The Worst of Human Behavior

Guess I’m going to eat a little crow as this is a post that relates to the Hurricane Katrina disaster…at least, in a way.

This evening, as I was pulling the garbage can up my 400 ft. private drive to the paved road for morning collection, my neighbor at the entrance to my drive came out to talk to me as he often did. Invariably, as most conversations this week turn, our discussion moved to the problems faced by those still trapped in New Orleans and the surrounding communities…and to the looting situation.

First, let me say that I’m an astute enough student of human behavior to realize that tens of thousands of citizens there are now operating on the basic ‘fight or flight’ principle of survival. The rules of society governing civilized behavior have completely collapsed and live-or-death chaos is quickly becoming a day to day reality. Life’s priorities get turned around a bit when something as basic as food rolls back to its origins of hunting and gathering in a dangerous environment. But that’s survival, what’s concerning is the wanton acquisition of materialistic items unessential to existence.

In fact, though it’s not something many want to discuss at this point while so many lives still hang in the balance, this growing situation of lawlessness has a strong potential of not only worsening, but of becoming a worse-case scenario. Within the next month or two, we as a country may very well be faced with the decision of having our soldiers wade through the flooded city and conduct open urban warfare on what will be by then well-organized gangs of criminals. There is an enormous amount of wealth abandoned in the submerged city which represents more opportunities for power and financial success than area thieves could have imagined in their ultimate fantasies. We may soon learn how easily ‘insurgencies’ can arise from areas of physical and psychological devastation…even in one of our own cultural playgrounds.

After covering most of those topics with my neighbor, he looked at me seriously and said, “Well, I guess there is one good thing to come out of all this…a lot of trash is getting cleaned out…either by drowning or the soldiers to come.”

I blinked a couple of times as my mouth slowly gaped. Surely, I had misheard what had just been said. Apparently, the look of utter shock must have slipped through my stony composure enough for my neighbor to notice. Unfortunately, though, in his mind I guess he thought I was looking for a clarification from him more than a retraction. Without hesitation, he explained how he had lived in that area and I just didn’t know how racial the ‘blacks’ there were against ‘whites’. I tried to interrupt to mumble out some stunned words about how I also had spent much time in that area and that, more importantly, I understood the effects of poverty and desperation regardless of the race of those affected. To my dismay, that must not have been good enough for him to get the hint, for he had to lay those final cards on the table by saying “that hurricane just washed away a lot of lazy blacks”. Yep…no kiddin’.

You know, I truly try to be a peaceable person as I find myself aging, but the first reaction that swept my body was still to walk up to my neighbor and, well, end up in jail before bedtime rolled around. Then I paused to consider the possibility that my statements to him might have actually encouraged him to feel comfortable in sharing his inner racism (of which I had no idea). Though I was speaking in objective terms of human behavior without distinction to race, all the cable news is showing at present are repeated scenes of people of color taking items from stores. Those images do tend to have an impact on the easily-impressionable. I calmed a bit more and pondered explaining to him how what is occurring is a product of under-educated and generally poverty-stricken people placed in a situation of previously inconceivable desperation and not a result of their damned skin color. Alas, something in my gut told me that an illustration of racial poverty as related to race in a region to region comparison would somehow be lost on him.

Then a light bulb went off in my head reminding me that he still had family members living south of New Orleans. Family members that may or may not be okay. From his demeanor, I assumed that still might be an open question. So, I did the only civilized thing I could come up with on short notice…I shook my head in pity and walked away.

I imagine there won’t be any ‘night-before-trash-day’ chats between us in the future either. I guess it’s true what they say about disaster bringing out both the best and the worst in people. Apparently, that applies even to those who aren’t suffering directly from the tragedy, but to those who just watch and then react… Jage

Who's Lootin' Who?

I’m taking a pause on putting up many new posts as I feel my rants take somewhat of a back seat to the disaster in our southern states. I won’t attempt to make Hurricane Katrina-related posts, either, since there’s already a few hundred thousand bloggers doing so. Though on a brief personal note, I will say that I’m a tad stunned by the talk of New Orleans being completely ‘lost’. I’ve spent a lot of time in southern Louisiana, especially in the New Orleans area, and it’s hard to conceive of the splendor of that city becoming a modern-day Atlantis.

Regardless, below is a tidbit from a blog that everyone should see. I had personally noticed last night that there was a bit of disparity on how the looting situation was being reported. At least these photos show a few Caucasians caught in the act unlike the cable news stations… Jage

Do white people 'find' and black people 'loot’?

Dustin 3000 notes that 3 photos of Louisiana residents with groceries are labeled differently and asks whether wire service caption writers believe that "black people 'loot' [while] white people 'find.'"

(The African-American woman is 'looting', the Caucasians are 'finding')

(The Caucasian woman 'looks through her shopping bag')

Fanaticism: American Inbred Style

I just frankly don’t know what sort of commentary I can make regarding this crap. Granted, this is more of a single family’s ‘cultish’ take on religion, but the central gay-bashing issue isn’t too far from the underlying hatred shared by many mainstream America churches.

I’d go on, but I’m afraid my blood-pressure might break the gauge if I did…jeez, what utter inbred shit-for-brains this country still produces…one dangling question, however, that this story made me ask yet again...does God 'love' anthing anymore? The only message that seems to get out these days is how much God 'hates'... Jage

Church: God Punishing GIs Over Gays

By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 28,10:16 AM ET

SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.

The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming "God bless America."

"My husband is over there, so I'm here to show my support," 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. "To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are."

The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.

The church members carried signs and shouted things such as "God hates fags" and "God hates you."

About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.

The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.

Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought.

So many counterdemonstrators were gathered in Ashland City that police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers were brought in to control traffic and protect the protesters.

The church members held protesting permits, and counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.

"If they were protesting the government, I might even join them," Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of "get out of our town" and "get out of our country."

"But for them to come during the worst time for this family — it's just wrong."

Fucking Meth...

Pardon the language in this post’s title, but I’m not a very happy person right now. I woke up this morning to the news that a cousin of mine had hung himself last night and was found by his niece early today. He had finally reached the end of a long battle with Methamphetamine use on top of a host of other narcotic abuse throughout his 37 years of life. Over the course of the past three years, his parents have had him in and out of rehab facilities and doctor’s offices (both physical and psychological), when they weren’t having to try to keep him from being arrested for his recent out of control behavior. At a time when parents should be watching their children nurture their own families, his parents’ lives had been thrown into utter chaos with sleepless nights, just as when their child was a newborn, again becoming the norm.

In his teen and adult years, my cousin always had a proclivity to lean towards substances that made him feel good. I guess to some degree he was the ultimate self-fulfillment of the narcissistic hedonism our ‘civilized’ society instills in us from youth. But I still can’t help but remember him in the days before he became consumed in this self-imposed nightmare…back to a time when he and I were kids and the best of friends. There’s no way to avoid getting choked when thinking of our hundreds of ‘trades’ that little boys always do or the adventures we would go on in the vast wooded acres of his parent’s ranch. Or when we agreed how when we grew up I was going to be a superhero, fighting evil and wrongdoers, and he would remain my ever-faithful sidekick. He was undoubtedly one of the happiest and best-natured people I had ever known. Unfortunately, as he became older, he fell in with some bad influences and was easily impressed by the immediate gratification narcotics can seem to bring.

The older we got, the further we drifted away from the bond we once had together. I wanted to live a life full of real adventures and he, well, he kept his priority on feeling good. Even with the distance widening between us, I still served as the best man on his wedding day about a decade ago. I also watched as that marriage crumbled away in the years to follow under the pressures of him having to choose between growing up and having a family or staying a kid who felt good all the time. As fate would have it, he took the latter path and eventually fell off the deep end.

Once he started using Meth, it didn’t take long for the demons inside to rear their heads and make him pay for that decision. He suffered from severe bouts of Manic-Depression, Paranoia, Schizophrenia and OCD along with having frightening delusions that, at times, had almost caused serious injuries to innocent people who had become involved in his fantasies. To further explain the damage this damned drug had done to him, one of the brain scans he had taken during the past year had shown one hemisphere of his brain had shrunk approximately 50% in size due to habitual Meth use. 50%...

Anyway, within the past six months, the constant attempts by his parents to pull him out of the pit seemed to actually be bearing some fruits. He was off of Meth and other narcotics (as far as I know), was attending regular counseling sessions, had expressed remorse for his past actions and was staying on medications to keep the psychological damage he had caused himself at bay. But I guess it was still too much for him…you know, guilt is one helluva powerful force to reckon with. And it apparently won the battle.

We hadn’t spoken in about 3 years as a result of a falling out between us. I was around him once while he was heavily under the influence of Meth and after we exchanged some cross words, he attacked me. Since he was impaired by the drugs, the situation was easily abated, but it acted as the proverbial ‘last straw’ on the back of our already strained relationship. The very last exchange we had was when he tried to mouth off to me later that same day after the confrontation and I informed him that he “was dead to me”. Boy, if that should serve as a lesson to anyone it would be that sometimes it’s better to just hold some thoughts inside. Those are words I’ll definitely never forget saying for the rest of my years.

I did some undercover narcotics work near the end of my law enforcement career 15 years ago and couldn’t even tell you how many Meth-related arrests I made. Even back then, Meth was spreading like a wildfire among the lower income population but very few paid attention to it. Now, its proliferation is making the ‘crack epidemic’ of the ‘80s look like a fad. And it’s no longer relegated to the poor - our state newspaper constantly runs articles about this doctor or that lawyer who had been running a meth lab in their nice suburban home. But what can you say, as far back as the ‘50s there were bumper stickers that said ‘Speed Kills’…and even then it wasn’t talking about driving too fast.

Of course, the administration in charge of the federal funding flow for state and local police departments have, in their infinite wisdom, recently cut over 50% of the amounts granted to programs specifically battling Methamphetamines. Instead, they roar and beat their chest, ‘Get the pot smokers first!’…as always. And don’t for a second think that their stance comes from any moral high-ground. I’ve been there and I’ve seen why the Marijuana drums beat so loudly. Sadly, it’s a centuries old reason…pure greed. If you don’t believe me, go spend a full day in a municipal court for a moderate to large city and see how much money gets raked in from possession and paraphernalia fines related to Marijuana. I use to sit in amazement, waiting to testify for one case or another, as the increasing total would hit $10,000 then $15,000 and at times higher yet. And that was just one municipal courtroom in one medium-sized town. On a nationwide scale, there are millions of dollars being poured into the system each and every day from these sorts of fines. During my law enforcement days, I vividly recall planning sessions where the raid of a Meth manufacturer would be shelved and a simple Marijuana user targeted simply for the reason that the pot-smoker had more assets to be seized. Of course, isn't that how things are handled with today's government? Let's identify a real problem and then focus our efforts to solve it elsewhere. Yeah, right. That's how we handle terrorism, so why not address Meth the same way? Too bad that people have to suffer and die in the interim. Needless to say, I didn’t last long in an industry with that brand of mentality.

So, now I wait for a time and a place for the funeral of another human being cut down by this addictive insanity, wondering whether I’ll be asked to help carry his coffin to its final resting place. And I’m angry because I still remember my old best friend in a time when life was simpler and seemingly limitless…but that door of possibility is closed now. And Meth has just added another notch to its belt of murdered lives. Sorry I gave up on you old friend…maybe if I hadn’t you wouldn’t have ended it all by giving up on yourself. As the author John Irving would say, 'you either keep passing the open windows or you don't'. No need for any consolatory comments, just had to vent some convoluted emotions… Jage

Greyhair's 'GreyBlog' Debut

I wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know that a really good friend of mine, and one of the principle reasons I started blogging (yeah, you can blame him for that), has finally given in and premiered his own blog page (link here). Prior to blogging, my political commentaries were confined to e-mails sent to friends, co-workers and family members. I’d say during the course of the past 2 years, at least 75% of the news stories or political statistics I’ve sent out came directly from Greyhair. Naturally, after I finished setting up my own blog, I became quite adamant with him to finally do the same since his postings will do much more general good than anything I could probably add to the scene. In fact, if you had to choose between reading my rants or Greyhair's, I'd suggest leaning towards his. He's just starting out, but I'm sure there will shortly be a plethora of political wisdom waiting. Anyway, now you know… Jage

Public Safety or Public Control?

I’m almost conflicted over this story. I’m usually a supporter of laws passed regarding issues of public safety (e.g., mandatory seat belt laws), but I’m afraid this approach has just gone a tad too far…

What’s in play here is not an encouragement for bad drivers to become better ones through personal desire and a sense of civic responsibility, so much as it is a ploy of ever-present intimidation. The drivers are simply obeying the laws because they know they are continually monitored and are afraid of authoritative retribution for going awry. Hence, I believe any implied Orwellian references to this law are more than suitable… Jage

Mich. County Uses Black Boxes for Drivers

AP - Fri Aug 26, 2:34 PM ET

NOVI, Mich. - A judge in Oakland County is using black box technology to keep an eye on drivers who repeatedly run afoul of the law. The boxes have been installed in the vehicles of 14 defendants since 52-1 District Court Judge Brian MacKenzie created the program last year.

They track a vehicle's speed and other actions, such as acceleration rate and whether a driver slams the brakes or makes sharp turns.

The black box requirement is part of a program called Driver Rehabilitation Incorporating Vehicular Education — or DRIVE — and applies only to drivers who have a license and are on probation. Others in the program are required to attend group therapy, take driver training or perform community service.

"The idea is to come up with a sentence that makes the individuals coming into the program better drivers, safer drivers, improving the safety of everyone around," MacKenzie told The Detroit News for a Friday story. "And it seems to work."

MacKenzie said none of the 60 drivers sentenced under the program have returned to court or been involved in accidents; three have been cited for new traffic violations.

"It's designed to change behavior," MacKenzie told Detroit Free Press columnist Matt Helms on Thursday.

Larry Selditz, president of Road Safety, the California company that makes the boxes, said this is the first time he's heard of a court ordering drivers to use them.

DRIVE currently is used in Walled Lake, Wixom and Wolverine Lake. MacKenzie said he'd like to see it grow to include other southwest Oakland County communities.

The program targets drivers cited for reckless driving, driving with a suspended license or leaving the scene of a property-damage accident, if they have two previous crashes or several driving infractions.

The boxes emit a loud beep when a car speeds or accelerates too rapidly. They ultimately will be modified so driver actions can be tracked by satellite. Data is gathered monthly and sent to a driver's probation officer.

"It's not like Big Brother; it's a sentence that's trying to do the right thing, the appropriate thing, to guarantee the community's safety," MacKenzie said. "It's not going to be in their car forever, but it's going to be there to demonstrate that they've learned to drive appropriately."

The 'Black' and 'White' Divide

This is the first, to the misfortune of my readers, of a series of 'alternate perspective’ articles I’ll intersperse amongst my usual pseudo-pithy commentary on social events. However, I do promise to keep their ratio to a minimum…

So, let me ask you, have you ever known a black person? Really? And, being a part of this melting pot of races we’ve become, I’m sure you know a white person or two. Yes? Good. Now, let me help remove the visors a bit so you might realize you’ve never met either of those creatures in your life before. Never.

‘Balderdash’, you cry. ‘Of course we all know blacks and whites’, another says. Well, sorry ladies and germs, but that’s sheer nonsense, I say in response. Look at the background color of this blog page (or ‘tone’ for the sticklers in the audience)…that’s black. Real, true, pitch black. Now are you still going to tell me you know a black person? And the text you’re reading right now is white. Personally, although I once knew an Albino who came close, I’ve never met anyone who made one cover the eyes from such, well, such whiteness.

‘Foul’, I heard someone out there shout. ‘Nothing but semantics’, someone else prepares to write in a comment. Sadly, not only is this not a matter of semantics, it’s a culturally accepted practice that, instead of helping us with improving race relations, serves as a perpetually drawn line-in-the-sand to exaggerate the differences between Caucasians and African-Americans with every single utterance; ultimately maintaining the ethnic divisions that have plagued our culture for the past several centuries...

Before I attempt an explanation of why we unconsciously create this divide with our words, let me pose a few more questions for you to chew on. I’m sure you’ve heard derogatory speech before describing those of Asian descent as ‘yellow skinned’ or Native Americans as ‘redskins’. Why is it that it never became socially acceptable to call people of those races ‘Yellows’ or ‘Reds’, all the while there’s never been a blink of the eye in using ‘Black’ or ‘White’? Actually, there are reasons behind it all, though when you understand it and what its use demonstrates, you might not like the answer so much.

First, let’s take a quick peak at our propensity to divide the world around us into dichotomous definitions. To a degree, I guess you can say we can’t help but be a little bipolar by our nature. As we evolved from a more primate version of man into the beast we are today, we have always been impressed by extremes. There is day and there is night. There is hot and there is cold. There is happiness/love and there is anger/jealously. Granted, there is a plethora of levels between each of those opposites, but, again, our memories are most molded by the advent of extremes. Think back in your own life…I would venture to guess that the most vivid recollections you can most easily access are those of the good times and the bad and/or painful times. The everyday routine-filled hours don’t seem to stand out in the long term.

So, you might be able to say we had an early physical disposition to view our surroundings in terms of opposites. As the intelligence of man developed, our reliance of this view only expanded. There’s the yen and yang, Heaven and Hell, good and evil, ally and enemy, etc., etc. Sure, a rationalized approach to these topics would be to accept that very little exists in such isolated extremes, but that’s just not our inherent instinct.

Okay, with those tidbits consumed, let’s look at the origin of the word ‘Black’ to describe those of African descent. The term first came into play in the early 1700’s by slavers in the American colonies. Its use grew exponentially along with the slave trade and it stayed extremely popular all the way through the Civil Wars. After the Civil War, freed slaves attempted to discourage public use of that tag name (as it had bad connotations and associations to them), instead preferring ‘Negro’.

In turn, the name ‘Whites’ for Caucasians didn’t hit the language scene until the mid-1800’s and wasn’t in common use until the Civil War. But even then, it was used in a somewhat derisive fashion to label those who were either poor or uneducated. It pretty much remained that way until the early 1900’s when it softened a bit to encompass all Caucasians. Although the word ‘Whites’ never left the American lexicon, it didn’t hit common nationwide use until the 1960’s when the Civil Rights Movement brought about a resurgence of the word ‘Blacks’, as popularized by African Americans. Since then, the use of both words became so heavily used that any past negative associations with them dissipated for the majority of citizens.

So, why is this a problem, you might ask (if you haven’t yet dozed off)? If those words have become a culturally-condone manner of expression, why should we have any trepidation in using them? That’s the sad answer here…because there’s something in our sub-conscious that can’t seem to let go of the silly concept that our races should remain separate. You may think that’s a harsh assessment, but I ask you - why else would we intentionally talk about each other’s race on a daily basis with additional attributes that simply aren’t there? In terms that would make an outsider to our current society wonder why we purposefully placed each other at opposite ends of the spectrum? A sort of politically-correct way of still defining the members of our races as ‘us’ and ‘them’. 'You're on that side of the chasm and we're on this side'. What’s worse, I’m afraid we do so for the sheer reason that we just don’t ever pause long enough to consider why it is that we do the things we do day in and day out, much less why we say what falls so haphazardly from our mouths.

Now, what’s the lesson of this rambling sermon? Hmmm. Perhaps there isn’t one. Maybe this is just another historical dissertation that’s not nearly as entertaining as the latest reality show. Or perhaps there’s an sneaky message that we need to truly realize we live in a world where there are no blacks, no whites, no yellows and no reds. There are only people shaded with the various colors of the planet from which we rose. Personally, I try my best to never qualify such traits when describing people I know, meet or see. In my mind, we're all at our core human, so there's little need (and definitely no benefit) for adding those ancillary divisions. So, if it's possible, the next time you innocently say ‘black’ or ‘white’, take pause and look at the people around you for just a couple of seconds…I guarantee your eyes won’t find any of those colors in the people you see. Not now, not ever… Jage

Three Cheers for Jon Stewart

A syndication deal has just been struck to allow Jon Stewart’s ‘The Daily Show’ to be shown in Britain (story here) and I wanted to use a brief amount of space to send a rousing round of applause to Mr. Stewart for this newest accomplishment. Though, I must say, if the show keeps progressing in the same fashion it has over the past couple of years, it stands in jeopardy of losing the ‘fake news’ title. The news stories they air may be presented with irony and a touch of sardonic commentary, but I’ll be damned if they aren’t putting out a more realistic perception of what’s going on in this country than all of the other ‘real’ news stations combined. Again, big cheers for Mr. Stewart and all involved in the show’s creation…keep fighting the good fight!... Jage

Damn Thee, Al Gore!!

Boy, another set of words I thought I’d never hear myself saying. And I can’t blame any conservatives for changing my views either. I guess the only ‘silver lining’ to this new found disdain towards Mr. Gore is that it’s not due to his politics. In truth, it’s more due to his lack of politics...

You may not have heard it, but Al Gore recently renounced the political life, calling himself a ‘recovering politician’, and entered the fray of cable TV programming. His new company purchased News World International (NWI) in order to scrap its 11-year format for a modern Internet-hip channel called Current TV. If you haven’t had a chance to watch Current TV yet, please do. It should only take you a good 5-10 minutes to realize that it’s crap.

What’s the problem, you ask? Shouldn’t Mr. Gore be allowed to follow a different path in life, regardless of the direction it goes? Sure, why not. I’m all for re-inventing oneself if such is so desired. But what I take exception to, and what others should know about, is what a disservice he’s done to the political and worldly-minded citizens of this country. Al Gore, of all people, just helped put another nail in the coffin lid of true journalism still available to the American public...

If you never had an opportunity to catch NWI, I’m sorry at your loss because it’s gone for good now. Basically, each day NWI showed TV newscasts in English from various countries around the world. The list included Canada, Britain, Japan, Germany, Australia and others. The reports were factual, concise and relevant to the world we live in today. There was no continual obsessing over the missing middle-income white woman of the week or a never ending litany of the split-scream zero-sum debates on which every other cable news station relies. It was real news. And, as many Americans need to see, it often portrayed an image of our country that a lot of the world is developing - a slow brew of apprehension, even from allied countries, that we aren’t shown through our enter-news-tainment bureaus. I was simply amazed at how much more I would sometimes hear about news events in America from watching one of the foreign reports shown on NWI. Then again, when you don’t give into the OCD-news temptation, that leaves a lot of free time for stories of importance…

Alas, that open electronic window into the world is now closed on the count of, well, on the count of Turd TV (really, just watch it). I remember watching the faces of the main anchors on NWI during the last couple of days they broadcasted. It was the unmistakable expression of shock. Shock in that 11 years of accurate and serious journalism, they were being rewarded by being canned for a faddish Internet channel that was depending on user-submitted materials for a decent percentage of their scheduling. User-submitted materials… *Sigh*

Maybe Al wanted to put the visors on and throw in the towel, but there are a lot of us out here who don't want to be isolated from the rest of the world and would have rather stayed informed through a honest news agency such as NWI. Direct TV satellite (yes, the one that eats your wallet every month) feeds our home TVs and at present offers absolutely no comparable network for news. It’s either the Ritalin Networks or nothing. I wrote Direct TV a letter asking for such a possibility and I could physically hear them laughing when they received it. That’s why I only read my news now. And why I’m not happy with Mr. Gore…not at all…I voted for you once and might even could consider doing so again, but I sure can’t find it in me to wish you much success in this endeavor… Jage

Update to 'Thattaboy, Tom Shakespeare'

Hmm, I actually received a response from the Fashion Monitor Toronto regarding the removal of the article about Tom Cruise. They said that they removed the article once they could no longer 'verify the integrity' of the interview. Another hmmm. I responded to them asking if it was normal policy for their website to post articles first and then try to verify their integrity. If I get an answer to that, I'll put it here in turn. Me thinks that after the story was online for 2-3 days, someone's publicist raised some holy cane and got it yanked. Then again, that's just this mild-mannered reporter's hunch. I've read enough 'verified' interviews with Mr. Cruise in which he said hauntingly similar statements to not find this interview too off base (go to www.tomcruiseisnuts.com for more info). Either way, I updated this so you could make your own decision as to the veracity of the story... Jage

Thattaboy, Tom Shakespeare!

This is from an article that was run on the Fashion Monitor Toronto’s web site on August 22^nd until it was mysteriously removed today. Not only removed, but wiped clean from their news archives. Hmmm, sounds a tad fishy to me. Perhaps Tommy Boy didn’t like the response from readers of the sane variety to what he had to say. I sent an e-mail to the website asking why the article just vanished. We’ll see if I get any semblance of a response. So, for the benefit of all mankind (me chuckles) I’ve pasted the text from the article below for your perusal. It would just be a shame for this tidbit to get swept under the rug so quickly…

From Fashion Monitor Toronto:

Scientologist Tom Cruise revealed that he is much older than the forty three years he has spent in his present body.

Tom Cruise noted that he is "old beyond reckoning." What's more, his current life is "probably one of the least satisfying" he has led.

"I was much happier in previous existences when I wrote plays, composed music, conquered nations, discovered continents, and developed cures for diseases," said Tom Cruise.

Cruise said he became aware that he "had been here before," when he read the complete works of Shakespeare in a month, despite being dyslexic, not long after dropping out of high school.

"Shakespeare was deja vu for me," said Tom Cruise. "It was so cool. I felt as if I had seen his words already, knew them all by heart. Then, after I began studying scientology, I realized the words had come from my heart in a previous life. That's why I say that as glorious and enviable as my present life is, making "War of the Worlds" and all those other great movies can't compare to writing "Romeo and Juliet" or the sonnets.

In addition to recognizing his days of future passed in the works of Shakespeare and Bach—and in the achievements of Columbus and Napoleon—Cruise recognizes the continuing reappearance of "Anti-Thetanic forces," such as Matt Lauer and Brooke Shields, with whom he has clashed in former lives.

So, before I get on and say my peace, I’ve gotta ask…he is saying that he was William Shakespeare in a past life, correct? And is there also an implication that he may have been Bach, Columbus and Napoleon as well? Wow. If I’ve mistakenly interpreted that, please someone set me straight…

Alrighty then, you may think I’m going to spend this time to mock and make fun of the Cruise ship sailing to Crazytown, eh? Wrong. Actually, I’m going to give ole Tom a big cyberspace pat on his back for the public service he’s been performing lately! I mean, could there possibly be a better spokesman to demonstrate how utterly and completely bonkers the Church of (Pseudo) Scientology (COS) is at its core? I think not.

I also won’t bore you with hashing out the history of how the COS was started pretty much on a dare by the sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard, or how their ‘faith’ involves an ancient evil galactic emperor named Xenu or that the COS believes all mental abnormalities to be the result of possession by the souls of bad aliens called the Thetans…just do a search on Google or Yahoo! and you can find all the facts and information you could possibly want about the COS (or more simply, go to 'Operation Clambake' posted in my links section). What I will devote some energy to, though, is a brief rant about the COS’ tax exempt status.

So, tell me, if I form a Church that worships the Prophet Spock (yes, the Star Trek Spock), strictly following the principles of the Vulcan IDIC (don't ask) and I get a huge following of people want to believe the same way (which could frighteningly happen with the vast number of Trekkies & Trekkers in the world), can I also eventually become eligible for tax-free status? And if not, how the Hell is that so different from what’s happened with the COS? Well, the answer to that is the COS spent years and years, along with tons of money, battling against the IRS in federal court in order to receive that special status and I’m, well, broke and minus a horde of culty followers.

Worse yet, the COS is a tiered pay-as-you-learn religion. The more you can pay, the more ‘truths’ will be revealed to you. Could that be any more contrary to a ‘not-for-profit’ status? So, I ask, how much longer can this be allowed to continue? What other revelations need to shine in order for our government to wake up and say, hey, that’s really bullshit, isn’t it? Unfortunately, that’ll never happen because the COS has accumulated more money than Xenu himself. And with that money (in this world of ours) comes the might of political power. Sadly, that makes for continued blue skies for the COS.

As I’ve said in other posts, I don’t mean to single out individual religions to bash. By their very definition, all organized religions are cults…only the degree of freakiness between them all varies. But groups like this one really piss me off in how they masturbate science all the way around into a religion. And I just hope in the case of the COS, people are paying attention to Tom’s proud slips of the tongue. If my brain functioned as his does, I wouldn’t want to believe those mental monsters were cause through solely psychological reasons… Jage

Note: If you don’t understand how people could have gotten sucked into the COS mentality, there’s a perfect example of another faux-science-oriented cult brewing right now in America. Go rent the film, ‘What the Bleep Do We Know?’ and be prepared for a frightening glimpse into the makings of a quasi-religion. Just remember that, as neat as the FX may look in the film, the science it promotes is of the fuzzy mash potato sort. The real skinny behind that flick is that it was created by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment (RSE) as a grassroots recruiting project. The three 'creators' of the film are devotees (or 'clients' as they prefer to be called) of the RSE, or more specifically to JZ Knight, who appears throughout the film to wax and wane universal truths (if you watch it, she’s the blond chick in the red guru jacket who loves to roll her rrrrr's). In sooth, Ms. Knight is the founder of the RSE who channels the 35,000 year old spirit of Ramtha into her body to reveal scientific insights (as shown in the movie) to her and her ‘clients’. In short, our old buddy Ramtha is a long-dead Atlantian warrior who seems to have developed a hunkering for lost Hollywood souls with cash to spare for his knowledge. Ah, the blood pressure rises once again…

With Supporters Like These...

From The National Review:

Across the street from “Camp Casey” is “Camp Qualls” a pro-Bush campsite set up by supporters of American efforts in Iraq. Granted, the site is much smaller than the anti-Bush crowd, but it’s growing each day. And those in attendance might surprise you.

A Palestinian man traveled to and back from Dallas today to supply “Camp Qualls” with a power generator. He says that despite the conventional wisdom, most Palestinians want American forces in Iraq. Their presence is providing the foundation for long term security in the region even if the short term results are less than compelling to some. (And disregard that clock on the side of the generator…it’s supposed to count down like that)

Two members from the administration stopped by while I was there and offered to bring food and drinks to those in attendance. (wow, wasn’t that sweet of them? I’m sure they walked across the road and made the same offer to Camp Casey participants, right? Right?)

Jeez, if this is the best they can do as a response, it would probably be a good idea for the neocons not to show how pathetic their effort is going. Then again, it tells a whole other story about what's really going on with the tide-turning of public sentiment against the war in Iraq.

What I want to know is, is anybody really there? Apparently, there’s around eight (snicker, snicker) pro-Stumpy supporters manning the booths. That is, when the cameras aren’t around to steal their souls… Jage

Heaven Forbid They Promote Deviant Sexual Behavior

Well, the Vatican’s in a tizzy over sex again. Once again, the rubber bounces back to spring up some condemnation…

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has withdrawn an anti-AIDS campaign ad featuring a smiling nun holding a condom after it sparked an outcry from Roman Catholics, local media said on Wednesday.

The poster, which shows the nun holding the condom with both hands and saying "Although I don't need one, even I know," had been removed from all condom machines in Taipei hospitals, subway stations and elsewhere.

"As a nun, I can't agree with their way of expressing things," a church spokeswoman said Wednesday. "This is a serious insult."

Nuns take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and the Vatican considers all forms of contraception a sin.

Local media said the plan had been to use someone with a "positive image" to promote the use of condoms to prevent AIDS.

There are about 300,000 Catholics on the island of 23 million people.

I’m totally amazed that in the 21^st Century, the Vatican is still so afraid of the oogie-boogie. So petrified that that they can’t put the fear aside for a dose of compassion about the health of people living in the real world. And if the history of the Catholic Church (not trying to single you guys out…I feel you’re all a tad insane) has shown us anything it’s that restrictive, repressive attitudes towards sexual relations has a high chance of turning normal human beings into sexual deviants. And I’m not talking about their more recent problems with the very visible end-results of enforcing such sexual depravities amongst their followers. I’m afraid this is probably an era of the least amount of sexual abuse in the history of the priesthood (if you don’t believe or understand that, then read a history book, it’s amazing what’s out there, you know). Again, I hate to single Catholicism out in this rant. The origins of their brand of faith is about as disturbing as the real histories of most of the other breeds.

But come on now, even if the Vatican must maintain its archaic views in other areas, they should at least show they’re capable of a little sympathy towards the plight of underdeveloped countries facing the AIDS epidemic. And don’t feed me any abstinence crap…when a God makes your genitals his business, it’s not God, it’s just men with delusions of self-grandeur… Jage

Sorry Cindy, This Really Hurts to Say

Cindy Sheehan has now returned to her Crawford, TX vigil to again carry the flame for a meeting with Sir Stumpy. And as during her first turn at bat, I have to shamefully admit that I still don't want SS to meet with her... *Sigh*

First, I need to preface my reasoning by making a few affirmations: 1) I'm as anti-Bush as they come, 2) I vehemently oppose our presence in Iraq (well, I actually oppose most of our Middle Eastern policy for that matter) and 3) I truly feel sorry for Mrs. Sheehan and every other parent who have lost a child in this utter quagmire.

In addition, I love the downward public opinion spiral that her campaign is causing for the administration. Without a doubt, she has created a scenario where any single action regarding her taken by SS or his cronies is going to invariably add only more bad press to the mix. And the reason that they can't handle this situation with any form of finesse is due to the simple fact that she's one of the millions of 'common' people (us working and decent schmoes out there) who they just don't understand anymore. When you stay disconnected from reality for too long, it becomes hard to connect with those who remained real...

Anyway, my point on this matter is that I'm afraid this doesn't stand up to the OTB (Other Than Bush) Test. Let's change the facts in this case a bit to accommodate a comparable, but OTB, situation. Suppose that a thousand troops had died in Kosovo during Clinton's tenure. Yeah, I know, I know, that's a really bad example as not one single soldier died from combat during that operation, but let's really wear our pretend hats for a minute or two. Okay?

So, a 1,000 troops died in Kosovo. Should Clinton have had to meet with a single parent of a dead soldier who was upset and demanded it? Absolutely not. More to the heart of this matter, is a President accountable to each individual person for the actions made during his term or is his peer audience more the society as a whole? Personally, I don't want a President to be accountable to any single person. Even when he's in the wrong as badly as Sir Stumpy. I mean, when would it stop? With the first 50 family members who demanded a private meeting? The first 500 family members? If a President is required to meet with every wronged American, then the VP might as well just start running the show as there wouldn't be any time left for the job (and that is a very, very scary thought in these times).

Granted, it's easy to throw perspective out of the equation when it comes to issues involving the West Wing Wankers that have taken control of our system and made such a mess of everything, but, again, if this scenario was with any President OTB, I wouldn't flinch an inch at giving my opinion about it.

Oh well, I am still enjoying that Mrs. Sheehan's crusade is not only giving SS a black eye but is drawing more sincere attention to the Iraq issue. Keep going, Cindy, and give 'em Hell! (but I still don't expect or want SS to stop when he drives by...dammit)... Jage

Update - I've received several e-mails disagreeing with one specific aspect of the OTB analogy, so here's a bit of a clarification...everybody needs to remember that they were supposed to wear 'pretend hats' for the Clinton comparison. Sure, Clinton would have stopped to talk to Cindy and, sure, he wouldn't have let this turn into a problem this grandiose...but that wasn't the point that was being made. It was that Presidents shouldn't have to answer to an individual member of society for their actions. Rather, the body of the nation as a whole should be their ultimate judge. I know, it's hard to get past the red visor covering the eyes on this issue since it involves Bush rather than another person in that role (I do have trouble with it as well), but if you look at this issue as it relates to the 'office of the President' and not 'a President', then I still stand by my guns. And that's a belief that shouldn't be unique to our country, either. I don't think a duly-elected leader of any country should have to explain himself to the individual...the concept of a democratic government in no way guarantees access for the individual to demand or receive such specific recognition from their President. Sorry, but granting extraordinary privileges such as that are not only impractical in reality but are somewhat redundant to the theory of representative government as well.

New Format

If you've visited this blog before, you'll notice its original format has been completely chunked out the window. I had hoped to run a series of articles about non-current event issues, but I've reluctantly jumped on the bandwagon of posting tidbits of insanity from our society in jeopardy along with some (hopefully) pithy commentary. Sorry for the false start, but the best laid plans of mice and men and such... Jage

Greetings and Felicitations

I'm not exactly sure what to say at this point to adequately preface what is yet to come. I've always resisted the compulsion to regurgitate my individual views for the public at large to digest (yummy, huh?), as my Existentialist nature usually rears its ugly head to remind me that my views, regardless of how thoughtful they may be, are ultimately pointless to anyone else besides myself. However, and whether or not it's to the misfortune of any reader who may stumble across this journal, I've finally given in to the requests from some very close friends that I commit some of the absurdities which fall from my mouth to a written format. Hence, this page now exists among the other countless hordes of electronic opinion...

Perhaps I should add some language in this semi-introduction to apologize for any future offensive remarks or perspectives, but that would truly begin this endeavor in a most disingenuous fashion. If you don't like what you see here, then that means I've potentially made you think about something more than you've desired. And for such intellectual injuries I can offer no sincere remorse. It would be a far, far better world overall if our species remembered that divergent thought was indeed a good thing...but I regress and realize that asking for such in a first post is somewhat brazen at best. So, I'll simply end by again welcoming you to the organized chaos of my mind... Jage