Stop Nuclear Arms Proliferation Now!

Mannequin's World by Frank Hymng featuring Tono Rondone (So the tags wor...

Here's a three song ditty by myself and Elliott Shannonhouse

Isn't it About Time We Rid Ourselves of This Nest of Vipers?

BP SPILL - THE POSSIBE METHANE TIMEBOMB AND TSUNAMI - PART1/2

Richard C. Hoagland demands the "mud log data" from BP's proprietary storehouse of information to ascertain the true condition of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico . . . and why not? Why is the United States government allowing a private corporation to run an operation which threatens to destroy so much life on the planet, an operation which BP created in the first place?

REMEMBER!

Ignorance is NOT bliss. Knowledge is power, and the truth will set us free.

BP LATEST - RUSSIA TODAY REPORTS EVIDENCE OF AIRBORNE CONTAMINENTS, EPA ...

Lindsey Williams Talks with Alex Jones About Deadly Gases Leaking from B...

Lindsey Williams, the author of a book called "The Energy Non Crisis," talks with talk show host Alex Jones. There's a lot more Williams has to say if you follow the links on You Tube.

URGENT!! BP SPILL - VOLCANIC TSUNAMI AND POISON GAS ALERT!!

This is the first "alternative" media piece I watched after finding out that Richard Hoagland, of "The Face on Mars" fame, was voicing concern over the incident and, since I'm living in Florida now, I felt it obligatory to investigate.

Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill

The brokerage firm that's faced the most scrutiny from regulators in the past year over the shorting of mortgage related securities seems to have had good timing when it came to something else: the stock of British oil giant BP.

According to regulatory filings, RawStory.com has found that Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP in the first quarter of 2010. Goldman's sales were the largest of any firm during that time. Goldman would have pocketed slightly more than $266 million if their holdings were sold at the average price of BP's stock during the quarter.

For the complete story, click on the headline above.

Here's the First Apparently Serious "False Flag" Report About the BP Oil Spill I've Watched

Synopsis: 1. The "oil spill" is not true. They purposefully drilled into the side of an asphalt volcano and caused the normal leak of tar which is eaten by existing bacteria. The harmful dispersal agent which they are needlessly spraying into the Gulf of Mexico is designed to cull the population of predominantly poor African-Americans and the elderly who are on welfare or social security, and thereby greatly reducing the financial load on the government. The banks will get all the beachfront land as more people die or flee; remember Katrina? This is a NWO planned genocide on a massive scale and anyone in the coast area should vacate now!

Check out the link to the page that has the text you've just listened to in this video plus comments by clicking on the headline. No one said discovering the truth would be easy, especially in a fascist state.

How the BP Oil Spill Could Kill Millions

Occupation 101

After I heard on my shortwave radio from Cuba that renowned author and activist Noam Chomsky was being denied entrance into Israel from Jordan to speak at a University there, I thought I better try to find out about what is really going on in Israel and Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank.

I found a full length documentary that is a real shocker and unlike anything I had ever heard before about this issue. After watching this video, you will NEVER think the same way again about Zionism, Israelis and Palestinians. Learn from this and spread the word -- the violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide must cease!!!

Sirhan Sirhan, the Smoking Gun and CIA Mind Control

Here's Nosferatu, Murnau's classic film!

Carl Callaman most recently on the Mayan Civilization

By Way of Apology For Neglecting This Blog Lately, Here's Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf in Movie Form

This is a rare treat and totally unexpected by me. Just having finished Herman Hesse's triumphant novel Siddhartha, I was eager to revisit Steppenwolf as well, so I thought I'd do a simple search on YouTube for the movie, not even knowing it existed, and lo and behold, not only had it been filmed, but it was done by Fred Haines, who made James Joyce's Ulysses into a fine movie several years before. Enjoy!!!

Here's an Amped Up, Right On Version of Zeitgeist, the Best So Far

Finally a Solution to Pollution and Waste

It's Time You Learned About What Happened at Ruby Ridge

Terence McKenna's Wonderful Metaphor: Culture is an Operating System

An Image of Tono Appears in the We Feel Fine Book, released this November!

Just click on the image to enlarge it. I'm on the top left. To find out more about this high quality, hard cover book, visit their website here: http://wefeelfine.org/book/#.

Terence Mckenna on timelines and 2012

What we are talking about here is the the evolution of consciousness and the compression of time, or time speeding up, as predicted by the Mayan civilization and their calendars. There is so much talk of gloom and doom, but in reality, as the shamanic cultures knew, we are in a period of increasing lucidity, of evolving higher levels of consciousness, and on the verge of a new dawning of peace, love and understanding. That, indeed, would shake the very ground beneath our feet. No more deception, no more greed, no more hate, no more war, universal compassion and love, sharing . . .

President Obama - Thank You For Your Concern About EMF (Electromagnetic Fields) and Health

I knew about the dangers of HAARP in Alaska, heating up the atmosphere for nefarious purposes, but this video and more from the same source delve deeply into the harmful effects of EMF from cell phones and cell phone towers. It's called Electro Smog and it's killing our brains! Learn now and fight back!!!

Read Book One of Tono's NOLA Myths & Legends/S.F. Redux, His 1997 Journal Here!

Tono and "Numbers" in Jackson Square, New Orleans, around the time of the writing of this book.

Portrait of the artist in a cafe in New Orleans in 1997

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=33F94T1C

Click on the above link to download an Adobe .pdf file of Book One of my two volume journal, entitled NOLA Myths & Legends. Some of my best stuff, and straight from the heart. Read and enjoy!

This, From The Irish People, Seems to Sum Up the NWO

What Else?

What if we are alone, the only beings capable of complete realization, the only ones ever created, the only beings in our solar system, in our galaxy? In the universe? So here we are. What shall we do? Behave like scoundrels and thieves? In this paradigm, the only way for us to act is peacefully, sanely and with love. What else is there?

Photograph of Tono with his first two children, the twins Teresa and Ciara, San Francisco, 1985

New Age Infiltration of the Truth Movement

New Age Infiltration of the truth movement: by keith Truth from New World Exposure on Vimeo.

This a good place to start thinking about rebuttal to the plethora of videos on this blog by the likes of Michael Tsarion, Jordan Maxwell and Peter Joseph (Zeitgeist). It's a particularly knotty problem, truth seeking. While one can find wisdom almost anywhere -- just as a pea plant seed will sprout in good soil and also in dung -- it is most tedious to have to wade through the muck and mire to find that which is true from that which is deception. I recognize that I have praised the above mentioned individuals for their work in alternative history. But watching this video and some others by Chris White (whose work can be found by tracing the link attached to the video), I've begun to have second thoughts. The gist of the message is that these very people who are exposing the New World Order may actually be aiding and abetting its inauguration. More food for thought from this humble correspondent!

Hidden World History by Al Fry

This unusual documentary is one you won't find elsewhere, as it was privately produced and distributed by Al Fry the late 70's or early 80's. He labored to try and get the word out about the dangers of the global elites, but then as now the public was not very interested in the truth. Some of the information in this documentary you have probably heard of by now from other sources, but Al's style and added metaphysical insights deliver an original presentation unique in the field of political conspiracy research. Archive a copy if this one interests you, as it's original distribution was *very* limited and may not show up elsewhere again. Topics include, global banking cartels, elites, war, ancient history, manipulation of the population, human origins, ethics, metaphysics, alien intelligence, Nazism, US Politics, Communism, Secret Societies, Earth changes and too much more to list. (text by Tkra from honesty.org ) find more info about Al Fry at: http://honesty.org/fry/

Your Dentist Tells You Not to Drink or Brush Your Teeth With Fluoridated Water or Toothpaste!

And then listen to your local neighborhood robot:



And finally, the most comprehensive damnation of the three:

Free Masons War Against Islam

This is really one of the most comprehensive six part documentaries I've watched which examines the link between the ancient Free Masonic order and the state of the world today. Several key elements are revealed, among which are:

1. That America was established and is run today by Free Masons.

2. That a new world order is their global agenda.

3. That total control of the individual is their goal.

4. That fear is their tool.

5. That Islam is their greatest enemy.

Among the topics discussed in the film are several which my personal research has also uncovered:

A fake alien invasion is imminent, to be used by the global elite to galvanize the world's population to submit to a one world government.

The United Nations is the new global government in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States and The Geneva Convention.

The AIDS virus was manufactured in a laboratory and targeted Africa and America by placing it in vaccines -- small pox vaccines in Africa and Hepatitis vaccines in America.

The drug problem in America is a direct result of the government bringing in the substances and enslaving or destroying the targeted populations thereby.

The personal ID Card and personal embedded under the skin microchip are on the horizon -- no, they're already here.

Most forms of mass media are nothing more than the means of propaganda used by the global elite to brainwash us.

Islam is NOT our enemy -- Free Masons are. Watch this video and learn why!!!

Take a Look at Your US Dollar Bill

Watch The Illuminati - European American Takeover 3/4.mp4 in Educational View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Start 14 minutes into this documentary and watch/listen to Jordan Maxwell analyze the back of the US dollar bill. Then you will know everything about the New World Order that is consuming our planet!

Banned Christian Scriptures

Watch Bible Origins - Banned Christian Scriptures.mp4 in Educational View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

This full length documentary has particular attraction for me, given the amount of research I have engaged in during the writing of my fourth novel, The Martyrs, published in 2005 and a work in progress called The Astrologer and the Alchemist about Dr. John Dee and Elizabethan magic. The Book of Enoch, the Gnostic Scriptures, the Nag Hammadi scrolls, the crucial transitionary period between paganism and a nascent Christianity -- this and much more is discussed at length herein and thus is highly recommended to anyone interested in these topics.

The Anti Christ Conspiracy

Watch The Illuminati - Antichrist Conspiracy 3/4.mp4 in Educational View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

This is part one of a four part video about Satanism in the world today. Extremely enlightening! However, the parts are mis numbered. This is not part three of four parts as it's labeled. Go to the Veoh website for the other parts and learn about evil at the highest level of government! (Key: 3/4 = Part One, 2/4 = Part Two, 4/4 = Part Three and 1/4 = Part Four)

Aldous Huxley Interview on American TV!

"All that is needed is money and a candidate that can be coached to look sincere. Political principals and plans for specific action come to lose most of their importance. The personality of the candidate, the way he is presented by the advertising experts, are the things that really matter." -- Aldous Huxley, from Enemies of Freedom

Joseph and Rose Rondone

This is an old hand colored photograph of my grandfather Joseph and my grandmother Rose (nee Filipi) taken sometime in the early 20th Century in Santa Cristina Gela, Sicily. I haven't seen this photograph in over thirty years, and it's the only photograph I have ever seen of them. Since my dad, Anthony Rondone, was born in 1887 and came to America when he was thirteen in 1900, my grandparents on his side were long dead before I came around. I came across this framed photograph in my dad's house in 1975 behind a closet door, and it was so encrusted with dust that it was impossible to tell what it was. I took it down and completely cleaned it up, then asked my dad who these people were. He was shocked to see the photograph, it being long forgotten and lost, and with tears in his eyes, told me, "That's my mom and dad!" He had never returned to Sicily, and my grandparents never made it out of Sicily either, so Anthony hadn't seen his parents at that point in over seventy years!

Thanks to Jay Rondone and Angela Ollmann for sending me a copy of the photograph

The World According to Monsanto

Watch The World According to Monsanto in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

And Now -- Agenda 21 for Radical Population Decrease

The Fluoride Deception, Part One

98% of European countries have outlawed the fluoridation of public water supplies. Clinical research studies have shown that fluoride causes ADD and a host of other diseases even in small doses, while claims that it aids in preventing cavities in teeth are unsupported. Fluoride, an industrial byproduct of the manufacturing of aluminum, was first used by the Nazis during World War Two in concentration camps to promote docility and servility among prisoners. After it's introduction into the prisoners' water supply, the Germans were able to cut back on the number of guards it required to watch the prisoners by 75%! D'ONT DRINK THE WATER!!!

Alan Watts & Chögyam Trungpa - Right Here And Now

The Dalai Lama -- Capitalism, Socialism and Income Inequality

1/12 - Eustace Mullins in Canada, August 2000, Secrets of The Federal Reserve

While I've been featuring scintillating controversial speakers on this blog recently, I've left out one of the best, and one of the first. So here's an appropriate introduction to Eustace Mullins in Canada in the year 2000. It's in twelve parts but watch and listen to every one of them!

GOOGLE SETTLEMENT STEALS RIGHTS AND REWARDS APPROPRIATION

I received another letter from the Google Book Search Settlement Administrator this week informing me that my rights will be affected by the proposed settlement of the class action suit against Google for copyright infringement by scanning books and other publications. I have been a de facto part of the class action lawsuit because I am the author of numerous books, chapters, and other publications affected by Google’s decisions to scan and sell copies of materials still protected by copyright.

The settlement has been supported by the Association of American Publishers—which represents major publishers—because it protects their interests, but it is opposed by the National Writers Union and the American Society of Journalists and Authors because it seriously degrades the rights and interests of those who actually write the content. The split between publishers and authors is not surprising because anyone who has observed the uneasy relationships between musicians, authors, scriptwriters and recording, publishing, and production companies immediate recognizes they have very different and competing interests.

Under the proposed settlement, the court will take away portions of my copyrights that were created under legislation and protected by international treaties and it will give them to Google. The only way for me to protect my rights is to take deliberate affirmative action to opt out of the settlement and to seek to enforce my rights against Google individually—not a great option since its capacity to hire lawyers and stretch out litigation is far higher than mine.

The process and effects of the settlement are stunning and will dramatically alter authors’ rights. For nearly a hundred and fifty years copyright law has recognized that copyrights belong solely to the author (or persons to which the authors sell them) and that commercial uses of copyright material can only be made through negotiating terms of use and payment with the copyright owners.

The Google settlement will essentially rewrite copyright law by allowing the company to use the material without permission, without negotiating how the material will be used, and without negotiating compensation and payment provisions. It is particularly offensive because the court will be saying the government doesn’t have to protect authors’ rights, but authors’ have to protect their own rights. This is a significantly different approach from that which prosecutors and courts have taken in the cases of music, game, and software file sharers who have violated copyright on the Internet.

The settlement disassembles the basics of copyright law without legislative consideration and essentially forces the results on rights holders. Its effects are far reaching. Not only does the settlement apply to U.S. authors, but it is binding to authors worldwide even if they are not aware their rights are affected by the suit.

The settlement turns copyright upside down. Instead of protecting authors’ rights, the proposed settlement asks the court to reallocate the economic and moral rights to authors’ work, to give Google rights to use their material, and to determine the compensation authors must accept. To make matters worse, the effect of the settlement essentially gives Google a monopoly over the scanned publications and does require the company to make them available to other online services that might offer them at different prices or with different compensation for authors.

The proposed settlement is theft—pure and simple—and its proponents want to ravage and rewrite authors rights so that Google's acts will no longer be defined as larceny. The result will reward Google for illegally appropriating material, hardly a message that society should want to send to thiefs.

If the court accepts the settlement, authors will be victimized for the sake a $150 billion Internet company and the world’s biggest publishers. Where is the equity and the justice?

THIS POST WAS STOLEN FROM ROBERT G. PICARD'S BLOG HERE: http://themediabusiness.blogspot.com/2009/08/google-settlement-steals-rights-and.html

Michael Tsarion -- The Origins of Evil

Those of you not familiar with Michael Tsarion can find ample amounts of his video work on YouTube and Google Video. He is the author of numerous books and DVDs and is, along with Jordan Maxwell and William Cooper, one of the most controversial speakers in the field of speculation and alternative history. His recent video "Architects of Control" is also highly recommended.

This extraordinary 13 part lecture focuses on one of the most important questions we as inhabitants of this planet should be asking ourselves: Why is there evil in the world, and what can we do about it? Along the way, Mr. Tsarion will touch upon such diverse topics is the Elizabethan magician Dr. John Dee, genetic manipulation of humans by alien races, two humanoid creations (instead of just one, as the book of Genesis in the Bible relates), the New World Order, freedom versus slavery and much more. So sit back and spend an hour and a half with one of the most original thinkers on the planet!

The Esoteric Agenda

Watch The esoteric agenda in Activism & Non-Profit View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

All this information dovetails with several other videos offered on this blog previously. It is indeed required viewing for those of you in the know about these matters. It is interesting to note that this blogger has been practically prevented from posting now because he chose a new email address to be able to create a Facebook account. We fear the worst about future "emergency" control of the Internet. Time to wake up to the age old plan of the elite and fight the new world order!

The New American Century

Watch The New American Century in Activism & Non-Profit View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

As an adjunct to "Loose Change" and other 9/11 video debunking videos, this documentary fills in some interesting data into holes noticed by inquiring minds and should be required viewing!

J.G. Ballard Documentary (1930-2009) R.I.P.

Do the Impossible

"By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed possible have never taken a single step forward."

-- Mikhail Bakunin

Fiat Money -- Major Evil

Johnny Cash -- For Your Consideration

ZEITGEIST II -- Further Investigation into Our Corrupt Monetary, Social and Political Systems and Suggestions for Radical Change

Anyone who has spent time viewing, verifying and thinking about the startling information made available in the groundbreaking Internet documentary movie "Zeitgeist -- The Final Cut" will be thrilled by this second full length sequel which examines in greater detail the role The Federal Reserve Bank, the World Bank and our government plays in enslaving the citizens of this country and the world with unpayable debt, while raping the earth's natural resources and polluting the environment for the profit of a very few.

We have at our disposal the technological means necessary to eradicate disease, hunger and poverty worldwide in a sustainable, holistic, eco friendly manner, but we will not be able to accomplish this until we throw off the shackles of our current outmoded and corrupt political, social and religious status quo paradigms and institute new sustainable agendas for global survival. As it is, our fake monetary system, the empire building corporations and their political puppets continue to cause suffering, inequity and misery for the sake of profit over people.

Please watch this informative video and check the facts for yourself -- then begin acting with a new consciousness -- and pass it on!!!

Project Camelot Interviews Jim Marrs

William Cooper on JFK's Murder

Tono Plays Starbucks on His Birthday, February 28th 2009!

The photos below are some highlights from Tono's performance on his 60th birthday at the local Starbucks in Orlando. This was one of the many shows he has done there since August of last year, but the word has really caught on. The place was packed, and there were many talented artists performing as well. Shown playing with Tono are George on percussion, Brian on guitar and his son Christopher on bass. In the audience that night were many of Tono's family: his twin daughters, Teresa and Ciara, and his grandson Robbie, visiting from San Francisco, his young daughter and son, Sophia and Anthony, and his wife Jennifer! A good time was had by all, especially the birthday boy! Thanks to Steven Campbell, the photographer, for coming back again with lights and working all night to bring these images to all of us.

Bhagavan Nityananda -- The Saint from Ganeshpuri

Happy Thanksgiving to All My Children

Above are two photos from the recent visit of my daughter Atria and my grandson Lucas. My fourth daughter, Sophia, is in the bathtub with Lucas!

The Famed "Lost Horizons" by Frank Capra, Part One

A Review of Tono Rondone's First Novel, Pop Goes the Weasel

A Review of Tono Rondone's Novel, Pop Goes the Weasel

by Saab Lofton 2008

"Even the wretched and despised have their allotted place [in a utopian society]. Freed from all conflict we have time now to explore new concepts, new frontiers, charting the space inside our minds as we once did the outer void, with pioneers drawn from the hopelessly addicted; psychonauts prepared to risk their sanity in chemical reconnaissance of new, interior continents. We call them 'spacemen.' Every child's ambition is to be one when they're grown."

-- Alan Moore, Miracleman #16

Clearly, author Tono Rondone is a psychonaut of the first order and Rondone's first novel, Pop Goes the Weasel, reflects that. The protagonist of Book I is Dante Tutticosa, a slightly balding, self-depreciating everyman who's bi-polar ("The World is Wonderful and The World Sucks. He oscillated between these two opinions more than a Mississippi window fan, sometimes several times per hour.") and trapped in a horrid day job as "a fortune cookie fortune inserter" for a business humorously called The Hong Kee Cookie Company of all things. Rondone proves himself to be one of Alan Moore's aforementioned spacemen by putting his protagonist through paces such as the following:

"Dante would go into that studio, turn his amp up to maximum volume, and thunder away on his electric guitar, getting out all his angst and anger and frustration, because of the imperfectness of life, because he had not yet become right, because he was not yet fully himself. He understood intuitively that if you could realize exactly who you are, and maintain that realization, then you would have achieved immortality, you would become one with the eternal spirit which was already in existence before your body was created, and which will still exist, unchanging, after your body passes away."

And:

"Maybe we all walk in the same shoes as devils and angels too, Dante figured; he believed in other states of consciousness, other vibratory levels in which beings like angels and devils actually exist just as much as humans exist. In fact, they existed side by side, we passed through them and they through us constantly ... Dante figured that there were several planes of existence in reality, not just the one we know when we are alive and awake. Each one of these levels or planes manifest at a different vibratory rate, that is, the entities of each plane are vibrating at different rates, therefore, even though they occupy the same 'space,' even though, in fact, they are passing through one another continuously, they normally do not perceive each other, except when, on occasion, communications or observations occur between different planes through a rent in the fabric of consciousness, as when you see a ghost and it sees you. Witness the rings of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, levels of existence: demons, ghosts, human beings, angels, gods. All real, all existing at different vibratory levels. That would mean, Dante shivered a little to think of it, that there must be a heaven, and there must be a hell. Unfortunately, knowing that did not also give him knowledge of where he might end up. He therefore vowed, as best he could, to try to be as good as he could and learn to vibrate in a heavenly direction henceforth, while he still had time. How much time he had left, however, was not known to him, of course."

Verbose and convoluted (sometimes gratuitously so,) Pop Goes the Weasel is a highly metaphysical but mainly an experimental novel -- not just in terms of content (or its inclusion of poems and mini-plays) -- but the way in which its told. For instance, Rondone shifts in midstream from an omnipotent narration to a first person one -- a literary first as far as I know. And the beginning of Chapter 18 gets downright schizophrenic:

“Dante: Hey, who the hell are you? How did you get in here?
"Rondone: I'm the guy you were talking to. Or are you in the habit of talking to yourself?
"Dante: Listen, don't worry about my habits. I'm the main character in this novel, so I can pretty much do and say what I like, when I like. Don't change the subject and get outta my room, whoever you are. Anyway, I don't see as it's any of your business.
"Rondone: That's where you're dead wrong, bub. It is very much my business. In fact, you owe me plenty. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even exist.”

Rondone doesn't just break through the proverbial fourth wall, he smashes it to bits with a wrecking ball.

It's hard to discern an actual, linear plot in Pop Goes the Weasel (other than Dante's circular exploration of San Francisco's mystic underbelly and its citizenry or his similar stint in New Orleans). Rondone provides plenty of great, elaborate description but precious little action. Just as TV's Seinfeld bills itself as "the show about nothing," the reader is expected to derive pleasure from Dante's search for truth and an endless succession of his surreal/slice-of-life observations, which makes Pop Goes the Weasel an acquired taste to say the least.

Even the author admits this on page 74 of Book I: "There is no narrative, no dialogue, no plot, no characterization. Half of the time there is no delineation between when the narrator is speaking or thinking or pontificating and when it is Dante who's doing it. The book is going nowhere."
And again on page 171 of Book II: "I don't care if none of this makes any sense; I don't care if what I’m writing now doesn't move the plot."

In keeping with Rondone's Divine Comedy theme, a character with the name Virgil is introduced in Book II -- a middle aged disgruntled misanthrope, like Dante, who stands out early on by commendably stating the following at a cafe: "I didn't want to go over to Vietnam and dump flaming, jellied gasoline on innocent women and children." However, book II is as randomly anecdotal and as devoid of anything linear as Book I -- anecdotal as in:

"Tse, Virgil's young, Asian, rapper-poet-writer-backpacker, street dwelling friend, came in and told Edgar and Virgil that he had just got mixed up in a scam whereby he and the guy he was with had ended up ripping off this blond haired gaffy girl in the Upper Haight for a sizable amount of green bud. He subsequently rolled a spliff, and they toked."

Book II does seem to center (somewhat) around a concern over Virgil's friend, Jimmy ("who went missing for weeks after "neglecting his anti depressant medicine") and his next move in life. Deciding where Virgil is to live provides Rondone with another reason to invoke the mystical:

"The first card in the Thoth Tarot deck Virgil drew on the full moon night just prior to the 13th day of January was the Death Trump, and initially it shocked him somewhat. He wanted to know if he should leave San Francisco, if he should go to Philadelphia; he had implicitly suggested the question, subliminally rather than overtly queried, and he had thrown the Tarot after his first sitting in meditation in months ... The Death Card, the 13th Trump in the Tarot deck, represents change ..."

Magic plays a starring role in both books, but only as an incidental supporting actor. Great concepts are brought up:

"Dante in the abnormal course of events began consorting with his VCR. At length, he found, quite by accident, a small red plastic button on the remote control of the device, which was cut into a strange upside down five pointed star and circled with a thin red line. No mention of the purpose or function of this button was made in the device’s operating manual, even though it was printed in several languages. Some tongues, however, must remain unwagged, he discovered. Only one line seemed to pertain to the control: Note: The function activated by the pentagram shaped button can also be accessed by entering the numerals 666 on the numeric keypad ..."

Only to be vaguely alluded to much later:

"Dante had noticed, on the corner of Haight and Cole, a bewildered looking man standing next to a building with a far off look in his eyes and holding a remote control in his hand, not unlike the remote control Dante used to covet from his enchanted VCR. There was something strangely familiar about the guy. Later Dante wondered if he had been techno journeying like Dante had done; if true, the consequences substantiated a serious setback. For if this man had a enchanted VCR and was videotape traveling, then he was in Dante's movie. That meant that Dante's life was not real, but only a movie, only an illusion, like the flickering images of a film projected against a blank screen in such rapid succession as to give the illusory impression of movement. Maybe that's why nothing ever happens here, Dante thought. Or is it that nothing ever changes? Maybe I shouldn't take this life too seriously after all."

And then this intriguing concept is dropped altogether, which leaves the sci fi fan in me longing for more. I could see a whole movie based on nothing more than that VCR.

It wouldn't take too many pages for a mainstream American reader to begin asking, where in the name of Timothy Leary is Rondone going with this? The short answer is nowhere in particular, but as the old expression goes, not all who wander are lost.

Though it tends to ramble, Pop Goes the Weasel does provide a variety of entertaining eccentric characters, such as Tagy, a lanky rock musician who's "fond of remarking to anyone within shoutshot that he did not trust anyone but his mother" and wallows in frivolous lawsuits ("For litigation was a favorite pastime of the millionaire, whom had engaged in so many legal battles in the past that he could probably past the bar examinations in at least fifteen States in the Union.") or Hapless Hadley Dunn, a bartender who produces "perverted" postcards, one of which is called Sacred Fart, Cosmic Yolk.

And then there's Edgar, "The Egg Man," More: "An idiot savant, all six foot four and 250 pounds of him. Forty something, unemployable, on permanent disability, the holder of secret esoteric knowledge on a thousand subjects."

Not to mention: "Big Isaac, the well dressed, six foot five inch black man who reportedly wears lifts and carries a polished pine wood club half his height, and has a seemingly unending supply of Tylenol #4 with codeine."

In addition, Rondone is quite the philosopher and has collected some of the best quotes I've ever read in Pop Goes the Weasel -- I compiled a short list of my favorites:

"Poverty is a very humbling experience."
"We all prostitute ourselves for money one way or another."
"What's the big deal about cloning? The Germans have been doing it for the last two hundred and fifty years!"
"Such disrespect for the most precious of births, a human birth."
"Isn't it funny how the Dalai Lama and Henry Kissinger have both been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?"
"Anger is nothing but thwarted desire."
"He wasn't overly sensitive and easily agitated; they were just assholes!"
"If all else fails, follow your bliss."
"I need a miracle everyday."
"There are six hundred Vietnam War vets living in Golden Gate Park, and they're gonna take the Presidio."

Referred to as "an instruction manual for the obliteration of the ego ... A bible of the perverse and the pedantic, the profane and the philosophical," Pop Goes the Weasel is best read while under the influence of something harsh.

Saab Lofton is an author and a freelance writer based in Seattle. Formerly a regular featured columnist for the Las Vegas magazine, CityLife, he also writes for The Seattle Sinner, TREWS.org, and any other venue that pays him up front for his erudition -- except when he does it for free altogether

Danger of Assassination Attempt in the United States

Washington, October 31 (Radio Havana Cuba)-The US media are reporting plans organized by white neo Nazis groups to assassinate Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The plan, according to documents revealed recently by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also includes the assassination of 102 African American children in the state of Mississippi.

Last August, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, police reportedly arrested four members of white supremacy groups that were planning an assassination attempt during the final activity of the event.

In 1978, a novel was written by the leader of the neo nazi group National Alliance, William L. Pierce, entitled "The Turner Dairies", that narrates a fictitious uprising in the United States in which racist elements were preparing to oust the federal government and threaten with using nuclear weapons against main US cities.

The US secret service has linked this book with real criminal acts occurred in recent history, and are confirming that it served as an inspiration for Timothy McVeigh, executer of the bombing attack in Oklahoma in 1995 in which 168 people died and over 500 injured.

The number of "hate groups" that operate in the United States has increased 48 percent since 2000, according to the annual report of Southern Poverty Law Center.

New York Times journalist John Kifner denounced in 2006 the growing penetration of the US military apparatus in carrying out these racists acts, without the government authorities ever having to respond to the accusations exposed in his article which should be of concern for Obama.

Here Comes Domestic Crowd Control, Via Big Brother

The Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal, directed-energy weapon developed by the U.S. military.[1] It is a strong millimeter-wave transmitter used for crowd control (the "goodbye effect"[2]). Informally, the weapon is also called pain ray.[3] Raytheon is currently marketing a reduced-range version of this technology.[4] The ADS is currently being considered for deployment in the Iraq War.

The ADS works by directing electromagnetic radiation, specifically, high-frequency microwave radiation at a frequency of 95 GHz[5] (a wavelength of 3.2 mm), toward the subjects. The waves excite water molecules in the epidermis to around 130 °F (55 °C), causing an intensely painful sensation of extreme heat. While not actually burning the skin, the burning sensation is similar to that of a light bulb being pressed against the skin.[5] The focused beam can be directed at targets at a range of just under half a kilometer, or about 550 yards.[6] The device can penetrate thick clothing, although not walls.[6]

At 95 GHz, the frequency is much higher than the 2.45 GHz of a microwave oven. This frequency was chosen because, due to the stronger absorption of water at those frequencies, they penetrate the skin to a depth of less than 1/64 of an inch (0.4 mm),[7] which is where the nerve endings are located.

A spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory described his experience as a test subject for the system:

"For the first millisecond, it just felt like the skin was warming up. Then it got warmer and warmer and you felt like it was on fire.... As soon as you're away from that beam your skin returns to normal and there is no pain."

Electromagnetic radiation cannot pass through a conductor, so the effect can be shielded by a conductive mesh or foil which forms electromagnetic shielding around the target.

While the effects can be unpleasant, ADS has undergone extensive testing since its inception more than 12 years ago. Research into whether or not the device will cause long-term health effects has been inconclusive. Many aspects of the research are classified, making independent evaluation impossible. The beam is designed only to affect an individual for a short moment, due to safety presets and features, but these settings can be overridden by the operator.[8] According to a public release, there have been over 10,700 "shots" by ADS.[9]

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