,and it might really catch on, and expand.

"The bobblehead craze is still out there," said Brian Carroll, spokesman for the Double-A ballclub. "We'll probably draw two kinds of people for the game, the Moses fans and the bobblehead collectors."

How about Moses as team mascot? Everytime a team member from the oppossing club hits a homerun he smashes the tablets on the ground in anger. Anytime the oppossing team has bases loaded he drops to his knees in prayer. Anytime the Tulsa team gets a run he lifts up his robe and starts dancing a jig like dance.

Okay, I know, that last isn’t in the Bible, so what do you expect him to do, chase down the oppossing teams manager and pour molten gold down his throat?

Who knows, this might even start a trend. I can see it now, Jesus On The Cross Bobble-Head Dolls..

Origin Of The Species

According to the Bible, we are all related, all in fact descended from the same two people, whom most Chritians, or at least most fundamentalists, assert lived anywhere from six thousand to ten thousand years ago.

Amazingly, according to recent findings of a study conducted by scientists, the statistical probability is, they are more likely correct, to a point, than has previously been imagined. In fact, they might be off by as much as anywhere from one thousand years, or even more.

In fact, according to this research, the one single ancestor of every human being now living-and therefore, by extension, of every single human being that will ever live from this point-may have lived as recently as the time of Christ, two thousand years ago.

Yeah, I know that’s a real head spinner, but note the caveat. The ancestor of all humans now living-not the ancestor of every human that ever lived.

So who was he-or she-and where did this person live? Well, according to the genreral consensus, more than likely this person hailed from somewhere in East Asia, and more specifically probably from the areas of either Siberia, Malaysia, or Taiwan.

Note, the projection as to the land of origin is probably based on a comparison of genetic samples compiled over a period of years. The time frame of this persons life-anywhere from 2000 to 5000 years ago-is basd on this as well, in combination with statistical analysis.

And it’s easy to see why, once you multiply your ancestry by the method of doubling it for every preceding generation. Figuring an average of four generations per century, you will find yourself coming to an unbelievably daunting number. You have, of course, two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents, etc.

To illustrate, I took it back to the 1720’s, at which point my earliest known ancestor arrived by ship to this country from Ireland as a young stowaway lad of about twelve or so. This young boy, who was my ancestor, was only one of such that lived in this time. In fact, of all my ancestors I could conceivably trace back to this time, roughly three hundred years ago, Lawrence Kelley was only one of 4096 of my ancestors that lived then.

Even taking into account the potential for double or even triple ancestry due to cousin marriages, prevalent in earlier days, or even to marriages between spouses who were unknowingly at least distantly related, it is still reasonable to arrive at the rounded off figure of 4000 ancestors for myself, just in this time span-a mere 300 years. And remember, this would be the number of ancestors I would have not in total up to this time-but those that lived just in this general span of time. Take it to just the preceding generation, and suddenly I have an extra 9092 ancesotors, at least nine thousand once rounded off for the reasons I described.

Keep going to just one thousand years, and then two thousand, and it is esy to see how it is practically impossible for every person on earth to not be related, to at least a small extent, which would naturally mean, eventually, a common ancestor.

And this person may possibly have lived in the time of Christ? For some strange reason, despite the suppossition this ancestor probably lived in East Asia, the DaVinci Code keeps popping into my head. Could we all possibly be descended from one of the Caesars? The Herods? Or even-

But seriously, whoever the person was, chances are he was wealthy, powerful, and had many wives, and a prolific number of children which would be considered astronomical, maybe even irresponsible, in our day and time, regardless of the persons wealth. If so, a cataloquing of such known individuals, and the testing of the dna of their known descendents, might conceivably mean his-or her-identity could be one day known to us, if only with limited certainty.

Playah Nerds

One of the most troubling aspects to law enforcement when it comes to infiltrating various gangs, such as the Bloods, the Crips, and others, is the degree of time and effort it takes to establish a rapport with a targeted member, just on the outer periphery, without attracting suspicion. By their nature, gangs are insulated, and territorial, yet due to this they are traditionally limited at least somewhat in scope.

Now, however, this too has changed, thanks to the Internet. One of the most troubling trends in recent years from the perspective of those who track gang activities, hate groups, etc, is in the ability of gangs to interract over the internet.

Some even have special web-sites, though these usually won’t be listed in the name of the group, but instead will be listed as owned by an individual who is a member of the gang. Some gangs use public sites, such as the popular and these days controversial MySpace.com.

Because of this recent trend, George W. Knox, the director of the National Gang Crime Research Center, has been training police officials on how to cull intelligence in such areas as gang membership, rivalries, territories, and even the coded language different gangs use.

Of course, as gangs get more sophiticatd, the harder they become to conduct surveilance on. Coded language, for example, can be relatively easily changed to adapt to these surveillance methods. From now on, an ordered hit, a drug transaction, or delivery, can all be ordered from the relative security of the Intrnet, as the more savvy of these gangs certinly aren’t going to be too careless.

And this isn’t even touching on membership drives, the prospect of which just became a bit more disconcerting.

Aryan Nation

As if the Pentagon didn’t have enough worries in regards to how it’s going to maintain troop levels over a long period due to the demands of the Iraqi and Afghan Wars, while still maintaining the capabilities to respond to other needs, it seems that they’ve been force fed an extra helping of anxieties.

First, there are ever growing reports of American troop involvement in atrocous activities such as reported in the town of Haditha, where a number of civilians were outright murdered, execution style, by American troops. In addition to this, a fourteen year old Iraqi girl was raped, and then executed. Her father, mother, and five year old sister were also murdered in what seemed to be a planned assault.

Then, it came out that a ot of these activities were covered up as reports went up the chain of command.

In addition to the problems in attracting and retraining recruits, Pentagon bureaucrcy has been responsible for one soldier being called back into active duty, who was supposed to be relieved from this obligation as of 2001. Be that as it may, he went, asumming the call was correct, served some time on a bomb disposal unit, and though he was lucky to make it home alive once the mistake was caught, he now suffers from bad knees and diabetes. This soldier from Ohio is now looking for an attorney in an effort to receive the full retirement and health benefits to which he feels he is now entitled.

The reson for the snafu? He was listed on two different military documents, one of which had him listed as a soldier, the other one-the relevant one which he knew nothing about- which identified him as a captain.

Now it turns out an appreciable number of enlisted personnel are members of various white supremacist organizations, or “Aryans”.

Well, maybe. I have my share of skepticism about this, though it has been reported that various forms of white supremacist graffitti has turned up on public buildings in Iraq. The supposed problem with this is not only the problems it can cause with Iraqi civilian/American military relations, which of course are not that good to begin with –let’s just say they are currently strained, at best-but the future implications. The fear is due to the prospect that these Aryan soldiers might learn combat techniques and weapons skills which they can then use to train other white supremacists, creating a future potential domestic terrorist problem.

Of course, it could also be that they are looking for potential scapegoats for incidents such as Haditha, scapegoats that could be portrayed as outside the mainstream of American opinion as far as relations with Islam and Muslims go. If true, they are due to run into a slight roadblock. Aryans, who prefer these days to call themselves white racialists, are if not in the majority against the Iraqi War, are at least divided concerning it, and to a great extent blame the Israeli lobbyists such as AIPAC, and their political supporters in Congress, and for that matter Bush, for promoting this war, which they feel is unjustified.

Therefore, while there might be a small degree of truth as to this Aryan infiltration of American armed services, and the potential problems this might cause,concerned parties would be well advised to do a little fact checking before they try to make too big a mountain out of this molehill.

The Obrador Challenge

It looks like Calderon is the winner of the recent Mexican Presidential election, and since he is from the same party as current and soon outgoing President Vincente’ Fox, it is all too easy to assume that all will be business as usual.

That, however, is not necessarily the case. Obradors Party now has a larger share of seats in the Mexican Congress than at any time previously in it’s history, so they are now in a bargaining position like never before. Add to that the prospect of collussion with the once dominant Party that once held a monopoly of power-and which in this last election polled only twenty two percent of the vote-and you have some potential for change. That old party would so much like to regain some degree of status it might be willing to form a coalition when it comes to issues and initiatives that are popular with the Mexican people. Calderons Party would then be in a real bind.

Of course the real problem is not necessarily the parties, or the candidates who lead them. It is the Mexican system, which amounts to a feudal state disguised as a democracy. It is not going to go away easily, and even gradual, incremental change is going to be hard to gain.

It might yet, due to this reason, come down to riots, strikes, and even civil war. If this happens, I hope the US has the border guarded sufficiently, because a bloody civil war in Mexico would almost certainly encourage as much as a doubling or more of the current refugees from Mexico in the form of illegal immigrants who would in every way be as much refugees from war as from poverty and corruption.

Here's one thing you can count on for sure. If the situation in Mexico were to deteriorate to massive unrest, or even civil war, the vast majority of resultant refugees won't be headed in the direction of Nicaraqua.

Those Sensitive Nazis

Leave it to the hypersensitive from all walks of life to make an isue out of a throwaway line that was meant to be an attmpt at humor, but suddenly has been morphed in this politically correct age we live in as an allegedly prejudiced remark of insensitivity.

When Joe Biden, Senator of Delaware and so far the only officially announced candidate for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, remarked that you have to understand Asian Indian accents to go to any Seven Eleven store in Delaware, it was actually meant to convey the message as to how vital and important a part of American life is the immigrant community in general, and in this case the Asian Indian immigrant community.

What’s really ridiculous is the idea that Biden, a distinquished Senator with a long history of public service, should have to lower himself to responding to this self-serving ignorance. What is wrong with these fucking people? Whatever it is, I see nothing defamatory about his remarks. When you get right down to it, his statement is a simple observation of reality. In fact, I will go so far as to say I’m happy to see that immigrants from India have finally branched out from the hotel/motel industry.

It’s kind of similar, really, to the way Chineese coolies branched out from being railroad workers to first laundry owners, and then restauranteurs. Since the latter move, incidentally, I miss not having my shirts starched in that expert way, but I do think I know what that “ancient Chinese secret” is-rice.

This all reminds me of a joke I heard on Leno the other night by George Carlin, about the difference in heaven and hell.

In heaven, the Italians are the lovers, the French cook the food, the Swiss run the hotels, the English are the police, and the Germans are the mechanics.

In hell, the Italians are the mechanics, the French run the hotels, the Swiss are the lovers, the English cook the food, and THE CHERMANS ARE THE POLEESE!!!!!

I guess it’s good for Carlin he didn’t include in this list any minority ethnic groups, there would be calls as we speak to destroy all his recordings.