On Careers

From the sublime to the ridiculous in these blogs of mine.  Or at least, to the mundane.  

I'd like to talk about careers, and the lack thereof; or the changing of direction thereof.  First, the real thing.

I have just sent off an email of appreciation to the director of the organization that sponsors the likes of the municipal band concerts in the parks in and around Long Beach in the summers.  It is self-explanatory:   

To: dsatariano@partnersofparks.org - Executive Director

July 24

Dear Drew,

I'm not sure if I have come to the right place to make my comment, but if not, I'm sure that you will send it in the right direction.

I just wanted to say that I had the very good fortune to catch the last two performances of the LBMB at the Bixby Bluff Park - of last Tuesday and yesterday evening - and words almost fail me.  I was, simpiy, blown away.  And especially with yesterday evening's performance, and with Nicole Kubis, who has a GREAT career ahead of her.

Consummate performances, and performers, all.

Back in the mid-'50s I used to enjoy catching the LBMB down at the old Shell bandstand on The Pike.  IT was good then.  It is great now, under the inspired, and inspiring, direction of Larry Curtis.  

I have been away from Long Beach for over 55 years (my, how time flies), most of it living overseas, and I want to say that it has been a great homecoming to have caught these performances.  (Sorry to have missed the first one of the season at the Bluff.)

You folks have done yourselves, and Long Beach, proud. 

A lot of 'greats' in this missive, I see, in reading [back] over it.  But all greatly deserved.

Most sincerely

'Stan' Stanfield

Poly High graduate, Class of '52

--

It put me to mind of my aborted career as a musician.  I'm pretty sure I have referred in these blogs to this embarrassing episode in my younger days, but briefly:

In around the fifth grade of my elementary school career (…) I was called out of class one day and asked by some school authority or other if I would like to learn to play a musical instrument, and if so, what would it be.  This was all very strange to me,1 but in for a penny…there were some kids there, in a nascent school band (a very small number of kids; so far), and the drums looked like fun.  But this woman - who was apparently involved with the Arts for the elementary school system - suggested I might like the clarinet.  And that's how my ordeal - er; my short-lived musical career - began.

It involved taking the public bus to another elementary school once a week for lessons from a man who had been hired by the school system to give free musical lessons to kids whose families couldn't afford private lessons.  In the class were a few other kids; a girl learning to play the flute, I remember; I can't actually remember if there were any other clarinetists in it.  In any event, the day came when the man - Mr. Ohlendorff, I remember; a very proper name for a very proper music teacher - asked me, privately, at the end of the class session, if I would like to play a piece for a 'presentation' of some sort, of his best students, was the understanding.  Not knowing any better, I said yes.  

The casual day came.  At least, it started out casually.  I had been instructed where to go - to the auditorium of a junior high school, that is the one that I in fact ended up attending, starting the following year.  I had been given instructions on how to get there the previous evening, when I met with Mr. Ohlendorff at his house for a run-through of the piece I was going to play  I will never forget it (so to speak; read on): a piece called La Paloma.  The Dove.  What you hear fluttering in the background is my heart, at the memory…I played the piece for him off my sheet music.  He gave me some positive feedback, and then asked me if I had memorized it.  (When I had signed up for the assignment, he had told me, in answer to my query whether I had to play it by memory, that 'most of the other kids would be doing so'.  It didn't seem, or at least he didn't make it out to be, like a big deal…)  I told him that I had gone through it number of times without the music, and would have it better in memory by the next day -  

when I took the stage, for my turn.  By then I had been rather stunned at the sea of faces.  The auditorium (it was the lunchroom for the school in its normal usage) was full of adults.  This wasn't just an occasion for the families of his best students.  This was an occasion (I assumed, later) for the public to find out if their hard-earned property tax money was going to a worthy cause…I was mortified to, in the event, disappoint them.

I simply wasn't prepared for it.  And it showed, when I put my clarinet to my mouth - and I couldn't remember the first note.  How does it start??  My mind was a blank.  For the life of me, I just couldn't remember how the darn thing started.  And it never did come back to me.  I retired from the stage in ignominy.2

So, my career as a musician didn't get off to a very promising start.  And can in fact be said to have gotten off to a non-start.  And it ended on an equally embarrassing note. 

I saw the interim stage through nicely, ending up being first chair clarinet in both my junior high school band and then orchestra.  And enjoyed it.3  And then the end of my junior high school career was coming to a close; and in a grand finale, our orchestra was going to be competing with the others in the city for honors.  Our musical instructor - a dapper youngish man, by the name of James Mitchell4 - had picked a piece of music that felt like a winner: Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov.  Interestingly enough, it had a clarinet solo part right smack in the middle of it.  He must have thought well of my playing.  And in point of fact, when I was challenged by the second chair guy for my first chair position, close to the end of the year, and we both played that solo as our 'duel', he decided to stay with me.  Which I unfortunately didn't reciprocate.

It happened because I was also selected the Outstanding Graduating Ninth Grader from my school by the city Lions Club, and was attending a special luncheon in our honor which just happened to be on the same day as the orchestral competition.  I figured I could get from the one to the other easily enough; but the luncheon went on, and on, and on…at one point, I saw a young fellow winner leave; and began to add one and one.  I wonder if he's going to the same event that I'm supposed to be at, too…                      

Who's in charge around here? I began to think.  And finally realized that 

I was.

That you can't trust the adults to do it.  They can mislead you.

I finally whispered to my mom that I thought I needed to go.  Old Another Artie Shaw's mother wasn't being a very good adult, in the matter, in keeping an eye on such adult-decision things - as I saw it, from my little kid's viewpoint - so it was up to me.  To give her credit, she - who had been enjoying the limelight, as the mother of one of The Chosen Ones -  responded immediately, and off we went, driving quickly to another high school in town, while I changed into my orchestra uniform in the back seat.  She asked me if I knew what time our orchestra was supposed to take its place on stage, but I didn't know; it was rather an open-ended thing, for all I knew.  For whatever reason, she wasn't staying for the competition - I'm not sure if it was even open to the public, or at least to the parents of the players, so little about it did I know - so she left me off in front of the school auditorium (me and school auditoriums…), and, getting really worried by then, I raced around to the stage entrance, and went in -

and discovered my school's orchestra was on stage. Playing.  Apparently having just taken its place in the line of competition.

Without its first chair clarinetist. 

But at least with a second chair in place, who knew the part.

And coveted it.

And was given his big opportunity.

I have often thought about that day, and have wondered if it was 'meant to be'.  Long before I knew anything about karma, I had a sense that there was a larger picture involved in life; and that we were - in some sense - just playing parts.  

I didn't seem to be playing mine very well.

But - you never know, about these things... 

Life.

As Margaret Thatcher said, on the occasion of her ousting from the prime ministership by her party:

"It's a funny old world."

Indeed, Margaret.  Indeed.

--

footnotes:

1 Only later did I find out that my mom was behind it all.  She had a curious way of sneaking around behind the scenes of my life and orchestrating things,  In this instance, it may have had to do, not just with a mother wanting her child to learn to play a musical instrument, but because of her infatuation with show biz; which was the reason that she inveigled her second husband to move to Southern California in the first place, from our home in back-of-beyond Idaho .  But of that, another time; or at least, later. 

2 At least I had the presence of mind to go up to Mr Ohlendorff afterwards and apologize.

     I don't recall what he said, either.  

3 With, perhaps, dreams of Artie Shaw and his Band dancing in my mom's show biz-infatuated mind.  She even mentioned his name once.  In a kidding way, of course.  Me?  I never thought much about 'the future'. Took each day as it came.  You never know what's going to happen…that may come along, and spoil everything……best to play it safe………

4 He had all the girls swooning over him.  He came back from the summer break every year with a deep tan; lived in a bit of a swinging part of town, on the beach.  If that had been this day and age, I might have wondered if he was gay; but that was well before the time of the cultural shift in that regard.  (If he was, he never let on about it.  He was a good, inspiring teacher.  That was it.)

--

N.B. When I went into high school, I dropped the clarinet for other things; getting too involved in sports and studies to engage in something that was beginning to seem a bit frivolous.  What future was there in playing a musical instrument??
     The members of the Long Beach Municipal Band have given me the answer to that silly question.
     For them.
     For me, I ended up throwing over a possible career in medicine, for a lifelong search for answers to the Big Kahuna - the Big Question, of What Is Life All About.
     We're all just about there now, to the answer to that one.
     Our mutual career - as 3D performers - about to draw to a close.
     For those of Us Who are ready for the Next Act.
     For the others?
     Ah, well.
     That's show biz.

     Oh - and as for the clarinet?  I ended up selling it as a backup instrument to a professional musician, when I left university and was trying to raise a little money to head out on the first leg of my Journey: to go across the continent to New York City, where I presumed I would find 'the largest public library in the Western world,' to help me uncover the Truth of things.  Including of myself.
     It proved to be a good start.  But more on that, perhaps another time.  In any event: the clarinet (which by then had morphed into a black stick' one, from the metal one that my mother had bought for me, back at the beginning of the saga, of Music Making and Me.  It was a gift from my father, one summer that my brother and I spent up north with him and his wife, and new child, our half sister.  It was a matter of contention between me and my mother. The new clarinet; not the half sister.  She had 'scrimped and saved' for it.  But my dad wanted to do something for me - what am I supposed to do???
     Parents.  Can't live with them.  Can't live without them.
     Especially when they have the reins of government in their hands, and are trying to control your life to within an inch of it.
     Ah.  I feel my next blog coming on......
  

Cultural Changes

Another excellent park concert this early evening by the Long Beach Municipal Band.  Which, under the 20th-year inspired and inspiring direction of its conductor, Larry Curtis, has, in my considered estimation, taken the standard of 'municipal band' musicianship and arrangements/selections to new heights.  And with the special vocal talents of a 22-year-old named Nicole Kubis (keep an eye out for the name), it was a night to remember.  And just gone a full moon at that.

Nicole sings with a band announced as the Glenn Miller Band.  What?  Can't be.  Wait.  The grandson of??  The arrangements of???  Whatever: You won't be disappointed, if Nicole is any fronting example of their talent.    

Which brings me to the main theme of this blog.  In a rather roundabout way.  But a well-worth one; I feel.       

In my blog The Game Plan (on Monday July 22) I touched on the subject of 'Cultural Hegemony'.  This is worth going into in further detail; in order for one to understand ALL of what is going on in our day.  And responsibility.

To begin with, let's consider Wikipedia's take on this subject.

from Wikipedia; under Cultural Hegemony:

"In Marxist philosophy, the term Cultural Hegemony describes the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of the society — the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, and mores — so that their ruling-class Weltanschauung becomes the worldview that is imposed and accepted as the cultural norm; as the universally valid dominant ideology that justifies the social, political, and economic status quo as natural and inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.[1][2]

In philosophy and sociology, the term cultural hegemony communicates denotations and connotations derived from the Ancient Greek word hegemony (leadership and rule), the geopolitical method of indirect imperial dominance, with which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states, by the implied means of power, the threat of the threat of intervention, rather than by direct military force, that is, invasion, occupation, and annexation.[3]"

;;;

Gramsci’s intellectual influence

The German student leader Rudi Dutschke, of the 68er-Bewegung, said that changing the bourgeois West Germany required a long march through the society’s institutions, in order to identify and combat cultural hegemony.

In the event, cultural hegemony has philosophically influenced Eurocommunism, the social sciences, and the activist politics of socially liberal and progressive politicians. The analytic discourse of cultural hegemony is important to research and synthesis in anthropology, political science, sociology, and cultural studies; in education, cultural hegemony developed critical pedagogy, by which the root causes of political and social discontent can be identified, and so resolved.

In 1967, the German student movement leader Rudi Dutschke reformulated Antonio Gramsci’s philosophy of cultural hegemony with the phrase Der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen (The Long March through the Institutions), denoting the war of position, an allusion to the Long March (1934–35) of the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army, by means of which, the working class would produce their own organic intellectuals and culture (dominant ideology) to replace those imposed by the bourgeoisie.[12][13][14][15][16]."

----

So: The bourgeoisie: Out.  The new liberated People: In.

What does this mean, in practice.

Item.  The Left's attempts to make the constitutionally protected rights to free speech and religion, and "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms", all subject to being 'relative' to legal restrictions by the federal government at 'best', and the several States' governments at 'worst'.  

     (Example: They want public schools not only to teach that homosexuality is 'normal', but to force it down the throats of the children.  As it were.  And if a parent objects, they are to be labled a 'homophobe,' or 'a hate speecher,' or some similar smear label, and their 'right to free speech' taken away from them, because it's relative.  Everything being relative, to the dictate of who's in charge.)*   

Item.  The "rapidly expanding and intensifying unconstitutional 'surveillance state' abuses against our Fourth Amendment privacy and property rights protections in Obama's Marxist Amerika" (as Alan Keyes has put it in a fundraising letter).  

Item (to go on with Alan's points): "(D)eepening deficit spending by Obama which perpetually burdens our children and grandchildren, eventually bankrupting our nation" - for a new form to take its place; already mapped out, conveniently enough. 

Item (continuing; with) "preborn children being ruthlessly slaughtered at abortion clinics subsidized with our tax dollars with Obama's rabid approval."

Item (there's more): "Obama's Marxist assault on the God-ordained institution of marriage between one man and one woman."

And the list could go on, of the Obama administration's Marxist assault on America's core values, and preparation for blowback; with over a million rounds of (very expensive; not target practice) ammo being provided for the DHS and other executive branch departments, and armored personnel carriers, and drones over America, and vehicle license plate recognition cameras all over the streets and overpasses of the nation, and cars that can be taken over and operated by remote control, and…and………. .. 

You get the picture, I'm sure.

The picture of drastic cultural change afoot.

Or not.  Depending on who you talk to.

This business about 'the People' needs to be clarified (before I let the subject go for now).  For there are at least two different ways of looking at the subject.

1)  There is the way of the American Constitution; whereby the rights of 'the People' - as individuals - are secured by the Constitution from The People being lorded over by the government.   The federal government, in that instance.  (The People need to have their rights secured for them in and by their own State governments/constitutions as well.)      

2) There is such as in The People's Republic of China, where The People's rights are handed to them by the state - and determined by the state.  This has two forms.  That process can be controlled by a) a central People's Party - as in Communist China; which supposedly represents the will of The People they are lording it over (oops; gave away my bias there).  Or by b) 'direct democracy' - what is also called  'participative democracy'.  Not 'representative democracy,' as in a republic, whereby The People elect representatives, who have time to study the issues, because that is their (momentarily, at least) assigned social job. 

 We have, in this country, a strong minority of people, rapidly assuming the numbers of a majority, who appear to want something akin to participative democracy - at least, doing away with the Constitution.  Which wet noodle, but occasionally followed wet noodle, keeps them from doing all the things they would like to do - which includes forcing others to go along with their preferred take on things - because the Constitution secures individual rights, under the rule of law; to say, under the Constitution.  

And so, e.g., if the Constitution blocks anyone but a 'natural born citizen' from becoming the president, why, just do away with the Constitution, and decide everything by majority vote of the members of the participative democracy.

And oh, who are those members??  Well; anybody whom the majority feels can be part of it…

You begin to see the problem here.

We are setting ourselves up for despotism, either from individuals - demagogues, put in place by the majority - or from the collective, deciding everything by direct/majority vote…

…and ignoring the rights of the individual in the process.   Who is seen as merely a pain in the caudal exterior, if he or she won't go along with the majority.    

We have been warned about this sort of thing.  By history.  By our Founding Fathers; who clearly knew the dangers of a democracy, and clearly decided, for the new nation, for it to be a republic - and a federal one at that.  Very clearly wanting there to be no centralizing of power; which could, then, all too easily be taken over by a despot.  Like another George III.  

Or like a Barack Obama.  Who could, in a very central role and  position, help see in a socialist agenda, and change of form, for the nation.  As outlined to some extent above.

A concluding thought, while on this subject, of forms of governance:

Any government - but the federal government in particular, since it is the biggest, and the furthest away from The People, so it is easier for those bureaucrats  (those supposed servants of The People) to forget their link to The People (that is, the people they are supposed to be serving) - has tremendous responsibility, and obligation, to spend The People's tax money wisely and well.  They have been entrusted with that money.  And they have not been doing a very good job of upholding that trust.  They have, rather, seemingly been arrogantly assuming it is their right to lord it over The People.

Well, I say: No more.  

I say: Enough.

And further; I say:

It's time for Change, all right.

But real Change this time. 

Not 'change' on the same level as the problem.

But moving humanity into a New Era, totally.

No; change that.

Not just a new Era.

But a New Age.

No; still a little 'weak'.

How about:

a new Dimension.

Entirely.

One that celebrates both the individual and the collective.  

And does so, without sacrificing the former to the latter.

Individuals.  Like Larry Curtis.  And Nicole Kubis.

And collectives, like the Long Beach Municipal Band.

Tilmeless stuff.  

Subjed to change in form a bit.

But not the underlying essence.

Which celebrates Life itself. 

In a loving way.

And which is the incentive for the change. 

Not Power Over people.

That is the way of the past.

Which we are now going to leave behind.

Some.  Of Us

priceless

souls

who are ready for that change.

---

footnote:

* See, e.g., Beverly Eakman's 'Cloning of the American Mind: Eradicating Morality Through Education'.

("Is there a furtive effort to alter the ethics of our children?  A behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred look at our crumbling education system.  'Cloning' is a solution-oriented book that explains how psychological profiles (passed off as academic testing) are used to measure students' beliefs.  Courses are then implemented to correct their 'wrong' beliefs.  Thus essentially eradicating morality through education."

Ten For Tonight

from wnd.com: 'Obama Deploying Drones Around U.S.' - Steve Peacock - July 21

"The deployment of federal drones in and around U.S. shores represents one of the Obama administration’s next steps in the nation’s expanded use of unmanned aircraft systems for surveillance purposes…"

Nothing more needs be said, than by this old patriot.

• 
  
• 
  
  raspy voice • 20 hours ago
• −
• 
  Fare thee well America,
• 
  I love you. It breaks my heart to see you down trodden, as
  you have been by my side through good times and hard times. Your spirit has
  followed me to foreign lands and has kept me strong as I have fought for your
  good name, but as my hair has gone silver and you are fighting, perhaps your
  final battle, I just wanted to let you know that I have loved you and have
  respected you, from the moment that I first opened my eyes and was rewarded by
  your beauty and your providence given by God. 
• 
  I have been blessed over the years to have been able to travel
  and experience many parts of you, from Florida to Texas and from New England,
  thru the heartlands, to your west coast and on to Alaska, where your pioneer
  heart still beats strong. I have to say that in all areas and respects you are
  indeed a grand ole girl and I admire and love you dearly.
• 
  I know that I am getting older and I am not able do things
  as well as I once did in my youth, but know that I have sworn the oath of
  allegiance and will always be here for you, to defend you to my dying breath
  and I know that there are more out there that will stand with me, for you my
  beloved, have shown the light of freedom on multitudes and therefore should
  never have to stand alone. So, as your Glory waves before me today, I will,
  with straight back, stand tall and salute you with honor. 
• 
  Fare thee well, America.
• 20
• 
  

And that's ten for tonight.

---

The Great Deposing

I call on the U.S. of A.

In the form of its military

To do their duty

To God and their country

And depose the Usurper

The Long-Legged Mack Daddy

Great Pretender

Squatting in the Oval Office

And defiling it in the process

Under the oath that they took

To "support and defend"

The Constitution

Not the man

Who by hook or by crook

Is acting as their Commander in Chief

And bringing the nation to grief

In the process.

And may they do it quickly

                       before

Any more damage is done

To the nation

Which they are obliged to serve

Come hell or high water.

Hold fast your nerve

And carry on.

The Game Plan

I would like to expand on the information in my last blog, about ObamaCare and its real purposes, a bit.

First, a quote from it:

"(NaturalNews) The one thing you need to know about Obamacare above anything else is that it was not passed to lower your costs or improve healthcare services and delivery. Obamacare is about cradle-to-grave control, a surveillance state horror that even one-time supporters of the law are beginning to realize (though much too late).

Consider the provisions of this massive law that require collection of your personal information, all in the name of "streamlining" care and "reducing inefficiency." If you thought the NSA's spying was invasive, understand that Obamacare will completely wipe out the last vestiges of privacy in America…"

So, what's going on.

Well, we have been told.  Resident Obama is involved in "fundamentally transforming the United States of America".  Into - what, precisely.

Ah yes.  That little detail…

…and note that when the Mainstream Media wants to go after somebody, they really know how to, and do.  So that's part of the picture as well.

The picture.  Let's look at it. And I'll be brief in the telling of this story.

There is a Game Plan going on, by a cabal of very powerful people - powerful politically, and, ultimately, behind it all, financially.  The Game Plan is incrementalism.  The communists - and the fascists behind them1 - are only too happy for the Democrats to run interference for them.  "Trust us - we only have benevolent reasons and intentions to want a national gun registration.  It's for your own 'security' good."  And then, with that foot planted firmly in that door, the real players can sweep in; precisely like the Communist Bolsheviks swept away the Social Democrat Mensheviks in their takeover of Russia, in the establishing of the U.S.S.R., on the intended way to global empire of the powers behind the scenes of the drama exciting, and capturing the attention of, the public.

That is to say, of the schmucks.

So, it's been the story of the fishes, with increasingly larger fishes swallowing the smaller ones.  Only the Really Big Fish is not the Illuminati, as they think; so close to their goal, of all Power Over, that they can taste it.  Another way to put it, is in terms of Robert Burns's observation that "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley".

We come now to the question of  religion.  And I bear tidings of great sorrow to many, many people.  But the truth must out.  For that is what this whole drama has been all about.

Religions - all religions - have been the work of Man.  They have done some good.  But they have also done a great deal of evil.  As noted: Power corrupts…

There is quite a battle going on in America today, over the question of whether America is a Christian nation or not; to the point where Resident Obama had the effrontery to say, to an audience overseas - to assume that he could speak for America in saying -  that "We are no longer a Christian nation."  

A bit of a parenthetical word here about Resident Obama.

And I won't go here into all the evidence that the man who calls himself Barack Hussein Obama was never constitutionally eligible for the office, one, and two, that his usurpation was part of a larger plan, of this same cabal of powers behind the scenes; and three, that manifold crimes have been committed in keeping this placeman of TPTB in place, including the forging of the document released officially by the White House - and with I-can't-really-be-bothered-with-all-this tedious-twaddle-nonsense fanfare by the Resident himself - purportedly a copy of his long-form, vault-copy birth certificate, ho hum, now can you all go back to sleep - I mean, can I get on with my real work.

Of "fundamentally transforming the United States of America".  Not only from its roots in the limited-government, free-enterprise vision of its Founders, and the specific group of Framers of its Constitution.  But from its roots in the Christian religion.  Into -

what, exactly.

The answer to the first part of the proposition is easy.  From a government that is constrained from doing to The People - by the 'rule of law' of the Constitution - to a government that is required to do for The People.  In giving them various rights, magnanimously from the state; which can then play games with them, like limit them, or bias them (as in specific 'group rights'), or even rescind them.  Rights, that in America were vouchsafed as "unalienable rights," that came from God - from a Supreme Being, as part of a larger picture of the human experience than the materialistic one of its being just in and for itself only.2

Which brings up the second part of the proposition.  And which matter is a little more complicated.

First, a word about America being, or not being, a Christian nation.

To be multicultural, and multireligious - as is the plan of the Left for America, in order to break down the established order in the nation, for it to move into their Brave New World vision for it, of a socialist nation, as part of a larger socialist New World Order whole - is one thing.  To be defiantly and ruthlessly anti-Christian - as is the stance of many on the Left - is another thing entirely.

They don't want it to be 'one among many'.  They want it to be eliminated.  Period.

The proponents of that stance might say, 'We have to be so ruthless about it, since it is so strongly embedded in the American culture'.  But that rationale doesn't account for the extreme virulence of the attack.  This anti-Christian business is being led by atheists - not merely 'multiculturalists'.  These are people who want to demolish all remnants of the religious mentality amongst the simpleton serfs - and they will use the power of a religion - Islam - to do it.  To supplant Christianity.3  And then to deal with that religion in due course.  The due course of of their move for total control over humanity, in the establishing of their atheistic, materialist empire on planet Earth.

Or so they think.

In brief, about this religion matter being "a little more complicated":

Christianity does have to give way.  For the Truth to prevail.  And the truth is, that all religions are man-made; and have evolved into forms of control.  There are elements of value in them.  But they are in the way, for the full-on Light of Truth to prevail on Earth.

Which is happening - is in the process of happening - as we speak.

So, hang in there, folks.

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

In the establishing on Earth of the true New World Order.

Which is not about Force.  About Power Over.

But about Love.  About Power With.

And nothing less will suffice, now.  Here, at the end of a long, long process.

And the beginning of the Timeless Now.

For it has all - all - been for a larger Purpose.

And one that we agreed to, before entering into the field of play.

---

footnotes:

1 Communism was never established in the U.S.S.R. to be the end game.  It was a tool, a step for the Illuminati behind the scenes to reach their goal, of total control over humanity.  (All of this info is readily available to the earnest seeker of truth in the matter.) 
     You innocent communists in our time: You never really believed the Marxian propaganda, did you, that the state, having obtained total control over The People, would then just wither away??  Rather more obvious a potential outcome was observed by Lord Acton, in coming up with his famous dictum, that "Power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely".  

2 Two points here.  One: The first sentence of this paragraph is pretty much taken verbatim from an interview with Obama by a talk radio show host back when Obama was still in the Illinois Senate, wherein he espoused his attitude regarding the Constitution, and its need, in his mind, for a major overhaul, along that line as expressed.  That is, away from championing the individual - the whole thrust of Western civilization; which champions the primacy of, and responsibility of, the individual - to championing the collective.  And two: how that former attitude fits in so well with the idea of a larger picture of Life - that it is part of a larger Whole.  In which the individual soul is responsible for its own development; 'salvation,' as it were.        
     This business, of the importance of the 'Western Civilization' idea of the primacy of the individual over the collective, is undoubtedly why the study of 'Western Civ' was beginning to be phased out of my (liberal) university's core curriculum, just after I went through what has become blatantly the indoctrination process of the Left; and, for all I know, has been eliminated altogether by now.
     These people mean business.  And have been in it for a long time; and for the long haul.  It would behoove 'the individual' in the West to wake up to that fact.  Which we are, in any event, beginning to do, by necessity, if not simply by virtue of the fact of the increasingly obvious nature of what's going on in our day.  And time.
     Leaving the responsibility, of awareness - rather than the sleepy business-as-usual mentality that we have been allowed to dwell in for some time - squarely up to us.  This generation.  Chosen - for whatever all reason - to bear the standard.  And duty.
     I like to think that we were chosen, because - as the saying has it - when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
     As long as they can get their mesmerizing fascination with the tube out of the way.  In time.  Before they go down the tubes.  
     (N.B.  "The crisis of the West consists in the West having become uncertain of its purpose."  Leo Strauss; from the Introduction to his book 'The City and Man'.  As quoted in the December 2012 issue of Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College, in an interview with its president, Larry P. Arnn.  Who is doing a fine job in 'holding the vision'.
     As for a different vision from the 'Western Civ'/limited-government one, my statement of "the indoctrination process of the Left" was in reference to the likes of "the long march through the institutions" that German Marxist student leader Rudi Dutschke wrote about, in building on Communist theoretician/intellectual Antonio Gramschi's ideas on what he called Cultural Hegemony.
     No couch potatoes, these people.  Divorced somewhat from reality, yes.  But lazy as a sloth, no.
     Time for the Right - both middle/upper class and working class - to wake up fully to what they are up against.  And slouches - both academically and any other way - need not to apply to the team, for a position on it.  We have work to do; and can't tailor our sails to the weakest of the crew.  Get up to speed.  Or get out of the way.  You would be part of the problem.
     This is war, ladies and gentlemen.  All-out war.  And the sooner that fact of life is recognized, the better.
     To be dealt with ultimately in a loving way.  For more on which, read on.)

3 See, e.g., the Freedom Center's little booklet 'Obama and Islam,' for some information in this regard.
     To go along with their other excellent little booklets, 'Barack Obama's Rules For Revolution' and 'Breaking the System: Obama's Strategy For Change'.
     Ex-communist David Horowitz and his team at the Freedom Center are doing very good work, in getting out 'inside info' to the public regarding what's going down politically in our day.  That's www.frontpagemag.com

ObamaCare Is NOT About Health Care

from NaturalNews.com: July 21

Read it and weep.  Or at least, get angry.  And then DO SOMETHING.

Write your Congresscritters.  Join a Tea Party group in your area.  Talk to your friends...  

Prepare for zero privacy: NSA spying is nothing compared to upcoming Obamacare data collection efforts

Sunday, July 21, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Obamacare, IRS, surveillance

(NaturalNews) The one thing you need to know about Obamacare above anything else is that it was not passed to lower your costs or improve healthcare services and delivery. Obamacare is about cradle-to-grave control, a surveillance state horror that even one-time supporters of the law are beginning to realize (though much too late).

Consider the provisions of this massive law that require collection of your personal information, all in the name of "streamlining" care and "reducing inefficiency." If you thought the NSA's spying was invasive, understand that Obamacare will completely wipe out the last vestiges of privacy in America.

Earlier this year the Health and Human Services Department, headed up by former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, tipped us off to just how vast the federal government's information collection efforts will be on millions of us, all via Obamacare. From Investors Business Daily:

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., asked HHS to provide "a complete list of agencies that will interact with the Federal Data Services Hub." The Hub is a central feature of Obamacare, since it will be used by the new insurance exchanges to determine eligibility for benefits, exemptions from the federal mandate, and how much to grant in federal insurance subsidies.

In response, the HHS said the Obamacare data hub will "interact" with seven other federal agencies: The Social Security Administration, the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Veterans Administration, Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Defense and - believe it or not - the Peace Corps. Plus the Hub will plug into state Medicaid databases.

'You can trust us with your information'

What kind of data, exactly, will be routed through this ubiquitous Hub? Oh, just everything about you - your income, Social Security number, size of your family, immigration status, whether or not you've even been incarcerated, and your enrollment status in other health plans, among other things, according to HHS.

"The federal government is planning to quietly enact what could be the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic," writes Stephen Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor. "If you think identity theft is a problem now, wait until Uncle Sam serves up critical information on 300 million American citizens on a platter."

Oh, but no worries, promises the imperial Obama Administration - the same one that has been spying on us for years and attacking us via the IRS, EPA and a dozen other federal bureaucracies. "The hub will not store consumer information, but will securely transmit data between state and federal systems to verify consumer application information," says an online government fact sheet (http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/ffe.html).

Sure; and there is coastline for sale in Arizona.

That lie was exposed by a regulatory notice quietly filed by the administration in February. Per Investors Business Daily:

That filing http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-06/html/2013-02666.htm) describes a new "system of records" that will store names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, taxpayer status, gender, ethnicity, email addresses, telephone numbers on the millions of people expected to apply for coverage at the Obamacare exchanges, as well as "tax return information from the IRS, income information from the Social Security Administration, and financial information from other third-party sources."

Obamacare - it's not about healthcare

And understand this: The main enforcement agency for Obamacare won't be HHS; it will be the IRS, for it is the government's tax agency to which you must report a) that you have obtained health insurance coverage, as required by the law; or b) that you haven't, in which case you will be penalized with a fine.

In addition, the government plans to store data from businesses that buy coverage through an exchange, including a "list of qualified employees and their tax ID numbers" - information that will be kept on file for a decade (at least).

If you still think Obamacare was about "reforming" - as in, making better - the nation's healthcare system, think again. From the beginning the law was designed to destroy your privacy and keep you under control - and to use your personal information to "manage" your care for the rest of your life.

Sources for this article include:

http://news.investors.com

http://www.usatoday.com

http://reason.com

--

So, just to clarify a major point in all this; which is the importance to the statists - of either stripe, socialist or fascist - of centralized control of the nation they wish to take over.  And thus the frustration to them, and their agendas, of the American form of government; which not only has a Constitution that frustrates the hell out of them, with its emphasis on the rights of the individual as against the power of the state.  But is also a federal form of government, not a centralized one.  And thus the desire of the Democrat Party, as front for its further left crowd, to attempt to weaken the federal system, and centralize as much as they can, so the Left can take over in one fell swoop.  Hence, over the years, all the centralizing influences, in legal actions brought before the SCOTUS (and the MSM lionizing 'activist judges'), and in the various departments of the Executive branch of government.  For example, the attempt to establish a Common Core in Education.  And hence the likes of ObamaCare.  Which, we have seen, is not really about health care.  But is about the centralizing of information.  And power.

Beware the centralizers.  They are up to no good.  Mean not to do good.  But harm.

Unless, of course, you are one of them.  And want to see America turn into a socialist state; as part of a socialist World Order, of absolute state control over the individual.

In which case: I wish you no luck.
      

 ---

My Prayer

My Prayer*

Ascension

is not up to just me.

             People

have to take

Their own responsibility

To make it happen

             drink

The full cup

             think

The full measure

Of their devotion - 

Leading them to make

Their way through the maze

We have made

   of everything

And then - and only then -

Will we be able

To move on -

              to sing

Together

In unison.

   That is to say

As One.

And then

Will we begin

To act

As One.

So come on in

          and play

Your part.

Don't be an old fart

       lingering

On the periphery

       thinking

You have no role to play

In this orchestra.

                    Hey -

You have a vital role 

           to play

With your heart 

             beating

in unison

As One

With Us

              meaning

You have a soul.

That makes you involved

Left unresolved

Until you dive in

Too, and join

The symphony

Of bright instruments

That God loves to hear

From Itself

The All That Is

Was

And ever Will Be

In harmony

      rhyme

And reason.

It is the season

To be jolly

And leave this vale of tears and fears behind.

        The sign

Is here.  

   It is up to us

To recognize it

For what it is:

            the sign

Of Completion.

              Time

To drink the full cup

Of Aquarius

          and go up

Up

And away

Into a new day

            dawning

For humanity

           resolving

Into a new body

For its Self -

                   only

      this time

In no time

       rather

In ceaseless Being

With Its Creator

(Which recognizes Itself

In all that we do.  The good

And the bad.  For the latter

Is from the gift of free will 

        is how to strengthen

And grow - as with rich compost -

The former.)  

Wonderful.

Marvelous.

Just the ticket -

Out of this sticky wicket - 

To eternity.

Tarry a spell

And lose your way

           momentarily

Is all.

We are there

To help catch You

As I.

            To say

Together

As One

Incredible

Family

     making Its way

Not only home

But to forever

And ever.

            Amen.**

--

* with a hat tip to the '50s singing group The Platters.  (On the occasion of checking out their rendition of 'The Great Pretender'; in recognition of the man who calls himself Barack Hussein Obama.  At least for now.)

** Which is a reference to an ancient Egyptian deity.  But never mind.  It's the intention that really matters.  To say, in this case, to end one's prayer on a fittingly reverently beseeching note.  To acknowledge your connection with The Most High of your Being.