West Bank Horror
This content was published September 29, 2010. … There is much hand wringing about Israel, Palestine, and the Peace Process. (That is a sentence you can use at any time. These things too shall pass away.) … A lot of this chatter misses the point. They talk about a threat to Israel, if this or that happens. There are several things wrong here. To begin with, Israel has the unquestioning support of the United States. The PR battle in the USA is the most important fight Israel has.
A “freeze” in building settlements ended recently. The word settlement is so antiseptic and painless. Settlements are not built on empty land. The people living on the land were evicted, and their homes destroyed. As Juan Cole tells the story: “The poor Palestinians of East Jerusalem have few assured human or civil rights. Anyone may do anything to them at any time, and they have little recourse. They can be thrown out of property they legally purchased after 1948, and made to live in tents in front of their former residences; and then the tents can be demolished by Israeli police. Aggressive, larcenous Jewish squatters continually attempt to effect a slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, using fraud and sometimes force.
The 55,000 Palestinians of the Silwan area (formerly a village but now annexed to Jerusalem) are mad as hell and not going to take it any more. Three hundred militant settlers have been inserted in their midst on the basis of some fable that a legendary King David dwelled there in the 10th century BC (Archeology has found Jerusalem largely uninhabited in that period and has never found firm evidence of a Jewish kingdom during that era or even that a David or Solomon existed; they are not mentioned in contemporary Assyrian sources).
It is as though hundreds of armed men showed up in front of your house and demanded you take your family and leave and give it to them because their ancestor was a king and he is buried deep under its foundations. But you have the same ancestors that they do! (Jerusalem was founded some 5000 years ago by the common ancestors of most Jews and Palestinians).”
Apparently, this has gone on since 1948. An article about Israeli Author Gideon Levy tells the story of his father, who left Germany in 1939, and wound up in British Mandate Palestine. His father was traumatized by the experience of being a refugee. “Levy’s father never saw any parallels between the fact he was turned into a refugee, and the 800,000 Palestinians who were turned into refugees by the creation of the state of Israel. “Never! People didn’t think like that. We never discussed it, ever.”
Yet in the territories, Levy began to see flickers of his father everywhere – in the broken men and women never able to settle, dreaming forever of going home. Then, slowly, Levy began to realize their tragedy seeped deeper still into his own life – into the ground beneath his feet and the very bricks of the Israeli town where he lives, Sheikh Munis. It is built on the wreckage of “one of the 416 Palestinian villages Israel wiped off the face of the earth in 1948,” he says. “The swimming pool where I swim every morning was the irrigation grove they used to water the village’s groves. My house stands on one of the groves. The land was ‘redeemed’ by force, its 2,230 inhabitants were surrounded and threatened. They fled, never to return. Somewhere, perhaps in a refugee camp in terrible poverty, lives the family of the farmer who plowed the land where my house now stands.”
Many of those 800,000 wound up in the Gaza Strip. Their ancestors make up a large part of the population of Gaza. Mr. Levy tells another story. … “During Operation Cast Lead, the Israel bombing of blockaded Gaza in 2008-9, “a dog – an Israeli dog – was killed by a Qassam rocket and it on the front page of the most popular newspaper in Israel. On the very same day, there were tens of Palestinians killed, they were on page 16, in two lines.” … Sixteen years later, Gideon Levy is still at it. @gideonle “Israel has no place at Eurovision while committing atrocities in Gaza.”
But, morality aside, is this cruelty hurting Israel? Not on some esoteric level of the soul of the country, but on a practical level of survival. A blog called Unqualified Offerings makes a case that Israel has a long term plan to control the territories west of the Jordan River, and that they are winning. Israel is in a military position of strength, and might makes right. “Viewed institutionally and leaving moral questions aside, it counts as a triumph of grand strategy. Israel bought off Egypt with Egypt’s own territory. It convinced Jordan to bow out, and plain beat Syria like a rodeo clown. Lebanon could be broken any time and was, and the Lebanese were always falling all over themselves to help.
At this point, Israel has also destroyed the ability of the Palestinians to mount any consequential resistance of their own. Just as Hezbollah couldn’t occupy a single Israeli exurb in a trial of a thousand years, no Palestinian organization can stop Israel from planting its flag on any particular spot of the West Bank for so much as a week … Any large, political-military enterprise is going to have its ebb and flow. The Israeli conquest and consolidation of what we still quaintly call “the Occupied Territories” has involved tactical setbacks, occasional overreach and strategic withdrawals. The trick is not to get caught up in that. The long view is, Israel wanted control of all the territory west of the Jordan, Israel got control of all the territory west of the Jordan, Israel continues to cement its control over all the territory west of the Jordan. Everything else is details.
Turkey is not going to war for the Freedom Flotilla. It took all of a day for the United States to conclude a deal whereby Israel gets to investigate itself. The Iranians are either not trying to get nukes, or if they do get nukes will be very careful with them. The Iranians will fuck you up, but never at any substantial cost to themselves. Israel can levy a substantial cost on Iran any time it wants. The Palestinians can’t do more than annoy and neither can Hezbollah. On the other side, frequently foreigners make sad faces. I am thinking that Israel counts this among the acceptable costs.” … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken September 15, 1943. “Celebrations around the awarding of a 1943 Army Navy E Award to the Avondale Mills, Sylacauga, Alabama. This photograph is of a group of very young African-American children.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
They Bleeped “Molly”
This content was published September 28, 2013. … There is a bit of likeme trolling on facebook this morning. It is a link, Miley Cyrus Points Out Something Wrong With America — And She’s Absolutely Right. The message is from a facility called Upworthy. These missives usually have a popup ad, encouraging you to like uw on fb. The message today was a poll. “It’s nice to be reminded of the good in the world. And it should happen more often. I Agree I Disagree” I clicked disagree, and was sent through to the headline post.
Miley Cyrus has gotten attention lately. She performed at an awards show, and got people excited. I do not pay to watch TV, and missed the spectacle. Maybe this is the best approach.
The message from miss achy breaky heart is not that great. She says that some nasty things are on television, but you can’t say fuck. This is the same observation about double standards that has been around since the top half of Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show. It is just as meaningless today as ever.
Calling someone a hypocrite is a cheap argument. Whenever someone says something, you can be sure that the standards of someone else are violated. Hypocrisy is in the eye of the beholder. Two wrongs do not make a right. Not everybody agrees with you.
2025 Update: This morning I woke up with Charlie Kirk fatigue. There is so much toxicity and bad faith rhetoric. There are politicians who don’t want to let a crisis go to waste. There is the shock of seeing quotes from the deceased. There is a government story that does not make a lick of sense.
I decided to find the pictures first. I stumbled onto a story from 2013, and decided to use the text, as well as the pictures. These pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken August 16, 1949. “WBGE radio personality Roosevelt Johnson” … I found a link to the meme. Upworthy is still in business, as is mileycyrus. The quote was in Rolling Stone. Every link I clicked on was a clickbait quagmire.
Here is the quote. “America is just so weird in what they think is right and wrong. Like, I was watching Breaking Bad the other day, and they were cooking meth. I could literally cook meth because of that show. It’s a how-to. And then they bleeped out the word ‘fuck.’ And I’m like, really? They killed a guy, and disintegrated his body in acid, but you’re not allowed to say ‘fuck’? It’s like when they bleeped ‘molly’ at the VMAs. Look what I’m doing up here right now, and you’re going to bleep out ‘molly’? Whatever.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
The Limits Of Fantasy
This content was published September 17, 2009. … These thoughts are for you to use. They were articulated by a man named Don Miguel Ruiz. They are called The Four Agreements. I do not claim to live up to these ideals. Number two is especially tough. The main thing is to try, and to always do your best. This is not about what you believe or think, it is about what you do. These are agreements, not beliefs. · 1 – “Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”
2 – “Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” · 3 – “Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.” · 4 – “Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.”
This content was published September 5, 2009. … I was reading about Afghanistan while waiting for the time to go downtown. Dragon Con is in town, and the parade is at ten am. I decided to go downtown and see the costumes this year, so next year I can sleep late. Meanwhile, what is being said about Afghanistan is just as much a fantasy as DragonCon. The article is a two prong discussion… Should we be fighting in Afghanistan, and are we doing it right?
Uzi just called to say he is on his way to the train station, so this needs to be wrapped up asap. There is a man named William Kristol. He writes think pieces for various newspapers. Mr. Kristol … he had a deferment and never served in the Vietnam era military … was known as the brains behind Dan Quayle. … Mr. Kristol discusses counterinsurgency in a recent oped. The classic counterinsurgency theory is that you have you have one soldier per fifty civilians in your theater of war. Afghanistan has an *estimated* population of 28 million. Do the math.
Mr. Kristol observes: “But as the military historian Fred Kagan explains, counter-insurgency theory and experience suggest that if the Afghan National Army is expanded, as Gen. McChrystal proposes to do, and if there is a surge of several brigades of American forces “to bridge the gap between current Afghan capacity and their future capacity, while simultaneously reducing the insurgency’s capabilities,” then we would have roughly the number of forces necessary to carry out the strategy.” … The fantasy downtown will have more colorful costumes.
This content was published September 5, 2009. … I made a mistake. The preacher in front of the GP plaza held a picture board, which was poorly rendered. I made the mistake of assuming it was abortion pictures. It turns out to be an image of Jesus on the cross. … The Georgia Pacific building is on the site of the Lowes Grand Theater. On December 15, 1939, Gone With The Wind had its world premiere there. In a church choir was the ten year old Martin Luther King Jr. GWTW was about as real about the ante bellum south as the starship troopers were about intergalactic warfare. … The GP plaza is where Forsyth Street comes into Peachtree. For some reason, the wind on Forsyth Street is very strong, and this volume of air beats against the GP plaza. On DragonCon parade Saturday, the wind coming back from the plaza was a measure of revenge.
A theme of the post yesterday (see comments) was the importance of knowing fantasy from reality. The preacher was living a fantasy. Few are impressed by his rhetoric. He creates ill will for Jesus. The grossout pictures of the crucifixion do the same. I posted last week about the damage that selfish preachers do to Jesus. It should be noted that photography did not exist when Jesus lived. Nor did people speak English. That does not prevent people from calling an Aramaic to Greek to English double translation the inerrant word of God. If you believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then it is not much of a leap to believe those pictures were real.
Another problem is the placement of the spikes. The spike that held feet to a cross was driven into a spot between the Achilles heel and the bone. No bones were broken, and the feet were secured to the cross. The spikes that held the arms were driven through a space in the wrist. Here again, no bones were broken, and the arms were not going to be pulled away from the cross. In the picture, there was a rope tying Jesus to the cross at this spot, and the spike was going to go in a couple of inches up the arm. When you believe your fantasy, details are not important. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library The social media picture was taken August 15, 1949. “Davison-Paxon’s grand opening of a new part of its downtown Atlanta, Georgia, store, August 15, 1949. This photo shows the speaker’s stand outside the store, the Roxy Theatre is in the background.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Does Silence Equal Violence?
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
In Photos: Over 200 residents line the streets for Wrap the Woods pop-up
In Gaza, Does Silence Equal Violence? The era of mandatory opinion once again …
Abusive Dem Influencers EXPOSED By Journalist Taylor Lorenz
If you missed the wonderment that is Kenny @2rawtooreal Walden on my show …
Far Gone in 30 Seconds. CNN Sentences Palestine To Death Matt Taibbi (taibbi@exile.ru)
Hamas Thought Qatar Was Safe. Israel Proved Otherwise. By hosting America’s military …
Jerry Seinfeld Compares “Free Palestine” Movement to the KKK “I’m actually thinking …
Jerry Seinfeld compares ‘Free Palestine’ movement to KKK in surprise Duke appearance
The Genocide Libel: How the World Has Charged Israel with Genocide
I’d Like Gretchen Felker-Martin To Stop Tweeting Violent And Sexual Things About Me
Witnesses Assumed Charlie Kirk Shooter Was Just Ordinary Gunman On School Campus
Man arrested in Charlie Kirk’s killing had no known criminal history, had become …
What is Discord? Tyler Robinson allegedly used platform to talk about rifle, bullets
These States Still Allow You To Ride In Truck Beds By Chino Ortiz Sept. 11, 2025 5:25 pm EST
The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice – T. Coraghessan Boyle Reads “The Pool”
A Trip to the Dragon’s Lair … we spotlight Ken Kesey’s house in La Honda.
Paul De Carli: Hanging out with Ken Kesey on Perry Lane by Linda Hubbard
The Drug Hero Of The 50s: His Daughter Tells His Story David Hoffman
Was Charlie Kirk a “Martyr for Truth”? Michael Tracey and Richard Hanania
Hitler Screwed Up His Battle Against Russia Drawn By The Desire To Take Ukraine
Hitler Said He Was A Man Who Came From Nowhere
perry lane · bella ciao · hasan nyt · non zero kirk · tyler r
cross keys football · @Liston4Ohio · discord · tyler robinson · ramon martinez
Kirk · manhunt · fedpost · gang violence · psalm 38
Juniper Street · charlie kirk · orthogonality · walk · bernie leadon
rob reiner · dennis mcnally · trump hasan · @2RawTooReal · asmr
the necks · the necks · tone generator · mondrian trust · eno · in custody
The social media picture is “Private Charles L. Poteat of Co. G, 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment.” · This is your monday morning reader for today. The picture below: “Private Charles L. Poteat of Co. G, 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment.” · “During the war, when lots of GIs were coming over to England, somebody interviewed an old farmer from Devon and said, so, how do you feel about the Americans coming over here? And the farmer said, well, they’re all right, aren’t they, except for the white ones.” · Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken September 28, 1961. Davison’s Department Store, Ellis and Peachtree Streets. · In 2012, @MZHemingway performed an anti-abortion rant on the @bloggingheads show. It was a simpler time · evidence that Israel is behind the murder of Charlie Kirk · There are times when I enjoy not being a public figure. They are expected to offer thoughts about current events, either yesterday or 24 years ago. This is a rerun of a 2009 post about weird religions. It is just text to go between the pictures · @WallStreetApes Charlie Kirk says the Left will use Islam to bring down America “The spiritual battle is coming to the West and the enemies are woke-ism or Marxism combining with Islamism to go after what we call the American way of life” “The American way of life is very simple. I want to be able to get married, buy a home, have kids, allow them to ride their bike till the sun goes down, send them to a good school, have a low crime neighborhood, not to have my kid be taught the lesbian, gay, transgender garbage in their school. While also, not having them have to hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day. That’s important.” “These two threats are combining forces to come after us.” · This is how I learned about Charlie Kirk: @RealCandaceO Everyone please stop what you are doing and pray for Charlie Kirk. Please. · The time Rodney Dangerfield met Charlie Sheen: “So, we’re in the elevator. He says, “Hey, kid. What are you, Puerto Rican?” And I said, “No, I’m Spanish-Irish.” And he says, “Ah, you don’t know whether to start a parade or start a war.” And it’s like doors open and he just walks out.” · “… the scriptures of the past compare to the writings of a present-day Perfect Master just about the way that dust compares to honey.” · Senator Beth Liston @Liston4Ohio I have cancelled a planned legislative trip to Israel. My hope had been to learn and ask tough questions of the Israeli government actions, particularly related to humanitarian aide in Gaza. I am grateful to the constituents who helped me see the harm of this approach. 1/5 … What I decided was that I didn’t just need to guard against propaganda. I WAS the propaganda in this sponsored trip. I did not want to be used as a tool in support of the Israeli government actions. I cancelled the trip. 4/5 · There was a Cross Keys post office as early as 1846, near the present day intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Ashford Dunwoody Road. Nobody knows why the post office was called Cross Keys, or why the High School was named that · In 2013, The Washington Post published a story about Syria, and the civil war there. It looks odd 12 years later · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress John Collier Jr. took the social media picture in November 1942. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (vicinity). Montour no. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Company. Miners’ wives learning first aid. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Syria
This content was published September 1, 2013. … There was a feature in the Washington Post, 9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask. The WP is corporate media. The 9 questions had very little to say about Israel. This is curious. Israel is a powerful country that Syria is, technically, at war with. As conspiracy happy as the Middle East is, you would think there is something to say.
I did a search for Israel. Out of 2900 words in the article, Israel comes up twice. … “The Cold War is long over, and most of the region long ago made peace with Israel and the United States; the Assad regime’s once-solid ideological and geopolitical identity is hopelessly outdated. But Bashar al-Assad, who took power in 2000 when his father died, never bothered to update it.” · “Iran’s thinking in supporting Assad is more straightforward. It perceives Israel and the United States as existential threats and uses Syria to protect itself, shipping arms through Syria to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.”
As is often the case online, the comments are more revealing than the main article. · “You also left out the threat that Iran has made about using nuclear arms against Israel if the US intervenes in Syria. Israel is being used as a pawn in this stupid game of chess.” · “Regarding the chemical weapon attack, only two options appear to be being considered – that it was the Syrian Regime or the Opposition forces that discharged the weapon. What about the third alternative – that an outside force such as Mossad (Israel) or the Iranians discharged these weapons … to provoke the United Sates into retaliation and involvement.” · “… the rebels opposing Assad are not all civilians who took up arms; … most of them are former Syrian soldiers who deserted to join the rebels. And seriously, if you think that “most of the region long ago made peace with Israel and the United States”, you lose all credibility in writing about “the region” – you’re blinded by your love for Israel and don’t understand anything about the Arabs …”
Pictures are from Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken in 1946. “University of Georgia girls playing baseball, Athens, Georgia.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Cross Keys
This content was published September 19, 2023. … Mr. Bear “Speaking of obscure, do you remember the location of a restaurant downtown called the “Cross Keys”. There’s a photo of it in the Georgia State Library archives, but no notation of its location other than it appears to be near a big Gulf Oil lighted sign.” · chamblee54 “I have seen that picture. There is a historic brass marker near Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry. Apparently there was some kind of trail crossing there called Cross Keys. Full disclosure: I went to Cross Keys High School. Nobody ever talked about what Cross Keys was. Google is not much help, except for an 1862 Battle of Cross Keys in Virginia.” This is a repost.
Some helpful person sent a couple of links, and soon I was learning about Cross Keys… the militia district, not the school. Apparently, Cross Keys was centered around the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry. The crossroads is a doozy … the two major thoroughfare are combined into a hundred yard stretch of asphalt, only to separate again at a red light. Both roads run between Peachtree and I-285. One goes through pill hill, and the other leads to Perimeter Mall. None of this was going on when the Post Office was built in 1846.
“Historical records provide that the militia district of “Cross Keys” was established in 1827 and continued to be referenced as such at least as late as 1951. Prior to 1827 the only Federal post in the region was known as “Cross Keys,” and subsequently, “Old Cross Keys,” when the post moved to near current City of Chamblee just prior to Sherman’s March. … The area was increasingly settled by farming families during the first quarter of the 19th century. As land concessions were signed with the Creek (Muscogee) Nation between 1818 and 1821 more land was made available via grants to European settlers. While the mascots and symbols of “Indians” at Cross Keys High School are culturally inaccurate and reflect garb and headdresses of nomadic tribes of the mid and far west, it is a fitting and ironic tribute to the Muscogee Native Americans who long thrived on the same land. … The area remained primarily an agricultural community until the acquisition by the United States Army of a large tract of land in heart of the district in July of 1917. This tract became Camp Gordon, an infantry training and artillery cantonment. Part of that original 2,400 acres later became a Naval Air Station at the current site of Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.”
“There was a Cross Keys post office as early as 1846, when the postmaster was James A. Reeve.” A marker at Johnson Ferry and Ashford Dunwoody Road in Brookhaven gives this history for Old Cross Keys: “Ante-bellum crossroads settlement & post office, James Reeve (1792-1852) Post Master & merchant. Prior to 1864 the Post Office was removed to a point between Chamblee and Doraville where, name unchanged it was known as Cross Keys Post Office. To distinguish the one from the other, this place was called Old Cross Keys & was cited in Federal dispatches, maps & reports of military operations here in 1864. At this point, a brief contact was made between the marching columns of Dodge’s 16th and Schofield’s 23rd A.C. July 18, both enroute to Decatur from Chattahoochee River crossings.”
“Samuel House was one of the early settlers of this area, arriving in 1830. In 1850, he built a brick home that is now part of the Peachtree Golf Club. General Sherman spent the night at the home on July 18, 1864 and described it as “a brick house well known and near old Cross Keys.” … The name Cross Keys is referenced in Civil War records. Special orders from General James McPherson on July 16, 1864 instructs “The fifteenth Army Corps, Major General John A. Logan commanding, will move out from its present position at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow on the road leading to Cross Keys, following this road to a point near Providence Church, where he will take a left hand road (sometimes called the upper Decatur road, and proceed on this until he reaches Nancy’s creek, where he will take up a good position on each side of the road and go into bivouac.”
Major General William T. Sherman also issued orders on July 18. At the 15:00 mark of this lecture (no source available), the speaker quotes a dispatch to Gen. James Birdseye McPherson. “I am at Sam House’s, a brick house well known, and near old Cross Keys … a sick negro is the only human being left on the premises … we are eleven miles from Atlanta, five from Buckhead, and the signboard says ten miles to McCaffrey’s bridge and eleven to Roswell.” Four days later, Gen. McPherson was killed, in what is now East Atlanta Village.
There is little indication about why this area was called Cross Keys. In 1827, this was the middle of nowhere. “The symbol of the “crossed keys” itself traces to early Christian representations of the “keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth” famously offered by Jesus to Peter according to Matthew 16:19.” The phrase Cross Keys does not appear in the verse.
No one seems to know much about the Cross Keys restaurant. The GSU picture is dated November 8, 1951. A postcard gives the address as 237 Peachtree Street, and has the address of a CKR in Nashville. The Nashville restaurant is mentioned in a WSB-TV film from May 13, 1963. “African American students protest segregation at two restaurants in town. … a white doorman outside the Cross Keys Restaurant. African American students march on the sidewalk … where police forcefully push the demonstrators away and let white people through the crowds.”
Two articles were quoted in this post: Going way back to Cross Keys · Every few years I tell the story of the name, ‘Cross Keys,’ so our community doesn’t forget. The second story has a comment by Mr. Bear. Several links in the original story no longer work. Pictures today are from Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken September 16, 1961. “Stewart Avenue (later Metropolitan Parkway) and University Avenue intersection.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
How To Choose A Guru
I found How To Choose A Guru, by Rick Chapman at a yard sale in 1978. HTCAG is a look at spirituality of all sorts. A special emphasis is placed on Meher Baba. HTCAG was republished as Introduction to Reality.
HTCAG can be a frustrating book. The main focus is on finding a “perfect master”, and the path to enlightenment under his guidance. If one is not inclined to this level of dedication, you can be left feeling inferior. This is similar to the despair people feel when they think they are going to go to hell, because they don’t have the correct ideas about Jesus.
HTCAG takes a look at spirit from the perspective of all religions. A central concept is the avatar, the idea of God become man. (This was long before the movie with a similar title.) The avatars of recorded history include Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammad. Some say Meher Baba is the modern avatar.
Mr. Chapman has a knack for phrasing. There are expressions that I remember from reading HTCAG in 1978. They are still there, 47 years later.
Creation “First, there was God. Then, there’s you. Then, there is God.”
Speculation “The average person’s speculation about consciousness …
has “the stink but not the weight of his turd”
Evangelism “An authentic Master will encourage you to let your life itself be his message.”
Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds “Don’t be sidetracked by elaborate creeds and doctrines- the truth is as simple as it is profound. From the ancient teachings of Zoroaster to today, these three principles have been the heart of the message of every God realized Master.”
Books “Excellent guides until you find the Way.” Abu Sa’id
Books Part Two “… the scriptures of the past compare to the writings of a present-day Perfect Master just about the way that dust compares to honey.”
Satan Worship “If you have been toying with the thought that any form of Satan worship can lead you to higher consciousness, sober up by reading the story of Dr. Faustus. There are many paths to enlightenment, but this back alley isn’t one of them.”
Sex “A real guru never has any form of sexual relations with his followers. If a person posing as a guru tries to seduce you in the physical sense, then you can have no clearer indication that he is a phony, a pathetic and hypocritical collection of unresolved desires.”
Truth, Old and New “One time the Buddha was approached by a young man who was skeptical about Gautama’s renowned divine status. “Does the Blessed One teach a path that is new and original?” One of the Buddha’s close disciples, Sariputta, turned his gaze from the Master to the skeptic and replied, “If the Blessed One taught a path that was new and original, He would not be the Blessed One!”
Several of these quotes were available in copy/paste form at Meher Baba Information. These quotes may be difficult to find at the “improved” website. This site says that Rick Chapman is a follower of Meher Baba, and met him in 1966. This relationship is never made explicit in HTCAG. A glowing chapter is devoted to Meher Baba, and this information is not surprising. Still, HTCAG would be more upfront if this connection was clearly spelled out.
Meher Baba was born February 25, 1894 with the name Merwan Sheriar Irani. The name Meher Baba means “compassionate father”. From July 10, 1925 until his death January 31, 1969, he maintained silence, and communicated by gestures that were interpreted by his followers. Meher Baba believed that he was the avatar of our age.
With all of it’s human imperfections, HTCAG is a valuable book. It is easy to read, will expose you to ideas about spirit, and get you to think. When you grow up in the Christian tradition, one can be aware of a spirit within. At the same time, you get tired of the obsession with life after death. HTCAG teaches that there is more to God than scheming to live after you die.
This is a repost. It is written like Vladimir Nabokov. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in June 1941. “Commission merchant examining produce at fruit warehouse. Chicago, Illinois” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Ten Different Religions
This content was published September 15, 2009. … Those fun lovers at Listverse recently published a feature about “10 extremely weird religions”. This goes along with Hunter S. Thompson’s observation that “when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro”. Back when Chamblee54 was on blogspot, that was the motto. One day, there was a comment that weird was not spelled wierd. What do you expect from someone quoting Hunter S. Thompson? … Back to the “matter” at hand, people have some strange ways of talking to/about/with God. The miracle is that things are not worse.
Number Ten is Scientology. If you want a link to them, you can find it yourself, and might also want to look for professional help. Scientology is only included because commenters would be offended. As it is, the comments that I saw asked about rastafarianism, the flying spaghetti monster, Islam, atheism, and Jesus Worship. The title clearly said that this was a top ten list, and not an encyclopedia. If you want an encyclopedia of religions, try Hinduism.
Nine through Five is pretty boring, as nine to five usually is. There is white supremacy, black supremacy, ufo admirers, burned out hippies, and people who take “Stranger in a Strange Land” too seriously. I thought that “My Favorite Martian” was the best commentary on SIASL. Number four is the Church of the Subgenius. While I have never officially participated in COTS, I admires the consecration of slack. If I can ever get motivated to attend a devival, the world will be a better place.
Number Three is the Prince Philip movement. It seems like the residents of an island somewhere think the Queen’s hubby is a pretty cool dude. It is safe to assume the Princess Diana was not a believer. Number Two…in more ways than one… is the Church of Euthanasia. COE is popular with young people in Korea, aka youth in Asia. Given the popularity of war and capital punishment in the Jesus worship community, the COE may become very popular. They are based in Boston, MA. According to the COE website, the one commandment is “Thou shalt not procreate”. The COE further asserts four principal pillars: suicide, abortion, cannibalism (”strictly limited to consumption of the already dead”), and sodomy (”any sexual act not intended for procreation”).
The number one spot on this list is sometimes called Nuwaubianism. The travelers on this path do not use that term, preferring “factology”, and numerous other terms. The founder is Dwight York, who is currently in prison. The Nuwaubs had a facility in Putnam County, Georgia at one time. The afrocentric beliefs of this group are difficult for outsiders to appreciate. The original post listed eight beliefs, among the man teachings of Mr. York. These three caught my eye.
2. Furthermore, some aborted fetuses survive their abortion to live in the sewers, where they are being gathered and organized to take over the world 5. Women existed for many generations before they invented men through genetic manipulation 8. The Illuminati have nurtured a child, Satan’s son, who was born on 6 June 1966 at the Dakota House on 72nd Street in New York to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis of the Rothschild/Kennedy families. The Pope was present at the birth and performed necromantic ceremonies. The child was raised by former U.S. president Richard Nixon and now lives in Belgium, where it is hooked up bodily to a computer called “The Beast 3M” or “3666.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in July 1942. “Hoffman Island, merchant marine training center off Staten Island, New York. Trainees aboard the training ship New York working in the boiler room.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Mollie’s Rant
This content was published September 2, 2012. … There is an amazing rant about abortion on Bloggingheads.tv. The ranter is Mollie Ziegler Hemingway. Making exasperated faces is the host, Sarah Posner. The episode appeared August 28, 2012.
The rant that inspired this feature is thirty three minutes into the discussion. Out of a masochistic sense of fairness, I decided to listen to the entire discussion, before writing this post. I got two minutes and thirteen seconds in before stopping to cop a quote. MZH said that a good way to help connect with someone, is if you see that they care about something very deeply. I have had the opposite experience. When I am the target of an emotional volcano, it tends to inspire fear and loathing. It is not what you say, it is the way you say it.
This is a common feeling among believers. The idea is that the more you show how much you believe something, the more persuasive you are at converting people to that belief. It has been my experience that these evangelizing believers will say things that they agree with, while not addressing the concerns of the listener. The person who is being preached to is often bewildered by the display of rhetoric, and becomes more convinced of previously held opinions.
I am a bloggingheads.tv fan, and occasional commenter. I even got an email asking me not to post “artistic” screen shots in the comments. (Here are some of the pictures: one, two, three.) The normal procedure is to listen to the talkers while working on other projects. The problem is that someone will make a noteworthy comment, and I feel the need to make a link to it. Multi tasking has it’s limits, and productivity suffers. One such moment was when MZH said it doesn’t matter whether YOU think that’s an abortion drug what matters it’s whether WE think that’s an abortion drug. Apparently, MZH thinks this helps her connect with SP.
Twenty six minutes in, the ladies begin to discuss the idiotic comment by Todd Akin. This is a prelude to the rant to follow. MZH makes a comment that includes the phrase “consistent pro lifers.”
Lets take a minute to consider the phrase “consistent pro lifers.” In the military, a lifer is someone who makes his career in the service. It is not always a compliment. The job of the military is to fight wars, which means they kill people. Is this “pro-life”?
This is an inconsistency for “consistent pro lifers.” Very few people are consistently pro life. The four main life issues are war, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. Many of the Christian anti abortion people are enthusiastic supporters of killing Muslim women and children. We are killing them over there, so they won’t come over here and kill us.
The SP-MZH chat was recorded August 28. The night before, the Republican Convention was entertained by a bit of Methodist methhead method acting by Clint Eastwood. The crowd cheered lustily. No one seemed concerned about Mr. Eastwood’s performance as the fetus father in multiple abortions. Is “consistent pro lifer” an oxymoron?
The fun really starts at the thirty three minute mark. MZH has been talking about how being mean to Todd Akin is good for the pro choice cause. She then shifts gears, and starts to talk about BHO. It seems like BHO opposed an anti abortion bill when he was an Illinois state senator. To MZH, this makes BHO a radical baby killer. To MZH, this, position taken as a state senator years ago, makes BHO just as radical as a man who says that rape affects conception.
MZH goes on to whine about the media. This is a sure sign that she cannot make a logical case for her beliefs. When your message fails, you bash the other messenger. All the time, MZH gets more and more worked up. SP shakes her head so much you worry about her earpiece falling out.
At the thirty five thirty five mark, MZH lets out the rhetoric rascal that lurks in her consistently pro life soul. When SP tried to calm down MZH, and inject a note of reason into the debate, MZH started to scream about gay marriage. This is how things work. Gay marriage is a great distraction. When reason fails, you start to toss red herrings onto the trail.
After a while, I began to think that I have had enough fun. It is time to wrap up, and get a life. At this point, MZH has another jaw dropper. Arguing from the extremes is not a really helpful thing.
The ladies did have a moment of agreement to end the discussion. MZH said women are more than their vaginas, and SP said good night Chet. It is tough to hold hands and sing Kum Bah Yah on skype.
On Apr 27, 2022, Bob Wright announced that “Bloggingheads the name is being pretty much retired” … Todd Akin died October 3, 2021. Here is the story of his fifteen minutes: “Akin, running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, was asked in an interview … if he would support abortions for women who have been raped. “It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken September 28, 1961. Davison’s Department Store, Ellis and Peachtree Streets. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Brian Eno Rick Rubin
I had ran out of podcasts, and went into the archive. I found an interview Rick Rubin did with Brian Peter George Eno, released June 8, 2021. I had heard it before, but might enjoy a repeat listening. … I found a youtube copy, which had a transcript, the lazy bloggers friend. Later, while trying to find the release date, I stumbled onto an Extended Cut, with an extra half hour of content . I am going to listen to the longer version, take notes, write about it, and then absolutely never listen to this again. …
“Yes, and incidentally, I think that’s the power of religion as well. The power of religion is not the connection with God, but the connection with the rest of the congregation. I think the connection with all of the people who also believe in that particular story. I’m not really religious myself, but I really respond to that idea.”
A few years ago, Christopher Isherwood gave an interview with a magazine. (I have never found the source online.) Mr. Isherwood said that it was not the content of the religion that converted a person, but the person who introduces you to that religion. Mr. Isherwood said that if a Catholic had been the right person at the right time, then he might have become a Catholic.
In 1939, after living as an exuberant skeptic, Mr. Isherwood was converted. “Forty-five years ago, on a sultry July afternoon, 35-year old Christopher Isherwood met and embraced Ramakrishna Vedanta in downtown Hollywood, California. Aldous Huxley, writer extraordinaire and ardent explorer of Hindu interior consciousness, had just introduced Isherwood to his guru, Swami Prabhavananda, founder of the Hollywood Ramakrishna Mission Vedanta Society.” … The linked article is worth reading. …
There was a quote that I remembered. “I like being in unfamiliar surroundings. I always used to say that artists are either cowboys or farmers, and they’re both both ways of being an artist are fine. The farmer wants to find a piece of territory and fully explore it and exploit it.” … A talk like this can inspire you to further thinking. You can go paddling up the river, and spend all day exploring the tributary creeks. This is the cowboy side … to follow the thought wherever it goes. OTOH, you can stick to the quotes that capture your attention, let them speak for themselves, and FINISH WRITING YOUR PIECE. This is the farmer side, and is mostly what is going to happen here. …
BPGE was absolutely devastated by hearing It’s Gonna Rain, by Steve Reich. By amazing coincidence, I heard IGR twice on WREK, the Georgia Tech student station. This was many years ago. Both times I heard IGR, large amounts of rain fell the next day. …
I listened to the Extended Cut, and did not suffer any epiphanies. There was one quote. “During the war, when lots of GIs were coming over to England, somebody interviewed an old farmer from Devon and said, so, how do you feel about the Americans coming over here? And the farmer said, well, they’re all right, aren’t they, except for the white ones.” …
One day in the Köln airport, ambient music was born. It was a beautiful day and the airport was nearly empty, and I was sitting there bathing in light, and it was one of those cases like we were talking about earlier, where you think I wish there was another kind of music for this situation, and I started thinking, so what would that be? Like? You know, it’s an airport, so you can’t be too loud. Obviously, people have to hear announcements. It has to be interruptible for the same reason it shouldn’t dominate the vocal register, because people need to communicate. So I just was sort of thinking this out, and quite soon I thought, right, I think I know what I could make that music. I know how I could do that. And that’s how that first ambient record came about. I mean, it wasn’t unprecedented. I had been working on music a little bit like that before, but I suddenly realized what its role in life could be. If you like, what the place of this music could be. I knew it wasn’t dance music. I knew it wasn’t radio music. It was functional, but I hadn’t yet discovered the function. It was then that I thought, I know what this music could be for.” …
BPGE worked with Harold Budd, and created some of the prettiest music ever recorded. This fits in with the ambient music concept. … “I didn’t want drama. I just wanted something like nature, subtle variations. Subtle variations, yes, and variations that stay within a kind of range of possibilities and explore that range rather randomly. I just wanted the thing to be what Harold Budd used to call eternally pretty. That was his way of putting it. Dear Harold. He died about two months ago from COVID, very sad. So I dedicate this thought to Harold. So. Yes, So when Harold and I met, we were both pretty much on this groove of thinking, what about making music that isn’t designed to upset anybody? Now, of course that sounds pretty uncontroversial now, but in the mid to late seventies that was considered to be the biggest sell out of all time. You know, music was supposed to shake the world and create revolutions and upset your parents and all sorts of things like that. And we thought, what about making music that is just really comfortable? Comfortable was probably the most controversial word you could use.” …
I have one last question to ask, just because I’m really curious, what’s your relationship to spirituality? … Well, as you can tell from the way I talk too much, I think about this kind of thing quite a lot. What I always want to do is to cut away as much of the shit as possible and see what’s left. So I don’t want to be a believer. I want to be somebody who, as far as possible, understands and knows things. Believing things leaves me a little bit unsatisfied. If I find myself believing something, I want to test the belief. I want to say, how do I find out how valid this is? How true this is? How? In real belief, in proper faith, you’re not supposed to do that. Faith is supposed to be, by definition, the acceptance of something that you cannot find evidence for. If you can find evidence for, it’s not faith anymore. It’s called knowledge. Then. So this is a long way round of saying that I’m not anti spiritual, I’m not anti religion. Actually, in fact, I can see how religion really cements some communities together and really helps people in their lives. But I’m not by nature a believer, So it’s difficult for me to use that kind of cement. My cement has to come from trying to understand things and to see how they work, and to share those ideas with other people. Yeah so, I think one one of the other things that surrendering prepares you for is the experience of uncertainty, the experience of not knowing the answer but still having to do something. You know, the fact that you don’t know the answer can’t cripple you. And of course a lot of people are crippled by not knowing the answer, and so they just choose an inappropriate answer just for the want of an answer.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in August 1942. “Nashville, Tennessee. Welding parts for fuel pumps. Vultee Aircraft Corporation plant” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Deep Dive
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
SGSU Library Launches “The Elevated City” Exhibit Exploring Atlanta’s Architectural …
Brian Tyler Cohen RAGES in Response to Demfluencer Dark Money Scandal
A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers
After accusing Obama of treason, Trump now says the former president ‘owes me big’
How the Democrats keep copying the MAGA influencer playbook (and failing)
Jagger, Reed and Others at David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust’s Party, 1973
Sykes-Picot: How and why Britain carved up the Arab world | Roy Casagranda
On Bari Weiss, CBS, and Legacy Media’s Tears The mainstream press seems to believe …
Grabbing the Third Rail of the J····· Question w/Indi.ca PsychLib ep.20
John McLaughlin on Music, Miles, and the Mystical: A Deep Dive into the Spirit of Jazz
Bill Belichick’s North Carolina debut turns into debacle with blowout loss to TCU
In defence of the five artists Joni Mitchell hates the most
Bob Dylan vs. the Critics: When Seven Words Silenced Howard Stern. ws
Aella: Sex Work, OnlyFans, Porn, Escorting, Dating, and Human Sexuality
David Pakman SAVAGED by His OWN AUDIENCE, Emma Vigeland & Hasan …
The Dark Money Behind “Progressive” Influencers (w/ Taylor Lorenz & John Ross)
hop city · david pakman · chorus · bari weiss · in custody
eno rubin · macbeth · oasis · symphony to static · knowingless – aella
aella · water intoxication · 9 sober musicians · joy to the world · bari weiss
Here is the monday morning reader for labor day. The picture below is Private Fred S. Morse of Co. F, 12th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment · Frank Zappa was generous with his opinions. This did not stop him from saying “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.” · Belief equals agreement plus attachment · For many years, the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest encouraged perpetrators to submit a bad opening sentence to an even worse novel. Unfortunately, the facilitator of BLFC chose to retire from his duties. Bad writing will not be affected · William S. Burroughs wrote a book about taking heroin. He did his own research · Russell Lee took the social media picture in October 1939. “Main building at trailer park containing cafe and grocery. North Beach section, Corpus Christi, Texas” · This post is about the need for big government, in a capital intensive industry. It is also about a goat getting into your tent. The pictures are better than the text · @IamProHuman As a therapist, I hate to break it to you, but… If your nervous system is stuck in “survival mode,” no amount of journaling or meditation will save you. Here are 7 techniques that heal decades of trauma, increase your stress tolerance, and improve sleep/digestion… 🧵 · Michele Dauber is a law professor at Stanford University. She is widely believed to be the author of the victim impact statement that kickstarted the Brock Turner controversy. Ms. Dauber later got involved in several other controversies. · “The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason.” Paul Wolfowitz · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress The social media picture is “Private Charles L. Poteat of Co. G, 22nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Greeted As Liberators Part Two
This content was published September 1, 2009. … Paul Wolfowitz has been a government player for years. After finishing his education, he got a job in the Nixon Administration, and worked with Ford and Reagan. He became a star under GHWB and GWB. Under George W. Bush, Mr. Wolfowitz (who never served in the military) was Deputy Secretary of Defense. After 911, he became a forceful advocate of War in Iraq. Mr. Wolfowitz is regarded by some as the “Architect of the War in Iraq”.
On February 27, 2003, Mr. Wolfowitz testified before congress. “There has been a good deal of comment—some of it quite outlandish—about what our postwar requirements might be in Iraq. Some of the higher end predictions we have been hearing recently, such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark. It is hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take … to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army.”
The conquest was the easy part. The occupation, the act of putting humpty dumpty back together … this has been the tough part. More than a few people saw this in 2003. … Mr. Wolfowitz gave an interview to Vanity Fair magazine May 9, 2009. The interview had a quote about WMD. “The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason.”
The possession of WMD by “next Hitler” Saddam Hussein was one of the leading reasons for the invasion. Iraq was known to have used poison gas against the Kurds (while they were allies of the United States). The WMD were never found. … In 1941, The United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor. A declaration of war was issued within a week. There was no settling on an issue for bureaucratic reasons. … I found a transcript of the complete interview. HT to TomDispatch. … Gaza’s Looming Cancer Epidemic is the latest post at TomDispatch. It was published September 4, 2025.
Apparently, Mr. Wolfowitz likes to talk. One interesting segment concerns the Cruise missile, and other “smart” weapons. It seems as though the research on these weapons was almost suspended. The United States was negotiating arms control with The Soviet Union. The Cruise missile was almost abandoned as a concession to the Soviets. The Navy supported this, as they felt that the torpedoes on submarines were taking up too much room already. … This is a repost. Here is part one.
This content was published September 4, 2009. … There is a controversy about a picture from Afghanistan. A soldier is being treated, after being hit by a grenade. Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard later died. … Few graphic images from the “War on Terror” have been seen on this side of the Atlantic. The burden of the war is on the volunteer soldiers, and the families who support them. Many people in America have no contact with anyone fighting eight time zones away.
Even less is said about why we fight. The revenge for 911 has long ago been taken. Any fantasies about establishing a democracy in Afghanistan are foolish. The war has spilled into Pakistan with even less debate or public concern than was focused on Afghanistan or Iraq. Nuclear armed Pakistan is an unstable country, with a nervous border with India. The United States is killing women and children in Pakistan from unmanned airplanes. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in November 1938. Men in front of pool hall, Omaha, Nebraska ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Chamblee54 
1 comment