Creativity and Grant Theft Intellectual

I was discussing the shifting paradigm taking place in the computing and Music and Arts Industries with a colleague a couple of weeks ago, and he said that Artists (Musical or otherwise) should have no expectations of receiving compensation for their work these days. We go to a church where “Circulation of Energy” (i.e. money and time) is the order of the day, and that I shouldn’t have this expectation in the coming shift.

This reflects the general opinion of much of the population these days, that anything that can be ripped or downloaded should be free to have, and this idea is especially coming from the minds of teens and twenty-something’s. None of these folks goes into work at a job they have (if they have a job) and on payday tells their Boss, “You know, I love my job so much, you don’t have to pay me. I just love doing it so much!”

Creatives often spend years, or even decades, learning and then crafting their vision to produce the work that other non-Creative minds take for granted. It doesn’t just spring out of the head and onto the page or CD without great effort and sacrifice. For someone to say, ‘Well, it’s there, and it’s there for me to take’ only disrespects the Artist whose work you value enough to take.

In an age where jobs are being outsourced and Corporations are crying poverty -- ‘We Can’t Afford to have Americans make our products. They expect too much in pay and benefits…’ (this from Corporations who also want to sell those very same products to those same un- and under-employed Americans) – those same Corporations are screaming ‘Theft!’ by this population that has incorporated their tactics.

Creative Work of Art, Music and Dance should be compensated for. The greater the Work, the greater we should expect a return for our investment of time and effort to give you any pleasure you get from our work – not just taken for the ability and the technology to do it.

I have been a Visual Artist for decades. I have done close to a thousand images in drawing, painting, multi-media or sculpture. I’ve also shot close to 5000 images with my cameras over that time, creating images and showing life in ways that most people (even Creatives) have not seen it. This took tens of thousands of hours of my time over those decades. If I charge a thousand dollars for a drawing that seem small in comparison to billboards, it reflects that time spent perfecting my craft. And yes, I consider myself a Master in both Drawing and Photography. I expect to be paid for my work and what it reflects of my life and time spent.

A very well dressed Man walked up to me at a gallery opening of mine in the past, and asked me how much time it took to draw an image he was looking at. I made the mistake of telling him how much. When I did, he told me I was asking “too much” for it. He then (apparently calculating that hour to do this image at Mickie D’s wages) told me what he thought it was worth. I was too stunned to tell him what I thought his opinion was worth.

To those who think that because it is on the Web or in Digital format that the work should be free, I say, go back home and let Mommie and Daddy take care of you then. Don’t waste my time/steal my work. If you have nothing to offer anyone else, why should you expect to take what someone else has to offer – for nothing?

Obama and the "Grand Bargain"

I was telling people that, whether you voted for Obama for a second term or not, it was not going to do anything. Well, I was wrong.

With a clear Victory just a few weeks in the past, you'd think that President Obama would finally move forward with all those promises once elected. He has followed in the weeks hence that, with the power of the National Defense Authorization Act which he passed earlier this year, he can "...kill anyone in the world, without even probably cause."

And now, he is set to make what is being called the Grand Bargain with the Republican't's (who, btw, lost in large numbers to Democrats [or as the Un-loyal Opposition calls them I'm sure 'Demon-crats']) is about to strike a bargain (for them, not the rest of us) that will cut the very social services that he swore to protect, and, oh yeah, maintain the Rich's insane tax advantages, rendering the Rest of Us [throwing animal 'left overs' from slaughter houses is called "Rendering' of animals] officially high and dry.

Now, with the NDAA at his disposal, he can 'take out' me for criticizing his administration because of the above statement.

I'll say my adieus now...

The Bible and the 'Historical Jesus.'

To start off (and most likely piss off) a great many, let me say that I do not believe that the Bible is the 'inerrant Word of God.' The Bible to me (even the Title, 'The Book' means it was the only 'book' that many were allowed to read [if they could read at all] for almost the last two thousand years) is a 'religious' document. Religion being the parsing of 'That Which Is' (to those who believe that the "Judeo-Christian" 'religion' is -- pardon the pun -- 'fundamentally' the same thing on both sides [Judeo and "Christian"], the answer is a fundamental No), to conform to the Temporal Concerns of the Church or Priestly hierarchy. In other words, it's what keep them in business. Religion is Man trying His (and yes, for the last two thousand years it has largely been a His business) best to try and divine (again, pardon the pun) 'reality' in this world. And Man (especially The Church) is not inerrant. Far from it.

The Books of the Gospels (what are now accepted as such) are the Top Four Greatest Hits of Jesus history. They were determined by the Nicene Council of 345 "AD" which was 'convened' by King Constantin (as close to the original spelling of his name -- not 'Constantine') to 'determine' what this 'document' should hold "For All Eternity." It was the convening of all the 'Bishops' of the Church -- all the leaders of the already splintering 'Message' of 'Jesus' (Jesu Christos, from the Greek from which Paulus ben Tarkus [otherwise known as "Paul" to you later day folks]) , to 'determine' 'The Truth' from apostasy.  And basically any Bishop who didn't agree with Contantin about what this new Book would hold, were 'disappered' by one of his Roman Sicarii (assassins) and therefore, couldn't vote.

Now, "Jesus" said many things in the Bible, many of which are contradictory (depending on which 'Gospel' you read. What he said in Matthew, is different than in John). This is because each of the Gospels is the canon of a particular group; one for the Jewish followers (who believed that Jesus was teaching a Jewish theology), two for the Greek followers (again divided into one for the former Jewish believers, and one for the 'pagan' Greek new followers [to which Paul was writing in the 'Gospels of Paul' known as the Letters or the Epistles. 

And then there was John; written from the followers of the converted 'pagan' Romans (largely carried through the Roman soldiers who converted; for these, Jesus was refashioned into an amalgam of Jesus of the Jews and the Roman Patron god of war, Mithras ["I come, not with an olive branch, but with a sword to cleave the wicked from the Branch of Life."]).

And if you want proof, read all the Gospels. In three of them, the 'Clensing of the Temple' happened at the end of his ministry. In only one of them, it happens at the beginning. This is crucial for the reading of his mission, because in John, it happens at the beginning of the Mission to show that even the Romans were afraid of Jesus. This of course did not happen. 

If you want to parse out what The Real Jesus said, he spoke only of peace, love and forgiveness -- all those things that most Fundamentalists would like you to think of as the Pinko-Commie-Faggot Jesus. 'Our Jesus was a man, not a wimpy do-nothing, one of those... You know what I mean.' They speak of forgiveness, but it usually only applies to their own errant followers who publicly admit (after they are caught) to being 'Sinners.'  This is the 'edited for content' and Church Temporal Power "Jesus" who was re-fashioned as the Fire and the Sword 'Jesus.' "I come, not with an olive branch..."
And to top it off, the Bible was later fashioned as the Catechism of 'The Holy Roman Catholic Church'; the template for eternal forgiveness (where the Church solidified its position when  Jesus 'failed' to return "before this generation passes" (which originally meant 'within the lifetime of the listeners,' not two thousand or so years later.), where the Church would get all those Sinners to come to Mass three times a day (along with donating to the Church Coffers, which is how the Church grew into into the Temporal Empire it became), in order that 'thy soul should not suffer "the Fires of Eternal Damnation."  

All of this only goes to show that The Bible is a 'testament,' and not formal history. It is an agglomerate of all of the various Traditions (all of which which were not Jewish were 'pagan') and interpretations that were taken and sieved through, first by Constantin and later by the 'Bishops of Rome' and the Papacy, and were 're-interpreted' by many of the Protestant Traditions and Faiths later on.  

And yes finally, (and most crucially to our modern times), by the Fundamentalists, who have taken the 'Gospel of John' and Revelations to be whole of the Bible -- except for the portions where the Catholics had Jesus use the Jewish 'Old Testament' for 'signs and portents' that proved that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah as well (The 'New' Testament, as in 'superseding' the 'Old' Jewish Testament) -- but conveniently discard when it comes down to it.

And yes, finally, to those who (mostly Fundamentalist or Orthodox Catholic believers) claim that they are "Biblical Scholars" let me say; that to be a "Biblical Scholar" is not just a case of 'studying' the Bible to learn what Your Church claims is the Inerrant Word of God as stated categorically from what Your Church, and what it has told you. It's a question of studying all of Church History, its underlying roots and traditions, and knowing where all the elements came from that go into that 'Church Canon' that began being shaped so long ago now by Constantin. It is not just the venerated 'quotes' taken out of context, that come at cross purposes (again, those puns!) to what you want Jesus to be and to have said. It is taking all  of it, sifting through to find the Real Jesus (the real Rebbi Yeshua bar Yosef), and what he said to those who were standing listening, not those whose 'telephone game' version was passed down (and majorly edited) through time. 

There is an historical Jesus in The Book, but you need to read between the Canonical Lines to find him. [And I do not capitalize the 'H,' as he did not really claim to be the only Son of God. But that's another blog for another time.] 

The Key To Eternal Life

       I went to a viewing of an Independent film the other night about an aging actress who is concerned with… Aging. At the end of the questions and answers, she said, “If anyone knows how to live forever, let me know. I’d like to hang out with you.” She is – forty-five? – and she’s worried about dying already? Not a good sign.

As I was thinking about age and its ramifications, it came to me how to, as she put it, “live forever.” Well, not live forever, but how to stave off “old age.” (Last night I watched a movie where one of the two leads was debuting in her first acting job at 86 – so there’s still home Jane.)

The answer is this. If you worry about ‘growing old,’ guess what, you’ll grow old all the faster. If you pay age no mind, you’re more likely to grow less old (er), as quickly. Once you start worrying more about dying instead of living, you’re a gonner. Done deal. It’s all down hill from here, baby!

Of course, I’ve never had children. Besides the old adage that children will age you quicker, just seeing your children grow (much less the taxing of your energy in the process of their growing) will serve as a near-by constant reminder that YOU’RE GROWING OLDER. Or not.

It’s harder to see yourself as being in your youthful years when all of a sudden your child is graduating from high school and leaving home. It’s even harder still when those ‘children’ of yours have children of their own. But it isn’t a required part of the equation.

You see; attitude is everything. I’ve known women (yes, in the ‘biblical sense’ and otherwise) who have had children, grown up with them, and still managed to not let ‘old age’ catch up with them. Yes, some of them were in their forties and fifties chrono-logically but still in their teens emotionally. But there have been some for whom the idea that just because their children grow up, they don’t have to ‘grow old.’

Jesus said that to see the Heaven you needed to be “as a little child.” A child will continue to see the world with wonder; whereas an adult “grows up” and looses that sense of wonder. The women who have retained that sense (and hence retained their sense of youth), didn’t let the fact of their children becoming adults deter them from how they saw themselves.

You ‘grow old’ because you see yourself as growing old. (Well, eating a good diet and exercise also help tremendously). If you see yourself as being young and carefree, you’ll tend to remain as carefree as you can. Perhaps this is why Grandparents love hanging out with their grand children so much?

But there is also another factor that most people don’t put into the equation: if you believe that a Soul last forever, then you can stay younger longer. Age ceases to be such a factor if you think in terms of your being Eternal. This Life ceases to be something that must be ‘used’ to the fullest, if there are other lifetimes, and ‘death’ is not really the end all of our existence.

Think about it…

It's that Time of the Year!

And I"m not talking about either Christmas or the Beginning of the School Year. No, It's Election Time! Or as I refer to it as, time for Electile Dysfunction! And only the Red Pill will cure this one, not the Blue Pill (in either Matrix or Erectile Land).

NO. Elections are rigged. There, I said it. No matter whether you vote for Obama or That Other Guy, guess who is going to win?

Obama was allowed to win the last time, because... Well, because the economic shit was about to hit the fan, and they needed Somebody To Blame. Enter, Barack Obama. Not only a Democrat, but a Democrat of Color. ("See, I told ya one of Them would get us in trouble!") Can you spell Set Up?

So now they want one of Their Own back in office, and, enter Willard "Mitt" Romney. (Why are all the Mormon Higher Ups called "Willard?") Sorry to be blunt. (And I hope I'm just being paranoid.) Just like I predicted pre-Bush in 1998, I think that no matter who the "Popular Vote" comes in for, The Electile Dysfunction College with install ROMULUS into office instead of POTUS.

Just saying. And hope I'm wrong.

The Internet and the Money Net

Hurricane Sandy is now history, and I'm sure living in New York City has not returned to anything approaching 'normal.' But what is the current condition of the City that Never Sleeps? Goddamned if I know, because no matter how I phrase it, it comes up with one 'current' condition -- you can't get any real information on the Internet, because everything is 'Monetized.' In other words, you only get what Those Who Pay Gobs of Money want you to see. Forget any real information. Google doesn't want to you to see any real information, but only what their Paid Advertisers have paid Lots of Gob Googly Money for you to see.  It's pitiful, shocking, and God help us, the way the world works now. Nothing's (almost) free these days. Some Body's Got To Make Money on It.

Fuggedabout it!

The Myth of “Whole Grain Goodness”

     The Corporate self-enthroned Kings of Crops are jumping on the whole foods bandwagon and grinding it into the ground. By claiming the moniker “Whole Grain Goodness” for their GMO uber-processed foods (especially cereal) they are killing the ‘goodness’ factor, and infecting the entire whole food movement in the process (just like they are trying to do with all non-GMO crops).

And because the very same Corporate Giants (monsters, really—where’s a monetized David with a room full of lawyers when you need him?) essentially own the FDA (a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Monsanto) and Congress (Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Monsanto and Koch Bothers Industries) now, this overtaking of Whole Foods and their inherent healing properties is all the more monstrous.

To advertize that their foods have “Whole Grain Goodness” is an abomination. First of all, their “Whole Grain” foods are anything but. Then add on top of that, that those foods are also Genetically Modified (adding everything from insect DNA to animal and God-knows-what-else DNA to ‘grains’), they cease being ‘grains’ (or other food ‘components’) as well.

This is scurrilous and false advertizing at its most demonic. It is taking what should be a (especially to the Native Populations of the World) sacred component of all of our lives, and twisting and perverting it (and Us in the process), into not only the already stripped commodity that ‘food’ is, but making it further into substances that will not only make its consumers sick (and thus needing all the ‘medicine’ that they will turn around and charge exorbitant amounts of money to ‘cure’ us with), but may also be in the process of killing all of us off.

I’ve included the link below for you to follow for some tips on true food to eat.

http://fitbie.msn.com/eat-right/tips/your-food-really-whole-grain

There are also other sources to look towards re: food as well, but too many to include here.

If you are still eating meat and poultry (with the various hormones and other toxins/toxic factory farming techniques), and seafood (heavy metals, and since the Japan Tsunami, plutonium and other heavy Toxins), you should also consider dropping those from your diet. Even factory-farmed fish have illnesses and parasites you don’t want to ingest (and No, the FDA is not going to do Anything about Any of This! See Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Monsanto.)

With Cancer on the rise from both environmental as well as food-based causes, it is best to clean up your food intake to stave off any illnesses you needn’t suffer from.

Hatred, Judgement and Beliefs

I've been in a conundrum lately.

I would really like to step outside of Politics and political discussions, I'd like to leave behind any need to help correct, inform, or otherwise influence Others. I would like to let go of any outcomes of any sort, personal or planetary. But I'm not there yet. I need to evolve further to get to that point. But isn't that the whole point of it?

I've been seeing a lot about "Haters" and other extremely prejudiced individuals, and seeing the direct results of their attitudes manifested in the media. Now I wouldn't mind how someone thinks, except that those of such an extreme mindset (especially those who call themselves hardcore "Born Again Christians") somehow feel the need to convert -- through words, laws and/or violence -- any others who Don't Believe 'as they do.'

What came to me this morning (well, parts have come over the last few years), is the reiteration of Whatever you believe, you Create; "By your actions they shall know you."  And by their actions you can know them.

Homophobic? Probably don't like those nasty urges to look at/be around other men (usually), and so place their fear and hatred safely outside of themselves. They also like to torture others for their crimes against man-hoodity.

I just read tonight however, of one Born Again Man who (on having one of his best friends come out to him as a lesbian) decided after years of hatred of 'homos' to become a 'gay man' for a year (to walk in another man's shoes)/sandals) and had his entire attitude change as a result. He became more tolerant, and reversed his years of discrimination. So change can occur.

“Religious Freedom”

There has been a cry on the Religious Right for some time now that “Christians” are being “persecuted” – both here in the States and around the world. As if this was a recent event, and that it is totally and completely uncalled for and must be stopped.

While true that the early Christians were persecuted (first by the Jews as an heretical outcropping of Judaism), and then later by the Romans (who saw the new religion as subversive to the State of Rome – indeed, the Cross was the Roman form of punishment for Sedition Against Rome), religious persecution of “Christians” has only been on the rise recently, and then mostly in conflict with Islam.

Now “Christians” persecuting those with Other Religious Belief Systems has been around for almost as long as the Christian Religion has. Since the Nicean Council of 364 “A.D.” the newly formalized (and ‘restructured’) Christian Church began prosecuting (and outright murdering in some cases) any who did not believe The One True Faith. This was particularly true for the Jews, who the Church began calling the “Killers of Christ” from an early time, leading up to the Grand Inquisition.  Working to ‘convert’ “heathen” to the Church, many were either force converted (upon pain of death) and then continued their practice in secrecy (the Ladino tradition in Spain), or killed during the ‘conversion’ process. Many of those screaming “Christian Persecution” choose not to remember who was persecuting whom for most of Church history.

 “Religious Freedom” does not mean the Freedom to impose Your Religion on Others. It means just that, the Individuals Freedom to believe in and practice the Religion of their choice. This has not however, been the case in the past, and it is not the desire or implication of those who cry loudest for Their “Religious Freedom.”

Excerpt from "The Raceway"

From the new collection "Dreams, Desires, And Dead Ends" All Rights Reserved. 
©2012 Robert Alan Chappell -- Reproduction in part or in whole of this work constitutes property theft and will be prosecuted. 


It was a time of great change, and the Mid-West does not like change.  First there was us, the progeny of the changing nation which would later be called the Baby Boomer generation.  We been born into the seeming prosperity of the aftermath of World War II, and for the time being were one of the welcomed changes occurring in their lives.  That of course would change in just a few short years, centered around the years of '67, '68 and '69. 

John F. Kennedy and Camelot were still in full swing, and he had just announced his intention to Go to the Moon.  Viet Nam and The War At Home were only fragile nightmares for now.  The deaths of the American Ideal that were the assassinations not even in the realm of nightmares as of yet.

And last but certainly not least, were the new motorways (as they were called then), the remaining legacy of Dwight Eisenhower, as far reaching in their consequences for the coming years as the Moon Adventure would be.  The new Interstate Highway System.  Long strips of continuos blacktop spreading and linking all of the major cities in ways that the old highways — often twisty-turny in nature following the whims of the landscape — would not be.  These were supposed to be clean straight lines advancing to and expanding the horizon.  The Age of the Motorcar.

And here I was, growing up in the epitome of speed and advancing metal, Indianapolis; home to The Speedway and The 500.  Sleek shiny pods of metal screaming round and round the circular Pathway of Fate.  

It was also the time of the advent of the (also seeming) Raceway inspired interchange systems designed to re-route long distance traffic around those cities, that would come to be known shortly as Beltways.  These big loops had often ground through neighborhoods, leaving behind (for now) large gashes in the vegetation and housing.  They were at this time, in the process of being born, and like many another change at this time, the birth was not without it muddy consequences. 

that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We of course, the Progeny living within the growing radius of Sub-Urbia, would not find this gouging of the landscape (for now) objectionable.  No, just the opposite.  It allowed for us, living in the shadow of The Raceway, to carve the Raceway of our dreams in this man-made lunar landscape, not for screaming pods of metal, but for screaming bi-pedaled testosterone in the building.  The just placed circular (tubular) concrete conduits that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We didn't have a sports team of note (at that time) to root for, but we did have The Speedway.  It was, at that time, one of the few of its kind in the country, a hint of things to come.  And we used that newly graded but not yet concreted path of the future to our own advantage, speeding around on our bikes, leaping over conduit and change for a time, remaking the larger landscape to our own pathways of dreams.  I spent many an hour where my mother knew I was, going round and round.

And it was also the recent advent of The Mall.  No longer would there be an old-fashioned town center where shops would be, but the clean, gleaming concrete tower of The Mall.  The particular Mall that was close by me at that time, was a siren call to going 'further away from home' than I was 'supposed to be.'  It was the lure of my coming gypsy life, taking me far afield from anything considered home.  
My parents were not amused.  And they also did not see the traveling from city to town far afield influence of my fathers constant need to be On The Road in my further and further wanderings.  All they saw was that I was going where no child of theirs was supposed to go.  Too Far.

I was an awkward, gangly, bespectacled twelve, entering into the throes of what in my later life would be called geek love.  I was the eldest of three boys, so I didn't have an older brother to ask advice from, and I had an absent father who, when he did come home from being on the road, didn't have a lot of time for me and fatherly advice.  In other words, I was on my own.

So I spent every waking hour that I could at Our Raceway, after school and on weekends.  Racing round and round the circuit of dust and dirt, pretending that we were those Racers that were our heroes.

The only other siren call that was close by with nearly as much pull was the small one runway airport that was also within my bikes pedaling distance.  What time I didn't spend at The Raceway, was spent there amidst the Pipers and smells of spilt airplane fuel.  I stood glued to the chain link fence that separated me (for safety purposes) from the dream of speed aloft.  This one would later replace The Raceway, and it's ground based transit mundi. 

The Perils of Un-Prepared

So I've been in the process of doing this crowdfunding thing (you know, PBS style asking for money without the large captive audience?), and I'm learning a lot -- unfortunately.

To fully do one of these things you need: a Crew; already have money; already have the Whole Thing laid out, and planned to the in-th degree. You live and learn.

Trying to self publish is already a learning curve. Unlike a Company doing it all for you (and taking a large cut of whatever sales you get), self publishing entails being all the departments of the Publishing House, doing it like a 40 hour a week (try 60?) job, and then... doing even more.

At this point, I'm just going to have to scale back whatever I need to do, do what I can, and... Wait. Isn't this the Serenity Prayer?

"Since" [flash fiction from "Dreams...]

From the new collection "Dreams, Desires, And Dead Ends" All Rights Reserved. 
©2012 Robert Alan Chappell -- Reproduction in part or in whole of this work constitutes property theft and will be prosecuted. 


         The sirens were bitterly wailing as they passed his office building, and he knew where they were going.  He could see the smoke drifting off into the sky in the distance, and somehow knew it was close to his home.  He also somehow knew that his wife was still there, still in bed, and had no doubt drifted off again.  But only after she had managed to light a cigarette before drifting off. 
         He was far enough away that he also knew he couldn't do anything about it.  The firemen and trucks would soon be there, their water hoses spraying the house down to no avail.  He knew he'd be getting the call within minutes from one of his neighbors informing him of the state of his house and 'was his wife still there?'         He fought the inability to handle his wife's depression.  She fought the inability to handle her life.  He would miss her once she was gone, but he had been missing her for the last fourteen years since the depression had taken over.  Since their son had not been born.  Since she had begun blaming him for the miscarriage that he had tried to tell her was of no fault of anyone's, that it just happened, that more miscarriages happened than actual births.
        Since then, she had spoken to him less and less.  Since then, he had buried himself in his job, and had long since stopped trying to suggest that they go on vacation.  Had long since stopped trying to seduce her into having sex, and had long since given up on anything other than the porn on the computer late at night.  He had long since given up on her accepting help.  He had long since wondered when this moment would come.
        The phone rang at his desk, sounding insistent, but he chose to keep on working.  He'd long since come to depend on his job as his only refuge.
        The hard truth would wait for later, some part of him decided, and he returned his focus back to work.

"Practicing"

From the new collection "Dreams, Desires, And Dead Ends" All Rights Reserved. 
©2012 Robert Alan Chappell Reproduction in part or in whole of this work constitutes property theft and will be prosecuted. 


You just never know what some of the homeless around the city are thinking about.  Some of them when I walk by are just repeating numbers, others are carrying on 'conversations' with people you and I don't see, but they obviously do.

One of them that I usually find at the bus stop that I use to catch the bus to work, Thomas, always has his arms outstretched and pressing himself up against the chain link fence.  I occasionally feed him, and at other times just give him spare change.

I'd meant to ask him what it is he's doing, spread eagled as he is against the chains everyday.  So I finally just decided to ask him.

"Practicing learning how to fly," he said, with all the due seriousness of the mentally ill focusing on whatever they focus on.

Ok, I thought, with one of those, 'Right!?' sort of sounds in my head that I hear people use when they hear something totally crazy.  He just wants to fly.  That's all. "Good luck on that," I told him.

Without opening his eyes, he tells me quite graciously, "Thank you.  I'll let you know when I do." Right?!  I think.  But instead, I say, "Ok," and continue on my way.  "Have a good day."

And he does.

And I go off to work.  I'm an account by day, a drinker and carouser by night and weekend.  It's not exactly what you'd call a fulfilling life, but it's what I've gotten used to.  I do it pretty much the same way I have since I graduated from college.

Of course I take a break from it every now and then by going on periodic vacations, where I switch up counting by day and carousing by night, with carousing by day and dancing and finding a different hotter number to digitate with each night.  It's a rough life, and I hadn't really thought much about it until I'd began talking with Thomas (when he wasn't practicing flying, that is).

He's about my age I found out, except that his life took a rather strange turn during college.  He went from being a mathematician thinking lofty thoughts about numbers, to having a little too intense of a trip on some psychotropic substance he ingested at a party and thinking about flying.  His life had been pretty much the same since too, except different.  Very different.

That night when I got off the bus, Thomas wasn't where he usually was this time of night — namely, up against the chains of his existence.  I didn't think about it for more than a few minutes before I wandered off in the direction of home.  I just figured he had wandered off somewhere as well, having come on a new thought.
Except that he wasn't there the next morning as I walked up.  This made me start worrying, as I hoped that he hadn't been roughed up in the night and might not be lying close to death somewhere.

So I began calling his name.  I was surprised when he answered.  I looked around me trying to figure out where his voice was calling from and couldn't see him.

Finally I heard, "Up here!" and looked up to see that he was indeed flying.  At about a hundred feet or so.

Do You really feel Safe?

I live in Hollywood, a half a block off of The Boulevard and about two blocks away from The 101 (or for those of  you who don't live in LA, Interstate 101). I hear helicopters -- circling, standing rock still hovering in the air, zooooooming past -- what seems like 24/7 these days. There have been nights here where as many as 5-7 chopper flyovers happen in a single night. Chasing Bad Guys. Spotlighting Getaway Vehicles. Sometimes... Doing I don't know what. The LAPD have grown quite reliant on the use of helicopters, even though (from what I've heard) it costs $16,000 (Yes, that's $16k) per minute to keep them there. They better be really Bad Guys to justify that, to my mind.

But it also brings up the whole idea that We The People have tacitly agreed to be constantly surveilled, for our own protection, ever since 9/11. 'It's the cost of Freedom!' someone wrote on Facebook, to protect us from BAD GUYS like Al Queida. Never mind that the former President (well, ok, technically he was called the Vice President) of the United States, Richard Cheney said, "Freedom is a luxury we can no longer afford." That's right. Forget that whole Constitution thingy. Bad for business, and won't let Us keep You Safe.

Technology always seems to rule us. I saw an article a couple of weeks ago (centuries, in Facebook time) showing the latest micro-technology -- Drones the size of mosquitos, fully equipped with both video and audio components, capable of flying in the front door with you, attaching to your clothing to be allowed entrance, etc. All once again, To Protect Us. Are you planning a terrorist operation in your very home?! (Sorry for all the italics and bolds, but this sort of thing does seem to call for shrill editing tricks.)

And on the larger Drone front, the (passed last year by Obama) NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), allows by Presidential fiat, surveillance of All US citizens, without any need for justification or need for a messy wiretap warrant (Habeas Corpus). Just in case...

Now, I'll ask the question that formed the title of this blog once again. Are You Really Feeling Safer?

The Big Hum

In an article I read recently on an experience of a different kind of Sexual Attraction, the Author took on what most people think should be the Big Bang of Attraction and expressed that a recent experience of hers was more of a Big Hum. Instead of fireworks going off when 'he' walked into the room, she felt a deep hum begin inside of her. 

A friend of mine back East once told me, she used to think love was all fireworks, bright and loud and explosive. But then (at the time she was telling me this) she said, "I've rather come to think of it like fireflies, winking here and there in the summer night, not like explosions" that seem to flare and then disappear all too quickly. In other words, "The Big Hum." 

For those of us who hear it, the faint ringing in our ears to science is evidence of the physical 'ailment' of tinnitus, a condition that can be cured by B vitamins filling in a 'deficiency.' I've experienced this 'hum' for quite some time, but only after reading this article did it occur to me, that perhaps what I was hearing was the 'background noise' of Creation itself; this Hum being what used to be called The Music of the Spheres. Perhaps it is the sound of the Superstrings of Quantum Theory ("Harps of Heaven"?) that played this reality into existence once upon a time, humming the firefly light of Creation into existence.

Scientists have also concluded that the "Big Bang" was more of a Long Bang, not Creation in an instant, but building over time, eventually to what we are now. Most Wisdom Paths speak of Inspiration ("The Breath of God") being the quiet, still Voice from Within. Jesus said, "Be Still, and know that I AM with you." 

Creation may seem at times like an explosion, a coming from 'nothing' into Something, but instead for me it plays out as a quiet instant of Inspiration building towards a more full (ful-filled) Big Hum. Love builds (hopefully), from the first Spark into greater Glory, but hopefully doesn't disappear with a Bang.

"Should Bible Classes be allowed in public schools?"

This was posted by the novelist Anne Rice on her Facebook Page asking for opinions. This below is my response (expanded, of course).

Ms. Rice I'm sorry, but there's a very great distance between what this Governor is advocating (proselytizing Bible 'studies') and what you're advocating (the history of and discerning what/where/how the 'Bible' has influenced 'Western civilization'). This State Official is advocating the opinions of the most radically Reich in her state to influence any and all students about Das Book (which is really all "The Bible" means since for centuries it was the ONLY Book that was allowed to be 'read' [mostly taught, since only the most powerful could even read]).

This would be simple indoctrination and not anything approaching 'study' at all. This is not Constitutionally valid and therefore should not even be considered and should be struck down with all speed (if possible) by the Supreme Court (not that that's going to happen).

From the article in question: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law a bill that allows the establishing of elective classes that focus on the Bible and its influence on western civilization.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/ariz-governor-signs-bill-to-allow-bible-classes-in-public-schools-73485/#2Rmb6bAVQOzeFMpi.99

"A teacher who instructs a course offered under this section in its [blogger emphasis added] appropriate historical context and in good faith shall be immune from civil liability and disciplinary action," reads the bill.

Ah, and here's the rub. "...in good faith..." There are so many small points of darkness in this potential 'teaching' that boggle the imagination. In bringing in this seemingly benign 'educational opportunity' a gaping hole is being introduced into the Constitutional fabric of the nation. Born-agains are shouting about 'Christian pursecution' while striving to back-door their particular brand of 'Christianity' into the Law of the land.

Never mind that most of the students who would be subject to whatever material that such a 'course' might bring are already 'of The Faith.'  So why can't they receive such information from their Church? Because that is not the intent of this 'bill.'

The insidiousness of this 'bill' would be the means of opening similar 'legislation' in other states. It would be a seemingly innocuous teaching of 'history' to any and all who 'wished to partake.' For now. 

For those of  us whose ideas and beliefs are different from those of the Far Reich, now is the time to speak out against this 'legal means' of 'teaching about "The Bible." ' I am not opposed to the ideas of The Man who they (think they) believe in, but I do oppose any means of further indoctrination in a country that is increasingly non-Christian. Even for those of us who consider ourselves "Christian" (and I count myself [in a qualified way] among those believers), this seems like a non-issue. But I assure you, it isn't.

"Damn I'm rich! $$$$"

This was the post of someone I know on Facebook regarding a web site he went to on the relative wealth of most Americans. I know it was meant to show that We The People aren't really doing so badly compared to the rest of the world. I also know it was meant to engender gratitude for what We have. But it still is a gross over-simplification of what the real issues are (and to the conspiratorial mind-set, perhaps is meant to calm and mollify those of us in the 99% of this country).  

But the real issue is in all of this, that however much We Americans have (once again, at least in the 99%) more than the rest of the world, poverty is relative. If you only make a dollar a day and subsistence is $1.25, that's much better than making $6 an hour when you actually need $8 to truly survive. These sites and 'meters' don't take into consideration a great many things. For an increasing many in this country, they are skewing more towards Third (and Forth) World living every day. 

Americans need to simplify their lives for the most part. And they can do with a lot less in the material realm than they think they can. Americans have been led into thinking that they Need To Have so much, because... well, because They're Americans, dammit! The Country has been marketed into excessive material to prove how well We Are as a country (and to feed the 1% 's insatiable need to OWN EVERYTHING). Americans are now as a People being forced to cut back their expectations because those said expectations were not anywhere approaching reason (that's why most Americans are up to the tops of their increasingly disappearing hairlines in DEBT [called the "Sweet Spot" by the Credito-Industrial Complex]).

But that said, the incidence of homelessness is increasing exponentially in this country. I for instance was homeless for almost three years (living on the couches of friends, etc. with no money coming in). And I had these resources to keep me from the worst of it. According to this sites scale, I'm filthily wealthy -- and believe me, that ain't the case.

So, yes. I am relatively well off. I now have enough money to eat, and to pay my (adjusted due to disability) rent. I don't have a car still (in LA, that's sacrilege!). And here it is, yet another holiday, and I didn't have enough 'spare cash' to do anything besides go to a pot-luck party later today. In the meantime, I'm 'working' (writing). I hope someday soon to at least have a car to go for a (small luxury) scenic drive for a holiday. Perhaps soon, I'll have even more available funds to do even more.

But right here, right now, I'm grateful for what I have. I wish everyone else that gratitude as well. 

And I also wish that the World some day comes into more of an equitable equal distribution of quality of life. We're not there yet though. Don't let the truly Wealthy mollify you into believing that this is 'all right' (cause it ain't).

Why 'Non-Christians' are persecuting (so-called) 'Christians'

[This was written on my facebook page in response to a video of some 'Christian' Preacher indoctrinating four- and five-year olds in how to 'refute evolution.' (I can no longer find the Post I reacted to.)]

First point: if you ask a Jew (who most of these so-called "Christians" say they believe are their direct religious 'ancestors') about the stories in the "Old Testament," they will tell you that they're mishnah -- allegories -- just like "Jesus" (Third Point) used to teach. They are not meant to be history, but lessons. These "Christians" teach however contrary to that point, that "every word in the Bible is true." Nonsense.

Second Point: Christianity (Roman Catholicism) is a mishmash of the original Judaic Tradition 'paganized' first by "Saint Paul" (a 'converted' Jew proselytizing to the early Greek followers), then The Romans (Jesus is a mishmash of Messianic Judaism and the patron god of soldiers we now know as Mars), and then all of the other religions that it sought to convert the followers of ("Mother Mary" being the Goddess transverted into a Virgin). Even the name "Jehovah" comes from the Babylonian Exile and the Babylonian god "Jah" (or "Yod") whose consort ironically was the goddess Astarte [the fertility goddess], or Oestre [from whence the name Easter came]-- or Esther, the goddess mother of Judaism).

Third Point: if you walked the streets of Yerushalem (The City of Peace) and you saw this wandering Jew we now know as "Jesus" and you called him that, he wouldn't even turn around. His name was Yeshua bar Yosef. The name of Jesus is a conversion from the Geek name Yesu (or "Ieose") Christos, and eventually into Jesus the Christ, "Jesus The Anointed One". Not Jesus Christ. Christ was not his last name (only a modern  invention, last names).

Forth Point: it does you no good to argue 'logic' with these people. It does no good to argue that science (even theory) relies on 'proof.' It does no good even to point to physical evidence ('Satan planted those bones there to turn you away from Jesus!'). Never mind that they get into cars. trains and planes that ride on those 'lies of Satan' (scientific principles) every day.  Science is still 'lying' to us.

This is indoctrination on the worst level, and terming it 'child abuse' barely covers it. These children can barely read, and yet they're already being molded to proselytize and spout 'rote' instead of right. You can't argue with a sick mind.

Letter to Modern (Villainous) King John: Jaime Dimon, JP Morgan

History repeats itself ever and again, tyrants come and go by name, but the injury to Others remains the same. Here is a letter I edited and added to (italics meaning my addition to their suggested text) from a boilerplate letter by Roots Action America as part of an email campaign to one of Wall Streets Villains... I mean, Corporate Raiders. Ahem.

"It was 797 years ago this week that King John was confronted and forced to share power and wealth, forced to concede rights to others through the Magna Carta.
Yes, that was me. I did that. And I'm back. 
You and your villainous fellow Wall Street rable who call yourselves royalty have pushed The People too far this time. Yet again.

You will not be shot at, nor will you be hung for treason (at least, not yet), but you will be rightfully taxed for all that you and your fellow Robber Traders have fattened yourselves at the expense of the Common Man. While you sit behind your computer screens making millions each day (unrigthfully with Other Peoples Money to which you have no conscience to plunder), I'm going to tax you 50 cents on every $100 you trade.
I can raise $350 billion with which to save lives. and redress the wrongs that you and your cohorts have so willfully created through your short sighted and ill-gained dealings. I'll invest in healthcare, jobs, education, and other basic needs, while you and your court won't even notice the missing bags of gold.
Wall Street has laid waste the economy, and the People were forced to bail you out at knife point. And yet you demanded more.

Now I and those whom you have plundered say No More. It's time for a Robin Hood Tax, a financial transactions tax, a little bit of modern justice, and a siege against misappropriate dealings and scurilous activities..
I'm coming. And this time, I have a million faces not just a small faithful band of brothers.

Sincerely,
Robin Hood

(formerly known as Robert, Earl of Locksley)

Plastic, Profit and 'Progressive Nonsense!' oh, my.

[The below was written as a(n expanded) response to a story on NPR (and a comment from a Conservative critic railing against "Progressives" and their/my agenda against 'Free Enterprise and the American Way'), regarding the banning of Bottled Water containers movement that is growing on college campus'. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/12/146692656/battling-the-bottle-students-and-industry-face-off-over-water>. ]

Ah, "Conservatives!' Things like 'conserving the ecosphere' don't appear in their agendas. 'Conserving' profit, however, always does. 'Saving American Jobs' always does too, while these same 'Conservatives' either help to/ or are directly related to shipping 'American Jobs' to Third World countries, and the China they were so rabidly against (until it became a 'hugely profitable market.'

They don't want to ban plastic bottles, and where I live in Santa Monica, Ca., rail against the banning of plastic bags. 'Outrage!' they say. 'People should be able to buy whatever they want to!' they cry (when it effects their same bottom line about not beiing able to sell another kind f plastic -- most of which ends up either in the trash, or worse yet, gets ejected as soon as it gets out of the store ('I gotta right to it. I pay for it.' Yes, you do. All of us do.)

Which leads us to the Pacific Plastic Gyre. As big now as the state of Alaska (imagine that) and still growing, it is quickly polishing off the Pacific and its ability to recycle air, as well as, yes, ending up in the seafood you eat (which I haven't now  since sixteen -- Oh, the 'Conservative' horror! I've been a vegetarian since then). This, along with the killing of the Gulf of Mexico from, first the runoff from the Mississippi and the factory farming all along its length, to the BP oil spill (which seen from space in NASA photos whose trail of death is shown to be reaching almost to the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize).

That profit eclipses ecology comes as no surprise, but the depth of the self-serving-ness of these 'Conservatives' for some reason always does.

Time for a Real Change

On this New Years Day I was going through my email 'drafts' in hotmail, when I came across this. Especially now as we are already deep in the "dialogue" and the compostable rhetoric, this Amendment needs to be brought out and be brought about.

Please email/post it widely. It's time for a Real Change in this Country. Doncha think?

--The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified. Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Forward this [email] post to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours need to serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. Any congressman resigning due to unlawful acts receives NO benefits.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.