How Badly Are The Democrats Lying To You - To Maintain Their Left-Wing Bias?

 

“I love it when I hear, ‘Oh there weren’t any chemical weapons in Iraq. There were plenty.” 

- Jarrod L. Taylor, a former Army sergeant, in 2014's New York Times article, The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons

Black Man Explains Why A White Religion - Supporting The Institution Of Slavery - Was Stupid, Silly, And Wrong

It's sad to watch this intelligent man have to explain this nonsense away, still, in 2014:

"You know, one of the signs that the second coming, is that the stars will fall out of the sky and land on Earth. To even write that means you don’t know what those things are. You have no concept of what the actual universe is. So everybody who tried to make proclamations about the physical universe based on Bible passages got the wrong answer."

Falling stars.

And they made much worse calls than that,…

 

If We Didn't Start Right How Do We Get Right?

Into the Fire examines the most tumultuous and consequential period in African American history: the Civil War and the end of slavery, and Reconstruction’s thrilling but tragically brief “moment in the sun.” From the beginning, African Americans were agents of their own liberation, forcing the Union to confront the issue of slavery by fleeing the plantations and taking up arms to serve as soldiers in the United States Colored Troops. After Emancipation, African Americans sought to realize the promise of freedom—rebuilding families shattered by slavery; demanding economic, political and civil rights; even winning elected office. Just a few years later, however,  a swift and vicious campaign of terror in the South restored white supremacy and rolled back rights for African Americans. Yet the achievements of Reconstruction would remain very much alive in the collective memory of the African American community.

Proudly Being A Witch Never Made Much Sense To Me

MS. LOUISE HAY (Self-Help Movement Founder):

"Happiness is choosing thoughts that make you feel good. It's really very simple."

I understand I'm probably not getting the most out of life right now, being exposed to those who don't take seriously the harm NewAge does to me and others, but - until they do - I can't think of much that's more important to pursue. To me, real people are getting hurt badly, right under our noses, when it could be stopped. Horrible crimes. But few others want to stop them, and - if nothing else - that fact's fascinating to me.

"It was an hour into the self-help session when the girl began sobbing uncontrollably. For Ali Campbell, the celebrity life coach, it was just another example of the potency of his ‘being true to yourself’ workshops. 

But for Michael Le Vell, it was the beginning of two years that threatened to rob him of his career, his family and his sanity. 

Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal the moment that led to  the Coronation Street actor being falsely accused of raping a child – and to the life coach being questioned by police. 

It took place at the so-called ‘Glastonbury of the self-help world’, an annual conference called I Can Do It! A two-day festival of self-development, it was set up by Louise Hay, an 86-year-old American whose controversial brand of positive thinking has earned her millions of followers around the world."

Part of the issue is, today, there's no escaping it. Another - watching where the money goes - is such a potent symbol of why we've so quickly become a basket case of a country. 

Here's where a huge chunk of our change goes:

"Though you may not know it, you live in Louise Hay’s world. Are you a black man who thinks psychics are nonsense but reads the affirmations of Tavis Smiley? Hay House has a special imprint just for Smiley. Are you a TV-loathing snob who occasionally condescends to watch PBS? The pledge-drive specials that Hay House has produced for Wayne (“Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling”) Dyer have helped raise more than $100 million for public television — they are one of PBS’s most-successful fund-raising tools."

Real people in the way, of this juggernaut of chaos, hardly stand a chance - because we're almost always alone and blind-sided:

"For Michael Le Vell, it was the beginning of two years that threatened to rob him of his career, his family and his sanity."

Meanwhile, the Boomers, etc., chant the NewAge phrase, "move on" to unburden themselves.

But also as a necessary rear-guard action.

What's done is done - and everybody will know them for who they are and what they've done.

It only follows, you know, they're expecting a reply,...

 

How American Life Most Resembles A Country Song,...

Watch Two American Families on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

I'm laying here, it's been almost a month now, wondering what the next move is. I'm off the drugs, so I'm clear-eyed, but in pain. Can't work. Can't afford physical therapy. Haven't paid the rent. Medical bills up the ying-yang. Truck broke down. And now I'm moving into using what little credit I have. 

It all happened in a month. 

 Incredible,...

 

Copyright Criminals (Or How Creativity Made Outlaws)

 

My friend, ndspinelli, mentioned he was soon going to see the great Clyde Stubblefield (from James Brown's band) and that reminded me I'd never posted this PBS program on the current ins and outs of sampling law - a major obstacle for recording artists today, myself included. 

Along with Mr. Stubblefield, it includes many of the biggest names in music criticism (Greg Tate, Harry Allen) label heads (the sour Steve Albini) lawyers, many of the artists and producers I've featured on TMR (George Clinton, DJ Q-Bert, De La Soul, Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad, Coldcut, Prefuse 73, Negativland, etc.) friends of mine (Shock G) all providing a nice over-view of opinions on how the art of recording is done, post-Sgt. Pepper's. I've used them all. 

Dealing with these issues (and how to get around them) is mostly how I spend my free time:

And I'm not ashamed to say, I've been away from it now for almost a month, and it's killing me,...

ADDED - a nice mash-up by the video editors Eclectic Method:

   

Out-Fucking-Standing (Bad Lip Reading And The Swirl)

You might have noticed there's this cult-inspired "snapping" process I'm into, which I planned on writing about - I call it "The Swirl" - that consists of nonsensically mixing up fact and fiction to reveal "spiritual" insights, and initiate behaviors, of another order. Like, hopefully, getting the reader to A) shake their head so violently as to put the correct facts in order and B) question the sanity of the speaker, so they're prepared to recognize and confront insanity when they see it presented elsewhere. This Bad Lip-Reading clip is a great visualization of the technique. It's all here:

These very-popular political losers - think about how that could be for a second - babbling incoherently before us, lost in a sea of NewAge hooey ("Ommmm") that passes, in many circles, for profound wisdom. Politics, even.

I couldn't have done it better myself. Actually, I'm rarely this good at it, because - not being "metaphysical" - there's a level of artful transcendence here, that raises the bar considerably, taking us on a head-spinning WTF? plain that's only been matched (as far as I can remember) whenever Ann Althouse attempted to explain her original vote for Obama.

Anyway, it's brilliant stuff - and brilliantly silly. Try it with a shot of whiskey or something. 

Here's your Quote Of The Day:

“Conventional wisdom in Republican circles was that Romney was the best candidate. In hindsight, he may have been the worst choice.”

Yeah - and the fact so few could see it, beforehand, speaks volumes,...

 

It's A Mantra I Hear Daily: "Nothing Can Happen In Utah"

Here we go - Mitt Romney has spoken, and America's about to become, both, a warzone AND the cultural wasteland that is UTAH:

“There are programs I would eliminate. Obamacare being one of them but also various subsidy programs -- the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to standon their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf. …

The National Endowment for the Arts? Oh boy - forget the Middle East: 

 There's some shit-kicking coming here now,...

 

Blogger Just Slapped TMR With A Warning Label (When It's The Safe Bets Who Are Dangerous)

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Yes, yes, yes - I'm going to get to the cult article (I've been meeting with my "presidential advisors" over chicken wings) - but I have to deal with this issue:

First, Jon Meacham is a chump, so who gives a fuck what he thinks ("I don't know about you but, after 200 years, I'm willing to roll the dice on a Prussian takeover")? Has this man been paying attention to what's been happening in this country? The whole point of the Tea Party is that we've been getting too far away from what the Founders intended, not that we need to find new ways to stretch the distance further.

Even worse, though, is Hot Air's Allahpundit agreeing with him. Allah says:

I agree with him about the natural-born requirement, incidentally: It’s one of the most antiquated and unnecessary parts of the Constitution, especially in light of the original intent he describes.

To which I say, after 200 years, FUCK THE ORIGINAL INTENT HE DESCRIBES! He's a chump! Here's a simple fucking concept I'm describing - this is "our" country - and one of the checks in place to make sure that's so is the president must be a born-and-raised American.

I've pointed out before that it was living in France that sparked my conservatism. Listening to the frogs discuss the United States, and knowing they didn't understand the first thing about it, could only have happened because I did understand it - inside and out - the vitals of this country being in the marrow of my bones. Whether Barack Obama was born in Hawaii or not, if there's one thing the other citizens of this country see, it's the threat of someone in the highest office in the land who can't say that - and these putzs want to make it possible for the situation to be worse? (Isn't it bad enough "The Situation" has a shot under the present arrangement?) These people talk madness.

I was just reading The New York Times's article on our local internet brain trust and - while I know they're all fine individuals - I'm sorry but they're elites and (like many others who rule the roost of blogging) are not the kind of thinkers I want to see making the big decisions for the rest of us, because - honestly - they're NOT the rest of us! They're every Human Resources Dept. I've ever had to engage with and, frankly, I feel like I'm surrounded by too many so-called "smart" people who get The Big Questions dead wrong. (For instance, Ann Althouse voted for Barack Obama and Glenn Reynolds supported Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. 'Nuff said.) Now, I guess, I'll have to add Allahpundit to the list as well.

And that's a shame, because it's a pathetically lonnng fucking list already.

Jon Stewart Has His Fun: "I Don't Want To Live In A World Where Charles Manson Says What Our Children Can Watch On Television" (Cute)

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I'm going to update this with text, in a bit, so check back for that. This is funny stuff, but should hardly be the last word on Glenn Beck, conspiracy theories, and how secularists should approach what seem like some of the "out there" investigations going on in this country, such as Beck's. (Remember: he's a Mormon, while I'm an atheist.) For now, I'll just say I think people need to remember The Daily Show is a comedy program, and that's enough reason to trust what they say less than anything FOX News's resident bible-thumper did:

Beck, as a believer, has to say what he thinks is the truth. Jon Stewart, as a comic, just has to make you laugh.

I'll be back - and thanks for the donations. You've saved my ass again.

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

UPDATE: So, while Jon Stewart is going on and on about everything that's easy to mock about Beck, he's conspicuously, and conveniently, leaving out the White House scalps Beck collected, and the level of political interest he inspired. He's also leaving out the fact that, though The Glenn Beck Program won't be on FOX, Glenn Beck will, in some capacity, so - along with his excellent radio broadcast - liberals will continue to be stuck with him, whether they like it or not. My take:

Liberal applause, now, many be somewhat warranted, but, to me, it still seems waaay premature.

The Daily Show - Barack Obamayan
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

And finally, as an atheist who gets deep into religion and spirituality, it seems disingenuous for Jon Stewart to knock Glenn Beck for his Book of Revelations nonsense by twisting it up with 2012 and the Mayan calendar, when Stewart has to know Beck is a conservative Mormon - commenting on that Leftist spirituality nonsense. All it makes me wonder is why Jon Stewart never says anything about, say, Louise Hay's influence on PBS? Actually, I don't have to wonder why, because the answer is obvious:

PBS is for and of the Left, so they can spout all the NewAge nonsense they want, and Stewart won't say a word about how crazy they appear.

But that's fine - as I said, the man's a professional clown, and his mandate is to make us laugh - so, as long as he's being funny and Beck & Co. are kicking his and the Left's NewAge ass, we should occasionally be able to give Stewart a pass because, in the larger scheme of things, the joke is definitely on him.

Which is yet another topic he'll never discuss on The Daily Show.

Andrew Klavan: On The Sesame Street Of Hate

If I Can't Trust FRONTLINE Who Can I Trust?

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Right now the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is scared because, along with their divisions PBS and NPR, they know they're being shown the door. The main reason it's happening is an end to government waste, but along with that is conservative's burning hatred for the liberalism they've been expected to subsidize.

I know this hatred well. For me it's mostly directed at their Louise Hay-produced NewAge programming during pledge drives, but, for instance, also for the way Garrison Keillor, for no apparent or damned good reason, would destroy the pure Americana of A Prairie Home Companion buy interjecting ugly partisan jabs at conservatives during the broadcast.

I just stopped listening.

Various figures associated with the CPB claim they're non-partisan, but, as a longtime listener/viewer I don't buy it. They can't help themselves. For instance, I remember the episode of FRONTLINE, above, bothered me greatly. It bothered me because I thought, at the time, it was unfair. I haven't re-watched it, but here are a few thoughts I can remember flashing through my mind, and one that occurs considering more recent developments:

If Vice-President Cheney was "restoring" presidential power to the what the framers intended, why are his efforts portrayed as "enhancing" - as though President Bush was getting something more than the framers intended?

If Cheney's lawyer, David Addington, had "experience in all of the matters", as well as "very well grounded views", why are he and Cheney's efforts treated as suspect in this episode? Why the ominous music for "very well grounded views"?

Why is restoring the executive called "extraordinary"?

Now that President Obama has signed on for military tribunals and the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in hindsight, is the portrayal here fair to the Bush administration? And if not, then why not, if FRONTLINE is considered the gold standard of investigative programs in America?

Here's an episode on "alternative" medicine (unfortunately, I can't embed it in the post). Since I know there aren't two sides to this story, why - except for something like Louise Hay's money - does FRONTLINE present it as though there were?

Louise Hay: The Queen Of The NewAge & NPR

Looking for more information about the fall of NPR, I ran across this question in The New Yorker:

The focus of many conversations has been on how to free NPR of federal funding, so it can avoid this kind of circus in the future. But to serve the public, a news organization must be insulated from the will of its donors—individuals, foundations, corporations. Seeing this video of Ron Schiller disturbs me, but maybe not as much as imagining other meals with other prospective donors. What do they think they’re getting for their contributions?

That's easy to answer since, long ago, I did a few posts on Louise Hay - the so-called "Queen of the NewAge".

Hay is one of The Secret's crew of "Law of Attraction" phonies (collected by Rhonda Byrne and promoted by Oprah) along with this now-infamous "sweat lodge" favorite:

By the way, now that a light's on him, James Arthur Ray is looking more like this these days:

Which is what all NewAge cons look like when you truly "see" them.

Anyway, the first post I did on Hay reminded us:

"Though you may not know it, you live in Louise Hay’s world. Are you a black man who thinks psychics are nonsense but reads the affirmations of Tavis Smiley? Hay House has a special imprint just for Smiley. Are you a TV-loathing snob who occasionally condescends to watch PBS? The pledge-drive specials that Hay House has produced for Wayne (“Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling”) Dyer have helped raise more than $100 million for public television — they are one of PBS’s most-successful fund-raising tools."

NPR's Muslim Brotherhood connection becomes more understandable when you see the second post we did on Hay, because this producer for PBS programming admitted to thinking the Jews brought the Holocaust on themselves, and it was also revealed her publishing arm, Hay House, "was not, in the beginning, very well run, the staff was a cult,..."

I knew, one day, that was going to come back to bite her and PBS (why it didn't when it was first revealed will have to be left for another day,...)

Now, of course, I can hear you saying, "But Crack (and then thinking, "Butt Crack") that's PBS and this sting is on NPR."

I'll remind you that, as you can see in the first example (with Smiley above) something else Louise Hay got for her donations and participation with PBS was influence over what they covered - resulting in a three-night program like "PBS Tackles Happiness In 'This Emotional Life'" - as well as insertion in those programs, and their promotional spots, on NPR. Think about that:

An acknowledged NewAge cult leader getting airtime on government paid-for broadcasting.

Unfortunately, except for name recognition and promotion, it didn't seem to do her much good in certain quarters. Here's a conversation between Daniel Gilbert, the host of PBS' "This Emotional Life", and NPR host Madeleine Brand:

BRAND: You also delve into the multibillion-dollar self-help industry, and you interview a woman who is the - I guess the dean of it. Her name is Louise Hay, and this is what she says is the secret to happiness.

Ms. LOUISE HAY (Self-help movement founder): Happiness is choosing thoughts that make you feel good. It's really very simple.

BRAND: What is your response to that?

Mr. GILBERT: Well, I agree with her that happiness has something to do with choosing thoughts that make you feel good. I don't agree it's very simple. Long before Louise Hay, this is the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy, the most widely practiced kind of psychotherapy, that if we can change our thoughts, change our cognition, then we can also change the way we feel about the world.

I had to part company with Louise Hay, though, because she has more extreme beliefs than I do. She believes, for example, that we can cure illnesses like cancer, AIDS, leprosy, simply by changing the thoughts we think. And I don't see any evidence whatsoever for that. When I asked her about how she felt about the scientific evidence, she said she didn't think that much of science. So we have to part ways there, too.

BRAND: Um-hum.

Um-hum. But that, plus a background in NewAge cultism - and the stench of death from all the AIDS patients she gave wrong-headed information to - was never enough for PBS, or NPR, to get away from Hay. A cult leader. A NewAge fruitcake. She blames the Jews for being murdered. She oversaw the deaths of AIDS and cancer patients as she gave them bogus information. She doesn't "think that much of science".

Oh, what an important void PBS and NPR filled for the American public with this woman's input, huh?

Well, once they lose public funding, they're going to need her more than ever.

One Way Or Another (They're Sure To Get You)

We keep trying to tell the public that NewAge isn't just about people who join cults, but the effect and influence cults have in and on society. How that works eludes most people, since they think of themselves as too smart to be caught up in anything cultish, but that's a silly belief:

Do we understand how the advertising industry seeks to manipulate our emotions and decisions? Do our children? I'm not blaming the industry - that's its job. But as parents, it's great to know a little more about what we are dealing with.

The fascinating special "The Persuaders," a PBS "Frontline" show, looked at how advertising radically changed toward the end of the last century. It debuted in 2004, but its message fully resonates today. You can find it online.

Advertising executive Douglas Atkin explained that it used to be a brand manager who oversaw developing a product, its packaging and so on. Ads demonstrated that one detergent got clothes whiter than another. But now all detergents get clothes clean. So what to do?

"Emotional branding." In the early 1990s, there was a shift to the "pseudo-spiritual," one expert explained. Creating a sense that the product was about "a way of life."

Atkin said that the brand manager and the advertising agency now have a new calling - to "create and maintain a whole meaning system for people through which they get identity and understanding of the world." Think Benetton, Starbucks, Nike or Apple products. Atkin said he started hearing people in industry focus groups talk about products in a way that sounded cultish. He got the brainstorm to actually study cults to better understand what made advertising effective.

In a fascinating segment of the program, we go back and forth between groups of devotees of various cults and various products. The rapturous, evangelical language is indistinguishable. What did the groups of Mac users and Falun Gong have in common? The same core desires. They "need to belong and want to make meaning" of their lives, said Atkin. Wow.

Another advertising guru, Kevin Roberts, is revered because, as he put it, he understands how to turn an outstanding brand into an "object of devotion" leading to "loyalty beyond reason."

Again, wow.

So cultish thinking is being used on you - you're even used to it by now. And it doesn't stop at advertising. Consider this bit of information about Scientology:

Using Scientology’s own internal documents—many of which, penned by Hubbard and considered sacred, cannot be altered and must be followed to the letter—Young shows that Scientology has a rigid, paramilitary chain of command. Even non-religious entities that market themselves to the public as having no obvious tie to Scientology fall under the strict rubric. The Way to Happiness Foundation and Applied Scholastics, for example, are two organizations that market non-religious Hubbard writings to school districts and avoid mentioning a tie to Scientology. Narconon and Criminon, meanwhile, try to convince prison officials that they are effective methods for turning inmates from drugs and crime. “To the non-Scientology world,” Young writes, “they will say they are not Scientology and try to appear secular.” But internal documents, he shows, are explicit that these organizations fall under the command of the Scientology’s hierarchy.

There's no escape, and cults have been attacking the psyche of the American public, in this covert or subversive way, for decades.

Here's another great quote that describes the situation, using the example of "The Queen of the New Age", cult leader Louise Hay:

Though you may not know it, you live in Louise Hay’s world. Are you a black man who thinks psychics are nonsense but reads the affirmations of Tavis Smiley? Hay House has a special imprint just for Smiley. Are you a TV-loathing snob who occasionally condescends to watch PBS? The pledge-drive specials that Hay House has produced for Wayne (“Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling”) Dyer have helped raise more than $100 million for public television — they are one of PBS’s most-successful fund-raising tools.

And cult leader, Dwight York, who was a popular songwriter had this to say about the deception:

"You were listening to my hits back in the 60’s and did not know it, nor did you know that songs which were considered ‘message music’ in the 70’s were written by me."

So right there, you've got cult influences on the rest of us through advertising, schools, government, publishing and television, and pop culture generally - all without anyone joining a cult of any kind.

And, if you ask us, that no one is alerting the public to how this has worked - or studying what effects it's had on our nation's decision making - is a crime of epic proportions.

We're Just Saving This To Rub It In Joe's Face

Jesus, some of the people who think they're worthy of being in front of us every morning, as though they're educating us, are about as dumb as they come. How these numbskulls can't see this particular assertion is going to backfire on them - BIG TIME - revealing them all to be fools, is amazing. It's already been proven wrong:



Oh well, we've got the tape. Now all we've got to do is wait,...

Getting A Whipping With The Transmission Belt

It looks like, thanks to Jared Lee Loughner, reality is finally descending on the "smart set" that, so far, ain't provin' to have been so smart:

If you've ever gone browsing in an occult bookstore (and you really should; it's like browsing in a science fiction bookstore, only the authors really believe the stories they're writing, or pretend to), you may have seen a shelf labeled "conspiracies" right alongside the sections marked "astrology" or "Tarot." People who write about fringe politics often miss the extent to which New Agers serve as a transmission belt, allowing ideas from the left, the right, and the counterculture -- not to mention more outré folks like the UFO buffs -- to slide from one subculture to another.

Not to mention the folks who make, and many who go to watch, movies like 2012. And the beliefs of Oprah. And don't forget the money funneled into PBS by Louise Hay's cult empire. The NewAge is all around us, and it's very happy few realize it's influence. Otherwise the public would be all over them for killing people. And nobody wants that, right?

Let's go ask Gabby Giffords how she feels about it,...