A Crippled Black Cat Crosses Our Sacred Path

Here's another post, real quick, to point out another aspect of NewAge in our lives - the homeopathic principal. Let's start, again, with Thomas Sowell:

"All the current political theater about 'international sanctions' is unlikely to make the slightest difference to Iran. Nor is the administration itself likely to expect it to. What then is its purpose? To fool the American people into thinking that they are doing something serious when all that they are doing is putting on a charade by lining up countries to agree to actions that they all know will not have any real effect."

Doesn't that sound familiar to "Here - drink this glass of water, America, in the total belief it'll cure your cancer"? Or, more to the point, how about this:

"NCCAM has spent $3.1 million supporting studies of Reiki, an 'energy healing' method. Not surprisingly, the $3.1 million has so far failed to produce any evidence that Reiki works. But because there was never any evidence in the first place, we should never have spent precious research dollars looking into it."

How many times are we going to keep doing things that are already acknowledged not to work? And how many more times will we run across articles, written by people who ought to know this shit doesn't work, asking - no: demanding - we do more shit that we already know doesn't work?

I say, as long as we have a NewAge based-culture, driving us insane.

Tell It Like It Is (If You Can Remember How It Is)

Isn't this brilliant? Right after I did a post calling North Korea's soccer coach the victim of a giant cult - and pointing out that no one in the delusional West seems to want to lift a finger to save him - The Wall Street Journal comes out with a lone editorial saying the world should do just that:

"A fortnight into the World Cup, the spoiled millionaires on the French team can return home to hear catcalls after their off-field meltdowns, and the Americans can take satisfaction in their dramatic last-minute win to move on in the tournament. The stakes are higher for North Korea's players, who must wonder if they're destined for the Gulag after their 7-0 loss to Portugal this week.

In a mini-profile in courage, Coach Kim took the flak for his squad. 'It was my fault for not playing the right strategy,' he said, promising 'to reach our objectives' against Ivory Coast today. He and his players may literally be playing for their lives. In the event of another defeat, we think all of North Korea's players and coaches deserve an offer of asylum from the rest of the world, because the Dear Leader doesn't take kindly to national humiliation."

I am convinced, in the near future, it will be seen as a mark of shame not to have actively been working against cults during the last decade, much in the same way answering the question, "What did you do during the war, daddy?" turned out to be a toughie for some during other times of crisis. Why? Because, as the WSJ editorial makes clear - even without mentioning cultism - they know what's going on:

Just as those who write about Oprah, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirsti Alley, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others, know what's going on in our country - they just don't have the balls to go there.

Speaking of telling the truth, my buddy, Thomas Sowell, writing about the General Stanley McChrystal flap, said:

"It is certainly not politic for a general or his staff to express their contempt for civilian authorities publicly. But what is far more important-- from the standpoint of national security-- is whether what those authorities have done deserves contempt.

My hope is that General McChrystal will write a book about his experiences in Afghanistan-- and in Washington. The public needs to know what is really going on, and they are not likely to get that information from politicians."

Or, I would add, from journalists or almost anybody else - that's why the job's left to bloggers. The John Edwards scandal made it clear - there are some subjects that are taboo to certain types and, come hell or high water, they won't go there - until it's obvious they have no choice. And what does Thomas Sowell think the answer is? A real man ("a soldier's soldier") like General McChrystal, finally stepping forward to spill the beans.

AKA The Macho Response.

I Tell You - For A Tin-Foil Hat - It Works Great

Wasn't it just a few days ago that I was pointing out how, at the bottom of too many Democratic scandals, you'll find an attraction to, or affiliation with, NewAge? No, actually, that's every day. Well, O.K., in light of that, I present what you should now consider Exhibit "B":

"Neighbors of the Portland massage therapist who has accused Al Gore of groping her said today that the woman is outgoing and known for striking up conversations. She loves birds and has a small dog, they said.

'She's a very spiritual person,' said Pepe Moscoso, an artist and photographer who lives in the same apartment complex in Southeast Portland. 'We'd talk about the Zodiac and other astrological things.'

He described her as 'a very honest person.'

She always talks to him and his wife when they're walking outside with their daughters. She told him and other neighbors that she was studying acupuncture."

Of course she was. In case you're a little late, you can smush everything else I've told you with John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, and call it Exhibit "A".

Liberal spirituality: Massage therapy. Astrology. Acupuncture. Yep, all the usual suspects.

I've broken their code.

And so I'm sure - 100% positive, actually - our massage "therapist" - like Al Gore, John Edwards, and Rielle Hunter before her - is "a very honest person." As only she (and others who "talk about the Zodiac and other astrological things") define it. Let the truth-telling begin.

This Is Actually An Add-Hominy *Grits* Attack

Remember back when France was yelling that America had to elect Barack Obama, or else we were racist?

I want you to remember it now. Because it wasn't so. France was being racist.

Suckers.

So what else can I point out, since I'm feeling all World-Cuppie today, that can top the very-unpeaceful NewAge spectacle of a French astrologist leading his team and his country to madness and ruin? Well, how about an entire country that's just one big cult? Where it's claimed the "Dear Leader" (this is my favorite) makes the sun rise. That's right: The One was going to "lower the oceans", but this motherfucker makes the sun rise. And, also unlike The Won, he runs a very tight operation:

"After the complete rout of North Korea by Portugal on Monday in their second match of the World Cup, some observers have seized on the opportunity to blame North Korean leader Kim Jong-il personally.



The license was provided by a claim by the team's coach Kim Jong-hun that the dictator 'gives regular tactical advice during matches using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye.' The coach added the fantasy device was invented by Kim Jong-il himself.



'Given the way the North Korean regime works, a football coach can't just mention Kim Jong-il's name and talk about him as he likes,' a South Korean official said. 'The invisible-mobile-phone part may be silly, but it's probably true that Kim Jong-il's orders are delivered to the coach.'"

Now that's hot. No, I'm serious, I'm getting off on it because,...it's hot:

The North Korean coach is speaking in code to the media.

That poor bastard might as well be blinking signals, or even holding up a big-assed sign saying "HELP ME", and all everybody does is stand around him, discussing how to interpret "the way the North Korean regime works". Didn't anybody hear? It works through invisible-mobile-phones.

Listen to me: North Korea works like homeopathy, alright? It works through invisible-motherfucking-mobile-phones. I'm pretty sure, if you had a talk right now with Kim Jong-il, he'd tell you the more invisible the phone the more powerful the signal. Shit, the coach got it. As he, too, led his team and his country to madness and ruin.

I think I'm in love with the whole idea of it.

Hey! James Cameron - definitely a NewAger - gave us his goofy, hectoring blue-peopled, got to "save the planet" movie, Avatar. I want you to remember that, too.

Suckers.

I can't help but dwell on the current popularity of Yoga (as exercise, mind you) without also thinking about the conmen and Nazis who were determined to bring it here.


With that background, is it any wonder that all the cool kids are the same people leading most of the wrong-headed - including anti-Semitic - movements today?

Like, maybe, they're getting more than just exercise from participation in those classes?

Like, maybe, a world-view is also being indoctrinated?

If it was, in this political environment today, no one would notice it, would they?



Nah - not in the currently idiotic political environment, that's for sure.

Nobody notices anything until it's too late.

Suckers.

Weekly Address: Jobs Creation from White House Weekly Address on Vimeo.

Hat Tip: Althouse

Experiencing A Musical Past Life Regression**

Alan Moore and Gorillaz (both known comic artists) had to stop on an Op before the scrilla got started:

"'It didn't work out, shall we say,' Moore told an audience at the University of Northampton (via io9). 'I met up with [Albarn and Hewitt], they were anxious that I should do something with them.' It seems Gorillaz first approached Moore in the hope the Watchmen creator would help with a 'superhero opera'. 'I said, "Well, I'm definitely not your man,"' Moore recalled. 'I don't want anything to do with those wretched creatures once again.'

But my friends in Fishbone (who also didn't make it) got a doc and some props for how we tried to take it:

"We were the most uncompromising people ever."

"Everyday Sunshine" (it's music to my ears) we were slaves to the waves that we made and hear:

"It was strangely beautiful and exciting to hear these noises for the first time from such a large and powerful source."

And I know Jack Dangers (where you don't know Jack) which is news you should use if you think you know Crack:

"The Meat Beat Manifesto album will have been finished for more than a year when it comes out in September. The lag is partly because Dangers is still in discussions with labels interested in releasing the physical product in different territories.

The JDs — who've shared the stage for live stints in mutual friend Mark Pistel's band, Pistel — started working on music for fun about seven years ago."

**I used to be in the music business with some of these guys. In time, I'll go back to it. But by then, if you haven't already donated to my blog, don't be expecting no backstage passes.

Big Smile, Because Your Kids Just Called - Complaining About Your Ex-Wife - And Wanting To Apologize For Ever Blaming You**

Why's steeped in history, mystery - smoke:

"A survey last year showed that two thirds of teenagers don't believe in God at all.

Those who replied to the survey said that family, friends, money, music and even reality television are more important than religion."

Actions spoke before all else broke:

"The TM people I had known for years were obviously no more enlightened from their meditation routines than I was and the whole range of human frailties remained among them, with some mighty bizarre mutations appearing here and there. In addition to customary health problems, there was affectation, complacency, lack of objectivity, mood-making, bad manners, and undefined fears, especially among the long-term votaries.

I also noticed that local and national crime rates had increased dramatically during the past three years, contrary to Maharishi's prediction that group practice of TM-Sidhis would 'take care of the crime.' All of this clearly repudiated the enlightenment and world-saving formulae of the Maharishi, I thought, the yogi from the Valley of the Saints. In the parlance of cult-exit counseling, I had just 'snapped.'"

Eating wheat soup with some raw egg yolk:

"I never told her to put it up her rectum."

Leave the man alone - when he broke, he broke:

"The President of the United States does not sit and negotiate with unions. I have a staff to do that."

**I didn't post anything on Father's Day. Sorry, Dads - my bad: I was out 4-wheeling with another guy who will probably never have children.

It's A Gift, I Tell Ya, It's A Motherfucking Gift**

TALKING SHIT:

"America's best governor today is New Jersey's Chris Christie, who took office despite his opponent's juvenile 'check out the fat guy' campaign ads. Since then, Christie's faced down Jersey teachers' unions and made major budget cuts -- showing the kind of gumption America could use in the fiscal crisis to come. Yet most discussions of Christie's political future end with the observation that he's just 'too fat' to be president.

Celebrity culture has infected American politics. Since the advent of television, we've reliably opted for the taller candidate -- those with receding hairlines need not apply. We seem to have forgotten the purpose of the office. We're not casting a chick flick here -- we're picking a constitutional chief executive."

NUN GOT HIT:

"There was horror in Harlem on Tuesday when an 83-year-old nun was killed and four others were injured in police chase that turned into a mangled mess on Lenox Avenue."

THINK YOU SLICK:

"The US Congress House Energy and Environment Subcommittee’s hearing into the oil spill exposed some of the more sordid features of the performative nature of Western risk culture. The hearing grilled the chief executives of the five largest oil companies about their drilling safety and regulatory standards in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. There was, of course, the usual theatrical grandstanding by politicians determined to demonstrate to their constituents their holier-than-thou credentials by contrasting themselves to grubby oil men. But more revealingly, we also learned that the oil companies’ emergency-response strategies consist largely of what sociologists describe as ‘fantasy documents’."

FRUIT BATS ON A STICK:

"Yeah, and so — and it’s like ... when the drug companies conspired with our government to put natural homeopathic cures out of business at the turn of the century, and bang, they started calling it 'snake oil,' and this and that. And it’s really just a disinformation campaign to discredit this stuff so that people will stop using it. The government has gone so far as to create phony homeopathic remedies so when people use them and they don’t work, people lose interest in them."

**Life.

Black Artists/White Audience: The Big Grey Area

When this whole cult clusterfuck busts wide open - and it will, because it's in the world of politics now, and I'm no longer the only dog in on the hunt - I'm expecting everyone I've discussed it with online (Orac, Ann Althouse, Glenn Reynolds, etc.) to step forward and admit I was there first, so I can be eligible for the Medal of Freedom or some shit. That so many others in the business of spreading information are ignoring the influence of NewAge on current events involving the Left (like they all did with the John Edwards scandal, which also has a deep NewAge component, through Rielle Hunter) all because it's in the realm of religion/spirituality is nothing less than criminal. At the very least, they're allowing others to steal my thunder:

"The latest episode of 'The Boondocks,' the satirical animated TV series that airs on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim slate, takes brutal aim at Perry and his brand, which blends melodrama, raucous comedy and religious themes. Coming under intense ridicule is Perry's portrayal of Madea, the gun-toting, foul-mouthed grandmother at the center of many of his films.

In 'Pause,' an episode written by [creator Aaron] McGruder and executive producer Rodney Barnes that aired Sunday, a thinly disguised version of Perry named Winston Jerome is positioned as a closeted, cross-dressing cult leader whose love of the Christian faith is a mask for his true sexuality. Though the character bears little physical or vocal resemblance to Perry, the reference is obvious to those familiar with Perry's work. The dancing Ma Duke is a clear parody of Madea.

The Jerome character wears a pink sweater, is surrounded by bare-chested muscular men and constantly proclaims his love for Jesus even as he attempts to seduce Granddad ( John Witherspoon), the guardian of the two boys, Huey and Riley Freeman, at the center of the series. The fame-hungry Granddad is trying out for a part in Jerome's new play, 'Ma Duke Finds Herself a Man.'

Near the end of the episode, Jerome bluntly asks Granddad for sex; the old man responds, 'Do you mean to tell me that this whole cross-dressing Christian cult crap is just so you can sleep with men?' 'Uh, pretty much, yeah,' says Jerome.

The episode marks one of the sharpest public criticisms of Perry. Huey Freeman calls the script for 'Ma Duke' 'terrible.' The Perry brand has also been blasted by some critics and entertainers such as Spike Lee, who say Perry's projects perpetuate negative stereotypes, and present a narrow view of African American life.

McGruder and executives for Turner and Adult Swim declined to comment on the episode. Representatives for Perry did not return phone calls."

Anyway, here's a big shout out to Aaron McGruder - a Hip-Hop fan - for also speaking up:

We'll show them yet.

The Thing With Two Heads (But One Bad Mind)

Have you ever noticed the day really don't get poppin' (and this ain't really "common sense America") until we get a column from Thomas Sowell? It's an amazing thing - he and I think so much alike, the man can practically read my mind (why, I betcha he wrote this column knowing I needed a reason to use this other two-headed baby shot. That's how the man's mind works, I'm telling you.) - check it out:

"Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.

And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.

But our government is supposed to be 'a government of laws and not of men.'

If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.

But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without 'due process of law.'

Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.

With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.

If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government."

Isn't that wild? You don't get it, do you? "If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government."? Oprah? See, if you were Thomas Sowell, you'd already know I'm on a HUGE anti-NewAge kick and, since Oprah's the Queen of NewAge, Sowell's quote has to be followed by another from The New Republic's Lee Siegal, since it cuts to the quick so well (sorry - couldn't help it, T.):

"Every person and every ideology has its countertendency. With [James] Frey, Oprah's countertendency surged into public view. The reverse side of making your life your work is a life in which your actions become mere propulsions along the rails of self-advancement. You are not responsible for what you do because your truth as a person lies in the future as your 'goal.' You don't tell lies, because what might seem like a fabrication to other people is the expression of your genuine feeling, which is authorized by who you know you really are and can be in the future. We are taught that 'the end justifies the means' is a ruthless, amoral approach to life. But Oprah has taken that sword-like precept and beaten it into a benign ploughshare of planting, cultivation, and growth. She has made the sincerity of a statement more important than the content of it. Which is to say, she has made it virtuous to be amoral. After all you have been through, you deserve this. Oprah did it, and so can you. 

Like Oprah herself, Winfreyism has an equally fraught countermotion. The reverse side of a democracy based on exchangeable feelings is the creation of a kingdom of mere sensations, in which no experience has a higher--or different--value than any other experience. We weep and empathize with the self-destructive mother, we weep and empathize with Sidney Poitier, we weep and empathize with the young woman dying of anorexia, we weep and empathize with Teri Hatcher, we weep and empathize with the girl with the disfigured face, we weep and empathize with the grateful recipients of Oprah's gift of a new car to every member of one lucky audience, we weep and empathize with the woman burned beyond recognition by her vicious husband. In the end, like the melting vision of tearing eyes, the situations blur into each other without distinction. They are all relative to your own experience of watching them. The fungibility of feeling is really a reduction of all experience to the effect it has on your own quality of feeling. 

In fact, Oprah's universal empathy has an infinite flexibility. When critics complained that she focused too much on stories of physical and emotional horror, Oprah quickly responded, in the early '90s, by mocking that very format. Publicly vowing to start diversifying her show, she immediately incorporated lighter fare more frequently. Several months after Jonathan Franzen dissed her Book Club, an incident that gave rise to a heated debate over its true function and value, Oprah disbanded it. (It has returned, but in a more peripheral and occasional way.) The Frey incident sent her spinning in appeasement yet again. 

One of Oprah's most powerful visual metaphors is how she utterly transforms her appearance--her hairstyle, mode of dress, type of jewelry, even her manner of speaking--from day to day. It is her clever, dramatic embodiment of the possibility of personal change and growth. But ability to change is also a capacity for accommodation. It hints at a personality that will 'stretch' itself in any rewarding direction, unconstrained by truthfulness or consistency. Unconstrained by the constraint of character, you might say. 

The name Oprah gave to her production company--her business--is Harpo Productions, which is 'Oprah' spelled backward. That is exactly right. Winfreyism is the expression of an immensely reassuring and inspiring message that has, without doubt, helped millions of people carry on with their lives. And it is also an empty, cynical, icily selfish outlook on life that undercuts its own positive energy at every turn. On her way to Auschwitz, sitting in her hotel room in Krakow, thinking about the masses of people who were murdered in the death camp, Oprah wrote in O, 'I have never felt more human.' Her empathy and moral growth seem to require human sacrifice. Yet watching Oprah does fill you with hope. It also plunges you into despair. She has become something like America itself."

Do you see the continuity there? From America to Sowell, to Oprah, and then back to America? Or how about Oprah bringing us Obama? Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's have fun with that through James Taranto's thoughts from The Wall Street Journal - here's some of his quotes from yesterday:

"The administration,...has poured great energy into remaking the country to deal with problems that are either far less urgent or nonexistent, such as health care and global warming.

The administration, that is, has set its priorities according to ideology rather than real-world contingencies.

And it's not just the administration. The yawning gap between ideology and reality is a defining characteristic of today's political left.

The environmental groups, like the administration, prioritize ideology over reality. There is actually no contradiction between their zeal for dealing with the hypothetical problem of global warming and their blasé attitude toward an actual ecological crisis; they simply have the wrong priorities."

And now, let's give him one of Oprah's "spiritual" make-overs, with some old links thrown in for glamor:

"The cabal,...has poured great energy into remaking the country to deal with problems that are either far less urgent or nonexistent, such as ailments that require quack remedies and global warming.

The cabal, that is, has set its priorities according to NewAge rather than real-world contingencies.

And it's not just the cabal. The yawning gap between NewAge and reality is a defining characteristic of today's political left.

The environmental cultists, like the cabal, prioritize NewAge over reality. There is actually no contradiction between their zeal for dealing with the hypothetical problem of global warming and their blasé attitude toward an actual ecological crisis; they simply have the wrong priorities."

See? It all reads the same. As a matter of fact, it makes more sense Oprah's way - I mean, my and Thomas's way - seeing how American politics isn't supposed to "work" like alternative medicine "works". I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm sure Thomas thinks so, too:

He's my "SowellMate".

Now, if you'll please excuse me, this political warrior must be returning to his crystal ball,...and prayer:

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Why Are We Ignoring NewAge Cult Fanaticism?

Two posts ago, I told you about the case of Penelope Dingle, the Australian woman who died from a treatable bowel cancer because she opted instead for Homeopathy. I've also told you about other aspects of NewAge thinking, and I think further testimony in the Dingle case ties things up nicely:

"CANCER victim Penny Dingle was 'fanatical' with her faith and being told she needed life-saving surgery was a great challenge to that faith, an inquest has heard. 

Mrs Dingle, who attempted to treat her cancer with homeopathy and natural remedies, died in August 2005 after suffering a rectal tumour.

Giving evdence for the third day her husband Peter Dingle told the WA Coroner's Court that his wife was 'fanatical' with her faith and challenges of faith were very important to her.

The court was read a diary extract from Mrs Dingle in which she described it as 'a challenge of faith' to be told you will die if you don't have an operation, and you still won't have one.

Mr Dingle, a toxicologist who uses the title 'doctor',  said his wife had faith in her ability to heal and spirituality played an important role in her life.

'She would work constantly on her faith and that would help her heal,' he said."

Isn't that interesting? Here we are in the field of medicine, and people are talking about her faith - to what faith are they referring?

Sounds like NewAge to me, seeing how homeopathy is NewAge "energy medicine".

And seeing how NewAgers are always fanatical in their beliefs.

But don't take my word for it, let's let Dr. Dingle continue telling us about his powerful wife:

"Mr Dingle spoke of his wife's belief in the self-realisation fellowship and her understanding that the body's health and sickness depended entirely on how her mind perceived it.

He described Mrs Dingle's views as 'extremely strong' and said he didn't think he could go against her beliefs without losing her."

Just as I lost my NewAge wife - because I did not believe in NewAge.

And doesn't this "self-realisation fellowship" sound a lot like believers in the twisted philosophy of The Secret? And isn't The Secret NewAge?

Of course it is.

"At the inquest yesterday, the State Coroner Alastair Hope questioned why Penelope Dingle's husband - a Perth toxicologist - didn't confront the homeopath who was treating his cancer-stricken wife.

At an inquest into the death of Mrs Dingle in 2005, her husband Peter Dingle told the Perth Coroners Court he was eager not to break the trust of his ailing wife, pledging to 'remain positive' as she battled colorectal cancer."

Ahh, yes, staying positive. Now we're in the world of Barbara Ehrenreich's "Brightsided", and the NewAge fanaticism she encountered after she got cancer.

Ehrenreich even spoke of NewAge's "relentless promotion" - there's no escape from it - and can't relentless be another word for fanatical?

Tell me:

With so much of this behavior going on around us, why are so many missing (or dismissing) it?

Can't others - especially in politics - see something's odd about this picture and address it?

Do Westerners truly think death-hugging fanaticism is only available to followers of Al Qaeda?

Even as we're noticing Leftists joining Al Qaeda?

And, if a delusional NewAge fanaticism is what we're encountering (and I'm convinced it is) then why aren't we approaching it as such?

Maybe it's because NewAge fanaticism primarily exists on the Left?

It's definitely becoming obvious that everything the Left is demanding of us is bullshit. What's not obvious to most is why, like Penelope Dingle, politicos are demanding we do things that hurt us.

I'm sorry but simply looking at politics doesn't cover this phenomena at all.

We have to pay attention to the left's spiritual-not-religious component, and the fact today's journalists are part of the Left, who maintain a laser-like focus on the Right's religious evangelism - which many have given credit for the Right's defeat.

This is cultism, people - a spiritual battle - and the rest of us are in the middle of it:

It's the subject that's time has come.