"I Was Born a Snake-Handler, and I'll Likely Die One"

My very adult daughter, wished me a happy Santa's Birthday, and asked when I had lost my faith in what she calls witchcraft, and knowing I was Catholic wondered had I ever been an alter boy. When I was about fifteen, I "played" an alter boy in a special service at a girl's school in Potomac. The priest was a friend of my fathers, an Army champlain, and didn't admonish me for not having the slightest idea of what I was supposed to be doing, That's really all I remember about it: I screwed it up and wasn't embarrassed, and I was perpetually embarrassed at that age. I thought I felt the "spirit" at my first communion, when I was six, and nothing thereafter, but this is at least partially because I lack imagination. When I was eight, I permanently damaged something in there, trying to understand spatial and temporal infinity, simultaneously (never mind omniscience) . In any case, religion became just another one of those meaningless things like school assemblies, only I wasn't paying attention, couldn't see what was going on and what I could hear was in Latin for another layer of incomprehension. 

Two good thing about Catholicism, though. First,  they don't want or try to get into your head, they just lay out their gibberish and if you don't ask questions or cause trouble, everybody gets along. Prots assume you are an idiot and probably a degenerate of some sort, so they want to scare and convince you hell is really real. I went to catholic school for grades 1-3 and truly feared nuns, but not enough to believe their scary stories. Never trusted Priests or Scoutmasters (or any kind of school counselor or official of any type), but I do think most other people would benefit from coordinating with such types. Secondly, Catholics have an element of mysticism beyond the normal, and just say it's too complicated to understand, and to just trust them, which should immediately bury the needle on anybody's bullshit detector, so you kind of think it must be a scam you have to let yourself in on, or some kind of inside joke. I didn't say anything, but from about the age of twelve, I was rejecting all spooky stuff and going along with the rituals, and saving my energy for fighting the important battles, like how long my hair was. Another young schmuck. Sartre with zits...

I try to be consistent in ignoring irrational things, though - ghosts, saints, miracles, vampires, "feelings", intuition, "luck", etc. It's very liberating, really, like not wearing underwear (for guys). I do pray though, when I go to bed and I mentally talk to the regular Judeo-Christian god, and ask him to bless everybody I can think of, but this is just really force of early habit. I'm really taking up Pascal's wager, even though I'm satisfied it has been disproved, plus I just think my prayers rather than actual vocalize them, figuring if he can hear everybody he might as well have our brains bugged as well. If the channels open, might as well use it. I think this could be called voodoo, and I also like pantheism and sometimes "think" the fug's chant to raise the pentagon and beam cosmic hate vibes at DC. I have to admit I don't really believe in it though, as it isn't working (yet).

Lately, I've been routed back to Judaism, routed back because some years ago, I wondered if a goy could "join up", but this is in some dispute (The more I read about Torah the more intrigued I become). For some years I've been jokingly telling people I'm Jewish (Reform) from Thanksgiving through New Years, but the more I see the more I like, although I'm interested in all Orthodox (Eastern and Amish/Old Order), just on the basis of internal consistency of doctrine, not that I think the invisible dimensions exist or whatever; Extremely interesting gibberish? So I was googling "A Serious Man" to see if someone had predigested something I wondered about (Specifically, what did the beginning Shetl part have to do with the rest of the movie, if you've seen it maybe) and came across a discussion about B'nai Noach, "People of Noah" or something, that there are Seven Torah commandments that one could follow to be "Righteous Gentiles" or essentially almost jews. The cool thing for me though was to be "righteous" you had to actually believe in the Hebrew God, but if you followed the commandments merely because you thought they were good laws (that is, without the mystic elements", you would be accepted as a "Wise Gentile". High praise, indeed, and good enough for me. So I'm looking into that...

When anyone asks I tell them I'm a Branch Davidian, and that's usually the end of it. If I had to pick a god, I would (and do) go with R.E.Howard's Crom, made up, but most credible back story; He created the universe and man, but lost interest in his insignificant creation. When wished a merry Christmas, I sometimes smartass back with Happy Solstice, Christian. So, now I'm an older schmuck, still ignorant, but unironically begging supplication from an imaginary god, and Jesus died for this? 

"D'Oh!", he might well say.

Merry Christmas, anyway!

Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Wonder

I watched the full lunar eclipse last night. It's one of those things that have to be appreciated with your mind more than your eyes, because the process is quite slow and except for a rather subtle difference of curve, the shadow looks pretty much the same as the normal phases of the moon's own shadow. Still, since it's not due to coincide with the winter solstice for another five hundred years or so, I thought I should take a look.

One thing that seems odd to me is that the earth's umbral shadow is so close in diameter to the diameter of the moon, which I have to assume is coincident on the respective sizes and distances of the three bodies. I should probably do some googling on this subject, since it's so much easier than going to the library that there's almost no excuse, but I'm afraid I might lose my train of thought, which has barely left the siding, and I already needed to see what the experts had to say about some of the other celestial oddities that I have come to regard as Hashem's Hints.

If the earth were closer or more distant to the Sun, or if the earth's axis was not tilted, or if the period of earth's rotation was, like the moon's, equal to it's period of revolution, or if our atmosphere wasn't precisely what it is in terms of composition or thickness, or if large meteors were, as in the past, regularly crashing into the earth, or if probably any one of hundreds of conditions weren't just so, life would not exist. I'm of average intelligence and not a scientist or mathematician, so I don't really understand the statistics of infinity, and I salute anyone who claims to, although I'll doubt their claims, in spite of, or even because I am unable to understand their proofs. I am a skeptic even of skepticism; my life's experience is that everyone has an agenda and is either wrong or lying or both, unless I trust them in my gut, based on experience.

Like many, my faith is weak, I don't know G-d, regard humanity with loathing and run from any hint of the supernatural or transcendent, and yet the existence of life "seems" far too unlikely to result from random coincidence. I'll have to take Pascal's wager, even if some smartypants closed that off. Like Ned Flanders I'm even keeping kosher, just to be on the safe side.

Untethered - Abandoned and Scuttled, Refloated?

I'm not sure how I discovered Dennis Dale, I think from occasional entries on the American Conservative blog, where wit is nowhere listed on the menu, (Sorry DL, but you put the pond in ponderous), so the clever bits stood out like, [insert cliched simile here]. I was to find at Untethered a really unique voice and obvious talent; what I felt the 'net should be. Imagine if Christopher Hitchens weren't a communist asshole and had a sense of humor. When I first discovered it, I went back and read every entry, not to try to figure out where he was coming from, the reason I went back through the Moldbug archives, but just to groove on the voice and unique mind behind it.

So, I was quite dismayed when I checked back to find his announcement that he had terminated the blog, and again when I later checked and found he had deleted everything. Dismayed, because if a well-informed, articulate and genuinely clever writer had not only quit but had taken the trouble to cover his tracks, there was obviously no reason for yours truely, who is none of those, to continue strewing my mess in plain view of virtually tens (if blogger stats are any indication, and I'm afraid they are) of readers. Also his admission in his suicide note that he "never really liked you" was practically aimed between my eyes, because I quite sure that's what many people would say were I masochistic enough to ask.

You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when I checked back today (by fortuitous accident really - I was having trouble spelling 'tethered") and found not only new entries, but his archive restored.
Frabjus day! I'm going back there right now to see if I missed anything, and then learn more about google cache, in case he changes his mind again. I suggest that you do likewise.

William Lynch Goes Global

(from Information Clearing House)

My Life With The Taliban: An Excerpt  By Mullah Abdul Salam ZaeefDecember 13, 2010 "CagedPrisoners" -- An excerpt from the fascinating autobiography of former Taliban government spokesman and ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef who spent four years imprisoned in Guantanamo.

I am an American, and my reasons for opposing the Long War are utilitarian and pragmatic rather than moralistic, but I believe this man's testimony. Yet the official line, that torture and mistreatment were and are necessary to get information, makes no sense. If I believe that a man is truely my enemy, I would go to extremes to ingratiate myself, to make him like and trust me, so that he would be unprepared and disarmed when I do strike. It also makes no sense to let him live after I have made him hate and fear me and have him completely under my control, especially if he is spiritually strong and I know I have wronged him greatly. Why would I allow him the opportunity for revenge? 


Someone wants the tribes to hate and fear each other, even the followers of the same faith (for example, Sunni v. Shia, Arab v. Persian) and the followers of different prophets of the One God. Someone wants the hatred to spread and keep burning hotter and hotter. Google William Lynch Speech on keeping slaves. I first heard of William Lynch on a TV movie "Animal" with Jim Brown and Ving Rhames (I couldn't watch the whole thing because I'm kind of impatient with Hollywood "drama") but the story of Lynch was central to the movie and I wondered if it were true. It may have well been a hoax, but it reveals the truth about the ancient doctrine of Divide and Conquer, and helps to explain the dearth of African-Americans involved with tormenting prisoners.


I admit I don't know God, but I think I understand how Satan works. This man and his brothers are heros to all men of good will.

Hang the Black Crepe

I'm sure the let-bygones-be-bygones crowd in Serbia and Afghanistan will pray for the rapid recovery and continuing good health of their esteemed benefactor, Richard Holbrooke, whose great heart has been strained by his efforts on behalf of all enlightened people everywhere.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-12/holbrooke-s-artery-tear-life-threatening-painful-doctors-say.html
Not me, though - I'm hoping he has a long and painful transition to the ultimate abode of liars and murderers.


Update -


And now this giant has passed; too soon, too soon! (I had hoped he'd suffered at least to the point of self-awareness - maybe he did, but it seems unlikely), considering... “Yugoslavia’s tragedy was not foreordained,” he wrote. “It was the product of bad, even criminal, political leaders who encouraged ethnic confrontation for personal, political and financial gain.” Projection much? 
Then, this howler;
  He said the U.S. “pursued a policy that would have denied Vietnam to the enemy only as long as our ground troops remained, but would not have left the Saigon government strong enough to survive on its own. When we send our young men and women overseas to fight for their country, we must be sure they’re really fighting for our vital national security interests.”
High praise from the clueless flows like the River Lethe;
   “One of his friends and admirers once said that, ‘If you’re not on the team and you’re in his way, God help you,’” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “Like so many presidents before me, I am grateful that Richard Holbrooke was on my team, as are the American people.”


It must be comforting to believe in a just God that will frog march this bastard past the long lines of innocents he helped send on ahead. The rest of us will just have to get by on schadenfreude. 
"Madame Secretary, Charon has saved a seat for your bolshoi(vek) ass".
I hope his shadow passes over all the Wikileaked memo writers on it's way below.

I Wish I'd Said This When I First Meant To

I was enraged when I first started hearing that Wikileaks had endangered American agents and sources in Afghanistan, but I couldn't quite put it into words, just a lot of spitting and cussing and wondering how I could express my true feelings toward unfortunate Afghanis and others that were helping the US war on terra. Something along the lines of "The Russian and Cuban troops are only trying to bring peace and justice to Colorado and the U.S., therefore Patrick Swayze and his buddies are terrorists and anyone with information should be encouraged to turn them over to the proper authorities in return for a ham and a case of budweiser. " Or something like that.

Fortunately for everyone, I don't need to, because one of the "ilk" at Vox Popoli pretty much nailed it.
(If you have the time, read the whole piece and the comments. The pro-State Secrets side had a pretty bad time of it, and hilariously, couldn't even tell when they'd been flattened. Telling quote from one victim - "This is why I prefer fighting to debate."

AP Monsieur			12/8/10 8:15 AM
I fail to see what everyone is upset about. They have a illegitimate bastard government committing illegitimate bastard deeds ... abroad AND at HOME. It ignores our constitution at will and it ignores you. While we are accelerating into a complete police state and getting groped and fondled to boot and ripped off our labor and our future... We are now even entertained by Big Brother in the check out lanes by Big Brother teleprompter ... who cares that our government gets embarrassed and caught with its pants down. All this crap has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the STATE ... the illegitimate bastard whose only interest is to grow ... and if it has to put your in a prodding pen and throw away the key ... well then, to hell with you. You are nothing ... the STATE is everything. And you defend that STATE? May it burn.

Ask Dr. Stupid - Who is Vox Populi?

Paulo Finagle  from Ebola, KY asks, "Who is Vox Populi?"  (Which begs the question my grandfather asked me when I wanted to know how to blow up stumps with fertilizer and fuel oil, evidently a common agricultural practice in the old days, "What do you want to know for?" [He never did tell me. Although he wasn't above ending a sentence with a preposition, grampa just didn't like hippies.])

Well, Paulo, since you ask Who is, rather than What is, I think you meant to ask "Who is Vox Popoli?" because Vox Populi (voice of the people) is not the website of Vox Day (pun, I believe, on vox dei - the voice of god) "Featuring Vox Day, Internet Superitelligence, AWCA". A bit of googling reveals that AWCA can mean many things; American Working Collie Association (he might well have a working collie, how the hell would I know? Superintelligences don't usually blog about their damn dogs!), Asian Women's Christian Association (probably not, I know he's a Christian, but his wife may not approve of him associating with Asian Women. On the other hand I happen to know that Mr. Finagle likes Asian Women A LOT, so there's that...), Aetna Workers' Comp Association (ummm...probably not), Ah, Bingo! Arizona Wing Chun Association, "Includes Information on Christianity and Martial Arts". Is there anything Google doesn't know? I don't know; I'm answering questions, not asking them.

I just noticed, anyway, that the banner on his site is Vox Popoli, which is a town in Italy, and he lives in Italy, and when I entered it into Google Translate the first time I misspelled it, and got back "popolo" 

(http://www.britannica.com/)

popolo,  (Italian: “people”), in the communes (city-states) of 13th-century Italy, a pressure group instituted to protect the interests of the commoners (actually, wealthy merchants and businessmen) against the nobility that up to then had exclusively controlled commune governments. It was one of a number of groups competing for power in the commune and in some cities succeeded in dominating the government in the late 13th century.

Now if I were Dr. Adeguatamente-Intelligente, I might know whether Popoli comes from popolo, because that would be pretty cool if Vox lived in a town named after a  group instituted to protect the interests of actually, wealthy merchants and businessmen, because that's what libertarianism is all about, plus smoking weed!

See how I spend my time? What a Yutz. Oh, well, I got another blog topic besides Julian Assange.
Short answer: Vox Popoli is the middle-finger of God.

Happy Birthday, Antiwar.Com

According to Ann Charters, Kenneth Rexroth’s reading of his 1953 poem “Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas” influenced Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, published in 1956. Rexroth says in his preface that “The poem is directed against the twentieth, the Century of Horror” :

  

             They are murdering all the young men.

             For half a century now, every day,

             They have hunted them down and killed them.

             They are killing them now.

             At this minute, all over the world,

             They are killing the young men.

             They know ten thousand ways to kill them.

             Every year they invent new ones.

(The above from http://rossbender.org/exorcism.html)

From -

Alexia Gilmore

Executive Director

Antiwar.com

      On December 2 , 2010, Antiwar.com quietly celebrated 12 years of existence. 12 years of questioning the powers that be, shedding light on the truth and analyzing the events that shape our world. As an independent, reader-funded web and radio presence, Antiwar.com continues to bring higher quality news to more people (around 80,000 unique visitors on one recent day!) faster than any mainstream print or television media source, and at a fraction of their operating costs. We like to think no one shares more information with more people for a less money—we’re proud of that, and we hope you are proud to invest in what we do.


   Despite some positive signs of improvement in some sectors, the economy is still down. In fact, it’s just been during the latter half of this year that we, as a non-profit entity, have really started to feel the burn. As we lose donors who’ve had to tighten their belts, we’re in danger of losing our shirt. Our recent decision to boycott Amazon.com for kicking WikiLeaks off their servers will cost us much of the little ad revenue we get as well—but as always, Antiwar.com chooses principles over profit, because we know our readers demand nothing less. Just as you can trust us to bring you the truth, Antiwar.com trusts you to keep us alive, and you always come through.


[That's how it is in the boring, stupid 21st century. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when long-haired humanoids roamed the earth... and the high-point of my spiritual journey. Also from http://rossbender.org/exorcism.html] -

The mimeographed text circulating at the Pentagon march is reproduced in Norman Mailer’s account in The Armies of the Night: 

           

OCTOBER 21, 1967
WASHINGTON DCA
USA
PLANET EARTH

We Freemen, of all colors of the spectrum, in the name of God, Ra, Jehovah, Anubis, Osiris, Tialoc, Quetzalcoatl, Thoth, Ptah, Allah, Krishna, Chango, Chimeke, Chukwu, Olisa-Bulu-Uwa, Imales, Orisasu, Odudua, Kali, Shiva-Shakra, Great Spirit, Dionysus, Yahweh, Thor, Bacchus, Isis, Jesus Christ, Maitreya, Buddha, Rama

Do exorcise and cast out the EVIL which has walled and captured the pentacle of power and perverted its use to the need of the total machine and its child the hydrogen bomb and has suffered the people of the planet earth, the American people and creatures of the mountains, wood, streams, and oceans grievous mental and physical torture and the constant torment of the imminent threat of UTTER DESTRUCTION

We are demanding that the pentacle of power once again be used to serve the interests of GOD manifest in the world as man. We are embarking on a motion which is millennial in scope. Let this day, October 21, 1967, mark the beginning of suprapolitics

By act of reading this paper you are engaged in the Holy Ritual of Exorcism. To further participate focus your thought on the casting out of evil through the grace of GOD which is all (ours). A billion stars in a billion galaxies of space and time is the form of your power, and limitless is your name

Norman Mailer devotes several pages to his observation and analysis of this historic rite of exorcism:

            “Now while the Indian triangle and the cymbal sounded, while a trumpet offered a mournful subterranean wail, full of sobs, and mahogany shadows of sorrow, and all sour groans from hell’s dungeon, while finger bells tinkled and drums beat, so did a solemn voice speak something approximate to this:

            In the name of the amulets of touching, seeing, groping, hearing and loving, we call upon the powers of the cosmos to protect our ceremonies in the name of Zeus, in the name of Anubis, god of the dead, in the name of all those killed because they do not comprehend, in the name of the lives of the soldiers in Vietnam who were killed because of a bad karma, in the name of sea-born Aphrodite, in the name of Magna Mater, in the name of Dionysus, Zagreus, Jesus, Yahweh, the unnamable, the quintessent finality of the Zoroastrian fire, in the name of Hermes, in the name of the Beak of Sok, in the name of scarab, in the name, in the name, in the name of the Tyrone Power Pound Cake Society in the Sky, in the name of Rah, Osiris, Horus, Nepta, Isis, in the name of the flowing living universe, in the name of the mouth of the river, we call upon the spirit to raise the Pentagon from its destiny and preserve it.

….

Then all the musicians suddenly cried out: “Out, demons, out,  -- back to darkness ye sevants of Satan – out, demons out! Out, demons, out!” …..

Ed Sanders spoke: “For the first time in the history of the Pentagon there will be a grope-in within a hundred feet of this place, within two hundred feet. Seminal culmination in the spirit of peace and brotherhood, a real grope for peace. All of you who want to protect this rite of love may form a circle of protection among the lovers.” …

“These are the magic eyes of victory,” Sanders went on. “Victory, victory, victory for peace. Money made the Pentagon – melt it. Money made the Pentagon, melt it for love.”

     Now came other voices, “Burn the money, burn the money, burn it, burn it.”

     Sanders: “In the name of the generative power of Priapus, in the name of the totality, we call upon the demons of the Pentagon to rid themselves of the cancerous tumors of the war generals, all the secretaries and soldiers who don’t know what they’re doing, all the intrigue bureaucracy and hatred, all the spewing, coupled with prostate cancer in the deathbed. Every Pentagon general lying alone at night with a tortured psyche and an image of death in his brain, every general, every general lying alone, every general lying alone.”

     Wild cries followed, chants: “Out demons, out! Out demons out! Out! Out! Out! Out demons out!”

     Sanders: In the name of the most sacred of sacred names Xabrax Phresxner.”

     He was accompanied now by chants of “hari, hari, hari, hari, rama, rama, rama, ram, Krishna, hari Krishna, hari, hari, rama, Krishna.”

     “Out demons out!”

     They all chanted: “End the fire and war, and war, end the plague of death. End the fire and war, and war, end the plague of death.” In the background was the sound of a long sustained Ommmmm.”

So, politicians and generals, do you want to knock off the bullshit? Or do you want to risk the wrath of of Tuli; more powerful in death, like Gandolph and Obi-Wan? Just walk away from the refinery...

Assange, Looking Back, Sees His (and Our) Future

Mon 18 Sep 2006 : Even so, we did what we believed in

1953. US. Death row. A bad poem, but elevated by its monumental context and constrained by a simple encipherment revealing the authors.

Even so, we did what we believed in:
Treason, yes, perhaps, but with good cause.
History will judge by its own laws,
Each act within the sunlight of the season.
Love was what inspired us, a reason
As pure as any saint in Satan's jaws.
Nor was the god we worshipped through those wars
Demonized, as later all would see him.
Justice would not just sustain our guilt,
Undoing those who would undo a wrong,
Leaving us in lucid infamy.
Instead, it would remember what we willed
Under the illusion of a song
So beautiful it would the chained earth free.

From IQ.org

Interesting that this is an archived site. IQ.org still exists, but it's empty. I foresee a huge
future in Assangiana

Eek, a Mouse!

The equivalence of the hysterical official American response to WL and (for instance) the hysteria of the Moolies over the Danish cartoons, the call for Assange's death and Rushdie's is obvious. I value the opinion of Stansilav at Mat Rodina on this sort of thing, both because of his (presumed by me, I could be wrong) relative emotional distance, and (again presumed) ability as a Russian to spot authoritarian auto-overeaction indicative of a weak "hand". I would caution anyone saying nothing important has been disclosed to remember that most of what is available has not been released yet, 842 out of 251,287, so it's a bit early to say there's nothing there. Also, Assange has stated that one of the main reasons for releasing these "secrets" is to cause this overreaction and disrupt the internal habits of communication and trust within the conspiracy. The shutting and blocking of websites and even secondary commenting shows that he has succeeded, brilliantly, it seems to me, much like the clownish overreaction by the TSA to the underpants bomber, or the possibility that a prankster with a firecracker could shut down air travel in the USSA. I believe the countrymen of Kasparov and Solschenizyn should appreciate the genius behind wikileaks. If you happen to have a lot of spare time, check out this discussion of Assange's motives and methods.


"The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption. Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance." Julian Assange

Like a Sharp Stick in the All-Seeing Eye

The Daily Bell has had a series of pieces discussing whether Wikileaks may be a mis/disinformation front. I personally don't think so, and am continuing to take it provisionally (as one should take most of what's on the 'net, imho) at face value, but whether or not our unseen enemies want some of this released, I'm sure nothing more than embarrassment will result from leaks at his level.The various levels of security may be key to this puzzle, as Wadosy states it - whether Julian Assange is a knowing or unknowing tool.  We can assume there are official levels of security that are effectively unbreachable, and easily imagine groups keeping tabs on the generals and spooks as well, so that the really smart guys probably don't, or even need to, communicate much at all. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  One should at least entertain the idea that Israel is not at the top of this pyramid, either. 

Brad Manning could be liable to execution or long term imprisonment, but I have the feeling that anyone attempting to expose the really high level dope would simply never be heard from again. I obviously have no idea how many layers there are on the onion, but this stuff is just the skin. I'm grateful for Wikileaks, however. He may not crush all the bastards, but they should be on notice that the world is watching and we're not in a good mood.

Displayin' Around

I was trying to figure what, if anything, the Stats on Blogger could tell me, and the only data that seemed significant (besides the fact that most of my hits were my own; like looking in the toilet before flushing, I guess) was that most of the hits were referred from yandex.ru. So I went there and it's russian only which sent me searching for a translater, and eventually to google translate, which is frickin' amazing, and where I've wasted many hours since, but still don't know what yandex.ru is, other than a russian AOL or the like.

In the event, I noticed that some of the russian pages offered google translation, so I translated this page at random, just playing around (bolshoi brat; I love it!) and just skimming it, saw "Yandex", which I had recently searched for... the hairs on my neck literally pricked up!

"Nothing prevents also recognize all conversations and save them in text form, and then search for keywords like "Yandex" searches on the Internet. Intelligence services are able to fully control what you say. And since the recorded conversations of everyone, you can quickly compare the texts of calls different people to find out with whom you spoke. So we can calculate all the people with whom you were talking ever (not just on the phone)"

Even creepier, I couldn't get a translation of the word, yandex, in english, so I'm assuming it means "nothing to see here, keep moving". Think I'll go unplug my router, now. Just kidding. I like paranoia; it feels sort of like bad coke. Naturally, skimming the rest of the page are references to the joos, I'm seriously wondering if anti-semitism makes one nuts, or vice-versa.

Либертарианская Ненависть - Яша и Марк форме кругового расстрел.

Я долго вентилятора изгнании времени, и было интересно, о своей политике, так как они были изгнаны из России для принятия по РТВ (между прочим,-торговый гигант Вайнер на картину Путина.) Они были явно сумасшедший / храбрых в этой среде, и очень хорошо на раскрытие безудержной коррупции в USSA, см. ESP. работы Левина по Калифорнии Совет по воде, но они, и левые вообще, кажется, не видеть, что плутократов работы своих злых только через наш гигант и коррумпированными правительствами.


Можно лишь предположить, их ненависть к либертарианцы связано с стойких заблуждений, что правительство может быть приручены, чтобы служить "народу" и наивная вера в добро общественного сектора профсоюзов. Их ненависть к ТП крайней поскольку считают TPers как класс предателей и обманутых богатых, а не рациональные субъекты, постоянно обливали от политического класса, и обе стороны. Они вернулись из России в время выполнения, основы Америка от нежити Рейгана, которые могут быть сохранены на праведных людей применение силы к рычагам гражданских добродетелей. Они думают, что мы хотим приватизации АСП, как если бы неконституционным учреждений будет лучше работать на почту, а не возчиков, и они думают, что мы наивно.


Вот мой комментарий в изгнании (ожидает модерации!)"Ваш комментарий ожидает модерации.
Это (Рон Пол любящий, анти-Кох, малых L) либертарианской, долгое время изгнании вентилятор все еще любит тебя. Я никогда не понимал, как можно НЕ либертарианской, особенно после того, как вы лечились russkies, но я просто понял, перегруженных политическом плане неизбежно означать разные вещи для разных людей.все ...Несколько раз вы укуса медведя, а иногда медведь кусает вас.
Fight The Power! ".


[Just some fun with Google Translate, which is amazing]

Libtard Hatred - Yasha and Mark in Circular Firing Squad

I'm a long time eXile fan, and have been wondering about their politics since they were forced out of Russia for taking on the PTB (among other things, -shopping a giant weiner onto a picture of Putin.) They were obviously crazy/brave in that environment, and are very good at uncovering the rampant corruption in the USSA, see esp. Levine's work on the California Water Board, but they, and the left in general don't seem to see that the plutocrats work their evil only through our giant and corrupt governments. 

I can only assume their hatred of libertarians is due to the persistent delusion that government can be tamed to serve "the people" and a naive belief in the goodness of public sector unionism. Their hatred of the TP is extreme because they regard the TPers as class traitors and dupes of the wealthy, rather than rational actors that have been consistently hosed by the political class and both parties. They returned from Russia to a time-warp Amerika run by the undead Reagan that can be saved by the righteous application of people-power to levers of civic virtue. They think we want the privatization of the TSA, as if unconstitutional institutions would be better run by the post office instead of the Teamsters, and they think we're naive. 

Here's my comment at the eXiled (awaiting moderation!) 
"Your comment is awaiting moderation. 

This (Ron Paul loving, anti-Koch, small-l) libertarian, long-time Exile fan still loves you. I never understood how you can NOT be libertarian, especially after how you were treated by the russkies, but I just figured overloaded political terms are bound to mean different things to different people. 
whatever… 
Some times you bite the bear, sometimes the bear bites you. 

Fight the Power!"

Are Municipal Bondholders Consulting Robert Vesco in the Netherworld?

Lila Rajiva deconstructs Ellen Brown's piece at the Huffington Post which exposes vast amounts of money squirreled  away by State and Municipal governments as "rainy day" or emergency funds. The same governments that have to cut non-essential services (read - services that actually provide value to citizens but are high profile enough to show that the government is serious about cuts but without actually inconveniencing any public employees, at least any highly-paid ones). The same governments that are borrowing billions at X% while keeping the slush funds in essentially checking accounts earning .01X%. My county, Fairfax, VA, has had a strong stench of corruption for years as one of the richest, if not the richest in the country, yet has to borrow and roll over  a mountain of debt continuously while voters approve every bond issue put before them. None of this has ever made sense to me

Another big piece of the puzzle falls into place. Thanks to Lila for reading, so we don’t have to, the otherwise horrible HP for any crumbs of actual useful information that might flow from that sewer of PC babble.

I’ve been (halfassedly) researching State banks since I first heard about the Bank of ND and wondering why such banks might not be a weapon against the FED and why there doesn’t seem to be any discussion in Austrian fora. I’ve concluded that there must be some theoretical meta-objection along the lines that a State bank would still be a state bank, i.e. 50 mini-Feds, or that there would be too much opportunity for populist shenanigans. The possibility, as Occam’s razor would suggest, that the monster banks would smother any such discussion in order to extend the lucrative status-quo is strongly implied.

Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall had introduced legislation that quickly went nowhere, to establish a Virginia state bank, and when I requested more information from his staff, not only received no answer, but was evidently dropped from his spam list as I went from 3-5 emails per week to none. I can only assume that he was well instructed to drop this line of reasoning and return to moaning about abortion and gun-control.

When it comes to the examination of state and local financing schemes there is a great bi-partisan well of don’t-go-there. I guess taxpayer ignorance really is bliss, but the bliss is that of the bond holders. Full disclosure: I’m long on torches and pitchforks.

Gusher!

Humans are Earth Cancer. No question. Nothing really scares me except radiation poisoning, and I got immune to that hiding under my desk in like the fourth grade and they could still pray in public schools then (c. 1960) which would have worked just as well. The only thing that will save the environment is a really big war or  slight mutation in the HiV virus recombined with the cold virus so it gets spread by coughing. Or they activate skynet...To err is human, to really fuck up requires an engineering degree.

(Don't) Go Tell the Trojans

There seems to be a lot of skepticism concerning Rand Paul's Primary win in Kentucky and a lack of enthusiasm for his campaign based on a perceived lack of libertarian purity. It's true that he doesn't stress the more unpopular and controversial issues that might (would) make him unelectable in a majority stupid state (all of them). That's because he wants, and we need him, to win. Ron Paul is a brave, smart and principled man who is able to win and hold an elected office without lying or evading critical issues; a rarity if not sui generis. I give great credit to his constituents who may be uniquely principled for Americans if not Texans, but the few Kentuckians I know are some otherwise independent and intelligent (tax avoiders, pot smoking immigration/welfare haters), but Bush-/War- supporting, Obama and furriner-hating yahoos of the first water. Ron Paul, principled, consistent and up-front would get nowhere with these folks. If Rand wants to visit these folks, he's going to get metaphorical and real mud on his boots.


I compare his (Rand's) strategy to getting on a jury where the voir-dire process is specifically designed to eliminate any potential juror with any intelligence, expertise, interest or knowledge of the case. Generally, the only real requirements for a U.S. Senator are great personal wealth and/or a superhuman ability to lie out of both sides of the mouth. The Senate is a snakepit of corruption and the only possible way to gain entry is to provide at least the appearance of corruptibility. That said, the gate-keepers would be well advised to allow him into the Senate and bottle him up for six years rather than risk creating an attractive AND intelligent (sorry, Sarah) candidate for TP leadership, especially if there is any of the usual Republican slimyness in helping to defeat him in the general election. I am related to a pretty big Country Club Republican, thoroughly liberal and statist who has admitted they would rather destroy the Party rather than admit Ron to the inner circle after they went to all the trouble to purge the Birchers. I love Ron Paul, but both Parties hate and fear an uncorruptible man. We can't destroy Troy (no pun intended) if we can't get them to accept the horse.

Did the Founders Anticipate the Rise of Sarah Palin?

Apart from her political views, I think she is obviously unqualified for the job, but I like her because the left is really afraid she might be the first woman President, which she wouldn't be if they just ignored her, so all she has to do is jerk their chain once in a while to get them to make her even more popular, plus she's smarter than Romney. If she went all in for Israel, (short of war with Iran in which case all bets are off), I can see her getting nominated and beating Obama in 2012. [I've been backing Buchanan/Paul since the early 90's, but they're both getting too old.] 

I liked Reagan, but even then I knew that They knew they were pretending - Las Vegas democracy. Why can't we just eliminate the middle men and have the "campaign advisors" actually run the government while the puppet/figurehead just goes harmlessly about making millions through speaking and selling books. Oh, wait... yeah.

Seems kind of a big lapse of the founders to set the bar for the Presidency so low; I think you need to be a native-born American of at least thirty-five years. Doesn't say you need to not be a sociopath or a moron among many other seemingly disqualifing qualities. The voters in their collective wisdom will select the best of those that put themselves forward. Either voters were much more intelligent and rational (never mind they had to be adult property-owning males) then, or the founders meant for the President to be much less important than He has turned out to be, and only seeing that the law is faithfully executed, rather than making and interpreting the law, on the fly, for whatever reason, or none, a hunch or a tip or a favor.  There should at least be a written test, or a series of real debates, or something...

Soon, a cleansing flood!

They're Coming to America

My sister works for the LA Coroner's office and was asking me a while back about GIS for dead people. Turns out the LA Times has an interactive homicide page that's really nifty; for instance one guy who was capped dropping off his gf because he gave the wrong guys a "hard look". Central LA - the place NOT to be, and stay the hell out of Lynwood! Average dead guy is 20 yo hispanic. This poor bastard was 7. Persian Jew Poet "They're Coming to America". Again, bring back the guillotine. I wonder why the Asians don't be playin'? and what's up with Sunday? Doesn't anybody go to church anymore? Fucked up, Holmes...