First Black Slave and a memo from a Jewish Confederate Soldier.

John Punch got "Punched" on this day in 1640.

Three indentured servants indebted to Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn—two of them European descent, one African—ran away to Maryland in 1640.  All were subsequently captured and sentenced to 30 lashes each.  But the equality of punishment ended there.  The servitude of the two white men was extended to four years by the court, while the sentence of the other read:  “And that the third being negro named John Punch shall serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life here or elsewhere.”  Thus, by order of the court of July 9, 1640, John Punch became the first documented slave in the original American Colonies.
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 Within twenty yards of of my gun stands a solitary locust tree, the sole representative of a once noble grove which graced the graceful lawn.  Charred from the burning of the mansion and torn by relentless cannon balls, truly "grand, gloomy, and peculiar," its glory has not all departed.  Amidst a tuft of foliage which graces the topmost bough, there daily sits a mockingbird which, with the rising of the sun, carols forth its superb madrigal until the first gun fires.  What a subject for contemplation, this "gleam of heaven," in the midst of the "pomp, pride, and circumstance" of glorious war!  How painfully am I reminded by the winged messenger of peace of my once happy home in the South!

                                                                            -- Eugene Henry Levy (July 9th, 1864)


Eugene Henry Levy of New Orleans was born in Grand Gulf, Mississippi, in 1840.  His ancestors were English Sephardim, and one was a Captain Lazarus, who fought in the American Revolution.  Eugene served in Company C, 1st Louisiana Battalion for the Confederacy Army during the Civil War.  He was a Jew who fought for the South.

Go figure.
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In honor of Athens' on this day the Greeks celebrated the Panathenaea every forth year.  It was a six-day festival of sacrifices, citizens' processions, and sports competitions, yes, soccer.  No wonder the World Cup has such a following every four years.  Go France!

Nag Hammadi and that bastard Space Rover.

Esoteric Sunday Message:

The Gnostic scriptures suggest that the followers of Jesus saw things a little differently than those espousing a literalist view.  Their salvation came not from someone else, certainly not from the death of Jesus, but through an inner process of questioning and understanding until enlightenment was achieved.  They saw Jesus as a being of light who came to earth as a revealer to bring gnosis, not from a God who demanded his suffering and death but from the "ageless, unproclaimable Father," as explained in the Gnostic Gospel of the Egyptians.

Gnostic's were spiritual seekers.  They sought to acquire knowledge about spiritual beliefs in order to further their understanding of all things divine.  They believed that matter was essentially the deterioration of spirit.  Through inner intuitive knowledge of the transcendent unknowable God, their souls became liberated.  They sought not the spiritual teachings for the masses, but rather secret wisdom from their own inner insights.  The Gnostics presented their ideas and beliefs through mythological stories, treatises, gospels, letters, books, acts, saying, hymns, and today, this very blog.

Considered "heretics" by the early Christian church, their works were burned and their people murdered.  Fortunately, the discovery of a treasure trove of Gnostic writings were found in a cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in the spring of 1945.

Can I get an Amen!


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Mars Rover Opportunity: The Gift That Keeps Giving

NASA Mars rover that goes by the name of "Opportunity" is sleeping as Mars is covered in darkness from a dust storm this week.

Yes, the Mars rover that was expected to last three months is now celebrating its fifteenth year.  I'll say that again, the six-wheel roving machine with we sent to Mars on June 7th, 2003 that was meant to last three months is still going.  Think about this for a moment: for the last fifteen years this oversized (around 5ft by 7ft) robot machine with six aluminum tires has been roaming Mars at the rate of two-miles per year.  The temperature on Mars is around 56 degrees in the day, to an -81 below freezing at night.  A year on Mars is 687 Earth days.

Some photos from that little bastard:

A circular outcropping found on the rock Nasa scientists named 'El Capitan.' The area pictured is 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) across. 'Opportunity' has seen clear evidence of the main goal of Mars exploration - that water once flowed or pooled on the Red Planet's surface.

UFO Sightings Daily Photo #1

UFO Sightings Daily Photo #2

Turing of Ages from Trump to Love.

All of life is a cycle.  Stars and galaxies are born.  Stars and galaxies die.  Humans are born, humans die.  We evolve through levels of consciousness, individually and as a species.  This process happens in cycles.  Civilizations rise and fall, each giving way to a new culture that carries genetic memory of the past as well as adapted genius and hope for the future.

At this point in Earth's history, human consciousness has "d-evolved" to a new low.  Just look at the hate messages being yelled by President Donald Trump.  Every one knows he is selfish and greedy by his words and actions, and the jury is still out on rather Trump as a soul or not.  Still, he has 80% of the Christian vote, more crazy than that, that one black-guy who supports him (ha, just kidding, I'm sure there are more).  The Christians I know have given up on good government after hearing from their leaders for years, that it was impossible to have good government, and so they want amusing government.  I'll admit, if not anything else, Sir Donald Trump is amusing.

One thing, no one can deny is that Trump has forgotten -- or never knew -- that we belong to each other, mother Earth, the cosmos.  I can hear him laughing now at the thought.   I also know that his expressions of intense hatred coexist side by side with examples of extreme compassion from those who follow him daily: A man comes to the aid of an ailing stranger on the street.  A dog is rescued from a torturous home.  A child is returned to his/hers parent on the border.  There is hope in this dark night the Hindus call Kali Yuga, the flame of consciousness in the hearts of all creatures, the spark of consciousness that is love, has flickered.  But it's not extinguished.

In her book "Cosmic Time," Allison Rae points out that we are living in an Awakening, a pivotal moment in cosmic time, the transitioning to a new world age.  A cosmic phenomenon known as the Turning of the Ages with vast cycles of time ending and new cycles beginning over a span of hundreds of years.  The evolution of consciousness is speeding up, and we're experiencing their effects in countless ways in our world and in our individual lives.  With this shift, humanity has an opportunity to make a quantum leap into an unprecedented era of peace, prosperity and enlightenment.

It is this "Turning of the Ages" that has given us Donald Trump.  It is also this "Turning of the Ages" which will handle Donald Trump for us and soon, we will all see the reason for having him.  Remember, that out of the failure of the President George Bush, who gave us a war we are still fighting and a collapsed banking system, we had our first black president in Barack Obama.  This pushed the pendulum to the left so much that the powers-to-be had to push it to an extreme right, and out of this extreme-right, we will soon swing back the other way.  I believe this swing will have us growing in love and consciousness with a learning to respect each other and to care for the Earth.  As Rae says in her wonderful works, "All is scared.  The trees and flowers, wind and mountains, seas, forests, rivers, desert, our families and communities, our animal companions, the light in the eye of a newborn child.  We're returning home, returning to love, the consciousness that gave rise to all of creation.

The death of the Republican Party, King James gay!

Jackson Prison, Michigan: Lock 'em up!

July 6, the alpha and omega of the Republican Party.  To begin with it was on this day 1854 that the Republican Party was officially created in Jackson, Michigan -- home of the Michigan State Prison.  Coinkidink?  Perhaps, but it is funny to think that the end of the Republican Party happened on July 6, 2011, for this was the date of the first Donald Trump political tweets.

Then

Of course, this first Trump tweet was about something that he cares little about now that he is president.  I mean, really, when's the last-time you heard anything about the Hugh deficit in the US?   That's right, it is one of those things Republican's never remind you of when they are in office increasing it with tax-cuts and military spending; the out-of-control US debt is their second biggest lie to win elections -- the first being abortions, which only their daughters should be allowed to have by flying to France -- and they know it.

Trump's first ever personal tweet:

   Yes, RIP Republican Party: July 6th, 1854 to July 6th, 2011.  Your lies are catching up with you.

Now

It's a fact people, Trump thinks everyone but he is stupid.   What a guy, what a guy. Cha, cha, cha.

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Bullet Points on King James I (google it)

King James I (1566-1625), who was responsible for the most widely used translation of the Bible—the King James Version—was gay and fell in love with several young men.  In 1607, the forty-one-year-old king began a relationship with the penniless seventeen-year-old Robert Carr, which lasted for about seven years.  In that time, Carr became a wealthy earl and was married.  After his relationship with the king hit the rocks, both he and his wife were imprisoned in the Tower of London.  They were sentenced to death, but the king commuted their sentence, and they remained in the Tower for six years.

You didn't know that?   Really, what books have you been reading?   It is fact, even Sir Walter Raleigh joked about it, saying “King Elizabeth” had been succeeded by “Queen James.”

Of course, reading the bible closer does show you why King James I wanted it translated into English:

 “And it came to pass, when he (David) had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul….And Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.” (1 Samuel 18:1,3)

“Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse (i.e. David) to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?”  (1 Samuel 20:30)

“…they (David and Jonathan) kissed one another, and wept one with another…” (1 Samuel 20:41)

(Following Jonathan’s death, David said,) “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.”  (2 Samuel 1:26)

“When thou goest forth to war against  thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And sees among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to wine house…and after that, thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.  And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.”  (Deuteronomy 21: 10-14)

(The laws in Deuteronomy 23:25-29 state that if a man rapes a young woman who is engaged to be married, he shall be executed.  But if she doesn’t have a fiancée, then he shall marry her—in other words, she will be forced to marry her rapist.  The idea behind this is that since such importance was placed on a woman’s virginity as a prerequisite for marriage, no one else would want her after she was raped.  Although a woman needed to keep proof she was a virgin when she married—usually a bloody cloth from her nuptial bed—the man’s virginity was not considered important.)

(Genesis 19:30-36) “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.  And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him…. (wtf! I can’t read this nasty shit anymore).

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article168984592.html#storylink=cpy

July 5th, not much, how 'bout you?

Historically speaking (throat clearing), despite having been loved for his strength during WWII, Winston Churchill is voted out of office on this day in 1945.   Seems all the returning war veterans knew that the Conservative Hard-Ass was good for war, but not good for the workers.  They must have remembered all his union-busting, Tory activities before the war, more precisely his sending in armed soldiers anytime workers threatened to ask for better working conditions or wages.  The most notable was Churchill’s sending in soldiers to stop a strike by the Tonypandy minors in 1910.  This worked so well in defending the corporate profiteers, that Churchill used it again a year later in Liverpool where two strikers would be shot-down in cold blood simply for asking for better working conditions.   There are other reasons Churchill probably didn’t get re-elected in 1945, the world was becoming less racist and Churchill was definitely a White Supremacist by necessity.  This is obvious from such statements of his as, “I do not admit that a wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America...By the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race has come in and taken their place.”

Other mean statements by the old fart:  “I cannot understand this squeamishness about the use of gas” — this was in regards to his use of nerv gas to beat back an Iraqi revolt in 1920.  Then who can forget Churchill’s distane for one of the greatest men of the 20th century: Mahatma Gandhi who Churchill considered a “fake” and had hoped he would starve to death (Don’t believe me?  Google it).

Okay, Churchill did probably save the world as we know it.  I’ll give you this.  And why wouldn’t he, for Churchill knew the inner-workings of Hitler.  I wonder why?

Funny, but a similar thing would happen to President George Bush after he won the first Iraq War so perfectly.   The battle was less than a few weeks and no American soldiers were killed or wounded.  Yes, President George Bush (from 1988, not the idiot son with the same name who's Iraq war in 2003 was a distracted and we still haven't paid for, it's still in that massive US debt blamed on Liberals Spending which is a lie they use to keep getting elected and you continue to believe it because you haven't figured out the Fourth Way yet--keep reading my blog and you will-- back to this story: President George Bush had served in the military and didn't want to put the troops in some bullshit war even though his advisors wanted him to.  Yes, the same advisors (John Bolton ) who is now advising Sir Donald Trump as well as he did the idiot Bush — not the father Bush.

Just like Churchill, President Bush lost his run for reelection to Bill Clinton. 

The moral of this story:  Wars Don't Win Elections!!!

I just had to say that.

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And yes, there is a new sight to be seen of the Planet Earth from Alians space ships in the sky: a gigantic, Penis:

The phallic “crop-circle” was carved in a bed of sand in a dry lake near Geelong, Australia.  The art is 160 feet long and the artist has not come forward.
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In ancient Egypt, this day was sacred to the goddess Maat, who presides over truth and wisdom.

Happy 4th of July, Hotdogs, Fireworks, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Happy 4th of July everybody!

July 4th, yes, time to play with fireworks.  So, here goes it:  no one, and yes, I mean no one understands the fourth way, yet,  they soon will.  For the times they are a changing, the Nazi emblem is spinning, and capitalism is going the road of other 'myth' religions.  The same aggressive right-to-be here attitude that gained America from the Native Americans is now claiming America from the claimers.   Take back America is a lunch bucket filled with baloney sandwiches and Capri-Sun drinks.   The USA is not a nationalistic movement.   Never has been, never will be.   Grow, Tonto,  grow.   For the lord of tomorrow is today.

And all the angels joined in to oppose Donald Trump.  


                                                                                                         -- heavenly angelic creature

Lady Liberty

Why is the hotdog one of America's favorite foods?  

The term dog has been used as a synonym for sausage since the 1800s, with one thought being that it came from accusations that sausage makers used dog meat, starting in at least 1845.  In the early 20th century, consumption of dog meat in Germany was common. The suspicion that sausages contained dog meat was "occasionally justified"


The Reason You Will Drink Too Much Beer This Day, eat Dog Meat, and possibly blow off your index finger with a firecracker?

The Declaration of Independence.   Yes, that liberal doctrine that provided the ideological foundations for the democratic government of the United States. promoting the idea that the government exists to serve the people, who elect representatives to express their will.  A "social contract" between people and their rulers, which can be dissolved if rulers fail to promote the people's welfare for a group of white supremacist -- I added the last part.

Least you forget, please read the following section out loud today and take a deep breath, it really is okay to be liberals boys-and-girls, it is the basis for the founding of this great country:

 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

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Concordia

 In ancient times, the 4th of July was the date that Pax, the Roman goddess of peace and harmony, who was also identified with the Greek goddess Concordia, was honored with a considerable amount of feasting and revelry.

Happy 4th Everyone!

Slow Day

On this day in 1993, New York Mets pitcher Anthony Young sets a dubious American major-league record with his 24th consecutive loss.   Prior to that, on this same day in 1990, the first pitcher in the American league ever to throw a no-hitter happens, twice on the same day.   Once by Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers and then later that same day by Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics, 30 minutes apart. 

Yes, after about a hundred years of baseball, two people break the same record on the same day.  Coinkidink?  Maybe.

Another coinkidink for this day is that in 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court without any Donald Trump appointees, upholds the principle that abortion is a constitutional right.    Let's see how long that last.  But as I have already stated, previously, Bring It On Neo-Con, Right-Wing Religious Hypocrite.  We see through you.

Which brings me to another crazy event from history on this day: in 1926 the fascist government adds an extra hour to the Italians' workday in order to increase economic efficiency.

Hmmmm, why is that important?

It's a slow day.
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In East Anglia, today is the optimum time for gathering herbs.  On this date in Appleton, England, the boughs of a very old hawthorn tree are decorated with flowers, flags, wreaths, and ribbons in a ceremony known as Bamming the Thorn.  In Voodoo belief, this day is sacred to the Sun deity Papa Legba, a spirit-master of the pathways and crossroads.

The liberal vote is the revolution

This may sound political, but it's not.  There is another opening on the Supreme Court, and since the Republicans stole a seat by not confirming President Obama's selection for over a year, and allowing Donald Trump to appoint a conservative in that seat instead after the election, with this another Republican pick they will definitely have enough people to overturn the abortion laws allowing woman the choice.   I for one think this is good news.  I would love to see them vote away these rights for woman in the USA because, then maybe lazy-ass liberals will start paying attention.

I really don't think they would outlaw abortions in the USA.  It's always been their way to win votes but no one in their right mind thinks you can outlaw it.  The religious nuts who believe this are just like the religious nuts who after 30 years of using temperance as a way to win conservative votes in the late 1800's and finally got their way in the 1920's prohibition, only to see the will of the people wake up and vote out conservatives for 30 years,  are at it again and have been using the abortion issue as a way to win votes for the last 40 years with no real plans to ever outlaw abortion for they know it is not the will of the majority.

So, hold on dear friends, for this conservative nightmare that has made the rich very rich, and poor very poor, it coming to a head.  They have suppressed the will of the people for a minority of people who now see their days number.  They see the face of the USA becoming more diverse than ever; they see young people open to demanding more from the top greedy 1 percent who own everything; they see the hypocrisy of the Republican party who would not allow a Democrat president to appoint his lawful pick for the supreme court one-year before an election, a Republican party who now says an election year doesn't matter.  Fairness to them is bullying us.

The truth is, if they were really winning, they would not be cheating to keep their power.

If you are a liberal and want to join the revolution:  vote.  Period.  That's all you have to do.  Even if you own nothing more than the backpack on your shoulder, book of poetry in your hands, or working too many hours to think of anything else but work, you need to vote.  That scares them more than any else for they know their hypocrisy, hate, and greed, is not sustainable in a truly free society. 

It really is funny watching them hold on to power the only way they can.

Vote.

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"It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind."

                                                                                               Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Yes, supreme court justices are important, now aren't they.

On this day in 1938, the father of Eugenics was accepted as a member of Germany's Nazi Party.  Lorenz wrote a paper employing principles of ethology and calling for a "self-conscious, scientifically based race policy" administered by "our best individuals" with the aim of inducing "a more severe elimination of morally inferior human beings."

In 1973, Konrad Lorenz was awarded a Nobel Prize.