Satan’s Garden

I realize that the title of this article is an absolute truth no matter what, but the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the shallow fatuity of the deception is simply startling.

Over a ten-month period, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) documented television newsrooms’ use of 36 video news releases (VNRs)—a small sample of the thousands produced each year. CMD identified 77 television stations, from those in the largest to the smallest markets, that aired these VNRs or related satellite media tours (SMTs) in 98 separate instances, without disclosure to viewers. Collectively, these 77 stations reach more than half of the U.S. population. The VNRs and SMTs whose broadcast CMD documented were produced by three broadcast PR firms for 49 different clients, including General Motors, Intel, Pfizer and Capital One. In each case, these 77 television stations actively disguised the sponsored content to make it appear to be their own reporting. In almost all cases, stations failed to balance the clients’ messages with independently-gathered footage or basic journalistic research. More than one-third of the time, stations aired the pre-packaged VNR in its entirety.

See the article and view the videos on your own and realize that television is the last place to look for actual news.  (Especially remember that when the push to invade Iran comes.)

Victor Thorn has written a short piece on Obama’s choice for Chief of Staff in the White House, Rahm Emanuel, that brings up some rather spooky questions.  Anyone still clinging to the notion that Obama brand Change (© Barack Obama ) is going to be a good thing, had better start paying attention to what’s going on in the background, behind Obama’s sly rhetoric.

Between Obama’s, Biden’s and Emanuel’s rabid gun control agenda and a push to be Israel’s lapdog, Obama’s ideas of “change” promises to be as bad as Bush’s, if not worse.

On a side note, talks are apparently ongoing between Obama and Hillary Clinton, which may lead to Hillary being named Secretary of State.

If you haven’t seen this critical documentary on the policies of torture put in place by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, you need to watch it now.

The information seems overwhelming that the policy of multiple violations of human rights came straight from Bush and Cheney and are heavy enough to hold them and their cohorts in international court for war crimes.

You might also notice that PBS has found it has no time to air this documentary until January 20th, when the current administration is replaced.

Those pesky atheists are at it again in Colorado.

COCORE, a Colorado atheist groups is paying for several billboards to be put up around Denver and one in Colorado Springs this year, simply showing a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, with the caption, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone,” with a link to their website at the bottom.

Apparently, this has offended several of the Bible banging lunatics in Colorado, including Bob Enyart, a Christian radio host. What genius does Bob have to offer?

“The Bible says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence. If we ignore the evidence for gravity or the Creator, that’s really dangerous. Income tax doesn’t not exist because somebody doesn’t believe in it. And the same is true with our Creator.”

With such a careful, logical, grammatically profound statement such as this, who wouldn’t believe? Oh, and Bob, that was sarcasm. This is about the most ludicrous, thought bereft statement I’ve heard in some time. Unfounded personal belief, claiming superstitious nonsense, is not evidence of anything but a delusional mind.

I don’t think that I could tally the number of religious billboards I’ve seen in my life. You can’t go five miles in the Bible Belt without seeing one. Furthermore, how can the statement being made on this billboard be considered offensive? If it said “Do you believe in God? You are not alone,” these same Buy-bull pundits would be scrambling all over themselves, gloating over their inspiring, faith filled message.

It seems that above all else, the hypocrisy of religion reigns supreme.

Creationist arguments are becoming more and more stupid with every pass.  Just when you thought you’ve heard it all, they come up with yet another massively moronic attempt to condemn evolutionary theory using utterly junk science.  This is a perfect example, with so much wrong in its understanding of the theories of the origins of life that it would take months to explain it all to them.

A special thanks to irReligion.org for finding this one.

We had to put one of our cats down yesterday. I won’t attempt to disguise or soften the event with terms, like “put her to sleep”. She’s dead and it hurts and no amount of flowery language is going to soften that.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Alaska had been just fine. Active, healthy and playful - she gave no indication that anything was wrong. Then one morning she didn’t come to the ritual feast of canned food and Karen finally found her in her hiding place when we got home that afternoon, unable to walk or even stand. She was shaky and moaning. We called and made an emergency appointment.

The vet couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong at first. He could tell from the blood work that she had a liver infection, possibly from an auto-immune deficiency. He prescribed cortisone, an anti-biotic and vitamins, which we dutifully administered, along with a vitamin rich food. The first couple of days showed almost no improvement. We had isolated her underneath a baby crib, so that the other cats and the dog wouldn’t mess with her. She had a bed, her food, water and a litter box inside her fabric woven cage, not that her confinement disturbed her. She could barely stand and wasn’t eating. We had to feed her Pedialyte with a blunt-nosed plastic syringe.

By the third day she showed signs of improvement. She ate. She could stand and move around, though a little shaky in her steps. By the end of a week, she was restless and wanted out, which we allowed. She was playful, running, acting like her old self again.

She was fine for almost a full week, when yesterday morning we found her in the same shape she had been when it all started. It was so sudden. We hadn’t even finished the last of her medicine yet. The day before she had been fine - acting like nothing had ever happened.

We re-assembled the pen and made an appointment with the vet again. My heart started to sink. Whether it was the inordinate amount of attention she had asked from me the day before, or the suddenness of her downturn, the signs seemed ominous and I honestly didn’t know if she was going to be alive when we came home that afternoon to take her to the vet.

When we got home we found her wedged in tight between the litter box and the playpen wall. She wasn’t moving. Karen said that she thought she was dead, but when we moved the pen aside, she moaned. Karen picked her up and she started howling. She was in pain.

We wrapped her in a towel and with Karen holding her, we left early for the vet, getting there about twenty minutes ahead of schedule. When we got into the examination room, the vet looked her over and the prognosis was bad. Her gums were white, meaning anemia had set in. She was suffering hypothermia and shivering. Her claws were extended and she made no effort to retract them. She kept mewing in pain.

He went over the options. We could give her a massive does of cortisone and a B-12 shot to try to boast red blood cell production, but the facts facing us were grim. Even if she recovered this time, she would crash again - and again - until she finally wouldn’t be able to recover anymore. Her own immune system was attacking her body and there was nothing we could do, but prolong her suffering.

In some ways, it was easier to handle than Gabrielle’s death. That cat and I had grown closer than I can put to words. I had let her out one morning, only to have her disappear for a full two days. The night after I had let her wander, I roamed all over the neighborhood looking for her. It wasn’t like her not to return home. She’d never done that before. The following morning I found her dead at the back door. I never knew what had happened to her, why she had died. All I knew is that she had tried to get home and while I slept soundly three rooms down the hall, she had been at the door and died alone during the night.

My mind went over the first day Alaska was with us. A friend of Karen’s had given her to us, when she had moved into a place which didn’t accommodate having a cat. She was an adult cat, but still adolescent. She had long, white, silky fur, with a patch of brown around one eye and a tail like a raccoon. It was that dirty-snowball look which made me think of the state for which she was named.

I was in the bathroom downstairs, when Alaska threw her weight into the mostly closed door, burst into the room and made a straight line shot for the lower drawer of the vanity. She grabbed it with both front paws and yanked backward, opening the drawer instantly. Without pause, she dove in. There were about three or four seconds of scrambling and the top drawer suddenly popped open. A bit more rustling, then a little white head appeared, followed by the rest of the cat in a fluid leap to the floor. I questioned whether I had just seen what I had seen or not, but the evidence was still hanging open to prove it. Within three weeks, the little bugger even managed to teach the other cats how to open drawers and cupboard doors. We had to put child-safety locks on everything because of her.

I thought about her daily routines, her likes and dislikes. How she would scold you verbally with a string of varied meow’s if you took something away from her that she insisted was hers to play with. How gracefully she’d move, with her long silky fur flowing like fluid. It didn’t seem fair. She was only seven years old and to see her lying there, ragged and disheveled…

The vet gave us a few minutes alone. We didn’t need to talk it over, we had already covered the possibility. Choking on tears, both of us were stroking Alaska’s fur, unable to fully convey to her what it was we were feeling.  The vet returned to the room and asked me to sign the consent form.  I filled in our address first and stared for a moment at the line for my signature. I pulled the trigger.

The vet had trouble with the injection, as Alaska’s veins were collapsing. When it came, it was so quick. It took only seconds. One moment she was lying there, breathing hard - the next she was still. We were both still stroking her. The vet asked us if we wanted to take her home, or if we wanted them to take care of her. It seemed so callous to leave the task to others - so irresponsible. Before I had a chance to say anything, Karen said that we needed to take her home.

We buried her in the backyard and put an artificial stone over the site, which we had lying around and never found a home for. It’s carved with the inscription, “Cat crossing” and has footprints in a trail across the length of it. Before filling in the grave, we stood there quietly for a bit. I kept waiting for her or our youngest son to say something, but words failed them. I finally said, “You were a stinker. Feel free to haunt the place if you want.” It was meant as a playful comment, because she had been such a little goofball terrorist in the house, but I was so morose at the time I don’t know what it really sounded like.

Sleep has been restless tonight. I’m so thankful on the one hand that I’m not burdened again with the unknown, as in Gabrielle’s death. I know why Alaska was dying and I won’t wake up without previous provocation in the middle of the night, wondering what it was that had happened. I’m saddened that we had to do what we did, but I’m thankful that she spent her last moments knowing that she was loved.  That was something I had failed in with Gabrielle.  She had died alone and probably afraid.  I still can’t forgive myself for not being there.

I don’t know what more to write. What I’ve written seems so antiseptic and sterile. It doesn’t begin to cover the depth of my thoughts or feelings - the myriad memories dancing through my skull. It’s so clinical.

I guess I write it just to get it out.

There are those who will not understand why the death of a pet could cause grief. They’re just animals, after all. To those I offer my humblest regrets. I’m sorry that you don’t know what it is my wife and I are feeling. I’m sorry that you can’t experience that with your animal companions. I’m sorry that you can’t understand how an animal can become a part of your family.

Is it worth it? Why do we continue to adopt our furry little companions anew, if the death of the last was so painful? Perhaps it’s because the reason why it is painful to begin with, is due to the weight of the joy you had when you were together.

As predicted, Obama won. Not only that, both the Senate and House of Representatives have been taken by the Democratic party.

Here’s the litmus test - what are they going to do about the Patriot Act, Patriot Act II, torture used in interrogations, Guantanamo Bay, the Iraq war and a myriad other horrors we’ve suffered through the last two terms? There’s no pathetic excuse of laying low due to the elections anymore. If they don’t stop the secret spying on Americans, the water-boarding of captives held without charges, the waging of war in the Mideast on whims of chasing phantom terrorists - then they will have proved what I’ve been saying all along - they are no different than the Republicans and beholden to Plutocrats who pull their golden strings.

I predict very little will be done to change any of these issues. Once government has power, it is loath to release it. Instead, I predict a steady, heavy march toward European style socialism. Handguns and “assault weapons” will be made illegal to own very soon now (they can’t afford an armed populace with the upcoming economic collapse.) Much of our supposed free market industry will be nationalized, including the airlines, automotive manufacturers and probably power plants. Cap and trade regulation will strangle what isn’t held by government authority, with the excuse of fighting global warming. You see, the government is broke and it has only one source of relief - raping us - the People and our small businesses.

Oh, I nearly forgot the Iraq war. Don’t expect us to be leaving Iraq anytime soon, unless it is to invade Iran and/or Syria and increase our presence in Afghanistan. You don’t spend tens of billions on a dozen permanent bases in a foreign country, unless you plan to use it as a staging ground for something bigger. The military-industrial complex demands it.

Last, but not least, look for significant racial tension to develop.

The world seems to be falling over itself in glee over Obama’s victory, calling it a historic moment, because a man of color was finally elected into the US Presidency. Being color blind as I am, it’s not a big deal to me - I’m concerned with the ideologies of the candidates. However, the poor of our nation is composed mostly of black and Hispanic people - who are going to see this victory as a huge golden key to the treasury of the United States Government, aka, your tax dollars - and you can expect bill after bill demanding more and more from the coffers. Once a people learn that they can vote away your money to come to them, they tend to do so. Obama’s win is a gigantic catalyst to spur this on.

You can also look forward to an increase in legislation aimed at bringing “equality” to America. The current illegal population we have from Mexico, will most likely be given amnesty and citizenship. Our current Affirmative Action laws will be radically expanded. In an effort to legislate morality, the police state will balloon even further than it has under Bush’s goose stepping mania. Look at the trend: which administration in the last 100 years has relinquished power? Which administration in the last 100 years hasn’t expanded the size and role of the government? Which administration in the last 100 years hasn’t whittled away at the Bill of Rights?

Don’t get me wrong, it wouldn’t be any better under McCain. It would just be a different flavor of shit. Because that’s all that’s been accomplished this election. America chose Democratic brand shit, over Republican brand shit. You’re still eating shit.

I’ve stressed it before and I’ll stress it again: until we remove all the Democrats and all the Republicans from office, there will be no real change.

Well, it’s almost over. Tomorrow is the final day of the election and we’ll know who the next President Elect is by the end of the night and know the congressional seating by the next morning. As for the President, my money is on Obama - not that I like him. In fact, I think he’s a slimy scum bag, only surpassed in sliminess in a very narrow margin by McCain.

I’ve heard this election being called “the most historic presidential election in our nation’s history”, over and over again by various players in the press. I have news for you morons: it’s the same shit as ever.

Now, I know many of you optimistic fools out there are looking to Obama for Change (© Barack Obama), but you’re not going to get it. If you’re voting for Obama, you’re not voting for change. You’re simply voting for a change of face.

In fact, I’ll lay odds down that the reason Obama was put up as the Democratic candidate to begin with and why a very unlikeable McCain was put in as the Republican candidate, is exactly so that Obama will win. The real powers that be are counting on Obama to win. In the process, the true powers that be behind the President have in place a convenient scapegoat to pin blame on the coming complete economic collapse and World War. He’s the fall guy. Once things fall apart, Obama will be used to fuel the desired racial tensions and class war, keeping the populace distracted from the real power mongering going on at a world scale.

The true power behind our economic and foreign policies have been the appointed individuals to key, non-elected positions of office. Take a look at Bush II’s staff and ask the question, weren’t a lot of these guys on Nixon’s staff? How many of them worked through the Reagan, Bush I and Clinton administrations? Hint: you’re going to see a lot of familiar names, all intertwined.

Take a look at Dennis Ross, for example. He was Clinton’s Mideast envoy, who also served the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) as a consultant - the same PNAC who’s members marched us with lies to war against Iraq. He co-founded AIPAC, Israel’s lobby in America, which damn near dictates our Mideast policy. He’s an associate of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which includes names like Richard Perle, James Roche, James Wollsey and Paul Wolfowitz.  He got his start under Paul Wolfowitz during the Carter administration and is now pushing hard to get himself placed under Obama’s cabinet.

Justin Raimondo has a very interesting article outlying much of the the problem with Obama and his foreign policy trends. I strongly suggest you read it, because Raimondo has hit the nail on the head too many times in the last eight years of the Bush fiasco. He understands that the real power brokers are not the people we elect.

Because it ultimately doesn’t matter who we elect for any office, as long as it is a candidate from the Big Two parties. The Democratic and Republican parties are simply two sides to the same evil coin. Plutocratic masters pull the purse strings and place key personnel into non-elected positions of power, to run the show from behind the facade of a Republic. It’s been this way since FDR and is only getting worse.

The only chance for change we have, before we lock and load, is to fill the elected positions of the two branches of the Federal Government with third party or independent candidates - who will not use the planted non-elected in their offices.

Currently, there is little chance of this ever happening. Too many Americans view the elections as a sporting event, where you pick your team and cheer for it - unconcerned about the real issues - slurping up the rhetoric drooling from the candidate’s mouths, as if any of them in the last century have done what they said they would. Neither party holds their stated tenants to heart and if the truth were to be known, most cheering for these parties don’t hold the party tenants to heart. Instead, they pick a team and then cheer on any idea put forth by that team, no matter if it follows the party tenant or not. As long as their team’s candidates are saying it, they go along with it, in order to support their team. Once elected, it gets even worse. Look at Bush II and ask yourself, how well did he uphold the stated tenants of the Republican party, and yet how many supported him until it was too obvious to avoid?

If this was a real Republic, with parties representing actual choice, we’d have a dozen major parties and twice that on the outskirts. We don’t have a Republic of elected officials representing our diverse nation, we have two competing sporting teams and a country full of idiots waving their pom-poms from their chosen side of the stadium.

Worse yet, most Americans concentrate on the Presidential seat and ignore the far more important congress. It is congress who rights the bills which sets policy, sets budgets, destroys our rights and until they abdicated the power to the President, starts our wars. To find the true allegiances in congress, you need only trace the money to the lobbies.

The only way to achieve real change, is to remove every Democrat and Republican from office. Period. Anything less is simply playing the game that the Plutocrats have set in place since the first quarter of the twentieth century.

On a last note, we are about to enter very dangerous times. For the next two months, those pushing the buttons behind Bush and Cheney are going to have a virtual “Get Out of Jail Free” card, as the election will no longer be a mitigating factor in their actions and they have nothing to loose by instigating any of their most outrageous plans. This is a very dangerous situation and could produce some rather horrible results. Perhaps they won’t take advantage of the situation, but ask yourself by what you’ve seen over the last two terms: can you trust in that?

Christians continue to crack me up.  I haven’t been able to verify if this was a real event, but the pictures and videos sure seem to point to it.

Apparently a group of concerned Christians went down to the wall street bull, in order to pray to God to turn around our economic bear market.

Yes, you read that right.  They prayed over a bronze bull idol. Something about Exodus comes to mind…