"Do you think there was a kind of desire, to believe in a conspiracy of the liberal elite, all misbehaving in gross ways that ordinary folks could never think about?"
"Certainly, rationality is beleaguered these days. This is one of the last major newspapers in the country not to publish a horoscope,...non-science, nonsense, the elevation of emotion over fact, is on the rise, whether it's the extraordinary faith in homeopathy or the voodoo economics of the neoliberal right or the healing power of crystals. To read here of Tony and Cherie Blair's rebirthing experience in a Mexican mud bath in 2001 is to be torn between contempt and hilarity.
That our leaders for the past 25 years or so have been as cretinous as anyone else who believes there are fairies at the bottom of their garden is not exactly consoling. The powerful are protected from the consequences of their credulity; we are not."
Trying to blog while on a business trip is proving almost impossible, but - in the interest of being even-handed in my criticisms of Mormons - I wanted to drop this on you:
Actress and Green Party presidential candidate Roseanne Barr told The Daily Caller that voters should be concerned about presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.
Barr told TheDC that Mormonism should be an election issue “only if you have a problem with a guy having his finger on the nuclear button who thinks Jesus was hanging out with the Indians and that the Romneys will be running their own planets in the hereafter.”
Romney is the first Mormon to secure a major party’s presidential nomination. His religion became a political issue during the Republican primaries when pastor Robert Jeffress, a supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s candidacy, denounced Mormonism as “a cult.”
President Barack Obama’s campaign has repeatedly said that Romney’s religion is “off limits” for campaign mud-slinging. The notoriously unfiltered Barr, however, does not share Obama’s qualms.
“The religion? Don’t get me started — I grew up in Utah,” she said. “Look, lots of Mormons are nice people. I’m sure a whole big crowd of Mitt’s grandmothers are looking down proudly at his run for the White House. But if people knew more about him and how he made his money, and maybe his religion, which is more socialist than anything Obama’s proposed, they wouldn’t want him anywhere near the Oval Office.”
Now, first, the idea that Obama or Romney can declare any subject "off-limits" for the American people during an election is laughable. Listen up, you assholes:
WE are electing YOU - not the other way around - so you don't dictate the criteria we do that on.
Second, as much as I hate agreeing with Roseanne Barr, it should be obvious I've been saying the same thing she is - especially the part about living with Mormons being completely different from the in-passing experiences so many parade in their defense (the "I met a Mormon and he was so nice" bullshit,…) Such people know nothing - especially compared to this atheist - and are leading their country to the slaughter in a silly effort to assert otherwise.
That said, when it comes to Roseanne's charge that Romney "thinks Jesus was hanging out with the Indians," it looks like the Mormons just might have received a *little* science to back that up:
Israeli geneticists have found that a tribe of Native American Indians may have a genetic mutation typical of Ashkenazi Jews.
The genetic mutation is a harmful modification in the BRCA1 gene, prevalent among Jews of Eastern European descent, which increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
O.K., if you read the story, it becomes pretty clear the Mormons have got no case, but it's enough to further their delusions and, I thought, worth a mention. Man, are they pathetic.
I'll keep posting daily, but the further vetting of Mitt Romney will (probably) have to wait until I get back home this weekend. If I can return to it sooner, I will, but my schedule isn't completely my own right now, so - though I'll keep posting - TMR will have to take a back seat to other concerns until around Friday or Saturday. I'm sorry, but it honestly can't be helped.
If anyone ever wanted proof NewAgers have no values, they need look no further than Arianna Huffington:
Although Arianna Huffington has achieved worldwide fame as an internet pioneer, her comfort with self-publicity turning her into the face of what may be the future of news websites, she also nurses a lifelong love for therapies that she calls "natural" and others call something else. Fire walking, homeopathy, infrared saunas – Huffington has tried them all over the years, never struggling to balance what some might see as two contrary schools of thought in her head: the hard cutting edge of new media and the fluffy airy-fairiness of New Age.
In her private office – which is almost as glossy as she is, filled with plush armchairs and an intricately carved desk – books by Andrew Weil (an advocate for vitamin supplements who has written numerous books on self healing through breathing, "energy food" and "vibrational sound") sit happily alongside David Remnick's tub thumper tome, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. On her desk, bottles of tinctures are placed in front of a photo of her with Queen Rania of Jordan and a handwritten note inviting her to brunch, signed Russell Simmons (whose book Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All is also on Huffington's bookcase, as though she needs any advice on that score.) Even though Christmas was two months ago, particular holiday cards linger on her window sill, including one from Joe Biden and another from a couple whose photo on the front is jarringly familiar: "Seasons greetings," it reads inside. "Tony, Cherie and family."
In short, it is all a testament to how much Huffington's eponymous website – on which features espousing holistic therapies run alongside political pieces about, say, John McCain or Egypt and columns by her celebrity friends, such as Nora Ephron – reflects the personality of its founder. But it's a personality that has puzzled some by its fluidity, "a mind as flexible as her body is unwieldy", as a 2008 profile of Huffington in the New Yorker magazine put it. Huffington has been, at various times, a self-help writer, a political pundit, an antagonist of feminists, a champion of women's causes, a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, the champion of new media, a supporter of Newt Gingrich, a fan of President Obama, a Republican and a Democrat.
Andrew Weil - the original acid head betrayer and NewAge quack doctor.
Barack Obama - brought to the public by Oprah Winfrey, the NewAge TV host.
Russell Simmons - Hip-Hop mogul turned self-help writing Buddhist.
Joe Biden - Joe Biden.
Cherie Blair - wife of Tony and NewAge loon.
Holistic therapies - AKA quackery.
Nora Ephron - a disgusting human being.
'Denialists' are those who reject the substantive technological benefits of modern science—medicines and vaccines to treat and prevent illnesses, or techniques to enhance the quality and quantity of agricultural yields. At the same time, they cling to an unsubstantiated faith in the advantages of 'natural' alternatives such as vitamins, supplements, and organic foods. The term encompasses a diverse array of quacks and crackpots, ranging from New Age celebrities like Andrew Weil to reactionary patricians like Charles, Prince of Wales. What unites them is a hostility to reason that, when amplified in society, threatens the ability of scientists to pursue real solutions to such problems as disease, hunger, and malnutrition."
And before anyone says, "Well, look, Arianna's so successful!" we'll remind you she's only successful because A) she divorced her husband and took his money, and B) the rest of you have so bought into the bogus concept of being "non-judgmental" that no one has seriously questioned what lies she's told and what harm she's committed.
To show you how pathetic it all is, the self-titled "Greek Goddess" is openly flaunting a belief system that was a laughing stock by the 80s and killed many people since - NewAge - but not one journalist has directly asked her "NewAge? Really? Astrology and homeopathy? Come on. Why should we take anything you say seriously?" Let a politician make a gaffe and he might lose his job, let Arianna Huffington make a series of them (while peddling NewAge quackery that's killed kids) and she gets a raise.
That's why she's successful. Mark our words:
Arianna Huffington's role in American life will eventually go down as a shame of the nation.
We talked about all this years ago - British royalty and politicians having their toenails analyzed, to predict the future, being the worst of it - but The Daily Mail has some new stuff from Alastair Campbell's book, on the hideous beast above, so here it is:
Tony Blair allowed his wife Cherie to wear a pendant to ‘ward off evil spirits’ because she needed to be ‘slightly mad’ to cope with life at No 10.
The revelation comes in the latest installment of diaries by Mr Blair’s former spin chief Alastair Campbell.
In the volume, which covers the first two years of Mr Blair’s premiership and will be published later this month, Mr Campbell tells how he warned the ex-prime minister about Cherie’s ‘madder stuff’, such as her support for alternative therapies.
In a section on Cherie, Mr Campbell discussed a report in a newspaper about a ‘bioelectric shield’ pendant ‘that was supposed to ward off evil spirits and harmful rays’ she had been pictured wearing.
He writes: ‘I said to Fiona (Millar, Campbell’s partner and an adviser to Cherie), she had to get a hold of all this madder stuff but she said Cherie never raised it with her because she knew she would disapprove.’
Mr Campbell also discussed Cherie’s interest in alternative therapies with her husband.
‘TB said they had to be slightly mad to cope,’ he wrote.
‘He was very sympathetic to Cherie doing this alternative b******s because of he thought it was her way of coping.’
In December 1998, as he was poised to order a bombing of Iraq – four-and-a-half years before the full-scale invasion – Mr Campbell’s diaries reveal how Mr Blair relied on his Christianity to help him decide what to do.
‘TB was clearly having a bit of a wobble. He said he had been reading the Bible last night, as he often did when the really big decisions were on, and he had read something about John the Baptist and Herod which had caused him to rethink, albeit not change his mind.’
Except that Cherie got the pendant from Hillary Clinton - now our Secretary of State - and (for the billionth time) Republicans should use this knowledge, we have nothing more to add but "AAARRRGGGUUUHHH!!!!"
"What are we to make of a world where our political leaders make obeisance to the New Age guru? For some time now political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have shown a proclivity for embracing the guidance of mystics. It is well known that former US President Ronald Reagan relied on an astrologer to draw up horoscopes to guide his diplomacy. For example, before the 1985 Geneva summit the astrologer Joan Quigley was asked to study the ‘star charts’ of Gorbachev in order to anticipate his likely behaviour. Apparently, she also determined the exact time at which Reagan had to sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty in December 1987. The Clinton White House preferred more psychologically oriented superstition. Bill Clinton has frequently consulted self-help gurus to help him find his way and Hillary frequently hooked up with Jean Houston — who describes herself as a sacred psychologist — and other psychic mentors.
‘New Labour, Old Superstition’ is the slogan that best describes the lifestyle of the Blairs. Although there is as yet no lifestyle guru in the Cabinet, the influence of superstition is ubiquitous. Tony and Cherie Blair’s Mayan rebirthing ritual during a holiday in Mexico in 2001 represents a statement about contemporary authority. As they smeared watermelon and papaya over each other in a perfumed mud bath, possibly a new policy initiative was born. Maybe it was this experience that encouraged the government to recruit a feng shui consultant to advise the NHS. When the Prime Minister and his family employ someone to tell them how to dress, exercise, relax and eat, what we witness is the emergence of a new form of authority.
Through their behaviour and practices, public figures and the cultural elite have served to legitimise the status of the life expert. This development has been amplified through the activities of the media. It has contributed to the normalisation of makeover and celebrity culture. That is why, increasingly, the authority of the lifestyle guru and celebrity assumes importance in public life. Back in January, Cherie Blair’s former lifestyle guru Carole Caplin took it upon herself to urge the public not to vote for Labour unless it withdrew proposals to ban vitamin and food supplements. A few months later, Jamie Oliver succeeded in transforming the traditionally disgraceful school dinner into a major election issue. This intervention was followed by the spectacle of the Gleneagles summit during which the leaders of the world were told off for being naughty as they sat at the feet of former pop brat Sir Bob Geldof.
While it is unlikely that lifestyle and celebrity gurus will make poverty history, they have proved effective in marginalising critical thinking, rationality and moral literacy. When in the middle of a general election campaign the nation forgets that there is a war going on or that public services are in a state of disarray, and engages instead in a conversation with a celebrity chef, then something has clearly gone wrong."
-- Frank Furedi, "The Age of Unreason", November 18th, 2005, in The Spectator.
"The Obama administration interpreted the political climate in an entirely different way. As John F. Harris and Carol E. Lee wrote in a smart piece in Politico on Wednesday, the administration interpreted the 2008 election as a rejection of not only George W. Bush-style conservatism, but also Bill Clinton-style moderation. The country was ready for a New Deal-size change. It had a leader in Barack Obama who could uniquely inspire a national transformation.
As happens every four years, hubris defeated caution, and the administration began its big-bang approach.
As always, it backfired. Instead of building trust in government, the Democrats have magnified distrust. The country already believed Washington is out of touch with its core concerns. So while most families were concerned about jobs, Democrats in Washington spent nine months arguing about health care. The country was already tired of self-serving back-room deals, so the Democrats negotiated a series of dirty deals with the pharmaceutical industry, the unions and certain senators. Americans already felt Washington doesn’t understand their fears and insecurities. So at the moment when economic insecurity was at its peak, the Democrats in Washington added another layer of insecurity by threatening to change everything at once.
Instead of building a new majority, the Democrats have set off a distrust insurrection (which is not the same as a conservative insurrection). Republicans are enraged. Independents are furious. Democrats are disheartened. Health care reform is brutally unpopular. Even voters in Massachusetts decided it was time to send a message."
-- David Brooks, "Politics in the Age of Distrust", January 21, 2010, in The New york Times.
"We've got a bunch of NewAgers in there,...and if we don't understand who these people are, we're never going to defeat them."
"As I come to the end of my life, there are four times as many registered astrologers in the United States as there are physicists and chemists. Four times as many. The wife of our sometime Prime Minister wears an amulet against 'space rays.' There is not a corner of our lives now that is not invented, invited, invaded by idiocy of irrational superstition, [such as] people who pay vast sums to have some fake Oriental arrange their furniture. Vast sums! The whole New Age -- this is a charlatan's age like never before. It makes the Middle Ages seem scientific in many ways. And all around me, in people I deeply respect, you scratch the surface and there is a frightened, profoundly superstitious person doing hidden gymnastics of the non-mind, in a way, trying to plan their fate, trying to escape from reality. And it frightens me a great deal, because reason is very fragile."
-- George Steiner, saying what so many wannabe super cool and with-it superstitious cowards (including politicians, celebrities, and so-called doctors and scientists) can't admit as we mysteriously go broke ("Vast sums!") and they continue to pay lip service to Burning Man or The Goddess or whatever, as members of the incredibly stupid Mystic Bourgeoisie.
"Mr Blair says he did not convert [to Roman Catholicism] in office because,...he feared talking about his religious beliefs would lead to people dismissing him as a ‘nutter’."
-- Simon Walters, who claims Tony Blair's sad clown of a wife, Cherie, is a devout Catholic as well, though - between the two of them - Cherie (who has been called crazy - and worse) and Tony have engaged in almost every bizarre NewAge behavior known to mankind, which has all been followed "religiously", here, and by The Daily Mail.
If it wasn't so sick it would be enough to make even me laugh:
Hillary Clinton has admitted she's been over-staying her welcome in the Democratic primary race because - you never know - somebody might kill Barack Obama! Say "goodnight," Gracie, the party's (finally) over.
"The term New Age (sometimes called the New Age Movement), refers to both a decentralized social phenomenon and a western socio-religious movement which developed in the 1970-80s. It combines aspects of spirituality, esotericism, complementary and alternative medicine, and includes religious practices from many sources across the world, as well as environmentalism. It is characterized by an eclectic and individual approach to spirituality, and a general rejection of dogma. Other terms used to describe the movement include Self-spirituality, New spirituality, and Mind-body-spirit."
I've been studying NewAge for just a few years now. But, even after all this time, I still don't "get" how so many confused cowards can be filled with such burning ambition - an ambition to control the rest of us. They have to know the darkness that's entwined with their beliefs. They just have to - it's simply impossible to miss it. Especially because it keeps blurting out in such unusual ways.
Any normal person - I'll use myself as an example (heh-heh) - is well aware of "the evil that lurks in the hearts of men" (as they used to say on The Shadow) we joke about it with friends, and write books, or movies, or songs, about all the thoughts that we have no ambition or desire to ever carry out or see happen. But NewAgers? Those idiots deny such things ever occur to them. No, they're just fountains of peace and light, always attempting to shame the rest of us with their piety.
Meanwhile, of course, they're scamming people with Homeopathy, talking people out of taking their cancer medications, convincing people of "chakras," scaring almost everyone batshit crazy with their end-of-the-world notions, screwing their Buddhist and meditation students, ignoring the social boundaries within communities and families, and, clearly, wishing some (black) folks dead. I tell you, it's one hell of a belief system: they're our last Rebels Without Cause.
Anyone that reads this blog could've seen this coming. I've been writing about the Clinton's NewAge beliefs, lack of integrity, and racist blunders, since I started this thing. I even did a post on the Clintons called "Somebody's Gonna Get Whacked," so - if you've really investigated this site - there's no way you couldn't have missed their train of thought - or the eventual disaster that was on the way. It's been steaming right at us all along. Everyone already sees it, but they just don't mention it much, for some reason that's totally unknown to me.
My only question (which I asked repeatedly) is when is journalism going to start dissecting it themselves. Not just in the Clintons but in the others that believe such things too: Louise Hay, Oprah Winfrey, Ken Wilber, Sheryl Crowe, Madonna, Rhonda Byrne, Deepak Chopra, Cherie Blair, Jane Fonda - they've all said, and promoted, similarly outlandish things, that should give everyone pause. But - simply because they're rich and/or well-known - reporters have looked the other way, or made silly excuses for them, when there's no excuse in the world good enough for all the nonsense, and mayhem, they've unleashed just behind the curtain of their fame. What did David Bowie and John Lennon say about fame?:
"Makes a man take things over / makes him loose and hard to swallow / puts you there where things are hollow."
Tell me that doesn't describe, perfectly, the NewAge cultists who are parading regularly across our TV screens, admonishing us to join in their spiritual bandwagon. Oh, they know so much better than us how to save the planet, as they hypocritically do the opposite of everything they say. Why a paper like the New York Times will write about them (and even give them a special Self-Help book section) - but won't seriously investigate them - is the most vexing question I've encountered since I started my research on the matter. I've always thought that was exactly what newspapers were for.
Well, pretend to be shocked if you guys want, because I'm not. The cognitive dissonance of NewAge thinking will repeatedly make this happen. It'll hit Barack Obama too - again - because he's just as mixed up in this mess as Hillary.
Oprah's standing just off stage, with Eckhart Tolle, Rhonda Byrne, Marianne Williamson, and more, just as Bill and Hillary have Jean Houston and Ken Wilber, and MoveOn.org has their astrologers, and "Hollyweird" has Scientology, and there's the reach of the Landmark Forum, and so on.
It's really long past time for America to start dismantling the whole ugly occult regime before we all find out what else they have in store for us. I know - some people will call it a witch hunt - but, truth be told, they've been casting a spell, over far too many, for a long, long, time.
And now that, once again, we can see just how dark things can get, isn't it about time we "cast them all out" before they can carry on with their plans - to do us all in?
"Your conflicting thoughts remind me of a delightful agnostic lady I know (who shall, for chivalry's sake not be named!). Even in the throes of passion, she finds herself screaming, "Oh, God!" yet sometimes claims she is tempted to qualify the statement with 'if there is one.'"
-- Ron Kaye, the supremely hypocritical (and angrily arrogant) Buddhist - known as "Rev Ron" - who is partners with Whirled Musings' equally-hypocritical "Cosmic" Connie Schmidt (how can she put down spiritual "hustledorks" when she lives with - and, apparently, does other assorted things - with one?) laying down comment number 69 on Steve Salerno's SHAMblog.
I shit you not - comment #69 - I couldn't make that shit up if I tried.
"Cherie tells in eye-popping detail about how she and Tony consummated their relationship after a first date that began with drunken flirtation - 'I could feel a blush rise up from some uncharted part of me' - and moved on to seedy fumblings on the top deck of a bus, en route to bed.
"It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. .. by the time we got off we knew each other better than when we'd got on. And even better the next morning."
I hope she remembered her 'contraceptive equipment'.
Seedy? You bet. But then what should we expect of a woman who, when asked by Princess Margaret to explain what the gay minister Chris Smith's partner 'was for', replied 'for sex, Ma'am?'
It's as if Cherie has some warped fixation on biological matters."
-- Amanda Platell, commenting on Cherie Blair's new tell-all (but not quite "all") and proving there are more similarities between Buddhists and NewAgers than some want to admit, in The Daily Mail
"Half a century ago Crawfie, the Queen's nanny, shocked the nation by penning a Buckingham Palace memoir.
[Cherie Blair's] tale reads like Crawfie with added contraceptives.
Her enemies will exult.
If I was one of the Blair children, I would not think much of the book.
Their mother presents herself pretty much as most of us imagined her — a "me" person with bells on, obsessed with self-fulfilment, oblivious of the impact of her words and actions upon others."
-- Max Hastings, columnist, reviewing NewAger Cherie Blair's memoirs for The Daily Mail
I've spent a lot of years explaining politics to my friends. Being the only one who served in the military, I was also the only one who really seemed to care about what happened in Washington. And I was usually right in my assessments. The only big "wrong call" I can remember was when the Democrats took both houses of Congress. (I expected one, after the Mark Foley mess, but certainly not both of them. Oh well.) I like following politics - really like it - more than most "underground" musicians, so I "pick and stick" with my various stories and watch how they play out.
Now that I've added cultism to the mix, I still do the same thing: follow the stories. To many of my friends, now that I'm divorced from my new age ex, this seems strange or, at least, obsessive. But, to me, it's just a continuum of what I've always done - with the added weirdness of her cultish-thinking thrown into the mix. I feel my ex would be proud. Lord knows, I didn't pay attention to it when I was married to her, no matter how hard she tried to manipulate me.
I mention all this because I was reading about a survey on news; comparing the mainstream media's interests against what stories are followed on client-controled sites like Digg.com, where pieces come up, all higgly-piggly, only to vanish when some new faddish thing appears. What got my attention was when the authors of the survey story, reflecting on the Digg phenomenon, wondered, "What's going to happen to investigative journalism?" And I didn't have an answer.
Indeed, what IS going to happen to the news? Most Americans are pretty flighty when it comes to our information. Today, the story might be Iraq, and tomorrow Britney. The idea that the public should actually be following any one, or two, story lines seems almost "alien" to most people. But that's exactly what they should be doing. Let me show you why:
Remember 2005's South Park/Scientology episode, Trapped In The Closet? It was a hell of a conversation starter for a while, right? We learned that Scientologists believed in aliens, they had Issac Hayes's mind, and all that. (There was also talk of them being tied to PBS, and Satan, but nobody seriously believes the Satan part. PBS? Sure. You ever watched PBS?) Well, anyway, the question is, what have the Scientologists been up to since South Park? Do you know? Surely they didn't get all embarrassed and just go away, right? No way, Jose! They've been busy little perfect alien-worshipping weirdos, doing their e-meter thing, and continuing to try and to take over the world.
And who could forget the deaths of artists Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan? Two high-flying, beautiful, creative-types - who everyone called "brilliant" - until they started telling their friends the Scientologists were after them. Now they're dead and being dissed, by the likes of Malcolm McLaren, which I guess means they'll just end up being two more notches on that long-assed Scientology Death Belt Tom Cruise must wear to bed at night.
John Travolta led a campaign against the BBC, after the Scientologists almost drove one of their reporters crazy (above). This was part of their European Offensive which got very little coverage here in the States. Seriously, it should have gotten more because there's some weird and meaty stuff to it. Like this:
That's Richard Armitage's scheduling calendar, above. You remember Richard Armitage, don't you? The man who admitted revealing Valerie Plame's name to Bob Woodward, while the very-astute Democratic political watchers were busy doing their civic duty of standing up for justice - and blaming Lewis "Scooter" Libby for it? (Good job, Guys: You really know politics,...and fairness.) Anyway, as you can see from the circled appointment, it seems that Ol' Rich was also talking to - who else? - Tom Cruise. Tom wanted to talk about getting the German's to back off his cult and he wanted the American government's help. (As much as Scooter seemed to love Tom Cruise, Orb #1 didn't seem to get too far with him.) Mr. Armitage - who appears to be, how shall I say it? "Ethically challenged" - used to be the head of the State Dept. And what do we have, now, but *new news* that the State Dept. is breathing down Germany's neck on behalf of Scientology - where Tom Cruise is currently shooting a movie. Coincidence? You decide. Something tells me, if the Democrats would've been all fired up about putting Richard Armitage in jail for revealing Valery Plame's name - because that's what he said he did - Tom Cruise wouldn't have gotten anywhere with Washington and the Germans wouldn't be upset. But that's just stupid Ol' Republican cult-watching me.
People (normal people, anyway) might be surprised that Scientology can get as high up as the State Dept., but these guys are everywhere now. They staged an exhibit in the Columbia, Missouri Capital Rotunda. Tony Blair (whose wife, Cherie, is a total new wage fruitcake) gave them the high sign. Even that bogus assshole, Uri Gellar - the guy James Randi busted on The Tonight Show With Johnnie Carson (above) - has been defending Scientology. But - hey - that figures.
If reports are true, Scientology has gone after paedophiles and killers, New York City Firefighters (who ought to know better) and, recently, Denny Fridkin (drummer for the rock group, People!) told how his whole band got sucked into it. And all this without nary a peep of opposition from anyone - especially any stupid investigative journalism arm of the media. Just little Ol' me. All by myself.
