Archives for September 2021

Day 252 – It’s Time to Deal Some Pain

Monday September 27, 2021

I’ve been listening to the talk about passing the bills in Congress to help people.

The Republicans want nothing to do with it. They agree that it needs to get done, but they don’t want to help.

I say okay, then if it gets done they don’t get anything.

Maybe, that’s a bit harsh. Maybe they should get a little bit. I think there should be some negotiation with every Republican Senator and Congressperson. It should go like this, “We understand that you are not going to vote for this bill. There’s a lot of money in it that could help people in your state and districts, but seeing as how you don’t want to help we think you shouldn’t get anything. Maybe 50% of what the people that are voting for it are getting. Okay? You are for reduced spending so we can save a lot of money and get this bill way down by not giving you and your state as much money. That’s called effective budgeting. You’ve set it up as a us against them scenario. I think it will be interesting for you to go back home and whine about how unfair it is. What’s unfair? You don’t want it and so we aren’t going to give it to you.”

The end.

Finis.

Saturday September 25, 2021

Yesterday, The Cyber Ninjas delivered their report. It was there “forensic analysis” of the Arizona Presidential Election of 2020. 

Their conclusion – BIDEN WON.

Biden won by more than the official tally. 

Can we call this election over? Please. 

I am asking for the sake of our democracy. This is no longer about what you believe. This is about saving our democracy.

Much like the coronavirus. Our democracy is being attacked. Those attacking it care not at all about it. They want power – period. They will do anything to get it. They are trying to change voting laws in many states to restrict voting. They are trying to pass laws that say if they don’t like the election results they can ignore them. 

This is not democracy. You like you rights? You like freedom? 

Democracy is the only form of government that puts individual rights ahead of the state.

In Hawaii there is a group that protests getting vaccinated. The Lieutenant Governor of the state is also head of their health care. He is a doctor and takes shifts caring for patients in the hospital, most of whom have covid and are unvaccinated. He is also Jewish. He has been attacked for being a Jew and for wanting people to get vaccinated. 

The co-founder of the anti-tax group in Hawaii has come down with Covid. He is now in the hospital fighting for his life. He says he was wrong. He has disavowed his old group. The doctor is now taking care of him.

Our democracy is under under similar attack. Please don’t wait until it is too late.

A friend of mine comes from German stock. He told me his grandparents were in German in the 1930s. He said that they all knew Hitler was crazy. They said they waited until it was too late to act.

Please don’t wait. Stand for Democracy. Reject the lies. Work to save our democracy.

PS The view from the overlook at Wintergreen, Virginia.

Thursday September 23, 2021

I ran out to Barnes and Noble the hour they opened on the day the new Bob Woodward and Robert Costa book “Peril” came out. Much has been made of it, and with good reason. It is amazing to me that Bob Woodward can obtain the kind of information he does. The book reports what was said and done, little if any opinion or adjectives are used. In one section of the book the name “Woodward” is used in third person style reporting, which is odd if you are that person. It reminds me of Bob Dole saying, “Bob Dole wouldn’t say that.” However, given that there are two authors (and an assistant) it sort of makes sense.

In the first chapters the authors recount the final days of the Trump presidency. From the January 6th Insurrection til Inauguration there was real concern that Trump might initiate a nuclear attack. This was of concern to the Joint Chief of Staff, The Speaker of the House, and the Joint Chief’s counterpart in China. Would China initiate a pre-emptive strike? A Pearl Harbor? This was of real concern. So much so that Mark Milley, the Joint Chief had an hour and a half phone call with his counterpart in China. This is now being attacked on the right as treason! What the hell is wrong with those people on the far right? The president was acting erratically and had already mounted a treasonous insurrection against the United States and the head of our military chiefs was trying to prevent an all out war and these idiots are screaming?

But then there are the other things: why Paul Ryan quit, and the Biden campaign strategy and machinations. It is eye opening and breathtaking. Breathtaking in the sense of scary, and what is said in public is nothing compared to what they really think.

PS Just Before Sunrise

Tuesday September 21, 2021

There have been a number of things that I thought odd, but then I realized they were part of a long standing way of explaining the world – a dangerous way, hidden in various veils of truth, lies, humor, and feigned ignorance.

First, let me explain the title reference. It goes back to Li’l Abner, which was a comic strip written by Al Capp. It made fun of people from rural America that lived in the mountains, places like West Virginia. Hillbillies, it was the driving idea behind The Beverly Hillbillies. People in Al Capp’s comix strip lived in a place called Dogpatch. There was a movie made back in the 60s based on the characters and the place. It was a musical. It was for adult audiences. I saw it as a kid and completely missed the double entendres and sexual innuendos.  Li’l Abner’s girlfriend, Daisey Mae, was a very sexy voluptuous young woman who ran around in very short cutoff jeans. It’s a recurring theme because it was the basis for Catherine Bach’s character Daisey Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard. There was even a theme park called Dogpatch, which went bust long ago, because once Capp died, the comix strip faded into obscurity and kids no longer wanted to go there.

All this to say that in the movie there was this thing called a double-whammy, which had a way of stunning people. A mirror could be used to reflect the whammy onto someone else, like the person trying to use it, thus the whammy could reflect back on the originator and they could be whammied, thus the double whammy.

So what’s the point of mentioning all this? Well, some are being whammied and double whammied and I thought it my duty to inform.

This all began because of some statements that were made to me, or stated on the sources of truth – Facebook and the internet. Let me state them and then let’s review:

– AOC didn’t buy her ticket to the Met gala. (The implication that she is bought and paid for and therefore just as bad as any other politician.)

– Jobs are going begging because people don’t want to work, and why should they? The government has been giving them too much money.

– The pullout of Afghanistan was a mess and all Biden’s fault.

– The 2020 election was fraudulent.

– The Jan 6th folks were bused in. It was all staged. The were Antifa and BLM folks not Trump supporters.

None of the above are true. Not completely. Most are false, completely. But all have implications that shade the truth. But then we get to the Double Whammy, which I will now reveal …

THE LIBERALS ARE TELLING PEOPLE TO GET VACCINATED KNOWING THEY WON’T BECAUSE THE LIBS SAID TO DO IT THUS THE LIBS ARE KILLING US!

It’s a bold statement, but one foisted upon anyone stupid enough to believe it by Breitbart.

Now let’s knockdown the above points:

– No, AOC didn’t pay for her ticket to the MET Gala, but neither did any of the New York politicians who went. Typically, companies buy tables and invite politicians. New York politicians specifically because the event is held in New York. Duh. (She also didn’t pay for or own the dress.) So why single out AOC? (Come on, do I have to spell it out for you?)

– There are 11 million jobs open in the U.S.A. Right now, 11 million. There are 8.5 million people looking for work. So think about it. If you are looking for a job are you going to take that crappy low paying job or the better higher paying job? Do you really have to think about it? So while certain media organizations yell and scream and rail about “people don’t want to work,” the truth is explained by a basic economic principle – supply and demand. Interestingly, most high paying jobs are filled. Weird, huh? The only ones that aren’t are because there aren’t enough people with the skill set needed. It is true that people at the low end of the spectrum got helped with extra money: not only to survive, but to take the time to reconsider the crappy job they had been doing and look for something better. It allowed them to get some training too.

– The pullout of Afghanistan can be characterized as the best ever or a disaster – depending on which side of the political spectrum you are on. Could it have been done better? Yeah. Has any U.S. President done it better than Biden? No. In fact, it got a lot of people out. Yes, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done earlier and better, but then again we’ve never had a previous administration capitulate to people we had in check and deliberately do whatever they could to make the incoming admin look bad.

– The narrative of the 2020 election being fraudulent is incorrect. It is a lie. It is known as “The Big Lie.” It is inconvenient for the losers to admit the truth, so they don’t. Instead they are busy trying to rig the upcoming elections in their favor by cheating.

– Jan 6th. They were wearing Trump gear. They were yelling his name. His supporters in Congress were shown to be in sympathy with them. When the Congress people were under attack his supporters in Congress called and begged the President to call off his supporters. These are facts. They are not in question.

So moving on to the Double Whammy. I have spoken to several people who have not gotten vaccinated. 

The reasons are:

“I’m still evaluating” “We’ll see.” “I’ve known people who got Covid. It’s not that bad.” “I’m busy. When I get a chance.”

None of the people I have spoken to have said, “Hell no, I won’t get it.” Yet I suspect many won’t.

Interestingly, state governors are talking about freedom and personal choice. Yet, these same governors talk about banning abortion, which to me seems like it should be viewed as freedom and personal choice but somehow isn’t.

In Florida the governor there is stressing anti-viral drugs. Those drugs are for people after they’ve gotten sick. Yet that could have been prevented had they been vaccinated. Needle hesitancy is mentioned. Yeah? You realize that those anti-virals are administered using a needle, right? And that treatment can be expensive. Like $2000 expensive; the vaccine is free. Hum, get a quick jab and be protected or wait and go through extended needle therapy and have the after effects of a deadly virus in your body.

In Alabama the only hospital beds that are available are the ones that open up when someone dies. True in Idaho too. Similar situations in Mississippi, Florida, Wyoming, West Virginia but not quite as bad – yet. 

People are dying. And here the rabid right wing is trying to blame others. Yet they have been the ones pushing the lies. Not the people they are accusing.

The facts are the facts. People are dying. Trying to prevent people from dying by telling them the truth isn’t a conspiracy. It’s what you do if you care. Care about people dying, or care about the truth. Something those on the right have long ago abandoned  if they ever did. (If they ever cared about people or the truth.)

BTW The Covid pandemic has now surpassed the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 in total number of deaths in the United States. Big shout out to the governors of Florida, Texas, North Dakota – couldn’t have done it without you. Meanwhile New Hampshire and the Virgin Islands that insisted on masks and getting everybody vaccinated have low rates of infection.

Carry on.

PS Maine’s Sasquach

Thursday September 16, 2021

My friend Jose posted a picture of drawing he did in the sand on a beach using a piece of driftwood as his implement.

I immediately recognized it as a Cretan labyrinth. This design and variations have been associated with the Isle of Crete since the time of the ancient Greeks because it was said that there was a minotaur on Crete and it was kept in a labyrinth. This based on the remnants of foundations of the palace that remains to this day on the island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth

However, this symbol is found around the world. This was pointed out to me by an article in Smithsonian Magazine some seven or ten years ago. Carl Schuster spent his life collecting samples of folk art and ancient patterns. He showed up at someone’s home with a picture. He asked the person what it was. Obviously it was the Cretan Labyrinth. “No,” said Schuster, “It’s from Northern California.” He proceeded to show the same pattern displayed in Siberia and other places.

What he had discovered with this and many other patterns was that they are universal among mankind.

This is especially true of tattoos. He devotes a whole book to showing arm band tattoo patterns and repeating weave patterns.

What is particularly striking about the Cretan Labyrinth pattern is that it is not only universal as a symbol and work of art, but it is also used as a meditative process. One can draw the labyrinth as one line and not take their pencil off the paper, as Jose no doubt discovered with his piece of driftwood. 

The meditative aspect is found in churches and cathedrals throughout Europe with a pattern inscribed in stone on a floor. The idea being that one can walk the path and contemplate. This is the idea behind the garden walkways and labyrinths. Also, the Nasca lines, which have been shown to be used for walking. The thought now is that those large figures were created by various villages living in the valleys near by. They were asking for rain.

The problem came in that the giant trees whose roots ran deep into the valleys’ earth had been cut down and replaced with corn and other short root crops. When the rains came it washed away the crops and eventually the valleys became inhabitable. The populations moved away and the Nasca lines were abandoned.

Schuster’s collection of some 900,000 photos and artifacts is housed in a small museum in Switzerland.

It is so massive that it has never been properly catalogued.

His one grad-student, Edmund Carpenter tried.

There is a small book “Patterns that Connect,” can be found in most large libraries.

There is a much bigger book called. “Materials for The Study of Social Symbolism …”*

It is a 12 volume set housed in three boxes. These books are large in dimension. I would guess some 25 inches on a side. University libraries – rare book collection have them. The detail is mind numbing. You can buy a set for about five grand. Up from $2.5K a few years ago.

What makes this so intriguing to me is that one can stumble upon this basic form, as Jose did, and then in the creation of it discover the tranquility and beauty of the very act of creating it.

Throughout most of the Twentieth Century artists were striving to discover basic forms. Henry Moore in his sculpture, and Brancusi. Picasso in his art, which was based in some part by Gauguin and the Favre (Wild Beast) movement. Minimalism grew out of this searching for basic universal forms. Mondrian with color and design. And now James Tunnel with light and the many environmental artists.

What the artists are doing is searching for meaning in discovering universal forms. The creation of which can be a meditative process.

Finis –

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schuster

https://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780810963269

*Materials for the Study of Social Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art: A Record of Tradition & Continuity

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=James+Tunnel+light&tbm=isch&chips=q:james+tunnel+light,online_chips:james+turrell:aFB-f79WNlc%3D&usg=AI4_-kTGlYxVqr2VMCD_jYFqx_zkY92rfw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjutzJ44PzAhUaElkFHbIqCnYQgIoDKAB6BAgEEAs&biw=1423&bih=808&dpr=2