Hey kids, rock and roll. Nobody tells you where to go, baby.

I’m a fatality on the side of the fashion highway and I’m too damn old to want to dress like a twenty-something. The baggy pants culture has mystified me since it began, especially when baseball players began wearing their pants as though they were track pants but, to each his/her own. Now the kids have attracted the faceless bureaucrats and power mad creatures that lurk in the halls of government.

Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin has sponsored an amendment to the city’s indecency laws that will target clothing styles in which the wearer’s undergarments are exposed. Under fire would be baggy pants worn by young men and boys as well as styles favored by some young women and girls where their bra strap or the strap of their thong is exposed. Of course this amendment will get shot down for it’s extremist idea but the seed is planted. The tree expected to bear fruit is one of control over you and I and powerlessness to defend ourselves against an oppressive state.

I hate to say this but we have evil fucking rednecks all over the place that detest the baggy pants hip-hop culture styles that have found their way out to suburbia. It’s not because they don’t like the style or because they are too old to “get it” the anger and hatred is much more simple to understand. The stereotypical young, urban, and black thug epitomize this style. Don’t think for one second that we in the south have a monopoly on ignorant rednecks. Some of the biggest rednecks I ever met lived in Connecticut. Ignorance and hate know no geographical boundaries.

The point is this amendment will get support from the super radicalized extremists of both the left and the right. This leaves the other 60% to 80% of us asking ourselves what in God’s name does the city government have to do with policing the clothing we chose to wear or express ourselves with? The ultimate resting place for this amendment is in our minds. It is a reinforcement we have to subconsciously process. The government, ultimately, controls everything about you and your life and if it chooses to, it controls what you can and cannot wear.

A few years ago the City Council passed amendments to chase homeless people off the streets. They criminalized panhandling and began rounding up and shipping violators all over the metro area. Why did they do this? Complaints from the forces of downtown gentrification who were offended by the homeless asking for help. Some went as far as to say the homeless would “get pushy” sometimes. The idiocies of statements like that don’t even need to be addressed, they are self-evident.

Homeless rights advocates fought back but the groundswell was too much for them to overcome. Now, you are a criminal in Atlanta if you have no home and try to ask for money or help from folks on the street. The Atlanta Police Department will take you to jail for it. Now, a City Councilman doesn’t like the way young people dress, so he wants to amend the laws to absorb his fashion sense. What is next? If I wear a t-shirt down near the capitol that mocks our Governor’s “Sonny Do” list, will I spend nights in lockup at the Fulton County jail? If I put a bumper sticker on my car stating that Police Chief Pennington needs to go back to New Orleans, will my car be impounded and will I suddenly find myself in the backseat of a patrol car, at the mercy of the cop who is offended by my exercise of free speech?

Time and time again we have seen the rights of decent, regular Americans stomped on because they had something negative to say about their leaders. The current masters of government have turned it into an art form. To be honest, I wonder if I will ever get a visit at my front door for what I write here in this blog. We all know that all of our email, web traffic and phone calls are being monitored by the agents of our government. We are at their mercy because we allowed them to take control of our lives.

First they will tell us what we cannot do. They will tell us we cannot question authority, we cannot dress a certain way, we cannot say certain things. Once we are beaten down far enough, and live in constant fear and dread for the government targeting us for seemingly innocent “violations” of their codes, we are then ready for them to begin the real "control" phase. The final phase of control is not to tell us what we cannot do; it is the phase where our behavior is guided based on the mandates of government. Government sanctioned clothing, government-sanctioned entertainment and government sanctioned lives for its citizens.

High Weirdness Drifter

Its been a while since I last gave a roundup of stuff found on the web, so here is a short list:

It seems the private investigator industry has taken a page from the FBI’s COINTELPRO folder. An Atlanta minister is suing Progressive insurance and a private investigator service for infiltrating and secretly taping weekly group support meetings that were held at the minister’s home. The minister was suing Progressive following a 2004 auto accident and the investigators hired by Progressive to get the insurance giant off the hook decided to follow the yellow brick road of what could be argued as highly unethical behavior. It’s always nice when a private firm uses the federal government as an example, isn’t it?

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/08/21/invasion_0822.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Hurricane Dean, the 3rd most powerful hurricane ever recorded to have struck land, is aiming for Mexico’s one and only nuclear reactor and has been tearing across the Bay of Campeche, home to Mexico’s most productive oil producing zone, the Cantarell oil field. Go figure the odds of that 7-10 split. Sales of Viagra to energy traders have plummeted to pre-Enron levels.

Blogger was down this morning for what I can only assume was an indeterminate amount of time. Being the good little conspiracy buff that I am, I spent all of 30 seconds to 2 minutes evaluating the possibility that the shit was about to hit the fan. Remember folks, the revolution will not be televised. First signs that something is about to happen won’t be a “Breaking News” title card on TV, it’ll be a major communications outage, most obviously noticed will be a failure of online communication sites such as Blogger, WordPress and message boards. We are, for the moment, safe; I think.

If you think I am insane, I can assure you that even I have nothing on the lunatics who are part of the Center for Security Policy. Those fucking loons make even me seem un-paranoid. Several left leaning blogs have recently exposed some of this groups more wacky members. Included is a wildly disturbing essay by Philip Atkinson where the author promotes not only a Bush, President for life strategy but also claims our Fuhrer in Chief should…I’m sorry…Commander in Chief should just “slaughter Iraqis until they comply with his demands” as this would be the “wisest course.” Never call me a crazy mother fucker…there are plenty of morons like Atkinson who on their most sane days are still a million times crazier than I, or the proverbial shithouse rat, could ever be. Check out some of these goofy ideas.

Quitting smoking - 1 week - The mind altering effects of cigarette addiction.

I’m now a week into the process of quitting smoking. Some things have gotten easier, some have gotten harder, and some things are still the same. Oddly enough, I still want a cigarette. I don’t want tobacco, as I am not craving a pipe or a cigar, I am craving a cigarette still to this day. It’s worse when I am idle. Whatever you bastards at the big tobacco companies put in your cigarettes, it works and I hope you all fucking go to the 7th ring of hell for it. This is not a simple case of nicotine addiction.

I’ve come to realize something about the smoking addiction; it isn’t tobacco alone that causes the problem, it’s whatever the cigarette manufacturers do to hook us. I loved premium cigars and smoked those for years along with cigarettes. I don’t want a cigar at all, what I want is a cigarette. Now, this may simply be because I have smoked cigarettes since I was 15 years old but I find it interesting that it is a specific product that I want considering the physical, mental and emotional reaction I am having.

Sleep? Ha! I am still suffering through the worst insomnia I have ever had in my life. Last night I was able to pull in a whole 2 hours of fitful and restless sleep before the weird and spooky nightmares woke me up. After that I didn’t sleep, I just laid in bed in a sort of trancelike state, tossing and turning like I was in some sort of wild and bad movie. I haven’t had more than 4 hours of solid sleep in more than a week and those 4 hours were not restful.

My head still isn’t processing information properly. I am having trouble concentrating and remembering everything about my day. Sometimes I feel trapped and sometimes my sense of time flies away. I’ll look at my watch or the clock and think an hour has passed since I last checked the time and will be confused to see that only 10 minutes have passed since I last looked. I now understand what folks talk about when they discuss the phenomenon of lost time in alien abductions. This is a very disconcerting effect and it has made me wonder more than once if I will regain sanity or my grasp on reality, as I knew it.

Did the tobacco alter my entire perception of the world? Is this similar to a psycho reactive drug experience?

A new day, a new spy program and another massive database to write a DTS package for.

Never be foolish enough to think that just because the feds say they are shutting down a controversial program that it means an evil entity has gone away. Take this recent piece of news from the Pentagon. The DoD has announced that it will shut down an anti-terrorist database that was associated with the TALON program. This database was criticized widely because among it’s targets were peaceful anti-war demonstrators such as the Quaker group, American Friends Service Committee.

This database isn’t simply going away, as it should be. In a perfect world the Pentagon would see the error in it’s ways of spying on the citizens they provide protection for and delete the whole database and destroy the backups, with stern warnings in place to never repeat such an awful crime against it’s own citizens. This is not the case. The DoD will simply turn the database over to the FBI to be integrated with their database system known as Guardian.

First of all we have the issue of our own military spying on, and most likely running counter-intelligence operations against it’s own citizens. Second, will the FBI weigh the DoD data after running it through many matrix’ and filtering processes? You and I know they will never do that. They’ll just import the data and be off on their fat happy way. God only knows how many alerts will be generated once they pull in the new data.

This doesn’t mean the DoD is done with you and I either. The Pentagon has said they have a new system, not necessarily a database, which will streamline their “threat reporting.” This makes me wonder how much of Poindexter’s TIA system is accessible to the DoD. Isn’t it wonderful to know that we throw insane amounts of money at the DoD so they will spy on you and I and call all of us a threat?

For the final slap in the face, a faceless Army officer speaking for the Pentagon said that the TALON database isn’t being shutdown because of “public criticism of how it was used.” That is a nice way of saying the public’s anger at such a program as TALON wasn’t something the DoD gave a fuck about. Sometimes I think the Pentagon and all the demonic generals and admirals who suck at the teat of our taxes will be delighted to turn their weapons on us.

Another day, another spy program.

The stock market plunges, the powers that be light another cigar

When the stock market still drops like a stone days after the fed jams $17 billion into the banking system, what does it mean? Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in the nation, was the trigger for this latest plunge after they announced they are pulling money from their $11 billion credit line just to fund operations. I’m not an international businessman but even I know that taking loans to keep the day to day operations of your business going is a horrible sign.

Once the dust settles on this mortgage situation a very small number of people are going to be in the most prime position ever seen to scarf up a huge amount of real estate. Homeowners are still falling further and further in their payments. Credit card interest rates are doubling because of the state of the market. Once those homeowners who are barely making it start paying those higher credit card rates, even they will begin to fall behind in house payments and the number of homes in foreclosure will jump again. Worsening the cycle with each twist and turn.

A very select few are going to wind up on the money making side of this catastrophe, the vast majority of us are going to be burned and the gap between the richest and poorest keeps widening. Can the middle class even afford to buy and keep a home in this day and age? The answer is no, the middle class cannot and the middle class loses even more ground and power in the process. Who benefits? The powers that be benefit.

Last night I had MSNBC’s Hardball on while I was making my dinner. I heard a talking head say the most stupid and bullshit thing I have heard on there for quite some time. The subject was the Chinese goods scandal and this pro-business “Reaganite” had the gumption to say that if Americans didn’t want to buy toys and products from China, stop shopping at Wal-Mart. Matthews, like a lap dog, didn’t jump on this stupid comment.

We cannot find goods that are not made in China. There are so-called “specialty” products that are not made in China, but we are talking about boutique level products. They are neither priced nor available in numbers for mass consumption. The jobs that were on American soil even a decade ago to manufacture clothes, toys, household goods, etc… are no longer here. The globalists wanted these jobs sent to China for the slave wages and maximized profit margins. The fall out, lead based paint, shoddy construction and toxic substances, are part of the end result.

This, the Chinese scandals and the widening credit debacle, are exactly what the PTB have wanted to happen. Power and money is consolidated into their hands and out of ours.

Quitting smoking - Day 3 - Crying jags and holier than thou assholes

I’m so tired. Man, I’m beat. I think the worst of the cravings for a smoke are gone now. Dear Lord, I hope they are. I actually don’t want a smoke today and I am not thinking about smoking with nearly as much frequency as yesterday. I am, however, tired, sleepy and depressed with wild and vivid dreams occurring. Last night I had a sensation of tears welling up in my eyes, like I was going to get all weepy and go on a crying jag like a little girl, for no apparent reason. This sucks big wieners.

My sense of taste is still not back but more strongly flavored things such as coffee, hard candy and chocolate are becoming more complex in flavor to me again. My sense of smell returns in spurts. I still have the jitters too. My hands and fingers are always moving and I can’t stop them. I must look like a mess. Oh yeah, I have a headache too and I’m all wheezy, like an asthmatic in the middle of a field of blooming wild flowers.

Considering what we know is a fact regarding what the tobacco industry does to hook and keep us hooked on smokes, is there any reason you should doubt that conspiracy theories are very real? They’ve tweaked the chemicals that they add to the tobacco over the years to create a scientific method of inducing extreme addiction. They denied this for years and kept it secret, which turns it into conspiracy fact, but in the end we all know what they have done.

I wish that smoking were healthy and not addictive. If it were, I’d still be smoking the Pall Malls whenever I wished. This shit is not healthy and I am such a hopeless cigarette junkie. I mean, Jesus H. Christ…I was smoking un-filtered Pall Malls, almost two packs a day, for almost a decade and Marlboro Reds, two packs a day for almost two decades. I have no fucking will power with smokes and I am going to struggle with it long after the physical effects have left me.

To those who still smoke, I will never, ever be one of those pinched face rat bastards who judge you. I know what it’s like to be hopelessly hooked and I know the physical pleasure that a smoke does indeed give…within seconds. All I can tell you is if you want to quit, get the nicotine gum (store brand to save dinero) and get ready for a crazy ride on the back of a bronco when you kick. If you want support, write me. I get it, I am one of you, I know how hard this shit really is.

To all those pinched face rat fucking bastards who do judge smokers, go fuck yourselves! Your little condescending attitude is horseshit and no one gives a fuck about what you think or about you! Lick my hairy balls and drop fucking dead! Go live with the Mormons and you cats can suck each other off like good little prunes and crones. This is some tough shit to get through and if you are high and mighty about the process it tells me you don’t know the first fucking thing about addiction. Piss off, eat shit and die, etc…Seriously, get bent. Your judgement of smokers if fucked and I don't give two fucks for what you think about smokers.

Can you tell I’ve already reamed one of those types of people today? Assholes...all of them are assholes.

Quitting smoking - Day 2 - No one has died...yet

O, you devil nicotine. I’m in the second day and I’m doing better than I was on Monday. Yesterday was awful. I was happy, I was sad, I was cranky, I was dizzy and hyperventilating. Today I just feel tired and sleepy, I still have the jitters and I feel really low speed. I’m still Jonesin' for an un-filtered Pall Mall but I’m hanging on tight.

I'm sucking so much hard candy that a little ulcer has erupted on the tip of my tongue, which always sucks. You know the kind I am talking about. You get it anytime you overdo hard candy. I've got a lot of healthy (and naughty) food treats at home to help me make it through this. I have a daily workout so that should help me keep the extra pounds in check. Then again, I've had a 30 inch waist ever since high school and that was 25 years ago, so I think I'll be fine.

The nicotine gum will save me. Instead of Nicorette I am using the CVS store brand nicotine gum, mint flavor. Does anyone know if CVS, Walgreens or Eckards sells store brand nicotine gum in flavors other than mint? I think I'm going to need variety in the gum but I won't complain if all I get is the store brand mint. Junkies can't be picky.

Honest to goodness, I think I will always miss my Pall Malls, like any junkie does when he gives up his dope of choice.

Of all the weeks I could pick to stop sniffing glue, it had to be this week.

Dear Lord, it figures this would happen. Your paranoid blogger is having a seriously rough time this morning as I’m in the first 48 hours of quitting smoking. If this weren’t enough, Karl Rove has resigned his position in the White House. The Illuminati better not be up to any tricks over the next few days. I actually want this to work out and not lapse back into smoking. If they throw a curve ball at me I’ll have a puff and it’ll be all over for me.

Will Musharraf get the Diem treatment?

There is a chilling report at the CNN website at this moment regarding the US Military Intelligence Community doing research to assess how Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal would be protected if President Musharraf were “replaced”. This sort of talk reminds me too much of what befell Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. In the case of Diem, he was assassinated by ARVN forces in a coup which had the overt approval of the US government. Of course we all know how the CIA, the Military-Industrial Complex and the armed forces took his assassination as the green light to go ape shit for the better part of the next 10 years.

Is Musharraf in danger of becoming the next Diem? I think it is not only possible but probable. Already the parrots have begun screaming that without Musharraf in power an Islamic fundamentalist government will take hold in Pakistan and crazy Muslims with nukes are the biggest boogy man TPTB own. It does not matter that the Islamic power structure in Pakistan is actually in the vast minority. It matters not that Pakistani’s see India as their sworn enemies and not the west. All that matters is pulling out the scary doom and gloom of radical Islamists.

I do not feel comfortable with the status quo in Pakistan. The government is shaky at best, and they do have the nukes. TPTB may appear to be shaken in America by looking at poll numbers but they are as firmly entrenched as ever. The Democrats are still enabling them and in effect, condoning their actions. The mad end-times lunatics are still devoted to the idea of Armageddon occurring in our lifetime, the sooner the better. The xenophobic still thirst for the blood and death of brown, olive and black skinned humans.
The ideas have been floated in the mainstream press that something is going to happen in Pakistan, and the mantra is still fight them over there, blah, blah. blah. When the government is looking at contingency plans if Musharraf falls we should look at it as a warning of what the government wants to do.

The Oral Majority

I wonder if I am limiting my sexual enjoyment by only having sex with free spirited liberal leaning women? It seems that tough talking manly men in the Republican party are pretty adept at giving head based on current events. Should I stop chasing the wild east Atlanta bohemian women and start focusing on the guys wearing Brooks Brothers suits who haunt the state capitol?

Florida State House Rep. Bob Allen got busted last month for soliciting oral sex from “a pretty stocky black guy” in a public park restroom late one evening in July, for $20. The “stocky black guy” turned out to be an undercover cop and wham-o, Allen got hauled off to the pokey (no pun intended) for a little Q&A at the Broward County jail. Hmmm…even as a straight man I’ve always heard about these so-called cruising spots. Allen must have thought he was at Hartsfield-Jackson.

For Allen’s defense he says he was in no way at the park looking to give a quick, public BJ to settle his lustful little right wing heart. No, he says he was all askeered of the big scary black man and offered to give this man $20 to suck his hoo haa just to keep himself from being a “statistic”. You know, I’ve felt very nervous and unsafe in certain locations and times around Atlanta over the years. Defusing the situation by paying to give a dangerous looking man a wet sloppy hummer was the last thing I thought of doing.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-allentape0307aug03,0,1892734.story?coll=orl_tab01_layout

If that weren’t enough, the National Federation Chair of the Young Republicans, Glenn Murphy, has resigned his position after police reports have surfaced that accuse him of giving an unwelcome blow job to a young man while he slept. Ya know, I’ve woken up to the wonderful sensation of oral pleasure being performed on me while I was asleep on many occasions. Of course, it was being done by a Birkenstock wearing hippie chick who was being extra nice to this paranoid bugger with her reckless sexual abandon.

http://www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/files/glennmurphy.pdf

What is it with these uptight, gay bashing, family values sort of Republicans giving BJs away like they are candy? Hell, they are even paying to give oral pleasure. No woman even gave me so much as a nickel if I let her go down. Maybe these moral high road fellas are onto something very progressive and forward thinking? Do Republican women act this way too?

Good Lord, have I been making a mistake for all these years by sharing my bed only with wild liberal women? Are the Republican women little sexual hell cats, who’s wiles are so great that they can drive 100% hetero dudes into paying strangers to give juicy oral action in public men’s rooms and on unsuspecting Young Republicans while they doze away? What sort of sexual pixie dust are these people sprinkling?

The mortgage crisis -- Fight back with creative living.

I’m not an economist, just an average every day American Joe, but the current situation with credit, mortgage firm failures and the skyrocketing costs have me worried. I can balance my checkbook, create a good personal budget and manage the budget of my department at the office. I have no idea of how to operate in the greater financial sector. I don’t think I need a PhD in economics to understand a few things.

The larger picture of finance and the economy in America is designed and manipulated to keep you and I under someone’s control. I earn a decent lower-middle class salary, I actually pay more in taxes per year than I grossed 10 years ago. I work hard and I’ve worked my way up from being an ex-sailor working construction sites as a pipefitter to heading a small IT department.

50 years ago I would be living the so-called American dream. I’d have a new ranch house, family, small luxuries of life. I would drive a new ’57 Chevy station wagon, take the kids to Florida every year and put aside pennies each week to save for the future.

Today I don’t own a home. The properties have been wildly over priced and the mortgage conditions hide (or at least they did hide) a time bomb. Within a few years I would be homeless with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt hanging around my neck. I don’t have a savings account because between nearly invisible low interest rates and astronomical bank fees I would actually be losing money every day just to maintain an account.

My job isn’t secure because the industry I work in is tied to the fact that other people have to spend more and more money every day to keep the company I work for, afloat. If I loose it I will be giving up minimal benefits for lower pay and less benefits with longer working hours. That is, if I can find a job.

I burned my credit cards a year ago. I am still paying off a transmission rebuild that I had to pay for several years ago on my old car and a rental car I had to have while the transmission was being rebuilt. By time that debt is paid off I will have spent enough money that I actually could have bought an older used car.

I looked at my old bank statements from seven years ago last weekend out of curiosity and it made me sick. I pay four times as much for gasoline, I pay three times as much for groceries and I buy fewer groceries than I did back then and I pay almost three times as much for electricity. My earnings have increased by 32% but my total expenses have increased more than 600%. All the savings that I had are long gone and I am actively looking for a cheaper apartment.

Burn your credit cards. Go to CCCS and pay off the old debts. Grow a vegetable garden or buy the cheapest foods that you can store in your pantry and stock up. Buy a bike and ride it when you can or use public transportation. Car pool with your co-workers. Don’t look at it as skimping by to survive. Take your financial stand against those who hold you down with money by denying them access to it.

The men who control every aspect of our lives do so with money. They hold your job, your access to affordable health care and your right to the pursuit of happiness in their hands via money. Remove their influence by not obsessing over your credit score as though it were your key to heaven. Remove their influence by using your creativity to earn money or goods by exercising your creativity. Use those creative urges by planting a garden or creating objects that can be sold or bartered.

Do not allow yourself to live in misery under their thumbs. Prick that thumb with your sharp mind.

Romney-Vision!

Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has created a new philosophical tenant with his claim that his sons are showing their support for American servicemen by traveling across the nation helping him to get elected. Honestly, this is the most brilliant philosophical stance I have ever heard. I think I will base the foundation of my life on it. For example:

From this day forward I will my support for the poor and under-privileged of America by buying top of the line designer clothing. Looking sharply dressed will inspire them to get themselves together.

I will show support for the Iraq war by setting fire to 10 additional gallons of gasoline a week. I’ll simply burn the gas in a pit.

I will show my support for global warming initiatives by leaving the doors open to my refrigerator. This will cool the planet.

I will show my support for the health insurance industry by quitting smoking. I will switch to chewing tobacco instead.

I will show my support for the 1st amendment by telling anyone with a differing opinion to shut the fuck up. Some folks waste freedoms and don’t deserve what they get.

I will show my support for free trade and the global economy by buying 2 tons of imported Chinese wheat gluten and making dog food out of it. Any problems that occur afterward are just road bumps of capitalism and the only victims in a free market are those without a plan.

Wow. I feel better now that I have a new direction in life. Who knew that justifying selfish stances could be so liberating?

Give me vacation or give me death

The trick of getting what you want, it seems, is to simply threaten Congress that you’ll take away their vacation time and you can get anything you want. Over the weekend sweeping new powers were given to our Dictator in Chief after he threatened to take the T-Bird away and make the politicos stay inside the beltway until he got what he wanted. What did he get? Power that had so far eluded him is now fully in his grasp and what was once illegal is now legal. The President can authorize spying on Americans without a court order simply if the American in question is “reasonably believed” to be communicating with someone outside the United States.

If you demystify the wording, you and I could be defined as “reasonably believed” to be communicating with people outside the US simply because we have Internet access, which makes communication with people around the world instantaneous and secretive in nature. It doesn’t matter if you are or are not communicating with someone in another country, you have the means to do it and that is all they really need to know to place you under surveillance.

The Democrats and the Republicans have sold us out for less than beans. They sold us out for some down time with the family and a chance to hit the fundraising circuit. They sold us out so they can get afternoon catnaps and consolidate power and money at fundraising engagements with fat cat businessmen and greedy bastards who’s souls are corrupted by money and power. The average American is no longer a cog in the wheels of American society; we are only the grease that lubricates the gears of money making.

As John Lydon once said so famously, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

I'm out before I even started running

In probably the shortest candidacy for any public office in history (it didn’t matter which office, in fact I hadn’t even decided what I would run for), I have to withdraw my name from consideration. I followed the example of the leaders I wanted to emulate by going out last night. I got loaded, practiced kinky and obscure sexual rituals, tossed all my money into the air and changed my mind 20 times over where to eat after last call. The last straw came when I looked into the mirror this morning and tried to deny everything that happened last night and laughed at myself. I’ve realized I’m too far out of practice to maintain that lifestyle for even a 2 year term of office. It was simple when I was in my 20’s but I’ve lost my touch.

For the record, I think it was the bizarre sex that did me in. Does anyone know how to remove Vaseline stains from satin sheets?

The paranoid voting segment -- vastly underrated

After giving it some deep thought it's time I threw my hat in the ring and run for public office. It's not like I can screw things up worse than they already are. I'm going to live up to the standards of our current leaders:

I'll be as sexually pure and unblemished as Senator Vitter.

I'll be as fiscally responsible as Senator Stephens.

I'll be a responsible drinker, like Georgia representative Ben Harbin.

I'll lead with rock steady certainty like Senator McCain.

I got demons all up in me

I just read that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was found today in convulsions and foaming at the mouth. My only question is, and how is this different than any other day? Seriously though, I've been to a snake handling church before. When Roberts begins drinking strychnine and speaking in tongues, call me.

Concentric rings of power

What could we expect if martial law were declared on a national scale in America? How would we react, how would it affect our lives and what could we expect on the street and cyberspace level? I’m thinking about these questions much more since the White House and the Department of Homeland Security recently denied a request by Congressman Peter DeFazio to view the secret plans already drawn up in case of a national emergency in a terrorist attack.

From looking at the way 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and major political events have been handled over the past six years I think we can draw several conclusions: 1) Restrictions would have an hierarchal structure in terms of location and the type of restrictions put into place. 2) The presence of government officials and armed forces (police, civilian or military) would be focused to specific locations. 3) Those not in the immediate area of focus would notice very little outward change in their lives and would be accepting of how it affected the few arenas of their lives; while those directly affected would see a significant change in their day to day lifestyle. 4) The media blackout would be extraordinary.

Let’s take a hypothetical situation where two major US cities are targeted and go from there. City A and City B suffer a man-made catastrophe and the top levels of government declare a national state of emergency. Martial law is declared throughout the United States and all of it’s territories. The exact nature of the catastrophe would be irrelevant, the focus of government response would not be assisting the victims and public at large, the focus would be on the consolidation of power and exerting control over the population.

The first step would be controlling all forms of communication in the US and it’s territories. This would mean the seizure of broadcast news in radio and television. All print media would fall into this aegis therefore all newspapers and magazines would be controlled by the government. Our electronic media would also need to be controlled and this is where it gets tricky.

To control the website content of corporate news organization would not be enough. The number of independent sources for news and access to foreign media is virtually limitless. People post and read messages on USENET, message boards and use instant messaging and text messaging for their phones. International calls are no longer the realm of large international corporations; international calling cards can be bought at the local convenience store as easily as buying a Coke. To stem this transfer of information and communication, all access to the Internet and telephones would be tightly controlled.

The Intelligence Community already resides within the Telco Hotels of the major US carriers, collecting data and voice streams as easily as we surf TV channels. They could, quite easily, gain control of the communications hubs and filter/block all electronic voice and data traffic. Control of the financial institutions would also be necessary and in the age of electronic funds transfer (EFT), this control would also be simple to implement and maintain.

With our means of communication stifled and funneled through their hands as well as our means of paying for services/goods needed by the average citizen under any circumstance, the government could create and maintain any scenario they wish to promote. With big business being joined at the hip with government and all major media in the US being controlled by big business it is not difficult to imagine their lack of outrage in such a situation. Compliance has already been bought.

Under this scenario the old lyric of “the revolution will not be televised” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Government abuses cannot be exposed and the citizenry will have no means to know of events beyond their daily realm of living. You would, in effect, not be able to see the forest for the trees. The trees would be your neighborhood, the forest being the rest of the nation.

At this point the government could create concentric circles of control reaching out from the two cities, A and B, which are the epicenter of the event. The closest inner ring would resemble the government’s actions at the 9/11 attacks and especially New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The second closest ring would resemble crowd control in New York City during the 2004 Republican Convention. The third outer ring would resemble the military’s use of embedded press in Iraq and and this would be closest the media would be able to access the area affected. The fourth ring would be the boundary where direct, overt and overwhelming government influence ends/begins with the rest of the nation, which would see little change in their lives other than tighter restrictions on banking and communications. Since this would be a more rural area of the nation these restrictions would be marginally recognized or noticed.

Major cities other than city A or B could be controlled in a manner I describe for the 3rd ring of control, listed below. The undeclared boundaries of urban and suburban life are easily controlled and noticeable in most major metropolitan areas via the interstate road system in the form of perimeter highways. Choke points can be established and controlled easily in this manner.

Inside the central ring, no one would be able to leave to the second ring and no one from the second ring would be able to enter, except specific government personnel. Those caught in the central ring would in all likelihood be rounded up for transportation to specific locations, such as we saw with the survivors of Katrina in New Orleans who attempted to use the Superdome and the Convention Center as their shelter. No one in the outside world or even within the second ring would be aware of the happenings and events taking place in this central ring.

The size of this central ring would most likely depend on the population density and the circumstances surrounding a disaster. A nuclear, biological or dirty bomb attack could result in a very large area being classified as a central ring area, such as an entire city. What would make the job of determining the size and shape of the central ring easier to control is the geography of the area. The more susceptible a city is to being cut off from the rest of the world, the more easy it would be to control it. Such as Manhattan (island) or San Francisco (peninsula). Cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago are bordered on one side by a body of water. A city like Dallas or Denver would be difficult because of the lack of physical boundaries.

The second ring would reach beyond the first ring just far enough away to keep prying eyes from seeing what is going on inside the first ring, yet close enough to give a panoramic view of the central ring. It would provide a staging area to move specific people and equipment in and out of the first and second rings. Anyone trying to sneak in or out of the area could be rounded up easily and quickly, as travel would be completely restricted. Centers for temporary detention could be quickly and easily set up. The typical industrial areas of large cities are an example of this. There would be plenty of room for staging equipment and personnel, processing curfew violators in secret as well as being an ideal location for Command, Control and Communication (C3). Think of the Baghdad Green Zone and you have an idea of the level of security and that example also provides you with an idea of how geography can control the shape and placement of an ideal quarantine zone.

The third ring would operate under nighttime curfew restrictions with stereotypical checkpoint style monitoring of travel by citizens. Access into and out of this area would be tightly controlled on a need to travel basis. This area would operate more freely for it’s citizens as communications in and out of this zone to the rest of the nation would be tightly controlled but it would exist. Think of odd/even, travel/work days. This would be the closest the media would be allowed to get to the area in question. A certain resemblance of normalcy would be seen but with tight restrictions. This would be suburbia, the bedroom communities of the city affected. It would be white, upper middle class to middle class, predominately white collar and educated with too much to loose for speaking up, their silence and compliance would be simple and they would view it as logical and maybe patriotic.

The fourth ring would be the rest of the nation. Travel would be free and open with no restrictions. Communication would be monitored and controlled but it would be easily and freely available. The vast bulk of the US population would live in this zone. Few government officials would be needed in this area but there would be a government presence in locations such as the post office or in city hall of towns and cities across the nation.

So, what would be the purpose of such a restriction of citizens and under what conditions could this occur? Control and power are of course the main motivation for such a scenario but there is another scenario I believe we are heading into. The general attitude of the average American is quickly evolving into an angry response to what they see at the highest levels of government. No longer are we simply satisfied with electing new officials, there is a rising tide of voices wanting accountability for those who have lied to us over the last six years. These voices are becoming more and more loud and the numbers of Americans who want to see criminal charges brought up against those in power is beginning to become more mainstream.

It is obvious that those who are currently in control of this nation have no intention to leave this power behind. The powers they have granted themselves are not the sort of thing they wish to leave behind for another party or a new set of leaders. They will not relinquish their power under any circumstances, even in the slightest bit. An exit strategy from office is simply not an option for them and as the voices grow louder in dissent, the choices they have in maintaining their power grow larger. It would require only a false flag operation or the act of looking the other way when intelligence tells them an attack is imminent.

When the voices in the room become a loud roar, this is when it will occur. Not a moment before or too early. Our economy is clinging to a thread and will only add to the situation when the time is ripe for the takeover. As it stands today the major lenders are announcing that the mortgage crisis is deepening as prime borrowers are now falling behind in their debt and mortgage payments. When the sub-prime market belly flopped we were told again and again that the prime market was strong and steady, that this was a simple correction. We are now seeing the tip of the iceberg as those with outstanding credit and generous incomes are falling behind as well.

A falling stock market, rising inflation, a failed housing market, a failed credit system and an overall sense of desperation will be the sign that something is on the verge of happening in this nation. When the economy is in shreds, the anger is at it’s highest and the leaders are at their most smarmy, condescending levels we can expect something to occur.

The Pall Malls are on the house

Sad news this morning from the world of TV. Interviewer Tom Snyder has passed away. I became a really big fan of his back in the early 80’s when he brought on a wide variety of rock & rollers for interviews. He wasn’t condescending no matter how outrageous or controversial they were. From these interviews his style grew on me and when his 90’s show aired following Letterman at CBS I spent many a sleep-deprived night listening to his warm tone and genuine curiosity for the people he was interviewing.

Back in the early 80’s I saw on his show The Clash, The Grateful Dead, The Plasmatics, John Lydon, U2 and I even remember seeing Adam Ant during the days when the art school girls all had the hots for him. He never seemed out of it even when he was clearly mystified by the performer and it was always obvious that a key to his style as an interviewer was getting to know his subject. The good-natured humor and understanding of a generation gap seemed to make his interviews all that more vital. In many ways he seemed like an old friend in his interviews.

On the strength of those rock and roll interviews alone I would say that if anyone wants to know how to properly interview a musician, especially a young musician, for the television format, look to Snyder for your guiding light. He allowed the musicians to explain themselves and have fun and be themselves. All the while he probed from the standpoint of being a middle-aged man, who was confused by all the hub-bub and it brought out the performer’s ability to explain their music and what they were doing it for.

He never kowtowed to the guest, never talked below the viewer and always seemed to match wits with whoever was in the chair opposite. The show could be smart, light, cutting, deep and entertaining all within the time frame between commercials. He was more fun than Charlie Rose and much more at ease with his guests than Travis Smiley. He could be more insightful than either man and he was much less conspicuous in showing his intellect than they are. The man just had a great presence and a great style.

Adios, Tom. The Pall Malls and martinis are on the house.

Granny, the Islamofascist

So typical of the twisted logic of the current crop of leaders and bureaucrats in this nation, we have learned a new factoid in the TSA scare tactic regarding dry runs of terrorists in America’s airports and skyways. The spooky references to devices that they told us were simulations of explosive devices? Nah, one was nothing more than gel based ice packs being transported by a 61 year-old woman flying out of San Diego. I saw this nice Grandmotherly woman on TV last night. A jihadi she ‘aint.

Like the “terrorist cell” in Miami and the “terrorist cell” that was planning to attack Fort Dix, the examples of why we should lose our freedoms to protect ourselves are truly pathetic. That cell in Miami? They didn’t have plans or weapons and seemed to be playing a retarded version of cowboys and Indians. A bunch of burnt stub idiots with the mouth breather quotient of typical nature for this day and age. Spend 10 minutes in Atlanta and you’ll meet at least a half dozen morons of their stature. The Fort Dix group? They “trained” by playing paintball in the woods, stole a map of the base from a local pizza delivery joint and got busted after they asked the tech people at a local Circuit City to transfer their jihad training video onto DVD. What a bunch of bullshit.

Ice packs become statistics for terror threats after they pass through DHS Secretary Chertoff’s bowels, this I am sure of. When Chertoff pinches a loaf, we have the makings of a new intelligence report. When Moe, Larry and Curley (sometimes Shemp) go traipsing into Circuit City with their Jihadi training video and ask Ron or Felisha or whoever is working the electronics aisle, to transfer it to DVD, you have to wonder how a person of such stupidity can survive even out of their teens. It calls into question the theories presented by Darwin.

For all the Grannies out there who may be planning a trip to visit the grand kids, take care that your Blue Star ointment isn’t confused with C4. Don’t let them rough you up and ruin your hairdo when you pass through the metal detector. Get tough with them, don’t suffer fools gladly and if that fails, threaten to go get yourself a hickory switch and wear out their britches if they get pushy. Our freedom, and your new do from the salon, depends on you standing tall and tough, ladies.

When the MSM realizes a Conspiracy Theory may be true.

An op-ed piece that was published this week by the Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon and deeply discussed on the Crooks and Liars blog has caught my eye. Once again we are seeing the mainstream public opening up to conclusions that the Conspiracy Theory crowd has been talking about for many years. The piece discussed the recent refusal to let Congressman Peter DeFazio see the secret plans by the current administration on what they will do following a terrorist attack.

For most of us, the first inkling we had of secret government plans to declare martial law, suspend the Constitution and round up American citizens came to light when we learned about Rex 84 in the early 1990's. Most of us began to brace and keep a suspicious eye open following 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act. The current MO of our leaders have a lot of us jumpy at the thoughts of what is coming next and what is in store for us. The MSM occasionally pops up with a response like the Register-Guard, which should be a major red flag to people who dismiss Conspiracy Theories outright.

Each segment of society has extremists; this community is no different in that regard. There are theories out there so elaborate and extreme that it is difficult to rationalize the loops and twists that make up even the foundations of belief. However, it is obvious that many ideas floated in the past 5 ½ years are showing up as fact. Real ID, the suspension of Habeus Corpus, the criminalization of dissent, the destruction of the 1st Ammendment; all of these things were laughed at 10 years ago as mere paranoid ramblings from the fringe. Now, who is laughing?

I am someone who drifts in and out of the false veil of normalcy in America, the America we were brain washed into believing existed, the America that we were taught in school, the Boy Scouts and in history books. The America that is a mirage and a symbol of hope but doesn’t exist in reality. The real nature of power over the public and over the image of what America actually is, comes banging on the door like storm troopers each time I look at what we have actually become. Reality is sometimes difficult to swallow.

The America we were told existed is like comfort food. It is something to imagine when fear and despair and confusion set in. Like wishing we were young again, waiting for Santa Claus, and the world is good and innocent and right. There never were “Good Old Days” only a blissfully innocent youth for those of us lucky enough to not be shattered by tragic and evil events. Sooner or later the evil presents itself and we are never again the same. We are shattered and left bloody, like ex-virgins on the backseat of a 57’ Chevy with blood drying on our thighs. We never again see things as we thought they were, we are bloodied and we are left knowing that the fantasy and innocence of childhood are long gone.

If the public were confronted with the reality of what we really are and what we have become I think the nation would change. Opening the eyes of those who still believe in the fantasy of a normal America could become the instrument of change. No one in the MSM is willing to weave together the tapestry of reality, a reality that has only a thin glaze preventing it from being seen by all, and open the public at large to a new way of dissecting the day’s events.

We are left to our own devices and left to rely on each other to help us see what is actually occurring. Just because some Conspiracy Theories are outrageous doesn’t mean they are all wrong. The outrageous and seemingly impossible are always possible. Once we all realize that fact we can go about trying to effect real change in the world. The saying from the 90’s of think globally, act locally is possibly the most subversive thought to arise in the last 70 years. Imagine if we were able to effect change on a small scale in our homes and in our communities, how the collected effect would devastate the old guard, the powers that be, the evil men who hold true power in this world.

If an abusive spouse controls a woman the most powerful action she can take is to simply leave him, disappear into the ether and never be seen by him again. If money controls us how can we shed the chains that bind us? Society has been configured to include money and earnings into every aspect of our lives. Escaping it entirely means turning your back on society as a whole. This is a drastic response and is really far beyond what needs to be done. If even 1% of the population were able to reduce their monthly bills by 1% and redirect those funds into something that benefits themselves and their local community, the masters of our economy would notice, immediately. Like the old saying goes, a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there and sooner or later you are talking real money. A billion dollars may not represent 1% income of 1% of the population but a million here and a million there out of more than 400 million Americans and the next thing you know we would have Wall Street scratching their greedy little heads.

Imagine for a moment if you and your neighbors were able to knock that 1% out of your bills every month and reinvest it into something you can all use such as a community garden or the installation of solar power panels, the effect would be immediate. Corporate farms would see a huge decrease in demand for their goods. The energy sector would see a drop in their income and the manufacturers of alternative energy devices would see a rise in their income. Imagine their reaction when they realize that they have slightly less power over the public than they did yesterday.

I’m not talking about creating hippie communes or exhuming socialism. I’m talking about reducing the control over your life that is held by evil, corrupt men and returning it to your hands. Simple modifications in our lives can have far ranging effects. Driving less by combining trips saves gas and reduces the money residing in the coffers of big oil and the government. Using electricity more wisely reduces the money in the coffers of the energy conglomerates and the government. Planting a vegetable garden keeps you and your family and neighbors fed and keeps your money out of the coffers of the corporate food industry and the government. They understand money and the power that comes from controlling how much you spend each month and how much you earn and save from your labor. The slightest chink in their profit margins would go far in reducing their power over us. Even failing to meet expected profits when there is still a profit can be devestating to the men who control our lives through money.

Would this prevent martial law being declared in the event of a terrorist or false flag attack? In our current state it would not. We have allowed ourselves to become so swaddled in the cotton of the world they created that far too many of us would bow down to anything as long as the cable is working and the McDonalds is stocked. Taking nicks and pieces of their control would certainly be beneficial to all of us and it’s not too late to start.

In my mind the most valuable aspect of Conspiracy Theories is that they can be used as cautionary tales in our lives. If your food is being poisoned in the factory, grow your own food or buy from a local farmer. If your freedoms are being threatened, use your mind and talents to determine what aspects of your life that can be truly made free from outside interference. If your future is threatened, plan for a future that avoids or limits how much of your present life is being controled.

A true revolution can be silent and peaceful.

High Weirdness back roads

I've been thinking a bit about some of the subjects and events which seem to stay low on the horizon within the Conspiracy Theory and High Weirdness communities these days. With the current state of events in America we certainly have our plates full and it seems the odd, kooky and more curious stories get shuffled out of the deck. The recent Drones photos and revelations are a prime example, so is the VaTech Black Op.

Listed below are three subjects that fit this description. The Gulf Breeze Six is an example of a story that simply gets overlooked because it predates the Internet and doesn't have the broad range of appeal that the JFK assassination or UFOlogy has. Maitiera seems to only interest the folks who are interested in cults or mind control and those who are interested in Theocratic Conspiracy Theories. The emergence of the Internet and it's effect on our community falls more in line with people who have an interest in the history of our communities or those who have been publishing their ideas for long before the Internet was known of by the average person.

There are many other subjects and stories that can be listed but these three seem to have more prominence in my mind these days. The Gulf Breeze Six have been in my head because of the recent drones photos and the major UFO sightings in England this week. Maitiera has been in my mind because I have been thinking more about the VaTech Black Op. Our history has been in my mind because I'm in a mood to assess where I want to take this blog and looking back is always a part of looking forward.

The Gulf Breeze Six – This was an extremely peculiar case when it played out in the summer of 1990. I had spent several years in the Pensacola area before this occurred and was in fact stationed in Pensacola during the Gulf Breeze sightings. I never had a sighting but there was indeed a “feeling” of strangeness around the area during the sightings time frame. The story itself was odd on far too many levels and I’m afraid that Vance Davis’ publication of Unbroken Promises has only added to the muddy waters of this story, in my eyes.

I’ve thought that this story would actually make a very good film. The story has it all; intrigue, mystery, a manhunt, the supernatural, all of this against the backdrop of the military Intelligence Community. There has been very little interest about these six individuals and I think it would be interesting if someone could get them together for an interview to talk about the history of their adventure and perspective since we are nearing the 20th anniversary of the event.

Maitiera – In early 2006 several local Atlanta television stations began airing Maitiera commercials in the early morning hours, usually around 4:00 AM. I often wondered how many people were first introduced to this figure because of the ads. I especially wondered how many trust fund babies in Atlanta saw the ads after a particularly bad and desperate night of drinking and drugging in the Buckhead nightclub district. In the right set of circumstances, with a head full of coke, a belly full of Grey Goose and a empty yearning in the heart, a young person perched in their lofty condo looking down on Peachtree could see a possible “meaning” to their life by seeing those ads.

Cults and cult leaders in general seem to garner very little attention these days. I do have a feeling that the renewed Pentecostal movement has tempered any desire of the corporate news outlets to expose and discuss the activities of cults. I’m not saying that the Pentecost is a cult but it is obvious that cults use the tactics of organized religion to recruit and keep members.

The emergence of the Internet – Before the web, the typical Conspiracy Theory or High Weirdness enthusiast had to rely on a loose and ethereal world of mail order and print magazines for information, new ideas and guidance. Those were the days of kitchen publishing and printed databases and mailing lists that you could get from sources as varied as Donna Kossy and Ivan Stang. What the web has done to this sub-culture is open it to a completely new audience but it has also removed a certain charm and work ethic that was inherent to the subject. It’s been years since I sent out a SASE and got that rush of excitement many weeks later when I saw my handwriting on the envelope, knowing there were pages of goodies inside.

I have never read or even seen an essay on the effects of the Internet on our community. I think this would be a marvelous subject for one of the better writers to tackle. I think we have some incredible historians in the community and their perspective on how things have changed, become more mainstream and more open for disinfo would be exciting to learn.

Doom and Gloom

A few odds and ends this morning to get things rolling.

In testimony before the Senate yesterday afternoon, AG Gonzales either let the cat out of the bag or opened himself up in yet another instance for a perjury charge as he admitted that the now infamous bedside visit with former AG Ashcroft was in regard to a completely different secret spying program than what the Senate was referring to. When Gonzales first addressed this issue of a spy program that needed authorization from Ashcroft during his testimony in May, I opined that the program he was referring to was not FISA and that the program was more sinister and the Senators were missing the nuance of Gonzales’ testimony. The link to that posting can be found here. I have a sneaky suspicion that Gonzales was indeed telling the truth about another spy program, if only the Senate will dig and investigate this further.

As stupid as Gonzales acts and appears to be, never underestimate his powers of deceit. This is a problem that far too many people have fallen for, underestimating the intelligence of the sociopaths who wield power in our government. Yes, their actions and words do seem incredibly moronic at times but they should not be discredited as simpletons. The harder you look, the more you can see grand design in their failures. They are pulling a trick like the Chief in One Flew Over The Cookoo’s Nest. They aren’t deaf and dumb no matter how convinced you are that its true.

More booga-booga terror scares are hitting the airwaves today with the TSA warning all of us that dry runs of terrorist attacks have been performed since September of last year. This hot on the heels of Chertof’s guts comment and an ever escalating anger and frustration by the American public regarding it’s government is drawing a false flag attack even closer. Conspiracy Theory bloggers and personalities have been posting information about the recent Presidential Directive signed into effect by Bush, which gives the Justice and Treasury Departments unprecedented authority to seize the funds of anyone who threatens the process of the war in Iraq. In other words, simply saying you are against the war can be grounds for the government to seize your bank accounts and freeze your rights to earn income or pay your bills.

Speaking of the Iraq bloodbath, that September date for evaluating the surge isn’t as solid as people thought. Word is coming out that the government wants to wait until December before addressing the success of the surge. Anyone who falls for these false deadlines and milestones needs to come over to my place and play cards with me. The intention is to never leave Iraq. Only with a complete changing of the guard in the highest levels of power will we ever leave Iraq. Threats of sanctions, censures and subpoenas won’t work with this crowd.

Even if the entire administration were replaced they have embedded so many of their version of the sleeper cell into all branches of power in Washington, we will be seeing the after effects of this administration for generations to come, if the playing field were level. Just look at the information that has come out about the rank and file employees at Justice and you will see exactly what they have wrought on this nation. The greedy and evil walk the halls of power.

All in all, it’s just a typical Wednesday in America.

Ookie, Ookie, lend me your comb.

The story of Michael Vick is oddly absent from a lot of Atlanta bloggers right now. For sports and animal rights bloggers he’s still a main source of subject material but the folks who blog about daily life in Atlanta are generally ignoring him. Considering this story hits two areas that I have a major interest in (sports and our treatment of animals as a society) I think I finally need to chime in on this.

Let me begin by saying that I have been a constant cheerleader for Vick. I’ve made excuses for his behavior and performance over the years. The Rolex incident was easily brushed aside in my point of view. The “coach killer” comments by Jim Mora Sr. were sour grapes from a protective Father in my eyes. At every step of the way I defended him.

When he couldn’t seem to get the ball down and into the arms of his receivers I always wrote it off to excitement and nerves, he was just overly eager. He was overthrowing the ball not because of a lack of skill; it was all because of basic human nature and his ambition to win. When he had trouble reading a receiver’s route and didn’t throw it to where the receiver would ultimately be, even under heavy coverage, like a quarterback should be able to do even in college, I wrote it off as a failure of the coaching staff in not emphasizing the fundamentals of the game. None of it was ever Vick’s fault in my eyes.

The only problems I had really had with the direction of the team since 2002 was that I didn’t like the way Dan Reeves was treated when he was fired. I really believed that Reeves should have been kept and that Reeves seemed to have a better grasp on how to get wins with Vick than Mora ever did, or will, know. I didn’t like the lack of interest in building a stronger defense, especially in light of the injuries we’ve had in recent years.

In other words, I was a typical hometown fan of my team. I’ve followed this team since before Steve Bartkowski joined in the mid-70’s. I’ve suffered through the June Jones era, Jerry Glanville’s “California State Champions Trophy” and William Andrews blown knee. I’ve loved a place kicker who was a bartender, Jamal Anderson’s massive Earl Campbell-ian thighs and a gang of thugs who thrilled us with the Grits Blitz.

Another side of my life

In 1997 I became an ethical vegetarian. I’m not a stereotypical Birkenstock wearing vegetarian. I am a convert from an entirely different lifestyle than what most vegetarians come from. I’m a former hunter and fisherman. Other than elk and moose I have hunted for, killed and eaten just about any animal you can think of. I was a very skilled and effective hunter. As a fisherman I was the sort of person who could get the limit almost every time. There are pictures of me even as a small boy where I am holding up a stringer of huge bream and crappie.

My conversion from one lifestyle to another happened on a Saturday morning when I was in a tree stand on the edge of a field that I knew a herd of deer would be crossing soon. I saw a sunrise that I had never seen before and a thought entered my mind that had never been thought of by me before. I suddenly realized that nothing should be killed by me that morning and I should not take the life of another one of God's creatures that morning. With a rainbow of color blistering the morning sky, and a field that was literally frosting over from dew to ice in front of my eyes, I crawled down from the tree stand and went into a long process of thought about what happened to me in that tree stand.

Within weeks I went from a hunter to a vegetarian. I first thought that I shouldn’t kill that morning. I then realized my family or I would not go hungry if I stopped hunting and therefore I had no right to kill a living creature for food. I ultimately decided that no living creature should ever die just to provide me with food or clothing. 10 years later I still do not eat meat, wear leather or use products tested on animals. I’m healthy, I look younger than my actual age of 41 and I can kick ass almost as good as I did 10 years ago.

When the story of Vick’s cousin being arrested for drugs and there was suspicion of dog fighting at his house was announced I was ready to once again hook up the Vick love train. But the Humane Society said that they had heard rumors about Vick’s involvement in dog fighting for many years. The Humane Society isn’t a left field organization; they exist only to ensure that animals are properly treated. They have never gone to the extremes that PETA does. PETA, for all the good they do, shoot themselves in the foot and drive away people who may be sympathetic to the cause, in my opinion, with their crude and brash behavior.

My reaction to the indictment, and the level of reactions from other NFL players, is simple. I cannot find it in my spirit to ever watch another professional football game again. Too many players like Portis and Horn have said things that show me where the minds and hearts of the current flock of players is coming from. To them and the Vick defenders all he is guilty of is doing something stupid, getting caught.

This isn’t betting on boxing, or illegal fighting between two people. This is an involvement in forcing living creature to fight when they have no other option. If they won’t fight or they fight poorly, they are executed in a cruel fashion through electrocution or hanging. How we treat the vulnerable and weak, the lesser among us, is the truest reflection of our soul. You don’t have to love animals to understand that treating them this way is wrong, you only need to be a person who understand right and wrong, cruel and loving, human and inhuman, good and evil.

People are throwing out the race card. Race isn’t a part of this. Had it been Keith Brooking I would have been equally disgusted and my reaction would have been no different. People are throwing out the innocent until guilty line. That’s bullshit too. The actual line is “presumed innocent until proven guilty.” And that only applies to a court of law. This is the court of public opinion and there are too many things that make me realize he is as guilty as sin. I don’t have to presume Michael Vick innocent of any goddamn thing.

The man had the world in his hands. He had a fortune in money, which could have been turned from riches into real wealth. He could have become a leader of men and a better man in the process that was inherent in the position he earned as a gifted athlete. He had a city that was willing to stand by his side no matter what happened on the field and very little of his off field antics swayed us against him. He blew it all and he blew it for one thing. He blew it because he received pleasure at watching two of God’s creatures tear each other to shreds in forced fights. He blew it because that pleasure wasn’t enough, when those creatures didn’t please him he killed them by hanging them, electrocuting them and even slamming the body of one to the ground.

Athletes these days are fond of praising their success by claiming it’s all due to the power of Jesus Christ. When they fail they point their finger at the coaches, their teammates, the press and the fans. Hypocrisy is rampant in American society today. The hypocrisy of the modern athlete and the world they operate in is just as sordid as what we see in Washington. I can no longer provide voluntary support for an activity that works in this way. The NFL is in trouble and Commissioner Goodell needs to prepare himself for more Michael Vicks and more Pacman Jones. He has inherited a snake’s den.

Trying to get that groove back

Does Bootsy Collins ever have to work on his groove?

The last two months have been pretty active for me. Work has been much more demanding of my time and my personal life has been more active than normal. Writing for the blog requires taking some time to sit and think and thinking about subjects that aren’t necessarily typical in the day to day living of life. Think about how often the subject of the Illuminati comes up when you are out at dinner or on a conference call. Not often, is it? Now that I am getting the personal and professional demands more in order I’m able to make the time to write. The problem is I need to spark myself.

I think you can look through the various posts in the blog and find the days where I had interruptions as I was writing. The flow seems curbed, something is grammaticly confusing or conflicting, or I seemed to make very little sense. I can often spot those problems when I go back and review old posts and I can remember what broke my concentration. In many ways I believe this is a blessing of the medium and not a drawback. It allows for an informal arena where the point you are trying to make is more important than the delivery. It also allows a person to work on their style and their narrative flow, which I struggle with. In short, it offers benefit for the writer as much as the reader.

Just getting in the habit of writing can be tough when something pulls you away from it. I have kept a personal journal for years and the gaps in my writing are huge. I know other people have the same problem and it seems that only a certain amount of obsessive compulsive behavior can save a journal writer. You have to crave and need the act of writing to keep a solid journal. As there has been a gap in the blog I have had a gap in my journal of late.

I want to get back to writing the longer essay-ish pieces for the blog but I need to get back into a groove. The daily political events are a good source for having something to write about but I don’t think those stories are entirely helpful as they happen in spurts and their subjects can be far ranging. I think it takes away from the overall tone and depth of the pure conspiracy theory stories.

In the interim I think the best thing I can do is write a week or two worth of posts about my personal thoughts and experiences with conspiracy theory and High Weirdness, interspersed with some political and conspiracy theory minded mini-posts. Maintaining this blog is something I really want and need to do, for my own personal reasons. It provides me a chance to work on my style and narrative abilities. I work as an IT professional and I have always struggled with putting abstract ideas into a form that others can understand and the act of writing this blog has helped me immensely in that area.

Please bear with me for the next week or two. The posts may be a bit different in tone from what has come before but I’m working on a groove.

Server Jihad

New posts should begin appearing next week. The last week has been spent dealing with a server jihad at my workplace. The uprising has been quelled, sleep was lost, hair was pulled, the names of Balmer and Gates came up quite often. There were questions asked about the marital status of their respective Mothers. I'm tired and want some scotch. I've also realized that my new junior sysadmin has shitty taste in music.