The case for intelligent design

Bruce Veinotte, originator of the School Sucks Project, has done some tutoring in his post professional “teacher” career. One of his charges was taken in by tales of ancient aliens and extraterrestrials. Rather than set him straight, he encouraged the child to explore the avenues of this field, helping and guiding him not by telling he what it is proper to think, but rather in how to think.

The kid, on his own, came to realize that there was not enough bankable evidence to support any beliefs in extraterrestrials and the like.

That places that kid miles ahead at any kid who simply took comfort in a teacher advising him to avoid the subject.

The schools should not “teach” intelligent design, but should allow the kids to examine it along side other belief frameworks, and so work their own way through it without being told anything other than the proper technique for analysis of ideas. Otherwise the kids have not learned anything but to follow authority.

But schools do not allow, much less “teach” critical thinking. Kids are deeply indoctrinated and by the time they graduate, jump bare-assed into the deep end of the pool with ducky water wings. They join the military, plunge into college debt, 30-year mortgages, find unfulfilling “jobs” and breathe our advertising-soaked consumer culture without pause for reflection, school having done precious little to set them free. And when the TV says something is true, they do not question.

ShhotersVeinotte makes the case for processing abilities, that is, consider this: At Charlie Hebdo, we were shown pictures of hooded gunmen and were told who they were.

Most people, just about everyone I’ve read, take that information in, and read it back unchanged. They do not process it. They are brainwashed. They do not have the desire, much less the ability, to question the authority of the news media.

Not only are they brainwashed, they are boring.

Day one: Queenstown

Settled in our room in Queenstown after 24 hours of traveling, but oddly feeling good. The time difference is twenty hours between here and Denver, but in terms of daily clock it is only four hours. That is, once you get to twelve hours, you count backwards. So no jet lag. It is not much different from flying to the east cost from Denver.

Our email ticket confirmation from United Airlines said that our flight over the Pacific was 13 hours and “no meals.” We booked New Zealand Air through United, and I guess United was being jealous. Once you get off American-based airlines, service is excellent. On New Zealand Air we had two meals, snacks, and as we slept an attendant occasionally went down the aisles offering water to those who were awake. United Airlines would be more likely to be pilfering luggage looking for hidden money as we slept than offering water to thirsty travelers.

People here speak King’s English and are extremely polite. Air is fresh, water pure.

We’re going to hang out here for a couple of days before setting out on Milford Track, covering 34 miles, I think, in four days. But the climbing is not severe, not like the Himalayas and Andes. Our worst day is a 3,500 foot ascent. The rest is relatively rolling and flat. So I am told. We meet our group tomorrow evening.

Here’s a line from a book I was reading as we flew yesterday:

“He was dressed, as usual, as if he had been shot by cannon through a Salvation Army clothing store.”

Off to Kiwiland

10940493_778958782176047_620689449877211215_nThe blog for the next three weeks will be a travelogue, that is, if we are in range of WiFi. We are off to New Zealand, South Island. The first week will be on the Milford Track. House sitters are coming in, so I have to do the usual, you know the drill – hide the pot, get rid of the Nazi paraphernalia, Stalinist literature, and of course my ISIS flag. Some time on Wednesday, the other side of the date line, we’ll be in Queenstown.

It is good, when it is winter here, to be someplace where it is summer. Right around the time of our return, pitchers and catchers report in Phoenix for spring training.

An anachronism

An “anachronism” is a chronological inconsistency, something that does not fit in a sequence of events or is out-of-place in a timeline. For instance, if we are watching a movie about the old west and see a man on horseback who also happens to be wearing a wristwatch, an astute observer might wonder if he is really just watching fiction.

Thus do we read the following in Le Figaro, 11 October 2001:

Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the Federation of the United Arab Emirates, North-East of Abi-Dhabi. This city, population 350,000, was the backdrop of a secret meeting between Osama bin Laden and the local CIA agent in July [2001]. A partner of the administration of the American Hospital in Dubai claims that public enemy number one stayed at this hospital between the 4th and 14th of July.

Having taken off from the Quetta airport in Pakistan, bin Laden was transferred to the hospital upon his arrival at Dubai airport. He was accompanied by his personal physician and faithful lieutenant, who could be Ayman al-Zawahari–but on this sources are not entirely certain–, four bodyguards, as well as a male Algerian nurse, and admitted to the American Hospital, a glass and marble building situated between the Al-Garhoud and Al-Maktoum bridges.

To the casual observer, this makes no sense, and so is shelved. But some of us know not to disregard anachronisms when events of a suspicious nature like 9/11 (or Boston, Charlie Hebdo, or the public execution of a president) occur. Seen in the proper framework, the CIA agent meeting with Osama bin Laden as he receives care for his very serious kidney condition makes perfect sense if …

… Osama bin Laden was a patsy. We know he had been in the service of CIA for many decades going back to the covert war in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. In July of 2001, a big event was on the horizon, scheduled for September, and the patsy had to be available to take the fall. So in the intervening months he had to be babysat. That’s part of a routine service provided by CIA, a full-service spook agency. They were tending to his health. He could not die before the event. (Evidence suggests he did die shortly after.)

How do I know this? I have spent countless hours trying to understand the events of that day, hundreds of hours listening to talks, watching videos, and even reading books. But we all know the truth is hard to come by. Those lectures, videos and books could be full of lies. So I deal in volume, and wait, patiently, for some order to emerge from chaos. And the babysitting of Osama bin Laden is part of that order that emerged over time.

The use of patsies is commonplace throughout recorded history. Famous patsies include Guy Fawkes, Gavrilo Princip, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan and James Earl Ray. Also common is the construction of a false narratives designed to obfuscate, obscure, confuse and distract curious people from real events. Often the videos, lectures and books on the subject are part of the obfuscation effort. One has to be wary at all times.

Given all of the false leads and deliberate obfuscation that goes on, how do I know that the CIA meeting with Osama at a hospital in Dubai really happened? It could be that the Le Figaro article of October, 2011, is also a planted story, a “golden apple,” or false evidence meant to be found.

Nothing is 100% reliable. If we learn that CIA is just messing with us by planting the Le Figaro article, then it is back to the drawing board. The search for truth has no end and many detours.

I guess it would be easier just to turn off my brain and buy into the official story with all its inconsistencies, impossibilities, and anachronisms. That would sure make this vigilant citizenry business more manageable. However, for any who do not swallow whole on the official story, I can help by eliminating some unnecessary distractions. Those people who are telling us that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition, nano-thermites, or by use of “mini-nukes” are part of the obfuscation crew, put out there to mislead. Part of the task in understanding events is to decide who is telling lies, who is not. There are a few rules, but no guarantees. One rule is that when a plane is close to its target, it tends to draw more flak.

CoverPage_blue_sWith that in mind, I urge anyone ready for some unsettling, disturbing and mind-altering drugs to read Where Did the Towers Go?, a 500 page exposition of evidence without firm conclusion, written by a professor of mechanical engineering who specialized in experimental stress analysis, structural mechanics, deformation analysis, materials characterization and materials engineering science. She does not claim to know who, or even how, and instead focuses on what happened that day. It is startling.

It appears to me that for all my hundreds of hours trying to understand 9/11, Dr. Judy Wood draws the most flak. She might be a golden apple, but might also be the real deal. My guess at this point in time is that she is closer to truth than any others.

But then of course, that could be wrong too. CIA and other spook agencies around the world, who know no national loyalty, are masters at the construction of riddles.

One of those “Duh!” moments

Thierry Meyssan makes a head-slappingly obvious point in his recent piece, Charlie Hebdo has broad shoulders. After the attacks, French laws were invoked for times of emergency that banned all public demonstrations. The reason is simple: They don’t want more violence, and if terrorists are out and about, more people might get shot.

But then they did a turn-around, and had a demonstration in public where two million people showed up and forty heads of state paraded in the open. Meyssan rightly concludes,

Thus, the government could ban demonstrations because they might be dangerous to their participants, but its members could organize a huge one, inviting leaders of foreign governments without fear for their safety.

This manipulation confirms that, contrary to its declarations, the government knew precisely the extent of the threat and knew it did not concern gatherings.

He speculates that the drive behind the event, if false flag, is a new attack on Libya. We’ll have to wait for the other shoe.

Stupid American tales

The following video, sent to me by a relative, made me sad. People actually fall for this stuff.

That reminds, me, listening to sports programs on the radio yesterday, the deflated balls story is consuming lots of bandwidth. It’s not a real story, and will go away next week when the real Superbowl hype kicks in. This appears to be a planted story to keep the game in the news and on people’s minds.

People imagine such things happen naturally. These would be the same people who are now checking their mobile phone flashlights to see if the Russians or Chinese have invaded.

Parroting intelligence

Another person, not me, took the words of our friendly resident sociopath wherein he attacked me for the umpteenth time, and noted that he doesn’t seem to be able for formulate thoughts in a coherent manner. He’s going through the motions, using words that seem to fit … but not quite. He’s imitating. There is no native intelligence.

That’s was a potent observation. If it were just him, I’d not bother writing here. But it couples with other thoughts I’ve had in dealing with so many others on the blogs … they don’t change! They don’t get better. They don’t move forward. If they believed eight years ago that the moon is a balloon, they still believe it. No amount of evidence will sway them.

I look back occasionally on things I’ve written in the last eight years, and I am generally happy with content and sentence construction, but also see that there was much advancement in store in the future. For instance, I was writing favorably of Obama back in 2008, and I would not just become disenchanted with the man, but come to understand that the office has zero power, so that only craven actors can have “successful” presidencies. Looking back, I see I have covered much ground in understanding. I’m happy about that, because it means I have purpose in my writing, that I am moving forward.

I remember the words of Kevin Costner in the movie JFK, that what happened on 11/22/63 was coup d’état, a line delivered with excellence by a highly skilled actor. I did not understand it. After all, we still had elections and anyway, coup d’état is what happens when men in bling-bling uniforms go on TV and tell us we have a new government.

I understand the line now. He was right.

Forward movement, better understanding, each day pushing the ideas that are so hard to grasp. Understanding only comes if I keep pushing, and yes, with each new breakthrough comes a bigger problem. Now I am confronted with not just a crime, coup d’état, bad actors and a riddles inside conundrums, but Oglesby’s words, “…the corruption and criminality of the state itself.”

And I will keep on pushing for better understanding. I love writing, of course, but more importantly, I love the idea that in so doing, along with reading and thinking, that I am moving forward in life.
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Here’s a troubling thought: Swede says global warming is a hoax. He needs to follow through on that, but won’t, of course: A hoax to what end? Why do so many scientists lie? Are they all dishonest? Are they so shallow that they are bought for a few grants here and there? Do they have no integrity? Swede is badly in need of forward movement, a breakthrough. because frankly, I think he’s on to something. He has merely reduced it to its simplest elements, people lying for money.

Most people are not like that. There are people who knowingly tell lies and get paid for it. But all of those men and women who are advancing climate change are not bad people. They studied too hard for too many years, and pride themselves on intelligence, insight and integrity. There’s something more going on there. I am not going to worry about it, but do ask that Swede come forward now and advance his ideas on the subject with the idea that while he has spotted a problem, he needs to push it harder to reach a better understanding. It’s work.

I don’t say that because I have the answer. I don’t. Maybe the scientists are right. Here’s where I am at: Many years ago I sat on our couch reading, and I remember a moment like a wave of fresh salty ocean in my face. I realized that my fear of communism, embedded in me by news, school and entertainment, was based on lies. There was nothing to be afraid of, and that dark foreboding menace, the Soviet Union, was nothing to be feared. I could relax. It was a breakthrough!

So too have I come to realize that this foreboding nightmare that so many smart people, even Chomsky, are prattling about, climate change, is something that I can do nothing about. Buying a Prius won’t help, nor will these annoying fluorescent bulbs that don’t put out enough light. I am relaxed. I don’t care about it.

I want to know more. Al Gore is not a man of character, in my view, so that his decision after 2000 to become the climate change guru was probably calculated for some unstated purpose. But the lack of integrity of one disingenuous man is not enough to base a whole outlook on. If climate change is a hoax; if we have nothing to fear, then what is going on? It is more than money. Is it groupthink? Cultism?

Answer please, Swede.
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The clip below the fold here is inserted for its entertainment value.

Continue reading “Parroting intelligence” →

Life in These United States: Use of critical thinking skills = “having a conspiracy theory”

We have … used that computer model about input, process, output, where the process is the thinking about whatever the input, or activating event is. … I remember the first time I talked about this on the show was after the supposed assassination of Osama bin Laden … in 2011 … May … Obama gets up and he gives a speech where he basically says “Yup. We got some actionable intelligence about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. We sent this elite group in called Seal Team Six …” that sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie … “and they killed bin Laden.”

Ten minute speech, over a hundred logical fallacies. No evidence presented. They dumped the body in the ocean. And like an hour later people were doing the Pledge of Allegiance at Ground Zero. Not a lot of processing [of] evidence there.

I’ll never forget the day I was listening to Rush Limbaugh and one of his callers – it was a rare caller who was taking issue with something he said – and the caller had the audacity to say, on the air, “Well, I really encourage your listeners to do their own research.” And Rush Limbaugh snapped at him and said “No! My listeners don’t need to do their own research. That’s what I’m for.”
(Bruce Veinotte, January 20, 2014 Podcast #331, Procrastinating NOW! (or soon), Part 2 – Techniques for Less Worry and More Action)

It is rare to come across anyone in this land who can see through something so transparent as the supposed killing of Osama bin Laden back in 2011. No evidence, body dumped in the ocean, no photos, as they are too gruesome (say the people who rush ISIS beheading videos front and center for us). I saw all around me that people were eating it up (the Pledge at Ground Zero inducing “think I’m gonna puke” sensations). And I thought “what the hell is wrong with these people?”

My way of thinking is far more basic – do not go where evidence does not take me. It is called “critical thinking,” otherwise known in this dunce-capped land of ignominy as “having a conspiracy theory.”

Helric Fredou
Helric Fredou
The events around Charlie Hebdo are fraught with similar lapses in credible evidence, the very photos of the supposed Kouachi Brothers are two men wearing hoods! Come on people! At what point do you stop trusting?

There is one event during that affair that might prove a Rosetta Stone to what really happened. Police Chief Helric Fredou supposedly committed suicide hours after the other killings. The story is slipping down the memory hole, as it does not fit the narrative. But for people who actually have critical thinking skills, and even an ounce of natural skepticism, it has to register with a loud thud. Something ain’t right.

JC, over at 4&20 cites the following from Paul Craig Roberts:

Neoconservatives arrayed in their Washington offices are congratulating themselves on their success in using the Charlie Hebdo affair to reunite Europe with Washington’s foreign policy. No more French votes with the Palestinians against the Washington-Israeli position. No more growing European sympathy with the Palestinians. No more growing European opposition to launching new wars in the Middle East. No more calls from the French president to end the sanctions against Russia.

That more or less sums up what I would call a “credible motive.” No doubt Roberts struggled with the word “using” instead of “causing.” And no doubt he knows, as I do, that when he uses the word “neoconservatives,” he includes one who doesn’t mingle with them in public but surely knows them all in private, Barack Obama.

We suffered now fourteen years of Neocons in the White House. I don’t worry too much about that, however, as I know the power of that office to register just barely above zero.
There’s an old Taoist saying: “Those who know don’t say; those that say don’t know.”

Fantasyland

I committed a cardinal sin of writing yesterday … oh wait. I do that all the time. Up on the right above it says something about the difficulty of being concise. It takes work, and with blogging writing is throwaway stuff, seen once and forgotten. So I don’t put much effort into it. Anyway, my sin yesterday was writing about more than one topic in a post. I started off writing about football and gambling when I really wanted to write about that sociopathic monster. I’ll get better at blogging. I’ve only been at it eight years now.
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fantasy-footballBut I started to write about when I was young and in Billings and when we went to the horse races, drank beer, and when the horses were coming down the stretch if we had bet a winner, our brains were just lit up with excitement. For a measly $2 bet. Later I read that the sensation we experienced, the combination of beer and gambling, is the same nerve center lit up by cocaine.

Not too long after that I was the guy in charge of the office football pool. All we did was pick winners, and the person who got the most right won $30 or so. Again, small stakes, but we watched football as if there were a huge stake involved. A little bit of gambling goes a long, long way.

I have talked to a few people now about the Seattle/Green Bay game, and we are all in agreement it was an amazing athletic performance, but each person I talked to also mentioned the bet he made, taking the points, giving the points. Football is about four things, maybe in order of importance: gambling, drugs and alcohol, advertising revenue, and the game itself. That last item is in the right spot. The first three, I am not sure.

I watch a couple of talk shows on sports now and then, and have picked up a couple of insightful remarks. One had to do with the games that were broadcast from London earlier this year. The commenter, whose name I’ve forgotten of course, said that the league does not care if fans actually go and watch the games in London. What they want is an early morning Sunday game to go with the three others, so that Sunday from 9 AM to 9PM is all football. The NFL understands television.

On another occasion someone mentioned that perhaps 7% of NFL fans had ever actually been to a game. I have been to games in New York City, and found them boring. It was hard to see the action, half the time at the other end of the field, and the wind was freezing cold. The players spent an inordinate amount of time with helmets off just standing and talking. TV ads were playing.

Football is made for TV. TV is owned by advertisers, everything else secondary. Get a group of people with jobs and money in one place, and advertisers light up like they are high on cocaine. It should come as no surprise that the Superbowl is an advertising celebration more than a football game. They are spending hundreds of millions on those ads, which have become an event.

Back in the early 90s I was invited to join a new gambling enterprise called “Fantasy Football.” With a friend I formed a “team” of players we “drafted” and then “played” other teams each Sunday to win maybe a couple of hundred bucks at season’s end. By luck of the draw I was given the first draft pick, and so took Joe Montana. Our team did not do well. But eventually I ended up being the “league commissioner.” Each Monday morning I had to gather the stats off the sports pages and put out a sheet showing winners, losers, scores. I did that for two years, and burned out.

And dumb as I was, I thought that perhaps the NFL was not keen to the fantasy idea. After all, it was turning the game into a gambling spectacle. Little did I know that the NFL invented the idea. Football was already popular, but fantasy football took it to yet a new level. As Green Bay fan, I wanted to see their games. As an owner of a fantasy team, I had a stake in just about every game shown on TV. I now had a reason to watch football all day every Sunday. That is all Fantasy leagues are for – a way to get people to watch more games, out-of-market games.

I gave it up, and now only watch some football, usually with an iPad or a book in my lap. If I am interested in the outcome of a game, I record it so I can fast forward through the ads*. If I am really bored, I can fast forward between plays too, as a game is really only about 18 minutes of action.

As I watched the crowd reaction to Seattle’s impressive win, I realized that they were experiencing that rush I experienced watching horses – gambling fueled by alcohol, probably other drugs too. This nation is not addicted to football. It is addicted to gambling. It is like cocaine. That is all the NFL is – a gambling vehicle.
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*The NFL has to be concerned about fast-forwarding through ads and must be working on ways to get people not to do that. Here’s one I heard about recently: Texting. People are chatting about the game as it goes on with their mobile devices, and so have to stay in real time. Clever, eh? By power of suggestion, I expect texting to be part of each Sunday’s religious experience along with the booze, the gambling, the advertising, and – oh yeah, almost forgot – football.