Super Bowl Halftime

The Eye

Of Horus

Is Upon You

Football, Au Revoir 

Allright! That's it for football and the mindless worship of the final game and congratulations to the Packers. Here's to next season (hoisting one last drink) if there is one. Let's hope the players and the owners can resolve their differences to do what both really want to do: make lots of money. One of those differences is lengthening the season to 18 games. But there are problems.

I understand why the players are not enthusiastic about the 18 game season and I think that the players should not have to play two more regular season games. These guys take enough punishment.
But we still have the problem of those pre-season games that everyone despises. I have a solution for implementing the 18 game season. Go with eighteen regular season games. Get rid of 2 exhibition, excuse me, pre-season games. But, you ask, how do we do this while not forcing the players to participate in two more games?

Require that every player on an NFL roster must have been given two weeks off by the end of the season. After the last game of the week on say, Tuesday morning, teams must announce rosters for the next week, taking into account that they must give everyone on the roster two weeks off by the end of the season. Players off the roster for that week would not be allowed to practice with the team.  This approach would require strategy on the part of the coaches, so they might not be on board with anything like this that makes their job harder than it is. But it would add to the hype for the week when a Bill Belichik  announces that Tom Brady is out for a game with the Raiders and they would get to play the disrespect card. All kinds of fun would ensue.

Sometimes these things would take care of themselves when guys get dinged up and need time off for injury. If you pick up a guy during the season via trade or waivers you would take into account whether he has had his personal bye weeks yet. It would be illegal to just cut a guy near the end of the season if he hasn't had his bye weeks yet. Rosters may have to expand a bit. This rule change would really help the game and give us more real football and  more income for the owners without taking advantage of the players.

Red Sox pitchers and catchers report a week from tomorrow.

Two Months Away....

Daffodils, April 8, 2010 in Hiram, Maine

Now.....

The View from my Study

A dwindling woodpile,
the half-buried pond garden,
with four feet of snow. 

“It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.”-Dan Quayle, the Sarah Palin of his time


MUNDUS VULT DECIPI, ERGO DECIPIATUR- PETRONIUS

Vice Presidents in my Lifetime and Some Things They Have Said

"The best audience is intelligent, well-educated and a little drunk." -Alben W. Barkley

"I leave you gentleman now and you will write it. You will interpret it. That's your right. But as I leave you I want you to know — just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you."-Richard M. Nixon

"Jack was out kissing babies while I was out passing bills. Someone had to tend the store."-Lyndon Johnson

"Edgar, the law says that you must retire next January when you reach your seventieth birthday and I know you wouldn't want to break the law. But the nation cannot afford to lose you. Therefore, by virtue of an act pursuant to the authority vested in the President, I have today signed an Executive Order exempting you from compulsory retirement for an indefinite period of time."- Lyndon Johnson making J. Edgar Hoover FBI Director For Life

“I apologize for lying to you. I promise I won't deceive you except in matters of this sort.”-Spiro Agnew

"Write it when I'm dead." Gerald Ford to reporter Thomas M. DeFrank after Ford responded "You're right." when DeFrank commented that President Nixon was a "goner" during an interview four months before Nixon's resignation.

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”-Gerald Ford

"I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma."-Gerald Ford on pardoning Richard Nixon

"No. 1, Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin. And two, the commission found no evidence of a conspiracy, foreign or domestic. And in my judgment, there has been no new evidence that would undercut those two conclusions, Oliver Stone notwithstanding."-Gerald Ford

"The chief problem of low-income farmers is poverty"-Nelson Rockefeller

“You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.”-Nelson Rockefeller

“If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you are hopelessly confused.”-Walter Mondale

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."-George H.W. Bush

“I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future.”-Dan Quayle

"A zebra does not change its spots."-Al Gore

"I had other priorities in the sixties than military service." -Dick Cheney

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."- Dick Cheney

''If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30% chance we're going to get it wrong.''-Joe Biden

A motley crew to say the least. It must be stated for the record that not all of these quotes were made while these men were Vice Presidents (Nixon,Ford and Johnson). But all quotes are insights into their characters.

Musing of the Day:

Anyone who thinks an Islamic country can suddenly become a secular democracy is deluded. The United States was created to be a secular democracy and it must constantly struggle against the inertia of religion to continue to be one.

The Extra Credit Quote of the Day
"The pontifex maximus ''Scævola'' thought it expedient that the people should be deceived in religion; and the learned ''Varro'' said plainly, that there are many truths, which it is useless for the vulgar to know; and many falsities which it is fit the people should not suppose are falsities."-Augustine 

I muse.

Privacy? What privacy?

There is no privacy. There is nothing you can do. But there never was any privacy. You just needed the connections or the money to find things out. Now, anybody can find things out. It's much more democratic.

Chutney Ensnowed

My Jack Russell Terrier, Chutney, needs his anal glands expressed. I love dogs.

Michael Hudson

Michael Hudson says in this VIDEO that the average stock in America was held for 22 seconds last year. That tells me that big traders are manipulating the markets and that I don't have a chance when I buy a hundred shares on Ameritrade. There should be a huge tax on flipping stocks like that. It would put an end to shady programmed trading.

"A slave is one who waits for someone else to free him." - Rosellen Brown

The Dance of Death, Hans Holbein (1497-1543) 

You can be sure that when or if the secret of physical immortality is acquired (and it is a goal being actively pursued) then only a favored few will be given the prize.

Then the Earth will become even more a kind of Hell. 

Then the only way we will be able to rid ourselves of our Masters will be to kill them. 

Death has been our friend. 

He visits the rich and the poor alike in his rounds. 

When the privileged purchase the ability to stay his knock on the door, this planet will  enter a stasis.

 We shall be burdened with the same masters for thousands of years.

If we have not been already. 

Nicolai A. Berdyaev, A "Radical Christian" in the Best Sense

I last quoted Nicolai back last March but you can't get hurt having a little more.

"Egoism, self-seeking, self-conceit, pride, the will to power, hatred of others, violence, all become virtues when transferred from personality to the nation as a whole...National self-conceit and pride is a lie, just as much as it is by the way ludicrous and stupid...[nationalism precipitates] men into a fictitious and illusory life."    -- from Slavery and Freedom


"The greatest temptation of human history is the temptation to exercise sovereignty and in it there is concealed a most powerful enslaving force...The whole disquieting and tangled problem of sovereignty is bound up with the fact that man has a natural disposition to dominate others. He is in search of his kingdom and he devotes his strength to the establishment of it, but his kingdom makes him a slave."    --from Slavery and Freedom


"Habitual, time-hardened slavery may not appear to be a form of violence, while a movement which is directed to the abolition of slavery may appear to be violence." from "Slavery and Freedom"

Nicolai A. Berdyaev

Tahrir Square Cairo, Getty Images, MacDiarmid

Egyptian Army Called In as Protests Rage

Oil Price Spikes Towards $100

                                               28 January 2011 Uprising in Egypt

Police in Cairo on Wednesday January 26 prepare to keep Order.

Reports of ‘massacre’ in Suez as protests in Egypt move into third day | Raw Story

Regardless of the reassuring statements of experts and authorities and politicians around the world about the stability of Egypt, things there remain volatile. Change can happen quickly in any country. Egypt is a country of breathtaking poverty and concentrated wealth. This is a situation the human spirit will not tolerate for long.

Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, Yemenis join in anti-government protests The Washington Post

Yemen is a country on the Arabian peninsula that has no oil. The people are poor and suffer under President Ali Abdullah Saleh who has held office for thirty years in this nominal democracy. President Saleh has enjoyed the support of the United States. This support has translated into little benefit for the people.

“True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.”-Akhenaton

Broad Protests Across Egypt Focus Fury on Mubarak - NYTimes.com

It is about time. The Arab world has suffered under the boot-heels of their leaders and privileged class for far too long.

Quotes:

"This is the biggest protest I've seen in this era. I'm not part of any group or party. We've all just had enough."-Zeinab Khalifa, artist 


"We came here for a reason: to tell Mubarak that we don't want his corrupt regime. I came with three of my friends because we're all educated — we're all protesting for our jobs, for our rights; to get married; and for the future of Egypt." -Ahmed Mossad, 22, a translator


“We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8 a.m. PT today. It is impacting both Twitter.com @applications.”- Tweet from Twitter

“The government is illegitimate, the president is illegitimate.” -crowd chanting in Cairo


“The young people decided. They haven’t seen a government listening. They got quite excited by the Tunisian change of power, or revolution, if you’d prefer to call it that.”-Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations nuclear agency




"I am here because of the poverty and because of the corruption. Nothing in Egypt is going as it should. This is the first chance the people have got to express how messed-up the country is. We want four things. We want the Minister of the Interior to be fired. We want people who have graduated to get jobs. We want the President to limit the time he is in power and we want an end to the emergency law."-Bashar Abdelmenem, a 22-year-old medical student

All or nothing at all
Half a love, never appealed to me
If your heart, never could yield to me
Then I'd rather (rather) have nothing at all
All or nothing at all
If it's love, there is no in between
Why begin then cry, for something that might have been
No I'd rather (rather) have nothing at all
But please don't bring your lips so close to my cheek
Don't smile or I'll be lost beyond recall
The kiss in your eyes, the touch of your hand makes me weak
And my heart may go dizzy and fall
And if I fell (I fell) under the spell of your call
I would be, caught in the undertow
So you see, I've got to say no, no
All or nothing at all

"All Or Nothing At All" Lyrics by Jack Lawrence, music by Arthur Altman

first recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1939

Billboard #2 in 1943

Sinatra claimed he and Harry James were fired from the Victor Hugo cafe in Hollywood after performing it to an empty house in 1939.

"The struggle between the two worlds can permit of no compromises...Either We or They."- Benito Mussolini

“You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!”-Matthew 23:24:

The desire for an unambiguous black and white world that is certain and where one knows the rules and there is no doubt of right and wrong is the root desire and need of religion and government. This desire cannot bear individual point of view.  This desire projects upon the people a superior godlike point of view that actually emanates from the rulers of state with the acolytes of religion in their thrall (or vice versa) and is perfectly congruent with their interests. This desire for a spiritual authority actually represses true spirituality because it relies on Faith. And the beauty of Faith (belief without evidence or proof and belief in the presence of evidence or proof to the contrary) is inculcated into the minds of the people from birth. It has always been in the interest of the rulers to turn off both the rational and irrational minds of the people.

Natus est Dei Filius, non pudet, quia pudendum est; et mortuus est Dei Filius, prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est; et sepultus resurrexit, certum est, quia impossibile.— Tertullian (De Carne Christi V, 4)

"The Son of God was born: there is no shame, because it is scandalous. And the Son of God died: it is wholly believable, because it is foolish. And, buried, He rose again: it is certain, because (it is) impossible."

Tertullian's words are often condensed into the phrase
Credo quia absurdum- I believe because it is absurd.

The unknown world of Knowledge (Gnosis) must be cloaked by established Religion and the State in the cape of Fear, partly because Gnosis is a fearful thing and partly because Gnosis is a threat to the establishment.  All the liberal humanities of the Renaissance are Gnostic. All progressive impulses in man arise from Gnosticism. Conservatives know this well and that is why they must see the world in black and white and this is why they tend to encourage State Religion (Formal or Informal) whether they actually believe in it or not. The Irony is that Gnosticism and its sundry practices produce a better man than Faith based Religion which somehow has a blind spot for the constant and simple touchstone of Gnosticism, which is the Golden Rule.

I Heard An Angel

I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing,
"Mercy, Pity, Peace
Is the world's release."

Thus he sung all day
Over the new mown hay,
Till the sun went down
And haycocks looked brown.

I heard a Devil curse
Over the heath and the furze,
"Mercy could be no more,
If there was nobody poor,

And pity no more could be,
If all were as happy as we."
At his curse the sun went down,
And the heavens gave a frown.

Down pour'd the heavy rain
Over the new reap'd grain ...
And Miseries' increase
Is Mercy, Pity, Peace.

-William Blake

After Tunisia, Is Egypt Next? - Eric Trager - International - The Atlantic

There can be a time for freedom. It comes unexpectedly, like a sudden sea storm.


"The developments in Tunisia are like an earthquake. Arab rulers will try to loosen up their regimes by giving some freedom, providing jobs and education and other things. Then they will try to become repressive again." Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi opposition activist based in Riyadh

“What is this for? To change Zine al-Abidine? Hasn't he told you he would step down after three years? Be patient for three years and your son stays alive." Muammar Gaddafi, a lonely voice in support of the vile Tunisian government. Violence and unrest have been reported in Libya.

"What happened in Tunisia is a model. It shows that can we can do it."-Amir Salah, a researcher at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

“I think we may be seeing an opening in the Arab world, economically at least. Many in the government circles are racing around, trying to fix this. There is definitely a fear in the air. Especially since many of Tunisia’s neighbors are worse off. Egypt is in many ways worse than Tunisia, at least economically speaking.”-Magdy Sobhy, an economist at the Egyptian state-funded Al-Ahram Center think tank.

"Great meanwhile is the moment, when tidings of freedom reach us; when the long enthralled soul, from amid its chains and squalid stagnancy, arises, were it still only in blindness and bewilderment, and swears by Him that made it, that it will be free! Free? Understand that well, it is the deep commandment, dimmer or clearer, of our whole being, to be free. Freedom is the one purport, wisely aimed at, or unwisely, of all man's struggles, toilings and sufferings, on this Earth."-Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution

George Frederick Watts, Portrait of Thomas Carlyle

Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation has led to the fall of the corrupt Tunisian government. 

Self-immolations across north Africa follow suicide in Tunisia | World news | The Guardian

The human spirit, in the end, will not bear repression. Those who desire to shackle their fellows will fail in the end. Religion, Dictatorship, and Militarism all will fail.

To do such work as pleases me,
Near woodland pools and under trees, 
You'll get no work at all; for I
Would rather live this life and die
A beggar or a thief, than be
A working slave with no days free.

William H. Davies, No Master, 1910

Reform of the Arab world will come from the people. It must come from its own people, from their own despair and their own disenchantment and their own will. 

Trails in the Sky
Or, How to Ruin a Beautiful Day
Southern Maine
December 30, 2010 
about 12:30

I wonder why?

Busy Doing Nothing

Here I am working on another woodpile. You can't do any better than fresh air, exercise, clean living and no boss.

Chop that wood
Carry water
What's the sound of one hand clapping
Enlightenment, don't know what it is- Van Morrison, "Enlightenment"

John "Jack" W. Wheeler III, West Point '66,  Harvard Business School, Yale Law School, Chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee, Mitre Corporation consultant, while in the Army he wrote the Biological and Chemical Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manual

Private eye questions if death was murder | Philadelphia Daily News | 01/07/2011

John W. Wheeler III was one of the spookiest guys in Washington. They found his body in a landfill this week and they are already setting up non-crime scenarios to explain it. Sure... and William Colby drowned whilst canoeing.

Rascals and Scallywags Who Feed at the Public Trough (or anywhere else)

My Reforms For Congress

1.  Henceforth all Congressmen shall be chosen by lot from citizens who put themselves  forward for the seat.
2. Institutionalized persons are ineligible.
3.  Convicted felons are ineligible.
4.  If after a two year term, any Congressman who wants to retain the seat shall put his name forward to do so.
5.  To allow for some institutional memory, half of the incumbent Congressman who apply for another term shall be chosen by lot to retain the seat.
6.  No one who does not have a residence in a Congressional district may lobby the Congressman of that district to support or oppose any legislation.
7.  No money or gifts can be contributed to any Congressman since there will be no more campaigning.
8.  Violation of 6 or 7 is a felony offense for both Congressman and lobbyist or gift-giver. 

Think about it. The average citizen would provide better representation than the damn lawyers now in charge of Congress.

Elections have been totally corrupted beyond redemption. 


Addendum:


10. The size of Congress shall be increased. It will be harder to buy or corrupt so many. A larger Congress is a more representative Congress. At the founding of the Republic a congressman represented about 50,000 people. Today it is a little over a million, depending on the state. To get the representation today that we had at independence we would need a Congress of about 6,000. Such a Congress, chosen by lot, would truly be representative. 

..Happy 2011..from my eternal friend, Chutney.

I'm bored. Why won't they let me lick myself? I guess I'll just read ITGK6!

Vyzygoth's Inside The Grassy Knoll 6 is now available. In it you will find my essay "Some Thoughts On My Pending Retirement". Go to the issue and enjoy all the contributions by such luminaries as Andy Colvin, Brian Tuohy, William Ramsey, Vyzygoth and Andy Senior. Angie Riedel does the usual great job on graphics. You will not be sorry. And the price is right.

My Mothman Painting

The Billowing Breath, circa 1990, a painting by John Bonanno

My First Real Concert

In Boston, 1965

The first half of the concert was Bob alone with guitar.
After intermission he went electric with the full lineup of what was later known as "The Band" playing those great songs that can be found in his opus from "Bringing it all Back Home" through "Highway 61 Revisited".
The old time folkies in the crowd performed the pro-forma walkout in disgust.
(It was already a sad cliché by then.)
It was their loss.

"For the very first time the young are seeing history being

 made before it is censored by their elders." 

-Margaret Mead, Cultural Anthropologist

Anthropology Group Addresses Furor Over Deleting ‘Science’ - NYTimes.com


The American Anthropology Association has engulfed itself in a furor over its supposed redefining the mission of the discipline. Some have said that Anthropology has retreated from calling itself a science. The anthropologists have responded with (what else?) a paper clarifying the position. Called "What Is Anthropology?" it reads like a tedious ANTHRO 101 paper. The first paragraph:

"Anthropology is the study of humans, past and present. To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences. A central concern of anthropologists is the application of knowledge to the solution of human problems. Historically, anthropologists in the United States have been trained in one of four areas: sociocultural anthropology, biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. Anthropologists often integrate the perspectives of several of these areas into their research, teaching, and professional lives."

The Times article may exaggerate the differences between the more scientifically oriented anthropologists and the more humanistic ones. It is a description of a tempest in a teapot.  However it must be understood that Anthropology is concerned with nothing less than the full range of human behavior and development through all time and space. Much of this interest, it must be admitted, is impervious to the scientific method as we know it. And I think, on a certain level, every anthropologist must admit this, even the physical anthropologists who spend their time extracting bones from the earth.  Anthropologists, even the most scientifically oriented, must be concerned with interpretation and extrapolation, which, in my opinion, is an art, not a science.

Matisyahu at the State Theater in Portland, Maine, December 9, 2010


Thanks for the great show, Matisyahu. But is it my imagination or are drums way over-amped these days? I guess I'm just getting old. And digital mixing is for the birds.

The text is drawn from "Deeper Insights Into the Illuminati Formula" by Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler.

Walt Disney

Final Part: The Cry of the 16th Aethyr, Which is Called LEA,  taken from The Vision and the Voice by Aleister Crowley. 


"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He forgets to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." - Karl Marx

"The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell."- Bertrand Russell

BBC News - Could Charles and Camilla have been better protected?

"Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself-that is my doctrine."- Thomas Paine

There is hope for England yet. The crowd, agitated about the doubling of tuition costs in the UK, chanted "Off with their heads!"
Undoubtedly if the mob got its wish the royal serpents would simply grow new ones.

"The interest of the State is in intimate connection with those of the rich individuals belonging to it."-Alexander Hamilton

"We warned it would happen and it happened as we warned. "Off with their heads! Off with their heads!" chanted the angry mob as they attacked the Royal Rolls Royce carrying Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. "Off With Their Heads 2.0" read the headline of our Autumn Trends Journal predicting the outpouring of outrage that would accompany the harsh austerity measures inflicted upon the general public, while governments doled out generous bailouts and rescue packages for bankers and financiers.

Since the onset of the Greatest Recession, I’ve been informing readers to expect uncontrolled unrest that would roil markets and destabilize governments. When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it. And the spontaneous attack on the Royal couple was the first salvo in what promises to be a long war between the people and the ruling classes.  Anyone questioning the intensity of the people’s seething anger is either out of touch or in denial. This was the worst show of violence directed towards the Royals since the days of Irish/English hostilities." -Gerald Celente

Punching the Clock for the Last Time

Retirement Day

This is my last day as a wage worker, 'though not the end of being productive, I hope. I retire from the Postal Service today. I will work the entire day and make my last sweep of the time clock at 4:30 (unless I take them deep on overtime just once more). This space should display a few more posts now that I have more time.

The Assembled Multitude

Transcript of my parting words to the assembled multitude at the Portland, Maine Post Office

I do have a couple of words to say; don't worry Tim [clock watching postal manager]; it won't take too long. It's just a few things. I'm not going to say everything here [shuffles many pages of notes].

When I started working here people asked me, "Why are you going to work for the post office?" Partly it was, well, when I was a kid I had a dream that I would be a mailman. So you could say that I'm living the dream.

What I always say about working at the post office is that when times are good maybe it's not so good working here, but when times are bad they are not so bad either. We all know that it's a good job [delivering the mail] but that it's a hard job. We all know what it's like. Remember your brothers [shout out by Zora, I think, before I could finish my pregnant pause "and sisters!"] and sisters, of course. So help each other out the best you can.

And the number one thing I've found in here to take away the stress is to be safe. I was safety officer here for a long time and I found out that as soon as I made my first priority being safe, the job became a lot easier for me in that way; I didn't feel stressed so much. Please remember that.

I know that everybody here probably at one time or another I've pissed off, so for that, I apologize. 

There are probably three kinds of people here but everybody here should be happy this morning and it should be good for you. 

If you didn't like me you are happy I'm leaving. 

If you liked me you are happy that I'm getting to retire. 

If you don't care one way or the other you're getting some justification for a little more help or overtime and a piece of cake.

So I'll just leave you with a quote from a local guy, Hank Longfellow, who used to live around here, and he said [pause] You know actually I'm a little more nervous than I thought I'd be. I really am nervous. He said:

“They who go
Feel not the pain of parting; it is they
Who stay behind that suffer.”

That's it! Thank you very much.
[The End]

The Tsar never got a chance to retire but he did "go" in the sense of Longfellow's verse.
 I'm sure he had a good run while it lasted.

Tsar Nicholas II on summer holiday

Sacrifice killings lend push for bill to eradicate blind faith - Mumbai - DNA

Hindus of All Castes and Sects Gather to Fight Proposed Laws Against Blind Faith

The Daily News and Analysis of Mumbai (click link above photo) reports that the Maharashtra Eradication of Blind Faith Bill has been given a boost by two recent "child sacrifices" in Nalasopara. Apparently this bill would make it illegal for a man to claim he is "God". It seems that this law might be a little overdue if such "God Men" are encouraging credulous parents to kill their children. Here's a bit of news to worried parents concerned about possessed children. All kids get evil from time to time. Don't freak out. It usually works out.

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."- James Baldwin

Diego Rivera, Human Sacrifice Before Tohil, illustration for the Popol Vuh

"Waste Not Want Not"
The Observer - Ritual murder cases hit snag, Police lose morale

“arrests are made before investigations yet the law says arrests must be made upon reasonable suspicion.”-Justice Vincent Kibuuka-Musoke

Yes, human sacrifice is out of control in Africa. But ritual murder can also serve a more practical purpose. Read to the bottom of the link and you will find this astonishing fact:
"What is common, however, is some fishing tribes using the body organs to catch fish. He gave an example of a case in Oyam district where a body was discovered without a heart and liver, another in Kakira, and another in northern Uganda."

A Boston Liverpool Axis
Now that New England Sports Ventures has completed a very problematic purchase of the Liverpool Football Club let us fervently hope that the highest expectations of that ancient team's fans are fulfilled. Some followers of the Boston Red Sox are concerned that money will be diverted to this enterprise from their beloved franchise. I am of the opinion that a successful football operation in Liverpool will only increase the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox. John Henry is no fool. I suspect the recent spike in commodity prices has only benefited him in his base business and that is source of the cash for this purchase. As a Boston native I am curiously interested now in the fortunes of Liverpool. I suspect we will be enjoying regular presentations of LFC on the New England Sports Network. Red Sox fans should ignore the few soccer-hating cretins in their midst to band together and welcome Liverpool's supporters to an organization dedicated to mutual success.

 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

William Hogarth, First Engraving from "A Harlot's Progress"

by Captain Grose et al.

I loved perusing the Dictionary of American Slang when I was a youth and I wasted many hours pretending to study while reading it in the library. I have continued to enjoy dictionaries of obscure and vulgar words. Here are some interesting selections given us by Captain Grose.

JIBBER THE KIBBER. A method of deceiving seamen, by fixing a candle and lanthorn round the neck of a horse,one of whose fore feet is tied up; this at night has the appearance of a ship's light. Ships bearing towards it, run on shore, and being wrecked, are plundered by the inhabitants.This diabolical device is, it is said, practised by the inhabitants of our western coasts.

GAYING INSTRUMENT. The penis.

BUG-HUNTER. An upholsterer.

BUM TRAP. A sheriff's officer who arrests debtors. Ware hawke! the bum traps are fly to our panney;  keep a good look out,the bailiffs know where our house is situated.

BUM FODDER. Soft paper for the necessary house or torchecul.

BUNTER. A low dirty prostitute, half whore and half beggar.

BUTCHER'S DOG. To be like a butcher's dog, i.e. lie by the beef without touching it; a simile often applicable to married men.

CAPRICORNIFIED. Cuckolded, hornified.

CUNDUM. The dried gut of a sheep, worn by men in the act of coition, to prevent venereal infection; said to have been invented by one colonel Cundum. These machines were long prepared and sold by a matron of the name of Philips, at the Green Canister, in Half-moon-street, in the Strand. That good lady having acquired a fortune, retired from business; but learning that the town was not well served by her successors, she, out of a patriotic zeal for the public welfare, returned to her occupation; of which she gave notice by divers hand-bills, in circulation in the year 1776. Also a false scabbard over a sword, and the oil-skin case for holding the colours of a regiment.

RESURRECTION MEN. Persons employed by the students in anatomy to steal dead bodies out of church-yards.

RIDING ST. GEORGE. The woman uppermost in the amorous congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George. This is said to be the way to get a bishop.

John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence

Were The Founders Christian? Really?
It depends on what you mean by "Christian". Most were members of the popular denominations of the day. 
Let us consider the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the members of the First Federal Congress, and the non-signing Constitutional Convention delegates as "Founding Fathers".  Allowing for duplications, there were 204 members of this set. The majority were Anglican, then Presbyterian, and Congregationalist. The rest were scattered amongst the Quakers, Dutch Reform, Unitarians, Catholics, Huguenot, Calvinist, and Lutheran. I think few would be considered fundamentalist Christians who believed in the literal truth of the Bible as we now know them.
Tuesday, a Facebook friend who is also a co-worker, a sincere Christian, and a good man, posted the following, which led to an interesting discussion.
"If reincarnation was real, our Founding Fathers would come back as Flag-waving, Bible-thumping, gun-toting Patriots..Oh, Wait..THAT'S what they were originally!"

I had to reply.
"Mark most of the founding fathers were deists. They were educated men of the Enlightenment. They weren't Bible thumping Christians at all. Jefferson created his own version of the New Testament that did not include Jesus' miracles, which he felt were myths. It did include Jesus' philosophy and words. Deists believed a supreme being created a logical universe and rejected miracles. The First Amendment would not have been written by Bible thumping Christians. Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine and George Washington were more or less Deists. Most were Masons."


This led to someone else linking to a You Tube video featuring a preacher who made a somewhat convincing (but wrong) superficial argument that the founders were indeed Christians. Perhaps they were, but not the kind of Fundamentalist Christians who dominate the political landscape today. I replied again.
"If you need to believe that the founders were bible thumping Christians in order to reinforce your faith, that's fine. But the kind of Christianity that preaches the literal truth of the Bible, an imminent second coming, along with Book of Revelation apocalyptic events and a rapture of the faithful is a mid nineteenth century development that would be alien to Christians that populated the USA at the time of the Revolution. They were thoughtful people of a liberal minded type who abhorred the thought of a state religion and religious tests for office."
Perhaps that last sentence was a bit of a generalization. Then there was the typical back and forth of some supporting my position and some skeptical. Then the starter of the thread said.
"Tom that is Johns opinion, view but provided no references. so what makes it informative?
Agree with the point of abhoring state religion. The state should not be involved with religion"

So I presented some quotes from the founders to support the argument that they were Deists.
"Mark, deism isn't exactly a religion. It is more of a philosophical viewpoint. Therefore it is difficult to create a list of prominent deists. One has to infer from the writings and statements of a person to determine if someone is a deist since there is no formal membership roll of deists. There are organized “deist” groups today but that is a modern development. If one believes that there is a creator of the universe and that the universe then operates under rational laws without the miraculous interventions of said creator then one can be said to be a deist.

Some quotes that may be inferred as deist by famous Americans:

"God helps them that help themselves." -Benjamin Franklin

"I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it." -Benjamin Franklin

"Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion."-George Washington

"The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."-John Adams

"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?"-John Adams

"The creation is the Bible of the Deist. He there reads, in the handwriting of the Creator himself, the certainty of His existence and the immutability of His power, and all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries." -Thomas Paine

"Those who invalidate reason, ought seriously to consider, whether they argue against reason, with or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle, that they are laboring to dethrone; but if they argue without reason, (which, in order to be consistent with themselves, they must do,) they are out of the reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument." -Ethan Allen"


And I can find hundreds more quotes from the Founders that show them to be Deists or  Christians very different from the kind we see today in the United States. The misconception that the founding fathers were Christian of the modern fundamentalist sort and that they brought some kind of Favor of the Lord on America is a dangerous belief. They were practical merchants. They understood that extreme or religion taken seriously   gets in the way of business. The Constitution is a mercantile document, more accurately described as a contract in which the people, in general, have little standing. This nation was set up as a business enterprise. Look around you.
The Informer, at Against The Grain Press (no longer available), puts this all out there in excruciating detail. Download and listen to his great interviews with Keith Hansen at the Classic Grassy Knoll here while they are still available.
The complete interviews on CD are available here:
http://thinkorbeeaten.com/theknoll/

"Chatham Sand Scape" John Bonanno photograph

We just got back from a weekend on Cape Cod. This is the time to go unless you need summer heat. Traffic is thinner and dining establishments are less frenzied. Our compliments go Tom and Rick, the proprietors of Captain David Kelley House Bed and Breakfast in Centerville. Thank you for the exquisite breakfasts and superb lodging.

The Summer 2010 edition of Vyzygoth's Inside the Grassy Knoll is now available. As usual, Angie Riedel has done a magnificent job with the graphics and preparation.
I was pleased to be able to contribute an essay on the origins of petroleum, "Where the Hell does All That Oil Come From Anyways?" from my poor unprofessional perspective. I hope it stimulates some thought.
Link HERE

The "Oil Is Mastery" blog follows the abiotic oil argument closely. The following link from that blog is a video of  L. Fletcher Prouty on "Fossil Fuels"  in which Mr. Prouty makes the point that Rockefeller interests had strong ulterior motives in declaring petroleum as a rare resource derived from dead organisms.

"The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest."-John D. Rockefeller Sr.

The Wiping of the Royal Ass