Barack knows Jack . . .

I like this: Yes We Carve!



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Now playing: Emerald Rose - Four Jacks
via FoxyTunes

Un. Be. FSCKING-Lievable!

Hillary Clinton, today, about why she's staying in the running despite her being virtually mathematically eliminated from nomination contention:

Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she said: "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it," she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race.

This remark is utterly beyond the pale. Yes, Bill Clinton didin't wrap up the nomination till June, but back then we didn't have the front-loaded system we have today. I almost read this as an idle wish that her rival -- Barack Obama -- were to be assassinated to clear her way to the nomination!

Consider this: Senator Obama and his family have been subjected to death threats since he announced his candidacy over a year ago. Not to mention this: Inspirational American political leaders have all too often been the targets of assassins the last fifty or so years. Given the groundbreaking nature of his candidacy and the fact that too many people have too much to lose if Obama is elected, I'm not very surprised at the talk. Eight years ago, when Colin Powell was considering a run for the Presidency, the racists in my family said that "He dropped out because he's be shot like a dog for being black if he dared run."

Hell, a few months ago, when Ex#2 served me my divorce papers, I asked her who she supported. "Obama, of course. But I think he'll get assassinated."

Nonetheless, it's nothing short of reprehensible of HRC to even go there.

Kids, this shit has to stop, NOW!

Time to put on your magickal thinking hats. No, not the one with the stinky fish entrails. When you think about something, you feed it's thought-form. When you feed a thought-form enough energy, you make it real and give it impact in the world. How many thought-forms are dining on the thought-energy of the thousands of people out there this subtle but toxic meme is evoking?

Here's the counter: visualize Barack Obama taking the oath of office next January 20. Visualize him shielded from harm by the good wishes and the hopes of the millions who will have cast their ballots for the change he represents. Let THAT thought-energy protect and preserve him. Ask the God/s you reverence to ward him from the ill-actions of others.

And most of all, admonish Hillary for her ill-chosen words.

Why I love Sundays and other stuffs . . . .

1: Coffee at PCJ, a good Internet connection and some time to play WoW, and blog.

2: M's Mantra: "Serenity NOW...please? I'll make dinner." Hot Indian cuisine, double-plus-über good. Does my palette good to crawl out of its comfort zone. She needs it, especially this week. Candles are at the ready . . .

3: Earworm de Jour: Fire in the Hole, The Elders.

I had a question for the runes...

There are some new opporutnities about to emerge at work, and I'm being encouraged to apply for them. I am comfortable in my current duties, but things have become stagnant for the last six months or so. I've pulled runes for virtually every career decision I've hade in the last few years, and all of the draws have been dead-on with respect to what happened later.

"Should I avail myself of these opportunities?" I asked my runes and pulled one.

I got this:

Ehwaz: (E: Horse, two horses.) Transportation. May represent a horse, car, plane, boat or other vehicle. Movement and change for the better. Gradual development and steady progress are indicated. Harmony, teamwork, trust, loyalty. An ideal marriage or partnership. Confirmation beyond doubt the meanings of the runes around it. Ehwaz Reversed or Merkstave: This is not really a negative rune. A change is perhaps craved. Feeling restless or confined in a situation. Reckless haste, disharmony, mistrust, betrayal.

My read: the new opportunity is with a new mobile technology. This fits the rune's traditional meaning since this technology is mobile. Not only that, the rune implies trust and teamwork, which is what this new tech group is all about. I think I'll apply for it!

This is NOT a fscking April Fool's joke, fer chrissake!

More bile and violent terroristic threats from America's own home-grown Taliban . . . over a 6-foot chocolate Jesus!

You might think I find this funny because I am pagan and most emphatically not a Christian. Things look very different when you see things from a magickal worldview. I don't see this as particularly funny. This is not about mocking Christ or any of his followers.

OK, apply the "Shoe on the other foot" test: "OK, so if it were YOUR Goddess, how would you feel?" If the situation were reversed and this were a Goddess statue and not ol' JC, with proper intent the act of eating an image of the divine is a profound magickal act. Offended? Not at all!

OK, eating the magically transformed body and and drinking the magically transformed blood of a god . . . a powerful statement of faith, a sacrament. Eating the mundane graven image of the body of a god, even a most tasty one . . . you're targeted for death threats.

Storm Front: Book 1 of the Dresden Files

After dinner last night Iz wanted to hit Border's. In the process she turned me on to Jim Butcher's modern wizard / PI Harry Dresden. OK, I'm not a big fan of horror but I really love books where the author works hard to get magic, military tactics / culture and tech right. David Weber (Honor Harrington series), Richard Cornwall (Sharpe's Rifles, etc, British Napoleonic light infantry ), Patrick O'Brien (Master and Commander), and Tom Clancy (The Hunt for Red October is the best modern submarine book ever; only the late Edward L. Beach's Run Silent, Run Deep, set in the Pacific during WW2 is even in the same ballpark) get culture/tactics and tech right -- with a level of detail that some find irksome.

As as lifelong student of military science and technology, I appreciate the details these guys put in their works. I have not been studying magic quite as long -- my first exposure to an author who did it right with respect to magic was only thirty years ago; I've devoted time to more intense study the last fifteen or so. Mercedes Lackey (most especially her Diane Tregarde modern witch books) and Katherine Kurtz (not only the medieval Deryni-verse, but also her modern / WW2 Adept series) are on a very short list that just got longer by one name: Jim Butcher.

I took this book home and figured to give it the "100 pages test" -- if it could hold my interest for 100 pages, then good. Robert Jordan failed that test. Even Terry Pratchett (I know, Iz, I know! TPs a GAWD, but I.just.can't.get.my.brain.around.Discworld. Sorry! I've tried!) did not make the cut. My standards for holding my attention for the first one hundred pages are tough; the masters of the first-sentence grab-of-attention are guys named Heinlein (Starshp Troopers: "I always get the shakes before a drop.") and Howard (something about a guy named Conan being chased across a river, cannot quote it) trained me early.

I stopped on page 168 because I was ready to go to sleep . . . and not because the book was boring. Anything but! Plenty of action, tight plotting, very nicely drawn characters, enough wizard-lore to satisfy this Background Freak, and, yes, Jim Butcher Gets It when it comes to magic and explains it.

Thanks, Iz, for turning me on to a whole 'nother Harry.