The Daily News

The Good News is .......

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:43:00 +0000

I haven't had much to comment on lately regarding the news because not much has interested me. Since my interest in having this blog in the first place was based on the premise I'd do it daily, I've been feeling somewhat guilty about missing several days at a time. It occurred to me this morning that I'm not to blame, It isn't my fault. I'm guilty of nothing wrong. I realized that the truth is there's just about no news happening. There never was.

The illusion that there is daily news grew out of the 1940's and 1950's newspaper culture where there were daily headlines. Daily headlines do not translate into daily news. Google has capitalized on this erroneous assumption too and on its News Page, it runs a long list of news headlines that are actually categorized and sanitized opinions about various aspects of our daily lives. It is rarely new information about specific or timely events. Michael Jackson died. That was news at that time. The one million other "news articles" about Michael Jackson are opinions about his death and circumstances and are not news. They are filler, Googlespeak or pap, depending on our point of view. So in conclusion, news is not a daily or weekly event, I still do timely articles on the news and the rest is simply whining about the human condition that most of us seem destined to do every day. That's good news.

The Murder of Michael Jackson. Who did it?

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:35:00 +0000

My friend Steve wrote this simple but damningly truthful piece about the real cause of Michael Jackson's death and the individuals responsible for his murder. Thanks Steve for pointing out that the mind-numbing greed of the big pharmaceutical companies who are in it for the profit rather than our good health, are again responsible for another tragic death.

"Will Rogers once said, "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble. It's what we know that ain't so." Like Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith, and Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson is the latest in a line of people that "knew" that the way to deal with the pain and stress was to take prescription drugs.

   Of course, this belief was reinforced by doctors who refuse to diagnose the cause of health problems and worship at the altar of prescription drugs-not to treat the problem but to block the symptoms. We call this Radio Medicine-turn up the volume and ignore the cause of the sounds or symptoms.

   News reports say that Michael Jackson had back pain. The Radio Medicine solution is to use narcotics to block the signals and not to treat the problem. In fact, there are reports that shortly before his death, Jackson received a large dose of morphine-legal heroin.

   It is said that he was very anxious about his upcoming tour. Rather than examine the cause of the anxiety, which could be physiological, the Radio Medicine solution-give him Xanax and Zoloft, not to treat the cause but to unsuccessfully drown out the symptoms he was experiencing.

   The media focus on Michael Jackson's prescription drug addiction will surely get ratings, but it will also help save many lives and help many more escape from the trap of prescription drugs and Radio Medicine. This new awareness of prescription drugs will not help the thousands who have lost children, spouses and friends to these deadly drugs, but it may save millions of lives that are now at risk."

Young Women: Their Tragic Place in History Repeats Itself With NEDA

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Young Women: Their Tragic Place in History Repeats Itself With NEDA

Over 2000 years ago, a young queen of an area of England now called East Anglia rose up against a massive legion of occupying Roman forces and inspired the entire nation to cast the invaders out. According to our records, Boadicea was and still is a great inspiration to those who would thwart tyrants. Around 1431, the setting was France and a peasant girl from Eastern France became "St. Joanne of Arc" and led the French army to several inspiring victories before she was burned at the stake at 19 years old. In Afghanistan in the 1970's, Meena, the founder of RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) inspired us all with her battle against Taliban Fundamentalism and the regional birth of women's rights, human rights and freedom before she was murdered by KGB forces in 1981, yet her voice is still heard around the world.

Today, another young woman has taken the baton and inspires freedom lovers the world over. Her name is Neda which means "voice" in Farsi and she was murdered by the government supported militia in Tehran, Iran on Saturday. Her death was recorded on video and has been seen by millions around the globe and again, it is the voice of a young woman who inspires us all to insist on democracy and human rights for all.

She was a 16 year old philosophy student.

North Korea Goes Nuclear

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:38:00 +0000

I've had the amazing experience of being present after a few international disasters in an effort to help others out. Between the San Francisco earthquakes, the Florida Hurricanes and the Tsunami in Tamil Nadu, India, I've put in my time. In each case, I've noticed that at some point, usually after the initial shock, there is a period of calm and beauty that follows. When the hurricane winds have moved on and the morning sun comes up, or in India when the morning after the devastation was washed away and the beaches looked clean, there was a feeling that was both right and wrong. A feeling of disquiet would be the correct word.

Well there is no current natural disaster but I feel that same feeling again, this feeling of disquiet. This time, it is about nuclear weapons. While I am against all nuclear weapons for any reason, I do recognize that some nations do posses them and hold each other in check with a complex system of balances. Stupid as this is, it has at least precluded a nuclear holocaust. It is the wildness and carelessness of Pakistan that worries me, the arrogance of nuclear India, the assiduous pursuit of insanity and nuclear power by Iran and North Korea and the quiet and cunning nature of the Israeli effort that fills me with a kind of dread on this warm sunny day. Everything seems peaceful and nice, the plants are flowering, the economy is doing a bit better and yet at any moment, some mad fool can pull the trigger. Surely we can build a better world?

Washington Crime Report

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Most people who don’t live in America get mixed up between the two areas of the country called Washington. One is on the East Coast and it is not a state. It is a city in a District called Columbia and thus it is called Washington DC. It is the only area in the continental United States that is not part of a state. It is known for it’s high crime rate, especially “white collar” crime because it is the center of the American Federal Government, known to the rest of the world as the international center for crime. Billions are stolen every day by our elected officials who do so in the most elaborate of schemes in the most astounding ways.

The other Washington is a state on the West Coast that suffers from the fact that it is much further North than California, has few celebrities by comparison and has so much rain that many of its residents suffer depression and abnormal behavior due to the perpetually overcast skies and lack of healthy sunshine. This often produces bizarre behavior leading to a more interesting crime rate than its East Coast rival. A woman was angry with a neighbor for reporting the fact that she was keeping chickens illegally on her property. Her solution was to park outside his house very early one morning and honk her car horn loudly for ten minutes to wake him up. After being chased away, she came back a few hours later and repeated the horn honking. She was arrested and cited for a noise violation and the judge ruled that “horn honking to annoy or harass others is not free speech.” Take that Asia. India, Pakistan and all the other stans, lucky you don’t drive in Washington state. In Washington DC however, no such citation would ever be issued because the police there don’t have time to deal with anything less than high crimes. Isn’t America wonderful?

Pool Pissers Make Us Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Well my friends, you will find today’s news commentary both startling and disgusting. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has taken a few moments to deal with something other than Swine Flu and the subject of their latest warning is Recreational Water Illnesses (RWI).

RWI constitute a dire threat to Americans who during the hot summer months flock to water parks and swimming pools across the land by the millions. It appears that a new study has concluded that of each 1 million swimmers in these public swimming pools, 350,000 of them don’t shower before they enter the water and another 200,000 actually pee in the pool. Pee in the pool? Yes. And so we are warned now and forever not to drink pool water if we wish to avoid such RWIs as diarrhea and respiratory diseases.

I’m not sure why it took an expensive study to determine that twenty percent of the population makes the other 80% of us sick. That 80/20 ratio seems to be the rule in life in general. So my conclusion is, the 80% of us who are clean and happy should stay away completely from the 20% of the population who don’t care about others and we’ll lead much happier and productive lives. Piss off pissers.

Geoff

Two Less Fools In Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:19:00 +0000

As my biography states, I live in Florida, far from Orson Scott Card, the author of Ender's Game. Most people think of Florida as a demi-paradise made up of beaches, resorts, golf courses, fishing adventures, wild Miami Beach , and the super mellow Florida Keys and Key West where Hemingway hung out. It is all of those plus vast areas where ordinary people lead ordinary lives regardless of their proximity to paradise. And among ordinary people and extraordinary people (yes we have those too) we have our share of fools and idiots. Most of them go into politics but a few of them let their natural abilities carry them through the day. Well two days ago, out in Daytona Beach, two of the non-political idiots decided they needed money badly and they ought to rob a bank. They did. They did a great job, got the money they wanted and didn't hurt anybody. Driving away in their Jeep, they turned a corner and ran out of gas. They left the car parked and took off on foot. They were not caught until the police checked the registration on the get away vehicle and went over to the owners home. Yup, you guessed it. Two less fools in Florida.

Geoff

The Trouble With Writing On The Daily News

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:34:00 +0000

The trouble I run into is simple. The news just isn't that interesting on most days. I scan the headlines looking for a story that for whatever reason might peak my curiosity, but after I've chucked out the doom and gloom that the chaos merchants package to keep us all in a state of fear, there really isn't much left. I could be the 10,000th person to speculate about the coming new iPhone, or I could tackle the political intricacies of how Obama can get the next supreme court justice elected. I'm against her because she seems narcoleptic but that never stopped any politician before. Why should I single her out? So what are we left with? Bodies found floating off the coast of Brazil that are suspected of being from the missing Air France jet. Duh? Kung Fu actor found hung in his Bangkok hotel room closet. Not so uplifting (no pun intended). What about a piece on the prospective purchase of Hummer by an obscure Chinese parts and equipment maker. Forget that the Hummer won't even fit on 90% of Chinese roads and is bigger than the homes of 60% of the rural population. The world is going to the dogs I say, but fortunately, I love dogs, Later ,,,,

Geoff

Will the Tiananmen Circle be Unbroken?

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:22:00 +0000

Sorry, I've been a little distracted and up against a deadline so I slacked off a bit. Today, I want to simply call your attention to the Chinese massacre at Tiananmen Square and the anniversary of that dark event. For me, this day is a reminder of that event of twenty years ago. I watched the Chinese suppress freedom, democracy and human rights as they massacred those young students in Tiananmen Square, eerily with the same goals as our students today, as they protested. I still have a poster in my library of that young man facing down a column of tanks. Their courage and what they stood for reminds me of our own courage in facing down ignorance, mis-education and the devastation they cause. I stood outside all day in my suit on Geary Boulevard outside the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco just to let them know how important their mistake was. I hope they learned a little. Judging from the massive suppression of this event that has been enforced worldwide by the current regime, perhaps I should have remained standing there for the entire twenty years. My apologies to the Carter family but perhaps I should have been humming "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" and let the Chinese sing the chorus.

Geoff

Why We Have a Global Economic Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:20:00 +0000

PART THREE

It was after I had created the Panic of 1837 to smash the economy again that I started to formulate my latest plans. As we look over the track of history, nearing what we call modern times, I knew I needed a better plan. I confess again that I'm the one who caused this global economic crisis. Wrecking the economy cripples the poor, limits our willingness to care for our fellows, takes away jobs, confidence, culture and all of those interesting accoutrements that the universities of the world describe as civilization. You know my tools, the weapons of destruction I used to steal the wealth of my brothers. Without getting overly complicated, let me just say that the very idea of "banks" was one of my most brilliant and vicious creations. All I needed to do was convince you that putting your coins behind the locked doors of my bank rather than burying them in a hole in the kitchen floor was the sensible thing to do. Once I had control of your money, I had the keys to infinite wealth. First I proposed that if I had 1000 of your gold coins stored in my vaults, you good people wouldn't mind if through my bank, I loaned out 100 of them and charged a small fee. I would make money and so would you. What a happy picture this would make. I could describe greed and speculation as good business and give it a new name. The next step of course would be to convince you that I was an authority and as such, I could twist the laws, bribe the officials and do whatever I needed to do to loan out more than I had in my bank. Then I could create wealth in unlimited ways to make fantastic sums for my friends and their friends. I even convinced governments that my little groups of banks owned by my friends around the world should remain private, secure, and outside of the law. In America we used the catchy name "Federal Reserve" but in other countries we used different names. Of course I still had to create a few more wars, bash in a few more heads and do whatever else was necessary to assure the orderly redistribution of the wealth of nations, right?

What I needed was an international group that looked legitimate, was respected by governments, and capable of high moral authority regarding the rights and regulations on the subject of money. Now the recipe was really simple; create markets for products based on greed and speculation, expand those markets by positioning them with admired social causes, and build them up, crash them, take the money and do them in. I thought to confuse matters by creating different kinds of banks with different functions but occasionally, I had to fight the efforts of do-gooders to thwart my plans. The Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933, ensured the separation of commercial and investment banking in order to protect you foolss from the hazards of risky investment and speculation. It worked against me for fifty years until my colleagues began lobbying for its repeal during the 1980s and finally I had my way again. I was able to package anything I wanted, in any manner I desired so as to take your money and convince you to be happy about it. There was more to do on the international front, especially in Basel II rules but I'll spill the beans on that later.

Why We Have a Global Economic Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:12:00 +0000

PART TWO

Realize as you read the news that not one single war, not one single battle is necessary or honestly contested. Each of them has been carefully caused by those manipulators of planetary chaos who are also the manipulators of the economy. Since pre-biblical times, we have been warned of "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death." These are the tools used to control us and our economies. Since I'm the one who started this global crash in the first place, let's throw in a few of my better qualities; greed, criminality, immorality and insanity. Now you're starting to understand how I did it. Let's go back a long way and I'll give you a few examples of my work. 3000 years ago, I caused famine in Rome and destroyed the social well being of the city. I repeated it 300 years later and then 700 years after that I killed 90% of the population, Then in every century in every part of the world, I've starved you and cheated you and destroyed your confidence in your ability to survive. The wars and conquests go on and on without end and I've had a hand in every one of them because it gave me the chance to get what you have for less. See, I'm a criminal and a madman and it is my birthright to take what you have. The four horsemen are no myth, they are my stock in trade but as we approached the 20th century, I had to get more sophisticated. Sure I crashed the Dutch economy for a century simply by invigorating the tulip and hyacinth sales into an ancient version of a roaring stock market. I called it windhandel, "trading in the wind", and its gales took all of Europe and its wealth to the ground. No, I knew how to keep winning the game. I just needed to come up with a justification for my work in modern times so I became more sophisticated, more secretive, and more effective, as you'll see.

Why We Have a Global Economic Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:59:00 +0000

PART ONE

Much of our news these days hinges on the economy. We seem to want to know if it is getting better or worse, staying the same, or when those good old days will return. I thought it might be useful to answer all of those questions and demonstrate how the economy got into the state it is in now, and what seems important to some of you, "Who caused it?" Sound like a pretty tall order, explaining the world economy and the secretive groups of powerful people whom we suspect are controlling it? Well let's begin with me and for the sake of argument, let's assume I caused the global crash to begin. You knew that already didn't you? What did I do and how did I do it might be a couple of good questions to ask. The only tough part is figuring out the logical place to begin.

I think we'll start with the concept of money, using some symbol to represent something we think is valuable. A long time ago, as a fisherman I might have traded part of my catch to a friend for a chicken and a few eggs or even a shirt his wife had spun. The possibilities were endless but what we called, "the barter system" did work up to a point. Once that point was reached - the point of too many people in too crowded an area - someone had to come up with an easier way to exchange goods and services and pay for them. Many things were used as what we today call money and the one we know best is the little circle of metal we call a coin. Coins were often made of gold or silver, were easier to carry around than fish or chickens and we all agreed they were valuable. That seemed to solve the problem. I could even save a few coins for a rainy day if I worked hard which was much easier than saving dead fish. This happy state went on for many years and our economy was based on production (what I made or what service I performed) and exchange (What amounts of my production I could give my neighbor for what he produced). Simple, workable, understandable and no speculation or gambling was involved. That came much later.

- END OF PART ONE -

Human Rights Failing in Down Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:01:00 +0000

Human Rights Fall Into the Poverty Gap as The Global Economic Crisis Deepens

As the global economy turns further downward, those who appear to be suffering the most are the poor. Along with the privation and general malaise that accompany poverty, we are seeing repressive regimes all around the globe abandon Human Rights and select the poorest sectors of the nation for abuse and abandonment, often in the name of National Security due to Global Terror.

Arguably, Myanmar is the most repressive regime in the world, with its junta of generals continuing genocide against millions of "tribal" or "indiginous ethnic peoples." The Pro-Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi stands proudly during a so called trial to extend her 19 year incarceration for speaking out against her captors in favor of democracy. I sometimes think that the worst conditions produce the strongest and best leaders and it is my fervent hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from prison to lead the poorest of this earth to freedom.

Oh Lordy, Troubles So Hard. The Tyson Tragedy

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:14:00 +0000

Oh Lordy, Troubles So Hard. The Tyson Tragedy.

When I first heard Mike Tyson interviewed as a young boxer, I was especially impressed with his intelligence, knowledge of the history of boxing and his appreciation for the legitimacy of his sport. As fame and fury embraced him, like many before him he lost contact with his roots and sunk into the madness that awaits the rich and famous. I watched Robin Givens and her mother, dripping vitriol in a TV interview in which they laughed about slipping Mike Tyson anti-depressant drugs to get him to do as they wished. A newly meek, less than fierce, giggling and foolish Mike Tyson sat there listening to the banter and I knew then and there that it was the beginning of the end. From that point on, the real Mike Tyson left the scene and synthetic world champion was created in a pharmaceutical mold with all the highs, lows and total insanity that goes with the territory. Rape, religion, redemption, reduction, rehab followed in dizzying order yet just as life without fame seemed at last to be embracing Tyson, tragedy struck again. His four year old daughter was involved in a tragic accident on the treadmill at home while Mike Tyson was away in Las Vegas. Exodus Tyson is dead now. Oh Lordy, troubles so hard. We love you Mike and we grieve for you.

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noreply@blogger.com (Geoff) — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:57:00 +0000

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