.jpg)
There was an article in the news notifying the public that this past year after hurricanes had hit Houston, TX USA that no relief funds would be given to families that participated in boycotts of products made in Israel. These boycotts are organized as protests to cut off funding for the abuses that are inflicted on the Palestinians by the Israelis who have helped themselves to the Palestinian lands. Here in America freedom of speech used to be a given - but now it seems that freedom of speech is for those more equal than others, as Orwell would say. Check out this link to see how money talks in America louder than the Bill of Rights:
"
In the Houston suburb of Dickinson, residents are struggling to get their lives back on track. Hurricane Harvey devastated the city, destroying scores of homes and businesses. The city, fortunately, has a plan to help. Officials there are accepting applications for relief grants "from funds that were generously donated to the Dickinson Harvey Relief Fund."
But there's a catch.
The application, recently posted online, includes a provision requiring Dickinson residents to vow in writing that they will not boycott Israel. The relevant section, titled "Verification not to Boycott Israel," reads:
By executing this Agreement below, the Applicant verifies that the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement.
The city attorney, David Olson, said Dickinson officials are following a Texas law that blocks state agencies from contracting with or investing in companies that boycott Israel."
I mentioned this to several people I know and they didn't believe me. There weren't interested enough to look it up and probably forgot a few minutes after I mentioned it. I mentioned that Cynthia McKinney, former member of the House of Representatives had explained how Israeli influence in our congress is powerful enough to unseat anyone who does not toe the line on the demands Israel makes on America. Perhaps you would like to watch this short video - make up your own mind:
Reader I already know what you are thinking: "Jack Rabbit is anti-Semetic !" After all isn't that what you've been trained to reflexively say as soon as you hear the chosen people criticized for excessive influence in America?
Let me explain myself - I don't really know what a "Semite" is and I don't care - at all. I'm not interested in Semites one way or another and I know very little about Israeli politics. What I do know is that the American people are supposed to have some form of representation in Washington, D.C. and that representation is supposed to be concentrated in the House of Representatives. Do you feel represented?
But representation is not a gift from above and it will not automatically be granted to the sports-muddled and prescription-drugged minds of the US population - it must be fought for - and the Israelis are known to be good fighters. Indeed they are much better presently at fighting for power in Washington, DC than Americans are. How do I know? Easy - "the proof is in the pudding" - the results are there to see. What other interest group can push around the US government with such great ease as the Israeli lobby? Who can blame them for being smart, organized, and highly effective - isn't that what we are supposed to be teaching our kids?
Who's job is it to remind the parents and the kids about their duty to their nation and the difference between right and wrong in America?
--------------------------
Yes I am at my local coffee shop once again - the place is busy enough with music in the background so low that it is really hard to identify what exactly is playing - female vocalist is all I can make out. Some guy just came in to talk to the girl sitting in one of the booths on the far wall just to my left as I sit with my back to the street window at one of the tables. The sun here in the Bible belt is hot even in December although the temperature last time I checked was 26F outside. I got a bit hot when the sun was shining directly on my back half an hour ago but now the sun has moved and the pillar behind me is providing some shade.
The couple in the other booth along the far wall just left leaving the table empty with no takers. The place has cleared out with a two customers standing thinking about their orders over at the counter to my right by the register. The crowd has left taking the voices with it - now I can make out the music a bit more clearly - but it's still too low to identify the music...
--------------------------------------------
I just returned from a Christmas holiday with family which gave me reason to think that there is a chance that this country can be put back on track somehow - perhaps when the kids finally wake up from the stupidworld their parents have allowed to be erected around them. But can we really blame the parents who spend all of their time providing for the family and working or is it more accurate and useful to look to their leadership? Who is the leadership? At work? I think not that is private property where we don't have free speech really.
The radio, here in Bibleville, continues spewing lots and lots of nothingness - with no subject matter that has any relevance to my life making me turn the radio off. There is one station that plays "oldies" and I will listen to that once in a while - but that took four years living in this backwater - it will probably be four more till I go up and down the dial to see if there is anything other than church-lady stuff.
Today I tried to listen to something on the radio to relieve the boredom of sitting at the interminable traffic lights along the pike I frequent here near where I live. The first station was a "preacher" or something resembling that - I could tell by the snake-oil vocal inflections with which he dolled up the drivel he vomited to the poor listeners. I can't remember any specifics as it was more of the same stuff they've been saying for hundreds of years - keeping the flock of sheep at full-guilt-tilt - perhaps another donation to the church will buy them a ticket to heaven? I scanned the dial only to find another of the many "preachers" - and did indeed - this time female - and as full of shit as the first one I heard - this one broadcasting more "inspirational" messages to the listeners about making the best use of time and not "idling." I wondered if she considered looking at the stars "idling" or just sitting around doing nothing as somehow shameful.
I have been invited to attend church by some of the kind folks around me who go out of their way to look out for me in so many ways - those who do things for me to make up for my own deficiencies and lack of social grace. My reply is always the same: "I'm not setting foot in another church as long as I live since there have been seventeen years of bloodshed and these churches stand by saying nothing." I am met with eye-rolls many times and silence others - they leave me alone and nicely allow me to walk the road to hell I suppose. I am in no way criticizing anyone for going to church as I think the church reinforced the values I've hung onto all these years that I learned first from my family. Alas the church is worthless now as they are nothing more than cheerleaders for military adventures and competitors with their neighboring churches for the tallest steeple.
The sons and daughters of the families I reconnected with never fail to impress me with the goodness in their hearts and their best of intentions. The time, effort, and money the parents have spent raising their kids "the right way" is obvious - especially the ones that have avoided all the problems with controlled substances like heroin. I suppose the perspective of my present age makes them still look like kids although they are in or graduating or recently finished with college. Because they are so young they are products of the influence of their family and the institutions they've attended or joined. The question becomes: "What are they doing for their new masters?"
We all like to think of ourselves as our own masters but this is almost never the case unless you exist in the elite club that seems to run our nation. New technologies are being used both in an attempt to further enslave us by some groups and to further free us from our chains by other groups. This battle will probably never end - what seems to be contested is what we are striving for - what we should be working towards.
...to be continued
------------------------------------------------
12-29-2017
As the year concludes we can read in the "news" various recaps of the year - events that stand out that we should remember for some reason or another according to the corporate media. That the corporate media draws ones attention to something is almost always a red flag to me to look around to see what we are missing.
This year may be remembered for a stock market rise, which in past weeks has shown signs of slowing - at least in my opinion. There have been days recently where the major stock market indices were in the red - something many, including myself, have been watching for the inevitable day of reckoning when an adjustment must occur. Many corporations have been engaged in stock buybacks - a factor I've mentioned in previous blog posts as a factor that seems to have maintained stock prices at higher than expected levels.
I am not an "economist" whatever that is. If economists are valuable of what value have they been to the average joe like myself. I'm still rebuilding after the last crisis I had where medical problems and market busts created a perfect storm to torpedo my original plans for some sort of retirement. Since I've been rebuilding I take a very conservative approach to financial moves since the years left on the horizon diminish every day for earning.
Right before Trump got elected I expected the next war to start since Trump appears to be somehow in league with the Neocons and therefore their agenda - an agenda pursued by both the Bush and Obama administrations. Both administrations' fixation on the middle east have maintained the US entanglement in foreign quagmires resulting in great expenditures of US money.
Since I expected the next war to get going I thought there would be a stock market dip so I took half of my money out of the S&P 500 and left the other half in there to ride. The stock market continued to rise. As luck would have it the market continued heading positive - I waited and the market continued massive gains. In May I took the remaining half out and put it into money market fund which earns low interest but is supposed to hold up during a stock market crash. Again - the year continued up to this point with gains.
I am satisfied with the gains but my money is languishing - sorrowful sometimes but better than taking a hit on a tanked market. Was I right or wrong? I took some gains and await future opportunities - I'm hoping to buy the dip when it happens with those funds.
General Electric stock took a nosedive losing 40%? of its value (a lot who knows what numbers to calculate and what time frame) Perhaps in January or maybe a little later that will be a "buy" for some of the money I have idling in the coming year?
What about real estate? Housing prices are so high in this area it makes one wonder if the whole city is rich and I'm the only one thinking that there is a housing bubble. This city of music has many businesses and people moving in daily keeping the people that own properties here in the black. But are there really that may high salaries to support the bank loans that will be necessary to sustain these prices?
I've seen this movie before - older homes are bought by builders/flippers - they bulldoze the old house, put up two or three in its place and sell them. The roads get more and more crowded but nobody seems to mind too much. The houses look like some of the cheapest construction I've ever seen - and the houses are quite tall since the builders are trying to cram a larger living space into a smaller footprint. Maintenance nightmares if you ask me and expensive. In a real rat-hole part of town down the street I see new houses in a development advertised as starting in the "low 300's." Geez OK as long as the banks are willing to loan money on these properties maybe supply and demand can explain it - or is it a bubble?
I will have to wait this year to see what to do about property. Rents are extremely high and hardly a bargain. As far as bang for your buck this town ain't so hot. I moved here for the job and its the job that keeps me here.
So why is everyone flocking to areas like this place? Low taxes. It really is simple as that. There is no other great attraction - and with low taxes people are drawn because they will tolerate a lot of crappy roads and miserable people and homeless crawling all over the streets and starting at you as you order your food at the drive-thru. Who cares? Let me keep my money and I'll figure it out - that seems to be the sentiment and it is enriching property owners in this area. But the area is no bargain at all.
---------------------------------
Yup I'm back at the coffee house - just an excuse to fire up the keyboard. Steady crowd mostly buying coffee and heading out the door rather than staying.
---------------------
So reminiscing about the past year ... the year of the whiney little bitch.
2017 saw mobs of what appeared to be paid losers defacing statues of past Americans - and cities cowering to these idiots to wipe out Americas past - I suppose - so we can forget it and doom ourselves to repeat it. Everyone is so easily offended. I've found an easy way to avoid offending these pathetic little minds - stay alone. Their company is a waste of time.
America is presently run by entertainment experts who are in league with the media which was complicit in ramming the phony narrative of the war on terror on the American public. The American public reacted with the primal fear of a mob under attack - as planned - and remains in a state of slow boil. Every day or so someone is "murdered" (at least on the telescreen) and we are supposed to log that as proof that we must shovel more money over to the "security" industry.
I recently had the displeasure to fly interstate a few days ago - what a horrible experience. The airlines - if they weren't simply the only show in town would be out of business if their income depended on customer satisfaction. When I fly I feel like a prisoner going to a camp. I do not feel very much like an American. Flying with dignity is reserved for the rich and those with private aircraft - the rest of us are cattle to be fleeced.
Getting back to the mobs of angry children defacing statues - and the colleges and cities bending to their whining that our history is just too much for them to take... while these "demonstrations" and fake events were going on it struck me how most of us have to go to work to earn our keep during the day - but somehow the whiney little bitches all have the time and money to travel on a business day to erase our past. I guess many of those working deserve to be screwed since they take no responsibility to educate themselves as to the whys of what America is doing.
to be continued...
--------------------------
