20 Amazing Facts About the Human Body | Alternet

20 Amazing Facts About the Human Body | Alternet

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS IN A PLUTOCRACY

You get a start in the "business" world. You don't do very well, so you decide to use the "revolving door" and sign up with the government and become a soldier in the bureaucratic army. You spend a few years working your way up a few grades on the pay scale. Just long enough to throw a few favors to the guys you are supposed to be regulating. Then comes pay back time and back through the door you go; back to the place you regulated (or should I say, pretended to regulate) And, guess what, there's a nice cushy office and fat paycheck waiting for you.  That's how it works folks.
Read more about it here;
Lanny Breuer, Justice Dept.'s Criminal Division Chief, Says He Will Step Down : NPR

ANOTHER HOSTAGE SITUATION

Here we go again. The talking point is the same; "TOO BIG TO FAIL" The economy will collapse if we jail a banker or two, or three.

Who are they kidding? Are Americans so dumb that they would protect the people that almost destroyed their way of life because of some absurd threat that they actually had the power to bring this country to it's knees? Maybe the institutions as a whole can, but not the individual clowns at the top. They bleed like the rest of us.

I realize we have a government that's been shrinking or corrupted so bad that large institutions like banks and oil companies can get away with murder. But we are just talking about people here, not to be confused with those "other" people the Supreme Court created. These are just guys with titles and large bank accounts with egos to match. Sort of a "super sized" Bernie Madoff.  They're not infallible like the Pope, for God's sake!

It's as plain as day that these men are "beyond a reasonable doubt" guilty of perjury, fraud, extortion, and a slew of other grave crimes against the people of these United States. Like the gun nuts like to proclaim, we have rights that demand defending under the Constitution. Number one being, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

What these bankers did violated all three of these tenets.  and it's high time the President and his AG got to work on it.

Bill Moyers and Matt Taibbi: Everyone Pays If the Banksters Don't Go to Jail

I'M A CATHOLIC!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 Johann Wagener 2-2-13

And to those of you who might hold that against me, all I ask it that you allow me the opportunity to explain before you judge or criticize me. That's the Christian thing to do, isn't it? 

I was baptized Catholic at birth, received the Holy Ghost at around 8 or 9, and was “confirmed” a Catholic a few years later.  Even after all the scandals and the discomfort I have felt since childhood when  undressing around men, I continue to “practice” my religion. 

Not the way I was taught, mind you. Just bits and pieces salvaged over the years of tormenting myself, thinking something was “wrong” with me. That I just didn’t act the way I should at times, or I had a “bad” thought about someone. Sometimes it was about something as trivial as eating candy during Lent. No matter. The feelings of guilt were ever present.   I was told that relief (absolution) could be found in the confessional if I came clean with the shadow behind the screen. I heard the mumbling voice say something like, “go in peace my son and sin no more.” 

Sad to say I seldom felt relieved; probably because I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd be back to unload another pile of guilt ridden secrets, again, in hopes of getting some relief.

I still go to church; every day in fact. I show up around the same time, after everyone’s gone. Sometimes I go inside, but most often I park myself on a bench in a small grotto occupied by statues of Jesus and Mary, beautiful plants, a few birds and, every so often, a lizard I named Fred who comes out from behind a rock to tan.

I don’t come for confession or a mass, or to share in the singing or handshaking. That’s not what it’s about for me. I show up at God’s house, unannounced but feeling invited, to have a one-to-one personal conversation with Him. No middle-man. No interpreting what I need to say. I come not only to speak, but to listen. Not to a sermon, but to the voice in my head that I believe is connected to something much deeper.

Some would say I practice a form of “Gnosticism” an obscure practice banned and shunned long ago by some powerful people who felt threatened for some reason. Not being a historian, I’m not sure why, but I suspect it might have something to do with having a personal, rather than communal, relationship with God.  I discovered that, using the personal approach, my relationship with Jesus and Mary couldn’t be better. It’s simple and straightforward. No rituals required. No singing and chanting or elaborate celebrations. Just a small obscure grotto an a few minutes of my time is more than enough. Those few minutes I have with Jesus and His mother Mary never fails to leave me feeling that sense of the relief I desperately sought.

I discovered that the rules I grew up with were more about the men who made them than about what God wanted from me. I came to realize that the despair and disillusionment I suffered was a result of my looking for God elsewhere other than in myself. After that the path to Heaven, the difference between good and evil, the way to connect with God, was all spelled out for me from the day I was born. I realized that those who said I would always need a guide (those who God entrusted with the keys to the Kingdom) were referring to what was in their best interest, not mine. The best I could hope for was that, on my last day here, I would be told I was worthy enough to enter the Kingdom. That is, if I was lucky enough to have someone there to give me Last Rites.

Imagine how relieved I was when I discovered that I entered this life with the “keys to heaven” in hand. I didn’t need to follow rules or take direction from a guide to enter the Promised Land. 

All I needed was “faith” (knowing without knowing) that God, as came to understand Him was a part of who I am. Joined at the hip, if you will.  And that the relationship would last forever; unconditionally, simply maintained, and forever lasting.  What more could I ask for? 

Action against Cardinal Mahony: Readers aren't impressed

FORGIVE THEM FATHER

 Johann Wagener 2-1-13

For they no not what they do.  That might have been an accurate assessment by Jesus of the mob of angry and crazed people that screamed for His blood.  

As a full-fledged born and raised Catholic who to this day is uncomfortable undressing around those of my same sex, I’m not so sure Jesus would say the same about those His Father put in charge of His Church. Men, like Cardinal Mahoney, are the poster boys of the church, not a ranting mob of rag-tagged villagers. People like Cardinal Mahoney don’t hesitate to proclaim  that they are God’s messengers, chosen and ordained to lead those who follow His teachings to the “Kingdom of Heaven”. They are the “princes” of the Church!

Amazing how some of the darkest acts are perpetrated in the brightest places. The Church is God’s house of worship. Those that God ordained are entrusted to not only preach God’s word, but also practice it. They are the shepherds we flock to for guidance and comfort as we struggle down the path of salvation. These are the people who proclaim to have the “Keys to the Kingdom.”  All we need to do is follow their rules, confess our secrets to them, and put a little in the plate when it comes around. What we receive in return is absolution and forgiveness for our shortcomings and, if we hang in there, a place in Heaven.  It’s a no-brainer.

Amazing how we then discover that some of the darkest acts in human nature occur in some of the brightest places on earth. Some of these messengers of God are literally raping our children. No, not all of them are; just a few are bad apples. The problem is those we trust to keep the apple barrel free of rot are not doing their job. It’s not that they don’t know. It’s hiding in plain sight as all the memo’s released by the Church reveal. As with other cries against humanity it’s not act itself, but the “cover up” that cause the most damage. In this instance ignoring and covering up what was going on gave perpetrators free reign to do the “Devil’s” work in God’s house.

Spokesman for the Church say, “That was in the past. Forgive and forget”.  We need to move on. Similar to the talking points used after the Inquisition.  

There’s a saying; “The Buck Stops Here,” that leaders use when those in the ranks get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

In this case it looks like the buck stops with Archbishop Gomez. The priests were defrocked. The Cardinal was relieved of his duties. We spent millions of parishioner’s dollars, earmarked to feed the starving, house the homeless, treat the sick, to compensate the victims.

Moving on implies that the problem is solved. We are asked to accept that what happened was a localized and isolated event which requires ignoring reality. Back to business as usual, ignoring that this is a systemic “global” problem perpetrated by individuals in churches scattered across the planet. It’s existence is a result of deeply rooted church policies that continue to be ignored by the hierarchy. Al the way to the feet of the man who, among a long line of others, was handed the keys to the Church who’s followers entrust their lives and souls to.  The buck needs to go much higher if the church is sincere and honest and indeed deserving of our trust


Action against Cardinal Mahony: Readers aren't impressed

INSANITY ON STEROIDS

Ron is getting a little slow on the draw in his old age. The issue is NOT about banning guns. If Ron listened and read he would find out the debate is about "assault" weapons and "high capacity" ammo clips. Depriving gun lovers of these two won't hurt any of em when it comes to owning guns unless, of course they want to overthrow the government or shoot up a school, or something like that.

I'd say to Ron, STOP! with all that flag waving. Take a look at some of the crime scene pictures from Newtown. That's insanity on steroids! That's what saner people are trying to stop.

Ron Paul says members of both parties are trying to “gut our Second Amendment freedoms”

BANG! BANG! YOU'RE DEAD!

BANG! BANG! YOU’RE DEAD!

 Johann Wagener 2-1-13

The timing couldn’t be better; at least for Rocky (Stallone) and Friends. Just when memories of the last time someone took a bullet to the head in a movie theater were fading,  “Bullet to the Head” is released in a theater near you.

A box office hit, I’m sure. After all what’s more entertaining that watching folks blowing heads off of other folks?  Maybe another look at the Aurora “Batman Movie Massacre” would help put things in perspective?

See it here; http://abcnews.go.com/US/accused-aurora-shooter-james-holmes-bought-ticket-12/story?id=18150556

In watching this replay of the Aurora “movie theater” massacre you might want to note that the shooter bought his ticket a week in advance which might give you a clue as to why things like this happen. Sometimes reality does meet up with fantasy.