Contender

If the marshmallow lobby ever needs to change it's image,...

 

Eat A Peach

Some jerkoff hacked into Georgie Boy's email account and uncovered the fact MY HERO™ is an artist; working on some portraits apparently, of the self-effacing variety I'd imagine a man of his outlook, and accomplishments, would likely indulge in. It's "just George." Take THAT, Art World:

On top of everything else, you've been after one of our own all along,...

If You're Gonna Come Back, You Gotta Make It Worth It

A Positive Legacy Of The Last Half Century: Involuntary Internal Recoiling Now Used As A Easy Aid To Exercise

Well shake it up baby now (Shake it up bay-bay) Twist and shout (Twist and shout):

"After a few months of government-sponsored and media-promoted hysteria over guns, the mass roundup of toddlers and preteens wielding high capacity pointyfingers is hardly surprising.  

Lefties are fond of lecturing (and writing books, and plays, and movies) about the famously dark days of McCarthyism, where right wing Bircher paranoiacs supposedly were looking for a 'Red under every bed.' I suppose to a certain extent they had a point, but the sum total impact of that brief 50's reign of terror seems to be that a couple of Hollywood writers lost screenplay deals. 

Contrast that with our new age of left wing paranoia…"

Come on come on come on come on baby now (Come on bay-bay) Come on and work it on out (Work it on out) Oooooh!

HARTFORD — An attorney Friday compared the Women’s Gifting Table to Yale’s secret societies, while also taking aim at the government’s use of a grand jury to “force” people to talk during its investigation of the table.

 

Norm Pattis highlighted “sisterhood” and “empowerment” aspects of the table guidelines during the second day of a trial focusing on two leaders of the alleged pyramid scheme, as he and attorney Jonathan J. Einhorn continued pushing the “good faith” intent defense for their clients.

 

Both have said the defendants, Guilford residents Donna Bello and Jill Platt, cannot be found guilty of defrauding the IRS and gifting table members if they felt they filled out tax returns correctly and truly believed monetary exchanges between members were tax-free gifts, not investments.

“ 

It’s not a crime to be misunderstood,” said Pattis, who represents Bello, and said table rules had a “Shirley McClain sensibility.” 

Gifting table guidelines refer to a “journey” and “circulating the energy of giving and receiving.”


You know you twist your little girl (Twist little girl) You know you twist so fine (Twist so fine):

But this feel-good spot can't hide the real truth. 

The narrator dares you to think for yourself, make up your own mind, and defy critics who just don't understand. And the ad is definitely visually appealing. It has even been compared to Apple's 1997 "Think Different" campaign. However, even that can't make people forget some of Scientology's most bizarre factoids. 

1. It was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard who believed negative emotions were caused by things called Body Thetans and devised a way to get rid of them.   

2. They believe we are ruled by a galactic, alien overlord named Xenu. 

3. They require quiet or silent births. That means the mama-to-be must not utter a word. 

4. The church insists members that live on their compounds can leave anytime they want, but "defectors" tell a different story. Those that once lived in Scientology compounds claim they had to drive cars through gates to escape and were then relentlessly pursued.  

5. After leaving the religion, director Paul Haggis said, "I was in a cult for 34 years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

Come on and twist a little closer now (Twist a little closer) And let me know that you're mine (Let me know you're mine) Oooooh!

One of the weirdest historical confluences you can imagine took place in Pasadena, California, in the 1940s. There, a darkly handsome young man and chemistry autodidact named Jack Parsons had just made a bundle of money by inventing solid rocket fuel and selling it to the military. He was part of a group of explosion-obsessed researchers at CalTech who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where recently the Martian Rovers were made. He was also a goddess-obsessed acolyte and generous financial supporter of the infamous Pagan leader, Aleister Crowley. 

Parsons used his defense contract money to convert an old mansion into a group house whose residents included other Pagans, artists, scientists, and writers. One of his boarders was a charismatic science fiction author named L. Ron Hubbard, who became Parsons' greatest frenemy, participating in rituals of sex magic with the rocket scientist, sleeping with his girlfriend, and finally absconding with all his money. Here is the true story of how Scientology and JPL were both conceived by men under the sorcerer Crowley's mystical influence.

Well shake it up baby now (Shake it up bay-bay) Twist and shout (Twist and shout),…

 

I Watch Too Much T.V. (I Expect Something Different)

So Good I Need To Buy A Neon Hand With An Eye In It

I know, for a blogger, it's a silly little obsession, but once everyone understands it - and, most importantly, it's implications - it seems to become their silly little obsession as well:

"What I want to know is this: why is this legal?  Or, if it is not legal, then what can be done about it?  I'm quite sure that the clerk himself had no direct financial interest in defrauding me, and likely didn't even know he was doing it."

That's a guy named Jimmy Wales, but you'll never guess who Jimmy Wales is. 

I couldn't guess.

Whoa - I feel another tremor in The Force: 

 

Don't look now but there's more trouble brewing in La-La-Land,…

 

You Want To Play A House - I Meant A HAND Of Cards?

As a Republican, this can seem like such a no-news period, it's spooky. 

TMR's take is still - bottom line - this quiet, too, is the result of America trending towards rationalism, aided mostly by tightening economics. Which is kind of sad (it would be preferable we'd "get smart" by actively wanting better) but - when the subject's TMR to things finally working out for a change - we've little room for complaints.

Especially as Republicans, we've got to keep perspective. We're actually waaay ahead.

True, we're under Obama, but what are we going to do?

(No, we're not going to rehash our objections to Romney, except to repeat we couldn't go there.)

So we're here. And it's not all good and not all bad, but most importantly, Americans are getting better where it really ¢ount$ - in our heads:

Do or die, baby.

Money's too tight to mention, so something's got to give, right? And it's giving.

Result:

A much more accurate re-examination, at the macro - and micro - level, of what's what.

The Democrats can't withstand that kind of scrutiny.

Keep an eye on weak cultural foundations, no one can hear them scream,…

 

And Totally Screwed, Too,...

Life In The Fast Lane - surely makes you lose your mind:

HARTFORD — An attorney Friday compared the Women’s Gifting Table to Yale’s secret societies, while also taking aim at the government’s use of a grand jury to “force” people to talk during its investigation of the table.

 

Norm Pattis highlighted “sisterhood” and “empowerment” aspects of the table guidelines during the second day of a trial focusing on two leaders of the alleged pyramid scheme, as he and attorney Jonathan J. Einhorn continued pushing the “good faith” intent defense for their clients. 

 

Both have said the defendants, Guilford residents Donna Bello and Jill Platt, cannot be found guilty of defrauding the IRS and gifting table members if they felt they filled out tax returns correctly and truly believed monetary exchanges between members were tax-free gifts, not investments. 

 

“It’s not a crime to be misunderstood,” said Pattis, who represents Bello, and said table rules had a “Shirley McClain sensibility.”


Everything, all the time - Life In The Fast Lane, yeah:

Another side of Shirley MacLaine has emerged in a new book. 

Her daughter Sachi Parker says  that during a bizarre episode in the 1970s, Shirley was all for her losing her virginity. 

In a shocking memoir released this weekend in America, Lucky Me: My Life With – And Without – My Mom, Sachi says that the 78-year-old actress took little interest in her life until she was 17. 

Then, she and her boyfriend, Brad, were invited to the star’s California beachfront flat where she claims  she met Shirley’s sex therapist friends, Phyllis and Eberhard Kronhausen. 

Sachi says Phyllis told her mother: ‘It would be a fabulous opportunity for Sachi, to have her first introduction to sex with all of us here as a support group. We could talk about it afterwards and validate her feelings.’ 

As Sachi flushed with embarrassment, she says her mother declared:  ‘I think it’s a wonderful idea. We’re all here to help you, sweetheart.’ 

Now 56, Sachi says that helpless to oppose the three ‘powerful’ adults, she ‘felt like Mia Farrow surrounded by the satanists in Rosemary’s Baby’ and they watched as she and Brad left for the bedroom.


Though I live for moments like this, we've been down this road too many times before. Let me guess:

Shirley denies everything, so no one will press further, Goodnight.

It's the NewAge:

Get used to it,...

A Black Day At The Beach (No Passing The Sun Screen!)

Since it's pretty obvious Teen America (as opposed to Team America) is now procrastinating by lurching, zombie-like, through this low-boil firearms hysteria (there's always gotta be something) I won't bother anyone with what I've been doing lately - except to mention looking into Alabama 3, the crew who penned the immortal words "You Woke Up This Morning And Got Yourself A Gun" AKA The Soprano's much-loved theme song.

See I, too, like brains - and aim to keep mine, thanks.

Nope, all I want noticed is how far afield this English band is in other, more substantive, TMR-like ways than simply acknowledging the West's long-standing proclivity for flying lead. Namely, when it comes to dealing directly with Teen America's issues of belief, A3 also seems more than capable enough - curiously, I might add - though they still can't rap for shit.

(All the atheists in the house say, "Amen, well I'll be damned" - no, really, we will be. I'm positive. Don't worry about it. They got all this stuff wrong. It's like a pin-prick at best. Think of it like this: Getting your flu shot/Getting Damned - same thing.)

Seriously, I didn't even have to ask, beg, plead, show a little leg, please, God, or Oprah - whichever comes first in the phone book - would it be possible for A3 to add just a smidgen of Jim Jones into the mix? Please, please, oh pretty please, just for me? A little cult hectoring from The People's Temple leader himself and - I swear, you know I do - like global warming, Walking For A Cure to ________, and We Are All One But Obama Is "The One" theology, I'll believe in you, forever and ever!

       Nope, there was none of that, all I did was think "this would be nice" and the rest was magick:

That, my friends, is what I call being metaphysically Cool-y School-y w/The Universe!

I am obviously a great and powerful MahaCracki now and - since I know it's about people - I aim to stay out of the "gun" debate. I have clearly gained too much cult mental power to be contained by mere debate. It's like, wow, awesome. I just think of stuff and it happens. Just like that. A3? Too easy. A test case that was just too easy. Now I think, what if I wanted to start a fire - with my mind? Or what about this:

The entire planet becoming dedicated to the sentiments of Hallmark cards - through song!

  Man, Brian Wilson and I could be pals right now, but probably shouldn't be. Fucking hippie.

I'd wear a helmet but the world's an ugly enough place as it is,...

 

Worlds (A Part)

"Dropping science,...

...like Galileo dropped the orange."

The Healing (In Order To Burn Out God Must Be On Fire)

Can you imagine the Middle East if this were it's existential conclusion as well?

"Religion cannot and should not be replaced by atheism. Religion needs to go away and not be replaced by anything."

Too many think "spiritual but not religious" (AKA NewAge) is a progression but - when the goal is grasping reality - "you can believe what you want to believe" acts mostly as a placeholder to either postpone, or avoid, stepping out toward atheism all together.

Exit polls show those listing "none" for religion was 12% of the electorate in 2012. In 1984, it was only 4%. 12% is a bigger slice of the voting pie than Hispanics or Asians, and about the same as African Americans.

"Spiritual but not religious" is sort of a "open-minded" purgatory - some say a prison - a place where you're trapped in saying and doing illogical things for someone else's (now adopted) illogical reasons, until you come to your senses.

"To meet people who’ve been out of the cult — I mean, yeah, you want to ask them about Xenu and aliens — but the fact is these are smart people. They’ve just been completely destroyed."

 So - instead of a religious nut going on about whatever - you're now a "spiritual" one, railing about homeopathy or studying yoga, still no closer to coming to grips with what's important under the circumstances.

JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — Two dancers at an exotic club in Juneau have been cited after they allegedly brawled over a dollar bill. 

A Post-Crescent of Appleton report says one of the women is pregnant. 

Dodge County deputies say they were called to Silk Exotic last week to break up a fight. They say it started when a customer tried to give a dollar to one of the dancers but the other dancer took it. 

The sheriff's report says both women began to brawl. They tussled on the floor, punching, slapping and pulling each other's hair. Other dancers and customers separated the two.

And they're also forever wasting more time, money, and lives - and causing even more brutal but unseen harm as they do so - while supporting a criminal class of frauds very, very well.

She claims she has always had a very good sixth sense and intuition and charges her clients £40 per session. 

Linda said: 'It's a gift that I can't describe. I don't see ghosts but I do feel, sense and smell things. 'I can feel if someone is a good person and I can smell emotions. The smells are different kinds of smells to perfumes or body lotions - they are not of this realm. 

'We are all different. Some people can play piano and I can't. I am not special or anything, I am just different.' 

Linda's parents emigrated to the UK from Poland. She used to work as a secretary and had also worked in factories and as a cleaner, but always felt she was destined for more spiritual things. As the phone calls from clients began to flood in, Linda started to rack up some impressive celebrity visitors. 

She said: 'I just said to myself one day, "I am never going to work for anyone else again because I am so different," so I left work and put an advert in Prediction magazine and then the rest is history.'

It's the history of the 20th Century, slowly coming to an end, just as any-but-methodically as it began.

Harris, the creator of the entire project, came out on stage and answered questions as all the actors sat in the audience around us. He said he was interested in the immersive qualities of the project, and how, when forced to enter an environment instead of just watching a film as a distanced observer, people become more wrapped up in the questions he sought to raise about faith and reason, fantasy and reality. But I left with only one question, ultimately: what was the point? 

If it was to cause me to continuously look over my shoulder for the rest of the night, then they succeeded.

It's only through these groups (and the ideas they support) coming apart, that individuals within them - and the society they live in - can be successful again.

"In all these cases, and many others, liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake."

Until then, atheists will be stuck watching them fighting, for (and over) dead bodies and nothing more.

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) - The followers of a meditation practice that has roots in ancient India say it's simple: Close your eyes, silently repeat a mantra and relax. But a dispute among rivals for control over its teaching is anything but peaceful, featuring personal attacks, aggressive lawyering and accusations of improper business practices.

 

 And, as the evidence shows, they'll do so until they fail - or we all get it,…