Recent Blog Posts: Bakotopia

Veterans Day

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:01:07 PST

Although it's a day set aside as a holiday to remind us to honor veterans, Veterans Day is often presented as a pro-war "rah-rah" cheerleading session for whatever war or occupation our country is involved in, this time it's Iraq/Afghanistan. On this day we're meant to thank veterans and service members for "protecting our freedom."

Veterans Day started off 90 years ago as Armistice Day -- the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice agreement that ended WWI. In the US an act was passed in 1938 dedicating Nov. 11th as "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

It's interesting to read about the transformation of Armistice Day -- a day dedicated to the cause of world peace -- into Veterans Day with all of it's "hoo-rah" for the war.

World War I was such a brutal conflict (20 million military and civilian deaths) and in its aftermath we had a day dedicated to the cause of world peace. We should return to that sentiment and re-dedicate Veterans Day as Armistice Day, or "Rememberance Day" as it is known in other countries.

This poem from WWI by Wilfred Owen, written in 1917 reflects on the hororros of war and on the "old lie." The "old lie" is often heard on Veterans Day, and that is , "...it is sweet and fitting to die for your country."

Dolce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares² we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest³ began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots⁴
Of tired, outstripped⁵ Five-Nines⁶ that dropped behind.

Gas!⁷ Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets⁸ just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime⁹ . . .
Dim, through the misty panes¹⁰ and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,¹¹ choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud¹²
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest¹³
To children ardent¹⁴ for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.^*

(*It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country).

Veterans Day - Rememberance Day - I Remember

by Nick Matthews

I remember
they spoke of past glories
and comrades who failed to return.
I remember
the moments of madness
which medals and ribbons would earn.
I remember
the sad wistful stories
that pomp and flags could not hide.
Let's remember
in the November sunshine as
chill winds run up the spine.
That the dignity of the old soldier
should not hide the greater crime.
That until all war is ended
there can never be peace in our time.

Letter to a Sister in Kansas

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:03:37 PST

The election was exciting and I felt that and enjoyed it. By the next day Mina was out driving all over Bakersfield trying to find a newspaper not sold out. She couldn't find one. For me the next day was ho-hum with a little unidentified uneasiness deep inside me. I think its how much I've learned from reading where this country is really at, and it's pretty god dammed sad.

It seems all the public spirit Americans had in 1950 in the post war years, seeing the USA in their Chevrolets, dollar top dog in the globe, Nixon was yet to take us off the gold standard, Reagan was yet to unhinge the antitrust laws of the FDR period and to kick labor's ass and break unions, CEOs of corporation were yet to put the profit of the shareholders first over quality and good management of the corporations, and were yet to start giving themselves preferred stock option and obscene salary raises ...

Where did it all go? It's almost like America needs someone to beat or bomb into the earth, the Indians, then the Japs, and the Germans of Dresden, then the Viet Namese, and now the Iraqis; finally, there nothing left for us to do but go for our own throats or, as Christopher Lasch wrote in "Culture of Narcissism, "engage in the war of all against all." Of course genocidal nihilism is sort of rampant around the globe these days.

Then I'm now reading a book that puts the frosting on the cake and explains so much. It's about the concealed power of the Zionist Configuration upon American politics in multiple areas of power—the press, the white house and universities. This configuration is made up principally of the the pro-Israel Zionist forces, the Jewish lobby, plus the Anti-defamation League. The blinders are a wide national mind set supplied by the press that Big Oil was pressuring the Bush administration into the war on Iraq. But, it turns out the Big Oil didn't want that war, never pushed for it, knew it would destabilize the region and hurt the oil business. So where did the pressure come from and is now coming from to go to war against Iran? The Zionist Configuration of power whose eventual goal is for Israel to have hegemony in the whole Middle East. I've know about some of this on a lesser level from my three years of solid reading about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict going back to 1948. For example I knew and American Zionist Jews control the major universities as to what those going for their master and PhD theses can choose as their thesis. It cannot be pro-Palestinian. Have you ever wondered how there is so little pro-Palestinian mainstream literature in America? The Zionist configuration keeps a tight lock on the major Newspapers, book stores etc. They write letters, call anyone who is pro-Palestinian anti-Semitic, and in the last resort make threats.

Alan Greenspan said we went to war against Iraq because of pressures to do so by Big Oil. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Now that the country lies in near ruin what has big oil gained. At least under Saddam Iraq was shipping out some of its oil clandestinely and marketing it. I know, this all sounds like some kind of nut who doesn't believe the Holocaust ever took place. No. But, what I find hard to believe is how insidiously the Israeli and American Jewish Zionist forces have internalized what the Nazis did to them. I think Alice Miller (a Swill neo-Freudian analyst) would have something to say to that, what the mechanism is I mean.

And as crazy as it sound in the light of so little being "out there" about it, remember the web site I referred you too that showed how Israeli's had bombed the U.S. LIBERTY and were shooting US sailors in the water when the US President called back US planes that were on their way to the sight to respond? And little or nothing was made known about it in the press. Maybe it didn't even reach the press as military and us executives kept it under their hats.

So that's what I'm feeling. Two things worry me about Obama. One is he always mentioned helping the middle class, carefully, it seemed, never mentioning the working class or lower classes. The other is this Zionist thing which he obviously is aware of. If he should buck it in any obvious way, I fear for his life. You know the Mossad (the Israeli "CIA") has been looked up to by the Soviet Union's KBG. The Israelis are virtually wizards and the intelligence game.

Well, on to something a little little lighter and brighter....

I'm Probably Lying

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:56:42 PST

I went to the gym today and saw this guy wearing this shirt anyways I thought it was hilarious. When I was driving off he happened to be leaving so I pulled up next to him and asked to take his picture and that I loved his shirt. He let me take his pic and then told me his mom bought it for him for Christmas, which made it even more funnier. Anyways it made me laugh, and at least he was being honest about probably lying...if that makes sense :)

Runaway!!!

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:49:57 PST

Have you ever loved somebody so much and wanted nothing more than to make things work? Well I have and it sucks, after being married and having a child with that person being broken up for a couple of years now my feelings still haven't changed. Now he has a new girl and I can't bare to watch them live their life together. I can't stand the thought of someone stepping into my shoes as a mom and trying to parent my daughter. Allowing her to do one thing at their house that is not allowed at mine. I would rather just let my daughter live with one parent then go back and forth like that. I am always looking for her best interest. My thing is that I would rather give up my rights as a mom just so my daughter can have a normal life, but why should it be me? I am not the one that left to begin with. I have lived out these situations myself as a child and they never end well. I know that the end result is not going to benifit either party. So What do you do in moments like these?

The right wing killing machine is broke

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:27:36 PST

Years ago when I was a young 24 year old I used to listen to Rush everyday in my work truck. I found Rush both informative and very entertaining. He was funny and he would cover all types of social issues, all with his unique spin. My question Is what in the heck happened to that Rush. Today when I listen to Rush or any other right wing blow-hoe it's like I'm listening to the end of the world, one even predicted the end of western civilization. I am so proud that The Majority of Americans did not fall for the right wing killing Machines rhetoric  and constant dooms day predictions.
I also find it rather comical when anyone on the Fox News channel whines about the liberal media. They bitch and complain about the same thing that they do. Fair and balanced my jazz. They whine and complain about MSNBC and their liberal coverage but they expect a free pass for their ultra conservative ideological views.. The right wing killing machine is dividing this country by taking things out of context and spreading half truths.
There was a time that I could turn on any of these personalities and hear something different from each one, not any more. Today they all sound the same. Its like they all agree that today this is what we are going to pound into the ground, and pound they do. The shows are being ran just like McCain's campaign....All they do is attack Obama and try and scare us about WHAT Obama is going to do before he has even taken the oath. What they need to do is not try and divide America but try and reunite the Republican party...Because until the Republican party gets its act together the Dems will continue to thrive, They report stuff that no other news programs report.....why....because its just rhetoric not actual news......The results of the presidential election proves that. The American people are to smart to believe that Hannity or Rush has all the answers...they don't...  If they did then why don't they run for office?? Instead they choose to spew their sour grapes.
  Hopefully things will calm down and I can once again enjoy a truly informative and entertaining program soon

Tokyo Police Club grows up with full-length debut

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:25:15 PST

Tokyo Police Club replaced the terseness of its earlier work with a sense of maturity in “Elephant Shell,” the Canadian band’s first full-length album.

While the pulsating rhythms and abrupt tempo shifts inherent in EP “A Lesson in Crime” still come across, “Elephant Shell” is more atmospheric and personal, an album that lends itself to headphones over subwoofers.

Songs about a dystopian future (“Citizens of Tomorrow” on “A Lesson in Crime”) are replaced with “Listen to the Math,” a minimalistic tune about a father’s nervousness after his daughter is born. “Rekindle your heart,” singer and bassist Dave Monks pleads, “these hospital machines are state of the art.”

Over the prominent bass and soft keyboards of “In A Cave,” Monks “threw darts at a spinning globe” in preparation for departure from his home, but vows, “I’ll be back again when the tide is in someday.”

“Elephant Shell” lacks the flash and bang that put Tokyo Police Club on the indie rock map, but it marks an evolution that will likely continue with future endeavors.

Finally saw Repo the genetic opera. A few thoughts.

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:36:25 PST

Saw it last night. So what's the best way to describe it? How about...

THE MOST FUCKING AWESOME MOVIE OF THE DECADE?

As someone who has wasted his life on movies and musicals and opera and every other form of popular entertainment I can say that this is the most interesting and unique movie I have ever seen. I'm one of those annoying jerks who's seen everything and heard everything and can tell you how a movie is going to end ten minutes in. But this movie...this brilliant movie...had me on the edge of my seat. Had me banging my head. Had me applauding wildly.
Now that's not to say it's for everyone. I mean it is a horror opera set in a dystopic future and features scenes of forced organ repossession. Bear that in mind before going to see it. Oh and go on an empty stomach.
Okay if you're new here let me catch you up. The rest of you just hang tight as I explain the basic premise. The year is 2056 there has been an epidemic of organ failures. Organ replacement loans are available but if you miss a payment they send the repo men after you. But it's an opera so it's so much more complicated than that. You've got power stuggles, murder, betrayel, several plot twists, and some gore. Well it was directed by Darren Bousman. The guy from Saw 2-4?
Okay we're all cuaght up? Good. Let's move on.
Anthony Stewart Head is brilliant in the role of Nathan/Repoman.

A man torn between the revulsion he feels over his job and the fact that he's not only good at it but there's a dark part deep inside that's starting to like it.
And Paul Sorvino.

Have you ever seen Paul Sorvino do a bad job in anything? I dare you to name one project in which he sucked. One. No? I didn't think so because you can't so stop trying. This is the great Paul Sorvino. And who knew this man could sing? He fills the screen with dark menace as the head of GeneCo. The only name in organ transplants.
Hell even Paris Hilton does a good job.

But the real standout is Terrence Zdunich as the Graverobber.

A macabre narrator who guides you through this nightmare world. He's not only been playing the part since it was a stage play he was one of the writers. Sort of an Orsen Wells for the alt horror rock opera set. Holy Crap this guy is Wicked Awesome. I can't wait to see what this guy comes up with next.
It is so good to have something new and fresh to geek out over. Don't just see it see it soon with the hardcore fans. Me? I can't wait for the DVD, the deluxe edition, the directors cut, the bootleg of the original play. Yes I'm going to be that guy so I'm warning you now. I'm going to buy a tee shirt.
This movie is absurd, comical, horrifying, ridiculous but most of all brilliant.

Okay now let me tell you about the night I had. So the plan was a simple one. We'd go to the 10 pm show because there would be cast and crew there and I'm a big ol' geek. Also I haven't been feeling well as I have a cold so I'd spend most of the day sleeping to try and recuperate. I'd wake up late take my time, we'd drive down have a leisurly dinner get our tickets and see the flick. But I check the computer to find that 10 pm has sold out.
What?
Well the cast and crew will also be there for the 7:30 show. What time is it? 4pm. Aaaaaaah! Quick take supressents and caffine! Helen and I throw some clothes on rush out the door in time to meet Fred who was also expecting a leisurly drive down. But now it's pile in car and leave behind cough drops and tissue. On the way down I call my pal Chris who I haven't seen in years. I tell him we'll be little earlier than expected. So now I have to drive to Eagle Rock and then make my way to Hollywood in rush hour traffic. We're actually considering chucking the plan and going to the Pasadena showing. But Fred, being the voice of determination, says no. No we have a plan let's do it. So we use bypasses and shortcuts and go the wrong way once or twice but actually make it in time to be literally some of the last tickets sold.
Have you ever been in a theater full of people who desperately wanted to be there? The experiance is a little like a rock concert. The energy is up the people are pumped. Everyone wants this. It's an experiance you're never going to get at home no matter how much you pay for your home theater system.
It was one of the more responsive audiences I'd ever seen. The kind of audiences performers dream about. And there was a sense we were all there for the beginning of something. Oh the Repo thing has been building for months now. And yes I know I've been talking about it a lot and I'm sorry. But it meets the definition of a cult film. In that it has a rabid fan base that doesn't care what the critics say.
What have they said?
Well let's just say they haven't been kind.
Again I'm going to say, this movie is not for everyone. Most of you probably won't like it. And that just makes it so much cooler in my opinion.
Anycrap. After the movie there was an afterparty at a resturant near by. I went up to Darren Smith, one of the writers, and told him how much I loved the movie. Not only that but his solo folk CD. I told you I'm a giant feek. He was surprised. He even remembered some conversations we had about Spider Baby. He wanted to talk more about it a few weeks from now but in the meantime I should come in and have a drink. So there I am in a Hollywood premier party. Okay it's only Lionsgate but still. And here's why there probably won't be a Spider Baby the musical movie. I was there rubbing shoulders with people higher on the food chain than me in the entertainment world. Here was my opportunity to network and make things happen. But I was lost. I mean totally lost. Completely out of my depth, as it were. I lost Darren pretty quick in the crowd and when some of the people with me complained about being hungry we just took off.
Loser.
Anyway I'm still trading messages with Terrence Zdunich. And he has promised to come see the Baby if I ever get it mounted in LA. So I've got that.
So yeah I got to go to a preimer party but I wasn't able to do anything about it. On the other hand I got to spend time with my wife and my friends and see and amazing movie. So all in all I'm going to call this one a win.

The Weedpatch Gazette

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:46:17 PST

Fortunately those of us who talk to our furry companions are not threatened with being hauled off to the Loony Bin for doing so. And while some of us are convinced Fluffy and Fido understand what we are saying few of us expect them to communicate in turn with articulate speech, though “feed me” and “pet me” come through very clearly, especially in the case of cats. Yet, when I stroll about outside the cat seems to actually enjoy my company and strolling with me just like the old dog I had on the mining claim here in the Kern River Valley when I was a boy. Why? I don’t know.

In a crazy world it continues to make some kind of sense to us and makes us feel warm all over when we see a TV segment of baby ducks being rescued and returned to their anxiously waiting momma duck. Part of that warm feeling is being aware the momma duck seems to be aware that the humans involved are trying to help her and her babies, that there is no intent to harm her babies. When kittens and puppies, any baby animals are rescued by humans we get that warm feeling that there is goodness to be found among us; and few things so stir our anger as to discover someone has been cruel to baby ducks, somehow we know those that would do such a thing must be some kind of monster, something distinct and apart from a human being. Jesus leveled the direst of warnings against those that would harm a child, and we seem to know intuitively that those that would be cruel to harmless little creatures like baby ducks will have the same satanic trait toward people, a diabolically inhuman trait that is not subject to any kind of “rehabilitation.”

It may be fortunate for us that the resident cat or dog cannot speak our language; we have the advantage of being able to talk to them without fear of a negative response. It doesn’t work that way talking to people where we often have to be very guarded and circumspect in our speech. Over the many years I have often found myself talking to some critter, much as I imagine my Cherokee ancestors did, giving vent to my innermost thoughts knowing the animal though being attentive would not betray my confidences. Very seldom do you find a person you can trust in like manner. This is one of the reasons animals figure prominently in many religions, why so many try to endow animals with human, even supernatural characteristics.

But I have never tried to communicate my thoughts about the hereafter with the resident cat or any other such creature. While I believe all life returns to the Creator of life, I just don’t expect animals to understand my thoughts on the subject. Perhaps because my many years of dealing with forest and farm animals never resulted in the kind of communications I would have with people it hasn’t crossed my mind that I should be looking to animals for answers to the many questions I have concerning the supernatural. In this I find myself departing from those like the ancient Egyptians for example; but I won’t attempt to disabuse those whose beliefs include things like cats being “familiars.” In some cases, people are having fun with such a thing and I wouldn’t think of intruding myself on the fun.

My son Michael and my friends like Mike and Byron know what I mean about living with “ghosts” and they are as likely to talk to the resident cat as I am when they visit. But I would understand their concern for me and couldn’t fault them if they called for the boys with butterfly nets if I ever told them that my ghosts or the resident cat were having real conversations with me; much as I have always avoided people who declare “God told me” and expect people to believe them. Whether it is God, ghosts, or the cat those of a rational mind are going to demand such claims be supported by incontestable evidence and rightly so.

But God does speak to me through the Bible and his Creation, and while I find these to be a far better resource even if Nancy Reagan did engage in séances I wouldn’t be finding fault with her, and if some believe in astrology that is their affair. Believers in such things are often among the best and brightest, the most well educated and are often trying to make sense of the lunatic world they find themselves in. It is only natural for people to reach out to the supernatural in an attempt to make sense of the craziness surrounding us, and I find comfort in lighting a candle and communing with my loved ones gone on before me. That I haven’t resorted to a Ouija Board or crystal ball doesn’t mean I have no sympathy with those who do credit such things, and we would be all the poorer without Abbott and Costello’s “The Time of Their Lives.”

Many of us reach out to the supernatural in an attempt to find comfort in our grief, to find a source of guidance, of understanding and hope in an evil world that makes little sense. What might be considered a milder form of lunacy among those who credit charms and amulets, séances, astrology or crystal balls can be entertaining, even bringing comfort to some. It is when such things become extreme and impinge on the lives of others adversely there is cause for real concern. Few would want to return to the Dark Ages of burning witches and heretics, though the Biblical warnings against things like witchcraft remain.

I really enjoy the old black and white movies of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man; I even enjoy the Mummy films of Brendan Fraser, but I do not like the blood and gore in full color of the senselessly violent films. I like things that stir the imagination without the computer generated splatter of blood everywhere, and one of the more obvious signs of the end of this age to me is the growing violence against women and children, both in film and in reality.

If people are having fun with their beliefs or finding comfort in them without harm to anyone more power to them. If those of us who talk to our furry companions are not causing any harm by doing so, why would any complain? But since I believe we are now facing a new Dark Age one of the things I am growing increasingly sensitive to is the way people abuse animals as well as the way women and children are being abused.

Rockabilly show in Anaheim

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:38:32 PST

As co-producer of the Hot Rock Ranch shows in the O.C. I'm totally excited about our next show!

We do a monthly show at the Juke Joint in Anaheim and our next one is on November 29th 2008, the saturday after thanksgiving. Luis and the Wildfires is an awesome Wild Records label band the is headlining our show. It's a hard rockin beat that will help you work off all the turkey you hogged down on thanksgiving. And opening for the show is a Cramps style band called the Vooduo! Gauranteeed to wake your ass up from those workday blues you've been suffering from all week. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Hot Rock Ranch- A Rough Rock N Roll Lifestyle

hugs,

Carrie

Adult Swim cartoon cures bloodlust

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:00:07 PST

The laws of physics don’t apply to the frenetic violence in “Superjail!”

In one episode of the cartoon’s first season, a genetic mutant kicks an inmate through his chest, bending his spinal cord back like a bow before it shattered, leaving behind a wrinkly pile of flesh.

In another episode, a swarm of bees stings a man until he swelled up like a pus balloon and exploded in a bloody mess.

“Superjail!” airs on late-night animation block Adult Swim and revolves around a psychedelic jail of the future, complete with a levitating robot that uses emoticons for facial expressions.

The Warden, who looks like a sadistic Willy Wonka, encourages the chaos that breaks out in his jail, chaos caused mostly by teleporting twins with giant uni-brows. His meager accountant Jared always cleans up The Warden’s colorfully bloody messes.

If you amplified Looney Tunes violence by a couple thousand and filtered it through the lens of the “Beavis and Butthead” animators, the end result would be “Superjail!”

You would also see what a bad acid trip looks like without having to take any drugs.

Musician adapts to new recording contract

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:55:14 PST

Andrea Desmond learned how to adapt.

Shifting around America, the singer-songwriter got used to introductions.

After arriving to Chico State from Boston, she had to meet another new group of friends. When she did, she fused her jazz tinged piano and vocals with a heavy funk back-up band.

Now her aspiring music career is taking a new direction: artist management with Wild Oak Music Group.

Desmond, a junior majoring in music, drew interest from the campus record label after her solo performances at the Songwriter’s Guild Competition and Spring Songwriter Showcase, said music industry major Sharon Ramirez, artist manager for Wild Oak.

“Her name kept popping up,” Ramirez said, adding that she’d been recommended through referrals from students in the music industry program. “She has a good sound that is intriguing for a lot of people.”

Desmond and her band are recording a single in the Wild Oak studio and will appear in a female songwriter’s showcase tentatively planned for December, Ramirez said. Fellow Wild Oak artists Jeanette Hawkins and Aubrey Debauchery are also set to perform.

Born in Saratoga, Calif., Desmond started playing the piano at the age of five and went to a lot of performing arts camps as a child, including the Ethos Summer Music Camp at Chico State, she said. She finished high school in St. Louis and got a music internship with a commercial composer for Anheuser-Busch.

Going to Emerson College in Boston for a year had a profound effect on Desmond.

“It kind of toughened me up,” she said. “You have to be really independent when you live in a big city. You hold your own.”

After her freshman year at Emerson, a school specializing in communication and the arts, Desmond just wanted to go back to California.

“Moving around so much, I was going through so many culture shocks,” she said. “I felt like it would probably be the best for me to be back around similar-minded people.”

Remembering the Ethos camp, she spent the next year in Chico vigorously writing new songs, she said. A few months ago, she juxtaposed her sound with the warbling bass of Tyler Hughes, crisp drumming of Matt Blatchley and melodic guitar of Robby Axton. Blatchley and Hughes played in local metal band Alescere.

“They’ve added a completely new element,” she said. “They add power, they add a new rhythm. It becomes more than just me on piano. For them, I think they were just willing to branch out.”

In live performances with her band, Desmond likes to improvise, something she said she couldn’t do alone.

“I need to work with other people,” she said. “You’ve got to work off of the vibe of other musicians.”

Ramirez said that Wild Oak will arrange more concerts with Desmond next semester and work to get her more well-known locally.

After graduating from Chico, Desmond said she wants to attend Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. While the current lineup will go their opposite ways, Desmond plans to look for a band with the same aesthetic, but will remember her time in Chico.

“Chico is a place of passion,” she said. “We’re all going to leave Chico.

On and on and on...

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:40:18 PST

So my dear friend Shaun-The-Encaustic-King emailed me a blurb on a writing competition somewhere in the Great Northwest. Apparently I'd sent him some of my work a while ago, and he thought I'd be interested in adding to my somewhat ancient portfolio o' goodies. Well, he was right, and now I'm freaking out over what five pieces to submit. Yeah, it's been a while - wish me luck.

I took my amazing jackhuahua, Whiskey, to a doggie clinic the other day and got him shot full of rabies vaccine and a nice little microchip. Now we need to take a trip down to get him licensed and we're good to go. He'll be happy to have another jingly tag on the d-ring of his harness!

Oh, we've acquired a new family member - Tobie. Tobie is dumb as a rock, with stark white whiskers against shiny black fur. He has a stark white belly and paws and takes great joy in chasing and being chased up and down the hallway by Morph. We've decided he's a crd-carrying member of the Underfoot Clan, just as the rest of them, so he fits in just fine.

Home is chaotic, as usual. I think we like it that way - warm, cluttered-but-somewhat-clean, relaxed, fairly happy. We put extra comforters on the beds last night, which should take care of the deep chill that's set in with the advent of Fall. Of course Whiskey likes it - he now has a darker, substantially warmer cave down by my feet and can be heard snoring under the covers at the foot of our bed at any hour of the day.

Oh, and synestine and I are still hanging in there...

The Weedpatch Gazette

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:52:36 PST

Satan has his hot button issues some of which are homosexuality, pedophilia, child molestation, marriage and family, the Bible, moral standards, civilized manners and speech and the servants of the Evil One will quickly organize to attack all those expressing views about these things contrary to the Devil’s. “Hath God said…?” And this is how the cunning serpent in the Garden approached Eve, to call into question the word of God. Eve’s mistake seems to have been in not only paying attention to the serpent but allowing it to go even further and actually contradict God, telling Eve she would not die as God had warned, but would become like a god herself.

As a daughter of Eve, Governor Sarah Palin should have taken heed and not listened to the serpent. While I applauded Governor Palin and voiced my support of her as a glimmer of hope on the political scene, knowing she was the only bright spot in McCain’s campaign and the wisest choice he could make under the circumstances this did not detract from the Biblical injunction due to Eve’s part in The Fall that women are not to have power and authority over men.

Jesus warned the true prophets of God do not wear soft clothing and live in kings’ palaces. Paul warned women about adorning themselves with jewelry rather than a quiet and humble spirit. The proper roles of men and women are carefully delineated both in Scripture and nature, and whenever either departs from their proper roles there is a price to be paid. When it comes to politics or any position where either men or women seek power and authority over others invariably there is a hearkening to the serpent rather than to God. Whenever anyone attempts to pass themselves as a child of God while patently ignoring those things that should be the distinguishing characteristics of their purported divine parentage we are warned to be wary of such people.

From the very beginning when Caesar Bush pronounced he needed no other advisor than God I knew he was certainly not divinely anointed to the White House, but rather a false prophet. No real prophet of God seeks power and authority over others, but is commanded to live in a way as to be an example to others of God’s way of working in the lives of his children; and seeking power and wealth is a characteristic of the children of the Devil, not the children of God.

The Devil moves in the very best circles of the world. While the works of the Devil are evident in the most heinous of crimes against women and children especially, he seems most comfortable among his own of the most elite establishments of this world system, among the inner circles of power and wealth, and though his servants often flaunt such things as riches and fame the most powerful remain in the shadows lest their evil deeds as Jesus pointed out be exposed.

Emerson was quite correct in pointing out individuals like Socrates, Jesus, and Washington leave no class. While they may leave disciples, such individuals are unique not only to themselves but to history. Many may take of their example and teachings, but invariably when the schools are founded and followers begin to multiply the unique genius of the originals becomes lost and those that presume to speak in their names too often become only caricatures of those whose philosophies they espouse. However, with the loss of the originals we are left with their recorded words, but apart from the Bible there is just no way of making sense of a crazy world, one in which the historical record is that of continuing violence.

We are told in the Bible that a meek and humble spirit is the most prized of God, and are warned that “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If Satan’s fall was occasioned by his pride it is not to be wondered at that his servants, the children of the Devil, would be heir to this same weakness. It’s a hard thing at times to live honestly before both God and men in a world under Satan’s dominion, to live in such a manner as not to give offense through the hypocrisy of unbelievers that would try to have it both ways having one foot in heaven and the other in hell; but such is the requirement for the children of God.

I do believe the struggle on the part of the children of God to be against the world, the flesh, and the Devil, that the warfare is a spiritual one waged in the spirit rather than the material weapons of this world system, but rather the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. The children of God are warned not to give place to the Devil, to resist the Evil One and not to be ignorant of his many devices by which he attempts to ensnare the unwary, but there is a place of safety in keeping our hearts with all diligence, knowing in the words of Jesus that where our hearts are, there will our treasure be also.

But having been designated by many a member in good standing of the aluminum foil hat crowd through my writings expressing my belief there is in fact a Devil and the Bible is factual in many instances and trustworthy in making known the thoughts and the will of God toward humankind, that God has in fact spoken to us through his prophets in the Biblical accounts I have nothing to lose by further pointing out there are many claiming to be God’s children just as willing to call me mad.

As the world churns in unrest on many fronts it is good to have a place to draw apart, a quiet place in which to commune with your own heart and find peace of mind. As with me, it is good if you have departed loved ones and friends with whom you can have sweet communion, knowing we are only separated briefly from these loved ones by the thin and fleeting veil of our mortality. Such is the hope the world cannot offer us, but only God.

ROSE OF PEACE

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:58:42 PST

We have it, and we must live with it!!

Great to be in town again for the holidays.

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:52:07 PST

Wow, all this traveling we do. Sometimes is so exhausting but entertaining and educational at the same time. France and Russia are so happy Obama won our election. Kind of scary for those of us that see the real man behind the mask.

So where are the great bands playing now. It is hard to find a great place to dance, so if any of you know a great band or dance club that isn't elbow to elbow please speak up.

Jess