"Blood Moon" on the Rise

John Boehner is resigning not only his Speaker of the House chairman post but also resigning his seat in congress as of next month.  Reports are that Boehner’s alcoholism is the real deal and basically Boehner is a high functioning drunk.  Some say that his continence struck him while listening to the Pope yesterday.  Stephanie’s birthday is Tuesday.   John Boehner gave a press conference where he slurred his words and his eyes were darting around uneasily when he said he wanted to resign in 2014 but Eric Cantor's premature departure compelled him to hold off on his own decision.  Now he's saying he was planning to resign on his birthday this year November 17th anyhow.  Shawn Hannity didn't gloat too much over the news personally but he played a Marco Rubio rally where the crowd erupted in thunderous ovation when they heard the news of Boehner's demise.  President Obama praised Boehner calling him a great patriot who loved America.  It's said that Kevin Mc Carthy of California will be taking his place and already the "Freedom Lobby" or whatever they're called now, are saying that Mc Carthy is not far right enough.  In terms of candidates resigning, ripe for the pickings are Bobby Jindell, Rick Santorum, and Governor Petaki of New York, who's going nowhere.  It would appear that if the republican house caucus goes with a real righty that congress will be even more disfunctional than it already is.  Right now congress has less than ten percent approval of the American people and the line has been going steadily downward for the past twenty years or so.  Like Governor Walker they appeared to be shooting for a goal of zero percent approval!  What is Shawn Hannity going to say when that happens? 
 
It was quite uite a while back that I predicted that Marco Rubio would be the eventually nominee of the Republican party.  This was even before Judy indicated she liked Marco Rubio as a good proponent of all around conservative values.  We know his weaknesses.  He talks fast, he sweats a lot and loves to take gulps of water.  I felt that Rubio was the one candidate who spans the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party.  Of course Rubio waffled on the immigration bill the President tried to get passed.  And he's one of these candidates who lapses into Spanish when he's speaking to the Latino community, which Trump doesn't like.  It would seem with the increasing likilhood that Hillary will be the democratic candidate that we don't want two women going up and having at it in a debates because people will be saying "cat fight" and it's an image people will shy away from.  The thing about Carley Feurina- - or rather "things" is that she's a failure in the business world and people who worked with her don't like her,  the stock ticker doesn't like her- - and people don't like people who lost their last political contest, which is what hurt Rick Santorum, who lost his own reelection race for Senate.  But worse of all Feurina is a liar.  And like I say "It's easy to win an argument when you're lying like a rug about about everything and people watching you are too dumb to know that you're doing it".  (Selah)

This is Saturday September 26, 2015 and the Pope actually took a short flight from New York to Philadelphia, which is something a normal person would never do because you could drive there more quickly than the pre boarding waits at airports.  But there was Pope stuff even on these Celebrety shows.  The president of China is visiting with Obama after first meeting with business men in Seattle.  The idea of pilfering our computer technology was raised and the Chinese leader said they wouldn’t do it anymore.  I think the President should appoint Donald Trump in charge of a watch dog agency to make sure he doesn’t.   There is a lot of news but nothing much that lends itself to the sort of blogs that I do.  I missed the President’s morning address on KNX but I caught the Republican lady’s response on all these investigative committees on abortion and right to life “in all phases of development” as the Pope reminded us the other day.  If you can pass a law barring all abortions from the point at which the fetus feels pain – I’d be al for that.  That line would be at most sixteen weeks.  KEIB had their usual Purity fish and krill oil combo, with the B 12 energy melts.  If you were a shipping company and you shipped just one hundred bottles in a big old truck you’d make $695.00 just for a hundred.  You aren’t going to tell me someone isn’t making wheel barrels full of the green stuff.

There is a “blood moon” coming up in the next day or so.  A total eclipse of the moon that is also a “super moon” we heard about from the summer of 2014 a lot.  If I had to guess I’d say that this means the moon is falling away from the earth, which is something I’ve actually heard.  So eclipses of both a solar and a lunar nature are becoming gradually rarer than they were in ancient times.  The Mormons in Utah are all upset about this super “blood moon”.  As they explained it the moon first goes into the penumbra of the earth but then it enters the umbra, and when the moon is completely engulfed in the umbra or central shadow - - is where you get the blood moon.  The Mormon Church has sent out a letter telling its adherents not to be concerned about this blood moon in the constellational sign of Pisces.

They had the resident’s council meeting at two.  They brought in the tray and I had a glass of iced tea.  I was pretty bored by the meeting.  Sarah is going to take away Dan’s radio because he keeps David awake with it all night so he can’t sleep.  They are going to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Monday October 5^th.   They mentioned they are having their usual Halloween party with the usual costume contests.  They are sending out invitations on the first of November for a Christmas party to be held on December 6^th.  This seems to be rushing it a bit.  Christmas is exactly three months away.  There was talk about getting enough water during the hot weather and seconds at meals.  I left at twenty to three and scrounged around for cigarettes.  I came back here and brushed my teeth and then turned on the computer.  But just then Dr Levy came over the speaker and announced he’d be in the back TV room.  Obviously they aren’t having keroke day there.  Dr Levy brought two boxes of donuts and each of us had two.  We had a rather lenthly check-in first.  Then we talked about politics including Donald Trump and the debates.  Personally I would rather we talked about either the Pope’s visit or the refugee situation because my heart just wasn’t into crossing swords with Dr Levy today.  He likes Marco Rubio and Carley Feurina even though she lied like a rug about just about everything.  It’s easy to win an argument is nobody knows you’re lying.  I sat next to Connie.  The cat came to the door but didn’t venture in.  Bill gave her some fish after dinner.  We had unbreaded fish and seasoned mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Bill let me have a cigarette after dinner.  The computer was running idle for over an hour and a half.

Reflections on the World Condition Today

The question is is whether the Cosmic Tide is moving in or out.  Is liberalism on the ascendency or decline?  Below are a few reflections from Washington's blog but first I'd like to comment on a remark of Martin Luther King saying that all people were promised the Inailable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.   Martin Luther King says "The bill is now due and payable and Black people have come to cash that check".  That's a lot to think about.  Where is the Promise of the American Dream for Black people?  Then we have the issues the Pope has referenced on global warming.  As Thom Hartman points out it is not just a problem for some point off in the distant future, it is a problem for today, right now.  Because global warming has already begun to affect us sooner than many people believed it would.  We then have the issue of capitalism run amuck without any policing or referees to make sure that "the game" is being played fairly.  Even if Adam Smith were around today I am convinced he would not like what he was seeing.  We all know the strengths of capitalism.  We also know what the Bible says about good people being reward with blessings in the here and now.  But this Biblical truth gets twisted around to instead mean that goodness and virtue themselves come through the acquisition of much wealth.  In other words people have come to trust in money and take their focus off of God Himself.  People like Judy would go further to say that virtue and morality themselves Come through vast wealth, and inferentially that atonement for Sin is even available to those with vast wealth and the laws that apply to the rest of us don't apply to the very rich.  These are issues the Pope should address.  For those who believe in an afterlife- - they should know, as Bob Dylan pointed out "All the money in the world will never buy back your souls".   Here are other remarks from Washington's blog from yesterday.

Saudi Arabia is dropping bombs, including U.S.-made cluster bombs, on Yemen, slaughtering children by the hundreds. Saudi Arabia is brutalizing the people of Bahrain, not to mention the people of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabians are funding ISIS and other murderers in the region. Are all of these murders acceptable even if the crucifixion isn’t? Or can we seize this opportunity to build opposition to all murder? Or might we if the Pope mentions it to Congress.   In the oppinion of this writer, we need to de-fund the perils of Saudi Arabia and Israel, because both nations are war mongers and sponsorers of terrorism.

On Tuesday the Senate Armed Services Committee brought in David Petraeus to testify yet again on how to escalate more wars. Petraeus recently proposed arming al Qaeda. Senator John McCain gave Petraeus credit on Tuesday for extending the Iraq war from 2007 to 2011. Petraeus noted that the whole region is in horrible turmoil. Nobody made any connection between the U.S. wars on Iraq and Libya that have created that turmoil and the results. Nobody questioned the wisdom of using more war to try to repair the damage of war.   There was a video offered by a guy with a microphone standing outside the White House grounds talking about Petraeus's speech and I thought he was kidding but apparently was serious in saying Petraeus was actually Proud of the fact that he extended the Iraq war several years, and the "Good News" in congress these days is not the Gospel of Redemption but instead a "gospel" of the prospect of new and endless wars.  (Selah)

Well, a few of us did. The wonderful CodePink was there as always. I was there with a sign that said “Arm al Qaeda? Reagan tried that.”

The mad men who run the U.S. government have reached the point of re-arming the enemies of enemies whose blowback first drove them to radically escalate the global murder of innocent people in the name of opposing terrorism while increasing it.

The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance had an answer to this on Tuesday, taking a protest of endless war and environmental destruction to the gate of the White House.

The Secret Service arrested the people in the photo below rather than accept a letter from them articulating their opposition to policies of massive cruelty to the earth and its inhabitants.

The Pope has the opportunity to speak that same message to Congress and to the U.S. corporate media. Will he use it?

Actually, They're ALL Insane!

Here’s my position on the upcoming government shut-down.  Today is Monday September 21, 2015 so we have now ten days.  Two years ago the issues were the deficit and massive cuts and more specifically funding Obama health care, a bill that had already been voted on and passed and needed to be implemented.  This time it’s different as I see it.  I would not choose to shut down the government over funding Planned Parenthood.  But the thing is if the Republicans vote out a budget that otherwise is OK except for no funding for Planned Parenthood, then if I were the President I’d sign it.  After all it’s just congress doing its job.  So actually I would not shut down the government in the name of EITHER side.  A government shut down damages the economy and in the end will make the republicans look bad.  (Though it was not an issue in 2014 and probably should have been)  But it cost the country 24 Billion dollars or something and is kind of a phoney bologna proposition to begin with.  It just meant shutting down National Parks, WW II memorials and White House tours, and this is nothing short of stupid and just makes the President look like a jackass.  Personally if I were a congressman I would vote to defund planned parenthood because I think the abortion tar brush has tainted the whole issue- - and maybe at a later date after this issue had side down I would again to vote money for Planned parenthood.  

Carley Feurina is a total loser selling items to Iran during sanctions, and she calls herself patriotic.  Apparently workers didn’t like her calling her mean spirited.  She fired a bunch of people, and she lost the company a lot of money and the stock price was driven down.  Then the price of the stock rebounded after Carley was fired.   At this point I'd say they're ALL insane except for Ron Paul and Petaki, and perhaps John Kasech.  I could not picture one of these dopes in the clown car - - - and you won't see a repeat of either when 2008 or 2012 when Mc Cain survived the rigors of that primary, and then Romney emerged as the "sane alternative" to the nutty bunch that ran in 2012.  Marco Rubio talks too fast and there is the sweating and drinking water thing he'll never live down.  Besides Rubio has waffled too many times on immigration to truely attract the Latino vote, which is the only reason why Republicans would pick him.  As to Walker- - if he's begun firing people in his campaign staff or at least night paying them, then his candidicy is not long for this world- - and this great hope of the Koch Brothers is fast fizzling out.

This whole issue about whether a Moslem should ever be president needs to be address.  I’ll admit that hearing the words “Moslem” and “President” in the same sentence causes me to crings.  But I only do this because I’ve been conditioned to hate all Moslems because of what I hear in the media day in and day out.  Ben Carson says he doesn’t believe a Moslem is qualified to run for President.  But Carson is a guy who acts as if he’s just woken up from some opim induced stupor and looking for his glasses or something.  Actually growing up I had a seventh grade teacher named Mr Hunter who spoke glowingly is Islam, and told us a little about the faith and I remember thinking Islam was kind of a neat religion.  That’s as close as I come to a “Madrassa” past.  But the issue as to whether a Moslem believes in “constitutional principles” reveals an appalling ignorance as to what’s actually in the constitutional.  Thomas Jefferson made a statement around 1800 that “We take no issue as the United States with Islam”.   And apparently in the past a high percentage of doctors were Muslims because they were educated and didn’t rely on “Western” methods of medicine such as leeches and eye of newt.  The constitution states that no religious test shall ever be applied toward seeking government office.  That pretty much settles the issue as far as I’m concerned.  We didn’t hold Romney’s Mormonism against him- - and I was amazed now suddenly being Mormon was now kosher- - after 150 years of shunning Mormonism.  (Of course I have Mormons in my family tree)

Debby Wasserman Schultz is a bit of an asshole, isn't she?  I don't even think her fellow democrats like her.  She's instructed presinct captains to inform people that there ARE no other democratic candidates other than Hillary and they only have Hillary campaign stickers and stuff at the party HQ.  Wasserman is in kind of a locked-down Hillary or nobody mode.  Howard Dean is in a Hillary defense mode and Thom doesn't have quite the respect he had for him previously.  It's time to replace this democratic leader.

I have five unopened packets of tea and did not open another last night.  I was out there before six looking for a cigarette and was pretty desperate going from one end of the parking lot to the other.  I managed on butts mainly.   Phyllis said to get my medication first at just after six.  I got medication from Tom and turned on Stephanie Miller.  I had the Rude Pundit on.  We had corn flakes for breakfast followed by generous scrambled eggs and toast and butter and jelly.  I got a full cup of black coffee I put a little milk in.  It was a robust cup.  The cat was at the door checking out people as they came out.  Obviously she was waiting for someone.  When she heard Wally’s voice she came running back and Wally had scrambled eggs for her.  Glenda said that Stanley told her that Lishia moved to another location.  There was talk about Bellflower being almost as bad as Watts. Rude Pundit says all of the candidates except Rand Paul are totally insane.  Rude Pundit said “He was rolling his eyes at the tone of the conversation”.   Now there is talk with someone else about Hillary and this phoney story about falling in the polls.  I heard that Scott Walker is beginning to not pay his campaign workers.  Good.

RUSSIAN SO-CALLED EXPANSIONISM

According to GlobalSecurity.org, Russia has 202 Air Force Bases, all in Russia’s various “Military Districts”; but now there is to be a 203rd one, and it will be in Belarus. If this actually happens, it will be a historic expansion of Russia’s armed forces abroad — something that for the U.S. to do would be inconsequential since the U.S. already has 41 Air Force Bases in foreign countries, surrounding Russia, East West and South. (Belarus isn’t even anywhere near the U.S.; it’s instead bordering Russia itself.)

On September 19th at 112.international (and then on 20 September at the subscription-only Financial Times), was reported (as headlined at 112), “Russia to Establish Air Base in Belarus.” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Friday the 18th had signed a document, “To intrust the Ministry of Defense with the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out the negotiations with the Belarusian side and upon coming to an accommodation, to sign the agreement on behalf of Russian Federation.”

The anti-Russian Financial Times pretends that this is part of Russia’s aggression encircling NATO, instead of a response to NATO’s aggression encircling Russia, by the FT’s saying: “Belarus, which borders Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia [they don’t even mention that it borders Russia], would give Russia a new asset right on Nato’s borders. The Russian military already has a radar station and some fighter aircraft stationed in Belarus, but the new base would be the first to be built there since the end of the Soviet Union.”

The FT then says: “News that the air base would be built comes after the US and its allies were struggling to respond to what Washington says is a Russian military build-up in Syria. Russian involvement in Syria complicates existing international operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the jihadi group known as Isis.” This statement pretends that Russia is pro-ISIS and anti-Assad, while the U.S. is anti-ISIS and pro-Assad, but the FT thinks they’ve got lots of suckers (subscribers) and will exploit that asset for their aristocratic masters, who as advertisers are buying those suckers’ minds. The reality is that — as the people of Syria are well-aware — Assad and Russia are anti-ISIS, and the U.S. is the one that’s bombing the anti-ISIS forces (while the U.S. pretends to be focusing on bombing the pro-ISIS forces).

UPDATE: The FT’s online readership evidently isn’t as gullible as the FT’s editors expect. Though there was a bit of reader-comment in the nature of “They are building military bases around NATO, while Russia’s revenues are going down the tubes. Another stupid strategy from the Kremlin,” far more was in the nature of the following:

“How can more forces fighting ISIS be a negative?”

“Kathrin [addressing the newspaper’s Moscow correspondent, Kathrin Hille], please spare us this US propaganda drivel. We’ve really had enough. Start complaining again when Russia builds an air force base in Mexico. Until then………shhhhh.”

“The extraordinary thing of all is that NATO, the biggest and most powerful military alliance in history with bases essential surrounding Russia, is never reported to be ‘flying close’ to Russia’s borders. They are undoubtedly the most scrupulous pilots on earth.”

“The growing military and and economic relationship between Russia and China and the expansion of Russian presence, and presumably bases, in Syria is also a result of western policy, specifically American policy, that includes economic sanctions. In Ukraine and in the Middle East, neocon-Washington-driven policy has been a catastrophe.”

But, if the FT’s readers are really so smart, why do they then subscribe? Why do they subsidize propaganda, when there are a few authentic news sites (you’re reading one of them now) that are free? Readers can get the facts, and the honest and relevant context, without needing to subscribe to anything.

This Economy is Kryptonite to Republicans

This morning Thom Hartman claimed that is the republicans keep talking down this economy they’ll elect Bernie Sanders for President.  Because Santers is also an economic outsider who is discontented with the economy.  So really the whole subject of the economy is kryptonite to the Republicans and they should avoid the topic at all costs.  Because once you get the people focused on it- - you’ll see a regular Bernie tidal wave.

 Shawn Hannity knows how to dig his own intellectual grave but doesn’t care that he has no credibility.  Shawn was defending Donald Trump for failure to correct this guy who said that the President was a Moslem and had Moslem terrorist places all over the country.   In Trump’s “defense” Shawn said “Well  29 percent of the people according to a new CNN poll believe the President is a Muslim, so it must be true.  The President is giving Iran 150 billion dollars to further their terrorist campaign.”   Someone needs to question this.  I doubt Iran will get a one lump sum with no regard to how they use the money.  I thought we were just lifting sanctions.   Or is money earned through trade somehow ill gotten gain?   And of course Hannity continues to claim that the President is a member of Jeremiah Wright’s church, which he hasn’t been in seven and a half years.  And he latches on to one sentence in one sermon given God knows when, and we don’t even know the President was in attendance that day.  But then he circles it around back to Trump and says “It’s not Trumps job to correct outlandish extremist statements when he hears them from his own supporters”.  I would say that is indeed his job to do that- - unless of course Donald Trump WANTS us to think that a bunch of racists support him.

In soap land Gabriel is back.  We get rid of one attractive young brunette, only to get back another (and hope she doesn’t get killed).    Basically she got a life term for a major murder and she’s out on a clerical error in two years.  I’ve heard a story like that circulating among Born Again Christians.    Of course if Governor Christie were God I would say “The Lard works in mysterious ways!”  The only question is now that Will Horton and his concubine and mother of his child are shacking up once more whether Will will discover that he’s not gay after all but straight and Sonny Kiriacus can just stay in Paris.  It’s utterly mixed up confusion.  But the big news of the way is Chad’s therapy with Merlena and the fact that he remembered he has someone in his life who would hate him enough to frame him for a murder- - Clyde Weston.  Marlena had an uncomfortable encounter with Clyde in her office today, and the wheels in her brain must be turning.  It's only a matter of time before they compare notes.

Frangela and others on TV have pointed out that it was really hot in the debate room and all of the candidates were “glistening” because those spotlights were really hot.  The idea of having Air Force I in the background couldn’t be any less subtle that “We’re all patriotic republicans here”.  The rumor is that Donald Trump is accepting support from virelant anti Islamic groups as well as David Duke and the KKK, and Trump doesn’t see a progolem with that.  Two days ago I thought the album “The Best of Alice Cooper”  (with Michael Bruce) needs to be CD expended.   Since “Refrigerator Heaven” was on a track last summer, that track wasn’t used here.   Just look for the blog post with the picture of the mug of beer.

Today is September 18^th or the 45^th anniversary of Jimmy Hendrix’s death, which was also on a Friday.  During this period in September of 1970 Dad was briefly going to AA meetings, and I went to two of them myself with Mom.   Other than mention the date when it comes around on the calendar, there is not a lot that is celebrated of talked about as far as the after-life of Jimi Hendrix.   I would mention that I had a conversation with those who put out that Ringo album.  They defended having a debate about the Iran Nuclear treaty even though it’s a settled issue now.  They said “It’s settled, but it’s still important and pivotal and people need to be reminded.  So “Disk 2” won’t be changed except that “Good Night, Vienna” will be added in in a track between the half hour segments.  In case you are wondering both tracks were originally part of a TV program that runs a half hour as a Mc Laughlin type discussion.   Only in this case all of the protagonists are on the same side- - but sometimes (as in Wednesday’s debate) little arguments are generated just to give the appearance of conflict or “debate”.   

THE BEST OF ALICE COOPER  (Michael Bruce era)

Mr and Misdemeanor

Below Your Means

Hallowed Be My Name

Is It My Body?

Eighteen

Under My Wheels

Be My Lover

Desperado

School’s Out

Blue Turk

No More Mr Nice Guy

Elected

Billion Dollar Babies

Sick Things  (fast fade)

Working Up A Sweat

Teenage Lament

Muscle of Love

OK here's your CD bonus paragraph (so to speak)  I thought I might mention Bones remark the other day that “Maybe [censored] and Paul can’t be trusted by Mom and she really is being railroaded”.  It would be the first emergence of Bones in two months or something.  Communacations with anybody on the "other side" have been sparse lately.   I thought of maybe doing something on hyperbolic optics, which would amount to the “crystal ball” affect, where you are looking “in” on your subject from the outside rather than being on the inside looking out.  And I thought of that Ringo album and how certain songs were omitted such as “I’m the Greatest” and “Photograph” and “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Good Night, Vienna”.   This last song is a key omission because it isn’t on the “Blast from the Past” Ringo album.  I finally decided to do something on karma.  I didn’t mean to imply any of the following.  I didn’t mean to imply that I was bigger than God, or better than God or that I didn’t “need God” or that I thought I could defeat God or that I wasn’t grateful for the blessings I’ve received.  But to me it’s hard to put in a disclaimer for something that you didn’t say to begin with.

My Thoughts on Last Night's Debate

Last night the main debate was already on at ten to six when I checked in CNN.  I watched just over an hour and a half of the debate but the thing was on for three hours from five o clock to eight, and there were two ad breaks in the middle.  The most noticeable thing about both debates was the set up questions trying to pit participant against participant.  Shawn played a whole string of them at the start of his show today and Shawn said “I’m no closer to deciding which candidate I like than I was”.   This may be because I thought Trump had a bad night.  For one thing he looked short next to Jeb Bush like maybe he was five eight or something.  Trump didn’t get as much time this time and his remarks weren’t as whitty but I felt he was a man who was out of ideas and just going through the motions.  Carley Feurina was the clear winner of last night’s debate.  She never got flustered even when Trump was seeking to insult her.  There were one on ones between Trump and Bush on the subject of immigration.  And Rand Paul and Trump took on Bush and the rest of them on the subject of the Iraq war.   Christie was noted for saying that he lived through 9 – 11 and this makes him qualified to be president.  Apparently fact checkers found a lot of falsehoods stated last night and I came up with quite a few myself and was talking back to the screen.    Huckibee said very little.  Ben Carson and Trump crossed swords over immigration and Carson said that “I can get through any fence that will most likely be constructed”.   I was unwilling to continue after the 7:25 break because it was turning into the all war all the time debate with Walker and Bush and the others piling on.  The audience was very pro war.   Carley and Trump exchanged carrier profiles- - and Trump got the better of Carley here because Trump was more successful than Carley was at HP.    Marco Rubio tends to talk fast and many see Rubio as the “sleeper” who could come back to win it all, eventually.

 Tom’s after ten guest was a guy who knew about disenfranchising alleged Black felons in the Florida election in 2000.  I’ve heard how they took off people with the same name as a felon and didn’t follow it up even.   They did some called “caging” and you’ll have to refresh my memory.  At any rate Cathleen Harris and Jeb Bush orchestrated this purge of voter rolls to elect his brother.  Even so it wasn’t enough for his brother to win, but by the tine the Times reported the final results of the vote tabulation (with Gore on top) according to Thom, “We were right in the middle of the 9 – 11 crisis and it didn’t seem appropriate to run an article to make George W look bad”.   That’s pretty lame for a rationalization.   At the beginning of his program at nine, Thom went over a long list of items NOT talked about during the debates, and when Bernie Sanders tweeted, he enumerated topics not talked about during the debate.   A LOT of topics were missing from the table last night.   Then Thom talked about how Billionaires sought actively to build up the Reagan myth as in “tear down this myth”.   Apparently the project was a massive endeavor of rich people to falsify Reagan history, because the real Ronald Reagan was in the throes of Alzheimers at this time and was in no position to defend himself and his administration.

My own “fact checking” came up with a lot of economic lies.  One of the biggest whoppers was saying after the Reagan tax bill of 1986 that the US experienced it’s longest period of prosperity ever.  Actually at MOST it would have been four years or till the Gulf War recession of 1990.   Under Clinton we had economic growth from a troff in 1993 up through the middle of 2001 or something like eight years.  There is the repeated LIE that the Clinton economic surge was because congress CUT federal taxes.  Actually they RAISED all sorts of taxes, as people like Rush Limbaugh used to warn us endlessly about.  Here are more fact checks.  Rand Paul says that the Saudis are not accepting ANY of the Syrian refugees.  The fact checker claims they are but from everything I’ve heard the Saudis are far too paranoid to lie in the bed they made, or- - to reap the fruit of all the terrorist funding they have done over the years.  In terms of those videos of a live newborn plreemie- - - this was NOT from aborted fetus that Carley Feurina claims it was but this video was arbitrarily edited INTO the video at a later point.  Chris Christie may have defunded planned parenthood but fact checker claims it was done strictly because the economy was at that time in a severe recession.  Christie was NOT a US prosecutor on September tenth 2001 as he claims.  His nomination was not even ANNOUNCED until early December 2001.  This is just another way to work 9 – 11 into the conversation.  The Florida state supreme court INVALIDATED the state school voucher system that Jeb Bush claims he had successful implemented but it was eliminated.   Fact checker examines whether there was a link between school vaccinations and Autism.   Ben Carsen’s statement is TRUE.  There is no link.  Trump’s assertion is false, in saying there Was a link.  Ted Cruz made false statements about “self inspection” by Iranians of themselves in the nuclear treaty.  Trump denies that he “lobbied for casinos in Florida”.  Fact check says he did.   It is in fact TRUE that we in the long run will NEED to import workers for Social Security to achieve solvency.   It’s something to think about but we NEED new workers.   The final fact check says the VETTING process for Syrian refugees would still be intact.

There are people who believe that everything about this "so called Capitalist economy" is manipulated.   Everything from stock prices to interest rates to oil costs, to gold and silver to currencies are all manipulated.  I don't like using that word because it's a strong word.  It conotes "meddling with the prime forces of economic karma" or what have you.  You are jimmying the very workings of a supposedly free market economy.  Just for the record I'm not buying into this theory myself.  For one thing I don't believe it's physically possible, not except in some highly unusual situations.  Conservatives pride themselves on getting where they are by their own boot straps.  When I was young I was a stronger believer in this theory than I am now.  Shawn Hannity believes that BECAUSE you are rich, and for NO OTHER REASON this makes you a good person.  Judy believes pretty much the same thing.  Somehow it means ipso facto that you have "Contributed to the betterment of society simply by striking it lucky in the stock market.  Conservative Christians apply this theory in public (to the "world) when it comes to Rightiousness and Salvation.  They claim that one's deeds are weighed on the divine scales of justice.  But if you're an INSIDER like I am  (one time it pays to be an insider)  you know this is not Born Again doctrine, but something they allow the world to believe.  Actually God is the ultimate manipulator.  If you believe classic protestent teaching- - NO ACTION of man brings him rightiousness.  Salvation is often achieved IN SPITE of a person's own moral character or volitional actions.  If God wants it, then it happens- - for good or bad.  God in other words "Manipulates" the scales of justice, just like it's alledged that the whole world economies are manipulated.  This is probably the leading cause of both my religious doubts, and the ultimate reason why I left the Church.  There remained to me no incentive to even TRY to please a god who apparently "will not be pleased" if you believe these people.  Not even the touted "humility" will work.  These people's idea of humility anyhow is getting up on stage to receive some glitzy award for some merit the group decided merited such an award - and bragging about your humility to an applauding crowd shouting your praises.  The whole thing is a little much.

America is at War with the Concept of Peace Itself

This paragraph is well worth reading.  In the United States it is considered fashionable to maintain a steadfast ignorance of rejected peace offers, and to believe that all the wars launched by the U.S. government are matters of “last resort.” Our schools still don’t teach that Spain wanted the matter of the Maine to go to international arbitration, that Japan wanted peace before Hiroshima, that the Soviet Union proposed peace negotiations before the Korean War, or that the U.S. sabotaged peace proposals for Vietnam from the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the French. When a Spanish newspaper reported that Saddam Hussein had offered to leave Iraq before the 2003 invasion, U.S. media took little interest. When British media reported that the Taliban was willing to have Osama bin Laden put on trial before the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. journalists yawned. Iran’s 2003 offer to negotiate ending its nuclear energy program wasn’t mentioned much during this year’s debate over an agreement with Iran — which was itself nearly rejected as an impediment to war. 

Dr Ben Carson has moved within five points of Donald Trump.  Carson has been gaining on Trump for weeks now and has been tied with him in Iowa.  Tonight is the long awaited second republican debate at the Ronald Reagan library on CNN.   One would hope it's available without going through a cable network.  

HIllary would never come out and openly say she supports the Trans Pacific Partnership now even though she worked for the thing as Secretary of State.  This gives her whole campaign an enduring false ring.  The TPP hasn't been in the news much lately but it's still out there and people better beware that the Trans Pacific Partnership "fast track" approval is still a real threat out there.

Thom Hartman is on right now and talking about the Bible gospel roots of Bernie Sanders’ message to the poor.   The media has now decided to smear Sanders by saying that he and Jeremy Corbin are virtually two peas in a pod and they are not.  The media and certain Clinton opperatives will do anything to take down Bernie Sanders.  The democratic party made a decision when Bill Clinton became president to turn their back on the progressive aspects of their party.  They became anti union and talked about the era of government being over, and decided to deregulate the banks and wall street institutions.  The democrats began worshiping at the altar of money.  They have been in a philosophically corrupt state ever since.

One continuing question is why the Obama administration and all of NATO was duped by this "Muslim Brotherhood" and we literally handed them the reins of power in Libya with deadly consequences in September of 2012.  


Citizens Committee on Benghazi claims the US government allowed arms to flow to al-Qaeda-linked militants who opposed Muammar Gaddafi
Their rise to power, the group says, led to the Benghazi attack in 2012
The group claims the strongman Gaddafi offered to abdicate his presidency, but the US refused to broker his peaceful exit
The commission, part of the center-right Accuracy In Media group, concluded that the Benghazi attack was a failed kidnapping plot
US Ambassador Chris Stevens was to be captured and traded for 'blind sheikh' Omar Abdel-Rahman, who hatched the 1993 WTC bombing plot


The Daily Mail reported last year:

A self-selected group of former top military officers, CIA insiders and think-tankers, declared Tuesday in Washington that a seven-month review of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack on our embassy in Bengazi - has determined that [Gaddafi offered to abdicate as leader of Libya.]

‘Gaddafi wasn’t a good guy, but he was being marginalized,’ [Retired Rear Admiral Chuck ] Kubic recalled. ‘Gaddafi actually offered to abdicate’ shortly after the beginning of a 2011 rebellion.

‘But the U.S. ignored his calls for a truce,’ the commission wrote, ultimately backing the horse that would later help kill a U.S. ambassador.

Kubic said that the effort at truce talks fell apart when the White House declined to let the Pentagon pursue it seriously.

‘We had a leader who had won the Nobel Peace Prize,’ Kubic said, ‘but who was unwilling to give peace a chance for 72 hours.’

The Washington Times wrote in January:


“I have been contacted by an intermediary in Libya who has indicated that PresidentMuammar Gadhafi is willing to negotiate an end to the conflict under conditions which would seem to favor Administration policy,” [former U.S. Congressman Dennis] Kucinich wrote on Aug. 24.

***

Mrs. Clinton ordered a general within the Pentagon to refuse to take a call with Gadhafi’s son Seif and other high-level members within the regime, to help negotiate a resolution, the secret recordings reveal.

A day later, on March 18, Gadhafi called for a cease-fire, another action the administration dismissed.

***

“Everything I am getting from the State Department is that they do not care about being part of this. Secretary Clinton does not want to negotiate at all,” the Pentagon intelligence asset told Seif Gadhafi and his adviser on the recordings.

Communication was so torn between the Libyan regime and the State Department that they had no point of contact within the department to even communicate whether they were willing to accept the U.N.’s mandates, former Libyan officials said.

***

“The decision to invade [Libya] had already been made, so everything coming out of the State Department at that time was to reinforce that decision,” the official explained, speaking only on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
***
“The Libyans would stop all combat operations and withdraw all military forces to the outskirts of the cities and assume a defensive posture. Then to insure the credibility with the international community, the Libyans would accept recipients from the African Union to make sure the truce was honored,” Mr. Kubic said, describing the offers.

“[Gadhafi] came back and said he was willing to step down and permit a transition government, but he had two conditions,” Mr. Kubic said. “First was to insure there was a military force left over after he left Libya capable to go after al Qaeda. Secondly, he wanted to have the sanctions against him and his family and those loyal to him lifted and free passage. At that point in time, everybody thought that was reasonable.”

But not the State Department.

El Nino Gives Drought Relief to Southern California

Well one good thing about the media is that it at least IS talking about politics to get people thinking.   It’s portrayed as two horse races and two horses, Trump and Bernie Sanders.  At least Sanders got press from Stephanie for speaking at Liberty College.  I watched some of that and heard some of the prayers and invocations.  Sanders actually knew a few verses of scripture by number, which is something I’m weak on.  My view when I begin quoting the Bible is “trust me; it’s in there”.   Of course if I were speaking to that crowd I throw in a little red meat about women standing up for principle and not bowing to government in doing something they feel violates their faith.  In my blogs I have taken no position on this “to sign off on gay marriage or not” because I believe this is a gray area where I can’t come down with a hard decision I can live with.  I am certainly anti abortion and belive “all lives matter” including the lives of the unborn.  And I would stick in something hoping that Jerry Brown does NOT sign off on this “Jack the dripper legislation” of assisted suicide here in California.  I would also say something about not trying to pull off a whole new Creation in DNA manipulation.  I don’t believe in treading on God’s territory without long and hard prayer on the matter.  I don’t want to be found guilty of “meddling with the primal forces of nature”.  Having said this I am in basic agreement with Bernie Sanders’ speech.  Sanders is still my choice for President.  But pundits say he is the domain of white, liberal, and probably male supporters.  Sanders is said to be soft on the gun issue, and this doesn’t bother me.  I’m not worried.  Sanders is said to be mushy on the immigration issue also, and mushiness best describes my own position here.  Then we have of course Donald Trump, whose hair isn’t quite as luxuriant as it was eight years ago.  I think at some point Trump is going to stop talking like a camera junkey game show television host.  The one issue where I”ve had to rethink my issue just a little is the idea of lowering corporate taxes to induce businesses to bring money back to this country.  If Trump will concede that the whole system of paying CEO’s is wrong and misguided and they think too much about themselves and screw the company- - but are looking for that golden parachute when things go bad- then maybe I can bend a little and support a lowering of the corporate income tax rate to say twenty percent like Romney wanted.  But we need to close all those loopholes, and we need strong tax laws to not reward companies that relocate overseas.  But if Trump will bend on these issues- - and also claim that the safety net such as Social Security and Medicare need more revenue and he knows how to get it- - I’m all ears as to how.

Today is September 15, 2015 and we all woke up to rain this morning.  So El Nino may be giving us a wet winter just like we’ve all hoped for.  At least there won’t be any fires in Southern California for a while, and pray for the people up north.  Maybe there would be more questions on global warming at the debate at the Reagan Library if the place were encircled by wild fires.  (no that remark is not original with me)  Yesterday they were pretty despondent in the media about this drought crisis ever being over.  There is the least snow on the Sierra Nevada (only a few patches) than there have been in 500 years by tree ring growth records.  The media is talking about Hillary’s campaign collapsing but nobody talks about Jebber’s campaign collapsing at seven percent oir whatever to Hillary’s near fifty percent.  It used to be “breaking news” meant that a half dozen Soviet ICBM’s were header our way.  Now it means that Donald Trump is about to deliver another speech, as though Trump were already the President.

Sean Hannity stated that eleven of the twelve apostles were married, so Jesus picked married men to run his church.  Only in the eleventh century did the church get around to requiring celibacy for priests.  Sean believes it’s because the church feared generous to wives.  More likely it’s because the church wanted to inheret all acquired money from the marriage.  Clearly there are fewer good men to pick from if you’re restricted to single men, which in the eyes of most people would be a liability and not an asset.  Sean says that Pope Francis is a hypocrite for saying that money is the god of the rich when money is obviously the focus of the Catholic Church.   Sean does not believe in taking in refugees to this country even if it’s only women and children.  This shows how hard hearted Sean is.  Rocky shared a little joke this afternoon.  There is a penny and a nickel at the top of the hill and the penny rolled down and the nickel stayed put.  The question is why.  The answer is “because the nickel had more cents”.  We have more utterances from Sean Hannity’s show today.  Sean is against Billy Crystal saying that he is so completely against Donald Trump that if he wins then Crystal would strongly suggest a third party candidate to run against Trump.  Sean thought that was nuts, and to be frank, it is nuts.   The “Club for Growth” is putting out expensive ads against Donald Trump using the same lines of persuasion that Trump isn’t really a conservative but is a closet democrat.  Sean is pretty unshakable in his faith in Donald Trump.

This morning I turned off the computer at a quarter to ten since Nora was running a little late.  I tidied up the room and Nora still wasn’t here as of ten o clock but I left, but missed snack break because I was out back.  I spent some time in the front room a while after ten thirty.   I have a white blanket now.  That creamy orange soup is “carrot soup” and it had kind of a gritty quality today.  We had a “dinner” style lunch with a mediocre beef and pasta casserole and mixed vegetables.  We had a banana for dessert.  I listened to Sean Hannity both over the noon hour and later.  Stephano survived his heart attack and is conscious now.  Aden visited Stephano and says he wants his money for making Hope fall in love with him.  Patch still doesn’t accept the impending marriage.  Ben and Abigail are at an awkward moment where she caught him “spying” on her with an electronic device, but she’s guilty as sin- - so it’s an impasse.   Jennifer was back and began calling names for Money Draw at one thirty.  There was only the one person in the office (Nancy Warwick) when I went in.  I asked for and got ten dollars from Jennifer.  Gabby was kind of blocking my path lying down- - and Jennifer shewed her out of the way.  There was no candy.  I went to the liquor store for a pack of John Blacks.  Larry Barton paid me two and Bill paid me three, and I paid Phyllis and Richard.  I was going to get in line to see the doctor but the line was so very long I listened to Shawn Hannity instead and returned just before three.  Even then the line was substantial.   David Shaner and Luan were just ahead of me.  It was flu shot day and I opted to get a flu shot, since I had so much bronchitis last year.  How come they make those shots so painful now?  My blood pressure was 110 over 80.  But my temperature was elevated at 99.8 and I can’t figure that one out except maybe their equipment is off since I’m usually in the 97’s or even the 96’s.   Next month I’ll be getting a pneumonia shot that supposedly lasts for five years.  I didn’t even think to ask about an anti smoking drug.

[Monday] It’s just after two thirty and the guy is mopping the floors.  I’m in a state of indecision.  I should probably call the dentist.  Also I should down the contents of the camera not yet downloaded.   In terms of the Labor Party they say Tony Blair or Gordon Brown were far removed from this current Jeremy Corbin.   Corbin sees the thing so clearly as far as war leading to the refugee problem and we cause the wars.  We seem to delight in them at every opportunity, or else we made an opportunity.  In terms of the soap opera today Clyde Weston was threatening Jennifer at the Horton house in his own special way.  It’s like looking death in the face.  You see – J J just told Jennifer what the score was as far as Clyde after first turning on the radio to a blues station so they couldn’t be overheard by a bugging device.   Meanwhile J J is persuaded maybe it is best to go to the cops and tell them what he knows, which is extensive.   Raphael gave Chad a police escort home and seemed genuinely concerned for his safety, thinking perhaps the real killer is still out there and Chad might be a target.   I was late to the courtyard but made it over to Lynne’s class in the front room again, and Rico limited me to one glass of red punch.   I haven’t blogged since Friday and don’t have any particular ideas what to write now.   With all the news most of it is just political reverberation and nothing really new that I can comment on or add fresh light to anything.  We’ll see.