Bio
- okami
- former US Marine, retired police; in other words, professional babysitter. "Ah's jes' th' ign'nt sonuva po' ol' shahcroppah, yas ah is. . ."
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20100831
20100830
20100826
Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay - Politics - The Atlantic http://ping.fm/G1zTh
20100825
Saudi Arabia Unveils World's Biggest Clock in Mecca, Hopes to Replace Greenwich with 'Mecca Time' http://ping.fm/MMS5j
Mass Assassinations Lie at the Heart of America's Military Strategy in the Muslim World
http://ping.fm/vj5PD
http://ping.fm/vj5PD
20100824
20100823
U.S. Soldiers Punished for Not Attending Christian Concert
thank you, sir. i'm now your newest fan.
i was in the Corps in the mid-70's, and never for a moment--at any duty station--was there any indication of this kind of behavior.
(the earlier reply i spoke of has been accepted and posted; sometimes they haven't been. this one has several links to related stories over the past few years.)
myself, i don't belong to any ideology, and i still believe my own oath to the Constitution outweighs any such, political or religious.
i consider it a cause for sadness and alarm that civilian and military personnel who have taken oaths to defend the Constitution are daily putting religious or political ideology ahead of that oath.
it troubles me greatly. . .
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
20100822
20100821
Frank Zappa Don't Eat The Yellow Snow, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alphonzos Pancake Breakfeast, Father O'Blivion http://ping.fm/yOxzO
20100820
20100819
20100818
20100817
20100815
20100814
20100813
Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans In Ramadan Dinner Speech
"President Obama is wrong," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero. While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much."
. . .like the citizens of over 70 countries who died in the WTC that day. . .like all the Muslims who died in the WTC that day. . .you mean it's offensive to the British and the Irish and the Belgians and the Danes and the Swedes and Germans and Egyptians and Spanish and Venezuelans and Zimbabweans and Swiss and Malaysians and Indonesians and. . .
i'm sure there's quite an international uproar by all these countries. why, i bet they're threatening to break off diplomatic relations if constructions proceeds. . .
oh. i forgot. they're not 'real Americans'. those victims and what their countries think doesn't count.
my bad.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
20100812
20100811
Black Oak Arkansas / Ruby Starr - Lord Have Mercy on My Soul ( Halls of Karma ) http://ping.fm/A774Q
20100810
The End Is Not Nigh: Take a Deep Breath and Move On
people have been expecting the Rapture every week since Jesus reportedly ascended to Heaven. LaHaye, Huckabee, et.al. have no more authority in this matter than do those of any other millennial cult. it'll happen if and when it happens; until then, if people want to be suckered, that's their lookout.
About Christianity
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
(corrected link) BREAKING: Plane carrying 8 passengers crashes in Alaska; Former Sen. Ted Stevens reported to have been on board
http://ping.fm/ReYIL
http://ping.fm/ReYIL
BREAKING: Plane carrying 8 passengers crashes in Alaska; Former Sen. Ted Stevens reported to have been on board
http://ping.fm/EnJEy
http://ping.fm/EnJEy
20100809
20100808
Stealthy Government Contractor Monitors U.S. Internet Providers, Worked With Wikileaks Informant
http://ping.fm/fLV1D
http://ping.fm/fLV1D
20100807
20100806
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents Must Not Have Heard About Muslims At The Pentagon
indeed.
http://che
Christianity has become idolatrous.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Hiroshima And Nagasaki (PHOTOS): Never Before Seen Images From LIFE.com
they wouldn't have held back; woulda have been psychologically impossible. portions of the government were very militaristic. after the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor became a literally-living god through the national religion of State Shintoism.
the samurai class was abolished, and subcultural elements were transformed to the military. in the same way that extremist Christianity or Islam teaches destructive behavior patterns, State Shintoism promoted the ideal that it would be honorable to die for the Emperor and the country and the people. One's own life is nothing, if it can be of service. to be captured would be a disgrace to the individual and the family, never to be wiped out.
they had a 'master race' ideal of their own, too, in that their Emperor's family is the longest-known monarchy in the world, unbroken and stretching back to what we would call 'scriptural' times.
the population was as indoctrinated as the military. it was a fusion of state religion and right-wing politics that present elements of this country would be proud of. a theocratic, right-wing state here would resemble WW II Japan; with only the names changed.
much as i learned to respect and admire the people i met there, i have no doubt at all that, had they possessed the bomb, they would have used it then. mercy in warfare, from what i'd been able to learn, was weakness. they could bow to nothing but a stronger military entity; which, at the time, was us.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Hiroshima And Nagasaki (PHOTOS): Never Before Seen Images From LIFE.com
in the last picture, on the left you cann see the remains of a rather significant structure. it was a building constructed in 1915. the explosion of the bomb was am airburst, and 'preserved' the building in a somewhat recognizable form.
it still exists, pretty much as seen. i was stationed in Iwakuni Japan in 1974-1975 while i was in the Marines. i spent my weekends at either the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima-cho, or at Hiroshima.
there was a fence around the buildings and the rubble that they kept in place. in 1975 i could still see the shadows of people, plants, animals and objects burned into the concrete.
the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a complex that includes other features: a multistory museum with material from the time, pools, fountains, statuary memorializing the children, parents and civilians killed, and more. offerings for the souls of the departed are regularly made by visitors, as well as relatives.
scuttlebutt was that the city was pretty much rebuilt around this building, which we called the 'A-Bomb Dome' at the time. n the time since i left, both it and Itsukushima have become World Heritage Sites under the auspices of the United Nations.
to see what a difference a few years make, and the resilience of the Japanese people, please check the pix (and history) at
http://en.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
FBI Wants More Power To Track Internet Activity, Civil Rights Community Cries Foul http://ping.fm/wxNiG
Jan Brewer: Arizona Immigration Law May Not Boost Border Security (VIDEO)
indeed. sensible law enforcement personnel and their heads in Arizona don't like it. they know it'll keep them from doing their REAL jobs. and some are suing already.
main thing is, who's gonna foot the bill?
goona need lots more officers. more training. more insurance. more vehicles. more equipment. more training for the equipment. more overtime. more jails. more support personnel (communications, administration, etc). more traning, insurance and overtime for THEM.
again. . .where's that money gonna come from. . ?
not to mention the crime rate's gonna rise, because police are playing immigration officers instead of patrolling their neighborhoods, industrial and business districts. . .
About Arizona Immigration Law
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Sharron Angle: Make Gay Adoption Illegal, Allow Clergy To Endorse Candidates From Pulpit http://ping.fm/UOsWS
20100805
GOP Politician Confirms What Was Long Suspected: Republicans Intentionally Feed the Racism, Anger, and Paranoia of the Far Right
http://ping.fm/YIaZW
http://ping.fm/YIaZW
The Rigging Of Digg: How A Covert Mob Of Conservatives Hijacked The Web’s To Social News Site
http://ping.fm/010f4
http://ping.fm/010f4
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
humans are, on the whole, short-sighted, often forgetful. literacy still isn't that big in this country. nonwhite education rates--save for peoples of the Orient--still suffer. i've no idea how many blacks are aware of the slave trade in any detail, which would surely be a factor in your statement about Muslim slavetraders.
however, blacks freely enslaved other blacks, just as whites had freely enslaved other whites. how much of this history is known, i have no idea.
the mass of our population is ignorant of other cultures and other religions, other societies and our effects upon each other.
but i don't see it as an excuse for further fear, anger and hate. all it does is perpetuate conflict and help drag both parties into the ground.
that is not what this country's ideological foundation was. slavery was allowed for a time, in order to ensure the South's inclusion into the new country, but it was already starting to fade prior to 1860. socioeconomic conditions prove that.
i don't mind hating individuals, although i try not to, but i refuse to hate and fear an entire group based upon the beliefs and actions of a very small subset of that group.
'murderous foreigners', by the way, is rather xenophobic. we've got as many murderous people here in this country. and many more who would if they thought they could get away with it. i don't see homegrown murderers as being superior to those of other countries, myself.
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
thanks.
'a fairly large portion of African Americans'. . .means what? how many? where are they? where did these numbers come from?
i'd appreciate something to back that up. but, even said, there's a big difference between empathizing and outright material support.
for those who remember the humiliation of the Jim Crow laws--and the descendants who have learned of them--i could see that they might empathize with others whose cultures or soveriegnity have been imposed upon by the policies of a nonresident society.
i often see the rap/hiphop culture, etc, as a sort of cultural backlash, a proclamation of newfound freedoms which are themselves a reaction to the Civil Rights Laws. it's my belief that the more aggressive aspects will, in time, fade away.
(i would like to state, by the way, that i will try to back up my own stuff. however, my own library is 20 miles away from here, and thereby inaccessible. if anything is my own opinion or of my own experience, i hope to make that clear, and apologize in advance if it isn't.)
(continued)
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
if any support it, we made them, by our actions. same pattern we've historically used; ex: individuals of one Indian tribe murder a family. we retaliate by murdering other, innocent tribes. i think that'd create a bit of resentment.
you generalize from a few radicals to the whole of the religion. same logic as blaming you, personally, for creating the Taliban. The Pakistani ISI did it with CIA assistance; and, like Hussein, we supported bin Laden and other monsters. your logic would make you as guilty of creating them as they were.
as far as the terrorists living here: if FBI, CIA & others hadn't been so afraid to share information & worried about territory, they'd have found them. creating 'lists' of people afterwards
information is being censored. more radical and draconian laws are being passed on a regular basis.
and of course whites can 'defend' themslves. but in my experience, they've been about the only ones ALLOWED to 'defend' themselves. i could tell you some stories about that. don't feel so bad if others decide to 'defend' themselves from the whites. there's at least 500 years of justification for it in this country.
re: your last question. . .gee, you think it had anything to do with illegal invasions and scapegoating/coming down on nonwhites and blaming a whole religion?
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
1. i suspect glitches in the site. for a couple of days, any posts i wanted to share were not shared with other sites (Twitter, Blogger, etc).
2. i've grown up around discrimination, racism and prejudice all my life. if 99% of the cases it has been the straight white male coming down on everyone else: women, other races, other religions. i get tired of the long delusion that someone is better than anyone else just because they're white. just as blacks use the "N-word" between each other, i have no qualms about using "whiteboy" where it applies.
3, i've never read anything stating that Jefferson had anything personal aginst the religion of Islam in general. His administration took care of the Barbary pirates, but i have yet to see statements from his writings that were considered a blanket indictment. it is probably nothing to what he felt about Christianity: 'The Jefferson Bible' is still sold; it might prove illuminating.
4. as far as ideology goes, i admit to being anti-white in that i reject religious idolatry, the prosperity gospel, fearmongering, racial and religious discrimination, isolationism, CINOs, homophobia, 'the one true faith', scapegoating, demagoguery, and assorted trash which has been fostered on the world and its peoples.
i reject ignorance, fear and hypocrisy, which seems to be the trend of this country, most especially for the past ten years. and the vast majority has been coming from whites in this country who fear everyone and everything else.
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Should America tolerate Wikileaks or destroy it like any other national security threat?
http://ping.fm/EhKA6
http://ping.fm/EhKA6
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
i'd trust Muslims--ANY Muslims from this country--before i would 'real Americans' (read: whiteboy fakes) who scapegoat and fearmonger and cause hate and division.
quit making them an object of fear, and they won't have reason to become what you suspect them of.
they're Americans--REAL AMERICANS--as are any Hispanics, Orientals, blacks, etc. who were either born here or became citizens.
the Founding Fathers welcomed Muslim inclusion into this country, as they did ALL other faiths. this wasn't even revoked during our early wars with the pirates of North Africa. they differentiated between SOME Muslims and ALL Muslims.
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Ground Zero Mosque Opponents React Hysterically To Bloomberg Endorsement
well, our rounding up and detaining Muslims in the US, just after 911, didn't help. and the fearmongering since wasn't that big a bonus, either. not to mention American Muslims being wiretapped and surveilled illegally.
it's only been 100 years since Protestants stopped killing Catholics in this country. slavery officially ended in 1865, but didn't REALLY end until the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960's got rid of the Jim Crow Laws.
if you'd been the bad side of bigotry, racism and prejudice for a fair portion of your life, you might reconsider your opinion.
and, as has been documented and reaffirmed by Bloomberg, Muslims were also killed in the WTC. that makes it doubly difficult for them, when we 'real Americans' (AKA bigots) continually push them into the metaphorical slime and mud.
About Michael Bloomberg
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
20100804
Veterans and Military Families: Pentagon Statements on WikiLeaks Cloud Real Issues
http://ping.fm/2ZU3v
http://ping.fm/2ZU3v
20100803
The Takeaway from 91,000 Leaked Secret Documents on Afghanistan: It's Bad. Very Bad. Time to Go
http://ping.fm/9LRWr's_bad._very_bad._time_to_go/
http://ping.fm/9LRWr's_bad._very_bad._time_to_go/
Those Freaking Out Over Muslim Community Center Are Spitting on the Graves of 9/11 Victims
http://ping.fm/gnEzd
http://ping.fm/gnEzd
Colorado Senate Candidate Ken Buck Insists Rape, Incest Are No Excuse For An Abortion http://ping.fm/BH1iz
20100802
Newt Gingrich Rejects Religious Freedom and the Golden Rule
often we require an 'irritation' to spur us to new consciousness, as was the case in Frank Herbert's 'Destination Void'. if everything were all right, we'd basically be cattle or sheep, munching our grass.
i'd recommend that you read the works of Dr Elaine Pagels, possibly the world's leading authority on Gnostic Scriptures. she's issued several wonderful books on the subject, making her a prime target for conservative theological figures.
(luckily, those figures in this country apparently don't have the neurons to make them aware of her existence.
Karen L King has produced 'The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle'.
finally, i was struck by the remembrence of science fiction writer Larry Niven's 'Known Space' series, dating from the 70's to now, in short stories and novels.
he created a cat-like race called the kzin, whose females are basically docile and brainless, considered property and good for nothing but producing offspring and being a sign of wealth. other writers have contributed stories about the kzin, a highly warlike race. in some stories it was found that, millennia earlier, they had been as aggressive and intelligent as the males.
this makes me wonder whether these writers were commenting on the sociosexual roles of people, modified by religious attitudes. this might be so, since extremist fundmentalist religion seeks to make nonhuman symbols of women, considering them simultaneously holy and cursed by their own limited worldviews. . .
. . .just a thought. . .
About Islam
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Sarah Palin Facebook Post DELETED, Social Network Apologizes
it's an insult to the memory of Khruschev. despite his failings, he was probably the best of the soviet premiers up till Gorbachev. after all, he did lay bare a LOT of Stalin's crimes.
Bera, Andropov or Molotov woulda been better choices. more her style.
About Facebook
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
20100801
Censored Gulf eyewitness testimonies of coughing up blood and other horror stories
http://ping.fm/ntKyd
http://ping.fm/ntKyd
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