Philosophy 321 '14
Bits and pieces. Table scraps. That's what you get. Machiavelli lives here.
Welcome to our newest feature. Philosophy 321. A Sunday feature.
8-16-14
First up a credit is due to 'K'. Kurt Vonnegut was the inspiration for 'Notes from the back of the bus', the picture above,
a portion of Ambrosia's Id, and so much of my life. Miss you.
If you get the chance, pick up K's Letters. A stirring read.
So, 'Notes From The Back Of The Bus' was published on July 4th. Missouri is having a nice little row; and as predicted,
our government, and their media sycophants have a nice little class war. Charming, indeed.
Todays lesson is the most basic, a primer for everything to follow.
What does your belief system reflect? A slaughterhouse, a spring garden, a punk metal band? Your answer to that
single question is your answer to your relationship with reality. What your eyes see, what your mind tells you to
believe does not make it a reality; because reality exists - regardless of your presence.
Notes From The Back Of The Bus
We've all moved to the back of the bus. The intellectuals, free-thinkers
Mexicans, the Jews, the Chinese, Iranians, Russians, the Syrians, a few
bankers, and one very conspicuous Canadian, we think he's confused.
We chat and laugh and tell jokes and we even smoke cigarettes. We cracked
open a window and smoke and toss the butts out the window and no one notices.
The moderates, both Democrats and Republicans exited the bus at the millennium.
All that's left at the front of the bus is the far-left and the far-right, and they
are fighting over that one very last, that one very special seat.
The seat at the front of the Bus.
No one is sure where we are headed. Most of us in the back
think it is either Palo Alto or West Hollywood, depending on
who gets that last seat at the front of the bus.
There has been an argument among us about the undercoating of the bus.
Some of us think the bus has an undercoating and some of us are
convinced the bus has no undercoating. We have not bothered
to ask those thrown under the bus, no argument there. This discussion
arose out the remark that we were apologizing to everyone at the front
of the bus for our domestic cars. Filthy despicable nasty things, these
domestic automobiles. Poorly designed and riddled with flaws and recalls;
we are told they pollute and clog our highways to no end. Pity we all
cannot own foreign cars like everyone at the front of the bus; it would
be so much nicer, and we would feel so much closer to those at the front.
Some of us are absolutely convinced that Fortune 500 CEO's are
moonlighting. No one can figure out where these $90 an hour
auto-dealership mechanics are coming from. Ninety dollars an hour.
For an auto mechanic. That's $187,000 a year. Grease included.
Greedy bastards these CEO's, stealing perfectly good jobs from
our children attending $12,000 a year trade-schools.
Everyone at the back of the bus has decided to form a collective
to apologize for paying our utility bills. We figure it's better to
share the burden and the guilt equally. But we haven't decided on
which private utility supplier to apologize to, because we are
told there is to be a pamphlet published. Once we are in possession
of this manifest, we are sure to know what we are apologizing
for, and to whom we should apologize. Damn nasty things, these utilities.
Lot's and lot's of tanning lotion being passed around back here.
No one dare stand accused of being a red-skin.
No greater shame than the word Redskin.
The longer we all sit-collectively, at the back of the bus,
the more comfortable we become with each other. We think this
is because anyone with any sort of fame has gone running to the
front of the bus. Of course, that is their right. Still then, this leaves
us at the back of the bus feeling comfortable that we are nobodys.
No jealousies, petty hatreds, hidden fears of loss of power or fame,
no worries of status or beauty or superiority.
~ W. Marshall Moseley
Some writers are improvisational, some with great aforethought
and sanctimonious editors. The great ones can do both.
You can remember Robin Williams your way,
myself mine. And Papa. But not Mandela.
8-24-14
I am less concerned with the public execution of reporters, and, fifteen years later; more concerned
that no-one in the US Government can visualize the vicious cycle of public execution/media frenzy.
These terrorists do not do this because they missed the last episode of the Kardashians, they do it
because the American Media is either (A) Willingly providing coverage (B) Blindingly stupid that
the root cause of the Columbine Massacre was the criminals perpetual need for public attention.
The US Government and the US Media are enablers.
This type of behavior is extreme. On both sides. A extreme reaction by the media to an extreme
action by terrorists, - is extremely childish. A responsible and moral adult can and should say 'NO'.
This cycle is not tolerated in many societies and should not be tolerated here. It is NOT tolerated
in China, and rightfully so. I would never argue otherwise.
LAUD. Every week when the Nielson ratings are announced, when you see the Pulitzer Journalism
prizes awarded, the Golden Globes, the Emmys, and all the others; I remind myself that the
American Press spends a great deal of time and effort on their self-congratulatory society of
of incompetence and stupidity.
I have no compunction on the viewing of Paris Hilton's breasts, and a great deal of distaste
for the - media/government/terrorist film fest - that has become a daily feature. That is JUST.
Your not 'my friend'. Yes, I did send flowers to John McCain's Englewood Colorado Campaign
office in 2008, after a fake anthrax letter was received. I sent Daisies. Take a hint.
This weeks Literary recommendation: Papa's A Moveable Feast
Set yourself to memorize all ninety-two pages.
It does not describe my recommendation on a personal basis, unless otherwise previously stated;
it is a recommendation and describes my relationship with the media in general.
There is a certain segment of the media that does not belong in the Café at all.
It has been a horrid week a horrid respite and the last couple of days a complete absence of sanity.
To facilitate the aspiration of a more lucid week ahead, I am making a second literary recommendation.
Study the Wikipedia entry and anything else you can find on 'The Yellow Kid'.
October 12
In more than one hundred years, yellow journalism has not worked. It never has and never will.
These are from the Wikipedia entry for " Yellow Journalism ". To the American Press that uses
yellow journalism, I say:
In more than one hundred years - you have created NOTHING, you have accomplished NOTHING.
October 19
From November 21, Eighteen Eighty Eight (1888) A cartoon of Pulitzer and Hearst from Eighteen Ninety Eight (1898)
* A note for the boys. Scratch that, the children - at Langley.
Your not going to see Dick. He is not taking your calls. He doesn't like you.
He is not alone in thinking that for 'professional anarchists', your very incompetent.
August 31, 2014
Schools In. A respite from the reading, the vitriolic conversation.
My favorite comedy. On YouTube ($3.00), or Netflix.
Enjoy the all-star cast. They don't make them like this anymore
With a liberal helping of snacks.
September 7
Today's Menu
Pre-Breakfast:
Coffee, with donuts
Breakfast:
Cereal (Apple Jacks), Toast
Lunch (optional):
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Dinner:
Leftover Salmon, white rice, non-gmo corn.
Dessert:
A unfinished copy of Umberto Eco's Bauldolino, hasty pudding.
September 14
Lives In The Balance
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you have seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs
On the radio, talk shows and the TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own
Or the people who finally can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun, or a brick, or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children under cannons
And there is blood on the wire
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
We can't even say the names
They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
At the same time they sell us our wars
I wanna know who the men in the shadows are
I wanna hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children under cannons
And there is blood on the wire
~Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne on El Salvador. Today's theme, Going Home. Gracefully stated years ago
by Jackson and so many other artists who never posed for selfies, chased the red carpet,
checked their twitter feed, or gave a rats ass what was said on Wonderwall.
Chrissy Hines is home. She's Anglo. Her ancestors came here on a boat. A different boat
than the Africans. She went home-to London. No secret what she thinks of Ohio. She
penned a song about it. Yes, you can. Yes, you can go home.
September 21
Table scraps
My conundrum. To give you a roast you savor as a bone. Read the entire works, study the biography.
September 28
Are you looking for a man in a trench-coat? Really. So was he.
Appreciate the life of a man; trapped in a meat locker, surviving the Dresden bombing, living to tell.
October 10
Recommended reading...See also: Sustainable
Tonight's feature presentation...
This, from your friends at Disney. Available from youtube and Netflix.
The Spew of Hatred
It had been several weeks since I had logged onto The Huffington Post. In doing so I immediately
realized my error and recognized some important Ideals.
As much as Ms. Huffington is admired as a progressive, she and her editorial staff are central to a
continuous spew of scorn and hatred that has permeated the social climate of both NYC and DC, and
hallmark of this administration.
We get face-time with a seemingly nonchalant Commander In Chief who appears unmoved by Social Upheaval;
but behind the scenes there are a cast of hateful bitter and vicious malcontents moved only to anarchy.
Secretary of State Kerry; whose singular world view is that of Mein Kampf, and an exceedingly
pre-adolescent view at that.
Susan Rice, the Klingon; Conclusive proof that our government has acquired Cloaking capabilities.
National Security Advisor and Secretary to the United Nations, and invisible.
Secretary of Defense Hagel; History's most confident scapegoat. A table scrap yet to be devoured by a
lethargic and apathetic Congress.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell; very well qualified, she can run the DHHS and a
website. Former Director of the Gates Foundation, she is the best Klingon we have.
Vice President Biden, who continuously vacillates between outbursts of hatred and feeble attempts to
console those he offends.
What is left of a Cabinet that has either capitulated or struck out on their own with personal quests.
Former Attorney General Holder; who might believe that his legal efforts are more weighty out of office
than in, and has the potential to prove his thesis correct. His tenure never exhibited the leadership the
position affords, perhaps because of administrative conflict, and perhaps not.
Former Secretary of Defense Panetta; whose credibility as a critic is greatly diminished by his lack of
credibility for leadership.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Arkansas' most feared Barrister. Accomplished public
speaker and mass hypnotist.
The notion that Idealism has cast a permanent chasm between myself and this faux-dictatorship is not
lost on me. Liberalism has long had the reputation for a lack of respect for tradition. Of the Ideals for
which I am proudest, it is the ability to distinguish between real Democracy and faux-dictatorship; and
the path Liberals will use to lead us from one to the other.
The continuous hatred baiting and mindless war-mongering of America's Yellow Press has taken a toll;
not just upon myself, but most, if not all civilized nations.
October 19
And I was expecting a Cuisinart.
Nigga still be stalking me and shit.
October 26
My Id. Often unrealistic, occasionally successful.
You can't fix stupid, continued.
The last couple of years have been a repetition of mis-information and outright
bullshit over North Korea. A while back I wrote 'Forward', an essay laying the
epistemological foundation for U.S. non-involvement, with assurances that I would
not write another. With the recent release of a single criminal held for document
issues, I am given to the thought that American Government would do well to
continue to make use of Dennis Rodman. We can be assured he has proper
documentation, such as a Birth Certificate. No chance of falsifying a Visa...
November 2
The times, they are a changing.
So interesting how demographics change the interest in Subjects.
Ebola Quarantine for example.
Two weeks of more personal attention than you received at birth.
Of course we will hold your job for two weeks, you will be the one
employee we know is not infected, for that first day.
Ebola Quarantine, changing the insurance industry as we speak.
Every drama queen's goal.
Ebola, more news filler than a war.
Ebola, demonstrating the virtues of public health care by committee.
Roomba's In Space
Saturn, the moons, Cassini and 30K still photos sequenced.
A Kickstarter IMAX project in development, and an undisputable
argument for my position on Space Exploration and the Conservation of Resources.
November 9
Machiavelli lives here.
Mrs. Loretta Lynch, meet Eddie Slovic; Private Eddie Slovic, Mrs. Loretta Lynch.
November 16
November 23
Doctor Ada Igonoh, Nigeria
“Your Blood Tested Positive for Ebola. I Am Sorry.”
By Dr. Ada Igonoh
on November 12, 2014
Once in a while, you read something that's so compelling, you want to share it with everyone you can.
Dr. Ada Igonoh's story had that effect on me.
Dr. Igonoh is a physician in Lagos, Nigeria, where she helped care for Patrick Sawyer, the patient who
introduced Ebola into Nigeria in July. After coming down with the deadly virus herself, she
spent two harrowing weeks getting treatment in isolation wards.
Condensed from Bill Gates Blog
On the night of Sunday July 20th, 2014, Patrick Sawyer was wheeled into the emergency room of
the First Consultants Medical Centre, Obalende, Lagos, with complaints of fever and body weakness.
The male doctor on call admitted him as a case of malaria, and took a full history. Knowing that Mr.
Sawyer had recently arrived from Liberia, the doctor asked if he had been in contact with an Ebola
patient in the last couple of weeks, and Mr. Sawyer denied any such contact. He also denied attending
any funeral ceremony recently. Blood samples were taken for full count blood, malaria parasites,
liver function test, and other baseline investigations. He was admitted into a private room and started
on antimalarial drugs and analgesics. That night, the blood count result came back as normal and
not indicative of infection.
Please, read the complete story HERE
Source: Microbewiki
Writers note:
I also found the story compelling. I do not expect that the story can
or will get the media coverage it deserves. It will not sell soap and
it will not increase the ratings share of anyone's interest. It does however,
provide a remarkable professional insight into what has been portrayed
as a incurable disease.
Please, enjoy your Thanksgiving.
' Diseases do a lot of different things, all vicious, but there's one thing they've
got in common: they find our vulnerabilities and exploit them. '
~Bono
Read the full text of the message HERE
I can only add, 'are you being served?'
November 30
We are NOT all Trayvon Martins.
For those of you who cannot place the image, this is Fidel Castro's
brother Raul, at the eulogy for Nelson Mandela a year ago this week.
A far cry from the images of Ferguson Missouri this week.
Of course, when people commit robberies, they use lollypops and candy
and give flowers and compliments before they rob and steal. So we all
KNOW that when police respond to these types of calls they are unconcerned
for their own safety.
Of course, it was late at night and Michael Brown was out earning his eagle
scout badge walking little old ladies across the street, and not wandering
down the middle of the street with another thug, as reported.
All the turmoil in Ferguson this week has left me bewildered. What is right
and what is wrong, as reported by the American Press?
If they can't torch the press, at least they torched the town.
No way this fight was fixed, really!
December 7
Prayer meeting. Americans are in prayer meeting now that Ukraine suffers
a nuclear emergency. Not that Americans want to acknowledge it happened.
As for myself, I would actually let Ukraine Freeze In The Dark until they
begged to be invaded by someone who could cuddle them and keep them warm.
As far as energy policies go, here's an idea; Let spend all our monetary resources on overpriced energy resources.
Cause, like dude, who needs any other monetary agenda?
Not actually looking the other way; P
'16 Democratic Campaign Poster/Strategy
Keywords: Affordable Care Act, Kinder Gentler ThugLife, New Tax Strategy,
Comprehensive Energy Policy, Debt Paydown.
December 14
Banksy
Columbines
December 21
December 28
