Reverend Wright and the Death of the Original Day Tripper
Believe me I desperately want to stop writing about politics as much as you probably want to stop reading about them but everyday I listen to another outrage or episode on the news and my fingers just take over and start doing their little politics tap-dance on these black plastic keys! I am not in control here! I’m a junkie and I’ve got it bad. I’m shaking and slobbering like a dog, vibrating and contorting, there’s a twitch, a spasm. Damn these fits! There’s only one fix for the political junkie and right now a fresh new batch of the good strong stuff has hit the streets. So politics it is my fine friends – bend over and get ready for another five swipes with the paddle – or maybe the switch grass. Corporal punishment is alive and well here in the Immaculate Infection.
Reverend Wright and the National Media Launch Torpedo Attack
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article in support of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I stand by what I said; I think the Reverend is accurate when he says our nation was founded on racism and that our foreign policy has very much to do with our current “terrorism” woes. I also denounced the national media for taking his quotes out of context and replaying them on endless loop in order to paint the man as a radical zealot.
Unfortunately it seems that Reverend Jeremiah Wright has taken a liking to the national media spotlight. Apparently a combination of failure to grasp the way this national media machine works and an ego-driven need for attention have rendered in him an inability to understand a fundamental fact.
Right now every time Reverend Jeremiah Wright opens his mouth it will only hurt Senator Barack Obama’s chance to get into the White House. The story has already been framed by the national media – all they are looking for now is a handful of seven second quotes to color their paint by numbers picture. The Revered has obliged willingly – stepped into the oncoming train that is the National Press Club and unleashed another political firestorm for Obama’s camp to try and desperately extinguish. My sources tell me that Hillary Clinton came as close as she has in decades to having an orgasm while she watched Wright roll his eyes, flippantly dismiss the intrusive media questions, and deliver a Sunday style sermon to a cynical godless media ready and waiting to pounce on any hyperbole that might be twisted to fit a landscape littered with but thirsting for more blood. On the other side of the aisle John McCain witnessed the spectacle and politely dismissed himself and went to the restroom to jack himself off. Rush Limbaugh was so happy he popped a half-dozen oxys and washed them down with a half a pint of whiskey.
So Reverend Jeremiah Wright – while I agree with much of what you have to say, if you want Obama in the White House then it is time for you to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!
That being said isn’t it amazing that the best they can come up with to hobble Obama with is the comments of his pastor? Obama is having to defend things he’s never even said! And to make matters even more implausible this desperate attack is actually working.
R.I.P. Albert Hoffman
The man who discovered the psychedelic compound Lysergic Acid (a.k.a. L.S.D., acid, trip, blotter acid, window pane, dots, mellow yellow*) and took a mystifying bicycle ride while under the influence of the first (massive) dose of it has died in Switzerland at the age of 102. Hoffman had hoped the drug would eventually be used successfully for psychiatric treatment – and studies I have read show that it extremely effective in treating addiction (maybe I can use it to kick this politics habit I’ve acquired). Instead the drug became popular recreationally and was banned by the U.S. Government in 1966.
Speaking of; the local television news just ran a story suggesting that teens buy Salvia Divnorum over the internet before it is outlawed by the State government. A “friend of mine” has tried this Salvia and tells me it creates some unique visuals and is a ball to listen to music with while also on nitrous; but that it leaves a nasty psychic hangover that lasts for weeks.
My “friend” tells me he’d stick with clean L.S.D. any day of the week!
*I’m not sure about “mellow yellow” as a term for acid, I always thought that referred to scraped and dried banana peels, but I got these slang terms from the DEA website.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Schizos, Green Lips, and Shiny Legs
"...Democracy is a poor system; the only thing that can be said for it is that it's eight times as good as any other method. Its worst fault is that its leaders reflect their constituents..."
- Jubal Harshaw from Robert Heinlein's Science Fiction Classic "Stranger in a Strange Land."
Here is an amazing factoid. President George W. Bush holds the record for both the highest and the lowest approval ratings since the inception of the Gallup Poll. In the days following 911 his ratings were in the 90's - now they have sunk down to the 20's. Do you ever imagine he must scratch his head sometimes and think "what the hell do these people want?" To me this doesn't represent any dramatic shift in the man or his policies but rather the fickle and schizoid temperament of a population so focused on the zen of immediate gratification and the satisfaction of every conceivable urge that consequence has become not just an after-thought but a non-thought. Then we wake up and look around at the wasteland gross consumption has made of the world around us and go "hey, what the fuck? This sucks!"
So as we sow so shall we reap... I read that someplace or another. Fuck it, pop another pill, pour another drink, shovel some more processed food into our ever-fattening faces - its all going over the cliff now anyway. Everything under the sun is "green" but our level of CO2 emissions hasn't gone down an iota since Al Gore's eye-opening climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" came out two years ago. Lip service and clever marketing campaigns are all we have to show for an awful lot of good intentions and even a little bit of hard work.
I'm starting to think this whole thing is bullshit. The ones talking the most about climate change seem to overlap neatly with the same ones leaving the largest "carbon footprints" - the globe-trotting celebrities, the politicians in their private jets, the educated upper-middle class with their air-conditioned McMansions and their ever intact sense of entitlement. Sure it’s a lovely idea to actually cut our consumption - but that would mean we might actually sweat and feel hungry once in awhile! Intolerable. Doesn't fit in with the whole "satisfy every craving immediately" philosophy that defines the American existence in this year of our Lord 2008.
The Thing That Would Not Die
Hillary Clinton is decidedly still in the race after what is looking like a decisive 10 point victory in Pennsylvania. I don't know what I think about that. Ask me now and again in five minutes and I'll likely give you two completely contradictory answers. I like that this primary is actually up for grabs but I also can't stomach the idea of a continuation of the policies of the last eight years and it seems like the longer the democrats squabble over the nomination the more likely it is no matter who gets it will end up being defeated by another stodgy old white dude in a dark suit bowing down to the gods of corporate enterprise and industry. Wonderful.
On that note I am more than a little mystified by Hillary Clinton's latest comments that, were Iran to attack Israel she, as Commander in Chief, would not hesitate to strike back at them and that "we have the power to obliterate them." She's talking nukes folks. It all sounds groovy but the people of Iran are not all that unified behind their leader (it's the economy stupid) and the last I checked our nukes still don't have the ability to distinguish "civilian" from "terrorist." I know Hillary wants to demonstrate her toughness but is this really the way to go about courting democratic voters during the primary election? Save the saber rattling for the swing voters during the national game.
Take My Wives... Please!
Apparently there is nothing like a good polygamy story to get the media's attention off of the Presidential race and, oh yeah, those pesky little wars. The national news has run a piece on some stupid Texas religious sect every day for two weeks now. I must have missed the segment where Katie Couric explained that the military is now accepting serious felons into the armed forces. At last count 18% of new recruits have had serious run-ins with the law including but not limited to: burglary, rape, assault, and inappropriate conduct with a minor. Neato. Luckily for us the ethics displayed by our soldiers in uniform up until this point has been so exemplary that I'm sure the new recruits will catch on quick and change their ways.
Oh yeah, and of course there is the global food shortage - I guess I was going to the bathroom when old Shiny-Legs was talking about that.
- Jubal Harshaw from Robert Heinlein's Science Fiction Classic "Stranger in a Strange Land."
Here is an amazing factoid. President George W. Bush holds the record for both the highest and the lowest approval ratings since the inception of the Gallup Poll. In the days following 911 his ratings were in the 90's - now they have sunk down to the 20's. Do you ever imagine he must scratch his head sometimes and think "what the hell do these people want?" To me this doesn't represent any dramatic shift in the man or his policies but rather the fickle and schizoid temperament of a population so focused on the zen of immediate gratification and the satisfaction of every conceivable urge that consequence has become not just an after-thought but a non-thought. Then we wake up and look around at the wasteland gross consumption has made of the world around us and go "hey, what the fuck? This sucks!"
So as we sow so shall we reap... I read that someplace or another. Fuck it, pop another pill, pour another drink, shovel some more processed food into our ever-fattening faces - its all going over the cliff now anyway. Everything under the sun is "green" but our level of CO2 emissions hasn't gone down an iota since Al Gore's eye-opening climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" came out two years ago. Lip service and clever marketing campaigns are all we have to show for an awful lot of good intentions and even a little bit of hard work.
I'm starting to think this whole thing is bullshit. The ones talking the most about climate change seem to overlap neatly with the same ones leaving the largest "carbon footprints" - the globe-trotting celebrities, the politicians in their private jets, the educated upper-middle class with their air-conditioned McMansions and their ever intact sense of entitlement. Sure it’s a lovely idea to actually cut our consumption - but that would mean we might actually sweat and feel hungry once in awhile! Intolerable. Doesn't fit in with the whole "satisfy every craving immediately" philosophy that defines the American existence in this year of our Lord 2008.
The Thing That Would Not Die
Hillary Clinton is decidedly still in the race after what is looking like a decisive 10 point victory in Pennsylvania. I don't know what I think about that. Ask me now and again in five minutes and I'll likely give you two completely contradictory answers. I like that this primary is actually up for grabs but I also can't stomach the idea of a continuation of the policies of the last eight years and it seems like the longer the democrats squabble over the nomination the more likely it is no matter who gets it will end up being defeated by another stodgy old white dude in a dark suit bowing down to the gods of corporate enterprise and industry. Wonderful.
On that note I am more than a little mystified by Hillary Clinton's latest comments that, were Iran to attack Israel she, as Commander in Chief, would not hesitate to strike back at them and that "we have the power to obliterate them." She's talking nukes folks. It all sounds groovy but the people of Iran are not all that unified behind their leader (it's the economy stupid) and the last I checked our nukes still don't have the ability to distinguish "civilian" from "terrorist." I know Hillary wants to demonstrate her toughness but is this really the way to go about courting democratic voters during the primary election? Save the saber rattling for the swing voters during the national game.
Take My Wives... Please!
Apparently there is nothing like a good polygamy story to get the media's attention off of the Presidential race and, oh yeah, those pesky little wars. The national news has run a piece on some stupid Texas religious sect every day for two weeks now. I must have missed the segment where Katie Couric explained that the military is now accepting serious felons into the armed forces. At last count 18% of new recruits have had serious run-ins with the law including but not limited to: burglary, rape, assault, and inappropriate conduct with a minor. Neato. Luckily for us the ethics displayed by our soldiers in uniform up until this point has been so exemplary that I'm sure the new recruits will catch on quick and change their ways.
Oh yeah, and of course there is the global food shortage - I guess I was going to the bathroom when old Shiny-Legs was talking about that.
Friday, April 18, 2008
A thought on Global Warming...
There are people today who are refuting the idea that global warming is happening. As evidence they take a survey of a short span of time and say there has been no rise in temperature and therefore there is no global warming. I read one headline that said temperatures were actually going down. I tend to believe this in the short term. I believe this because the polar ice caps are the planets natural cooling system and these ice caps are breaking apart, falling into the ocean, and cooling the sea temperature.
The problem is that the ice caps are melting - if they melt away completely there will be no more cooling system. Then this planet will really start heating up in earnest.
So yes, in the short term temperatures may actually drop. But that will only be temporary.
Those are my thoughts anyway.
What do you think?
The problem is that the ice caps are melting - if they melt away completely there will be no more cooling system. Then this planet will really start heating up in earnest.
So yes, in the short term temperatures may actually drop. But that will only be temporary.
Those are my thoughts anyway.
What do you think?
Democratic Shoot-out Annie Oakley Style
The democratic primary has really heated up on the heels of a handful of badly-worded remarks by the two candidates, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. Hillary took a big ding after her claims that she was greeted by sniper-fire on a trip to Bosnia during the 1990’s were revealed to be gross exaggerations. In fact it was the comedian Sinbad who was also on the junket who blew holes in the Senator and former first lady’s story. Clinton is continuing to take a beating in polls on trustworthiness as a result of that incident and probably also due to the fact that her last name is Clinton – synonymous in some circles with the ability to lie effortlessly and do anything to win elections.
But Barack Obama has his own problems after a scratchy tape recording emerged of remarks he made at a closed fund-raising event in San Francisco. In a speech he addressed the frustrations of many small town Americans with the loss of jobs and how those frustrations have been channeled into religion, racism, and guns. Both Senators Clinton and the Republican nominee John McCain have jumped on those remarks and their attacks are gaining traction. It has become that rare chink in Obama’s otherwise gleaming armor.
But the fear amongst Clinton insiders is that, with very few maneuvers left to make, Hillary could overplay her hand and cause a backlash amongst voters who are growing increasingly tired of what is developing into an inter-party slug-fest. (These two are supposed to be on the same team, right?) Clinton has been running attack ads featuring Obama’s remark and bringing it up during rallies. Signs of voters’ frustrations with these tactics have already manifested themselves and Clinton has found herself being booed for the attacks as voters are hungry for ideas and policies.
Clinton has exposed her own flank by drinking beers and whiskey with the locals in a Pennsylvania pub and talking about growing up shooting with her father. For anyone else this might come off as chummy but again, when your last name is Clinton, it is easy to view these actions and statements as calculated ploys. Hillary is always going to have trouble with this aspect of her public personae. I shudder to think of the carnage that will be drudged to the surface in a national campaign between Clinton and McCain. Both Senators have a long record of public service and there is a lot of room for vicious attack. Another part of me relishes the idea just for the sheer jaw-dropping spectacle of this political blood-fight.
The Pope and the Dalai Lama Walk into a Bar…
Pope Benedict is currently here in the United States. I don’t know what to make of him. I appreciate that Benedict has seized on his opportunity to write about love and hope. Many expected him to focus more on the conservative ideology of Catholocism so that came as a pleasant surprise. My wife had tremendous respect for the last Pope – maybe a left-over from her Catholic up-bringing. There has also been a lot of hero-worship of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. They both seem like alright guys, gentle and peaceful men. We certainly could use a few more of them in the public eye. Myself my religious beliefs fall somewhere between Deism and Atheism so I’m not impressed by these religious figures.
In fact I am a bit annoyed by the worship of these men. The Dalai Lama is considered by many to be a reincarnation of an enlightened soul and as such he is divorced from the cycle of life and death that the rest of us are mired in. The thought follows that the Dalai Lama chose to be incarnated in this time and place in order to teach us compassion. Hey I love the concept, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help but think it must be a nice little ego-boost to have people worshipping you like the living incarnation of a god. Of course the truly enlightened have no use for ego so what the hell do I know pecking away at my keys and spewing my caustic toxins into this world of eternal beauty and sadness.
Global Food Crisis
Relatively unreported here in the United States of Obesity is the fact that the world is in the midst of a massive global food crisis. People are rioting in the streets because they can not afford to eat. Ah we’ve come so far in this year of our Lord 2008.
Bush Doesn’t Speak for Me
Our sitting President George W. Bush greeted the Pope by telling him that “America is a nation that welcomes religion in the public square.” Well once again Mr. Bush, you are not speaking for this American.
But Barack Obama has his own problems after a scratchy tape recording emerged of remarks he made at a closed fund-raising event in San Francisco. In a speech he addressed the frustrations of many small town Americans with the loss of jobs and how those frustrations have been channeled into religion, racism, and guns. Both Senators Clinton and the Republican nominee John McCain have jumped on those remarks and their attacks are gaining traction. It has become that rare chink in Obama’s otherwise gleaming armor.
But the fear amongst Clinton insiders is that, with very few maneuvers left to make, Hillary could overplay her hand and cause a backlash amongst voters who are growing increasingly tired of what is developing into an inter-party slug-fest. (These two are supposed to be on the same team, right?) Clinton has been running attack ads featuring Obama’s remark and bringing it up during rallies. Signs of voters’ frustrations with these tactics have already manifested themselves and Clinton has found herself being booed for the attacks as voters are hungry for ideas and policies.
Clinton has exposed her own flank by drinking beers and whiskey with the locals in a Pennsylvania pub and talking about growing up shooting with her father. For anyone else this might come off as chummy but again, when your last name is Clinton, it is easy to view these actions and statements as calculated ploys. Hillary is always going to have trouble with this aspect of her public personae. I shudder to think of the carnage that will be drudged to the surface in a national campaign between Clinton and McCain. Both Senators have a long record of public service and there is a lot of room for vicious attack. Another part of me relishes the idea just for the sheer jaw-dropping spectacle of this political blood-fight.
The Pope and the Dalai Lama Walk into a Bar…
Pope Benedict is currently here in the United States. I don’t know what to make of him. I appreciate that Benedict has seized on his opportunity to write about love and hope. Many expected him to focus more on the conservative ideology of Catholocism so that came as a pleasant surprise. My wife had tremendous respect for the last Pope – maybe a left-over from her Catholic up-bringing. There has also been a lot of hero-worship of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. They both seem like alright guys, gentle and peaceful men. We certainly could use a few more of them in the public eye. Myself my religious beliefs fall somewhere between Deism and Atheism so I’m not impressed by these religious figures.
In fact I am a bit annoyed by the worship of these men. The Dalai Lama is considered by many to be a reincarnation of an enlightened soul and as such he is divorced from the cycle of life and death that the rest of us are mired in. The thought follows that the Dalai Lama chose to be incarnated in this time and place in order to teach us compassion. Hey I love the concept, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help but think it must be a nice little ego-boost to have people worshipping you like the living incarnation of a god. Of course the truly enlightened have no use for ego so what the hell do I know pecking away at my keys and spewing my caustic toxins into this world of eternal beauty and sadness.
Global Food Crisis
Relatively unreported here in the United States of Obesity is the fact that the world is in the midst of a massive global food crisis. People are rioting in the streets because they can not afford to eat. Ah we’ve come so far in this year of our Lord 2008.
Bush Doesn’t Speak for Me
Our sitting President George W. Bush greeted the Pope by telling him that “America is a nation that welcomes religion in the public square.” Well once again Mr. Bush, you are not speaking for this American.
Over-Population
I tend to believe that the world is over-populated right now. My evidence to this proposition isn’t the number of people – it has more to do with the worsening condition of the environment. Things are out of balance. Everything “pollutes,” meaning every living thing consumes resources and excretes waste. But there is a balance. We inhale oxygen and we exhale carbon dioxide. Plants and trees inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Whether you believe it to be the work of God, gods, or evolution the environment is set up sublimely. It is such an amazing feat of cosmic engineering and the fact that you are alive to read this and I am alive to write it just boggles the mind. An incredible number of amazing events and coincidences have collided to create our existence.
That balance is revealing itself to be more tenuous that we may ever have understood prior to this year 2008. The latest indication of this is trace amounts of our excreted pharmaceuticals showing up in the water supply; never mind the consistent die-offs of bees, fish, and fowl.
Take a Look at the Dump
A more immediate example of this is right down the road from Chico. Head south from Chico on Highway 99 and look to your left right around Neal Road. See that big hill with tires and plastic covering it? That was not a hill when I moved here eight years ago. It was a valley. That is the collective garbage that we, the residents of Butte County, have generated in less than a decade. Incredible.
Now I believe our gross consumption and materialism is a huge societal problem that needs to be corrected but I don’t think that alone will relieve the strain human-kind is placing on the environment. Frankly I just think there are plain too many of us.
Alarming Population Growth
One hundred years ago the world’s population was estimated to be a bit more than 88 million people. That’s a lot of folks to be sure. But as of this writing the world population is estimated to be 6.66 Billion people. The population of the U.S. alone is over 300 million people.
In only one hundred years the population has increased about 75 times. We are a weed, or maybe a tenacious spreading mold.
It is interesting to me that the world’s weather is turning more dramatic. As far as shaking off a parasite goes it makes great sense. Creating extreme temperatures on the high and low end of the thermometer is a good tactic for getting rid of pesky critters.
Jonestown Revisited
We watched a documentary last night on the rise and fall of the People’s Church. For those of you who are unfamiliar the People’s Church was started in the 1950’s in Indianapolis by a charismatic but dark and troubled preacher named Jim Jones. The church was an incredible feat when it started. They really had managed to bridge the racial divide. It was one of the very first de-segregated churches and as such it drew the wrath of many. Jones moved the church west to Ukiah, California and the church’s membership grew. Then in 1977 the People’s Church moved to Guyana in South America and there the members managed to carve their own little piece of Eden out of the jungle. But things were not right. Along with his increasing power and prestige Jones’ dark side emerged. Paranoia set in. When Congressman Leo Ryan came to visit the enclave he and four other members of his entourage were gunned down. Then horror transpired. Knowing the church that had morphed into a cult would not be allowed to continue after this murder of the Congressman’s party Jim Jones encouraged his followers to drink Kool-aid laced with cyanide. On November 18th, 1978 nine hundred and nine members of the People’s Church, men, women, and children, drank poison and died together in the jungle.
It is an incredibly sad story, not just because of the horror of the ending, but because the People’s Church had so much incredible potential for real social change. Not only race but also class distinctions were completely broken down.
But the church rose and fell on the back of its one flawed leader. Is this the Achilles heel of leadership? None of us are perfect – so does the concentration of so much power in the hands of so few necessarily put too much strain on those breaking points?
Democracy is a system that is supposed to disseminate the power to the masses but it can be improved upon. How can we make our voices louder?
The environment – physical, natural, and political – is crying out to us for change. But where do we go from here?
Any ideas? Madbob@madbob.com.
That balance is revealing itself to be more tenuous that we may ever have understood prior to this year 2008. The latest indication of this is trace amounts of our excreted pharmaceuticals showing up in the water supply; never mind the consistent die-offs of bees, fish, and fowl.
Take a Look at the Dump
A more immediate example of this is right down the road from Chico. Head south from Chico on Highway 99 and look to your left right around Neal Road. See that big hill with tires and plastic covering it? That was not a hill when I moved here eight years ago. It was a valley. That is the collective garbage that we, the residents of Butte County, have generated in less than a decade. Incredible.
Now I believe our gross consumption and materialism is a huge societal problem that needs to be corrected but I don’t think that alone will relieve the strain human-kind is placing on the environment. Frankly I just think there are plain too many of us.
Alarming Population Growth
One hundred years ago the world’s population was estimated to be a bit more than 88 million people. That’s a lot of folks to be sure. But as of this writing the world population is estimated to be 6.66 Billion people. The population of the U.S. alone is over 300 million people.
In only one hundred years the population has increased about 75 times. We are a weed, or maybe a tenacious spreading mold.
It is interesting to me that the world’s weather is turning more dramatic. As far as shaking off a parasite goes it makes great sense. Creating extreme temperatures on the high and low end of the thermometer is a good tactic for getting rid of pesky critters.
Jonestown Revisited
We watched a documentary last night on the rise and fall of the People’s Church. For those of you who are unfamiliar the People’s Church was started in the 1950’s in Indianapolis by a charismatic but dark and troubled preacher named Jim Jones. The church was an incredible feat when it started. They really had managed to bridge the racial divide. It was one of the very first de-segregated churches and as such it drew the wrath of many. Jones moved the church west to Ukiah, California and the church’s membership grew. Then in 1977 the People’s Church moved to Guyana in South America and there the members managed to carve their own little piece of Eden out of the jungle. But things were not right. Along with his increasing power and prestige Jones’ dark side emerged. Paranoia set in. When Congressman Leo Ryan came to visit the enclave he and four other members of his entourage were gunned down. Then horror transpired. Knowing the church that had morphed into a cult would not be allowed to continue after this murder of the Congressman’s party Jim Jones encouraged his followers to drink Kool-aid laced with cyanide. On November 18th, 1978 nine hundred and nine members of the People’s Church, men, women, and children, drank poison and died together in the jungle.
It is an incredibly sad story, not just because of the horror of the ending, but because the People’s Church had so much incredible potential for real social change. Not only race but also class distinctions were completely broken down.
But the church rose and fell on the back of its one flawed leader. Is this the Achilles heel of leadership? None of us are perfect – so does the concentration of so much power in the hands of so few necessarily put too much strain on those breaking points?
Democracy is a system that is supposed to disseminate the power to the masses but it can be improved upon. How can we make our voices louder?
The environment – physical, natural, and political – is crying out to us for change. But where do we go from here?
Any ideas? Madbob@madbob.com.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Beauty
J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover was the former head of the FBI and a severely sinister and creepy individual. He was twisted and power-hungry and would stop at nothing to increase his own influence and prestige. He built the FBI into a potent law enforcement tool but he also used that potency to achieve his own selfish and strange gains.
One of the suspect activities the FBI indulged in under Hoover’s watch was to secretly wiretap figures within the Civil Rights movement. As a result the FBI accumulated hours upon hours of clandestine footage of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. While the practice is dubious and illegal historians today are absolutely ecstatic to have this treasure trove of information that shines a light into the personality of such a dynamic public figure.
It turns out that the Martin Luther King Jr. revealed in those tapes is even more selfless and righteous than his public personae. He was not an attention-seeker; in fact he consistently bemoaned the public role that was thrust upon him. King spoke often of being tired, of just wanting to go back to being a preacher – which he felt was what God had called upon him to do. But, with the encouragement of the people with whom he had surrounded himself, he pushed on until the fateful day he was assassinated in April of 1968. Incidentally there is more than a little suspicion that Hoover’s FBI was involved in that incident.
Listening through these tapes Hoover did not take away the beauty and selflessness of the man in question. Instead he focused his attention on King’s imperfections. The tapes revealed that King was an adulterer and Hoover quickly labeled him a sexual deviant and a hypocrite. He found every avenue he could to dehumanize and tear down a great man.
It is difficult for me to explain this but I feel badly for J. Edgar Hoover. How could a man have so much hatred in their heart that they fail to see the brilliance of a once in a lifetime figure like Martin Luther King Jr.?
Withdrawing the Benefit of the Doubt
It is jading but helpful to understand that there are people out there very much like this – people whose hearts are so hardened and filled with cynicism that they would miss the beauty that surrounds them. The truth of the matter is that the establishment is fundamentally afraid of change. It makes sense – if one has power they will do whatever they have to do in order to hold onto it. This is why you will never see the Federal Government choosing to de-centralize its power and shift it to states and local government. This is why the establishment was afraid to let blacks and women vote. This is why the Chinese army drove tanks into Tiananmen Square and this is why more recently the Burmese Government slaughtered monks. This is why the establishment crucified a man for speaking a new philosophy and causing agitation amongst the populace.
So anyway – I have a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt. For years I have, in my head, reconciled George W. Bush’s actions with the unique pressures and situations he finds himself in. I have said to myself. “Well, I’m sure that his intentions are good.” I formally withdraw that benefit of the doubt. I have come to the conclusion that people like Bush and Cheney simply don’t see the beauty in this world. Bush may see beauty in some perceived afterlife and as for Cheney I am not convinced he sees beyond dollars and cents and beyond the limitations of his own lifetime. My conclusion is that these guys are in it for their life-spans and then they’ll leave the mess for generations after them to deal with. It’s a sinister world view but actions don’t lie. You don’t break laws, establish a secretive cabal-like government, drop bombs, consistently increase military spending and wage pre-emptive warfare because you’re trying to create a peaceful and tolerant future. It is pure and simple retention of power.
Black Holes and Cosmic Lessons
It goes on and on. But we can find pertinent patterns in nature. A black hole sucks everything into it until – as the theory goes, it reaches critical mass. Then all the accumulated centralized energy and power bursts forth and is once again disseminated to the universe.
Power centers will crumble, establishments will fall.
Come on people – send me your thoughts and ideas. Madbob@madbob.com
J. Edgar Hoover was the former head of the FBI and a severely sinister and creepy individual. He was twisted and power-hungry and would stop at nothing to increase his own influence and prestige. He built the FBI into a potent law enforcement tool but he also used that potency to achieve his own selfish and strange gains.
One of the suspect activities the FBI indulged in under Hoover’s watch was to secretly wiretap figures within the Civil Rights movement. As a result the FBI accumulated hours upon hours of clandestine footage of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. While the practice is dubious and illegal historians today are absolutely ecstatic to have this treasure trove of information that shines a light into the personality of such a dynamic public figure.
It turns out that the Martin Luther King Jr. revealed in those tapes is even more selfless and righteous than his public personae. He was not an attention-seeker; in fact he consistently bemoaned the public role that was thrust upon him. King spoke often of being tired, of just wanting to go back to being a preacher – which he felt was what God had called upon him to do. But, with the encouragement of the people with whom he had surrounded himself, he pushed on until the fateful day he was assassinated in April of 1968. Incidentally there is more than a little suspicion that Hoover’s FBI was involved in that incident.
Listening through these tapes Hoover did not take away the beauty and selflessness of the man in question. Instead he focused his attention on King’s imperfections. The tapes revealed that King was an adulterer and Hoover quickly labeled him a sexual deviant and a hypocrite. He found every avenue he could to dehumanize and tear down a great man.
It is difficult for me to explain this but I feel badly for J. Edgar Hoover. How could a man have so much hatred in their heart that they fail to see the brilliance of a once in a lifetime figure like Martin Luther King Jr.?
Withdrawing the Benefit of the Doubt
It is jading but helpful to understand that there are people out there very much like this – people whose hearts are so hardened and filled with cynicism that they would miss the beauty that surrounds them. The truth of the matter is that the establishment is fundamentally afraid of change. It makes sense – if one has power they will do whatever they have to do in order to hold onto it. This is why you will never see the Federal Government choosing to de-centralize its power and shift it to states and local government. This is why the establishment was afraid to let blacks and women vote. This is why the Chinese army drove tanks into Tiananmen Square and this is why more recently the Burmese Government slaughtered monks. This is why the establishment crucified a man for speaking a new philosophy and causing agitation amongst the populace.
So anyway – I have a tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt. For years I have, in my head, reconciled George W. Bush’s actions with the unique pressures and situations he finds himself in. I have said to myself. “Well, I’m sure that his intentions are good.” I formally withdraw that benefit of the doubt. I have come to the conclusion that people like Bush and Cheney simply don’t see the beauty in this world. Bush may see beauty in some perceived afterlife and as for Cheney I am not convinced he sees beyond dollars and cents and beyond the limitations of his own lifetime. My conclusion is that these guys are in it for their life-spans and then they’ll leave the mess for generations after them to deal with. It’s a sinister world view but actions don’t lie. You don’t break laws, establish a secretive cabal-like government, drop bombs, consistently increase military spending and wage pre-emptive warfare because you’re trying to create a peaceful and tolerant future. It is pure and simple retention of power.
Black Holes and Cosmic Lessons
It goes on and on. But we can find pertinent patterns in nature. A black hole sucks everything into it until – as the theory goes, it reaches critical mass. Then all the accumulated centralized energy and power bursts forth and is once again disseminated to the universe.
Power centers will crumble, establishments will fall.
Come on people – send me your thoughts and ideas. Madbob@madbob.com
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