PALM SUNDAY

In two parts. This Sunday Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. The text is graciously lifted from Wikipedia. I present this article as an exposure to the Bible and my Christian faith. My beliefs get me through some rough times, bucko.

Main article: Triumphal entry into Jerusalem

In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection.

According to the Gospels, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees. The people sang part of Psalms 118: 25–26 – ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord ....
The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war.^[1] Therefore, a king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Therefore, Jesus' entry to Jerusalem symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.
In many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible (2Kings 9:13) reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way. Both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. However, in the synoptics they are only reported as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, whereas John more specifically mentions palm fronds. The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in Jewish tradition, and is treated in other parts of the Bible as such (e.g., Leviticus 23:40 and Revelation 7:9). Because of this, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them and their cloaks has become symbolic and important.

Here is Scripture:

Matthew 21:1-11

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Triumphal Entry

21 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage,^[a] at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

⁴ All^[b] this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”^[c]

⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him^[d] on them. ⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’^[e]
Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

HEAVEN and HELL

Hieronymus Bosch

Nothing is known of his personality or his thoughts on the meaning of his art. Bosch’s date of birth has not been determined with certainty. It is estimated at c. 1450 on the basis of a hand drawn portrait (which may be a self-portrait) made shortly before his death in 1516. The drawing shows the artist at an advanced age, probably in his late sixties.

In recent decades, scholars have come to view Bosch's vision as less fantastic, and accepted that his art reflects the orthodox religious belief systems of his age. His depictions of sinful humanity, his conceptions of Heaven and Hell are now seen as consistent with those of late medieval didactic literature and sermons. Most writers attach a more profound significance to his paintings than had previously been supposed, and attempt to interpret it in terms of a late medieval morality. It is generally accepted that Bosch’s art was created to teach specific moral and spiritual truths in the manner of other Northern Renaissance figures, such as the poet Robert Henryson, and that the images rendered have precise and premeditated significance. According to Dirk Bax, Bosch's paintings often represent visual translations of verbal metaphors and puns drawn from both biblical and folkloric sources.

Bosch produced several triptychs. Among his most famous is The Garden of Earthly Delights. This painting, for which the original title has not survived, depicts paradise with Adam and Eve and many wondrous animals on the left panel, the earthly delights with numerous nude figures and tremendous fruit and birds on the middle panel, and hell with depictions of fantastic punishments of the various types of sinners on the right panel.

 Adam and Eve

                                                                                                                

Earthly Delights

Hell

SPAM - THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH

Winter is departing. Time to get back to the business of blogging. Do you realize we are hurtling through space at a speed of thousands of miles per hour? Imagine that measured in furlongs per fortnight.

I spend many a happy hour here, expanding my horizons, so to speak. Getting great ideas for parties.

Doomers take note: when the SHTF canned meats is all yer gonna have unless you shoot a squirrel or a gator or somethin'.

History of Spam

Hawaiians have a love affair with Spam - they eat it as a delicacy, adding it to soups and stews, treating it as a side dish for breakfast, and enjoying it as the main event for lunch and dinner. Residents of Hawaii consume more Spam than populations anywhere else in the world: More than four million cans every year, or an average twelve cans of Spam per person per year. In fact, Hawaii is so well associated with Spam that Hormel even introduced a limited edition "Hawaii" can in 2003.

The Hormel Company, in Austin, Minnesota, developed America's first canned ham in 1926. After the hams were cut, the company was left with thousands of pounds of nearly worthless pork shoulder. Jay C. Hormel, son of Hormel founder George A. Hormel, developed the ideas of using the pork shoulder in a new product called "Hormel Spiced Ham." Since the name was rather uninspiring, a contest for a new name was held at a New Year’s Eve party, with a $100 prize to the winner. The winning name was the name it goes by today - Spam. Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president Ralph Daigeau, won the contest.

During World War II, sales of Spam soared. In part because it requires no refrigeration, Spam was perfect for the military and became a standard K-ration for U.S. soldiers. Military personnel introduced it in Hawaii and elsewhere.

I JUST ... FEEL SOMETHIN'

These tunes are in my head; I let them out on occasion for some air.

Sometimes I would rather listen to the music than hear myself think.








Doin' it all over town.





Laissez les bons temps rouler





poison in my chalice




Leave on a happy note:

DONKEYS and ELEPHANTS

This election more than any other was won by people like us voting negative. We didn't, did not want the incumbents to remain in office so we made choices that were not positive ones. We didn't care what the pol's record was or if he had some little secrets and shortcomings, all we knew was that he was not a Democrat. Perhaps that strategy will be the prevailing one in future elections. Instead of "I am this and I promise that" we'll see "I'm not this and I will not that".


I am not surprised. Sad, yeah, in the melancholy sense. The change in power in Congress was inevitable. The Democrats have shown no regard for the voice of any people except the usual suspects: special interest groups, People of Color, and money people. What bothers me is the mindset, the tactics we had to adopt in order to gain some control.

 I am wondering exactly what it is that we have won? The ensuing months will tell the tale. All these pols we put in to take control of Congress, most of them got in because we were voting against Dems, not necessarily for them.

The numbers tell the tale. Jefferson:  “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

One of Pidge’s rules:  Stretch the rules. Always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

Lombardi:  Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged by only one thing -- the result.

I am a winner. What I will do now and how I will survive whatever comes next, that is my focus. With King James and Uncle Sam I can't go wrong.
 

 

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.



 

Certain messages should be repeated. Carlin makes some good points.
Warning: he uses swear words.




I read this in The Woodpile Report:

No matter who you vote for, the government gets elected.

(Traditional, cited by Francis Porretto, eternityroad.info )


 Is there anybody reading this stuff that still believes if only we had:

• Republicans   
• Democrats
• Tea Party
• Libertarians
• Penguins for a Gun-free Antarctica
• Sarah Palin
• Donald Trump
• all of the above
• none of the above

that all our troubles would go away?

 (Help at the bottom of the page in video form if you were one of those childs not left behind)

If you chose any of the above please click here. You have earned one of these:

If you didn't even bother to answer there is faint hope.


Consider this:

 

Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle.

There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

—Walt Kelly, June 1953

Here's another cartoon from the 30s or 40s.

 

These guys did not have super-vision nor were they Nostradamus/Cayce prophets. They did not have their heads in the sand nor were they smoking dope. They just saw things.

 

They saw things like this:
 

Here's another quiz, you can make up for the question you missed above:

How many cows are in this picture?

Never mind the sub-titles.

TIME ON MY SIDE

Before I do more posting I will explain something. I have had many cars, too many females, lots of money (I reckon at least a million bucks has slipped through my hands) some friends, plenty of jobs. These are all renewable resources. Lonely, happy, sad, rich, poor, in wheels or on foot, in a bed or in the back seat of my car, all comes and goes.


Being afflicted with cancer has changed a lot of my perspective. I do not want to waste time. I only have what the Good Lord gives me and that could be ten minutes or ten years.





But time, ah, that is different. Time marches on, and once gone is gone for good. No instant replay except in the back of my mind, the moment comes, lingers briefly, and is gone.

Now that I am retired I have more free time; my days allow me more time, that's true, but priorities dictate how that time is utilized.

 

 

I recently acquired another M1 Garand and I am spending some time restoring, fitting, and finishing her.

It is like this: should I spend three hours putting some posts together that nobody reads? (and I don't give a shit if they do or don't). Except maybe Philistine, but he is my Art Director and he is kin. Or, should I spend three hours fitting hand guards and applying linseed oil, installing a new gas cylinder? 

Blow wise to this: a keyboard never got me a rabbit for the stewpot and would not be much use against a burglar, unless I threw the thing at him. With the way things are going these days, we might not have an internet, but we will have all our tools. 

So there ya go. Read 'em and weep. Better yet, get out to the range and plink some tin cans or go gather some food. That will serve you better than net surfing or blogging.

So mote it be. 

A JOB BEGUN ...

... is a job half done.

Returned from the Mayo Clinic for a while. I need to spend some time with my oncologist and nephrologist before I can go any further at the clinic.

John Hiatt writes better lyrics than I write commentary. Often he says something and I say to myself "dog gone, I wish I woulda said that".















.

HEALTH and WEALTH

 

First, something about my health:

This Sunday I am going to the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix. I'll be there for two weeks.

I have cancer — multiple myeloma — and my oncologist has encouraged me to start the process of a Stem Cell Transplant. I'll provide some explanatory text, courtesy of the Mayo Clinic website.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs.

Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells. Rather than produce helpful antibodies, the cancer cells produce abnormal proteins that can cause kidney problems.

I'm giving serious thought to this situation. Stay with chemo for a five - ten year prognosis or do the transplant for ten - fifteen years, if it works and if it doesn't leave me with worse quality of life due to side effects.
 

Prayer will help. That is the "wealth" I mentioned. I have friends and family praying for me as I contend with my cancer. I am right with God; His will is being done and I am OK with that.  
 

Stem cell transplantation. A stem cell transplant is a procedure to replace your diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow.

 Before a stem cell transplant, blood-forming stem cells are collected from your blood. You then receive high doses of chemotherapy to destroy your diseased bone marrow. Then your stem cells are infused into your body, where they travel to your bones and begin rebuilding your bone marrow.

If you're considered a candidate for stem cell transplant, your initial therapy will likely include a combination of treatments, such as targeted therapy, biological therapy, corticosteroids and, sometimes, chemotherapy.

Your stem cells will likely be collected after you've undergone a few months of treatment. You may undergo the stem cell transplant soon after your cells are collected or the transplant may be delayed until after a relapse, if it occurs. In some cases, doctors recommend two stem cell transplants for people with multiple myeloma.

After your stem cell transplant, you'll likely receive targeted therapy or biological therapy as a maintenance treatment to prevent a recurrence of myeloma.
 

"In a stem cell transplant, the patient gets high-dose chemotherapy (sometimes with radiation to the whole body) to kill the cells in the bone marrow (including the myeloma cells). Then the patient receives new, healthy blood-forming stem cells."

They will be "harvesting" some of my healthy cells the end of this month. (They will keep for a year or so.) These healthy cells will be used in an Autologous transplant:

For an autologous stem cell transplant, the patient’s own stem cells are removed from his or her bone marrow or peripheral blood before the transplant. The cells are stored until they are needed for the transplant. Then, the person with myeloma gets treatment such as high-dose chemotherapy, sometimes with radiation, to kill the cancer cells. When this is complete, the stored stem cells are infused back into the patient’s blood.

If that does not do the job, next step will be the Allogeneic transplant:

In an allogeneic stem cell transplant, the patient gets blood-forming stem cells from another person – the donor. The best treatment results occur when the donor’s cells are closely matched to the patient’s cell type and the donor is closely related to the patient, such as a brother or sister. Allogeneic transplants are much riskier than autologous transplants, but they may be better at fighting the cancer.

Side effects for either procedure will be a lower immune system and possible kidney damage leading to dialysis.

Ecclesiastes 12 Remember Your Creator in Your Youth 1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;  2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:  3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,  4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; 5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.  8 Vanity of vanities, said the preacher; all is vanity.

 

 

SEER OF MUCH, SAYER OF LITTLE.

I'll let the music do my talkin'.

SCAPEGOAT redux

"Clever and prescient".

"Ahead of his time".

"Speaks faster than he thinks".

 

Those are some of the favorable comments experts agreed to publish regarding my blog efforts. This post originally ran last summer. Specific examples can be expanded to include most of what is currently coming out of DC.

 

The Secretary of State, Attorney General, President, Commissioner of The IRS, any of the top people are saying things like "Gee, I didn't know about this" or "Gosh, they never told me ..."

 

They are lying. They are setting up circumstances to throw low-ranking subordinates under the bus. They cannot find enough underlings willing to fall on their swords so they will line some up for the drop. Grab. Toss. Done.


I'd like to see these epitaths on top-ranking tombstones. After the tar and feathers, that is.

"Not my fault"

"What difference does it make?"


Nothing has changed since this post first appeared. Well, yeah, it has. It has gotten worse. 

scape·goat

  skeyp-goht  noun


Things are not changing much in the Mid East, haven't really changed for centuries.
That is because the world is made up of people. Hmm, ya oughta write that down.

I first posted this to acknowledge Israel's high holiday, and from whence comes the modern day usage of the concept. I'm showing it again because the elections are drawing nigh and we get to see people doing what they do best, which is lying, cheating, and stealing. Only this is not ordinary people, folks like you and me that live normal ordinary feet-on-the-ground lives. 

This is Politicians, who cloak themselves in Sanctimony and Righteousness. Funny thing is, their blood flows red same as ours.   


We start with this:

  

1.

Chiefly Biblical . a goat let loose in the wilderness on Yom Kippur after the high priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on its head. Lev. 16:8,10,26.

Fast forward:

2.

A person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.

Hitler in his rise to power used the Jews as scapegoats. Mid-thirties and the German people were suffering the Depression same as we were back here. He said something like:

"You know why you're poor? Why you are suffering, unemployed, got no food, so forth?"

"It's because of the Jews. Look at 'em, they have food, they got jobs (many bankers, lawyers, doctors - chas) they are the cause of your suffering."

 

 

Hitler stirred them up and told them if they voted him in, he had solutions.

We know how that turned out.

Any of you that read this blog have your eyes open. This is not news.

Seems to me that we are headed in the same direction. Not with the Jews. With the current powers that be blaming our troubles on Reagan, Tea Party, White folks, rich people, patriots, Christians, look at the watch list.

Check out the Fast & Furious scandal. Benghazi, The VA wait lists. They are lining up some poor schmendricks to take the fall. Stonewall and lies and some poor bastard to throw under the bus. The money, immigration, the wars, whatever is fucking up real good is, well, it's not my fault. 

IT'S NOT MY FAULT  I'd love to see that as Obama's epitath.

Oh. Gee. That goes on his tombstone after he is dead ... Oh.


 

 

SUNDAY MUSIC

Psalm 100

King James Version

 

 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

² Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
³ Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

ADIOS CALIFORNIA

  Hive mentality.

I observed and reported on prior visits to NorCal (Castro Valley). Found the same atmosphere and head space down in SoCal. Maybe flock of sheep but the insect analogy seems more fitting. A California band put out a song "Hotel California" and it suits the state.

Note:This excludes the Central Valley which is like farm & ranch other places, American flags and churches abounding.

The coastal area is indeed like a hotel. Many residents/workers are as obsequious as hotel staff. Most have entry level jobs, take what they can get because there are six people waiting to replace them. Buyer's market. Dressed to the nines, working two jobs to stay afloat, grovel when they have to, keep boss happy. There is a quiet desperation in their eyes, they know something is out there circling in for the kill but they don't know what it is, or won't admit it. As long as the surface tension holds they're OK. Nice cars, upwardly mobile meaning run as fast as they can to stay even. Hampster on a wheel comes to mind. 





We stayed around Long Beach with some long-time friends. On the way home we went south to San Diego. As soon as we hit San Diego the people changed. Quick take: like farm & ranch with military influence. They do not appreciate the open border crisis. I am back in familiar populations with real life values. For anyone living along the Cali coast the bug out vehicle of choice would be  a motorcycle. Not a big one, say 500cc max, quiet exhaust. Getting out of any large urban area would require it and especially in Cali. Everything runs on freeways, surface streets are built grudgingly and without flow patterns. Someone who knows his way around could traverse them but a stranger would need the mobility of the bike. It would take ten minutes to gridlock the whole state highway system with a team of two dozen in synch. Shudder.

When the grid goes down they'll be eaten (perhaps literally) by the ghetto blacks and browns.
 





The residents of the coastal areas are oh so nice; I can see they would be good neighbors. Green. Eco-friendly, yearning to save just one child.

I think proximity to the Pacific Ocean might explain some of the behavior. Nice white teeth, kind and gentle demeanor. Softer than a sneaker fulla shit my father would say. Went down to Huntington Beach but I didn't see any of those surf bunnies that got bra size higher than their IQ.






Never made it into San Francisco, or "San Francisco" as the locals call it. If I did I would be double-dawg certain to do as this guy suggests. You know, to blend right in:





I probably woulda felt more at home in the Central Valley. Drag strips, farm & ranch, meat eaters. Is not Altamont in around there, up near Livermore?

A few years ago the Brocker went on a trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and discovered noticed the Atlantic Ocean. That's my kind of ocean. Besides, the Brocker doesn't look anything like Lucy. Actually we're more like Fred and Ethyl but that's a story for another time.

TALK IS CHEAP

As for blogging, The most impor­tant tasks of the aspir­ing blogger are:

(1) blog daily;

(2) link head­lines;

(3) excrete out­rage - vainly, and rep­e­ti­tiously;

(4) throw on some boobs;

(5) don't drink, and don't die;

(6) use post titles that contain buzz words to attract strangers;

This lifted off the pages of The Washington Rebel some months ago, before it imploded. The sophistry and polemical discussion on that blog site reached critical mass:

I doubt the efficacy of teaching, though it's noble indeed to attempt it. Witness the enormous learning, wit, and insight of so many wonderful bloggers whose voices can now be heard. Still, as entertaining as their efforts are, it seems to me that the effect of their work in defeating the liberal, grifter enemy is marginal. Colonel B. Bunny

 

 

NOT ELEVATOR MUSIC

I do not trust people, places, and things the way I once did.
I avoid crowds. I avoid elevators too. Matter of fact, there's a lot of things I avoid these days.

 I abhor surrendering control to others. [Not the I want to do everything my way control.] The safety and well-being of me and mine control.

DPJK is on my family crest. (Don't Play, Just Kill). That sound harsh to you? Look out your window, see what is going on around you.



The music which follows does not contain any heavy messages meant to back up my declaration. It is just stuff I like to hear. I play music like this, open up a new tab and browse a few links. The music keeps me in sight of shore.