Saturday, October 29, 2016

Take Your Pick


16 comments:

  1. Bernie is the best!

    I am so tired of hearing all about DT's problems and HRC's problems. Could we please just cash them both in for Bernie Sanders so we could talk about our problems again? I miss the issues.

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  2. We delivered the Unity Candle Set to the parents of the bride today, in NH, enroute to visiting three of our Grands in Maine. Or so we thought. As we took the exit to the parents of the bride's house, we got a call from Daughter saying that Baby*Grandson has a fever and we'd best not come. Turns out his Nanny's boyfriend recently traveled and came home ill, and now she has it and now Baby*Grandson has it. :-(
    We are going to try again next weekend, but wonder what sort of a week they are in for. Meanwhile, we turned around and drove the 3+ hours home, stopping for dinner along the way.

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  3. Back from two days' court in Fremont, which is unreasonably long for the case and was unanticipated.--Alan

    this via talkingpointsmemo.com:

    A resident of Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested Thursday after casting two ballots in the general election, according to a report published Friday.
    Terri Lynn Rote, who is 55 years old, was charged with first-degree election misconduct, according to the Des Moines Register.
    Rote cast one early voting ballot at the Polk County Election Office and another at a county satellite voting location in Des Moines, according to a police report cited by the Register.
    In an interview with Iowa Public Radio, Rote said that it was a "spur of the moment" decision, and that she was afraid her first vote for Trump would be changed to one for Hillary Clinton.
    "The polls are rigged," Rote told Iowa Public Radio.
    Rote was released from jail on Friday after posting $5,000 bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 7, according to the Register.


    "Vote early and vote often." --William Hale Thompson (Republican, as it happens)

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    1. In Chicago, that remark is attributed to a Democratic wardheeler.

      The Tribune quoted the woman as saying, "I learned that my vote would be changed to one for Hillary." Not obvious why the two sources have her saying somewhat different things.

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  4. OK--here's something that REALLY doesn't revolve around the current Presidential horse race! --Alan

    Witches of America [Click] An interesting read.

    I was warned, many years ago, to avoid seeking visions without the supervision of a skilled teacher to guide and monitor me. One evening about 45 years ago, being unconsciously ready for it, I unintentionally fell into a state where a strong vision arose--with a symbolism derived from my particular "religious" orientation. As it became stronger and stronger--visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile--the "objective" world around me faded, and I realized I was getting in too deep--dangerously so. By sheer force of will I jerked myself back into "this" world, and sat there in a cold sweat for half an hour, unmoving. Several years ago I discovered that at that very time Wiccans were more or less openly teaching people how to go to such places and come back safely, usually as a group. Interesting indeed. My experience clarified some things for me. One thing in particular that became clear to me was that the old practices of seeking understanding by cultivating visions were valid, and even if no longer institutionalized, the ways still remained open for those who were particularly suited to them. I think it made me a better person to boot.

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    1. P.S.: Having been to that country once, I have felt no urge to purposely seek it out again in this life. It is there; it always was, and always will be. Knowing that is enough.
      --alan

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    2. Alan, at about 18 I had my first vision trip. I was walking with a friend around an ordinary neighborhood at about 3 in the morning. Suddenly, under a street light, under some trees, I first became the leaves, and the tree, branch and bark and root, and it was me. Then the core moved out and out and out into space, into the cosmos, and I was still one with it, and it was one with me, and we were all one and all connected.

      I'd never heard of such things. Certainly, there was nowhere in the Mormons cosmology for such things. When I was leaving the church three years later, my mother arranged an interview for me with the newest Apostle. I told him about the vision (and the following ones), and he assured me it was the Devil (otherwise, why would I be leaving?). I assured him that since I was having them, and he was not, I knew and he did not.

      They lasted for a couple of more years, I never asked for them, but began to recognize the "pre" stages. In the early years, I claimed a name for them, since I didn't know what to call them--Shelladows. As I did more reading and research, I realized I was not alone. By a long shot.

      I did TM off and on for years, which never lead to any such of a thing. Then in my fifties, in a LOT of situational pain, a friend taught me how to "self-hypnotize" which she'd learned at her pain clinic. I asked her what she'd experienced, and it was pretty close to my Shelladows, so she took that back to her teacher, a Sikh MD, and he just smiled, and said--You and your friend are among the lucky ones. Enjoy.

      I used it until the situation was resolved, and then stopped. It seems to be enough that I know I can if needed. And nothing dims that first time, or those from the early years.

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    3. Unitive experiences are so deep down good. The best of the mystics have had them. I've had them too, and was counseled not to seek them. Doesn't matter. They show up anyway. Sometimes the veil is very thin.

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    4. Thanks for sharing. The experience I described came when I was in my late 20's. But what enabled it was an experience I was guided to around 17 years old. Without going into the process or its imagery, I finally let go (it was very hard), and there was no longer Self nor Other--there simply WAS. I felt that I was floating through puffy white clouds, slowly descending over a rolling green countryside with small scattered lakes. But that was simply a visual analogy--not the powerful vision that came a decade later after much conditioning and education.

      I can recall thinking at an early age that whatever is truly true, in all places and at all times, and beyond time and space, must be so simple that the calculating human mind is incapable of understanding it. I didn't hear that from any preacher, but felt certain it was so.

      --Alan

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    5. I am reminded of a partially-remembered account of a fellow who was walking down the street, looked up at a large tree that became The Goddess, who spoke to him. (I don't remember what she said, but it's his story, not mine.) It changed his life.

      Alan

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  5. Lallygagging for a bit longer, I got caught up with the blog. Puddle— your link at 10/27/2016 10:25:00 PM about covert female Clinton supporters was interesting, and completely plausible. Thanks.

    Alan

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  6. Back to political stuff, a pox be upon it…or a plague of toads, perhaps…
    —Alan

    Why do polls stay so stable? [Click]

    GOP braces for turmoil after Election Day [Click] “Some Republicans are even studying the collapse of the Whig Party in the mid-19th century…”

    ”Trump Is Cratering In California” [Click] “A new PPIC poll in California shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by a stunning 26 points, 54% to 28%.” Rather a perfervid headline. As of September 9th, 45% of registered voters in California are Democrats, 27% are Republicans. The link to the San Jose Mercury story has polls on various other races and propositions (as well as a more reasonable headline). The link to the poll itself has much more detailed information. Looks like the big tobacco companies have thrown away $70 million dollars trying to stop the tobacco tax increase (and e-cigarette regulation).

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  7. I have memorized two of the three Sacred Harp songs I decided to learn by heart as preparation for learning how to read the scores. The second one is Babylon is Fallen [Click]. Bad (or hopeful?) fellow that I am, the second verse makes me think of the GOP's current and future travails:

    All her merchants stand with wonder,
    What is this that comes to pass:
    Murm’ring like the distant thunder,
    Crying, “Oh alas, alas.”
    Swell the sound, ye kings and nobles,
    Priest and people, rich and poor;
    Babylon is fallen, is fallen, is fallen;
    Babylon is fallen to rise no more.

    --Alan

    P.S.: It's a smashing good up-tempo song, IMO.

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    1. I do sincerely hope our modern day BabbleOn will fall soon! Sing it with gusto, Alan!

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    2. OH, VERY GOOD! BabbleOn---LOL!

      Alan

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  8. Genetic engineering has not increased crop yields [Click]

    --Alan

    P.S.: Cotton harvest is well under way here, and many fields have been both picked and plowed down.

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