Everybody is concerned about that crazy uncle or dingbat aunt who spouts tea party rhetoric and ruins Thanksgiving. If my sister in law tried that this year she'll be out-voted. It's funny how you can tell what movie it is- - like ones about crazy people - - from the Mental Institution. There is one way they play it in "Harvy" and another way in "Coocoo's Nest" and still another way in "Snake Pit". They all have their little proclivities. Of course each movie or TV show has its own set of Gang Wars. In real life it's the Bloods in the Crypts in LA, or at least it used to be till they made peace twenty years ago. One movie about juvenile deliquents had the Scorpions and the Avengers. "West Side Story" had the Jets and the Sharks. Whereas Days of our Lives used to have the Vipers and the Stingrays. Of course don't serve grilled stingray at your Chunukkah gathering later this week, because according to Dr Levy, fish without scales aren't kosher. If I knew that I had forgotten. Of course given the way our gun laws are today you better make sure that crazy Uncle Willy doesn't have access to firearms. Some of these family gatherings can get heeded. Of course Randy warns us how these people are "fed their version of the Truth" from FOX news, and occasionally it's advisable to tune in for as long as you can stand it, just to see what's going on in looney land. Apparently Anne Coulter is still a fixture on that program and just has a new book out (?) on why this deal Obama is making with the Iranian government is a bad thing. According to Anne Coulter - - George Bush "won the Iraq War in 2007, but then this CIA report came out that claimed that Iran had given up developing a nuclear weapon in 2003, and this made the Democrats mad and they began attacking - - - somebody. But then Akmadenijab announced in 2010 that Iran had a nuclear weapon." There are several things wrong with this rant. I hope Anne Coulter knows that Akmadenijab is no longer in power. He was voted out. As you recall a big campaign issue with Gingrich was that the President "Didn't protest the results of the Iranian election of 2009". Well now they've had another election and a guy who wants peace in conformance to the wishes of at least the young people of his country, who want to be pro American, was able to come to some sort of accord with this President. What Obama did was far less radical than Nixon's embracing of Mao Tue Tung, who was a mass murderer of millions. But back then nobody cared. Apparently President Bush was confronted about this report in the fall of 2007 and Bush responded "I just received it last week" when in fact he'd had it for six months, and all the while was allowing fanticies about World War III breaking out any day now to persist. Dick Chaney actively tried to surpress this CIA report. Of course Thanksgiving is well ecclipsed these days by the Holiday Season - - and last weekend there were a few cooking shows talking about preparation of the Thanksgiving meal reminding all of us it was time to take a break from shopping madness and celebrate the next holiday. There is no good way for the media to market hype Thanksgiving, therefore it is some peoples' favorite holiday. It's all about how a bunch of tree hugging pagans taught some sea sick religious zealots how to farm, and being the zealots they are they gave thanks not to their pagan hosts and mentors, but rather to their imaginary god. Thanksgiving is a time of tradition such as parades and football games and having loved ones over. But now Wall Mart employees can't get the day off because naturally the merchants are just deciding to scrap the comemorations and make Thanksgiving Day itself a marithon shopping day. And the thing is I hear sales figures are expected to be down this year.
We then venture into the Sick Mind of Adam Landsa the Sandy Hook Elementary School killer of twenty kids and six women. Apparently Adam wrote some story in the fifth grade about killing a bunch of school kids and then his mother, and he lived out his fantasy. Adam Landza was totally strange. He wouldn't even talk to his mother even though she pampered him. She fixed him all of his favorite dishes and gave him money to buy a gun for Christmas. The family that shoots together stays together- - or not. He had black plastic over his bedroom windows and was obsessed with certain video games. He was obsessed with Dance, Dance Revolution. He kept old news clippings on mass murderers and was particularly fond of the Columbine shooting, but I think he'd saved news articles dating as far back as Jack the Ripper, if I'm right. It seems Adam only communacated with his mother via E mail and he would not allow her into his room, but made her do his laundry, and he was obsessed with changing clothes several times a day.
As you know the Jewish Calendar is one of those like the Ancient Roman Republic's that revolves around the Lunar Callendar, just like Southeast Asia does. So every nineteen years Chunukkah comes about as early as it does this year. Of course - - in my version of the Christian Gospels, there is an out of season "Passion" that occurred in Jerusalem in AD 29 during a partial eclipse of the sun. The only other indicators of season that we have was that it was cold at night because they had built a big bonfire for the people in the courtyard to keep warm. Also it was at a time when figs were not in season - - and apparently when leaves were falling. If the Jewish Calendar was once figured from the vernal equinox (in synch with Easter, then all of the Holidays would come a month earlier for some years, including this one. Keep in mind that "The Feast" was already apparently in progress on Monday and this would be a - - Thursday (?) and with Chunukkah the last day of the feast is the most important one. Also there was likely no moon that night because it says "They came after Jesus carrying lanterns and torches", which would not be needed if it were a full moon. Perhaps Jesus took exception to the - - marketing of Chunukkah gifts or something on Temple grounds. But there is this Evangelist who would say "Put flesh and blood on the people in this Bible story". So let's look at the "Last Supper", which according to the Gospel of John was just another meal because he told Judas to "get some stuff for the feast" or so the others believed. There is a question how much the other desciples knew. If they saw Judas get up to leave- - certainly they would have stopped him if they remotely suspected he was leaving to betray them all. And yet there is no talk about "I never could trust that Judas anyhow. He was always a loner with his money bag". There was no talk about what possible crimes they might be accused of or whether they would be killed outright or placed on trial, and if they did what were their chances. And now Jesus says "I am going to leave you" and also "I go to prepare a place for you in my father's kingdom, where there are many mansions". At one point they did say "Why can't we go with you" (I'm into archetecture, you know, and I love watching buildings being constructed) There was none of that. If they had no idea at all what Judas was up to - - then it must have mystified them why Jesus was suddenly talking so strangely. Little in this conversational exchange has a natural flow. It's kind of like that Simpson's episode. "Oh- - you're being betrayed - - That's Nice. You're Building Mansions for us in a place that takes about a half a day to get there if you travel by - Dragon Fly. Oh - - That's Nice." Also if the feast were in November the days would be shorter- - and the three hour prayer hiatus would not have made it so late in the evening to apparently find all of the officials on the job, which were it a passover- - all of these "night trials" might well have taken place after midnight. Oh- and one more thing. Suppose Judas reconsidered and tried to return the money to the Priests, but they said they'd changed their mind - - and arrested Judas as well "since you by your own words say you agree with your Master's cause. So they cast him into prison. Then with Pilate went to pardon "one of the prisoners' the other prisoner was in fact Judas. And we know the crowd was on Jesus' side. We know that from the demonstration on Sunday. Most likely then the crowd would have been shouting not for Jesus' crucifixion but rather that of Judas, who was then crucified.
Our Thanksgiving gathering of 1994 was the first family gathering I felt went "too long" and where I began to feel conversationally squeezed out. Again it is that year where everything is really early on the Jewish Calendar. Yet some things NEVER CHANGE. You'd be amazed. Back in 1994 we wondered if we'd ever have national Health Care insurance. This today is still an open question and by no means a sure thing. In terms of music trends back then Grunge Rock had gone into a slump. But since then there has taken place virtually NOTHING NEW in Creativity or by way of a new music trend or style. It's no wonder then that all of the songs you hear on TV commercials are most likely at least thirty years old. We wondered when Death Row would ever get cleared out of its huge backlog in California. It's clear now that the death penalty is little more than anachronism on the books, with no intension of ever carrying it out. There are so many anachronistic things that are unchanged. We still have no gun laws requiring a mental stability background check. And of course President Obama with that immigration bill was only trying to clean up the mess that Ronald Reagan let loose in 1986 when he granted mass Amnesty to Illegal Aliens opening the flood gates to drive down the wage base, which is what the Republicans wanted to begin with. The Republicans want these people "in the shadows" and kept in fear so that they won't ask for higher wages. This hasn't changed. Who would have guessed we would never again to Space travel to the Moon, let alone Mars or beyond. You still have to be Celebate to be a Priest in the Catholic Church, and Birth control pills are still not allowed, if you're a Catholic. We still don't have any systematic High Speed Rail transport in California though they have talked about as a pipe dream since the sixties. There has been no progress in improving the marketability of Solar energy cells in over forty years. Only now are we at least dabbling a little in things like electric cars and hydrogen cars, which are pretty much in the experimentary stage. And Los Angeles still has no NFL team hear after 1994 was the last football season for both the Rams and the Raiders here in Los Angeles. There are no real prospects of Los Angeles getting an NFL team. It's just another of those - - anachronisms. Surely looking ahead from the fall of 1994 by now England would be like other normal monarchies with both a King and a Queen. What a strange, funny surprise that Princess Dianna is dead- - and Queen Elizabeth is still alive. Both me and Ringo will be old men before that ever changes. In 1994 the Republicans regained control of Congress in a historic election. How long would they continue to be in power. They still are basically running the government now, apart from a four year hiatus between 2006 and 2010. They were talking about abolishing the Electoral College back when I was in High School, and yet nobody has made a move to propose a Constitutional Amendment simply stating we'll henceforth elect Presidents with a plurality popular vote. And we still have the anachronism of prayers being spoken in the halls of Congress and in the Supreme Court, no matter what Madalane Murray O Hare thought might happen with "freedom from Religion". Newt Gingrich is right. We ARE a "Christian Nation" whether we want to face it or not. And finally, when are we ever going to get rid of that ban on the "Seven Deadly Words" George Carlin mocked four decades ago on an album? And so a liberal can call Bill O Riley and begin to talk and get cut off and a second later - - O Riley comes back on and says "You can't threaten me like that, I know your name and where you live and I'm coming after you" This sort of shit wouldn't happen if we didn't have this completely stupid twenty second delay in call in shows, which is the source of countless confused callers listening to themselves on the radio. The more things change, the more they stay the Same.
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