Black October?

I fear that this might be a new "Black" October. Maybe this coming Monday. Check back to see if I was prescient, deluded or both. The reason I say this is one of what I call "netuition". I can feel it from the web.

I stopped at the nearest Starbucks to get my net and cafe fix, ok actually the Valencia sweetened black tea lemonade...mmmmm. Flipped open my Powerbook, signed into Starbuck's paid net.. bummer... and was presented with the news. First my email wanted to sell me some hoodlums or hoodia or a rolex watch. Fine, delete, next.

Ah, Skolnick! Let's see what this conspiracy minded quadriplegic has to say. His consistent rantings are rarely accurate but in this case it is the spirit of the accusations and not the letters. IN ALL CAPS, SKOLNICK IS SCREAMING that Bush and gang are going down legally and the true patriotic generals are finally becoming brave.

Next I catch headlines of large layoffs quickly followed with the great frame-up of Syria. As a backdrop to all this I know that the bankruptcy law went into place. This is going to increase everyone's minimum payment on their charge cards. Throw in the 50% increase in heating gas and a whipped up Wilma and you have the proverbial perfect storm about to wipe the edifice of false patriotism to expose a naked emperor and our Greenscammed economy.

How did we get here? Well my current theory is that our form of capitalism is inherently unsustainable for a nation state. It can only suit a world state. Of course this plays into all the New World Order folks but it is true.

What has always been a battle between the banks and the capitalists has been won by Wall Street and the banks. The quarterly results are the only product that counts. With all of America relinquishing control of their money by "investing" in a mutual fund we have created a massive Wall Street elite that controls trillions. They worship numbers and a quarterly number is evidently very powerful to these worshippers. Now with all our relinquished trillions they buy stock and controlling interests in many corporations.

At this point the company is now basically owned by a bank. Banks are owned by individuals with the largest owned by non-american citizens or ones of dual citizenship. These very wealthy and powerful people routinely flaunt their power and their ability to wage wars, crumble economies, ruin lives, countries, while sodomizing young children and sacrificing at alters all while laughing at the meek. They want the a complete world government. America was in the way. So they planted and invested and steered us to a world of outsourcing, depravity, TV realities, walled off McMansions and contrived terrorists around every corner.

The war in Iraq is going very badly and is extremely expensive. Thankfully, China continues to loan us money. But I thought they used to be our enemy? Hmm, something inside me says this could be a trap.

Well nonetheless the circuses are still going on and I will surely watch the White Sox attempt to win the World Series. Weren't they once branded the Black Sox? Well hold your breath and let's see if we can get past October without a total financial meltdown.

Buy gold.

Buy Gold

Boy is that going to piss off Wall Street and the banks. Gold is very undervalued right now as Greenscam has flooded our country with debt and money. A good friend of mine painted the picture of someone trying to outrun an explosion. Eventually it's going to catch up and I think it is going to be now.

For some reason, ok the reason is October, I always get a chill up my financial spine. Seems like the markets always crash in October. This year the witching date is October 17th or so. This is when the new bankruptcy law goes into effect and the law of unintended consequences is going to rear its ugly head and shake the foundation of those greedy bankers. People, the minimum payment is going up, up, up, up by 50%!! Gas prices are going up, you guessed it 50%! And the government wants us to believe that inflation is very mild! Who's smoking what now???? Oh and doesn't gas count? Buy gold I tell you. If gold gets hot and it is starting to get warm it could potentially double.

Gold is also a good investment is very uncertain times. So, let us take a quick tour of the various realms and vectors that are presenting themselves.

In the geological perspective we have global warming, earthquakes, extreme weather, an overly active sun and Mars drifting closely by. And remember Mars is closely associated with war.

In the biological realm we have genetically modified crops, stem cell and dna codings, asian flu, bird flus, wmd flus, aids, and a diminishing world of bio diversification. Though in the rain forest eradication for good measure too.

In the energy realm we have peak oil, abiotic oil, controlled oil and Iraq oil. And not matter how you suck the oil, Wall Street gets rich and more engorged on petrodollars.

Economically our auto manufacturers are bankrupt, REFCO a major derivatives firm is going under, Fanny and Freddy are very over exposed and the housing/credit bubble is just ticking down, down, down. And our choice of keeping this Ponzi scheme afloat is to run a protection racket creating terrorists so we can force everyone to use US Dollars. Sad, very sad.

Politically our government is completely devoid of ideas, gonads, and truth. They all fear the truth more than maintaining the lie. G-d Bless America? Hello people, G-d is screaming at us to wake up. It is time for America first and not our government first. That is communism. So buy gold and live free.

State Sanctioned Fun

I have been reading a lot about how Hurricane Katrina showed the need for government. I say this is a completely wrong read on everything. What we actually need is a complete purge of our government. What we need is our own velvet revolution to oust all the incumbents and create a new third party.



What Katrina has showed us is that our Federal Government is now totally corrupt from top to bottom. No amount of money or investigative panels will do anything. No, I now agree with the conservatives, we need to starve the Federal Government. And, we need to replace all of them. In fact, I should run, and I would with the following plank; I will do what my constituents want and I will do it cheaper! I would be happy to be a Senator at 2/3 pay. As such I will make it easy and transparent to see what I have to vote on and how you want me to vote. In other words, I will represent you and not the lobbyists. Ok, enough of my dreams, and back to Katrina.



Would more money to the government help? NO!. These morons would just use it for more panels, more lobbyists, more pork and never would they really try to be frugal, efficient and competitive.



What do I receive from my Government besides a federally sanctioned protection racket? What do I get for my taxes? Health insurance? NO. Safe bridges, levees, and railroads? NO. Stupid inspections by the fascist pork of homeland security? YES. I say it is time to change our government. Yes it will be hard, but our future depends on it. How can we be a sustainable country when the corporations have complete control? Is that freedom? Shoot, if something is free and enjoyable, you know darn well our corporations/government will try to find a way to make it illegal, taxed or as a friend said recently... state sanctioned fun. YUK!!!! Where have we gone so wrong? Well trashing the gold standard during Nixon was a start.



Now we all have to pledge allegiance to the lie of 9/11. Perpetual war which means perpetual peace, which means perpetual income to the connected.



Well, at this point all I can say is buy gold.



Yes, I know I was all over the place today, but it's early, I have to go, and I needed to say something today.

If only he had accepted....

I remember, I don't if it was the Mike Wallace interview, or an interview I read in a paper, but, Saddam Hussain actually had offered a duel with President Bush. Well after reading about another four of our great soldiers being blown to bits, I can't help dwell on the fact that this war could have been over in a day if only our strong, courageous, chickenhawk president would have accepted. Not only would there have been hundreds of thousands of lives saved, hundreds of billions of dollars saved, but think of the ratings!

This could have been the mother of all reality shows. Think of the preparation, the practices, the pomp and circumstance around this great event. Maybe it could be held in a neutral country like Switzerland. By the way, how is it that Switzerland can be neutral? Oh yes, that is where the banks are, but then I digress.

Think of the buildup and the interviews. Think of the great cheering sounds as these two great warriors walk into the arena. Would the chants of BUSH, BUSH, BUSH drown out those of SADDAM, SADDAM, SADDAM? Think of the quiet as these two men listen to the referees tell them the rules as we strain to hear and see their reactions as they steely gaze into each other. The tension would be great, and now a break from our sponsor, Viagra.

Ok, we're back and after a brief jostling the two leaders went back to their spots to get one last brief remark of encouragement and to remember to be patient, calm and aim. The two nervously rock back and forth when finally the whistle is blown and the men must move to the center circle with their backs to each other. The cameras pan the crowds, shift to closeups of each face, showing the men before the possible final moment. Quick to the split screen effect as the second whistle blows.

The leaders start their walk of twenty paces each. This little fact alone took over three months of negotiations between the parties. Saddam wanted ten and Bush wanted a hundred. Rumors floated of a cia agent marksman planted somewhere in the stadium, however, security was tightest for this event since ... well since I boarded the airplane to come here.

Step by step they walk with the cameras closing in, five steps, ten steps... You can feel the tension. You see the tension. Quickly we cut to a mother holding a US Flag closer to her hearty, next we cut to an Iraqi mother holding her child so close to her heart. This is it everyone. In a moment this great war will be decided... 15, 16, 17, they hold their guns like they held their babies many years ago,,, 18, 19, 20..... BANG! BANG!

The war is over.

Corporate Cynicisms

I was looking at site when I noticed a picture of some Malaysians walking down a downtown type street with air masks on due to the amount of "haze" in the air. Right there and then it hit me. The corporates have finally achieved capitalistic nirvana. They can sell you the air you breathe! Now, mind you it isn't exactly the air, but its even better... it's the old razor and blade trick. They have to now buy air masks with changeable filters. Plus think of the possibilities, pink masks, blue masks, rainbow masks, even iMasks with built in music players. Isn't progress great?

They already have programmed us for water. Such a simple and insidious plan. Pollute the waters and air and then sell it back filtered. Amazing, and we just love it too. We can't seem to buy enough of these bottles. Filtered water from Fiji?!, Hawaii, even New Jersey. A few more years of burning oil everywhere is sure to make the filter companies eager with anticipation.

Like I always said, "If you can't make money with it, make it illegal." Maybe I now should add, " or pollute it."

This Year's National Rainbow Gathering of Light

It is time that I now write about my experiences this year at the Annual Rainbow Gathering of Light in Richmond, West Virginia this past Fourth of July. Before I go on, I would like to publicly thank the Mayor of Richmond, West Virginia, the Honorable Robert Henry Baber ("Bo Henry"). I actually had the honor to sit and dine with him and learn much about Rich-wood and West Virginia in general.

Bo Henry has a five year plan he created to revitalize this nestled community within the most gentle and fertile mountains of the east. It is realistic and I pray that it becomes successful. There are some great houses there for very little and a community could be instantly bootstrapped into a thriving artistic retreat if it catches on. Nonetheless, I can say with due respect that West Virginia this year was the most inviting rainbow experience ever. A far, far cry from the last gathering in West Virginia. Truly the crowning moment was when we saw a wonderfully created rainbow banner emblazoned with our motto "Welcome Home"! Welcome Home indeed and thank you Mayor Bob Henry for your comfortable hospitality in welcoming our great diverse family.

Now on to the Gathering we go. First off there is the drive. I love driving to the Rainbow Gathering. After 27 years of Rainbow Gatherings I can "feel" the presence and this year was no exception. Even with the feint and switch of locations we managed to arrive spot on.

Parking this year was a cinch as there were three entrances to the gathering. There was a bit of griping about Bus Village being adjacent to the Main Meadow. Well, I for one, being the Elder that I am, really appreciated the short hike to our base Kitchen, "Instant Soup".

These mountains of West Virginia were wonderful. They are 3,200 feet above sea level and are actually quite steep. This made for the long way or the hard way at this years gathering. In fact, after the first rain one hard way turned into a mud sliding, rope saving, mad adventure. Of course I had to do it with Ramona in hand.

Speaking of Ramona she performed excellently I must say this year. Nary a fall, scratch or misfortune betook her which was quite a bit different than other years when I truly feared for her life. Of course she had her usual admirers. Many wanted to know all about her. At 76 years of age I guess I could understand, it being a novelty of sorts.

Those West Virginia mountains were great. There were pure springs everywhere giving forth pure spring water from the mountain rains purified through the loam and rocks of those mountains. These mountains were mostly comprise of a slate. Lots of flat rocks to create floors, stoves, ovens, Bliss Pits and more. Mad digging Shitters especially frustrating. Speaking of which, BARF's Shitter was the best ever. Two closely spaced logs secured and leveled to the ground. Wide enough for business yet narrow enough for containment. They were all six Rainbow Colors for their design and implementation.

Yet this was not their only contribution/invention. They came up with the best trash system seen to date. They used clear bags suspended between two ropes. Thus there were four clear bags in a row with the ropes spaced a foot apart to keep the bags open. This allowed one to see the level of trash and to know exactly where and how their trashed should be deposited.

One of my personal highlights was the honor I was given to umpire a whiffle ball game between BARF (Boston Area Rainbow Family) and NY Purple Gang. Well the rivalry between these great Baseball cities even found its way to the Rainbow Gathering. Past attempts at competitive play have failed miserably. The reason is quite clear actually. Baseball is the perfect gentlemen's sport. It is surely the most non-contact of team play. This fits in quite well with the Rainbow philosophies of Instant Karma, freedom, family and support. Baseball being comprised of a team of specialists mirrors the fascinating colors of humanity when stripped of money and pretense. I gained a new found respect for Baseball.

Right off the bat BARF sent in the girls. These two sisters were beautiful and came bearing their love and their gifts. They were quite persuasive and almost had me there enticements but fortunately I came to my senses quickly and called a fair and controlled game. Who won you ask? Well no one actually. The game was called on account of rain after 5 1/2 innings so it was unofficial. I look forward to next years game.

All this talk of sports and activity has made me wistfully think of our great Kitchen, Instant Soup. This year Instant Soup rose to a new level by not only creating a wonderful stove but also our first oven where we created everything from foccacia to cookies. We really dished out the soup, breads and nugs in general. Instant Soup you rock! However, I do have to give some kudos to Dunkapoo for delivering to us some incredible three risen eclairs freshly baked at their kitchen and then hand delivered to us at Instant Soup. Wow were they incredible.

Some of you may be wondering what is my infatuation with the annual Rainbow Gathering and what it is all about. Well first off let's dispense with the usual right now. An annual Rainbow Gathering is comprised of approximately 10,000 people. There is no one in charge or responsible. It just happens. It is held in a different national forest each year and has allowed me to visit almost 20 states so far. At a Rainbow Gathering money is useless and none is needed. There is no one marketing, selling or tempting you in anyway and this alone truly refreshes the mind. Drugs you ask? Yes, let's face it there are drugs when you get 10,000 people together. However, I must admit that this year, since it was held in the east, there were none of the western growers to share their bounty so nugs were not nearly as abundant. There is bartering at a Rainbow Gathering. This occurs at the Trading Circle. This year I went to setup my little rug, lay down my wares and to trade a bit. I learned a very quick lesson. I am a musician and not a trader. I realized that every time I wanted to just get up and play a song I was soon glancing over at my little blanket worrying about someone stealing my bits! Now mind you, I have never, ever, had a problem with someone taking my stuff. I have left my guitar out many times for anyone to use and was always respected. I guess the moral of this story is that possessions truly start to own the possessor. Like that old song said... "When you got nothing you got nothing to lose", or "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose", or some such phrase, song, psalm or whatever. Nonetheless it is true.

Drugs and alcohol, the scourge of society is interestingly exposed at a Rainbow Gathering. Alcohol is definitely looked down upon and in fact is very much not present at the Rainbow Gathering. Marijuana is usually prevalent and so are different psycho-tropics. Alcohol is limited to the "A" camp which is usually on the outside of a gathering. Now, if we take off our corporate/governmental blinders and just observe the people one immediately sees that alcohol and tobacco are dirty, dangerous and ugly while the rest is harmless, happy, and even loving. There is almost no crime, litter, or fighting at a gathering unless you are at "A" Camp where things can get awfully scary when people start getting real drunk. Well, I guess this just goes to show you that the powers at be prefer us scared, dangerous and out of our minds versus peaceful, happy and with an alternative consciousness. They just want us as sheeple and nothing more.

The next thing that becomes very obvious is what the lack of money does for mankind. It makes everyone relaxed, useful and truly a neighbor. Also, since everyone needs to help out in order to truly appreciate the experience, the rich and poor alike start mingling and enjoying each other. It is truly a miracle and makes me pray and thank G-d that much more. However, like everything else, people have to start to differentiate themselves so immediately you get the Jerusalem camp, the Jesus camp and the Krishna camp. Unfortunately I did not see an Islamic camp.

Well that is all for this years annual gathering of the tribes. I surely played and sung more than I had all year and the brother, sisters, and elders all enjoyed my musicianship. I also met and played with some wonderful musicians and artists.

We loooooovvvvvvvveeeeee you,
-jimijon

Things are getting HOT!

And, I am not talking about the weather either. Today, when I did my morning scan of the world at large through the lenses of various physical and electronic portals, I came to the conclusion that something very bad is about to happen.

The things I base my latest apocalyptic emotion on is China's unabated expansion into Venezuela, a hard-liner conveniently elected in Iran, the daily temperature of Baghdad hitting 115ºF and the announcement of the military to acquire and create new atomic weapons.

This all adds up to one thing to me. Perpetual war at an ever increasing rate. This can only be accomplished by another big event. I hope I am wrong.

New form of Matter Invented!

Just wondered how this fits in the evolution vs. creationism vs. intelligent design debate? Seems to me that everytime we invent something from our dreams we creationists. Now put our little creations together into something that is useful and we are intelligent designers, finally, have someone improve on the design and we are evolutionists.

George Bush and The Pope

At this point I don't see much difference between the Vatican and George
Bush. Even George originally uttered the word "Crusade". And, just like the
people before us we all sit here without a chance to make it different. Soldiers
are hired, hundreds of thousand women and children die and the nobility
parties onward tossing some bread and circuses our way. Oh, yes and along
the way throw 'em a patsy or two to keep them hopeful.

Let's face it we are all sinners here so we all need to move onward towards
a new enlightenment. I suspect December 21st, 2012 will be the start of that
new consciousness. ;-)

- j -

TV or your Kids?

I was reading one of my favorite wackos on the net. A person that goes by the name of Joe Vialls. Anyway, he posed a very interesting question. If you had a choice, would you throw away your TV's, CD, DVDs, etc., or your children?

You know one needs to really think about this. This is not such a frivolous or purely rhetorical question. We are sending our children and the children of others to death every day. Why, because of our TV's, CD's, DVDs.,etc. It is perverse reality.

On a purely logical level, if we didn't have these devices we certainly wouldn't need all the energy and oil we currently consume. So the asset wars of gaining control over natural resources wouldn't seem to be so necessary. This might appeal to the Luddite in us. I admit to being guilty of having that deep seated desire to see all the lights go out. Suddenly, George and I would be completely equal. What good is money when the all the computers can't be turned on? Oh, and your getting hungrier and hungrier. Would you sell you children for food?

Then we get to the point of the sublime. Without the incessant broadcasting of advertising and Hollywood news imagery what would you deem important? Would sending off your children to war be appropriate? Without a quick hip shake and sound bite would the important matters of G-d, family, country and constitution become more studied and more revered?

The Bigs!

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the new word is "bigs". Instantly the beauty of English and the black accented jargon of basketball has created a new noun out of an overworn basketball adjective, big.

The funny thing was, I think I was just telling my mother about how this new noun keeps creeping into the language, when sure enough, I turned a page in the NY Post and there was a headline with "Bigs" in it. Bigs, as in the forwards and centers of basketball or the power brokers and haves of finance.

So, forget the Big Leagues, I want to be in Bigs League.

WebObjects Rocks

If you probably didn't know I am a software developer. However, these days I am a web developer mostly. A little over a year ago I was asked to develop a hosted application. A hosted application is one which clients pay to use. This application is now available and it is called Portfolio Intelligence by 3 Olive Solutions (http://www.3olivesolutions.com). During the requirements process we decided that money was an object and that we should go the open source route as much as possible. Well I had just recently did a fair amount of work with PHP and mySQL so I knew we could go that route. The problem was I didn't care for PHP that much. I was much more comfortable with Java and real objects, etc. Well it just so happened that I also owned two XServes and they came with a deployment license for WebObjects. WebObjects wasn't free but danm near close at about $499 for a developer. In addition, in my past I had to review about a half dozen application servers back in the dot-com days and WebObjects was getting fabulous reviews. The problem was it wasn't Java.

Anyway, we decided that we would use WebObjects for this new project and a year later all I can say is WOW! WebObjects rocks. I have used other application and O/R mapping tools in my past but they can't hold a candle to WebObjects. Direct-to-web is a godsend for reporting, quick prototyping, etc., and Enterprise Objects with the Editing Context is light years above anything else I have used. Needless to say, after about a year we launched a rock solid application with flexible charting (thank you jFreeChart (http://www.jfreechart.org) and a great ad-hoc report generator with export to Excel (thank you Direct-to-Web of WebObjects).

Recently I had to port my app to WebSphere running DB2. Well I did and I don't have to do anything special. The database is determined at runtype and my EOModelPrototype is selected that correctly maps the objects to the relational table. That is very slick.

Wel I could go on, but then, maybe others would catch the WebObjects bug and the secret would really come out that WebObjects rocks!

Treason vs Schiavo

I just don't get it. We kill 100,000 Iraqis and its ok. One poor dying woman who our leaders couldn't spend a minute with her and our whole country gets obsessed.

Our leaders commits acts of treason to destroy our great land and not a peep anywhere.

Oh boy am I confused. Used to be a republican, flirted with the democrats and now I found myself lost without a party.

Viva the revolution.

What is it about atheists?

The other day I was wondering about why atheists complain so much about religious symbols and the like. Afterall what is the difference between a cross, the start of david, etc., vs a swoosh or some arches? Should we remove all signage from all lobbies, etc? Or is worshipping on the altar of the corporate gods the only respectable form of worship?

My thoughts on the First Ammendment

Why is there more of a propensity to protect pornography, tv and game violence, atheism,
and abortion over G-d, morality, and life.

The most unfortunate aspect is that the higher up the religious or power (redundant?) chain
one goes the more abuses one will find. In fact, Kubrick got it spot on in Eyes Wide Shut.

Anyway, let us review the first amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Now how is posting the ten commandments breaking this amendment? Is it really establishing
a religion via a law? Is it an artistic representation of an historical event? I personally don't know. The next
question becomes the question of what is religion anyway? Is worshipping at the alter of your
TV religion? Is it a false idol?

When an atheist promotes a law stating that something should be barred, is that not actually making
an anti-religious law which then prohibits the free exercise thereof?

Also, if I am not mistaken, I certainly haven't seen much of pornography being restricted. At least all
those emails that say "Help Lolita add three inches to her mortgage and get a new Rolex" all seem
to say differently. I haven't, thank goodness, seen any court orders against them.

The FCC on the other hand is a major gripe of mine. There is no reason that the airwaves couldn't be
opened up to an infinite number of channels, but that is a topic for a different day.

Finally, I too went to a school where we used to put on a big Christmas celebration. There was the
Glee Club, the Bells, the Hymns, the musicians, etc., For me is was great, fun, and always brought
a tear to the audience. Well, just like your dad's school, this has all been eliminated. It wasn't even
a public or catholic school either. I guess the fear of lawsuits did it in. Personally, I can't believe
that public schools have gotten any better over the years. The dumbing down of religious celebration
vs, the celebration of religious diversity seems to be just dumbing down the kids to me.

In a true, free and beautiful nation, there would be plenty of schools all offering choice of religions,
type of education, scientific, vocational, and artist studies, etc., with everyone respecting each other,
working with each other, learning from each other, and even celebrating with each other.

An homogenization of a corporate WalMart culture is strictly one that will create weak sheeple. The
perfect cannon fodder for global serfdom and world government.

Personally, I really enjoy the distinct cultures and religions of the world. Yet on the other hand I
have no fondness for the hypocritical holier than thou attitudes of both the powerful and the politically
correct.

Cheers from your fossil fuel and evolution sceptic,
James

Two great quotes for you

“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”

- Adam Carey

Corporate America has at this time controls the national media. It controls nearly every avenue of an American citizen’s access to information about the way he or she lives, about those forces that are influencing our lives. And corporate America is protected in Washington by the dollars it spends. It is protected in the media by some virtue of ownership.

- Lou Dobbs

Weren't our forefathers great!

"A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitates the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, infuses into one the enmities of the other, and betrays the former into participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.... It also gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country." (George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796)