BartBlog

To paraphrase that current Geico ad on TV, “If you are a writer, you write. It’s what you do.” And I certainly live in an age where there is a hecka lot of stuff to write about. In this day and age of lies, greed, bluster, neo-fascism, economic collapse, ecological disaster, radiation danger, war-mongers and brinksmanship, words practically write themselves. For a writer, “It is the worst of times, it is the best of times.”

I just may be lucky enough to be in a position to chronicle the end of the world.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about Paris.

I’m here on a 24-hour layover between Berkeley and Beirut. But 24 hours in Paris is always far, far better than no hours in Paris at all. Paris in the winter is lovely. There’s not a big flood of tourists and I only got lost on the Metro twice. But I had such great plans for my 24-hours here. Wanted to go to see Montmartre where so many Impressionist and Cubist painters lived and worked — and to the Musee D’Orsey where their masterpieces are on display.

Wanted to go to the Paris conference on climate change and to the Batachan concert hall where one of the most recent mass shootings took place.

Wanted to eat in a fancy French restaurant.

Wanted to follow the Lonely Planet’s advice and take a literary stroll past the garrets of Orwell, Hemingway, Stein, Miller, Nin, Joyce, etc. Wanted to visit Shakespeare & Company and 27 rue de Fleurus.

But the the sad remnants of a particularly virulent stomach flu kept me from wanting to eat anything, jet lag kept my brain on hold and the obvious time limitations held me down. But still and all, Paris really is a movable feast and I did arrive at the COP21 climate change conference just in time to barely miss California governor Jerry Brown give a talk on “Big ideas to connect landscapes, climate and development”. Brown certainly knows all about development! I didn’t need to go all the way to Paris to learn that. I could have just toured West Oakland.

But mostly I just walked around the Arc de Triumph neighborhood, soaked in the ambiance, ate croissants and listened to people speak French (and also a whole lot of other languages too as a result of the insane brutality of the then-and-now French empires having shaken so many residents of the world loose from their homes).

There is certainly a lot to write about in Paris. I am so glad that I’m here.

The real scourge of modern society is the effect of programming and algorithms on the structure of thought.  To reduce reasoning to zeros and ones, yes or no and black and white is to encourage perpetual ignorance and unforgiving idealism that has no compassion nor capability of distinguishing nuances that the real world encompasses.

The Law is supposed to be a healing art and profession.  The tangled perceptions and occurrences in the lives of us all make each entanglement the subject of unique definitions.

For instance, this morning I heard the report on KCBS news radio about a man driving without his lights.  He never had a ticket and when the officer returned to let him off with a warning he was snorting (or about to vacuum) a line of cocaine.

Later, I go by an open storefront on Shattuck in Berkeley of a deli with a man at the door and his pants down.  Was he urinating? defecating? (Was he even aware he could be arrested for a sex offense?) The post office restrooms are just a half block away.  Toleration is not compassionate. Toleration seems to be a euphemism for ignoring others.

Ignoring others has led to where we are, wallowing in fear and ignorance. Ignore and ignorance must have the same root.

It has been said, I’m told, that ignorance is bliss.  If so, why are so many angry?

Confused? Semantics has a wonderful saying, “The map is not the territory”. This means that the colors aren’t the real color and mountains are different than depicted. Same for words. Words are not the thing (or person).

The Common Law is based upon reason and what a reasonable person might do in this or a similar situation and then how far the acts and mental state are to be evaluated as being in concert or too negative to allow.  What is allowed is the subject of politics. (More on that when I can discuss Medical Marijuana and addressing iatrogenic fatalities in a future column (Google Hint: top five causes of death)).

It has been reported that a society is judged by it’s treatment of children and elders. The United States, from what I have seen, fails.

In a recent matter in Probate Court regarding a conservatorship several troubling aspects became more than apparent and indicate a judicial corruption coupled with appointive and elected offices and officers such as to take one’s breath away.

Available proof exists in abundance of  the drugs a child might arrange through the current crop of “pill” doctors to be prescribed for their parent in a scheme to create the illusion or bring  the onset of dementia-one that destroys the seat of memories and new brain cells: the hypothalamus!  Benzodiazepines in response to unnecessary anxiety from thyroxin when no clinical hypothyroidism is indicated are a known problem.

After 9 months of this therapy (cute, n’es pas?) the parent is taken to another “doctor” for more and finally the “doctors” declare the parent senile and with dementia and incompetent.  Induced diminished capacity.

Of course, the other vultures stand by.  New scheme or old? You be the judge.

First, why wait for my inheritance if I can take control of my parent and their assets? Clever children everywhere are waking up to the fact that elderly parents might “waste” their inheritance.

If you have the funds the game gets more fun for the rich kids. Dig it: they get a conservatorship mill to crank up. Some of the children feel left out by one or some of their other siblings. Revenge and excitement like  an old Greek play or Shakespearian history begin to unfold and the particulars can be quite shocking.

The mill has lawyers, real estate agents, appraisers, financial planners, trustees and, most importantly, conservators ready to fleece the old darling who has been pharmaceutically muffled. (Sometimes, the Red Star Elder Rescue Service has been able to get an elder  off the drugs only to watch the court system accept the corrupt schemes as long as they can “dip their beaks” as well into the elder’s “assets”.)

This happened, in essence to Bill Graham’s orphanage mate. The Judicial system is broken.  I watched the court reporter pack up and leave off taking transcripts for the case despite having sat and court-reportered through the previous eight matters  which, as the one to be unreported, were of the same theme – Trusts.

The unreported minutes have included the appearance of a retired judge (who is not subject to Judicial Performance Review but perhaps the bar and certainly by history)(Is it true a U.S. Senator  has a relative in the same or similar pharmacuffs?).

The retired judge was sitting at the request of the Chief Judge , after the Chief had denied a temporary order and was sent in to give a certain outcome to a certain troublesome lawyer and make a statement to that lawyer. The order was Granted. Conservatorship of a competent and lucid eighty plus year old was Granted.

That is how they hamstring good lawyers:they punish their clients!  ( Google Hint: .theguardian judge-bias-corrupts-court-cases)

But, back to the present trust case without the transcripts.  That Judge Granted with modifications: covering forgery, legally insufficient and unclear passage of title while shielding the fiduciaries, past and present, from liability – generally dusty and cleaning – and failing to actually file a substantive order, just the title. The Attorney General of California should talk to the Lieutenant Governor of the State of California about this.

Breaking news in Berkeley includes the homeless and my friends at the protest around City Hall and the Berkeley Post Office. The camp was broken up but the agents of the government unzipped Mike’s tent to arrest him in a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment strictures against unlawful and unreasonable searches and seizures. They went into a structure without a warrant ( I have counseled that a tent and the shelter it provides is a homeless right to shelter and privacy under Supreme Court decisions like Griswold v Connecticut and hence a protected “home”).

This could get Mikes name in the annals of the US Supreme Court.

Next time I will give you some inside on the “Shrimp Boy” case in Federal Court in San Francisco. (And my email from his defense lawyer thanking me for the help.)

In the meantime, is it fair for the Federal Government to use a non-cannabis state to call into a pro-cannabis state and set up a business in order to arrest and charge someone for money laundering, conspiracy and drugs ( herbs?) ?  Ask Kamala Harris.   Ask Leland Yee. No, better, yet, ask Ed Lee about Conroy being assigned to supervise San Francisco Federal attorneys  in charge of snaring someone.

Do States rights also apply to counties and Siskiyou County disallowing all medical marijuana? Isn’t this likely to cause different standards for medical care in different states and counties?

Question Authority! Cue up Queen, “We are the Conquerors”.

This column is hereby adjourned until the same time and place next week. Aloha!

The summer intern was waxing nostalgic about the time in 1960-something there was an opportunity to help lick the whipped cream and strawberries off of a brand new car “It would help my new novel if I could get a photo of that car and that happening at the Longshoreman’s Hall Flux Fest”.

Most people think that the lost art of photo research has been made simple with the invention of the internet-not so!

The WLJ (World’s Laziest Journalist) has encountered one photo of a stunt held in conjunction with the liberation of Paris in WWII.

A cowboy-pilot flew a B-17 through the open legs of the Eiffel Tower. Repeated searches of the internet have been unproductive. Alas and alack, some of the most fascinating photos from the last century are missing from the internet.

Have you seen the photos online that appear to show George HW Bush at Dealy Plaza at the same time as the Kennedy Assassination?

Karla is currently marshaling material for an autobiography and would love to locate a snapshot showing the only time Janis Joplin ever performed in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park, at which she was present without a camera. Does anyone have any picture of Belle Starr with Chet Helms? (Bill Graham? )

Even any photos of Belle with Wavy Gravy would be helpful if any such photos exist. (Is anyone old enough to remember Sergeant Sunshine or any photos in the public domain. (R.I.P. Carol Doda)

For that matter, are General Hershey Bar or General WasteMoreLand still alive? How about the guy with the 5 foot pipe who came to all the love-ins?

In the summer of 1966, the WLJ was employed as a photo librarian  at the Associated Press Headquarters located in Rockefeller Center. The columnist was told that certain men in suits who borrowed some negatives would take them to a special photo lab where gigantic enlargements could be made so that “They” could see and identify people who were lurking on the periphery of anti Viet Nam War demonstrations.

Suddenly the meaning of events in the sixties are becoming crystal clear to the summer intern who exclaimed “That’s my novel.”

A Saint Paul’s vision is “Better late than never!”

Does the pop culture bookstore need another eyewitness account of the sixties?

There can never be enough of them which is why, eventually, the last living hippie will be a popular late night show guest.

After the viewing of a documentary about the Cockettes, the summer intern exclaimed “ No wonder I was not fitting in and my view was from the local not the mainstream media version of the San Francisco scene”. (Are any of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence still living after the demise of “Jack” Sister Boom Boom?)

The WLJ added some historical context with the tale of the WWII influx of discharged gay members of the military who were transported back to San Francisco and dumped there.

(The WLJ photo archives should include some negatives of the Jefferson Airplane performing in Golden Gate Park but unfortunately when an effort was made to shed worldly goods those negatives disappeared. Does anyone have any non-Jim Marshall photos to share?)

Where did the Berkeley Public Library get the image of Grace Slick with Janis Joplin? Is it in the public domain? Probably not.

Images of the anti Viet Nam war parade from Civic Center in San Francisco to Golden Gate Park where Crosby, Stills and Nash played would help spruce up the intern’s novel.

Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe did a marvelous job of describing life in ‘Frisco (the intern says “Don’t ever call it ‘Frisco! But Belle’s memoirs with numerous photo images will give them a run for their money). Belle asked, “Do any literary agents read your columns?”.

Has anyone other than the columnists ever encountered images of a fatal car verses pedestrian encounter that occurred in Paris in 1925?

If this column mentions Eddie Adams’ photo of the Saigon Police Chief shooting a Viet Cong in the head, most readers will be able to recall that particular image.  It would be an easy matter to pirate a copy to use with this column but tracking down the image owners to get permission to use it here would be an impossible bureaucratic task.

Missing snapshots can unlock floodgates of memories. Some of the missing images may surface years from now but novelists can fictionalize the details and proceed quickly to the next chapter.

“Nobody knows the stories we have”, was the summer intern’s explanation for the sudden compulsion to complete her memoirs as a novel. ( It appears that Karla’s campaign for Pot Czar has spawned the ire of Sacramento and the front page of Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle declares the Czar should not be a stoner but a techie. (Why not both? )( Karla was the first attorney in California to file a computer generated pleading.))

Hunter S. Thompson wrote his memoirs as a novel and hence eliminated the time consuming task of having the work fact checked.  Did the WLJ learn anything from H.S.T.?

What good does examining the details and motivations for the anti Viet Nam protest do for today’s audience?  George Santayana said, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it “.

The WLJ and the summer intern expect to provide photo and word coverage of any San Francisco-Berkeley based protest objecting to sending troops and drones to Syria.  Stay tuned!
(While collecting material to be used in this weeks posting we speculated about the feasibility of a convention of /for hippies while they are still alive and can come to it (at the Bill Graham”s Mole Hall Civic Auditorium?))

Now the Disc Jockey will play Fixing to Die Rag, Eve of Destruction and Son of a Bitch.

Have a “Those were the days my friend” kind of week.  AMF

j

“It’s not those freezing temperatures that make your feet feel painfully cold,” said my doctor. “It’s your heart. If you want your feet to feel warm again, first you’ve got to heat up your upper body’s core temperature.” Good to know.

Then I decided to go camping — as if my feet weren’t already cold enough. I wanted to commune with nature, be all macho and man up. Can someone like me, who is totally used to urban comforts and has perpetually cold feet, actually pass a huge human endurance test like this? Survive in the wilderness for three whole days in freezing weather? I was about to find out.

“Bet you won’t last more than an hour,” said my daughter. But I would prove her wrong! It’s all in the preparation, you know. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/08/ms.html

First stop? REI and Sports Basement for a sub-zero sleeping bag, foot-warmers and warm socks. https://redfworkshop.org/made-the-empowerment-plan/ Then off to borrow a tent and a tarp and a lantern and some foam. Next stop? Went down to the homeless encampment and asked a homeless man how homeless people survive camping out in the freezing cold weather night after night.

“Basically? We don’t. People actually die out here in the streets.” That shut my mouth. https://www.facebook.com/First-they-came-for-the-homeless-253882908111999/

Someone else also gave me more pointers on how to keep warm. “Eat foods with high fat content. Gain weight. Eat ginger. Sleep on cardboard.” So I packed up plenty of eggnog and See’s candy. Pumpkin pie. Time to test my worth against raw nature. Be a survivor. “Naked and Alone”.

But then things started to go wrong. The car I rented was just so freaking huge that it scared me to drive it. I asked my son Joe along so he could drive but he could only get away for a day. Our GPS got us hopelessly lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The temperature started to drop perilously. And we ended up coming home after only an hour in the woods.

How do homeless people in America do it? Camping out there in the freezing cold night after night without the benefit of rental cars, tents, sleeping bags and REI? Simple answer. “They don’t.”

PS: I’m leaving for Paris and Beirut next week. Going there will be a hecka lot easier than camping! No tents or cardboard will be involved. https://www.rt.com/uk/322474-facebook-deleted-Paris-attacks/

There’s a very popular TV show on ABC right now and it’s called “How to Get Away with Murder”. The plot revolves around a law professor who teaches her students how to be effective defense attorneys. “If you want to get your client off the hook, even for felony charges such as murder,” she instructs her class, “then you always need to establish reasonable doubt first.”

“And how do you do that?” asks a student.

“You find somebody else to blame,” the professor replies. Brilliant! And this same principle also applies to creating effective “war” propaganda too.

Has America’s vicious and bloody empire finally started to unravel at the seams because the rest of the world is finally begining to realize that said empire is a cruel evil inhuman mess based on savagery, state terror and greed? http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/20/at-night-i-hear-victims-shouting/ No problem. Just blame someone else for all this viciously spilled blood. Blame Russia. Blame Muslims. Blame immigrants. Blame unions. Blame women.

Are hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children being slaughtered in the Middle East with American weapons right now, in the cruelest way possible, set on fire with napalm, blown up by drones? http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2015/11/20/roots-of-terror/ Blame terrorists. Blame dictators. Blame yo’ mama!

Forget about how American, Turkish, Saudi and Israeli neo-colonialists recruit, fund and train ISIS. http://www.unian.info/world/1189023-arrested-isil-extremist-in-kuwait-admits-to-closing-weapons-deals-in-ukraine.html Forget that Israeli neo-colonialists are running a brutal gulag in Palestine. Don’t blame the real killers. Follow that TV professor’s advice. Blame the victims. Blame sunspots. Blame termites. Blame camels. Does it even matter who gets blamed — as long as it sways the jury? I think not.

So what if the rulers of Saudi Arabia are happily trying to butcher every man, woman and child in Yemen in order to steal their oil — and that America is supplying the weapons to fry Yemenis alive in their own juices? “It’s not us,” the Saudi princes all cry. “It’s the rebels. It’s the terrorists. It’s the Shias. It’s the goats! Don’t believe those dying Yemenis. Believe us!” http://mondoweiss.net/2015/08/killed-saudi-bombing
And so now the jury comes back in with its verdict. “The House of Saud, the American weapons industry, the Israeli neo-colonialists, the Turkish dictator-wannabes and their buddies ISIS and al Qaeda are all not guilty!” And once again these inhuman butchers get away with murder by blaming someone else. That law professor was right!

PS: I hereby proclaim next Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, to heretofore be the official “SET ASIDE A PLATE FOR THE HOMELESS” Day. Fill a plate with food (including pumpkin pie!) and take it down to the local homeless encampment. We have so much. They have so little.

And if you live in Europe or the Middle East or Africa or Latin America or North America or Asia, then set aside a plate for “war” refugees too. And then thank Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama, Wall Street and War Street for creating them.

“The poor will always be with us,” said Jesus. No they won’t. They’ll be off in some ghetto or slum, out of sight, out of mind. Or else they’ll just be in jail. But we can always take a tour and go visit them — like animals in a zoo.

In America today, money buys power. And freedom. And visibility. No one wants to see poor people. Everyone just wishes they would just go away. No one even wants to watch sit-coms about poor people on TV any more. Gone are the days of Sanford & Son and the Beverly Hillbillies.

And when I pass the bodies of poor people asleep in the doorways of my affluent home town, it is so embarrassing and sad for me to have to explain to my granddaughters that, yes, people who are that poor actually do exist in America these days — lots of them. http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2015-11-06/article/43881

So what to do about it? Here’s a suggestion. “Stop making more poor people.” Nah, that will never happen. Just witness the popularity in Washington of the new TTP, also known as NAFTA on steroids, which will instantly create millions of more poor people here in the USA. http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_most_brazen_corporate_power_grab_in_american_history_20151106

Want another suggestion? “Lawyer up.” Now there’s an idea whose time has come.

If every poor person in America had their own personal Harvard Law School graduate on retainer, things would instantly change up a whole lot. “Wanna evict me and make me homeless? Here’s my attorney’s card. Talk to him.” Or her.

Wanna throw non-violent protesters in jail? Wanna unjustly accuse some poor innocent schmuck of murder? Want to beat up on people just because they are poor? Take away their jobs? Deport them illegally? Steal their money through some sleazy bankster con game on their pensions? Then give them the same attorney privileges that Wall Street banksters and Beltway war criminals enjoy. Let’s level the playing field here.

When poor people use marijuana or cocaine, they are locked up as felons and given no legal redress. When rich people use marijuana or cocaine, however, some fancy suit-wearing fast-talking mouthpiece always gets them off.

So let’s spend taxpayers’ money on attorneys for the poor — instead of spending it on building and maintaining even more expensive and ineffective jails. Think of all the money we’ll save — and we’ll even be creating jobs for young lawyers, all those new Harvard Law School graduates desperate to pay off their student debts before they too become one of the poor.

This way, the poor may always be with us — but at least they’ll be represented in court.

When we heard that an effort was being attempted to unionize the workers in the medical marijuana dispensaries in California, we thought that topic would be a good alternative to writing the millionth example of political punditry spawned by the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

While trying to track down a source for the unionization topic we wound up talking to Karla Gottschalk who is actively seeking the appointment as the Potentate of Pot and our first question was “How can anybody run a campaign to become a political appointee?”.

Karla responded that a series of informal meet and greets would be her main strategy. She will be at the Sweet Adeline Bakery November 22nd (Sunday ) from approximately one to three P.M. She will be at the literary appreciation meeting at the Cafe Mediterranean in Berkeley on Telegraph  (near world renowned People’s Park) Monday November 23rd  approximately between 7-8 p.m.

An impromptu weekday appearance at Cafe Tazo in San Francisco some afternoon is being discussed.

Since these efforts may spawn some late night talk show hosts snarkiness we asked Karla “Why the hell would anyone want to “run” for that appointed position” to which she responded “I need a government pension”.

She then added, after a brief pause for effect, “Because we need someone who can take the issue seriously regarding medical, legal and social implications.  Medicines should be available to patients who can benefit from them”.

The World’s Laziest Journalist does not mean to diminish the seriousness about the terrorism that occurred in Paris. We are aware that the audience for news may desperately need a change of pace topic.

We will avoid the temptation to give a nostalgia laden detailed description of Karla’s North Beach experiences in the sixties.

Since both Karla and this columnist have heard the Jefferson Airplane perform for free in Golden Gate Park and doubt that many of our readers would be able to exclaim “me, too!”. It wouldn’t do much good at a time when many younger people ask who were the Jefferson Airplane.

Karla  pointed out the interesting urban legends still rampant in the medical marijuana community as David Downs says in his column “Legalize Nation” in this weeks issue of The East Bay Express:

“…”cannabidiol -rich edibles provide anxiety for pain relief during those long holiday visits, but without the giggly psychoactivity of THC”. Shades of Reefer Madness as the first indication of intoxication with cannabis in Madness is uncontrollable laughter.  Have you noticed patients everywhere laughing giggly or otherwise? The propaganda needs to be refuted with research and facts.

Would the politicians who send you men and women to war be reluctant to provide medical marijuana for PTSD relief to any members of the military who will no doubt be sent to Syria.

The candidate is searching for an official campaign theme song and seems poised to select “Puff the Magic Dragon”.

(Commissioner-to-be) Karla has selected the campaign slogan which is the old sixties maxim “Don’t knock it If you haven’t tried it”.

The Campaign Headquarters has been swamped by offers to serve as the Chairman of the Quality Control committee. Radio host Norm Goldman may get the nod for that important position as he asked first. Who will ask last?

The Pasha of Pot would consider it an honor if Tommy Chong were to offer his services in quality evaluations.

One citizen pointed out the need to know what was used in growing the medicine and the various chemical additives which may have been added and perhaps even an extensive knowledge of farming and harvesting this specialized crop.

America seems once again poised for a new bout of war fever. To oppose medical marijuana for those who can gain relief from suffering is Draconian.

It seems extremely doubtful than any/many Americans will want to hold a demonstration protesting any American response to the terrorist attacks. Punditry in the United States will become as predictable as tail-gate parties at Super Bowl time.

We will continue our search for worthy topics in the coming weeks but it seems that mind control will inhibit anything but enthusiastic nationalism. We’ll do our best. Stay tuned.

Now the Disc Jockey will play “Puff the Magic Dragon”, The Toys “Smoke Two Joints” and Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It”.

Have a  “throw the radio in the bathtub when White Rabbit peaks” kind of week.

Happy Thanksgiving

“We’re Number One!” Americans are always boastfully bragging and, yes, this is true. Of course we’re not Number One with regard to any kind of stuff that actually matters such as education, healthcare, infrastructure or jobs — but America clearly is the Number One manufacturer of weapons in the world today. “Booyah for us!”

And, bless its heart, America certainly knows how to create demand for its grim, awful and inhumane products.

Remember Albert Einstein’s famous definition of insanity? “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results….” And yet the American military-industrial complex keeps using extreme violence over and over again, even when it constantly fails and fails and fails to keep us safe. But if the American military machine’s goal was to achieve world peace, then Einstein would have been right in this case. The constant use of violence in order to prevent violence is completely insane.

However, if the American military-industrial complex’s real goal is to sell weapons, then the use of more and more violence is totally on point.

When Yemen, Palestine and Syria started burning and Ukraine, Libya and a whole lot of African countries also followed suit (not to mention Afghanistan and Iraq), even more guns were sold. “Booyah!” http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/11/terror-attacks-in-france-some-related-links.html

And now, with Paris burning, the weapons industry is going to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gear up to advertise its products on an even grander scale. Am I right or what? Just you wait. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

“But how can anyone possibly advertise war?” you might ask. Hey, it’s easy. Almost every segment of every nightly news program we have watched for the past five decades has been just one infomercial after another for America’s Number One product. “Syria is a problem, we’ve got to bomb it, problem solved, no more unsightly stains to remove,” they constantly tell us on TV every night.

“Eastern Ukraine, Palestine and Yemen all need to be obliterated — and possibly Russia!” our nightly TV commercials for war currently inform us. “Blowing up countries is really trending right now. It’s the Call of Duty! Those bad guys deserve it. And please bring a date.” And lucky for us that the American military-industrial complex produces just the very products needed to do the job. http://www.globalresearch.ca/possible-tactical-nuclear-strike-neutron-bomb-in-yemen/5452876

These constant “war” infomercials are deliberately designed to prey on their target audience’s desire for status and the need to feel macho — as well as on our greed, prejudices and fears. Courageous people think for themselves and never get fooled by false advertising. Fearful people just get suckered in by War Street’s public relations guys and head straight for the weapons boutiques. “I’ll take one of those.”

And now we have Paris — offering the best commercial opportunity for escalating the use of violence ev-ah! “We’re going to mobilize and arm every single inch of French soil! And then we’re going to blow up Syria — and Palestine and Iran too. Russia will be attacked. And China. Weapons R Us!” Booyah. http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/11/14/paris-attacks-a-perfect-pretext-for-nato-to-mobilize-in-syria-and-iraq/

According to one of my current inside sources, “The time-tested Mossad and CIA method has been to infiltrate likely groups such as disaffected French Muslims, and then have their agents encourage these groups to commit attacks ‘for their cause’ – whatever that might be – only of course it’s not their cause that benefits.” Nope. All benefits go to war profiteers.

Selling weaponry is hard work. You can’t eat weapons or even drive them around or brush your teeth with them — so you always gotta create a demand for them. And even though you are now the Number One manufacturer of weapons in the world, you still gotta keep creating demand.

PS: But exactly what is going to happen after the entire Middle East has been carpet-bombed, Africa has become totally dysfunctional, Latin America is a smoldering ruin and all of Europe is in the same mess as Paris? Who the freak will the American military-industrial complex suggest that we bomb after that? Who the freak will even be left? http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/11/who-will-blink-in-syria-russia-or-the-us/

You and me of course.

And when all these “wars” for profit finally do get to American shores, then we too had better start thinking about where we can flee to, now that we also have become “war” refugees. Mexico? Canada? Mars? https://www.rt.com/op-edge/316022-refugees-somalia-congo-eu/

PPS: Malcolm X was right. Chickens do have a tendency to come home to roost. And so, after having blown up the rest of the whole freaking world, it’s only fair that the military-industrial complex should be allowed to sell their weapons to use against us here at home too. We are the ones who originally got the “war” ball rolling. So what if it rolls over us too? If America is to stay Number One in weapons production, then sacrifices have to be made. Get over it.

PPPS: What ever happened to “Moral Mondays,” I keep asking myself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnpeOTLgyKs I really miss morality now that it’s gone.

“Morality doesn’t sell weapons, silly.”

A news item on KCBS radio this week inspired the intern to apply to be appointed by the Governor of California as the Pot Czar. Immediately it became apparent that this quest would be more than a mission for Don Quixote with a joint. It seems likely that a tobacco company official with strong political ties will be the most likely candidate.

However, since the intern, Karla Gottschalk, is both a naturopath and lawyer it seems, to this columnist, that a viable alternative choice is available. An executive from the tobacco industry would bring an excess of capitalism and commercialism to the post.  A candidate who has experience in scientific research and experience as a lawyer would be able to bring a “fair and balanced” approach to a highly emotional current topic.

Does pot smoking affect driving and if so is it an adverse effect? Perhaps one of the fine California Universities could be funded to do research on this question as well as their medical schools.

If marijuana is one of the most effective ways to treat PTSD for veterans why would anyone want to deny that potential relief to those who need it?

Would someone who has never indulged in marijuana nor become addicted to tobacco have some predetermined conclusions on the questions? Would they be too prejudiced to effectively serve as the chief of medical regulations for California?

If marijuana is, as expected, legalized in California next year, will prison inmates have a right to access it?

The medical benefit of marijuana for seniors may make this a senior citizens’ issue.  It is reputed to counter Alzheimers, glaucoma, high blood pressure and other age related problems.

Wouldn’t it be natural for the pharmaceutical industry to discourage such a quick and maybe easy treatment rather than permitting them to micromanage potential cures (?) for these conditions?

The night time talk show opening monologues will get plenty of mileage out of the topic of appointing a pot czar for the State of California and the need for a serious approach to the medico-legal aspects should be obvious. (Would you rather Cheech and Chong be appointed?)

When Karla’s quest was revealed to CBCB dispensary in Berkeley they immediately and enthusiastically offered to start a petition to help Governor Brown make his choice.

(We are looking for someone to start an online petition to urge Governor Brown to name Karla Gottschalk as the official California Pot Czar. We encourage our readers to start their own online petitions and post a link in the comments section, if you wish).

Karla’s qualifications include anti-war activity in the mid-sixties and a long roster of friends who were marijuana pioneers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This week’s column may seem frivolous in light of this week’s terrorism in Paris. However, an examination of the full spectrum of the effects that this nomination will have on the citizens of California should make it obvious it is a very serious choice the Governor faces.

The amalgamated conspiracy  theory factory employee association scheduled a showing of the colorized version of Reefer Madness where marijuana cliche’s and references abound. We hope to avoid such a frivolous approach while maintaining a serious political pundit attitude towards this contentious discussion.

While Reefer Madness and a 1968 Dragnet episode “The Big High” may have influenced this columnist’s disdain for the “Assassin of Youth” substance, the citizens of California deserve better.

Since this is an appointment and not an elected position we strongly urge all our readers to become involved and disregard the tsunami of talk show jokes that will surely follow.

It is extremely difficult for a happy-go-lucky columnist to urge readers to take this opportunity for California seriously.  The columnist strongly endorses the candidacy of Karla Gottschalk to this important position and  urges the readers to do what they can to thwart big tobacco and any effort to shanghai this office.

FAX Karla Gottschalk for Chief of The Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation to Governor’s Office/Appointments Unit  (916)-558-3190

Thank you for your time and attention this week.  Have a Bust Free week!

Who doesn’t like a good game show? Me! I don’t like them at all. “Deal or No Deal” leaves me cold. Vanna White offers no appeal. Steve Harvey? Forget it. And if I really wanted to watch any kind of “Family Feud,” I’d simply reenact my own childhood — or else watch our very own American mainstream media outlets fighting to out-do each other to see who can tell us the biggest lies about Syria.

America’s MSM constantly lies on air or in print these days but no one here seems to be rushing to hand them the consequence of sending them to jail or revoking their FCC licenses either — or even forcing them to add an addendum to their reports stating that “The program you have just watched (or article you have just read) is totally fictional and has absolutely no actual basis in fact.”

For instance, the New York Times recently screamed at us, “As the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, commits horrendous videotaped executions, it might seem to pose the greatest threat to Syrian civilians. In fact, that ignoble distinction belongs to the barrel bombs being dropped by the military of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State has distracted us from this deadly reality.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/06/opinion/barrel-bombs-not-isis-are-the-greatest-threat-to-syrians.html?_r=0

Barrel bombs are a greater threat to Syria than ISIS? “Wrong answer!”

And is Assad’s armed forces even the ones that are dropping these bombs? No. “Wrong again.” The correct answer here is that ISIS is the one firing these bombs at civilians, and they are composed of old water heaters filled with kerosene and shrapnel and then fired by guns called Hell cannons. Yuck. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2015/07/syria-where-america-drops-barrel-bombs.html

Next, “Democracy Now” becomes our contestant, trying hard to win “Truth or Consequences” for the MSM side. We all know what a liberal Amy Goodman is, not like the folks on Fox News who are almost expected to lie — and think they are playing “Truth or Dare” instead. Surely we can trust Democracy Now for the truth? Let us see.

“The group Physicians for Human Rights says there have been more than 300 attacks on health facilities, with the Syrian regime responsible 90 percent of the time,” says Amy Goodman.

“Wrong again.”

According to my on-the-ground source in Aleppo, the correct answer is obviously that ISIS has been committing these attacks. “Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, or let’s say, since the beginning of the organized armed gangs like the FSA, An-Nusra Front, ISIS and Da’esh, they have been competing with each other to see who can demolish more hospitals and schools than the other. Literally hundreds of hospitals had been destroyed in Syria by suicide bombers driving huge vans full with explosives into them, and they recorded their ‘achievements’ and published their videos on YouTube with pride.”

And all this horror has been blamed on the Assad government by the American media.

“No one talked about the doctors, nurses, and patients who had been buried alive under the wreckage of these hospitals,” my friend continues. “Maybe a couple of times Ban Ki Mon was worried or condemned such acts, but that’s it, nothing more than few words from the UN, words that everyone forgets the next day, and goes back to blaming the ‘Assad regime’ of killing its people.”

Moving on. Enough of “Truth or Consequences”. Let’s change channels. Back to “Family Feud,” where our American MSM contestants are still struggling to out-do each other by telling the biggest lies.

CNN steps up to the plate. “Russian airstrike hits Syrian hospital, aid group says.” http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/middleeast/syria-hospital-attack-russia/ And then The Guardian in Britain backs up that lie. “At least four hospitals have been bombed by fighter jets in north-western Syria since Russia’s intervention in the war began in late September, doctors and international observers claim.” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/three-syrian-hospitals-bombed-since-russian-airstrikes-began-doctors-say

But now it turns out that five out of the six hospitals that the MSM claimed that Russia had bombed don’t even exist! And the sixth one is still intact. http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151102/1029484605/syria-russia-airstrikes-n-hospitals.html

And what about all those accusations regarding the use of sarin gas by the Syrian government? Truth? Or just another media “Family Feud”?

“Assad did it!” screamed the New York Times, like some deluded little boy crying wolf — again. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/world/europe/syria-united-nations.html

But then Seymour Hersh, a trusted journalist who has been spot-on since reporting America’s many MSM lies about Vietnam back in the 1960s, has just told us that, “A series of chemical weapon attacks in March and April 2013 was investigated over the next few months by a special UN mission to Syria. A person with close knowledge of the UN’s activity in Syria told me that there was evidence linking the Syrian opposition [aka ISIS] to the first gas attack on 19 March in Khan Al-Assal, a village near Aleppo.” Yikes. We’ve been lied to again.

But of course the biggest lie of all is that the American military machine, Congress and Obama all hate ISIS. “Boy do we really hate ISIS!” they all cry out loud. Balderdash. ISIS simply would not exist without American, Turkish, Israeli and Saudi help. Period. End of discussion. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2015/10/even-more-chicanery-in-syria-by-our.html

So it’s pretty obvious here that the American mainstream media is pretty much winning its “Family Feud” of lies. But it is the American taxpayers who are clearly losing this “Family Feud”. Again. But, even more important than the trillions of dollars being lost by Americans due to these lies, millions of Syrians have also lost the American MSM’s “Family Feud” as well. Millions of Syrians have lost their homes, their infrastructure and/or their very lives in this stupid game of “No Truth and No Consequences” that the American MSM media plays so well.

PS: I just got my Notary Public certificate renewed, so if anyone in the American MSM wants to come to Berkeley (or pay my airfare to go to them) in order to swear a Jurat that they are telling the truth, I will take their sworn statements for free — just so there will be a record of their perjury should they all, hopefully, go to trial.

I’m currently working on getting another book published — yes, I have actually written a novel. And having a book published is like opening a huge can of worms. I’ve been flat-out rejected by at least twenty publishers so far. Their loss. This is a very important book, you fools!

So I have decided to self-publish my book. I did it before with my non-fiction books — and that proved to be a huge bunch of work but with very few tangible results (not to mention the huge lack of sales). http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket-ebook/dp/B001BHK6JG

And then there’s that huge editing process. In almost every book ever written (probably even the Bible), the first thing most authors acknowledge is their editor (even before acknowledging their hubby, wife and/or cat) . Where the freak can I too find such a fabulous editor? And, even more important, one who will do it for free?

And then there’s the huge problem of figuring out which literary classification my new novel should be filed under. Literary fiction? Historical fiction? Science fiction? Fiction for young adults? I don’t have a clue. “Is the book about teenagers?” asked my local librarian. Not exactly. “Then it shouldn’t be classified as a YA.” But there are at least three teenage heroes involved. Does that count? Probably not.

So then, would it be considered science fiction? “Is any space travel, extraterrestrial aliens or predicting the future involved?” I certainly got that one covered. Hell, the title alone says it all. “Pictures of a Future World.” But does anyone actually read sci-fi these days? And for that matter, does anyone even read novels any more? I myself read only murder-mysteries. Well, there certainly is a lot of killing in my new book.

A few years ago I went to a famous writing conference and actually paid to have some hot-shot sci-fi author take a look at my book. The result? Two years later he published his own book, using my basic plot and even one of my character’s names. And so from that experience I have obviously learned that my book will definitely fit into the sci-fi niche.

And there certainly are a lot of graphic death scenes in my novel as well — and I have an excerpt from my new book to prove it, wherein the moment of death itself is discussed. Here it is, for those of you who are curious to know what the actual human death experience really involves:

Later that evening, Wan Tai and the Shaman discussed what it actually means to die. “What does it feel like? How does it happen? What are the mechanics of death?” Wan Tai asked.

“During the course of a normal human death, dying is like going to sleep. You fight it or you drop off into it, but in either case, you don’t really know where life or wakefulness ends and where death or sleep begins. When you wake up the next morning, can you really remember the exact moment you actually fell asleep? No. And it is the same way with death.”

“But during a violent death,” Wan Tai said, “the whole human process of dying is thrown completely off balance. That is why a violent death is so repulsive and cruel.” The Shaman agreed.

“After a man or woman is violently and mortally injured, the dying person knows exactly when his or her moment of death occurs — because an instant before that process begins, there is one split second of pure, stark terror in the dying person’s brain when he or she actually realizes what is happening.”

“And it is this split second of terror that I object to because the dying person is literally robbed of his or her peaceful transition,” said Wan Tai. “It is that sense of leaving this life behind while in an extreme state of terror which I find so hard to accept. And this is why I am so outraged by killing, murder and war.”

So, thanks to my new novel, you now know what it is like to die. And soon you will also have the benefit of knowing what it will be like to buy my new book. Hopefully. And, hopefully, your own death will be an easy one too.

For the last 65 years, most Americans have been blatantly and consistently lied to about what is really going on in the Middle East. But for those of us who have actually gone to all the trouble and pain to seek out the truth about what is really happening over there, we have constantly been forced to live and breath the tragic reality of the myriad gross injustices in the Middle East brought on by American, Israeli, European, Turkish and Saudi neo-colonialists who are happily looking to get a greedy leg up at any cost. http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/10/30/seymour-hersh-news-report-banned-us-finally-confirmed-turkey.html

And this toxic nightmare of murder, theft and propaganda never seems to be going to stop.

Will our grandchildren still be hearing the same grisly tales about how the American war machine and its “allies” have happily fostered chaos in the Middle East for over the past hundred years? In order to sell more weapons and steal more oil? Or will there be nothing but neo-colonialists, oil tycoons, dictators and skeletons left in the Middle East by then.

To combat the huge flood of propaganda being aimed at we Americans daily, however, there have been several excellent articles written recently about how American forces and their partners in crime have aided and abetted ISIS in Syria.

For instance, expert blogger “Moon of Alabama” writes, “During the last several days, a large attack on the Syrian government supply line to Aleppo city was carried out by Jabhat al-Nusra (aka al-Qaeda in Syria) and the Islamic State, seemingly in coordination with the U.S. military.

“During September, the U.S. anti-ISIS coalition carried out an average of 4.2 airstrikes on ISIS in predominately east Syria. This after an average of 6.8 per day in August. The rate in October was about the same as in September until Thursday October 22. Then, according to the U.S. Military Times, the strike rate decreased markedly. The Islamic State used the lull in airstrikes in east Syria to move hundreds of fighters and heavy equipment towards the supply line that connects Damascus with the government held areas (green) of Aleppo. http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/10/us-stopped-syria-air-strikes-while-nusra-and-is-prepared-attack-on-government-supply-route.html

And then Mike Whitney writes, “Why is John Kerry so eager to convene an emergency summit on Syria now when the war has been dragging on for four and a half years? Is he worried that Russia’s air campaign is wiping out too many US-backed jihadis and sabotaging Washington’s plan to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad? You bet, he is.

“No one who’s been following events in Syria for the last three weeks should have any doubt about what’s really going on. Russia has been methodically wiping out Washington’s mercenaries on the ground while recapturing large swathes of land that had been lost to the terrorists.” http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/64517
And then there’s this eye-witness report from a friend of mine in Aleppo itself (always good to have eyes on the ground, Amy Goodman, not just lying Syrian wannabees living safely in NYC on the CIA dollar).

My friend in Aleppo writes, “We now have limited goods to consume, with limited resources of fuel and water. Prices are jumping higher for almost everything. I hope that situation to end soon. It’s getting worse day after day since roughly the 23rd or 24th of October. Prices of everything are getting higher and higher day after day. The generators that used to supply houses with power for 10 hours a day, are now supplying us with 6.5 hours for the same price of 10 hours. Blackmailing in markets for all goods is taking place. We are under siege since then. ‘Crisis Merchants’ are squeezing the pockets of the people to the last penny.” Sucks to be Syrian for real, Amy.

“I’m optimistic that it shouldn’t take a longer time,” my friend continues, “but people over here are pretty passive, and some are saying that it could get worse or go on for months. I think the city had more tougher times in the last years, and hopefully we will come out of that hard situation soon. Jets are bombarding terrorist areas more often, and the terrorists are shelling residential areas as well. Take care, wish us luck.”

PS: A Russian civilian airliner was just shot down over Sinai. ISIS claims the kill — but who supplied ISIS with the missile in the first place? ISIS doesn’t manufacture missiles. Boeing, Lockheed and Raytheon do. In the style of MH17. Or else perhaps it was a bomb that blew up the plane — in the grand old style of the CIA. Dirty pool. Dirty hands. Disgusting.

Did you know that there is a Confederate cemetery in Raleigh that is rumored to be haunted? And right down the road from that, in Durham, is an institute that scientifically studies paranormal activity? I’ve been to both places recently — and still have almost no idea what to think about ghosts. Do they really exist or not?

I do know that the ghost of Jimi Hendrix used to haunt my former home in Berkeley, CA, but then, hey, we all know that Jimi is capable of anything — so being haunted by his ghost doesn’t really count.

At the Rhine Research Center in Durham, I went on a tour to see what is what in the world of parapsychology. “No X-Files type of stuff here. We’re scientists,” said the Center’s tour guide. “It’s the scientific study of interaction between living organisms and their external environment that seems to transcend the known physical laws of nature.” Then I was shown various psi-measuring machines and started to take notes. http://www.rhine.org/what-we-do/current-research.html

“We study telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, precognition and ESP. These are all perceptive abilities. Psychokinesis is when mind and matter interact.” True or not? All I know is that during the tour, three of my pens stopped writing even though they were not out of ink — and on the drive back to Raleigh, our GPS failed, our cell phones all stopped working and we ended up back in Durham. Freaky. And just in time for Halloween.

Next I toured the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, originally established when all of the dead Confederate solders buried in the local national cemetery were dug up and thrown out into the street. “The decaying bodies were stacked up like cordwood outside the cemetery gates and the women of Raleigh came and re-buried them all here, in some land that they purchased from a local farmer.” But of course the newly-created cemetery was segregated. http://historicoakwoodcemetery.org/about-us.asp

Several graves at Oakwood stood out. One of them was the really ugly monument erected over Elizabeth Edwards’ grave. “It cost $86,000,” I was told. Ms. Edwards’ ghost should demand her money back.

Another grave belonged to a Cherokee woman whose husband had to fight like crazy to have her body buried here. I guess that saying, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” doesn’t apply to Southern cemeteries — where even the dead ones are prejudiced against. My great-grandmother was a Cherokee — but this woman wasn’t her. But she could have been. My great-grandmother had been stuck out in Oklahoma as a result of the infamous Trail of Tears, which started in North Carolina. Cherokees rightfully shoulda been Tar Heels. Now there’s a haunting thought.

Then I walked back to my motel room in the warm twilight air, past lovely old Raleigh homes flying American flags and also past one of the original Krispy Kreme donut shops, where I purchased a cream-filled chocolate-covered donut — whose ghost came back to haunt my stomach later that night.

But are there really such things as paranormal activity and ghosts? I really don’t know — except for the one thing that I do know. Even though I am just a normal American person, living a typical American life, with nothing unusual about myself, over two thousand times I have woken up in the morning with an idea in my head for yet another political article that is so clear, so accurate and so correctly predictive that it’s almost like it had been typed into my brain by ghosts overnight. Now that’s spooky!

And, like the ancient Greek legend of what happened to Cassandra, no one ever really believes what I predict either — until it’s too late. Just like almost no one believed me when I wrote, back in 2006, that Madame Jane was predicting the great economic crash of 2008. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2006/11/madame-jane-predicts-how-to-survive.html

Or else when almost no one believed me after I predicted, back in early 2003, that any war on Iraq would end as badly for us American taxpayers as it had for the USSR in Afghanistan — even though Time Magazine published my statement. “Is it possible that Iraq will be to America what Afghanistan was to the U.S.S.R.? The similarities are chilling.” And just look at us now, with all our money for schools and infrastructure having been poured down that rat hole connecting us to the pockets of war profiteers.

And how many times have I both whispered and screamed about the dangers of corporate greed and corporate planetary pollution? And of course about the number-one polluter of all — endless war. My voice gets hoarse just thinking about that. And yet no one has heeded that warning either. We all will probably be dead by 2028 if we don’t eliminate “war” and fossil fuel consumption by then. Don’t say that you’ve never been warned. http://robertscribbler.com/2015/10/26/a-crime-against-humanity-hothouse-wildfire-smoke-sickens-500000-as-indonesian-officials-plan-for-mass-evacuations/

And most Americans still don’t believe me, even after I have constantly warned them for years that their very own military-industrial complex is training, aiding, abetting and financing ISIS in Iraq and Syria, as well as supplying weapons to al Qaeda in Libya and financing the brutal lynchings of Palestinians in apartheid Israel. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2015/07/syria-where-america-drops-barrel-bombs.html Just like Cassandra. Humph.

PS: Speaking of weird stuff, there is also the legend of the 36 righteous men — who wander the world doing good deeds. But guess what? You don’t even have to be dead to be one of them. All you have to do is be moral. Of course that eliminates ISIS, the NRA, Bibi Netanyahu’s entire government, Bush, Obama, banksters, weapons manufacturers, child molesters, most of the Republican party and half of the Dems in Congress today. But you and I might still qualify. Hopefully. http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/general-news/20120519/the-legend-of-the-36-righteous-men

PPS: I did play the role of a really scary ghost on the Reelz TV show “Behind the Screams” recently. I was so scary and ghostly that I even scared myself! Does that count? https://www.facebook.com/ReelzChannel/videos/10153769558264379/?fref=nf

I’m not even supposed to be posting stuff like this on my blog. I’m supposed to be writing about my wonderful North Carolina experience. But oh well. This is just too bizarre to pass up. The American Greed Machine is so completely determined to overthrow Assad in Syria and take over Syria’s pipelines and oilfields that it’s now going to totally insane extremes. Will these creeps stop at nothing? Apparently not.

Just received this e-mail from my eye-witness friend in Aleppo: “The US coalition is actually the air force of the terrorists.” America is acting as the air force for ISIS? Wow. Just wow.

“It seems that American planes prevented the Syrian air force from targeting ISIS in many areas, therefore the Russians thought to do the job themselves and to see who would dare to down their air force. But now the US is helping its terrorists by supplying them with TOW missiles. And the US is also ‘helping the Syrian people’ in Aleppo by targeting the infrastructure as well: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43195.htm So I’m ‘thankful’ to the US government and for its ‘good deeds’…….indeed!”

A little humor through tears from my friend.

But you do gotta admit that those freaks in the American military complex are determined little bastards. Exactly how far will they go to depose Assad and take over Syria’s oil? Obviously all the way to the gates of Hell, to sign a deal with the devil. Or else to take over the devil’s own job for themselves.

And we lucky American taxpayers get the foot the bill for all this chicanery, greed and evil obsession. Lucky us.

PS: Apparently the American Greed Machine has also had some help from its allies as well. This just in:

“Iraqi security and popular forces held captive an Israeli colonel from the Golani Brigade along with a number of ISIL terrorists. ‘The security and popular forces have held captive an Israeli colonel,’ a commander of Iraq’s popular mobilization forces said on Thursday. ‘The Zionist officer is ranked colonel and had participated in the Takfiri ISIL group’s terrorist operations,’ he added.

“Noting that he was arrested along with a number of ISIL terrorists, the commander said, ‘The Israeli colonel’s name is Yusi Oulen Shahak and is ranked colonel in Golani Brigade of the Zionist regime’s army with the security and military code of Re34356578765az231434.’”
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940730000210

You’d never even guess it after watching today’s news, but there really is a huge difference between the monsters who run ISIS and the heroes who defend Palestine.

For one thing, ISIS is being armed, trained and financed by none other than the brutal neo-colonialists who currently own and control America, Turkey, Israel and Arabia. And if you still don’t believe that these four slimy neo-colonialist powers are solely responsible for ISIS, well, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention. Please keep up. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-archbishop-pleads-for-uk-to-stop-backing-anti-assad-islamist-groups-a6697226.html

The next really big difference between Palestinians and ISIS is that ISIS is composed of jihadi “foreign fighters” and mercenaries who are in it for the bucks — and, yes, for the raping and pillaging aspect too. On the other hand, Palestinians have spent the last 65 years protesting against their own enslavement and genocide by a neo-colonialist power with no heart. “If force doesn’t work, use more force,” is the current policy of Israeli neo-colonialists.

For the past 65 years, Palestinians have been brutalized, robbed and enslaved by Zionist neo-colonialists armed to the teeth with panzer divisions, gestapos, concentration camps, blitzkriegs, chemical weapons and storm troopers. And now Palestinians are fighting back with stones, knives and their bare hands — just like back when the slave Spartacus finally told the Romans, “Enough!”

“What did you think, the Palestinians would sit still indefinitely?” says Gideon Levy’s latest article in Haaretz. “Did you really think Israel would continue on its course and they’d just bow their heads in submission? Jerusalem has become the capital of apartheid. No other city so discriminates and dispossesses or is so violent. Gun-toting Mayor Nir Barkat, who’s largely responsible for the discrimination and dispossession in his city, incites against a third of its population — an unbelievable phenomenon in its own right. And you thought 300,000 people would acquiesce?” http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680443

“But aren’t Palestinians being anti-Semitic?” you might ask me at this point. Yes and no. Yes, there is a Spartacus-like slave rebellion taking place in Jerusalem right now, against a supposedly Jewish state. So on the face of things, this rebellion does actually look kind of anti-Semitic.

But, no, the current Palestinian rebellion isn’t anti-Semitic at all — because the self-styled “Chosen People” master-race wannabees who currently control Israel have poisoned what used to be the shining ideal of a Jewish State and now, under these oligarchs’ thumb, Israel has degenerated into just one more dying slave-state carcass whose ideals have been compromised. Israel today is no more a Jewish state than the greedy oligarchs who viciously put down Spartacus’s rebellion were supporters of the ideal of a shining Roman democracy.

Don’t believe me? Go rent Spartacus the Movie! Let Kirk Douglas set you straight. http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi8716569/

“But aren’t the Palestinians all just a bunch of terrorists who go around knifing Israeli soldiers?” you might finally ask me in desperation. Knifing soldiers? Really? You are complaining that Palestinians are now using kitchen knives to defend their families against fully-armored storm troopers and panzer divisions who kill their children, enslave their adults and steal their land? Really?

Hell, Spartacus used a knife to rebel against slavery too. I rest my case.

By Belle Starr, Outlawyer, as told to Bob Patterson

The Prankster Pundits
As the former official counsel (attorney) for OccupySF and as a few years have now passed it seemed time to expand our repertoire into the field of punditry.

Disclaimer: The Outlawyer has committed the most grievous crime of being contra stereotypical and refusing fame for being one of the first transsexuals in the world since 1974 (even being on television with the iconic Christine Jorgensen) but not capitalizing on it.

This has flummoxed the San Francisco counter-culture into the continuing hate crime of prior censorship and denial of Belle’s write-in candidacy this year for Mayor of SF and her pivotal role in the formation and continuation of Occupy San Francisco. This is a hate crime under today’s standards since we are all supposed to be equal, loving and accepting…but aren’t.

The Dark Age of Fear
Presenting Nightside-After Dark America and the lurkers in the shadows. Is it true that vampires are now real? Only an in depth search for America can answer this and other burning questions. Only a modest nighttime ghost can successfully penetrate the shadows and answer the questions of paranormal, alienage or what makes humans so dumb as to be fooled into war after war. Bring garlic and cannabis as you follow the antics of a hippie trying to sell out or sell something since there is no pension for under the table cafes and speakeasies.

Decade of Fear – what is most important and where to start? That is the fear expressed by a nice young man in his twenties which rather shocked me. Fear in a twenty something? Frozen by too many things needing to be done that he doesn’t know where to start? or what to actually do-panic, protest or get a job or stoned?

Ponderosa Pine ( hippie who laid down his life for the redwoods and won by stopping the lumber trucks…try that now and “roadkill” probably) said I was coming of age in a time of peak confidence. Now I am oldish and being told of fear in the youth. Have to reverse this trend. Remember the Fearless Seventies after the Psychedelic Sixties? Fear no more.

Blazing Saddles: Has political correctness crossed back into the dreaded category of ultra hipness? When the jewish indian (Mel Brooks) won’t kill the settlor it is quite racist but we all laughed. The sheriff was racist and made fun of himself and Gov. Pettibone was a horney rascal. What happened to humor? We can’t even make fun of our foibles any longer. Watch it and you will know what I mean- even to Lily von Schtuck’s comments about the sheriff. Dj cue up De camp town ladies and I get no kick from champagne….

Carlos Hathcock (White Feather) took down a Vietnamese General at two miles. Politically incorrect awesomeness.

Co-operate with your own Karma
PTSD from Bed Bugs? I have real fear of being attacked at any time by bedbugs. A new diagnosis of hyper alert for PTSD Cilex mania. They attack at night when this sentry slumps into fitful sleep awakening to the terror of days of periodic intense itches and mountainous bite bumps. Horrible to contemplate. Add to that legislation passed but not yet working or affective so that these enemy bug troops (starship troopers report) keep infesting as mattresses are left for people to take home rather than burned.

If you are in subsidized housing (Slang:SRO for single room occupancy) you get to pay for disposal or, as with all the poverty challenged, simply put outdoors when no one is looking. Public health is losing, legislation is like hitting a tar baby and implementation is according to the tortoise not the hare.

This is a picture of the Xtracycle. The Suburban Mom’s mini-van. It was cool to talk to a young mother who said she could take it on the bus and put the children in when riding on the bike and no parking problems. It was her min-van she said.

I have it on good authority that this Outlawyer is Too different (beyond the border). I dispute that. I am just avant guard and point out that in California one can demand to die but cannot get experimental drugs if they are terminal. Where is MY right to life legislation? I want the best medicine not just The Gong Show. (WLJ—Belle is the point-person in a heroic effort to revive automatic writing as l’nouveau perre UBU roi – Goggle It).

How to tell the truth or which lie should I tell- guided by voices: Am I the new Unrealist? (Hi Mr. Krassner, nice to meet you, can I use this spoof on the realist? hahah i just did). The voices in rock and roll songs, I was told by a coma returnee, have all the secrets but I have trouble deciphering lyrics. If they have a beat and I can finger pop to them, that’s all I need.

After rescuing the laziest pundit (no old folks home for me…catch me if you can) isn’t it Time for elder breakout rescue teams to liberate those trapped in bored and careless homes? (WLJ— Belle during the Summer of the great NY prison break wonders if there is a market for selling the services of an extraction team to inmates of the old folks home of the bored and careless kind. Some of the wretched trapped elderly would probably sign over all their worldly goods for hope of escape. If a supper of peanut butter and jelly sandwich with rice soup sounds acceptable to the reader we are willing to wager you couldn’t maintain that existence for a week and keep your sanity(“dear God, I’ll do anything you want if you only get me out of here)).

We, at least, could periodically invade with smiles and happiness to cheer up those stuck there. Do we always need to be paid for kindness? NO, and we are going to prove this point with The Last Love-in.

How many members f the Dave Clark 5 can you name?

Cue up a more politically incorrect “Hair” (Listen to the whole album ), Break on Through (to the other side ) by the doors and out with The Who “Magic Bus” and “My Gen Gen Generation”.

Have a revelation and write in your votes. Jobs for counters and legitimize your ballots.
Power to the People!
If elected a lava lamp in every window.
Aloha!

Contact: you can’t get there from here but I can write directions that will get you to the ragged edge. Inquiries invited – do not expect a reply. OccupySF@unseen.is