Cato flogged

Contrary Brin: Good News... Bad News...

Brin is, as always, cutting away the fat. His modernist views deserve more exposure. Part way through this article Brin takes on the Cato Institute but could just as easily be slicing and dicing on left leaning orgs.

Well worth a visit and your time.

Abercrombie View

Abercrombie View

John is surprised that he is being "maliciously characterized as a right wing religious fanatic" by fellow Republicans.

His blogs contain some of the most dogmatic and literal interpretations of the bible found anywhere this side of Dobson. Though I honestly think that John believes what he is writing, unlike Dobson and his ilk who are in it strictly for the political power.

He defends Bushes policies blindly. If Bush and Co. say it is right to break the law then John will defend W's right to do it. John is a good soldier and W is his leader.

Whether you agree with him or not, John is a good read. Pure middle America stuck here in Yakima. Truth be damned, John stands up for his convictions.

BillyBlog

BillyBlog

Illusions are what art is about...this seems to carry it to the max...WOW!

Scullys' Gully

Scullys' Gully is west of Yakima approximately 15 mile. I would not say that it is nestled anywhere, nor amongst anything. It is what it is, a cliff, a couple of ponds and a small terraced lawn. A gully that has become the place to gather on Memorial Day weekend. I have only been there once and that was last Friday evening, the evening before the event.

Event?

Yes, it is an event. Bruce Scully puts this on as a customer appreciation wingding, once a year. Or that was the original intent. As far as I have been able to discern, it is now an event, a spring ritual (the spring ritual motif intrigues me and I hope to delve into that aspect later). I do not know how long it has been going on, several years is my guess. At least I have been hearing about it for several years now. Doug Granstrand is a long time Scullys' Gully denizen and has kept me posted on the goings on of the event. This year Doug asked if I would like to go out to the gully Friday night so that I would know how to get there on Saturday. I said yes. He had already taken me on a flyby using Google Earth but there is nothing like a little analog time to fully seat the virtual in the mind.

Friday @ 5:30 we were to meet at Doug's. Worked for me, I had taken Friday off. By 5:30 I had visited with my mom and sister, been up to the folks' cabin with them (hauled a swing porch seat in back of my pickup), had stopped at the WSLCB to buy some liquor. Just bought a few airline bottles and matched them with a couple of bottles of 20oz cokes, got home and kissed Chrissy goodbye. Showed up at Granstrands around 5:30. Doug brought 6 beers in a cooler and a tent that had never been opened/or used (luckily it had directions on how to setup) and a sundry of man tools (well, a two pound sledge and some spikes). We set off, Doug giving the "turn left here" and "turn right there" type instructions.

We talked...the thing you have to know about Doug is that he is an idea generator..somewhat akin to an electrical generator...always on...always with the capability to shock...right now his ideas are orbiting photography as he just purchased a Nikon D50 (had it with him)..we discussed settings...lighting (magic hour, dusk and dawn)...lenses...photographers...nothing shocking...and suddenly, "turn right here" and we are on a gravel road. Uphill, around corners, a couple of lefts but mostly right turns at decision points...we finally start down and bear left to where it flattens out into an area to park and we park beside a pond...behind a Ford f-350...in front of us on the other side of the pond is a stage...a covered stage with large speakers and amps...the music playing was a CD of the Beatles...a crispness in the sound...a timelessness of the music cast a spell over me...maybe not a timelessness in the music as much as a connection with other times...each song seemed to place me randomly at points in my life...before the Now...magic. The stage is at the NW edge of the pond...behind the stage is a basalt cliff approximately 15' to 20' high...hanging, to the right of the stage, off the cliff is a lit up neon sign which reads "The GULLY"...incongruous to say the least... to the right of the sign is a waterfall...not the rushing...focused... roaring...boiling type...more of 10' wide wet spot that makes the gentle sound of falling water...a very domesticated water sound...South and west of the stage is small terraced lawn that overlooks the stage. It was on this terrace that Doug and I erected his tent...not before drinks were broken out mind you. At the foot of the terraces was a BBQ...this was a Tim the Tool Man type BBQ...and it was BBQing half dozen half-chickens...in turbo time I am sure.

At this point things and time begin to blur...my last meal was a turkey sandwich up at the cabin around 1:30...I remember helping to set up the tent...and all the chaos that is affixed to first time endeavors...fixing another whiskey and coke...Doug had his camera out and was taking pictures...I remember walking across the bridge at the SE end of the pond...a sign warned to watch for snakes...I did... the trail lead up a rise to the top of the cliffs over looking the pond and terraces...more people were arriving. On top the vegetation is low growing...this is a steppes type environment... 6" to a foot is the average...the wind can be frightful...the tallest plants up there are sagebrush that might break 4 foot in height. Out about 20 yards North of the trail is a green..a golf green...with a flag...which had blown over in the wind..to the West were concrete stanchions that had pads next to them for hitting from...about 3 of them I think...at about 25 yard intervals...interesting. I follow a trail/road and it loops West and South back down to the Gully. Kevin McCormick and his son Sean arrive and we all greet...Doug, Kevin and I work at the sack factory...between the three of us we have over 60 year in...Sean wastes no time in mixing with the growing group of younglings that are rushing around at youngling speeds and with youngling yells...Doug brings out some cigars...not just any cigars...Doug likes his cigars and regularly buys Acids by the case...he shares with Kevin and I...by this time I have finished my second drink and am into Doug's beer...the cigar preparation ritual is followed and we light up...I am now buzzing from the drinks and working on a cigar hangover...I remember playing horseshoes...throwing...stumbling...drinking...smoking...and winning 2 games losing 1...lost the last to Kevin and Joe...smoked more cigars...stood beside a fire...more people had arrived...drank more beer...I have by now, with the help of drink, bludgeoned what little wit I have into submission, so my conversation skills are crashing with regularity...a systems crash was becoming a possibility...leaving while I still had motor control was an idea whose time had come...Doug agreed to the idea and timing...we left...comfortably numb.

I never got to the actual Scullys' Gully event on Saturday. Chrissy and I were cabin hopping between her sisters cabin up by Bumping and my Folks cabin on the Rattlesnake. Our day got away from us and by the time we got back to Yakima it was past 7:00 pm...the clincher was that it was flat pouring rain and neither of us wanted to brave the wet and the cold. We went home without a whimper and fell to sleep early.

Spring rituals, there is something about them...bear with me here because I do not know what I really want to say and will probably stumble around a bit...why does a modern society celebrate them...Easter, Memorial Day...I mean I see in Scullys' Gully a repetition of ancient rites...possibly a correlation on how it starts and how it continues...the area chosen has a certain earth magic attached to it...it is sheltered and renewal is visible all around...the priest (Scully) has a vision for what he wants his celebration to stand for and works hard to make that happen...I don't know...but this has the feel of something that needs to happen...in the human sense...so that we can know there is a regular cycle to life...we can recharge our spiritual batteries before going back to our sack factories and once again facing the drudgery of everyday work.

Incitatus Review

Incitatus Review

An insightful review of movies, both european and american. Well written.

Take a look...I am now hoping to find Deja mort...hopefully can find one with captions...love to listen to french...anyway, worth a couple of minutes of your time if cinema is a passion...even if cinema is not a passion.

Big Mikes Cigar Girls

Big Mikes Cigar Girls

Is worth a visit, I found it randomly clicking the Next Blog button. I will be assuming that men will enjoy this more than women. Though phallic is phallic no matter what gender you yearn for.

theocratic schools...the world needs more of them...

A snippet of a Washington Post article...we are fighting the wrong war in the wrong country....

I hope that the url is correct, I hacked some stuff off of the end of it.

"The passages below -- drawn from the same set of Saudi texts proudly cited in the new 74-page review of curriculum reform now being distributed by the Saudi Embassy -- are shaping the views of the next generation of Saudis and Muslims worldwide. Unchanged, they will only harden and deepen hatred, intolerance and violence toward other faiths and cultures. Is this what Riyadh calls reform?"
religion@freedomhouse.org
FIRST GRADE

" Every religion other than Islam is false."
"Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________."
FOURTH GRADE

"True belief means . . . that you hate the polytheists and infidels but do not treat them unjustly."
FIFTH GRADE

"Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives."
"It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam."
"A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion."
SIXTH GRADE

"Just as Muslims were successful in the past when they came together in a sincere endeavor to evict the Christian crusaders from Palestine, so will the Arabs and Muslims emerge victorious, God willing, against the Jews and their allies if they stand together and fight a true jihad for God, for this is within God's power."
EIGHTH GRADE

"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus."
"God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did."
"They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied [with them]."

"Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God."
"Activity: The student writes a composition on the danger of imitating the infidels."
NINTH GRADE

"The clash between this [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills."
"It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslim and the Jews should continue until the hour [of judgment]."
"Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him."
TENTH GRADE

The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury:
"Blood money for a free infidel. [Its quantity] is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, whether or not he is 'of the book' or not 'of the book' (such as a pagan, Zoroastrian, etc.).
"Blood money for a woman: Half of the blood money for a man, in accordance with his religion. The blood money for a Muslim woman is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, and the blood money for an infidel woman is half of the blood money for a male infidel."
ELEVENTH GRADE

"The greeting 'Peace be upon you' is specifically for believers. It cannot be said to others."
"If one comes to a place where there is a mixture of Muslims and infidels, one should offer a greeting intended for the Muslims."
"Do not yield to them [Christians and Jews] on a narrow road out of honor and respect."
TWELFTH GRADE

"Jihad in the path of God -- which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it -- is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God."

Wet weekend in Yakima...

Emerging from a weekend of around the house DIY's. It rained off and on all weekend. Planted 13 arborvitaes along the back fence ( a future privacy thing) between the wet times on Saturday. Hung mirrors and worked on sundry projects on Sunday. All in all a very suburban weekend.

Did look to the computer a couple of times and as usual I had to get my fix of Talking Points Memo. Politics is like a car wreck to me...a disgusting sight that is hard to look away from...I suppose the carnage to morality and ethics is what keeps my attention.

I would like to point to a site that has also captured my attention. It is Contrary Brin (Brin and Talking Points are links that are at the sidebar of this blog), a modernist view of the coming collapse (and some prescriptive cures) of our once proud and vibrant political system.

David Wilson

Da Vinci Code Decoded

To decode: remember that this is fiction...and fiction is not fact...and the 'facts' in this are bent to make the story move along...the controversy is more than likely being manufactured to sell this and complimentary products ie books, videos and upcoming movie.


Sometimes we need to step back and take a deep breath...

Religion a viral meme?

What if the 3 major religions today are nothing more than viral memes...corrupted instructions...each one acting only as an agent to replicate itself in the human psyche...once taking hold it seeks to replicate...preachings, sacred books, temples, wars...whatever it takes for the continuation of the viral memes existance.


The fact that the Majors (Christianity, Judaism, Muslim) are all written as sacred text is a large factor in how viral they are. The written word from God is not to be trifled with except by the Priest cast. The Priest cast is the final arbiter on the written word. The Priest cast will and does pick and chose text to support whatever theological theme that pops up. Inconsistancies, omissions and out of context quotes are overlooked in order to make theological and political points.

Religion a viral meme?

...the religion as a viral meme came to me last nite...nothing was fleshed out...it just made an impression and moved on...but I could not get the idea out of my mind...much of what I have been reading of late has been on evolutionary mode.
Richard Dawkins, Selfish Gene
Daniel Dennett, Darwins Dangerous Idea
Just finishing Dennett...Dawkins' Selfish Gene was a pleasure to read and Dawkins uses the meme theme in explaining some of his ideas. I am sure that he referenced religion as a meme. What struck me was the viral part...what if religion is a destructive virus? A meme that has become bred into the human race. The many varieties religion, even among one of the same theme, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhist the list could almost be endless. But that is my point...the many varieties of religion is very close to the drug factor today...not all drugs have the same effect on all the people the same.

JJJJJag.....

Blaming the caffeine overload...my mind is speeding...my nails are to the quick...knawwing at the back of my fevered melon...is the fear that my middle is too thick...exercise is a chimera...kinda hit or myth...a cyclic turn of logic...served with a chaotic twist.

Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? William O. Douglas

The gentleman who asked Bush some pointed questions the other day was raked over the coals for lack of respect. I believe the quote above is an appropriate response.