(from wikipedia.com)
Zeitgeist: The Movie is a 2007 documentary-style film by Peter Joseph. It presents a number of conspiracy theory-based ideas, including a version of the Christ myth theory, alternative explanations for the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the claim that bankers manipulate both the media and the international monetary system.
The film was released online on June 18, 2007, on zeitgeistmovie.com. While the film has been praised by some for the professional-level quality of its pacing and editing, and for its compelling narrative, it has been criticized for factual inaccuracies and the quality of its arguments, with critics describing it as "agitprop" and "propaganda".
Zeitgeist incorporates elements of the LaRouche movement. The film opens with animated abstract visualizations, film and stock footage, a cartoon and audio quotes about spirituality by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, followed by clips of war, explosions, and the September 11 attacks. This is followed by the film's title screen. The film's introduction ends with a portion of the late comedian George Carlin's monologue on religion accompanied by an animated cartoon. The rest of the film, divided into three parts, is narrated by Peter Joseph.
(from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyon)
". . . Now I saw in my Dream, that just as they had ended this talk, they drew near to a very Miry Slow that was in the midst of the Plain, and they being heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bogg. The name of the Slow was Dispond. Here therefore they wallowed for a time, being grievously bedaubed with the dirt; And Christian, because of the burden that was on his back, began to sink in the Mire.
Pli. Then said Pliable, Ah, Neighbour Christian, where are you now?
Chr. Truly, said Christian, I do not know.
Pli. At that Pliable began to be offended; and angerly, said to his Fellow, Is
this the happiness you have told me all this while of? if we have such
ill speed at our first setting out, What may we expect, 'twixt this and
our Journeys end? May I get out again with my life, you shall possess
the brave Country alone for me. And with that he gave a desperate
struggle or two, and got out of the Mire, on that side of the Slow which
was next to his own House: So away he went, and Christian saw him no more.
Wherefore Christian was left to tumble in the Slough of Despond
alone; but still he endeavored to struggle to that side of the slough
that was farthest from his own house, and next to the wicket-gate; the
which he did, but could not get out because of the burden that was upon
his back: but I beheld in my dream, that a man came to him, whose name
was Help, and asked him what he did there. . . "
Slough of Despond
by John P. Graboski
Performed by Oho June 1, 2013
at at The 2nd Annual 5th Street Music Festival Block Party Thingy
(by Charlie Reese, a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper)
"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. ( The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.)
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?( John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. ) If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ..
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!"
The architect behing the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, wants to build a vacuum. At least that what he asked his captors for permission to do.
His CIA handlers agreed. The logic in approving the request, was that it would the preserve prisoner's sanity so he will stay mentally fit to someday stand trial.
Mohammed earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University.
A former senior CIA official indicated that after 183
episodes of waterboarding and 180 hours of sleep deprivation, the vacuum was a good idea because “We didn’t want him to go nuts”.
A
U.S. special operations commander has ordered files about the raid and
assassination of Osama Bin Laden sent to the CIA and purged from Defense
Dept. records appearing to have bypassed federal rules and possibly the
U.S. Freedom of Information Act. A CIA spokesman said it is "absolutely
false" that records were moved to the CIA to avoid the legal
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. The records transfer was
part of an effort to protect the names of the personnel involved in the
raid, according to the inspector general's draft report. Moving those
records did allow the Pentagon to tell The Associated Press that it
couldn't find any documents inside the Defense Department when the
latter had requested them more than two years ago, and would represent a
new strategy for the U.S. government to shield even its most sensitive
activities from public scrutiny. (Thanks to
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/08/19353473-pentagon-secretly-moved-bin-laden-raid-files-to-keep-them-from-public?lite)
I
could be wrong, and I certainly am no lawyer, but it seems to me that
in the George Zimmerman murder trial, some of the defense's arguments
are just plain missing the point. If Trayvon Martin actually texted
someone in the past about purchasing a weapon, does that mean he
deserved to die?
If Trayvon Martin actually had traces of
marijuana in his system, does that mean he deserved to die? If Trayvon
Martin was on top of George Zimmerman at some point in the scuffle, does
that mean he deserved to die? George Zimmerman was intentionally
following Trayvon Martin for a period of time. When the two finally
clashed, Trayvon Martin actually put up a fight. Does that mean Trayvon
Martin deserved to die?
In many photos of George
Zimmerman, he appears to be introspective to the point of remorse. The
entire situation was most certainly unfortunate, to say the least.
Maybe the prosecution was overzealous in seeking a second-degree murder
charge?
And without a doubt in my mind, Florida's
'Stand Your Ground' (or as I prefer 'The Cowboy Law') is one of the most
stupid laws of which I have EVER heard!
(from The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic by John Shelby Spong)
". . . How difficult it is for religious people to embrace an unbounded God. We have through our history sought to define God as a particular being, albeit one possessing supernatural power. With God defined as a being, we then had to locate God in a place. Ultimately that place was thought to be somewhere above the sky in a three-tiered universe. Then we had to build for this God earthly dwelling places that we called "houses of worship."
Next, we began to assert that God's very words were captured in the words of our sacred scriptures. Then we convinced ourselves that God's very nature could be defined in our creeds, doctrines and dogmas. We then built mythologies around each of these human creations, assuring ourselves that God was content to live within our developed theological and liturgical limits.
When these "sacred idols" began to be destroyed by the expansion of human knowledge, we acted as if God had died. The God who lived above the sky was rendered homeless when we began to embrace the infinity of space; yet we continued to address God as "our Father who art in heaven." Next, the scriptures, which we once thought of as God's literal words, began to be understood as tribal tales and as human interpretations; but when we read then in public worship, we still asserted that "this is the word of the Lord." Then the creeds, the doctrines and the dogmas-which, we asserted, had captured God's revelation-began to be understood as political and cultural compromises; but we, in our fear, had in the past invested these human forms with such authority that those who questioned them were burned at the stake as heretics, and we claimed the word "orthodox" for our own human formulations. . ."
