Grateful Dead

Welcome to our little corner RiggsJr.. Please feel free to come and give us your rants, despite the wife's admonishment. We all don't agree but I'm on your page!

Even through our collective karma everything is going to hell in a bucket,You can choose to ignore it all and free your mind instead.

Fabulous, just fabulous. What started in the 12th century as a papal guard for Christian pilgrims has been adopted by this nut job to repel Islamic invaders to Europe who may make it to 7% of Europe's population by 2020. The Knights Templar were disbanded in the 13th century, but the remnants purportedly became bankers. More fabulous? There may be other nut jobs who wield the shield with the red cross in Europe. ~ I hold the carrion crow. Bow and bend to me. ~ (Mountains of the Moon

Did you mean the Red Cross? that profit making, lamentable, greedy, distorted sinner of a "charity"? We'll sell arms; good for a couple nickels, but wait, cloaking ourselves in another guise is way more profitable. There's some wonderful, compassionate, selfless, hardworking ladies and gentleman working for them, but avoid like the plague, people. Do not give any money to these crooks. Chuck it into the nearest black hole instead; same result but at least your conscience will be cleaner. Haiti? Japan? to name but deux? yeah, thanks guys. thanks a lot.

If Ochosinko (I can't spell) stays on the straight and narrow I see another Pats superbowl next February. No team ever thought the strike wouldn't be settled.

Ohhh boy, they settled. Purportedly the compromise is:Raise the debt ceiling 2.7 trillion No new taxes (Eat the rich!!!!) A bi-partisan committee to cut 2.7 trillion, with a straight up or down vote required. This seems to bypass a provision that IF they can't agree on cuts then 2.7 trillion comes 50% from Medicare, 50% from the military. IT WAS, as I warned long ago, the Tea Party freshman in Congress who totally blew this discussion up. They went to Washington and didn't care if they were one termers and couldn't be bought by pork. I think Jim Boehner (Speaker) got told "Fuck You" in private meetings quite a bit by these folks in the last two weeks. ~ Burning down the house! ~ (I love it)

YEAH it's Jerry's birthday!!!! no idea 'bout the football shit; although i was gripped and hook, lined and sinkered as a whippersnapper when that sport was shown on prime time for the first time here in ol' Britain; toss up between Redskins and Dolphins, with a dash of tabasco-type 49er fruitiness; Montana and Marino my idols; caps and shirts brought back from US excursions from my dear ol' Dad. jumpin on the bed in a huddle and touchdown frenzy til' the youthful energy gave out in the late hours. happy days. damn i wanted to BE them!

Happy birthday Jerry! Hope your learning to jam with that guitar in the new incarnation!Lookin' forward to that day when... ~ The candyman's back in town ~

Lookin' forward to that day when........ maybe you can answer my private message lamagonzo!!!!! not sure if you got it i guess; sent on the 22nd July. Guess you're still alive considering the post yesterday and all. Maybe haven't checked, maybe inundated with thousands, maybe choosing to ignore! Of course, if it was the last one, then i'm not going to know as you'll ignore this too, ha ha!!!

Will do in a few hours. Will post in "Spirituality" thread as you suggest.

Done. I sent you 3 PMs but every time got thrown off the site so don't know if you got them.

The Tea Party screwed themselves, their kids and their kids kids. Unless you're making 250,000 or more or are working in the underground economy (good luck with health care and the nursing home) you just got screwed with less services by this deal. AND more taxes down the road. Washington DC needs to see reality. People are hurting, I'm seeing people being arrested for shoplifting food. What a country!

In the good ole' USA 1% of the population owns 80% of the wealth. And more than a few of them pay NO taxes with loopholes and good CPAs. And you are right about people caring. Few can be carried away from their electrical devices at this point. In Britain you can register as a drug addict and get free needles and heroin even, if I'm not mistaken. Addiction to numb-ers and downers is encouraged. Nothing matters unless it hits you in the face or pocketbook. It's to the point where I carry a hammer in my car and if I see a jag or a beemer with a conservative bumper sticker in a parking lot.... I want the class war to start. I'm already preparing. I'm not saying all rich people are bad -- just that they can prove their worth by supporting good causes like yours, Riggs. The others need to be sent to "re-education" camps to recant anti-human, pro-corporate views. Yes, corporations provide jobs, but surely we can find a better way to charitably organize them. Corporations are not human beings, though more than a few human beings hide behind corporations. The SLA kidnapping Patty Hearst in '75 and demanding free food giveaways was not a good thing, but not far off the point. We just need a non-violent tweak. Give it a whirl and if people still want to ignore the problem? Then I guess that is why the framers of the Constitution of the US gave us the right to bear arms (2nd Amendment, I be.believe). ~ A true revolutionary is motivated by thoughts of love ~ (Che Guevara)

Hey, where's my 911?... Yeah, riggsjr, that's the business to be in! When a recession hits, it's the rich market you wanna be involved with; ain't no slump in the high-end field. Either that or train as a hairdresser! Always gonna need 'em (unless you're blind or bald or both of course; if you can't drive and ya can't trim it's Big Issue time). The pit closures were a shameful part of British history; the workers and families knew exactly what government and the rich thought of them. Absolutely nothing. Disposable carcasses. And some of those villages and towns never recovered; not just regarding employment, but also their psychic geography. Bitterness and resentment passed down through the generations. And we definitely need a revolution (alright Citizen Smith, easy!!). It needs to be of the psychedelic and spiritual kind. Wholesome enlightenment. It's the only way we're ever going to change things on a radical scale. We've tried literature, we've tried philosophy; we've tried protests and demonstrations, we've exhausted the rational approach. Well-meaning logic and marches like pissing in the wind. The spiritual progress will come with entheogens and hallucinogens. Religion alone will not suffice; it requires dedication and appliance that many have neither the inclination nor mental ability to reach. It helps certainly, but we're still in the poop and it's getting deeper folks. Many are struggling to hold their head above it, other have drowned. If you don't perceive the poop as actually existing a large part of the problem is solved. We will never organise corporations more charitably (ever the optimist, jonapi!); it's just not in the beasts nature. Now transcending them works a treat! A bigger treat than a marron cream cake at 1.00 in the morning while the humid night of Yokohama never sleeps! Actually, i am pretty optimistic; but "traditional" methods have failed and are failing still. Open that third eye. Strangest of places of you look at it right? You betcha!

...in Fullerton, Ca.. They were caught on video cameras. The people of Fullerton are calling for the cops to be prosecuted for murder. The mayor of Fullerton says it has become a lynch mob mentality. The cops have been placed on "Administrative Leave", still being paid. A lawyer hired by the cops says that the drifter was "resisting" and that the cops were not using excessive force even though the video shows the man begging for his father and for his life. How can death at the hands of 6 men not be considered excessive force? What possesses otherwise decent human beings to turn into animals and beat a man to death. It's not like LA is in a heat wave or the Santa Anna winds are blowing. I'm saying a prayer that justice be served in this case. If being poor is a crime than there is going to be mass slaughter in this country. I'm saying a prayer that justice be done in this case. ~ Taught me so well I left his dead ass there by the side of the road ~

Sounds like another delightful example of humankind lamagonzo. At least this one was caught on camera. Unlike the many others i presume....Whoever he was, i too pray for another soul on the margins of society. They'll get justice one day when there turn comes. Speaking of justice, saw a wonderful piece on the news regarding sharia law in London, preached by silly little boys with beards, small penises and a truckload of low self-esteem. Amusing to watch these insecure fools indulging in free speech in a country that encourages it; where it is free to do so. Calling for Sharia Law (sounds a good name for a porn star; Burka Bangs 2 anyone?), manipulating confused teenagers into groups ready to implement this nonsense should it appear on "their" manor. Indulging in free speech unlike the type of countries that they cherish so highly. Spoilt little brats who wouldn't last five minutes in certain Middle Parts. Amazing to be so bold and full of vigour when the bombs aren't dropping in sunny London. Please do yourself a favour and fuck yourselves off elsewhere. Anywhere. Preferably where you can rejoice openly at the stoning of women, the repression of women, the killing of women, the persecution of people who do not espouse your horseshit, heretics and the unbelieving scum of the rest of the human race. We want many races and creeds in London; we want many people from countries all over the world; we want Japanese, Chinese, Afro-Carribean, Polish, Jewish, Islamist, Buddhist, Turkish, Indian, Tamil and extraterrestrial. We don't want you.

6 American gold eagles have been killed in wind turbines in LA County. Since they are an endangered species, the County is afraid of being sued. Since I'm on record here as supporting wind turbines as a clean source of alternative energy production I am disheartened by this report, but still support wind turbines. Why?? Fish caught in the Connecticut River (dividing line between NH & VT) upstream 8 miles from Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant test positive for Strontium 90. Vermont Yankee denies this substance is coming from their plant. Yeah, right. They produce this poison as a by-product, but it must be the environmental tree-huggers catching the fish and injecting them with Strontium 90 to frame the nuclear power plant. Bottom line? wind turbines are better than nuclear residues. I've been through Coure D'elane, Idaho and have seen the eagles over the lake. It is their greatest breeding ground. They are majestic. I am sorry a few are being sliced & diced in the turbines but in the end a smaller price to pay than Strontium 90 in fish being caught and eaten by kids and other people.

You should get in the face of those piss-ants and give them your opinion, Jonapi. Or ship their asses to Texas and let some out-of-work Afghan campaign warrior with PTSD not getting the proper medication from VA go psycho on their pathetic selves. Booyah Marine Recon! Here is a mission for you. Compassionately speaking, these are probably children who grew up in Madrassa schools in Pakistan, Afghanistan and have only heard the hateful preaching of Imams from the Wahabist sect (financed by Saudi Arabians, thank you very much). Like sex offenders, they can't help themselves. Why does Britain put up with that kind of hate speech?

Well, we put up with it because we have the beauty of free speech here. I'm all for it! They're allowed their say too. Gotta have some rough with the smooth i guess.Unfortunately, they are not children who have grown up in those countries, they are indeed children of Britain. Which, compassionately speaking, ever the calm sound of reason lamagonzo, bless ya, we can understand their anger if we're being charitable. You are right to take a step back. They are based in London and wish to introduce Sharia Law to the community around them (some great interviews with English people on the street saying what THEY think!!!). But that is exactly what we're dealing with here; these people are no different to the BNP or neo-nazis. Low self-esteemed young anger which needs to be vented. They are identical. If they really cared about the community or society around them they would use their emotions productively; counselling youngsters, helping drug addicts, informing them that prostitution doesn't benefit anyone etc. etc. Part of what they want to enforce is No Music!!!!!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!! But like i said, easy to be brave when you're privileged; sitting in the confines of a reasonably safe London, these chickenshits would beg for their Mummies if they ever had to endure the regimes of some of those Muslim countries which enforce Shiteria Law. How about an attack with water pistols containing pork spray in retaliation to their silly nonsense?

Heh heh! if it were those pesky Deadheads it would be LSD-25 surely?!!!!!Cosmic enlightenment AND a tasty meal? Yes please!!!!!!!!!! and no feeding them beer and cookies either, johnman!! oh, alright then, go on; maybe just a lil'......

No, you're absolutely right riggsjr.I have those exact same feelings rising to the surface. Luckily i was brought up not to judge anybody, be it of race or sexuality or whatever. Just never entered my mind. But i think it just goes to show how the mind can be subtly influenced and manipulated when one is in a particular mood. It's not really the piece of news talking, it's just the general frustration. Unfortunately, we live in a society, especially one dominated by tabloid headlines and incoherent hypocritical ranting spewed by newspapers; shit-stirring news stations and self-obsessed do-gooders who act like butter wouldn't melt, that when someone quite rationally and logically says "if you don't like the laws here, then fuck off to somewhere where you do", you are immediately pounced on as being a racist or nationalist or another type of -ist. WRONG! Common sense is plain ol' common sense. If i moved to France and spent my entire time rubbishing the people, their customs and their laws then why the fuck move there? Even if i was born there and felt out of place, i know where the airports are. Buy a ticket. It seems like white people aren't allowed to make comments about other races even if it's true. Look at the various Black Pride and Black Power slogans and speeches. Now i want to make one thing perfectly clear here; i'm all fucking for it. When you've been oppressed for so long, damn right you can be proud of who you are; shove it RIGHT in the faces of whitey. I remember hearing Public Enemy's "IT Takes A Nation Of Millions..." album when it first came out and was overjoyed to hear them tearing a new arsehole out of white racists. I really identified with that anger and frustration that injustice brings. However, can you imagine someone starting a record company called White Power? White Pride? Jesus..... But it is easy to be led astray by such nonsense i suppose. Look at the MOBO awards (Music Of Black Origin); if everyone is equal, why go on about it? Why highlight the difference? But it is important to remember the thousands of others who go about their own business and are wonderful, tolerant people. But it's getting harder, you're right. What was great was reading the reply of Chris Robbins, the leader of Waltham Forest Council who said: "People should not get the wrong idea about our borough because a handful of small-minded idiots have decided to deface our streets with ridiculous posters". (Posters read 'You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone-Islamic rules enforced"). That insecure, low self-esteemed "preacher" Anjem Choudary has claimed responsibility. What a tremendous fucking cunt. If anyone should blow themselves up, it's him. Just what would happen if you smeared them with bacon? Does their life become even more meaningless than it already is? Surely, thats game over, isn't it? No 72 virgins if you smell of sausages bro.

Both of your recent comments remind me of the message of the Norwegian bomber, who said he was trying to repel Muslims from the Euro-zone. If this message is coming through on a Deadhead thread from Europeans, then I think the sentiment must be very widespread. I don't see Tiger Lilly or Badger reporting from France or Germany on this topic. I would be interested in hearing their opinions too, should they wish to express them. The problem is: How do you preserve freedoms when religious zealots, not afraid of dying for their cause (a tiny minority of a minority)? The US has taken on mass inconvenience and the loss of some freedom plus the responsibility of extreme vigilance against terrorists. A few rogues have penetrated and done some terrorist activity and one moron organized by AQ tried to bring down an airliner but we have shielded ourselves from major catastrophes of terrorism, despite Tom Clancey's novels (this militarist actually wrote a book with the elements of the 9/11 plane hijackings before it happened, wouldn't be surprised if an extremist read it and sent it to OBL. Read his other books and you'll see lots of other ways terrorists might harm us, like cooperating with Mexican drug cartels). I'm actually in favor of free speech and freedom of religion. But I draw the line where it interferes with my freedoms. Shariah law is such an odious thing for me I had a knee-jerk reaction yesterday in my post, of which I'm not proud. We have the freedom to go wherever we want in our own countries. Personally, I stay the hell away from the deep South, which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona. I choose not to be around zealots of all types. But fleeing doesn't answer your questions of privileges for minorities and how it takes away from the greater good. All I can tell you is that this is a question that a sizeable minority of Americans (at least 20%) still very vocally grapple with. But please don't ampify the voice of the Norwegian bomber, lest ye be commissioned Knights of the New Templar order.

Remember, though, that we are talking about that tiny minority of extremists, no one else.I'm not saying they should go elsewhere, i'm asking the question "why don't they?". Why stay where you're unhappy? But lest my comments are deemed too aggressive by some, i would like to say that it's said with a sense of humour not hatred. These idiots are completely insignificant; totally irrelevant. The best way to treat them is as a joke. One thing an extremist in any walk of life cannot stand is being made fun of. And they supply us with copious amounts of material. Nothing will ever come from these posters or their silly wittering. I'm all for them having their freedom of speech. Totally stand behind them on that one. They can say what they like. By the way, i wonder if those guys in New York moved to the streets of Glasgow, riggsjr? The Answer: 12 seconds. The Question: How often are the police in Glasgow called out to deal with a pregnant women attacking a rottweiler with a sledgehammer? Be the last speech they ever made!

Oh, and i totally agree with a great TEDx lecture given by John Barlow recently - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYpB1NzCO6g Freedom of speech is absolutely essential. The best to combat extreme or distressing views is not to censor and ban them but to counteract with positivity. It's our duty. And why not have a chuckle along the way?!

...to the Riggs family. When my grandmother went into the nursing home at 82 years of age she had about $35,000 in savings. They took it all within a year. She lived in the nursing home (I found a better one for her while she was still paying cash) to 91. It was a very bad time in my life. I loved my grandmother more than anybody on Earth, she was a real Bodhisattva. I can't pretend to know what you are going through with your own family. I can only express my deepest sympathies and wish you the best.... Please know I wasn't accusing you of allying with the nutter. I apologize if I hurt your feelings. It was a comment on what is trending right now in the Euro-zone. Everybody is going through hard times and as someone said on the BBC this morning, we need to count our blessings and be glad we don't live in Ethiopia, Kenya or Somalia, where vultures and soldiers are stalking women and children till they drop. There was no need for the personal attack or walking away from this thread, .but do whatever you want to do....

Yes, after the deep breath. To all, I am taking two weeks off from posting in this thread. The Dog Days of August have hit hard on this site for many reasons (The Days Between) etc.. I'll be back, just need to clear my head and create space for new voices on this thread.