We don't have AC at home. We are using lots of fan and doing a swamp cooler thing. We are also sleeping in the living room because our bedroom doesn't cool down.
Shusli joked this morning, saying she'd much rather live in Phoenix, AZ than endure this heat. Then she looked their weather up for Phoenix, AZ on the internet and they are 112 today. They'll be over 100 for about the next two weeks. We thought better of that idea.
So, how are you all faring in this weather?
PS The kitties say it's hot, too. It must really suck to have fur in this kind of weather, but GREAT when it's colder than a well diggers ass.
Ham you rarely find moving in this weather (or for that matter, any weather). Jake is up and about less than usual, but still active and crazy about being outside.
STAY COOL, FOLKS!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
MAN! IT'S HOT!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
"What's your favorite restaurant?" Shusli asked me a few days ago.
"Hoda's," I answer almost immediately.
"Mine's the Jack in the Box on 105th and Stark," she says, trying to keep a straight face. "Not any of the others, just the one on 105th and Stark."
It is amazing the treasures one sees in the world. Last night we went to Hoda's on 34th and Belmont and ate ourselves happily stupid, the food is so good their. On the way there, we found these sidewalk chalk drawings. There are artists in our midst. Enjoy them!
I assume the artist is Audrey Angel, since there is a website listed. I just visited there, and the woman has talent.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Faces of Evil: A Review of Arvo Manhattan's, "The Vatican's Holocaust."
Also, in 1933, Cardinal Pacelli signed the Corcordat with the Nazi's bringing further power to the Reich as the Vatican threw its weight, and thus the weight of all/most Catholics behind the fascists in a special kind of crusade.
As I'm sure you all know, the 13 men who sat around the table at the Wannsee Conference, the conference in 1942 to discuss the "final solution" of the Jewish problem, and by extension, the Sinti, Roma, and many others were all Christians except for one. The one who wasn't Christian was the only man to object to the idea of "The Final Solution." Go figure.
Eugenio was eventually elected pope, took the name Pius XII, and started a crusade against the orthodox Serbs in Croatia.
After the Nazi's took over Yugoslavia, Pacelli, as pope, initiated the help of the Archbishop of Zagreb, Stepinac (there is actaually a high school in New York named after this genocidal war criminal).
Stepinac became head of the Ustashi, a horrific and brutal group of Catholics who enjoyed horrific mass slaugther. It became the idea of the Vatican to do this with the Orthodox Serb population: 1/3 were to be eradicated, 1/3 were to be forcibly thrown out of the country, and 1/3 were to be FORCIBLY converted. Some of the clergy, very few as a matter of fact, did not think it right to do this, but Stepinac and Pacelli put the thumb screws to them, figuratively speaking, and forced them to participate in these mass conversions.
All of this is described in Arvo Manhattan's book, "The Vatican's Holocaust," which not only covers the attrocities enacted by the Vatican Crime Organization, but also how it was covered up. A must read for folks who are interested in history.
This guy was one sick individual. It is described in "The Vatican's Holocaust," how a Nazi had a meeting with Pavelic. He saw on Ante's desk what looked like a bag of oysters. During their conversation, he became more and more curious about this. When he asked Ante about the oysters, Pavelic informed him they were a gift from his Ustashi, but they weren't oysters, they were Serb eyeballs.
Nice fella, eh. His moves were controlled by both Pacelli and Stepinac (whom I informed you has a high school in New York named after him).
When the allies took control over Yugoslavia, Ante Pavelic fled, one time hiding as a nun in a convent. This was common practice for the Vatican to protect genocidal war criminals, especially those with enough money to pay for their protection. They eventually managed to smuggle this war criminal and so many others to Argentina, as well as the U.S. and Australia, where they often kept up their desire to create a Catholic world, but their dreams, thankfully, did not come true.
These folk were so sick and twisted they turned Nazi stomachs, if you can believe that, and you should.
After orthodox Serbs were rounded up, those who weren't outright slaughtered or deported, were often sent to Jasenovac.
[Side note, in one town where the Ustashi took up the annhilation tactic, they even took folks into the local butcher shop and actually butchered them].
Jaseovac was very horrific. Good Catholic folks would often do things like, rape women, slaughter women, starve and slaughter children, chop peoples heads off with axes, saw peoples heads off, have throat cutting contests, and other such gruesome activities. It would seem that the Vatican got the idea that god was an idiot when he handed down the law of "thou shalt not kill." And all of this done not only by members of the Roman Catholic Church, but by its clergy as well who often participated directly in much of the slaughter.
All of this was covered up with the help of the U.S. The Vatican, seeing their fascist allies starting to fade, quickly switched sides. They started a supperssion and misinformation campaign that has helped, to this day, to keep this bit of information from the global populace. Tito's commies were starting to try some of the Catholic participants, which came to an end when Tito signed a treaty with the Vatican Crime Organization and took up a campaign of suppression and misinformation as well. Musta been some money in that, I'm sure, but it is not clearly explained in "The Vatican's Holocaust."
With their fascist allies vanquished from power, they Vatican under Pius XII, decided to take its aggression to Russia. Russia, afterall, even under commie rule, had millions of Orthodox practitioners that Pacelli, Pius XII, just couldn't stand the idea of them being alive.
Pius XII took his campaign to the U.S.
Francis Matthews, a fanatical Catholic, was appointed secretary of the Navy. In an August 25th, 1950 speech in Boston, he "called upon the USA to launch an attack upon Soviet Russia in order to make the American people 'the first agressors for peace.' 'As the initiators of a war of aggression,' he added, 'it would win for us a pound of popular title: we would become the first aggerssors for peace." [pg. 188, The Vatican's Holocaust", by Arvo Manhattan.]
That's right, the Vatican was trying to instigate a nuclear holocaust against Russia to rid them of their Orthodox practioners.
These crazy folks were even in Portland:
"On August 6th, 1949, Catholic MacGrath, Attorney General, addressing the Catholic "storm troopers: of the USA--namely the Knights of Columbus--at their convention in Portland, Oregon, urged Catholics "to rise up and put on the armour of the Church militant in the battle to save Christianity." (Christianity, of course, meaning for a Catholic the Catholic Church.) He further urged "a bold offensive." [Pg 186 ibid.]
Armed with other Catholics Fanatics within the U.S. government, Pius XII went to work in getting his war with Russia.
"Catholic Secretary of Defense, James "Forrestal, methodically briefed by the Vatican on the Communist menace, became so convinced of the inevitability of a USA-Russian atomic showdown that he even helped Pius XII to win the election in 1948-9 by contributing funds from his own salary to the Italian Catholics.
One day he dashed along a Washington street, shouting that the Russian armies had landed in the capital. During the night of 21-22 May, 1949, he jumped from a window on the 16th floor of a Bethseda Naval Hospital and was killed instantly." [pg 187 ibid.]
In 1956, the Catholics helped lead a revolution against the communist government of Hungary. They even had plans to have one of their own, a fella named Mindzenty, head the new Catholic government. When the communists shut it down, the Vatican did not get their nuclear war. It was their idea to encourage the U.S. to place nuclear weapons in Hungary and use them against Russia.
"The expected war did not take place, although the world went once more to 'the brink.' Fear gripped the nations of Europe. At the Vatican, however, the Pope, instead of appealing for peace and working for the prevention of hostilities, initiated a mass hate campaign, unparalleled by any modern pontiff. He went so far , in his daily incitement of the Catholic millions against the Reds, as to stir up such billigerancy that even London's sober The Times Described "what almost amounts to a crusade of Christendom." [pg 195, ibid.]
The Vatican's genocidal desires are pretty much summed up in these few paragraphs from "The Vatican's Holocaust," by Arvo Manhattan.
"Whatever the merits or demerits of the mutual American-Russian antagonism, the fact remains that Pius XII, far from labouring to diminsh the peril, did his utmost to aggrandise it, in order to overthrow an ideological enemy, the better to overcome a religious foe--namely, the Russian Orthodox Church--whom the Vatican had been fighting vainly for the preceding one thousand years.
"The occupation of Russia by the West would have spelled the potential control of the Orthodox Church by the Papacy. Chatholic control would have meant but one thing: Orthodox absorption into the Catholic fold via persuasion or force, throughout the Russian occupied territories.
"In short, a repetition of the Croatian experiment on a scale involving no longer one, but hundreds of millions of Orthodox believers.
"In Pope Pius XII's daring calculations, therefore, the outbreak of World War III would have done for the Orthodox Church of Russia what World War II had done for the Orthodox Church of Croatia." [pg 200, ibid]
For people interested in hearing the stories that you aren't supposed to hear, this book is a must. It gives one an idea of the structure behind the Vatican and what it's real desires are.
With the constant idea that Christianity is good, and that Christian organizations are lead by good folk, one should read this, because it isn't just the Vatican.I also suggest you watch "Religulous," a documentary film by Bill Maher.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
76 Years and a Day
My dad, Louis Wilbur Johnson, would have been 76 yesterday. Where does the time fly?
I remember when I was a wee lad, and could still walk relatively comfortably under the dinner table. My dad used to sneak up on me, and I would do a quick turn around and pull a punch. One day, he snuck up a little faster and I punched him right in the nose. Boy did it bleed.
One time I was sitting in my dads lap, I musta been about four, and I thought it would be a good idea to show my dad a new skill my Uncle Harry had taught me, head butting. I nailed dad right on the nose and dad spanked me, the one and only time he spanked me.
I remember one time I wanted a pair of cowboy boots. I got dressed up and wore my cowboy boots and had to have my hair like my dads. He used greasy kid stuff and had a wave in front as dark and black as an ocean wave at night. That night, I did too. I think we went to Portland Wrestling or something like that that evening. Somewhere, there is a photograph of me in my little outfit with my hair styled like my dads. I was so proud.
At my dad's 20th high school reunion (I think the 20th), he received hippy beads for being the lad with the longest hair. I think I have you beat, now, dad.
When my dad was dying, I used to go home from high school at noon and watch Perry Mason with him everyday. We'd cheer each and every one of those shows like it was a football game. Like we hadn't actually seen every episode at least a dozen times or more. Like we didn't know the outcome already.
We used to race back and forth on foot down the street to the corner store where dad would by a newspaper everyday. 10 cents was all he paid. I couldn't believe that so much paper would cost so little money. And we would laugh...OH how we would laugh.
where did I go in my mind that day?
All those memories would soon be memories
I wouldn't be able to share with you
except in dreams.
I still dream of you from time to time, dad
Your black hair still with the front wave
like Chief Joseph
but never as high as Cheif Joseph's.
No ones hair should be higher than
Chief Joseph's.
I always think you are alive in my dreams,
like a mistake had been made,
and when we hug...
I realize you are not alive
but just visiting in my dreams
and we go on our merry way
about doing what fathers and sons
would do together
as we age.
But you remain ageless, now.
The same as when I saw you
days before your death.
You are still alive in me, dad,
and today,
I miss you...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Dylan Thomas Lives On
at 59mph
in a 25,500 GVW truck
with an 8,000 pound load
while listening to Dylan Thomas
read prose and poetry
in his first Caedmon recording
from 1952
in his rhythmic
accented voice
while writing poetry of my own
is probably not the safest thing
I've ever done,
nor the most dangerous.
I won't be winning any safety awards
should my bosses read this on my blog,
in this log,
or anywhere else for that matter.
A poets fame
has given way
to new pop stars of the day.
Words exercise
the mind into thought
in the spaces in between the
letters, words, and paragraphs
to shoot out like THUNDER AND LIGHTENING
in the pauses,
Dylan Thomas might say.
Fillling emptiness
in the soup tourine
of a thought
that wasn't there
until the space between the words
offered you the power
to think for yourself.
Inspiration comes where it may,
like
while hurtling down the road
at 59mph
in a 25,500 GVW truck
with an 8,000 pound load
while listening to Dylan Thomas
on the Caedmon recordings
made so many years ago...
at the keyboard of a computer...
pen to page...
bathroom wall...
If hurtling down the freeway
is when inspiration hits,
better to record it,
before one forgets.
"Mitakuye Oyasin" on at a New Time
Last night, Dean Lookinghawk and I did the first "Mitakuye Oyasin" at its new time, 6-7pm on Thursdays. I didn't go too bad considering we had a guest and a backup guest lined up, and both backed out, so we had to shoot from the hip, which is not an unusual occurence.
We were to have Russell Means, but due to health issues, he wasn't up to talking to us on the phone. Our back up guest, Ward Churchill, was busy with something else. We plan on getting these folks on future programs.
We talked about Ward's judge overturning the jury's decision that he was fired for exercising his constituional rights and set the case in favor of the University of Colorado. This will be fought in court.
We also talked about the Dine and the current U.S. led program to poison their sheep to get the traditionals off of their land so folks can steal their resources, like coal.
We also talked briefly about the "Vatican's Holocaust" by Arvo Manhattan. I have a few pages left and will review it at a future date.
The Last "Indian World"
Sorry for the week lateness on this post. Last week was the last "Indian World" on KBOO. John Talley gave it a good 34 year run. The show was cancelled as KBOO readjusts its programming. His fellow programmers, however, are working on a proposal for a new program and may they get on thei air sometime soon. Here is a link to hear the last program. Unfortunately because of his health, John didn't make it in person, but he did call in.
The show.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
"What's That You're Eating?"
The premise of "Food, Inc.," is basically showing folks what they are eating. It shows how animals get treated in industrialized farming. It explains how food gets processed. It explains briefly how the meat packers union grew into a powerful union to being busted by the big agri business and how they EXPLOIT alleged "illegal immigrant" labor, often working hand in hand with immigration cops to have their employees (some having worked for the company for years) deported.
Here was an interesting point Shusli brought up. The film shows a meat farmer who grows his cattle, pigs, and chickens naturally. In one scene, they show he and his workers placing chickens upside down in a cone shaped tube then cutting their throats. As the chickens are getting placed in these things they scream in what sounds like the word, "NO!" People gasped at this scene all around us (what little audience there was considering the day). Seeing the chickens throat cut and hearing them scream seemed to be too much for such soft hearted folks. However, we didn't hear anyone gasp at the downer cows getting forced to their broken legged feet via fork lift. Nor did they gasp at the film footage of cows who spend most of their lives standing ankle deep in their own shit. Nor did they flinch at the industrial butchering of chickens. Nor did audience wince at the sight of the industrialized chicken round up. Nor did the audience stir in their seat at the disturbing sight of the chicken rancher going through thousands of chickens in a coup and gathering those left dead on the coop floor. Didn't even breathe heavy at the sight of the chickens with breasts so big they could only take a few steps before they fell back to the ground in their own feces. It did bother them, however, to see a natural farmer cut the throats of screaming chickens and prepare the meat for sale.
The weirdest thing was watching this factory that made hamburgers for 70% of all fast food restaurants. The end product did not look like meat. I've eaten some of this stuff, just a few days ago, in fact.
It is also pointed out how it is easier and cheaper for folks to buy these cheap heavily subsidized foods in the form of $1 hamburgers at your local chain. It is cheaper than buying vegies and fruits but it has a high price in health as it is predicted 1 in 3 people will develop diabetes. It's cheap, but it has a hidden price.
I first read about them in a FoodDay at a laundry mat. I usually don't read the newspaper insert, but I was bored and it was there so I read an article about them and thought they were the coolest people.
They worked in high tech, but since they were in Love and got married, the company frowned upon that, so they started a naturally grown chicken farm, called Kookoolan's. Through trial and error, they learned the way to do it right and have brought the people their wonderful business.
They have a store outside of Yamhill and Shusli and I are making plans on visiting it sometime in the weeks to come. They grow their poultry the way they were meant to be grown and thus, cost more but have FAR LESS of the unseen costs to our health that industrial farming causes and not just through the ingestion of industrial food products.
I bought a chicken from these folks when they were at People's Food Co-Op Farmers Market a few years ago, which they don't do anymore. The chicken looked totally different. Much longer, less fat...far less fat. You really have to see the difference. There is a completely noticeable difference. I also bought a dozen duck eggs and a dozen chicken eggs. MOST EXCELLENT!
Because of prices, like most folks, food like this seems frivilous and we don't always have a food budget that makes food like this common for us. However, after watching how a fella travelled 300 miles ONE-WAY to purchase meat from the natural grower featured in "Food, Inc.," I'd have to say the hour or so journey ONE-WAY will be worth it once we have the food budget.
Today in a sudden urge, Shusli and I went to a local farmer's market and bought two flats of them. It is late in the season, and won't be available soon. We plan on making jam.
T'is the season for farmer's markets, and "Food, Inc.," and so many other sources say that it is best to buy from the farmers themselves. Here here!
We are so disconnected from our food sources. Shusli brings wild foods home from time to time (cattails, recentlyy) and they are excellent. Seeing the folks who grow your food...EXCELLENT. There is a TREMENDOUS DISCONNECT between us and our food which allows folks like Monsanto to do medical experiments upon our bodies with some of the crazy shit they are doing to and putting into our foods.
So, go pick your own food. Buy food directly from the folks that grew it. Buy meat that is grown naturally. Etc.
This may not be a magic pill that suddenly changes the whole world, but "what's that you're eating?" It might as well be something good for you bought from someone who doesn't want to perform medical experiments on you OR YOUR CHILDREN without your knowledge or consent.
For more information read Shusli's post about "Food, Inc." We wrote our posts at the same time, but both our posts expand upon the film together in a way we find...tasty.
Something to think about.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia, 1480-1519, was the bastard daughter of Roderigo Borgia, who later became pope alexander the sixth. It is apparent that Lucrezia's most horrific evil turns out to be having a sexual appetite, which was not uncommon to ANYBODY EVEN THE POPE in those good old days. She may have had incest sex with her father and brother, but there is no proofs behind this. Incest was rather common back in those days and rather accepted as well as the sexual deviancy of the pope.
Turns out Lucrezia was a rather decent administrator as well as Duchess of Ferrara during the last half of her life.
All that aside, I really don't want to talk about Lucrezia, as the book, "Lucrezia Borgia" taught me a lot about the vatican and the papacy which I found much more interesting than Lucrezia.
The popes often had a large sexual appetite. It was not unusual for popes to have many bastard children. pope alexander the sixth had 8, including Lucrezia. The man loved to fuck and it was common knowledge and acceptabe behavior back in the good old days.
The popes also loved to kill, in spite of god's law that "thou shalt not..." The popes had their own armies. I had always thought that back when Chris Columbus started his campaigns of genocide against us in the Western Hemisphere that Italy was the nation state that it is today. Nope! There were many different states within the nation and most were at war with each other, often horrifically brutal. The vatican was often warring and killing right out there with the aristocracy. The popes were often greedy for power and land. Nothing much has really changed if you look carefully enough at the vatican Criminal Organization today.
I am also currently reading "The Vatican's Holocaust," by Arvo Manhattan. I will give a review of that book when I am finished. The papacy was heavily involved with the fascists during WWII and the priests and ingelligentsia were often involved in the slaughter of Orthodox Serbs in Croatia and throughout Yugoslavia. So the history of the criminal organization known as the vatican is quite interesting. One is given the perception that these folks are good followers of the laws of god, but are honestly brutal, violent, deviant, sick and twisted more often than not.
Listenting to "Lucrezia Borgia" taught me a lot about the historical patterns of the criminal organization known as the vatican, currently headed by the Nazi pope ratzinger.
To quote Mark Twain, and poorly, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme."
