...It wastes valuable resources and is often uncovered by the medical review boards at some insurance companies. Of course, I say this with full knowledge that it is the employers who choose the benefits and hand them over to the insurance companies to administer.
Don't be fooled, it's a seller's market still, it's just that we as individual health care consumers have no leveraging power to affect the market--Newt Gingrich will fix this when he becomes the next President of the US in 2008.
This is just the nature of geographical migration in our country. I think we'll get back to the days of the rural doctor, the only difference is that they will have access to spectacular medical equipment that is a fraction of what it costs today. This will happen because it is a human need that the market must move to fulfill.
...Ahem, assuming, of course, that the government doesn't step in to try to make a quick buck or to protect vested interests who seek to profit from the old system which is built upon old needs while millions go untreated and die from lack of proper medical care access.
Identity Theft and Why Slave Wage Labor in the Professional Sector is to Blame , Domestic Terrorism, and Racial Profling
by Uncle Josh
First of all, don't EVER trust anyone who calls you about anything financial who you did not exclusively and directly solicit information from. The credible financial instutitions are no longer marketing their products and services over the phone--that is a dead and decaying path of advertisting value. The big dogs are primarily on the Internet but they also rely heavily on the interruption marketing venues of television and radio.
We all know that advertising is a compendium of liars (and, sometimes outright immoral thieves--Seth Godin, the guru of permission marketing has titled his latest book All Marketers are Liars). But here's a perfect example of why you can't believe shit that you hear over the phone.
I just had some chick call me from "Discover Card" about my low balance transfer rate that was effective up until November, 2005 for a 4.9% transfer rate.
She then asked if I had any card balances I'd like to transfer today.
I told her that 4.9% was a pretty good rate (even though it's not--you should be able to get a 0% balance transfer rate for about a year) and that I would have to look through my papers.
She then asked if she could call me back in a couple weeks to see if I was ready. And here comes the killer mistake she made...
She asked me for my phone number!!!
First of all, she was the one who called me and if she was really with Discover Card she would have had my phone number. So, I said, "Yeah. Just call me back at this number."
She persisted, "And, what is your number?"
And I said, "It's the same number attached to my account, the same one you called me at today."
She say, "Thank you;" I hang up. [I will reserve a free copy of my forthcoming e-Book Flipping the Temple: Win the Information War by Using the Internet to Achieve Fantastic Success as an Author. [MINTON CHALLENGE: Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what sitcom and episode this statement comes from]. E-mail me at josh@joshuaminton.com with your guess.
But I digress...
My guess is that these are some of the dolts behind the recent huge identify thefts related to financial information. The people who are stealing these aren't the crack dealers on the street corner--and they aren't Al Quaida either. There may have been schemes involving identity theft of financial information prior to their opening salvos in The Ongoing Global War on Terror but they are lucky if they can find good toilet paper or, if they're in our country--they are watching every angle of their asses and are losing perspective big time.
The FBI is no joke when it comes to crawling up asses and bless them for it because they are cracking these domestic terrorist fuckers' skulls, man--hunting them down like the Predator going after Governor Jesse the Body. And this ability to clean house is an invaluable tool of civil defense but there are definitions and game rules that must be discussed in an open forum right now. As a society, we need to know where the Nietzschean Line is where you cross over from righteously fighting a demon to becoming one far worse than your opponent.
I'm all for lining suspects up who are crossing our border or flying over our skies and, if someone happens to fit the profile of 99% of all domestic terrorists, I'm sorry but you're getting lined up. I may be on the plane five minutes before you are and all lounged out in my seat but this relatively minor inconvenience to you is the price of my civil security and I'm willing to endorse collective power to make you pay that price of inconvenience until the bad guys are all caught. But I want to caution once again here that we ensure that is We the People who write the definition of who the bad guys and not the career politicians and generals.
Don't get me started...
The whole point in writing this blog is to say that the recent identity thefts were performed by disgruntled employees who had the systems knowledge and process awareness to take advantage of serious security gaps in the company. This is exactly the kind of shit that gets the dumb government's attention as a potential source of wasting tax payers' time to justify it's enormously large operating budget when, in reality, the government should be staffed with temporary lawyers, doctors, educators and military leaders instead of career politicians hell bent on sucking the bone long after the marrow has run dry.
I knew this was coming and it has been tried on Tivo and didn't take either. The music industry is losing its grip on musical art as a commodity by the day.
The US economy is running on credit right now. Only a few people I know are spending within their means, most of them are maintaining a lifestyle on credit, one that includes new clothes every year--high price satellite television, home theatre systems, video games, computers, digital cameras, etc. etc. ad nausea. I was doing it also--but I've been hanging back on my impulse purchases lately. I've been doing more researching than buying and my economic decisions are beginning to result in an inflation in value of the dollars I am spending.
It's amazing that it all comes down to pure Basic Economics--it's all about the allocation of scarce resources to their most efficient uses. Beyond that, it's just a ping pong game (read Donald Trump's latest book for more on the ping theory).
By the way, spending on the margins is what sparked the stock market crash in 1929 and foolish government intervention into the the free market beyond their regulation duties as outlined in the U.S. Constitution is what turned a bear market into a Great Depression.
Look, I used to love horror movies in the 80s but they're absolute shit today (1995-2005). It used to be that the first episode in every horror movie was fantastic and the others sucked ass. The first Nightmare on Elm Street was all about the psychological horrors of alcoholism and how it passes from generation to generation. The first Friday the 13th and the first Halloween were killer as well because they were both about the psychological horrors that we inflict on each other as individuals buzzing around in self-chosen isolation but the sequels became about the physical threat of the bad guy (Freddie, Jason, Michael Meyers, etc.).
If you think about it, we do some viscious shit to each other mentally and emotionally. I do believe that our silent intention shines before us in time. I further propose that negative intentions yield very low Time Light which makes it easy to bump into shit and hurt ourselves and other people very easily. On the other hand, I also live by the flip side that positive intentions create a massive LED Time Light that not only illuminates our life choices in brilliant panorama but also lights the light choices of our friends and family.
So, unless a horror movie (or book, hell this is exactly what Stephen King writes about in every one of his fantasic novels) spins its story from this level of thinking, it's shit--CGI shock blood crap that I wouldn't waste time watching if there were a five minute video Cliff's Notes.
Are you ready to see a capitalistic society, which ridiculously adheres to Communistic philosophies that have been proven by history to be murderous and defunct, explode into the Information Revolution. I've got my popcorn ready for this fireworks show. Let's just hope the government is getting their nuclear aresenal secured for when democracy strikes in the hearts of their individual citizenry.
Ni Hao, Zhong Guo Ren. Wo Shi Zhe Shi Ming.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
I officially proclaim this the Age of Individual Enlightenment.
Is it me, or are they completely missing the boat here? The best thing about podcasts is their originality. See, podcasts are different from blogs because they are much more intimate. I don't go out and listen to hundreds of podcasts like I read hundreds of blogs. But I do listen to a few select ones and I hope that one day many people choose my podcast as one of the select few they listen to. But that aside, these mega conglomerates have no idea about the revolution occurring right under their noses. They are about to be put out of a job and the best they can hope for in the future is to own the service or tools that individuals use to distribute their blogs and podcasts.
I would rather see the UN burn in flames than send one red cent directly from my paychecks to their coffers. It's bad enough that our government redistributes our confiscated funds to these thug criminals--but legitimizing the process would probably piss me off more than just about anything else our government does.
This should make the overall attractiveness of the female population go up at least a point on the 10-point scale. A girl could be an 8 but if I see her smoking, she gets bumped down to a 5 or 6 at best.
This would be me if I were a career politician. If I had political ambitions, I would be inclined to play my enemies against each other, enmesh the world in a constant state of conflict and enslave the entire human race into believing that freedom is something handed down in a sacred document that was written by the feeble hand of man instead of something to be seized and enjoyed in the Living Moment by every individual.
So, don't ever vote for me if I'm stupid enough to run for political office. And don't ever take me too seriously; I'm like the band Tool--rough, deadly serious, then smooth and always tongue-in-cheek. After all, we're all born, experience life as a subjective reality that we foolishly interpret as objective, and then we die and our experiences leak out of our minds into the river of Time which flows ever on. Talk about your cosmic jokes! (Who would have ever thought that we were the wave and not the water?)
So, don't even vote for me to hand out free coffee for your board meetings; It'll be too hot and will always burn your tongue.
This should be interesting. The important thing here is that President Bush gets to save face with his religious right backers and that the US remains at the top of the game in stem cell research.
This is just plain stupid and makes very clear the superficial level at which this man's faith resides. He only knows God through words. He's a lost soul but there is still hope for him as there is for each of us who are alive this moment to make the choice that will determine the reality of the next moment.
I've wanted to see it all since Tango and Cash. Do the right thing, Teri, before it's too late to share your naked gift with the rest of the world. And while you're at it, convince Jennifer Aniston and Jolene Blaylock to do the same. You guys are too beautiful not to see naked!
America was Born in the Midst of Some Straight Up Godfather Shit that Brings Us to the War on Terror Today
by Uncle Josh
Remember in the Godfather how Michael Corleone played his enemies against each other to assume ultimate power? Well, America pretty much did that during the first fifty years of its existence. The French helped us win the Revolutionary War against Britain and was ready to invade us themselves only fifteen years later when they were engaged in a declared war with Britain.
See, historically, alliances between nations lasted hundred of years. But we stepped back. We were done fighting and ready to get back to our farming, our fishing, our law-making and our incessant worship of the enforcement of man-made laws. We were ready to be civilized again. So, we said no to the French. And, not only that, we signed Jay's Treaty with Great Britain which really pissed off the French. Consider that this was only thirteen revolutions of the earth around the sun after the close of the Revolutionary War.
So France kind of had a right to be pissed.
But George Washington left us with what is perhaps the most prophetic and wise opinion on how We the People could best steer the ship of government so that is does not run into the rocks of history. In his Farewell Address to the Nation on September 19, 1796, the father of our country warned us, emphatically, against becoming permanently allied with foreign powers.
But that was only the beginning of America. Our Founding Fathers were agrarian farmers who loved their families and their relationship with the natural world around them as well as the spiritual worlds inside them. These gentlemen, brilliant as they may have been, had no foreknowledge of what the Industrial and Information Revolutions would do to human society in terms of economics, politics, science, the press and, of course, in human warfare. Had they known the bloody and awful truth of what it would take to maintain this society from meandering in the river of time and crashing into some very big and very nasty rocks, they may have thrown down their pitchforks and muskets and ran back as His Majesty's Loyal Subjects.
But we've done a pretty damn good job of steering this vessel so far.
We, the United States of America, are responsible for opening access to free expression of ideas, services, and products to millions of individual human beings beyond our borders and We are directly responsible for improving the living conditions of man in relationship to man (society) in what will eventually reach out and ecompass all of humanity. It's time we said it and it's time the world damn well acknowledges it. Our principles and our ship of state, which has gone from sail to steam to rocket and now breaks gravity waves in interplanetary and interstellar space, will not be walked on by any foreign power even if that power happens to hold one one of the many reigns of our government. We the People have been endowed with the machinery to weed out the vampire tyrants in our midst and expose them to the sunlight so that they burn in political hell before our eyes (metaphorically speaking, of course referencing the death of their public personae--i.e. Gray Davis, Trent Lott, Dan Rather, etc.). This machine is our Constitution and it may rattle and hum but it still gets the damn job done.
Some people claim that we have ignored George Washington's plea for neutrality to the detriment of the entire human race. I hear what you're saying and it may seem like wisdom except for the stirrings of my heart (An ode to Peter Jackson and George Lucas--Thank you, Gentlemen. You have both done very good work upon this earth and the world is a better place because of your actualized artistic visions) but the historical situation that is currently unfolding is much more complicated than that.
The problem is that we are standing on a rushing river bank with one hand around a solid tree, leaning out over the rapids, trying to pull out as many screaming bodies as we possibly can. But we must be very careful that we do not shift our weight in places that will weaken our grip on the tree, lest we foolishly fall back into the river of sorrow, which is Time.
It is interesting to note that Muslim society lived very much under this same mission statement in their attempt to secure the peaceful exchange of goods, services and ideas while promiting a spiritual relationship with the material world outside and the spiritual worlds inside. This was, of course, until the Roman Empire embraced Christianity as a last best attempt at self preservation; all they needed was a new Caesar to fight for and they got that icon--it looked like this †. The Crusades utterly destroyed the flourishing Muslim civilization which truly improved the living conditions of the world around them and here we are today. (For a great old book that lays the social and spiritual evolutions of human beings, read the book The Mainspring of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver--it's an oldie but goodie!).
There is an American mission that is written in the history of our people--you must be able to read Time to decipher the mission statement, however. And if you can't read the language of Time (history), relax because there are crib notes which lie in the most perfect single sentence ever written by a human being.
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Power in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
I have long thought it suspicious that Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison were the three who died mysteriously close to each other in time.
Perhaps Jim Morrison was the smarter of the three--finally listening to the political devil and pulling his shit together before his life teetered off the edge and his journey came to a untimely end. After all, it's much more preferable to go out going out as Barabbas than it is to go out as Jesus. He did it so we didn't have to, right?
But one thing is for sure--Jim Morrison the icon is dead and gone--etched into time like the human claw marks found in Pompeii and the shadows on what's left of the 1945 cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki--cruel reminders of how much we have gained and how much we have lost.
I hope Jim did make it out and has been living a normal and happy life and I hope that Pamela followed him. I will always have Oliver Stone's masterpiece to remember Jim Morrison by. In my heart of hearts, I hope that Jimmy Morrison made it out and bought a farm somewhere obscure and made art works out of his relationships with his family and closest friends.
I hope he finally chose the right door and broke on through to the other side of love which is more about being a human than about being an artist. Stephen King said it best, "Life is not a support system for art--it's the other way around."
It looks like the government wants some money back for all that investment they've put into weather technology. Hey McFlys, you are not a corporation!!! You spend money to make sure that our lives and property is protected. Beyond that, shut your mouth and pay attention to what We the People want from you and then do something about it. Stupid public servants acting all uppity like they are the ones who run this country. Don't make me smack you with the Declaration of Independence.
Bush Might Use First Veto to Prevent the Expanding Stem Cell Research
by Uncle Josh
Story Link
I've got news for you. Stem cell research is being done and is going to change the face of medicine. If the US doesn't invest in this technology and research and regulate the industry as it is mandated they do in the Constitution, the US will fall by the wayside in terms of its business and economic development. The height of governmental arrogance is positioning themselves into the market with threat of force in order to block the acquisition and application of new knowledge.
Wise up, Dub. You can't win this one. You have to pick your battles and this isn't one that you you want to stake your legacy on, trust me.
So, let's just not put the smokers in charge of remembering anything. What is there to remember anymore that can't be put into a Pocket PC or dumped onto the Internet?
In a few hours, I will be sitting down to the familiar screen crawl and opening credits of the new mythology of mankind.
It will also most likely be the last George Lucas Executive Produced Star Wars movie. However, don't count that as truth on your tally sheet yet. I have a feeling that something even more profound and special will be coming out of Lucasfilm in the next ten years (especially if I have anything to do with it--wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
I can think of no better public figure to lead this charge and to stop the insanity of the ridiculous mayor of New York--a man who has let himself slip through history's fingers without so much as a moan of regret. I say, "He's fired."
Shouldn't some egg-headed scientist have figured this out about fifty years ago? What the hell kind of control were they using when blood pressure became a "magic number" that told doctors about our present state of health?
Those of you that haven't gotten XM radio (or Sirius) yet, have no idea what you are missing. Trust me, you will never go back to ordinary pitiful radio or boring CDs again...
This ruling is huge!!! There will be enormous opportunity for e-commerce distributors in the future. Imagine being able to brew your own liquor and sell it over the internet?
Isn't this like Samson getting his hair cut off? C'mon, Dave. Fire up a doobie and write summa dat dope shit that makes me life, like the lilly white Niggar family bit. I almost split a fugging gut laughing at that skit...
If they're wise, they will just leave it alone and let free speech ride. Less the Sons of Liberty don Indian garb and ride the country side, terrorizing the powers that be into submission.
Look Now! The Mainstream Media is Being Put on Trial and IS LOSING!!!
by Uncle Josh
have had a hand in this. My post yesterday about Shane Nickerson has driven a shite-load of traffic to BoysWearPants.com.
Nickerson broke his confrontation with the National Enquirer two days before they ran the issue accusing him of cheating on his wife with Cameron Diaz.
People are so fed up with the current media in all its forms that they are greedily turning to alternate sources (online--specifically through blogs). If the powers that be don't shut down blogs immediately, they are going to lose any semblance of information control over the public. (By the way, information control is the only form of social control that works anymore and don't let anyone tell you any different).
The island has broken off from the mainland--let's see if it can stay adrift.
I actually purchased a National Enquirer today. I bought it because my electronic communicating compadre Shane Nickerson (a television actor and producer best recognized in the Friends episode where Rachel tells Ross that she is pregnant--Shane is the guy in the married couple who keeps getting all the free stuff on their Honeymoon while Chandler and Monica get bupkus).
About a week ago, Shane broke a story on his blog that a reporter came to his door with photos of him with Cameron Diaz and that they would be playing up an affair story.
Now, I have communicated with Shane via e-mail twice and we've linked to each other's blog another few times. I subscribe to his blog's RSS feed so that when he posts a new blog entry, it gets downloaded to my news aggregator (which, thank God, integrates with Outlook 2003) and I've got a dose of what Shane's life is like in Hollywood. I have to admit that sometimes I'm envious of the weather (sans mudslides and earthquakes) and the famous people he gets to hang around. But then shit like this situation happens and it makes me very happy to be living infamously in the Midwest with our icestorms one Saturday and cook outs and hackey sack on the lawn the next.
My ability to wade through bullshit is nil and I would not be able to put up with the politics, ass kissing, soul selling and camera flashing that the American entertainment industry has become. Shane is a better man than I, with a much kinder soul, to derive his living income from such a system that is built on building people up to knock them down so hard that they just might not get back up again. It's a sin against our fellow man that is just plain cruel.
But the con, the sly and the trick are just so damn intriguing!
The amazing thing, if you read Shane's Blog on a regular basis, is that you are getting a filtered view into the man's emotions, ideas, beliefs and passion. He is enormously talented, even watching his B part two liners in that Friends episode just goes to show that this guy is going somewhere (it's kind of like watching an early Tom Hanks on a guest appearance in The Facts of Life a year before Bosom Buddies broke). So, you get the idea of how much I like Shane's electronic identity that I have associated with for two months now.
But after reading the National Enquirer, and not having read Shane's blog about it TWO DAYS BEFORE IT BROKE, I would have thought he was guilty. And you know what, he might be guilty. I mean, I don't know the guy beyond what I've read on his blog and his e-mails. But from what I have read, I would say that he loves his baby girl, adores his wife and partner and is truly content with the career path he has chosen in life. I respect that because that is the goal that all American males should be striving towards in their personal relationships.
And you know what, I don't care if he did it or not because the repercussions of his personal actions do not influence my appreciation of his ideas and experience that he so readily shares anyway. Believe me, there are people doing much more horrible things in this world to their fellow man than banging Cameron Diaz.
Shane, I'll defend what I know of your character because that's what we each must do as individuals when the Main Stream Media train of pitiful endless distance charges up for another character assassination on we human beings who are prone to making dumb mistakes when it comes to our emotional attachments when relating to others in the moment.
Not everyone, mind you...but the responsible ones. My only problem woudl be where to put my pistol--I have enough crap in my pocket with my cell phone, my car keys, my chap stick and my contact lens refresher. Oh well, I guess I'll wait for light sabers and robes to become the fashion.
This is why Microsoft will remain at the top of its game for a long time to come. They know who their target audience is and they know how to reach them.
My only question is, "Does anyone actually watch television anymore?"
I have no problem with a law like this, providing that it allows for use of hands-free devices. A recent study showed that someone driving on the phone was at the same mental capacity to respond to an emergency as if their brain and body had been aged 60 years. This is a social menace as much as driving impaired by alcohol or drugs.
Don't fool yourselves, this law will make us all safer.
I've had a few electronic conversations with Shane and, reading someone's Blog on a consistent basis lets you into their lives in a weird and private way. I think Shane is a stand up guy who is very talented and has a bright future ahead of him.
The Mainstream Media, in all forms, must go. One of my life missions is to help destroy it and clear up the channels of communication in society.
Oh well. Boo Hoo. As far as I'm concerned, the release of any Star Wars movie should be cause for a global holiday in celebration of new mythology that actually works to put individuals into accord with the natural universe outside them and the spiritual and mental universe inside.
The problem here is that by relying on an unhealthy habit for revenue, the government will be putting itself in the business of profiting off the disease and death of its constituents. A country once tried this--it was Nazi Germany.
What if racial discrimination could save your life? The question and its implications sort of makes that black and white line (pun intended) a little bit more gray doesn't it?
It's all about the context in which you are talking.
You guys think I'm bullshitting but I am going to bank roll the invention of an actual light saber one day soon. I am going to support the creation of a Jedi Knight who isimpartial to the religious and political institutions of mankind but takes up saber in defense of the individual citizen's rights.
You think I'm kidding but you don't know me very well. I always get what I want.
Here's a thought--I don't give a shit why we went to war--I only care about how we're going to get out it without murdering everyone over there or getting everyone over here killed.
Focus on the things that matter, people. We've got a world to run here.
The camel's spine is about to crack. Do you understand how easy it is to produce, edit, market and distribute films today? The only thing protecting the flood from breaking are ridiculous laws like this one (which was shot down, thank goodness).
The only time you should know if I'm armed is when I'm waving a gun in your face. Here's my promise to you: I won't wave a gun in your face unless you are directly threatening my life, my family's life or our property.
Stay away from doing those things and ev'ythang goin be ev'ythang.
I like Ann Coulter but I respect the right to speak publicly and challenge the ideas of others more than I respect the beauty and brains under that blonde wig.
I can't believe the question this guy asked her; he had some balls. Awesome.
This is fantastic because our Armed Forces will be able to do more with less, to go farther on less fuel, in order to secure the freedom of the individual human being to seek their own version of happiness provided that such course does infringe upon the lives or property of other individuals.
I might have to check this bad boy out. I love Phil Ochs's music--deplore the message, respect the intention and LOVE the music! Phil Ochs in Concert is a true American classic and I want to give a shout out to Patty and Kevin for introducing me to this fantastic piece of American 60s art.
If a man threatened to douse a woman with sperm, it would be considered sexual harassment. But I suppose coming from Julia Robert, it should be considered a compliment, right?
82% of the national increase in drug arrests were for marijuana offenses and almost all of this percentage were people growing pot for their own personal use.
This isn't about legalizing drugs; this is about forbidding a behavior by threat of ridiculous legal and fiscal penalty that many individuals seek to engage in. Most of these people would be more than happy to pay extra taxes and market value for this commodity providing that the government would take responsibility for the production and quality standards of the product to be sure that it is both safe and potent enough for consumer standards.
Like my man Chuck D, whom I saw speak at BGSU in the Spring of '97 , said--Don't Believe the Hype. This isn't about a War on Drugs, it's a war on choice and the biggest responsibility that we each have as individuals are ownership of the choices we make regarding our own lives.
Law is meant to protect our lives and property from being infringed upon by other citizens; law is not meant to swerve our personal choices--that's what good information is for. I don't know about you, but I don't trust the government to bring me quality information (just look at the Food Pyramid debacle).
In the words of Bill Hicks, "All governments are lying cocksuckers."
Josh reads Krishnamurti's earth shattering speech when he dissolved a religious order of thousands of people who all believed he was the next Messiah. Josh then discusses the significance of this act in terms of Krishnamurti's ultimate filfillment of actually becoming a "World Teacher" who would free mankind from all barriers, prisons and systems of thought. (30:13)
I find this pretty interesting that, through geological research and supposition alone, we have essentially captured an evolutionary choice being made by one particular species.
However, has anyone considered the possibility that this individual dinosaur could have made a conscious choice to lay off meat and begin eating only vegetation? A good way to test this hypothesis is to find other fossils of this species and weigh the evidence.
...Let it remain communistic and nobody will be watching it just as usual (I always wait for the Nova specials to come out and then check them out for free at my local library).
The original human sin, the fatal moment when the mind realized it had a body.
Since then the body has been trying to retake the mind, finding success where bodies are weak- one mind at a time.
And no matter how hard we may try to resist, the body keeps reasserting itself over and over again.
Kill this, fuck that, shit here, piss there-
You want to take me where?
The other side? Where’s that? Why can’t I know?
I’m not sure that I really want to go.
I think I’ll resist for now, and please don’t come again later. No thank you.
Oh, I didn’t catch your first name Mr. Death?
I guess I catch it later.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Human,
I am writing to inform you that the world is a contest between you and me?
I think that’s what Mr. Death wanted me to see.Sure we will get along once in a while, but to compile a world where everyone is equal?
Didn’t you read the prequel?
It’s titled “Evolution” not the “Constitution”.
I am like you, and they are not we, isn’t that how it is always going to be?
Awake to the world and not your mind’s desire, humans know death and how to build a fire.
They usually haul this one out every ten years or so to scare the populace into beleiving the marijuana is an evil substance--brought to you by a beer commercial and tobacco advertisement, of course.
I was shocked to find out from this article that in some developing countries, a computer costs the same as a house. If you want to spread republican democracy around the world, you've got to start by making sure everyone has access to quality information. Of course, if you wanted to keep these countries slave states in which you exploit their resources then it was pretty fuggin stupid to allow your artists and educators access to this information and the freedom to express the benefits of individual freedom to others through creative self-expression.
Sylvester Stallone is one of America's true great artists who has made a career of balancing artistic writing and unique acting. Many critics have bashed him because of his "popular culture" style of writing, juvenile plot lines and base emotional appeal; but they said these same things about George Lucas. All the piercing judgments in print do not change the fact that Rocky is as American as a fine piece of art can be.
And do you want to know why you should respect Sylvestor Stallone? Because Rocky's heart came from him and Rocky's belief in success came from him and because Sylvester Stallone believed in himself.
He wrote the Rocky screenplay in three feverish days of frantic scribbling on a yellow pad with a #2 pencil. He was inspired to write the story after watching a no-name ugly ass white dude fight Mohammed Ali and knock his ass down. The white guy didn't win the fight but he stood toe to toe with the world's best and knocked the world's best on his ass! Awesome!
To Stallone, this seemed like a metaphor for the greatness that lies in every individual. Most people don't even get their shot to express their talents, skills and experience--to make their voice heard in the raging storm of other voices that we call society. But the choices we make--Rocky's creation of the name "Italian Stallion" which Apollo Creed picked up on as the perfect theme for his next public relations spectacle. Appollo's greed, ambition and pure arrogance put him in connection with Rocky's matter of fact, this is what I am--take it or leave it--lifestyle.
So, the fighter went the distance and knocked the champ on his ass. But that wasn't even the best part of the story--because while everyone was circling the ring in a frenzy after the fight, Rocky was already focused on what mattered most in life to him--his love for Adrienne. See, Apollo was a warrior with heart but not heart like Rocky had. Rocky inspired Apollo to become a better person as the character developed; he inspired everyone around him to become better. And he went the distance...every time.
It wasn't about winning or losing--it was about being on your feet when the bell rings at the end. It was about taking the best shots from your opponent and giving back your best.
So Stallone wrote Rocky in three days. The big wigs in Hollywood offered him $100,000. Stallone barely had $100 in his bank and almost had to sell his dog to feed himself. But he knew that he should be the one to play Rocky. He held out until the price was $360,000 and, finally, the producers caved and paid him like $100,00 for the scripts and actors' minimum wages to act the part. He did it and the rest is history.
Stallone is one of the greatest American artists this century because he heard listened to his creative vision and adhered to it even when corporate interests tried to divert the vision through financing.
It's not enough that the rich in this country get all the golf courses, they have to take all the pity for being fat away too? Sheesh. There's not much left for us blue collars to call our own, is there? Well, we've still got the unions, right? Nope, sorry. They're rich now too.
Secularism of any kind is one of the major problems in human society today and we can't remove it as an obstacle of positive change unless we quit doing the same things over and over again that are leading us to the same results. Didn't someone say that was the definition of insanity?
I've been heralding the health-promoting benefits of Eastern Medicine for over ten years now. Finally, we will see a merging of Eastern spiritual and herbal medicine with the technological mastery of the West. We're all going to live to 159 and men will all have ten inch thick cocks and women will all have perky breasts and solid asses for life. Oh yeah, and no more cancer or Aids or any of that shit either...
Look, I feel for the couple in this article; I surely do. But it is important to understand that, because of ridiculous tax laws, employers are the primary medium through which we as citizens choose our health insurance provider. This is due to several complicated factors such as using a community rating to assess risk and underwrite the stop loss for a group according to a historical pattern of medical care usage and a future expectation based on the different components of the equation factors.
In other words, its worth more to insure a group that has already been pre-screened than it is to insure individuals at this point in time. If Americans are wise enough to elect Newt Gingrich in 2008 (and I predict it will be one of the greatest landslide elections in American history that will end with the Clinton name forever at the bottom of the American political trash bin where it belongs).
$100,000 is a really low amount for a lifetime maximum. Most groups that I've seen have somewhere in the million range. So, the great villain of this story is not the big, bad insurance company but rather the chincy employer who tried to cut a few corners and could have ended up costing one of their employees their lives.
If you don't want to rehabilitate these guys then kill them after their trials because by treating them like caged animals you are teaching them it is acceptable to act that way.
I have no issue with inmated receiving filtered quality information in order to improve their minds, spirits and social connection with the rest of humanity--I do have a problem when they use that information for malicious intent and this is why it must be filtered first.
At 10:51 AM EST Fox News had this article connected by hyperlink to a front-page title NEW POPE FOLLOWS TRADITION. That has to be the most imaginative and news worthy story this year.
I do apologize that you have been getting inundated with all these "Common Sense 2005" posts. I didn't quite realize (out of sheer ignorance, I assure you) that every publish of a Blog resulted in a communication via RSS. I have a habit of wanting to see the final work as it will actually appear to my audience. I held the same obsession in college when I would deliberately print out multiple copies of my stories and poems and do hand revisions rather than revisions directly in the Word document.
So, again, as Blogs become a more natural form of writing to me, I will be working out a new system of revision that will prevent this RSSpam in the future.
Common Sense 2005 (AKA "When Rupublicans and Democrats Both Become the A$$holes!)
by Uncle Josh
You'll know America has entered its enlightened age rennaisance when it stops naming highways, schools and monuments after its goddamned worthless public servants who are too busy lining up to suckle at the nuzzle of immoraly confiscated and criminally redristrubuted products of individual labor than to even consider the eternal damage they are causing the individual human citizen who has a birthright of freedom that is being denied to them.
You'll know America has become true to its heritage that still hangs in the air in the study of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello when it begins naming its masterpieces and its mundanities after its artists and scientists instead of it's loyal servants who somehow became it's greedy overlords.
And when all you public servants finish scrambling around to remember what type of freedom this country was founded on, make sure you act on that epiphany by:
Privatizing social security to protect the indigent and the temporarily dowtrodden but build incentives into the program to prevent laziness and sloth from lowering the living standards of everyone to raise those of the petty and asceptic few (there have always been truly lame members of the herd who must provide food for other life to eat just as there have always been challenged members of the herd who must work past prejudices and handicaps only to accomplish what others achieve by ease; the choice of which of these to be lies solely with the individual).
Start teaching your denizens (as you see them) basic and proper techniques of personal finance and business venture in the sausage factories that you refer to as "Public Education" (the only True public education lies beyond the doors of your "public" library and you can discover this fact very easily for yourselves by reading one book titled Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell). Schools should be privately funded through parental choice--end of discussion, case closed, no more argument--Uncle Josh has spoken, so now is where you each shut up and begin putting your heads together to actually do something about it without worrying about the motive for profit or loss. Remember, it's not your money to be doling out; it's ours and we want you to behave more responsibly than the five-year-old in a drugstore with a five and milk who decides to spend the change on candy and comic books despite his mother's obvious intentions.
Decriminalizing marijuana, regulating it's safe yet potent production, and taxing its usage ("To pay for the war effort," if it will make you stodgy pricks feel better)
Please, please please, with splenda on top--dismantle the fucking IRS (For Uncle Josh, for Old Times sakes, for whatever reason you can put your heads and assholes together to come up with)? The IRS is like the worst institution of slow public torture in the history of mankind. Saddam might have been brutal in the torture of his citizens through brute force; but the public servants of the United States, for the past one hundred years, have instituted a slow torture of its citizens that is far crueler to the overall populace than any single bullet terror dished out beneath the desert sand between the Tigris and Euphrates, okay? One used bullets for a quick (and, in some ways, merciful death) and the other uses law to drip slow torture onto the already boiling frog for a merciless life.
But most importantly, start acting like you were bornin America and not in StalinistRussia. Our government is supposed to provide for our general defense in case of a time of war (like, when we get attacked and not overplaying the "we got attacked hand"), and regulating industry (notice that I didn't say TAXING industry) to ensure domestic welfare (meaning safety not handout).
If our elected representatives accomplish these tasks, I hereby swear to send every member of Congress, the cool guys and the assholes, a FREE and very special christmassalutation which will be delivered to them via e-mail as a sparkling andbeautiful HTML masterpiece which will serve as a monument to their eternal wisdom and newfound faith in themselves and their country. (Was that sanctimonous enough for you suit-wearing assholes?)
Love your favorite citizen,
P.S.
To the American Citizen Left Who Can Read,
First, let me say that I live under the maxim that the person who can read and chooses not to is no better off than the one who can't and wants to.
In case you don't know me, I'm the smart ass with a big mouth and a long memory, I'm the one who reads 1700 words per minute, is passionately interested in almost everything, writes like Mozart played piano in the dark and is driven by the personal experience of complete intellectual and spiritual freedom.
I am a Son of Liberty and I assure you that Patrick Henry is smiling down on this Blog post. Believe it or be lying to yourself.
Some citizens that read this manifesto may wish that they would have been the one to write it. What these glorious individuals do not realize is that they were the ones to write it.
This cry for justice and sanity comes from the collective heart and consciousness of the true American citizen; the one that walked barefoot from Virginia to Boston while their homes burned behind them; the American who defended his newly elected man-chosen king from his old established and mighty king; the citizen who aimed and fired at his brother from another state over political squabblings and stubborn denial of the country's founding tenets of individual freedom by fat cats in smokey rooms; the American citizen who travelled to the other side of the world to ensure that people being bullied and murdered unjustly were defended and, indeed, were saved. This post comes from the heart, muscle, sinew and blood iron of the American soldier who has stood up time and time again and offered his wrists for the slashing so that the eagle of justice may drink freely.
This post comes from the comedian huddled on stage in a small and dark theatre lashing out violently against the injustices of his country despite his love of it for ensuring his freedom to rail.
This post is the spark and hum of the electric guitarist plugging in and tuning up to destroy the establishment with chord riffs and blistering arpeggios.
This post is the heart of the American artist, the only animal in human evolutionary history who takes up a pen, a brush, a keyboard and wraps the sacred of existence into the profane so that even those operating on the lowest levels of human consciousness are given the keys to the kingdom of heaven which lies in the air we breath this very moment.
This post is from me to America and it is a gift of love.
P.S.S. To America
America, If I was this country's puppet master and could put any common thought into the often-limited minds of our elected officials, I would have them think, "May the wise and compassionate things our fathers did in life shine forth in our thoughts and actions while the kind and eternally intelligent gifts our mothers gave us reach out to others through our emotions and our prayers."
Thank you for my freedom, America.
I hope you will accept this bitter kiss in the spirit of compassion, reason, intelligence and wisdom in which it is being offered.
